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Xavier rose and stretched, rolling his head from side to side, trying to get his neck to crack. He looked down at the rock he had been sitting on and grimaced before walking across camp to his gear pile, extracting a saddle blanket, and laying it on top of the rock. Xavier smiled and sat back down.
Dawn had broken over the deserts of Drehana, and the scene was rather spectacular. Stunningly spectacular, in fact. The climbing sun bled brilliant oranges and purples onto the craggy bluffs and cliffs of the wild landscape.
Xavier glanced at the map spread before him on the ground, staked in place by a throwing knife through each corner. Yawning, he picked up his coffee from where it had been sitting on the map. Steam rose from the top of the mug, smooth as a dancer, floating upward to meet the crisp autumn air with graceful defiance. All in all, it wasn't a bad start to the day.
Gustave had just returned from exercising the horses and was tending to them on the other side of their little clearing. Christian and Uraeus were snorting and neighing contentedly to themselves as Gustave readied their breakfast.
After finishing with the horses, Gustave poured himself a mug of coffee and ambled over to sit next to Xavier. Brushing blond hair out of his eyes, he squinted down at the map Xavier had been studying.
The hand-drawn, coffee ring-stained map depicted a box canyon several miles from them. A team of art thieves had made the canyon into their home. They had a painting that didn't belong to them, and Xavier's crew had ridden all the way to Drehana to relieve them of it.
The thieves had made their permanent camp at the canyon's head, alongside a cave in the canyon wall where they were hoarding their pilfered treasures. There was one guard on duty at all times, but he was guarding neither the treasure nor the camp. Instead, he was posted half a mile away at the canyon's mouth. Sheer cliffs surrounded the canyon on all sides, and travelling through the mouth was the only way to get in. At least that's what the thieves apparently thought. It was a grossly arrogant oversight.
Camel, the final member of Xavier's party, was currently at the canyon, keeping an eye on things. Eventually, the thieves would go on a plundering run and would leave only a skeleton crew behind. That was the moment that Xavier, Gustave, and Camel were waiting for.
"What are you thinking?" Gustave asked as he sipped his coffee. "Nervous about the mission?"
"No," Xavier chuckled, turning from the map. "Do you really want to know?"
"I asked, didn't I?" Gustave picked up their food bag, selected a biscuit, and took a bite.
"Alright," Xavier said. "What do you think makes a life worth living? Is it making a difference? Is it leaving a legacy? Or is it maybe just … being happy?"
"Wow." Gustave looked sideways at Xavier as he passed him the food bag. "What's got you all philosophical this morning, Xav?"
Xavier shrugged and grabbed a biscuit of his own. "At the end of the day, when the draw pile is empty and all the cards are on the table, I want to know that I've played a good game."
Gustave chewed slowly. High above them, the desert sky was maturing into a fathomless expanse of sapphire. A few wispy clouds drifted past, delicate as dreams.
Finally, Gustave said, "After the last hand is done, you've got to be satisfied with the way you played your cards. That's it. Don't let anyone tell you it's about winning and losing, because it's not. It's about looking back and not regretting anything."
Gustave's words made sense, as usual. Xavier nodded. Thank you he said by tapping a finger to his brow.
Gustave clapped Xavier on the shoulder. "That's what I'm here for Xav! Large weapons and life lessons are my specialty!"
The two men laughed for a while and talked of simpler things. After a time, Gustave began rummaging in his bag for his pipe, but suddenly froze and cocked his head. Xavier had heard it too: a strange sound that didn't quite fit in with the other noises of the desert. Too late, Xavier noticed the horses standing still as statues, ears aquiver.
Xavier's hand was flashing toward one of the throwing knives when the brush parted and Camel rode into the clearing on Dama. For a moment, the three men just stared at each other. Gustave's sword was halfway out of its scabbard; Xavier was still holding his coffee in one hand while gripping the knife in his other.
Camel hopped lightly to the ground. "Are you guys, ah, getting ready to save the Two Kingdoms or something?"
"Camel, we almost killed you!" Gustave exclaimed as he jammed his sword back into its sheath. "Why didn't you signal? And that horse of yours is too quiet—it's not natural!"
As if in reply, Dama snorted and shook out her sandy-colored mane. Camel just smirked and said, "My unnatural horse and I thought you might be interested in knowing that the canyon is now empty, save for two thieves: one on guard duty, and the other sleeping."
Xavier was on his feet in an instant, discarding his coffee in the brush as he jumped from his seat. "This is it!"
"I'm heading back to the canyon to start preparations. Meet me when you've broken camp," Camel said as he loaded several bundles onto Dama. "Hey—what are you guys eating over there?"
Xavier tossed a biscuit to Camel, who caught it neatly, tapped his brow, and swung himself back into the saddle.
By the time Xavier and Gustave arrived at the rim of the canyon overlooking the thieves' camp, Camel had already set up two rappel lines. One rope was looped around a large boulder and the second, to be used only if needed, was anchored to a stout tree.
The plan was simple. Wearing gambeson armor to allow him to move quietly, Xavier would rappel into the thieves' camp alone, sneak into the cave, and find the painting. He would then return to his rappel line, Gustave would haul him up, and that would be that.
As Xavier snuck through the camp, Gustave would be covering him from high up on the rim. If there was a problem, Gustave was a pretty good shot with a longbow. If there was a big problem, Gustave would come shooting down the rappel line in riveted chainmail armor, oversized bastard sword slung over his shoulder, ready to cause havoc.
Camel's job was to watch the guard at the canyon's mouth. If the guard did anything unexpected, Camel would signal. If worse came to worst, Camel was also a deft shot with a longbow.
The stolen painting belonged to Gustave's neighbor. It was valuable enough that the man was willing to pay to get it back. Gustave had proposed to Xavier that they track and retrieve the painting, as a field test of their abilities. After all, if they were going to start a mercenary group, it was probably better to grease the cogs a little before they started turning gears.
They had sent word to their old friend, Camden "Camel" Black, asking if he was up for an adventure. Camel, who lived in the crook of the Painted Mountains far to the north of Xavier and Gustave, had been eager to help retrieve the painting in exchange for a share of the reward.
The three of them stood atop the sheer cliff, gazing down at the thieves' camp 150 feet below them.
"Are you guys ready?" Camel asked.
Xavier and Gustave nodded.
"Okay. I'll make my way back to the mouth and signal when I get into position. Be safe."
"You too, Camel," Gustave said as he tugged on his chainmail shirt. "See you on the other side."
Xavier stood at the canyon rim, his heels hanging over the cliff behind him. He had the thick rappel line wrapped around one thigh, across his chest to the opposite shoulder, and down his back. Glancing backward, Xavier let his eyes travel down, down, so far down, to the canyon floor. Xavier was no stranger to rappelling, but he had never quite gotten used to the feeling of walking backward off a cliff. The desert wind washed through his cropped hair and ruffled his gambeson as if playfully trying to topple him off the edge. Sweating despite the cool air, Xavier flexed his thickly-gloved fingers. He looked up at the boulder that was anchoring him, and then at Gustave, who nodded encouragingly. Xavier took a deep breath and backed over the edge.
Immediately, a sickening, soul-crushing, rock-on-rock crunch split the air.
Xavier looked up in alarm to see Gustave staring at him in wide-eyed shock.
The boulder was shifting—and Xavier watched his rope slide up, up, and off the big rock's tapered tip.
For a moment—it felt like a moment, but it was probably only a heartbeat—Xavier hung suspended 150 feet above the floor of the canyon. He was dimly aware of Gustave making a leaping dive for the slithering loose end of the rope, but somehow Xavier knew that he was already too far gone.
And then he was falling.
Ten feet. Fifteen feet. Twenty feet—gone in the blink of an eye.
Xavier flailed around desperately, his gloved hands scrabbling at the impassive rock. Brown and black hues flashed past and blurred together as he plummeted. There was no purchase to be had.
Suddenly, a thought broke through the shock in Xavier's mind. He turned his head and there was the second rappel line, still hanging intact. Xavier grabbed the rope with both hands, clenching it in his fists as tightly as he could and putting his feet against the wall in a frantic attempt to slow his momentum.
The rope spooled through Xavier's gloves, foot after foot after foot. He could feel it burning his hands even through the thick fabric. Gritting his teeth, Xavier clenched his fists tighter; he wasn't slowing down!
Xavier bent his knees and pushed off hard from the canyon wall, launching himself outward like a pendulum to get a few precious seconds of slack in the line. As he swung away from the cliff, Xavier used his left hand to twist the rope around and around his right wrist, hoping against hope that he could create enough friction. As he began swinging back toward the rock face, Xavier clamped down again with wrists crossed.
This was going to hurt.
Xavier smashed into the canyon wall, taking the brunt of the impact on his crossed arms. Something jagged punched through his glove and tore across the bottom of his right palm. He rebounded slightly off the rock and twisted chaotically in midair, clinging to the rope for dear life. The second impact came on his right side, and Xavier's thigh, shoulder, and face became abruptly acquainted with all the cordial indifference of hard-hearted stone.
Xavier threw his head back, baring his teeth in a silent scream and screwing his eyes closed as he tried not to black out. The dusty, earthy scent of sunbaked rock filled his nostrils. Sweat ran down his face in rivulets—sweat mixed with blood, Xavier realized as the taste of iron and salt made its way into his open mouth.
But Xavier had stopped moving.
Ever so cautiously, he opened his eyes and looked down, just to be sure. He had stopped! He was dangling like a spider on a thread not 20 feet above the canyon floor.
Breathing deeply, Xavier lowered himself the rest of the way to the ground and slumped against the base of the cliff. He slowly let his eyes wander the thieves' camp. Smoke curled lazily from a neglected fire and tents swayed in the gentle wind. The whole scene was picturesque as a painting. Xavier closed his eyes and leaned his head wearily back against the rock for a moment before finally turning his attention to his injuries.
There was a fair amount of blood on the side of his face, but the wound itself seemed to be small. That was good. More concerning was his hand. His thick rappelling glove was soaked completely through with blood and the cut on his palm was deep. Leaving his glove on, Xavier cut a strip of gambeson from his armor and wound it tightly around his hand, hoping the thick padding would slow the flow of blood until he could get out of the canyon. Then he mentally gathered his strength and stood up.
Craning his head back, Xavier looked up at the top of the cliff. He could see Gustave peering down at him in alarm. Gustave tapped his cheek—you ok?
In reply, Xavier nodded and thumbed his earlobe—all good. Sort of, anyway.
There was still work to be done, and Xavier looked over at the cave on the other side of the camp. Stumbling slightly, following the canyon wall and leaning against it for support, Xavier made his way to the crevasse. He heard deep snores coming from one of the tents as he passed. How had the thief slept through all that?
The cave was only about fifteen feet deep, no more than a shallow fissure in the wall. Covered paintings, padded sculptures, and even some scrolls were arranged carefully around the small space. The painting that Xavier was looking for wasn't hard to find. Once he had it, Xavier removed the canvas from the frame, rolled it, and placed it in a tube hanging on his waist next to his arming sword—simple tasks made difficult by the limited use of his right hand.
As Xavier made to leave the cave, a small parcel caught his eye. Through a gap in the parcel's wrapping, the carved metallic likeness of a rodent peered out at him. Something about the sculpture was tickling the edge of Xavier's memory, just out of his reach. As Xavier picked up the tiny golden animal and held it in his hand, he knew he had seen the same carving somewhere else. He shook his head, tucked the figure into his pocket, and stepped out of the cave.
The three friends rode away from Drehana, bound by the type of camaraderie that only comes from long years of friendship. Gustave and Camel were riding side by side, chatting animatedly. A few paces behind them, Xavier rode in comfortable silence.
Gustave was asking Camel, "The Old Kingdom must be like this, right? Not the land itself obviously, but the untamed, wild feeling of it. It's got to be something like this."
Camel shrugged. "There aren't many who know what it's really like across the mountains. The throne at Ahaniana fell nearly 600 years ago. The Old Kingdom has been cut off from us for that entire time."
"But those who have been there," Gustave pressed, "describe it as having a feeling like this."
Camel smiled. "I guess we'll just have to make the trip ourselves someday."
Gustave twisted in his saddle so he could point at Xavier, grinning as he said, "This mongrel's son needs several pints of mead and a good night's sleep before he goes anywhere!"
Xavier laughed along with his two friends. He didn't tell them that he had actually slept better on the ground while in Drehana than he had in a long time back at the estate in his four-poster bed.
It had been two months since Walden's fateful visit, and the estate was rumbling back to life, like an old war horse rousing herself from slumber. While in Drehana, Xavier had left his estate in the capable hands of Tempe, his trusted second. Xavier knew that she was driving growth even as he was away, and he was looking forward to returning so that he could inspect her progress.
Even so, Xavier had felt happier in Drehana than he had in a long time back at his estate—despite the fact that he had nearly lost his life.
Xavier flexed his right hand. The deep gash on the bottom of his palm had been cleaned and freshly dressed. In a month's time, he would have nothing but a scar to remember Drehana.
As Xavier inspected his bandages, his eyes were drawn to another long-healed wound, an old scar on his finger. When Christian had been a foal, he had snatched a morsel off the ground while Xavier wasn't looking. Xavier had tried to grab it from his mouth, and Christian had bitten him. The bite was instinct more than anything, but Xavier had been furious at the horse. However, over the years, Xavier had become fond of the scar. When he saw it, he thought of Christian. He thought of the growing pains they had gone through together. He thought of the unshakeable bond they had eventually developed. That little scar reminded Xavier that nothing worth having ever comes without a struggle.
There was an expression that Xavier had heard people use throughout the Two Kingdoms: wounds from a friend are faithful. Xavier had learned the truth of that saying. And as he rode, he decided that if the wounds of a friend could be faithful, the scars of Drehana probably would be too.
Next chapter: Lost to the Night
Previous chapter: The Mighty Wolverines


