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Liberals think that the title of Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism is an oxymoron. They're wrong. Goldberg himself writes:
"For more than sixty years, liberals have insisted that the bacillus of fascism lies semi-dormant in the bloodstream of the political right. And yet with the notable and complicated exceptions of Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom, no top-tier American conservative intellectual was a devotee of Nietzsche or a serious admirer of Heidegger. All major conservative schools of thought trace themselves back to the champions of the Enlightenment–John Locke, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Burke–and none of them have any direct intellectual link to Nazism or Nietzsche, to existentialism, nihilism, or even, for the most part, Pragmatism. Meanwhile, the ranks of the leftwing intellectuals are infested with ideas and thinkers squarely in the fascist tradition. And yet all it takes is the abracadabra word "Marxist" to absolve most of them of any affinity with these currents. The rest get off the hook merely by attacking bourgeois morality and American values–even though such attacks are themselves little better than a reprise of fascist arguments" [page 175].
"Foucault's "enterprise of Unreason," Derrida's tyrannical logocentrism, Hitler's "revolt against reason." All fed into a movement that believes action is more important than ideas. Deconstructionism, existentialism, postmodernism, Pragmatism, relativism: all these ideas had the same purpose–to erode the iron chains of tradition, dissolve the concrete foundations of truth, and firebomb the bunkers where the defenders of the ancient regime still fought and persevered. These were ideologies of the "movement." The late Richard Rorty admitted as much, conflating Nietzsche and Heidegger with James and Dewey as part of the same grand project" [Goldberg, Liberal Fascism, page 176].
It turns out that most of the moral and philosophical assumptions of liberalism have been shared by not only the Marxists, but the Nazis as well. NAZI stood for "National Socialist German Workers Party," and was merely a rival brand of the clearly leftist political ideology of socialism. And given the fact that Marxism was in fact every bit as totalitarian and murderous as Nazism, in hindsight it seems rather bizarre that "Marxist" was ever an abracadabra word that the American left was willing to bear to begin with.
The purpose of this article is to explore how the foundational ideas that liberals uphold as being the opposite of fascism in fact actually fed the monster of fascist Nazism, and how the modern American left continue to fall prey to fascist premises and outcomes to this very day.
It is particularly interesting that the supposedly highly individualistic and influential school of thought known as "existentialism" became so ensnared by fascism and Nazism. On the surface, existentialism would seem to be the very polar opposite of fascism and Nazism. After all, a philosophy of radical freedom centered in the individual would surely be incompatible with a totalitarian social system that denies political liberty in the name of the community. One would assume that existentialism would be a philosophy of rebellion against all such external authority. And yet the Nazis quoted Frederich Nietzsche at great length in support of their ideology (see also here). Martin Heidegger, one of the foremost existentialist thinkers in history, turned out to have been a proud member of the Nazi Party. And even famed existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre – who fought to resist fascism in his Nazi-occupied France during WWII – ultimately merely chose another totalitarian ideology in its place (Sartre identified himself as a Marxist and a Maoist).
Georg Lukács observed (in The Destruction of Reason, 1954, page 5) that tracing a path to Hitler involved the name of nearly every major German philosopher since Hegel: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Dilthy, Simmel, Scheler, Heidegger, Jaspers, Weber. Rather than merely being amoral monsters, the Nazis emerged out of a distinguished liberal secular humanist intellectual tradition.
Max Weinreich documented in Hitler's Professors: The Part of Scholarship in Germany's Crimes against the Jewish People, an exhaustive study of the complicity of German intellectuals with the Nazi regime. Far from opposing the Nazi regime, we find that German academia actively provided the intellectual justification for Nazi fascism as well as the conceptual framework for the Holocaust. Weinreich does not claim that German scholars intended the Holocaust, but he argues that the Holocaust would not have been possible without them.
He asks, "Did they administer the poison? By no means; they only wrote the prescription."
How could such a thing happen?
Very easily, it turns out.
The existentialists (along with the secular humanists and the liberals), deny the transcendent, deny objective truth, and deny the objective morality that derive from transcendence and objective truth. Rather than any preordained system – whether moral or theological – existentialist anchored meaning not to any ideals or abstractions, but in the individual's personal existence. Life has no ultimate meaning; meaning is personal; and human beings must therefore create their own meaning for themselves.
One should already begin to see the problem: since existentialism, by its very nature, refuses to give objective answers to moral or ideological questions, a particular existentialist might choose to follow either a democrat or totalitarian ideology – and it frankly doesn't matter which. All that matters is that the choice be a genuine choice.