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Today's recipe from The Breakaway Cook is an adaptation of Japanese miso soup. Instead of using the traditional seaweed-bonito broth known as dashi, author Eric Gower replaces it with something that's probably a little more familiar to Western cookschicken stock. Gower recommends using a combo of red miso and white miso but says that yellow miso works just fine (and is more readily available in most supermarkets). Itadakimasu!
Recipe Details
Miso Soup with Fennel and Ginger Recipe | Cook the Book
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 fennel bulb. trimmed, cored, and roughly chopped 1 red onion, minced
- 3 heaping tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 2 heaping tablespoons white miso
- 1 heaping tablespoon red miso
- A few tablespoons cubed soft tofu (optional)
- Sprinkling of minced fresh chives (optional)
Melt the butter with the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat, add the fennel, red onion, and ginger; sauté until soft, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil in a small soup pot over high heat. Reduce heat to simmer gently, add the onion mixture, and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Strain and discard all solids, add the miso, and turn off heat. Stir until miso is fully dissolved. Add the tofu and chives, if desired.

subset: commoncrawl


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Midland – Odessa Construction
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Business Name:
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About Midland
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Things to do in Midland, Texas
Our Newest Profiles


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these two here are Em's baby elephants, Little Lady (left) and Little Frankie (right). Little Lady is a new addition to the elephant family, a valentine's day present. i just saw her in the store and couldn't resist her…she's super soft and only 8″ long – a tiny little thing. i knew she'd be well taken care of by my little gal.
in her elephant family, these are the ones that need the most taking care of – they cry, they take bottles, they need lots of naps. Em cradles them, brings them everywhere, feeds them, loves them, tucks them into bed with her every night. i was feeling almost neglectful for not offering to make them some diapers to wear until now. Em jumped at the suggestion, of course!
i used this pattern for the larger diaper, which i've made a couple times before but don't think i've ever blogged about…it doesn't get much simpler. the only variation is i do just one continuous strip of the soft side of velcro across the front. the fabric here is daiwabo elephants and the lining is scrap of towel from this project – Em picked them out from my stash. for Little Lady's diaper, i just drew a smaller sized diaper template with the same shape as the original.
i had to add a spot for their tails to come through! a buttonhole was just the trick.
the baby elephants are changed and ready for bed.
sleep tight, baby elephants!


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Cover Shirt
Select a delivery date 1-2 days before your plans. Your rentals will arrive dry cleaned and ready to wear. If they get to you early, you can still keep them until their original due date. When your rental period is up, return your items using the included prepaid shipping label.
Browse and select any available styles you want to rent. Try dresses, tops, and jeans — take your pick! Everything arrives via 2-day shipping, dry cleaned, and ready to wear.
Explore different fits, discover new designers, and experiment with style, without making the investment. Wear all the designer fashion you want, at a fraction of its RRP. Check out our selection of rental pieces here
At Moniker we use Bring, Porter buddy and DHL as our delivery partners, and you can also chose to pick it up in our store if you live nearby.
Visit us in our store: Moniker, Valkyriegata 3, 0366 Oslo.
We are available between 10-19 monday to friday and 10-18 on saturdays. During lockdown we are available for pick up between 10-16 monday-saturday.
After you place an order, you will receive an order confirmation from us. We will then begin the process of packing your order. When your order is packed and ready for collection by our transport partner, you will be notified with a shipping confirmation email, with tracking number. When your order is out for delivery, or turned into your closest pickup point, you will be notified by the transporter. If you chose Pick up in store, you'll recived an email once your order is ready for pick up.
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We ship to most locations on a DDP (Delivery Duty Paid) basis, which means that all relevant import taxes and duties will be included in the product price.


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Felines' sharp teeth can inject harmful bacteria deep into joints and tissue, doctors warn.
Cat bites may look less serious than dog bites, but beware: They can cause dangerous infections, particularly when they involve the hand, new research indicates.
Although cats have no more germs in their mouths than dogs or people, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that when cats bite, their sharp teeth can inject hard-to-treat bacteria deeply into the skin and joints, increasing the risk for serious infection.
Dogs' teeth are blunter, so they don't tend to penetrate as deeply and they tend to leave a larger wound after they bite. Cats' teeth are sharp and can penetrate very deeply. They can seed bacteria in the joint and tendon sheaths.
It can be just a pinpoint bite mark that can cause a real problem, because the bacteria get into the tendon sheath or into the joint where they can grow with relative protection from the blood and immune system.
Researchers studied nearly 200 cat bite cases that occurred between 2009 and 2011. The patients involved in the study were all bitten on the hand. The average of the participants was 49 years old, and 69 percent were women.
About half the patients visited an emergency room, while the rest went to their primary-care physician. The average time people waited between getting bitten and seeking treatment was 27 hours.
The researchers said 57 of the patients who were bitten needed to be hospitalized, but only 36 had been admitted immediately after seeking medical treatment. Of those admitted to the hospital, 38 patients needed surgery to clean the wound or remove infected tissue. The study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Hand Surgery, also revealed that eight patients needed more than one surgical procedure, and some needed reconstructive surgery.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of the patients were initially prescribed oral antibiotics, the researchers said. For 14 percent of these patients, outpatient treatment with antibiotics didn't work and they needed to be hospitalized.
In most cases, bites that were positioned directly over the wrist or another joint were more likely to result in hospitalization than bites to soft tissue, the researchers said.
Cat bites need to be taken seriously and carefully evaluated by doctors. This is particularly true when patients develop inflamed skin and swelling. In these cases, the wound should be treated aggressively.
Cat bites look very benign, but — they are not. They can be very serious.


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Here's my version of a Larry King column. Heavy on personal pronouns, inanity and randomness.
I use my Exogen 4000 bone stimulator daily. Sometimes twice a day. Is it working? I have no idea. Did you know these expensive devices only have about 170 uses? Then their internal battery goes dead. The maker claims you can't replace or recharge the battery. Yeah. Right. Another four thousand dollars, please. I know we're a capitalist country. But, honestly, we do take it too far sometimes.
I am also taking a product called Bone Up, a calcium supplement that's full of Australian bovine something or other. It's in the kitchen and I'm too comfortable at the moment to get up and go look at the bottle. It was recommended to me by a woman who has had many stress fractures. She says it works. I believe her.
I actually like this season's Dexter. I didn't like the last season, which felt like the writers were treading water with the character. This time around Dexter gets a quasi-girlfriend who may also have serial killer leanings (at the very least she is a victim turned vigilante), causing him to get sloppy with his protocol. That's a plot development that rocks. I would not have thought of that. Also, Peter Weller is great in his role as scummy, bottom feeding private investigator.
I am also enjoying The Walking Dead, our first-ever zombie television series. I just call it The Zombie Show. I am still on the premiere episode, because not only am I too tired or too busy (or too asleep) to watch television most evenings, but also because Jonathan is not a big fan of the zombie genre. It's a little hackneyed, but the cinematography is notably good and I appreciate the acting performance by the semi-aware-but-nonetheless-completely-zombified wife of one of the characters. That's an acting challenge. The makeup and special effects are excellent too.
So my evenings are full of enjoyable violence.
I did the first of my two planned Big Name Runner interviews over the weekend. I know the article I want to write and how I will write it. I am determined to get this finished this week, although as usual my "pays the bills" work takes precedence and is heating up lately.
The nice thing about having a blog is that even if I can't interest any of the usual outlets in paying me for it, I can just publish it here and I'll be almost as happy with that. I'll be surprised if no one wants it, but stranger things have happened. In general, I have quickly learned that it's difficult to impossible to make a living just doing freelance running journalism. The fact that I'm not trying to means I can do the work I do in this area on my own terms. I'm still having fun with it.
I may get a chance to try out an Alter-G treadmill somewhere in Harlem soon. That should be interesting and educational.
I'm planning a trip to Switzerland at some point next year. It will probably be sometime later in the summer. We went there in 2007 and I've missed it ever since. The exchange rate is terrible, but there's nothing I can do about that. Life is short. I want to go back to Zermatt, where a strained medialis prevented me from hiking up to the base of the Matterhorn. I also enjoyed Pontresina, the lower-key (and cheaper) sister town to St. Moritz. And, of course, the Jungfrau region, although I think this time we'll stay on the Grindelwald/Wengen side, whereas last time we were in Murren.
Longer term, I'm figuring out where to go for my 50th birthday. Much as I would love to go somewhere weird and totally new to me, like Japan, or exotically third-world, like Indonesia, I think it's going to be Norway. I guess I'm getting old, but I want a reliably civilized experience featuring a Western culture that I can somewhat relate to. There needs to be good beer and cheese involved too. I know it's a few years off. But I like to plan.
Also, is it just me, or is anyone else annoyed by Haile's petulant retirement announcement, followed by cooler headed reversal — which in the process eclipsed every other New York Marathon story? Everyone knew he didn't mean it. Now. Do you remember who won the men's and women's races? You had to think about it for a moment, didn't you?
Filed under: drinking, eating, elites, everyday life, injury, travel | 5 Comments »


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Tonight, a Pink Floyd tribute band, Australian Pink Floyd put on a 2 hour show at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center in downtown Reading. The packed house was on their feet, dancing, clapping, holding up lighters and making various other signs of approval throughout the show.
The first half of the show was one hour. The band took a 20 minute break, returned to the stage and played for another hour followed by one encore. I thought the stomping on the floor in the balcony was going to collapse it!
There are so many Pink Floyd songs that you can't pack them into one show. I was disappointed that they did not play Money but they did perform a number of Pink Floyd's other hits and some songs which I did not know. My personal favorite album by Pink Floyd is Dark Side of the Moon.
The light show and special effects were awesome! There was a large object the resembled the Stargate (if you ever watched any of those shows on Syfy or the movie) which was constantly streaming pictures. Fog, laser and strobe lights abounded. There were also two huge inflatables. One was the teacher from Another Brick In The Wall and the second was a giant bouncing kangaroo! A gigantic disco ball was lowered from the ceiling at the end of the show to add even more sensory overload to the experience.
The musicality was superb. I don't think you could get a better Pink Floyd show unless the actual band performed it. The instrumentalists and singers were all excellent. No weak links. Even the backup singers were amazing. All in all it was worth every penny and then some.
Surprisingly, there were a good number of younger fans in the audience. It wasn't by any means made up of mostly 60's and 70's era folks. Lots of 20 somethings in the house which I find pretty cool. The music of Pink Floyd is evidently timeless if it is still being embraced by young people.
If you like the music of Pink Floyd I highly recommend taking in an Australian Pink Floyd concert in a city near you!
Click here to go to the group's website: http://www.aussiefloyd.com/
Click here to read the Reading Eagle's glowing review of last night performance:


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Shayne Looper: What if you were going to live forever?
In the 1980s, the denomination I served encouraged me to attend a conference on evangelism presented by Evangelism Explosion (known familiarly as EE). This enormously popular approach to personal evangelism was pioneered in the 1960s by D. James Kennedy, the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, and was and is used throughout the world.
It was hard for a shy introvert like me to strike up conversations with people I didn't know. It was even harder to strike up conversations about spiritual matters with people I assumed didn't care. EE was designed to help people start and guide conversations to a particular end: the acceptance of receive Jesus Christ as one's personal savior.
At the EE conference, attendees were taught to ask people two questions, designed to coordinate with one another, and both including the prepositional phrase, "if you were to die tonight." Both questions also included the idea of going to heaven.
There were things about the training I appreciated and things that made me uncomfortable. The discomfort came largely from the similarity between the EE program and programs that teach sales techniques. I wasn't comfortable with the idea that I was selling Jesus the way the kid at the front door sells vacuum cleaners. It seemed to me that, in both cases, the immediate goal was to get the person on the other side of the door to say yes to something they might not really want and probably didn't understand.
Today, my approach to evangelism has changed. I don't try to sell Jesus after dangling the promise of heaven (or the threat of hell) in front of someone's eyes. Don't get me wrong: I think heaven and hell are real possibilities for each of us; I just don't see Jesus or his apostles doing evangelism that way. I have not found such an approach to be effective, nor does it prepare people to live the authentic and rewarding life of a Jesus-follower now.
I've come to think it better to ask people a different question, one the philosopher Dallas Willard suggested. Instead of asking, "If you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven?" we might ask, "If you were to live forever, what would you do? What kind of person would you become if you continued on the trajectory you are now following? Would you love being that person forever - or would you hate it? Would living forever with you - as you - be more like heaven or hell?"
I'm afraid we've tailored our evangelistic message to people who think about the fact they are going to die, while Jesus tailored his message to people who were going to live - forever. That alone is enough to make us reconsider our approach, but add to that the fact that we live a culture that is in denial about death. People are not thinking about dying. They distract themselves throughout their waking hours to prevent themselves from thinking about death - and pretty much everything else.
What would evangelism look like if we started using Jesus's approach? His invitation was not, "Say 'Yes,' and you can go heaven when you die." It was, "Join me in the kingdom of God now." Heaven someday? Yes, of course, but also a transformational life on earth now; a life that transforms both the person and his or her world. Jesus invited people to a radically different kind of life now, not just after they died.
Willard defined a human being as "a never ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe." That way of putting it is certainly in sync with the biblical understanding of human nature. That I will live forever is a given; that I will I'll enjoy living forever is not. Living forever is a great thing - if I am an everlasting blessing to myself, to others and to God. Otherwise, it is a curse.
To become an everlasting blessing, or even to avoid being an everlasting pain, requires a good deal of transformation. Jesus understood how to guide his students into that transformation. He knew how to live - and to live well - forever, and he can help others do the same.
Shayne Looper is the pastor of Lockwood Community Church in Branch County, Michigan. Read more at shaynelooper.com.


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New mothers in Finland, for instance, are entitled to up to three years worth of paid leave. Norwegian moms get up to 91 weeks. The U.K. grants new mothers up to 39 weeks, while our neighbors in the frigid Canadian north get one year.
Once again for emphasis: American moms are entitled to zero weeks of paid leave under federal law.
At the risk of stating the obvious, having kids is a necessary condition for our biological and economic survival. The species must perpetuate itself, and at the country level, if economic growth is to continue, it behooves couples to churn out as many future employees and taxpayers as possible.
But having children is an expensive proposition. It costs more than $233,000 to raise the typical American child from birth to age 18, according to the Agriculture Department (and that figure doesn't include the price of a college education). That works out to around $13,000 per kid per year.
Compounding those expenses is the fact that little kids — infants and toddlers — require a lot of intensive, hands-on care. That usually means that in the early years someone has to take time off work, and the biological realities of childbirth means that person is usually the mother.
Hence, household incomes drop at precisely the same time expenses skyrocket, as the chart below from the Urban Institute underscores. The typical household income falls by 10 percent at the point of childbirth in the United States and doesn't fully recover until several months later when parents are back to work.
For households headed by single women, the drop is even more drastic: 42 percent at the time of childbirth, with decreases happening in the months prior because of pregnancy-related reductions in hours worked.
The families doing the crucial work of keeping the economy (and the species) alive, in other words, experience reduced income at a time of tremendous cost.
Every other rich nation in the world has therefore determined that it's in their interest to help these families out in their time of need and has mandated that working parents, mothers in particular, are entitled to some paid time off.
But not the United States.
Here, mandatory paid leave policies have typically been denounced as "a new national entitlement" to be avoided, a "burden on small business operators" and a decision "best left to the employer, not the government."
But we know what happens when you leave those decisions to employers: More than 40 percent of them don't offer it at all, according to a 2016 survey of medium-to-large companies. As a result, American women have been working later into their pregnancies and going back to work sooner after birth.
This is bad for working mothers, who need time to recover from the physical and mental trauma of childbirth. It's bad for kids, who need extra attention and care in the crucial months after birth. And it's bad for the economy: Research has shown that paid maternity leave is associated with better job performance and retention among mothers, increased family incomes, and increased economic growth.