Existentialists didn't merely acknowledge this abandonment of transcendent morality, they positively reveled in it. In his book St. Genet, Jean-Paul Sartre celebrated the life of a criminal. Genet was a robber, a drug dealer, and a sexual deviant. By all conventional moral standards, Genet was an evil man. But for Sartre, even ostensibly evil actions could be moral if they were performed in "good faith." And since Sartre's Genet consciously chose to do what he did, and took responsibility for his choices and his actions, he was a saint in existentialist terms.
And the problem becomes even worse: by rejecting the concepts of transcendence, objective meaning, truth, and moral law, and by investing ultimate authority in the human will (i.e. Nietzsche's "will to power", Hitler's "triumph of the will"), existentialism played directly into the hands of fascism — which preached the SAME doctrines. If fascism can be defined as "violent and practical resistance against the process of transcendence," as Ernst Nolte defined it, then it's affinities with existentialism are crystal clear. The two movements became part of the same stream of thought.
Modern Nietzsche followers argue that Nietzsche was not a racial anti-Semite. For the sake of argument maybe he wasn't; but he was without any question an intellectual anti-Semite, who attacked the Jews for their ideas and their ethics — particularly as they contributed to Western civilization and to Christianity (which he also actively despised). And in addition to Nietzsche's intellectual anti-Semitism was his utter contempt for any form of abstractions — particularly as they related to the transcendental categories of morality and reason. Nietzsche maintained that abstraction of life resulted from abstraction of thought. And he blamed Christianity – which he rightly blamed as a creation of the Jews – for the denial of life manifested in Christian morality.
And, unlike most pseudo-intellectuals of today, Nietzsche was consistent: in his attack against Christianity, he attacked Judeo-Christian morality. He attacked the Christian value of other-centered love, and argued that notions of compassion and mercy favored the weak and the unfit, thereby breeding more weakness. Don't you dare think for a single nanosecond that Hitler didn't take the arguments of this beloved-by-liberals philosopher and run down the field with them toward the death camps.
The Nazis aligned themselves not only against the Jews but against the the Judeo-Christian God and the Judeo-Christian morality the Jews represented. A transcendent lawgiving God, who reveals His moral law on real tablets of stone for mankind to follow, was anathema to the fascists. They argued that such transcendence alienates human beings from nature and from themselves (i.e., from their own genuine choices). The fascist intellectuals sought to forge a new spirituality of immanence, focused upon nature, on human emotions, and on the community. The fascists sought to restore the ancient pre-Christian consciousness, the ancient mythic sensibility in the form of the land and the blood, in which individuals experience unity with nature, with each other, and with their own deepest impulses.
Gene Edward Veith in his book Modern Fascism: Liquidating the Judeo-Christian worldview writes:
The fascist rebellion against transcendence restored the ancient pagan consciousness. With it came barbarism, a barbarism armed with modern technology and intellectual sophistication. The liquidation of the transcendent moral law and "Jewish" conscience allowed the resurgence of the most primitive and destructive emotions, the unleashing of original sin (page 14).
Nietzsche argued that God is dead, and Hitler tried to finish Him off by eradicating the Jews. What is less known is that he also planned to solve the "church problem" after the war. Hitler himself said:
"The war is going to be over. The last great task of our age will be to solve the church problem. It is only then that the nation will be wholly secure" [From Hitler's Tabletalk (December 1941), quoted in The Nazi Years: A Documentary History, ed. Joachim Remak, 1990, page 105].
Hitler boasted that "I have six divisions of SS composed of men absolutely indifferent in matters of religion. It doesn't prevent them from going to their deaths with serenity in their souls." And Himmler said, "Men who can't divest themselves of manners of previous centuries, and scoff and sling mud at things which are 'holy' and matters of belief to others, once and for all do not belong in the SS."
With the creed "God is dead" and the resulting "death of God," Nietzsche predicted that energizing conflict and revolution would reemerge in a great wave of nihilism. Human beings would continue to evolve, he said, nodding to Darwinism. And man would ultimately give way to Superman. And Nietzsche said that this Superman would not accept the anachronistic abstract, transcendental meanings imposed by disembodied Judeo-Christian rationalism or by a life-denying religion. Rather, this Superman would CREATE meaning for himself and for the world as a whole.