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With government funded space flight taking a hit lately, Seattle billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has stepped in with a pioneering vision for commercial space travel. Allen, on Tuesday, unveiled designs for an efficient air-launch system that resembled a giant airplane split into two fuselages. The craft will take both government and commercial payloads into orbit, with human missions as an eventual goal.
Though one might be tempted to compare the giant craft to Howard Hughes' failed Spruce Goose, Allen's aircraft is much larger. The billionaire is also no stranger to spaceflight. Allen funded the development of SpaceShipOne, the first manned private spaceflight.
The commercial space transport system will be built by Stratolaunch Systems, Allen's new company. Burt Rutan, an aerospace engineer integral to the development of SpaceShipOne, will be helping Allen develop his new project. The billionaire believes that the carrier plane lifting rocket ships to higher altitude will be both safer and more cost-effective than launching a rocket from the ground.
"I have long dreamed about taking the next big step in private space flight after the success of SpaceShipOne – to offer a flexible, orbital space delivery system," Paul Allen stated at a press event in Seattle.
As far as specs go, the aircraft carrier will have an enormous wingspan of 385 feet and will have a gross weight of 1.2 million pounds – it may just be the largest aircraft ever to fly. The carrier will use six Boeing 747 engines and will be able to fly 1,300 nautical miles. The size of the craft's runway will need to be 12,000 feet long.
The goal is for the Stratolaunch craft to have a first flight within five years. The manufacturing of the aircraft is broken into three primary components. First, is the carrier aircraft which will be manufactured by the Rutan-founded Scaled Composites. The multi-stage booster will be taken care of by Elon Musk's California-based Space Exploration Technologies. Finally, the coupling system that allows the carrier aircraft to hold the booster will be built by the aerospace engineering company Dynetics. After NASA's last space shuttle launch, private funding may be just what space travel needs to get us to Kepler-22b.


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Before Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker add Stefan Herheim's production to their Salome, the audience in Berlin was treated to two concert previews in the Philharmonie, which – if I am not mistaken – also mark Emily Magee's debut in the title role. I can only imagine that this is a favorite score for the members of the Philharmonic, for they played with the kind of engagement that only now and then seems to appear in "Rolls-Royce" orchestras.
If I had to declare which was my favorite concert with the BPO and Simon Rattle, this would probably be it. The Philharmonic denied its musical director nothing: the strings particularly protean in varying from the noblest, warmest and fullest glimmering sounds to the most colorful descriptive effects; inspired and dramatically aware solos from woodwind and brass and impressively kaleidoscopic collective effects, especially in the closing scene. Rattle presided over the ensemble with a loving eye, bringing the lyricism to the fore, giving time for this music to breathe and relishing the harmonic complexity by highlighting every little tiny dissonance in the score, for illuminating results. However, there remains the problem of balancing soloists and the formidable orchestra, especially in concert version. Although I generally accuse the English conductor of being inattentive to his singers, I have to acknowledge that this time he really tried. He opted for the difficult compromise of finding the optimal point in which the orchestra could keep its refulgence without entirely covering singers' voices. A risky choice that required permanent adjustment. It is true that he proved to have amazing control of his musicians, by demanding very precise dynamical up and down-scaling in volume while avoiding abruptness entirely. As always, this had a cost. First, a sense of cautiousness haunted the first half of the opera, with the extra effect of a certain "hysteria" in the moment when the instruments were alone at last. Although it was undeniably exciting to hear the Philharmonic unleashed, these moments require not only more "space" to grow but also depend on the Straussian hallmark chiaroscuro to come to life. As it was, things had to develop from 95% to 100% in moments like the passage which depicts Jochanaan being brought out of his cistern. On the other hand, the Dance of the Seven Veils lacked spirit – beautiful as the sound was, the orchestra seemed too ready to let it all out instead of relishing the art-nouveau filigree concocted by Strauss. In the closing scene, Rattle finally seemed to have chosen the orchestra over his soloists – and, although the poor singers had to work hard for the money, the orchestral performance was so dense, so multi-layered that one could not help surrendering. The composer himself referred to his opera as a "scherzo with a tragic ending" and the conductor proved this evening to have understood that. Probably never since Böhm's CDs from Hamburg (alas, with a sub par orchestra) had I heard a performance in which the thematic material presented as "atmospheric" in the Jochanaan/Salome scene was so precisely restated in the final scene now under a quasi-grotesque coloration. I would be curious to know how this is going to work in the Grosses Festpielhaus.
Every time I write about this opera's title role, I repeat that a natural Salome has a bright voice above all to allow her to pierce through the orchestra without having to switch to fifth gear every time things get difficult. But the likes of Ljuba Welitsch are unfortunately very rare. With her creamy-toned floating soprano, Emily Magee hardly fits the description. It is true that her voice is big enough, but its delicate hue is too often overshadowed by the orchestra and the low notes basically remain on stage. That said, among the almost invariably miscast singers I have seen in this part, she was probably the best. First of all, she has really solid technique and never, ever forces. As a result, her soprano is never less than round, easy and pleasant. Although one could see that this is a difficult role, she didn't have to work herself up to deal with it, but rather manage her resources with shrewdness. By the moment when most Salomes are screaming themselves out, Magee still produced flowing Straussian lines, the occasional pianissimo and remained true to intonation, although you wouldn't always hear that. Second, she has no problem with high notes, what is always reassuring when one is about to hear a long piece of excruciatingly difficult singing. Finally, her Salome is refreshingly spontaneous. Although her voice does not have a virginal quality, she eschews vulgarity and affectation, suggesting quite appropriately rather a perverse child coveting a toy she cannot play with. Moreover, she handles the declamatory writing adeptly and has relatively clear diction.
Iain Paterson's spacious, noble and ductile baritone works beautifully in the role of Jochanaan. He too suffered from the competition with the orchestra and seemed a bit tired by the end of his long scene with Salome, but this did not prevent him from offering an intelligent and theatrical performance. A name to keep. Stig Andersen did not seem to be in a good day – one would hardly guess that he has sung Wagnerian roles by what one heard this evening – but he did sing the part of Herod; even the most verbose moments never lacked a flowing singing line, not to mention that he colored the text with unusual intelligence. I don't feel like being objective about Hanna Schwarz: she is great and that's it. At this stage of her career, her voice is not exactly beautiful, but still impressively forceful and focused. If someone found no problem in a loud orchestra this evening, this would be her (and a powerfully dark-toned Rinat Shaham as the page of Herodias). And there is not an ounce of nonsense in that woman – she is simply mesmerizing. Last but not least, among the minor roles, Oliver Zwarg's deserves mention as the First Soldier.


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I missed Thursday's Manette Wine Walk — unfortunately work kept me in the office and off the streets of Manette. But Mary made the journey and said it was a blast. Here's her recount of the night:
Mary writes:
It was a sell out. Rebecca Dove-Taylor, owner of The Manette Saloon and Side Bar, was thrilled with the attendance to the first Manette Wine Walk last night. One hundred thirty seven passports were sold in the first hour, and the response was so great that one restaurant ran ou of wine in the first hour.
Dove-Taylor planned the event to bring the community together for a night of wine appreciation and to bring attention to Manette restaurants. The weather cooperated, which may have contributed to the sell-out crowd — what a charming sight seeing so many people strolling up and down Eleventh Street.
For $10, participants tasted wine and sampled food at the Manette Saloon, Boatshed, Der Bloken and for some, La Fermata.
Participants started at The Manette to purchase their passports, where they sampled wines from Olympic Cellars Winery out of Port Angeles (known for their "Working Girl Wines"). Go Girl Red (a blend of Merlot and Lemberger) and Handyman Red (Cab, Merlot and Cab Franc) were paired with hummus, pita chips, fresh vegetables and stuffed mushrooms.
When I asked why she had picked this particular winery, she said, "I'm a 'Working Girl' and I just love their wines."
The absolutely packed Boatshed served up Chateau Ste. Michelle's '09 Chardonnay and '08 Cab. The food samples were eye appealing and there was something for every palate. Olives, hummus, blackberries, strawberries, fresh mozzarella balls, Gouda, salami and prosciutto.
Der Blokken Brewery was serving up Charles Smith's Velvet Devil Merlot. This was gone by the time I made it up the hill. But they were serving Smith's Eve Chardonnay as a substitute.
Dove-Taylor has invited the newest Manette restaurant Orion to the next Wine Walk the end of June as plans for a quarterly event move forward.