The Superman, according to Nietzsche, would be an artist who could shape the human race – no longer bound by putrefying and stultifying and stupefying transcendence – to his will. "Man is for him an un-form, a material, an ugly stone that needs a sculptor," he wrote. Such a statement did not merely anticipate the Darwinist-based Nazi eugenics movement. It demonstrated how the exaltation of the human will could and would lead not to general liberty, as one might have expected, but to the control of the many by the elite — with those of the weaker in will being subjugated to the will of the Supermen.
Nietzsche's new ethic became the rationale for all the Nazi atrocities that would follow. As Nietzsche himself put it, "The weak and the failures shall perish: the first principle of OUR love of man. And they shall even be given every possible assistance. What is more harmful than any vice? Active pity for all the failures and the weak: Christianity" (in "The Anti-Christ" in Portable Nietzsche, p. 570). We see here also the exemplification of yet another legacy left behind by Nietzsche that was picked up by the Nazi and afterward by secular humanist atheists today: the Nietzschean attitude of flippant, sarcastic contempt for all the ordinary human values that had resulted from Judeo-Christianity.
One of the ordinary human values that had resulted from Judeo-Christianity was the fundamental sanctity of human life. But the Nazis had their own concept – Lebensunwertes Leben ("life unworthy of life"). And nearly fifty million of the most innocent and helpless human beings have perished as a result of an existentialist philosophy that survived the fall of the Nazis in liberal thought, which celebrates pro-existentialist "pro-choice" above human life.
Nietzsche's philosophy underlies the thought of all the later existentialists, and the darker implications of his thought proved impossible to ignore.
And Martin Heidegger, in his own personal choice to commit himself to National Socialism, did not ignore them.
There is more that needs to be understood.
Martin Heidegger invoked Nietzsche in his 1933 Rectoral Address, in his speech entitled, "The Self-Assertion of the German University," in which he articulated his commitment to the integration of academia with National Socialism. He began by asking, if Nietzsche is correct in saying that God is dead, what are the implications for knowledge?
As Heidegger explained, if God is dead, there is no longer a transcendent authority or reference point for objective truth. Whereas classical thought, exemplified by the Greeks, could confidently search for objective truth, today, after the death of God, truth becomes intrinsically "hidden and uncertain." Today the process of questioning is "no longer a preliminary step that is surmounted on the way to the answer and thus to knowing; rather, questioning itself becomes the highest form of knowing."
Heidegger's conclusion became accepted to the point of becoming a commonplace of contemporary liberal thought: that knowledge is a matter of process, not content. With the death of God, there is no longer any set of absolutes or abstract ideals by which existence must be ordered. Such "essentialism" is an illusion; and knowledge in the sense of objective, absolute truth must be challenged. The scholar is not one who knows or searches for some absolute truth, but the one who questions everything that pretends to be true.
Again, one would think that such a skeptical methodology would be highly incompatible with fascism, with its practice of subjecting people to an absolute human authority. And yet this betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of fascism. In fact, Heidegger's Rectoral Address was warmly endorsed by the National Socialists for a very good reason: the fascists saw themselves as iconoclasts, interrogating the old order and boldly challenging all transcendent absolutes.
We find that in this same address in which Heidegger asserts that "questioning itself becomes the highest form of knowing," Heidegger went on to advocate expelling academic freedom from the university:
"To give oneself the law is the highest freedom. The much-lauded 'academic freedom' will be expelled from the university."
Heidegger argued that the traditional canons of academic freedom were not genuine but only negative, encouraging "lack of concern" and "arbitrariness." Scholars must become unified with each other and devote themselves to service. In doing so, he stated, "the concept of the freedom of German students is now brought back to it's truth."
Now, the claim that freedom would somehow emerge when academic freedom is eliminated might be sophistry of the worst kind, but it is not mere rhetorical doublespeak. Why? Because Heidegger was speaking existentially, calling not for blind obedience, but for a genuine commitment of the will. Freedom was preserved because "to give oneself the law" was a voluntary, freely chosen commitment. Academic freedom as the disinterested pursuit of truth shows "arbitrariness," parking of the old essentialist view that truth is objective and transcendent. The essentialist scholar is detached and disengaged, showing "lack of concern," missing the sense in which truth is ultimately personal, a matter of the will, demanding personal responsibility and choice. In the new order, the scholar will be fully engaged in service to the community. Academic freedom is alienating, a function of the old commitment to moral and intellectual absolutes.
And what this meant in practice could be seen in the Bavarian Minister of Culture's directive to professors in Munich, that they were no longer to determine whether something "is true, but whether it is in keeping with the direction of the National Socialist revolution" (Hans Schemm, quoted in Hermann Glaser, The Cultural Roots of National Socialism, tr. Ernest A. Menze, 1978, p. 99).