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First the plot.................
In Europe, a group of American college athletes unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride
OK here was my live tweet transcript from yesterday. Follow me Twitter for more upcoming live tweets of terribly bad flicks.
jadedviewer Ok I'm starting my live tweet of train....supposedly the worst torture porn flick ever....if you miss this...ill post it on the site tom #jvtrain
jadedviewer Well opening scene they just deskinned somebody ala martyrs...on a train! Whatta surprise #jvtrain
jadedviewer Thora birch is looking oldish and she's on an american wrestling team? And they are in bratislava! E europe is like the w virginia of europe #jvtrain
jadedviewer Thora birch gave 2 creepy guys her passport...didn't she see hostel? #jvtrain
jadedviewer the failsafe of torture porn....ocular trauma!#jvtrain
jadedviewer Brass knuckle and urination torture...well that's new #jvtrain
jadedviewer Well they just discovered this is terror train to harvest organs or some shit...and thora birch is badly emoting #jvtrain
jadedviewer Gratuitous use of a tunnel to make it oooooooh scary....organ harvesters 5 americans 0 #jvtrain
jadedviewer Nipple torture and the old reliable bone saw....and chest cavity gore...and hooks thru the mouth..and these people are still alive? #jvtrain
jadedviewer Omg there is like 30 min left in this flick....crap #jvtrain
jadedviewer I've been watching for an hour and I have no idea what thora birchs characters name is. #jvtrain
jadedviewer They just bashed a dudes head with a rock...that's old school flinstones torture porn #jvtrain
jadedviewer So all her friends are dead and now she's going all final girl revenge frenzy...look out black market killers!!! #jvtrain
jadedviewer Final fight is thora birch vs bratislavan big john studd!!! #jvtrain
jadedviewer Haahhahaha she used a wrestling move to make big john studd tap out and now he got squished by a train...so bad #jvtrain
jadedviewer Well that sucked maybe I should pick a good movie for a live tweet #jvtrain
Check out the trailer below.
train trailer thora birch, thora birch , american horror , terror train remake, gratuitous nudity,


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Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat
Interesting news. All aboot the rise of a certain ape. Betsy. Randumb has been climbing the Amazon top rated Humour charts like there's no tomorrow! Chart topping. Show stopping! Notified that it was in the top 40. 30-something. Hmm. Interesting. Few places above Tina Fey's book. Sure she's gutted. Checked the next day. Into the top 20. Mighty. Climbing. Giddied up over Jimmy Fallon's book! Again. I'm sure he's freaked. Let's look again on Friday… Lucky #13!
Like all apes, I was now checking every chance I got. Saturday night… Continue Reading »


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Common Core: UNESCO and Bill Gates timeline to federalized education reform in US
0626 am
In most every state,community, every small town, big city or tiny rural town the education landscape is changing rapidly.
This newest form of change has been evolving for over a decade and has finally found a lucrative vehicle to carry it through to it's completion.
The United Nations via its educational division, UNESCO is the main force that is pushing major education reform across the globe. Microsoft billionaire entrepeneurs Bill and Melinda Gates are working closely with UNESCO to make sure
that reform is in place as the United Nations desires.
For a while many have stood and watched the changes and have been puzzled at the break neck speed in which education was transforming right before our eyes and have wondered who could be behind this and why.
Common Core, Education for All, Race to the Top, Teachers for America, International Benchmarking, School Vouchers, Teacher pay for performance, ICT, Goals 2000 Act, the School-to-Work Act Opportunities Act, Connect All Schools and the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) called "Improving America's Schools Act of 1994″, etc, are all the products of the United Nations, particularly the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs.
Since 1992 there has been a steady drum beat of radical change. This change combined with the right environment and billions of dollars now has a synergist, a vehicle to carry educational change to fruition. Bill Gates and UNESCO, the educational division of the United Nations is carrying the banner for the United Nations that has it's sights solely on our children with this foray into nationalizing or should I say Internationalizing our educational system.
What started as a benign donation ended up being the catalyst that has finally arrived at Common Core.
Bill Gates donates many grants to UNESCO and Common Core, this got the ball rolling pretty quickly but for more than a decade the leftist were working behind the scenes to make sure that education reform would be for all, the whole world, not just in the good ole USA.
Behind the scenes and in conjunction with UNESCO, the Gates and an international body are the main minions carrying the ball for the UN.
I love timelines. Timelines organize many actions and events into an organized structure that is easy to read and refer to. So here is my latest timeline that if read carefully and with an open mind you can easily see this is far from initiated by the states. This was and is a deliberate top down internationalization of our school systems. From the very top of the education reform food chain, all the way down to our local school boards.
-Good ole Marc Tucker, Linda Darla Hammonds and a host of others are pressing forward to make Common Core and education for all a reality.
• 1988: Marc Tucker became the president of the National Center for Education and the Economy (NCEE) where he joined up with Hillary Clinton, Mario Cuomo, and Ira Magaziner to get states to move away from local control of their schools and migrate to national standards.
• 1990: George H. W. Bush signed an international agreement entitled, "World Education for All (EFA), the result of a United Nations "World Conference on Education for All" summit.
• 1991: Tucker and Lauren Resnick created New Standards that pushed standards-based reform.
• 1992: Tucker writes "Dear Hillary Letter." This letter, written to Hillary Clinton, addressed Tucker's ideas for radical education reform after Bill Clinton's presidential win.
The goal is "to remold the entire American system" into "a seamless web that literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same systems for everyone," coordinated by "a system of labor market boards at the local, state and federal levels" where curriculum and "job matching" will be handled by counselors "accessing the integrated computer-based program."
• 1994: Tucker's ambitious plan was implemented in three laws passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton: the Goals 2000 Act, the School-to-Work Act Opportunities Act, and the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) called "Improving America's Schools Act of 1994."
• 1996: An organization called ACHIEVE, Inc. was formed by the nation's governors and corporate leaders. (Many of them tied to Marc Tucker and the NCEE). The goals from an Education Summit in Palisades, NY were to ACHIEVE the goals of the 1994 school reform bills. (link)
• 1998: Tucker and Judy Codding created America's Choice, a comprehensive school reform program, that made sure the national standards were further implemented into schools.
• 2001: George W. Bush renames ESEA "The No Child Left Behind Act" and signed it into law.
• 2004: Microsoft (Bill Gates) contracts with UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to fulfill part of UNESCO'S Millennium Campaign Goals—universal education and educating for a global economy. A "master curriculum" for teacher training in information technologies based standards, guidelines, benchmarks, and assessment techniques is to be developed. (link)
(UNESCO / Gates Foundation Agreement)
• 2005: Bill Gates funds the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce—created by Tucker. States begin adopting its education reform initiative, "Tough Choices or Tough Times." In 2008, Utah's Governor Huntsman touts it and joins with 5 others states (Massachusetts, Delaware, Arizona, New Mexico, and New Hampshire) who adopt it in order to "reinvent their educational systems."
2005- Bill Gates signs 26 page agreement with UNESCO:
2005- Bill Clinton: "We have to do away with our love of local control of our schools"
• 2008: Gates Foundation, along with two other foundations, created Strong American Schools (a successor to the STAND UP campaign launched in 2006, which was an outgrowth of UNESCO's Millennium Campaign Goals for Universal Education). It calls for American education standards.
NOTE- This point in the timeline above and below is probably the most important transition from UNESCO, Bill Gates, the IBAG to passing the Common Core Standards to the NGA. Many think that the NGA just popped out this idea, when in fact it was handed to the NGA on behalf of Bill Gates and UNESCO.
This is the claim where the CCS were state led, "because they came from NGA, a group of state Governors, doing what is best for their states."
• 2008: Gates Foundation funds the International Benchmarking Advisory Group report for Common Core Standards on behalf of the National Governors Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, and ACHIEVE, Inc. titled, "Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education." This report shows the United Nations is a member of the International Benchmarking Advisory Group for Common Core Standards.
The member of mention is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which developed UNESCO's Millennium Declaration—partnering with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. (link)
The report states: While states must take the lead, the federal government can help. And the federal government can do that best by playing an enabling role grounded in a new vision for the historic state-federal partnership in education.
• 2009: Marc Tucker writes a chapter in the book "Change Wars: The Inspiring Future for Educational Change." One chapter is called International Benchmarking as a Lever for Policy Reform. The book says the UN's OECD launched Programme for International Student Assessment in 2000 to monitor the outcomes of education. Linda Darling-Hammond also contributes a chapter. Darling-Hammond heads the SBAC.
• April, 2009: Gates Foundation members, along with a few dozen others, participate in a Washington conference and produce "Smart Options: Investing the Recovery Funds for Student Success." These ideas were funded by the 2008 Stimulus (ARRA-American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and supported Race to the Top. Priority 1: Develop Common American Standards—also called Career-Ready Standards—in most states by January 2012.
• 2009 (summer): Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governors Association, and ACHIEVE, Inc. agree to partner on a common core standards project.
• 2009 (fall): The U.S. Dept. of Ed signals it will fund $360M for summative assessments aligned to Common Core Standards and begins planning meetings. Two consortia begin competing for this funding: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. States begin adopting Common Core Standards and join one of the consortia in order to receive No Child Left Behind waivers from the U.S. Department of Education Secretary, Arne Duncan.
• 2009 (December): Utah becomes a governing member state of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and is obligated to use the online assessments created by the SBAC which is led by Bill Ayers' friend, Linda Darling-Hammond. Judy Park, Associate Superintendent, Utah State Office of Ed, eventually co-chairs the Consortia.
• 2009 (December): Gates Foundation gives the National PTA a $1 million grant to mobilize parents for Common Core Standards.
• June, 2010: National Governors Association and State Education Chiefs launch Common State Academic Standards.
• April 2011: The SBAC Overview Curriculum and Assessment Conference issues a report stating that CCSS member states must adopt their assessments by Dec. 31, 2011. Further, they must develop tests to be administered in 2014-2015.
• 2011: The American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) education task force calls for the demise of the Common Core Standards, but puts it on hold after receiving a $376,635 grant from the Gates Foundation. (link)
• 2011: Bill Gates speaks at the November G20 Summit in Cannes and issues his report, "Innovation With Impact: Financing 21st Century Development" stating, "My report will address the financing needed to achieve maximum progress on the Millennium Development Goals, and to make faster progress on development over the next decade."
• 2011: Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan announces "Today, I promise you that [the Department of Education] will be a committed partner in the national effort to build a more environmentally literate and responsible society… We must advance the sustainability movement through education… Education and sustainability are the keys to our economic future-and our ecological future."
• 2012: States begin to recognize the loss of local control and enormous cost of implementation of the Common Core Standards. Many states begin pushing back. The Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute call the standards unconstitutional per federal education law.
• 2012: States not on Common Core and not meeting the Annual Yearly Progress requirements of NCLB petition congress for relief. Lawmakers working on options are undercut when the Obama White House circumvents congress to grant waivers from NCLB if states adopt Common Core.
-Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott stated that the common standards movement amounted to a "desire for a federal takeover of public education." Now, additional states (who originally signed on), including Massachusetts, Iowa, Kansas, and Virginia, are expressing concerns about the common standards initiative.
-Gov. Nikki Haley just signed a letter supporting legislation in South Carolina to block CCSS implementation stating, "South Carolina shouldn't relinquish control to a consensus of states any more than the federal government."
2011-Larry Shumway, Utah state superintendent, a member of the CCSSO Board of Directors, a member of the Board of Directors at West Ed which is the project management partner for SBAC assessments, recommends Utah retain its relationship as a governing member of the SBAC (thus forcing Utah to use their tests).
"I am personally opposed to any changes in Utah's public education governance, either by constitutional amendment or by statutory revision, that would have the effect of centralizing power and decreasing representation. I oppose changes that would decrease the ability of local boards of education, elected by the citizens of that district, to guide their own schools to meet the needs of their communities as they see it, or that would diminish the ability of 104 elected legislators and 15 elected State Board members to fulfill their responsibilities to lead Utah public education as they represent their constituencies." -Larry Shumway–State of Education Address October 11, 2011
This seems to me a clear conflict of interest for Mr. Shumway to testify to the Utah legislature on anything related to Common Core or the SBAC.
Gates' Foundation other contributions during the time frame of consideration and development of the Common Core initiative.
Counsel of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO):
National Governor's Association (NGA):
2008–$2,259,780,Mark Tucker's NCEE:
Total: $27,000,000
Bill Gates, via UNESCO and the United Nations and many willing participants taking bribes at all levels has successfully not only nationalized but Internationalized our educational system.
To any who still harbor the illusion that Common Core State Standards were the product of the states simply coming together, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.
Special thanks to the many people involved in digging this information up. Much work has been done by people all around the country to put this information together and help follow the money trail.
Please do your part now in passing this information on to everyone you know so they can be educated about what the Common Core Initiative is really all about.
Links to above article:
Bill Gates timeline: best source
Ed for all 2015
Click to access class%20of%202009.pdf
Click to access BenchmarkingforSuccess.pdf
2004- UNESCO "Cooperation Agreement" with Bill Gates.
Click to access strategy_microsoft_agreement.pdf