I point all of the above out to now say that it is happening all over again, by intellectuals who unknowingly share most of the same tenets that made the horror possible the last time.
We live in a time and in a country in which the all-too modern left has virtually purged the university of conservatives and conservative thought. This is simply a fact that is routinely confirmed. And as a mater of routine, conservative speakers need not apply at universities. If they are actually invited to speak, they are frequently shouted down by a relative few liberal activists. And leftwing censorship is commonplace. Free speech is largely gone, in a process that simply quashes unwanted views. We have a process today in which a professor who is himself employing fascist tactics calls a student "a fascist bastard." And why did he do so? Because the student gave a speech in a speech class choosing a side on a topic that the professor did not like.
We live in a society in which too many of our judges have despised a system of objective laws from an objective Constitution and have imposed their own will upon both. Judicial activist judges have largely driven transcendent religion and the transcendent God who gives objective moral laws out of the public sphere.
Today, we live in a society that will not post the Ten Commandments – the epitome of transcendent divinely-ordained moral law – in public schools. And why not? Because judges ruled that:
"If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments," which, the Court said, is "not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause."
One can only marvel that such justices so cynically debauched the thought of the founding fathers whose ideas they professed to be upholding.
Justices of the Supreme Court agreed with this fallacious ruling even as the figure of Moses holding the Ten Commandments rules atop the very building in which they betrayed our nation's founding principles.
And thus the left has stripped the United States of America bare of transcendent moral law, just as their intellectual forebears did prior to WWII in Nazi Germany. And thus the intellectual left has largely stripped the United States of America from free debate within academia largely by pursuing the same line of reasoning that Nazi philosopher Martin Heidegger employed to do the same in Nazi Germany. We saw this very feature evidenced by leftist scientists who threw aside their scientific ethics in order to purge climatologists who came to a different conclusion.
The climate that led to fascism and to Nazism in Germany did not occur overnight, even though the final plunge may have appeared to be such to an uninformed observer. It occurred over a period of a half a dozen decades or so, with the transcendent and objective moral foundations having been systematically torn away. And after that degree of cancer had been reached, it only took the right leader or the right event to plunge the world into madness.


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See this website to find the nearest Emergency Rally, or organize one yourself!
Originally an email by Arun Gupta of The Indypendent, September 22, 2008.
Forward widely….
This week the White House is going to try to push through the biggest robbery in world history with nary a stitch of debate to bail out the Wall Street bastards who created this economic apocalypse in the first place.
This is the financial equivalent of September 11. They think, just like with the Patriot Act, they can use the shock to force through the "therapy," and we'll just roll over!
Think about it: They said providing healthcare for 9 million children, perhaps costing $6 billion a year, was too expensive, but there's evidently no sum of money large enough that will sate the Wall Street pigs. If this passes, forget about any money for environmental protection, to counter global warming, for education, for national healthcare, to rebuild our decaying infrastructure, for alternative energy.
This is a historic moment. We need to act now while we can influence the debate. Let's demonstrate this Thursday at 4pm in Wall Street (see below).
We know the congressional Democrats will peep meekly before caving in like they have on everything else, from FISA to the Iraq War.
With Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, AIG, the money markets and now this omnibus bailout, well in excess of $1 trillion will be distributed from the poor, workers and middle class to the scum floating on top.
This whole mess gives lie to the free market. The Feds are propping up stock prices, directing buyouts, subsidizing crooks and swindlers who already made a killing off the mortgage bubble.
Worst of all, even before any details have been hashed out, The New York Times admits that "Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it," and its chief financial correspondent writes that the Bush administration wants "Congress to give them a blank check to do whatever they want, whatever the cost, with no one able to watch them closely."
It's socialism for the rich and dog-eat-dog capitalism for the rest of us.
Let's take it to the heart of the financial district! Gather at 4pm, this Thursday, Sept. 25 in the plaza at the southern end of Bowling Green Park, which is the small triangular park that has the Wall Street bull at the northern tip.
By having it later in the day we can show these thieves, as they leave work, we're not their suckers. Plus, anyone who can't get off work can still join us downtown as soon as they are able.
There is no agenda, no leaders, no organizing group, nothing to endorse other than we're not going to pay! Let the bondholders pay, let the banks pay, let those who brought the "toxic" mortgage-backed securities pay!
On this list are many key organizers and activists. We have a huge amount of connections – we all know many other organizations, activists and community groups. We know P.R. folk who can quickly write up and distribute press releases, those who can contact legal observers, media activists who can spread the word, the videographers who can film the event, etc.