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My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
I'm a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I'm a child of the King.
My Father's own Son, the Savior of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is pleading our pardon on high,
That we may be His when He comes by and by.
I once was an outcast stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, an alien by birth,
But I've been adopted, my name's written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.
A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They're building a palace for me over there;
Though exiled from home, yet still may I sing:
All glory to God, I'm a child of the King.
John Bunnell Sumner died this date (5/10/1918) Binghamton, NY. He was a Methodist who wrote the music to "I'm a Child of the King." Sumner was born 3/25/1838, Wyalusing, PA.


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Summer's not quite over yet so here's an easy – and delicious – project to get you through those last long hot days.
1 large bag of pretzels; pick a shape you prefer (we like the knotted loops)
1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate
1 cup White Chocolate
1 cup Peanut Butter
Chopped Nuts
Multi-Colored Sprinkles
Chocolate Sprinkles
Mini Chocolate Chips
Melt chocolates separately in microwave (about 2 minutes on high). Stir well. Dip pretzels in chocolate. Coat with topping of your choice. For peanut butter pretzels, melt chocolate and peanut butter together (equal amounts). Line cookie sheet with waxed paper. Place pretzels on top on waxed paper and refrigerate until set. Then pretzels can be stored carefully in plastic containers. These are a great gift. They are also nice at a vort or shalom zachor – or just for eating!


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OAKLAND, Calif.—State transportation officials in California are investigating why nearly three dozen threaded steel rods on the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge snapped when workers tightened the fittings.
The rods—up to 16 feet long and as thick as a man's thigh—connect the bridge deck to the concrete cap that sits on top of the massive pier just east of the bridge tower, according to The Contra Costa Times ( http://bit.ly/14nrDqm).
Officials with Caltrans, the state agency responsible for bridges and other transportation, were expected to brief the Metropolitan Transportation Commission on the problem. The commission is overseeing the new $6.4 billion span construction with the state.
Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler told the newspaper the broken rods are not considered a structural problem and are not expected to delay the scheduled Labor Day weekend opening.
The rods were manufactured in Ohio and are being installed for seismic safety.
The bridge is being made to withstand large temblors so that emergency vehicles can use it after a major quake.
About one-third of the 96 tightened rods broke.
Information from: Contra Costa Times, http://www.contracostatimes.com


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Sometimes I can still surprise myself. Surprise myself on several different levels when I least expect it. For years, I've looked on in envy and wished I could get my hands on King Arthur's little newsletter The Baking Sheet. I've stopped subscribing and stopped buying most magazines because they just seem to get drooled over and then pile up all over everywhere until I'm forced to take them all to the library or HalfPriceBooks or the trash before a new pile comes in from the mail box. But this is baking and this would be King Arthur … and then I placed an order and at the end an offer came up … a year's subscription to YES, the Baking Sheet … for Free! Could you have said no? Well, maybe you'd have been principled and not clicked that box but me, no there were no principles between me and that click. No, that doesn't surprise me about myself, I know myself only too well.
What surprised me was … you got it, I'm baking from it … well in this case it's griddleing. (Right that is not a word but I'm using it and I just know you know what it means.)
I'm one that thinks if you buy a cook book and enjoy the reading of it and get even one keeper of a recipe out of it, it was worth the $$$. So to find a little newsletter and get a keeper of a recipe seems so much more a concentrated value. Does that make sense to you?
This recipe came from a book, Yankee Hill-Country Cooking published in 1963 and is a collection of Heirloom Recipes from Rural Kitchens. The author, Beatrice Vaughan, titles these Green Corn Cakes and I've no idea why … although when I think about these and that title I conjure up some crazy idea in my head of stacking or layering the corn cakes with fried green tomatoes and finding a nirvana but that's something else.
Reading the recipe you rather doubt these could turn out: 8 ears of corn, 2 tablespoons white whole wheat flour, salt, Aleppo pepper and two eggs, separated. How's that going to hold together much less leave you wanting more. Well, trust me, it will. No sugar but these are deliciously sweet and so I added in a finely chopped jalapeño pepper from my garden.
Adding the jalapeño was brilliant, loved it but it also blossomed into the idea that these little cakes would adapt to innumerable flavors. I just know you don't need any of my suggestions as I'm sure about now you've generated 7 great combos. … cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla; ginger; ham … oh, tell me more …
There were only two of us in the house this morning so I cut this way back: used only 2 ears of corn and 1 tablespoon of flour with one egg. Obviously I didn't need the 6 quart Kitchen Aid to whip that one little egg white into stiff peaks, neither did I really want to do it by hand. Bring on that stick blender whisk!
The two things I think are most important to the success of this are:
1. Score each row of corn down the center of each row.
2. Scrape, do not cut, all the corn from the cob into a bowl. A deep bowl that you can put the cob on the bottom works well to contain all the splattering of corn and it's juice when scraped.
For more variations, play with the flour and if you want them gluten free: use a gluten-free flour blend or make them with corn meal – try blue corn meal … see what I mean there are just so many possibilities and additions to these.
A tablespoon of delicate delicious! I promise. You see the other thing that surprised me about all this was that both of us really enjoyed these and the talk is to have them again … soon … as in tomorrow!


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Creationists Find Cave Painting of Dinosaur
Good news for the oxymoronic field of creationist paleontology: A newly discovered cave painting in southeastern Utah sort of resembles a long-necked dinosaur, which means humans and dinosaurs coexisted in Utah 6000 years ago, back when the planet was new, say officials from the Creationist Museum of Petersburg, Kentucky.
But! In online journal Palaeontologia Electronica, the scientists who discovered the petroglyph argue that it is a painting of a snake (or some other elongated wiggly thing) that got some schmutz underneath it. The creationists are mistaking schmutz for legs, the scientists say.
Unless it's a prelapsarian snake, from before Eve ate the apple and all snakes lost their legs for all of eternity, as punishment for encouraging the original sin!
And what about the isosceles triangle atop the dinosaur's back? I hereby postulate that the isosceles triangle is a wing, and proves that Jesus rode around the Garden of Eden on a Pegasus-Diplodocus hybrid, and commissioned a mud portrait of his noble steed. [Daily Mail, Paleaontologia Electronica, images via Paleaontologia Electronica]


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GROOM LAKE, NV – Mega-celeb Oprah Winfrey has been in discussions with top government officials in an attempt to purchase Area 51.
In 1947, an alien spacecraft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico and the surviving aliens were brought to the Air Force base in southern Nevada known as Area 51. The aliens have thrived and built a community that they have called home for over 60 years.
Oprah, a long-time supporter of aliens, has done countless shows promoting alien issues. She does tailor the shows to also be applicable to human problems but contends, "Aliens are always at the center of it all." There is even speculation that she took a shine to Dr. Phil because he is part alien.
Winfrey's plan is to turn the base into a full habitat for all alien cultures. "I want this to be a welcome mat for visitors all over this wonderful world," exclaimed a hopeful Oprah. "It starts with this base and, hopefully, soon the whole state of Nevada will be a refuge for travelers and outcasts from everywhere."
So far the Air Force, the Department of Energy and the National Security Council have all turned down Winfrey. But she hopes that her endorsement of President-Elect Barack Obama will breathe new life into the one dream that she hasn't been able to make come true.
GROOM LAKE, NV – Mega-celeb Oprah Winfrey has been in discussions with top government officials in an attempt to purchase Area 51.


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Or Camilla Tells the Story of Her Life, Disguised as a Blog Post
Oh man. Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers is so highly relevant to my interests. This blog post isn't going to be brief, nor is it going to be unbiased. I am an animal science major and I am a vegetarian. I have many opinions on the ideas discussed in Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers.I guess I will begin by telling about my background (how I reached the opinions I have) and then I will discuss my reactions to the first four chapters of Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers.
I was brought up in Blacksburg. I've never lived on a farm, but when I was 8 I started riding horses, and after that time, spent huge amounts of my time on two farms. when I was 11, I raised a bunch of chickens and kept a few as laying hens and pets. Around that time, I also became a vegetarian–I didn't want to eat my pet chickens (they were my friends), so why would I eat other chickens? I have always (even when I was a child) tried to be consistent and logical, so I decided that I also shouldn't eat mammal species, because they are more highly intelligent than birds, in general. At that time, I read a lot about the animal right movement, and to me, as a soft-hearted 12-year-old, it seemed reasonable. I was a child who formed strong bonds with animals and didn't see how they were so tremendously different than humans that they should be killed and eaten or used for production of eggs, milk, or wool. Fast forward about 6 years–I was 18 and had seen enough animal blood and suffering that I became much more hard-hearted. However, I argued that the animal production industry in this country was corrupt and I shouldn't support it by eating meat. Then I became an animal science major and was truly exposed to farm animals, livestock production, and the realities of generating the food we eat.There isn't anything evil about it.We have evolved to eat animals for 1000s of years. We raise animals, we treat them well, and we kill and eat them. (Now, I'm not saying that there isn't anything wrong with the meat industry. There is a lot wrong with it. But this isn't the place and time for that discussion. Generally, at its heart, there isn't a thing wrong with killing and eating animals and that is my point.) However, I still do not eat meat. Richard Bulliet would call me an elective vegetarian and a product of post-domestic society and, actually, I would agree very strongly. In fact, I would say that my choices are, perhaps, more of a product of post-domestic society than most people's choices are.
In post-domestic society, we are far removed from animals. We are not in contact with their excrement or their copulation. We do not see their suffering, their blood, and their death, but neither do we see their natural behaviors and contentment in life. Meat is no different than any other product that we buy at the store–we don't know where it came from and we don't really care. Ethically, should we be eating something that we know nothing about? If you eat a steak, you have had a part in death. If you don't want to think about that death, should you be eating that steak?
Bulliet discuss the animal rights movement at length. However, he doesn't really discuss the other side of the movement–the animal welfare advocates in animal agriculture. The animal welfare movement is made up of people who, by and large, still live a domestic lifestyle, rather than a post-domestic one, and who farm and produce the meat we eat. They state that we eat animals because we naturally are omnivores, and that food animals wouldn't produce good food if they were suffering. However, I believe that I was slightly inaccurate when I said, earlier in this paragraph, that those who believe in animal welfare, rather than animal rights, are a movement. They are farmers. They are hardworking. they feed our country. They aren't a movement in the same way that the animal rights movement is a movement, because they don't really have time to be.
Based on my observations of the world and the general knowledge I have, I would postulate that many of the people involved in mainstream agriculture never left domestic culture. They grew up on farms and then decided to become farmers. However, a more interesting phenomenon is that of those who grew up in decidedly post-domestic culture–towns and cities–returning to small-scale, organic farming. Although I do not know whether this phenomenon has been documented, I have observed it in people I know, on several occasions.They want to return to the earth and raise their own food. They want to know where their food comes from. Barbara Kingsolver tells the story of her family (including her two daughters) returning to domestic culture (although she doesn't call it that) in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
Of course, Bulliet doesn't (or hasn't) made the distinction that post-domestic and domestic can be applied to individual lifestyles. He is making broader societal distinctions. However, I think that the difference that he describes can be as easily applied to individuals as to entire societies.
Central to Bulliet's thesis is the idea that post-domestic society is more sensitive to sex and blood than domestic society was. I think that while his reasoning is sound, this idea really isn't that surprising. If you are exposed to blood and sex, blood and sex aren't shocking anymore. However, is it preferable to be shocked by blood and sex? is it better to exist in a world where those things are seen as taboo or in a world where those (very natural and normal) things are seen as normal and natural?
I think that humans have been becoming increasingly sensitive to discussion of human sex for a much longer time than we have lived in a post-domestic world. Our society is fascinated by sex and unwilling to talk about it, but that has been true of many societies throughout history. However, I do agree that never seeing animal sex makes us more fascinated by sex (I, personally, saw quite a bit of horse reproduction when I was 10-14 and was never quite as impressed by the idea of human sex as my same age peers were).
An interesting idea and one I would like to hear Bulliet discuss at more length is the idea that conservation efforts are a product of post-domestic society. Do we have to have some sort of distance from animals to decide that they are worth preserving?
Bulliet's discussion of separation and per-domestic society is interesting, but not partticulatly earth-shattering. Of course pre-humans had to realize that they are different in some way from animals, and of course humans were hunter-gatherers before they domesticated animals. However, I suppose that in order to have the later classifications, the earlier ones were necessary.
This blog post hasn't moved in one direction. It has no thesis statement and is basically a reflection. However, if I have one main idea that I derived from the readings, it is that I don't know whether categories (like domestic, post-domestic, and pre-domestic) are that useful. I think that it is useful to look at the effects of animals on human society, but with every label or category comes many exceptions to that label.


text: Can anyone out there resolve an apparent contradiction in the courses I'm currently doing? The virology course says that retroviruses don't kill their host cells except when its HIV in which case it does. Immunology says HIV doesn't kill cells, cytotoxic T cells doing their proper job remove the infected cells? Which is correct or is the fact that we don't actually know? (btw anybody who want to rant at me about how HIV isn't the cause of aids should fells free because I think its intereting but can they argue the case instead of spouting dogma please?) Thanks in advance Matthew, mic2mcb at south-01.novell.leeds.ac.uk mic2mcb at gps.leeds.ac.uk


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Taras Boychuk says he gets his inspiration from the mountains, where he finds subjects for his oil painting in stems of grass, stones, bushes, and tree trunks blasted by mountain storms. (Click images for more information)
Taras Boychuk was born in Ukraine, and moved to Canada in 2004. He began his career in 1982 in architecture at Lviv Polytechnic University in Ukraine. In 1992, he exhibited in Ukrainian Art & Literary Club in New York.
Categories: Painting


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This photo, taken by publisher Lois Allen, is the very first known turtle-selfie taken by a person. This turtle was spotted crossing the road on Ritchie Avenue in Nelson Township just last week. It probably didn't need any help, but Allen wanted to get the "scoop" on everyone else. Unfortunately, she does not have a "smart phone" and cannot work her phone/camera… so she improvised by using a regular camera!
Join our Turtle Rescue Club! Send your turtle rescue photos to email@example.com with your name and address, and info of when and where you rescued a turtle. Turtle Rescue Club members will receive a certificate and keychain.