Do whatever you can – make and distribute your own flyers, contact all your groups and friends. This crime is without precedence and we can't be silent! What's the point of waiting for someone else to organize a protest two months from now, long after the crime has been perpetrated?
We have everything we need to create a large, peaceful, loud demonstration. Millions of others must feel the same way; they just don't know what to do. Let's take the lead and make this the start!
When: 4pm – ? Thursday, September 25.
Where: Southern end of Bowling Green Park, in the plaza area
What to bring: Banners, noisemakers, signs, leaflets, etc.
Why: To say we won't pay for the Wall Street bailout
Who: Everyone!

subset: commoncrawl


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This blog and related calendar are shuttering effective 1 Jan 2022 in favor of ConferenceKeeper.org
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
June 2012 ISGS Webinar – The War of 1812 – America's "Forgotten" War
June 18, 2012 marks the bicentennial of the War of 1812. To honor the history of the war and its patriots, Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG, will present The War of 1812 – America's "Forgotten" War for next week's webinar.
Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 8:00 pm Central
Description: The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten wars of the United States, yet records abound for our ancestors who were willing to fight the British once again.
Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG has been involved in genealogy and family research since even before she was born. Being born into an older family afforded her the opportunity to be around a generation that loved to tell stories and visit cemeteries. She is accredited in the Southern States, and is a frequent speaker at workshops and jamborees around Ohio. She is a former Family History Center Director, keeping a staff of thirty trained and up to date on current genealogy trends, as well as implementing yearly seminars.
Register: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/361887982
Recordings and Syllabus Also Available
For ISGS members who cannot attend on June 12th, a recording of the webinar, along with the syllabus, will be made available in the Members Section of the ISGS website at http://www.ilgensoc.org. If you're not already a member of ISGS, visit Join ISGS! for more information.
© 2012, copyright Illinois State Genealogical Society
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Time for another great post from a guest blogger. Today we have Paul from The Beard It Speaks. He walks us through how to have some tasty pulled pork. By itself, it is fantastic, but it can also be used as a base for so many other recipes, it is always great to have on hand. Take a look at The Beard It Speaks and Paul's Pulled Pork…
I saw The Ranting Chef post about becoming a guest writer on his blog. I emailed him about being interested in becoming a guest. After a long, grueling five minutes of contract negotiations, The Ranting Chef and I came to an agreement.
Some background on myself. My name is Paul, I am from small town South Carolina. Which means, most of the recipes I will provide are southern cooking in nature, but not all of them. I might very well surprise you.
As I was thinking of what recipe I would like share as a first post, I knew it would have to be something I was confident about. Whelp, that would be BBQ, pulled pork variety. To many people, this cook exhumes thoughts off grandiose proportions. In reality, it is a very simple cook, with a very forgiving piece of meat. There are three main steps that will ensure perfection. 1 proper cooking temperature, 2 proper internal temperature, 3 Patience.
I prefer cooking on wood or coal grills. Gas grills are fine if that is what you have. I use a Big Green Egg.
First step is meat selection. Boston Butt or Pork Picnic. Both easily found in all grocery stores. When buying butts, try to buy BONE IN. You can season the meat with anything or nothing at all.
Step two is prepping the grill. I cook my BBQ at a grate temp of 275. On average, this means the meat will take about an hour a pound to cook. This time could vary depending on the grill and environmental conditions. You do not need a lot of smoke, a light grey to clear smoke is ideal.
Step three, internal temperature. You want these particular cuts of meat to be at an internal temperature of 195. This allows the connective tissue to break down into collagen. This process makes the BBQ moist and "pullable". If you want to slice the pork, cook to internal temperature of 180-185. A very important step in this process! The meat will climb quickly to an internal temp of 150-160. At this point, the meat will "hit a wall". At about 170 is when the connective tissue begins to break down and the meat can sit at this temp for hours. This is where patience comes in. Don't PANIC! This is the point where beginning BBQ'ers mess up. Just let the meat continue cooking until the internal temp is 195.
Once the meat has been fully cooked, it's time to pull. Depending on your time frame, you can pull right away or wrap in tin foil and let the meat sit. Be careful, the meat will be very hot. Serve up with your favorite sauce or no sauce at all and enjoy.
I tried to make this cook seem very simple. Because in actuality, it is. Don't over complicate it! Seriously, you can cook this meat with no seasoning, cook it the way I just described, and you will cook perfect pulled pork.