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Amidst Chaos, 15 Minutes of Quiet Time Helps Focus Students
February 9, 2012 | 10:36 AM | By Tina Barseghian
Filed Under: Culture, Learning Methods
Students at Visitacion Valley School in South San Francisco
observe 15 minutes of quiet time every morning.
By Kyle Palmer
On a recent morning at Visitacion Valley Middle School in South San Francisco, Principal James Dierke looked out over the school's auditorium at more than 100 eighth graders. A restless din filled the large room. Bursts of laughter and errant shouts punctuated the buzz. Most of the students seemed disinterested in Dierke's announcements about the spring's impending graduation, upcoming field trips, and recent birthdays.
Then, Dierke struck a bell and said, "Okay, it's quiet time."
And just like that, a hush fell over the auditorium. Students straightened their backs and closed their eyes. Some bowed their heads. Others rested them on the backs of their chairs. The once-boisterous hall became silent and remained so for the next 15 minutes.
"Visitors are always amazed," Dierke said afterwards, "but it works. It really is quiet time."
"Quiet Time" isn't just a slogan but a daily regimen at Visitacion Valley. The entire school—faculty, staff, and students—spend the first and last 15 minutes of every day in silence. Students are encouraged to use the time to meditate, but Dierke says students can simply clear their mind, think about schoolwork, or even sleep. Just as long as they are quiet.
"I've found that it makes people—students and teachers—more joyful," Dierke said, "To have that time to reflect and be still is important."
That is not always possible for his school's students, Dierke said. He said the neighborhood around Visitacion Valley can be rife with violence and crime. "These kids hear gunshots on their way to and from school. That kind of stuff makes it hard to focus on algebra," he said.
Besides dealing with problems outside school, Visitacion Valley faces challenges in school, too. Nearly 90 percent of Visitacion Valley's students are classified by the district as socioeconomically disadvantaged and more than 40 percent are English Language Learners.
Dierke, who has been principal at the school for 13 years, said things reached a turning point about five years ago. "We were looking for a way to get kids to relax," he said. "We saw kids with real post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. I noticed a lot of them missing school, fighting, and getting angry a lot. They couldn't concentrate on school."
An assistant principal suggested the idea for quiet time after she saw Hollywood director David Lynch speak about the program and the accompanying benefits of transcendental meditation. Lynch runs a non-profit foundation that promotes meditation in schools and also sponsors meditation retreats for under-served students.
With the help of the David Lynch Foundation and the San Francisco-based Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education (CWAE), Visitacion Valley trained teachers on how to conduct Quiet Time sessions in their class. CWAE specialists counseled students on meditation techniques and five full-time staffers remain on campus to help maintain the program.
Since beginning Quiet Time, Dierke said things have improved: Daily attendance last year was more than 98 percent, and there have been fewer suspensions and higher test scores.
Angelica Mahinay, Visitacion Valley's 8th grade student body president, said Quiet Time gives her more energy. "I get to school at 7 a.m. for softball practice. It helps me not be so tired during school," she said.
Eighth grader Art Parkeenvincha moved to San Francisco from Canada in the middle of this year. "I can be really hyperactive," he said. "I had never done meditation before, but now I do Quiet Time. I think of my mantra, and it helps me calm down."
Bob Roth, Executive Director for the David Lynch Foundation, said meditation is not just a way for students to relax but has real cognitive benefits. "Meditation strengthens the areas of the brain that control our 'fear center'," he said. "It helps kids reduce anxiety and increase their ability to reason and concentrate."
Principal Dierke said, as a result of Quiet Time, the school's image is changing. "This school used to be known as the 'fight' school," he said. "Now, I have other principals asking me about Quiet Time. It feels good to have that reputation."
Two other schools in SFUSD have begun their own Quiet Time programs and a district spokesperson said other schools have begun asking questions about Visitacion Valley's success.
Visitacion Valley also got attention from actor Russell Brand, who visited the school just before Christmas on a trip sponsored by the David Lynch Foundation. "That was crazy," Angelica, the student body president, said. "I got to sit right by him and the whole school meditated with him."
In addition, Dierke said regular Quiet Time has also helped teachers relax. "Only two teachers have left in the past five years, outside of retirements and district layoffs. That's amazing for an urban middle school," he said. He attributes that to higher levels of job satisfaction.
Physical Education teacher Barry O'Driscoll agreed that Quiet Time has helped improve the staff's quality of life. "I was very reluctant when it first started," he said. "I thought it was just another fad. But now I meditate twice a day, and I do it at home. I think it's helped my golf game, too."
Visitacion Valley still struggles with significant challenges. This year, the school has had to integrate more than 100 new students onto campus after another nearby middle school was closed by the district. Likewise, test scores have increased in recent years but still remain low compared to other SFUSD middle schools.
"We're not perfect," Dierke said. "Quiet Time is just like an umbrella. When you have it up, it keeps the rain off, and you can focus on trying to build a culture with kids. That's what we're gradually doing here."
The payoff might be most evident in students like Angelica Mahinay, who says, "Man, when I hear students getting an attitude, or they're saying they're going to fight, I say, 'Hey! Just meditate!'"
Related articles: The San Francisco Examiner—Meditation program mends troubled Visitacion Valley Middle School and Meditation for Students: Results of the David Lynch Foundation's Quiet Time/TM Program in San Francisco Schools, New research shows Transcendental Meditation improves standardized academic achievement, Breaking the "predictive power of demographics": SF principal talks about how TM helps his students. And here's a wonderful report from the The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF): Edutopia: SF School Uses TM to Overcome Problems.


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The advocates of "austerity now!" are talking about Sweden.
Last year Fraser Nelson wrote in The Spectator:
When Europe's finance ministers meet for a group photo, it's easy to spot the rebel — Anders Borg has a ponytail and earring. What actually marks him out, though, is how he responded to the crash. While most countries in Europe borrowed massively, Borg did not. Since becoming Sweden's finance minister, his mission has been to pare back government. His 'stimulus' was a permanent tax cut. To critics, this was fiscal lunacy — the so-called 'punk tax cutting' agenda. Borg, on the other hand, thought lunacy meant repeating the economics of the 1970s and expecting a different result.
Three years on, it's pretty clear who was right. 'Look at Spain, Portugal or the UK, whose governments were arguing for large temporary stimulus,' he says. 'Well, we can see that very little of the stimulus went to the economy. But they are stuck with the debt.' Tax-cutting Sweden, by contrast, had the fastest growth in Europe last year, when it also celebrated the abolition of its deficit. The recovery started just in time for the 2010 Swedish election, in which the Conservatives were re-elected for the first time in history.
So, how is the Swedish economy doing?
Well, the good thing about assessing the Swedish economy is that Sweden remains monetarily sovereign, meaning that its economy is not dependent upon the monetary policy of a foreign agency like the ECB. This means that it can be fairly assessed side-by-side with other Western monetary sovereigns like Britain, America and Japan.
The thing that austerians are so excited about is that Sweden currently has low debt and is running balanced budgets:
But that hasn't meant that unemployment has been low. In fact, right now it's worse than American, British and Japanese unemployment:
And while Sweden's low debt and balanced budgets may have resulted in low rates, its rates are not significantly lower than Britain and America, and are higher than Japan who carry the highest debt load of all:
But to be fair real GDP growth in Sweden since the crisis has been relatively decent — although notably still below its pre-2008 trend — beating the other three countries who all performed poorly:
I think that Sweden is benefiting less from its actions during the slump and more from its actions during the boom.
In my view, Sweden's focus on bringing down deficits in the years from 2004 until the crisis in 2008 was very responsible and prudent. Sweden had no wasteful expansionary spending in the mid 2000s on things like occupying Iraq. It was not enacting expensive legislation like No Child Left Behind, Medicare D and unfunded tax cuts that bloated government budgets.
Coming into the crisis with a low debt-to-GDP ratio is very healthy because it gives the government additional fiscal space to cut taxes, and spend money on infrastructure, public goods and tax rebates to bring down the unemployment rate, which is the one aspect of the Swedish macroeconomy with significant room for improvement. An unemployment rate approaching 9% is undeniably unhealthy, and it is disappointing that the Swedish treasury with so much wiggle room is not doing more to assist the private sector in bringing down unemployment. And even though Sweden has had more growth than other Western countries, it has still not caught up with its pre-2008 growth trend.
Sweden's unemployment woe illustrates that Sweden is not a paradigm of the supposed virtues of austerity in all seasons. Austerity in the slump just frees up resources while the economy is already suffering from a high degree of slack in resources — capital (high savings, low interest rates) and labour (high unemployment). Sweden illustrates this just as much as other Western nations.
The lesson we should take from Sweden is that a countercylical spending policy — less spending in the boom, more spending in the slump — is preferable.


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–SDF spokesperson says Baghouz is free, military victory against Daesh has been achieved
BEIRUT: US-backed forces in Syria announced on Saturday they have liberated the last pocket of territory held by the militant Islamic State group in Syria, declaring victory over it and bringing an end to the caliphate it declared in 2014.
The capture of the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces brings to a close a gruelling battle that stretched across several weeks and saw thousands of people flee the territory and hundreds killed.
"Baghouz is free and the military victory against Daesh has been achieved," tweeted Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.
The elimination of the last IS stronghold in Baghouz marks the end of the militants' proto-state, which at its height blanketed large parts of Syria and Iraq, but the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.
IS affiliates in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and other countries continue to pose a threat, and the group's ideology has inspired so-called lone-wolf attacks that had little if any connection to its leadership.
The campaign to take back the territory by the US and its partners has spanned five years and two US presidencies, unleashed more than 100,000 bombs and killed untold numbers of fighters and civilians.
But the weekend announcement, in a tweet, was anti-climactic, and on the ground sporadic gunfire continued. A day earlier, President Donald Trump declared that Islamic State militants no longer control any territory in Syria.
Associated Press journalists in Baghouz on Saturday reported hearing mortars and gunfire directed toward a cliff overlooking Baghouz, where US-led coalition airstrikes were carried out a day earlier.
SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel told the AP on Friday that there were IS fighters hiding in caves near Baghouz and that clearing operations were still underway.
On Saturday, journalists were taken to an encampment in Baghouz where the group had made its last stand a wasteland of wrecked vehicles, torn tents and scorched trees.
Personal belongings and other items including generators, oil barrels, water tanks and satellite dishes were scattered in the dirt. Cars and motorcycles were turned to rusted, twisted heaps of metal. Amid the empty fox holes and trenches stood a building with a huge yellow SDF flag on top.
Ciya Kobani, an SDF commander, announced the end of the operation from the rooftop: "We have been victorious against Daesh," he declared.
At its height, IS ruled a third of both Syria and Iraq, holding millions of people hostage.
The group carried out large-scale massacres and documented them with slickly produced videos circulated online. During a rampage through Iraq's Sinjar region in 2014, it captured thousands of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority and forced them into sexual slavery. Many remain missing to this day.
The group also used its caliphate as a launchpad for attacks around the globe, including the assaults in Paris in 2015 that killed more than 130 people.
While it imposed a distorted version of Islamic law through public beheadings and crucifixions, the group also carried out the mundane duties of governance in its territories, including regulating prices at markets and building infrastructure.


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Here's his list, in all its four team glory.
Five Dogs on offense, six on defense. Mimbs is his second-team punter.
One thing you've got to say about Steele, he's not afraid to be bold. Guys like Enrique Davis and Julio Jones haven't played a down of D-1 ball, yet there they are.
By the way, by my count, Florida, Tennessee and LSU all had more players on his teams than did the Dawgs.