Left piece is Boston Butt, right piece is a Picnic1/3 of the way!Finished product, waiting to be pulled.
No Shave Never!


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EDITORIAL: Head Start functions best as a jobs program
Taxpayers have the right to expect that federal programs for which they foot the bill function at a reasonable level of effectiveness, particularly a program that has operated for 48 years at a cost of more than $180 billion. In that, though, they are often disappointed, particularly when the program is as entrenched and politically sensitive as Head Start — and even when the federal government's own assessment shows the program isn't doing its job.
Recently-released results of an exhaustive evaluation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for Head Start, confirm the findings of the agency's 2010 Head Start Impact Study: 3- and 4-year-olds who participated in Head Start were, in almost all areas measured, no better prepared for school than children of similar income and social status who weren't in the program. The follow-up assessment, which tracked 5,000 3- and 4-year-old students through third grade, found that Head Start had little to no effect on cognitive and social-emotional development, on health and on parenting outcomes of participating children.
For Congress and other policymakers in Washington, the two scientifically rigorous studies serve as a warning that $8 billion a year is largely going to waste.
Will that matter? It should matter at any time in any society truly interested in giving at-risk, low-income children an educational boost, but it should matter doubly now that a debt ceiling increase and deep budget cuts mandated by sequestration loom. The truth is, though, that in the modern welfare state giveaways rarely go away.
Hatched during the War on Poverty, Head Start made sense if it worked. Investing in early education to help poor children with socialization and learning skills would pay off by reducing the number of lawbreakers and welfare cases down the road. Unfortunately, Head Start functions best today as a jobs program.
Cleveland County Schools has been operating the Head Start program since 1965 and serves children who live in Cleveland County. The federally funded program was allotted $1.6 million in the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Cleveland County Schools employs 38 full and part-time workers in Head Start, said Bonnie Beam, director of the Office of School Readiness.
While the two national assessments do not speak to the effectiveness of particular Head Start programs like Cleveland County Schools, they do seem to indicate that the chief benefit of such local programs are simply that they are there — as employers, as conduits for public money and as way of socializing children in a classroom environment. They don't significantly improve performance in math, language, literacy and similar learning skills, according to the studies, and what strides are made often disappear in Head Start children by the end of the first grade.
Early childhood education is important, particularly for children who won't get the help at home or whose families can't pay for private preschool, but there are options today that didn't exist a half-century ago. HHS's own studies tell us Head Start has run its course. If Washington continues to spend that money, it would be better spent by letting states "make their Head Start dollars portable, following children to a private preschool provider of choice," as the Heritage Foundation has recommended.
Continuing to pump billions into an ineffective education program cheats taxpayers certainly; but, worse, it cheats the children and parents who learn the hard way that it didn't work.


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@extra dry martini
I wish we had met before. I wish I had your phone number! I wish we lived next door to each other. I would run over, call or visit ASAP. I have tears rolling down my face! I LOVE your writing it always seems to find me at the place in my life that I can't find the words to express. I have often thought…. Oh, if I could be a writer… the story I could write and share about my own life experiences and personal struggles. Bless your heart sweet friend. Can I call you friend?


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Circle Internet Financial, a digital currency company has closed $17 million in Series B financing, bringing its total raise to date to $26 million. Breyer Capital, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners were joined by new investor Oak Investment Partners to lead the round.
Circle Internet Financial, a digital currency company, today announced that it has closed $17 million in Series B financing, bringing its total raise to date to $26 million. Breyer Capital, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners were joined by new investor Oak Investment Partners to lead the round. Other Series B investors included Pantera Capital; the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund of Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive officer of SecondMarket, Inc. and founder of the Bitcoin Investment Trust; Leonard H. Schrank, former chief executive officer of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication); and, Circle board member M. Michele Burns. Fenway Summer, a leading consumer finance advisory and venture firm led by Circle board member Raj Date, was also an investor in the Series B financing.
Circle today also announced the debut of its initial consumer product in a limited release, which has been made available to select users ahead of the company's general availability launch later this year.
"We are thrilled to have such a strong showing of support and vote of confidence from world-class investors and strategic individuals as we move into the commercial phase of Circle," said Jeremy Allaire, Circle founder, chairman and chief executive officer. "With accelerating consumer and business interest in digital currency all around the world, it's critical that we have the capital and leadership team to execute on our vision for consumer finance and global payments built on Bitcoin."
"Circle has continued to make tremendous progress in helping to shape and define the digital currency industry, and I am excited to be continuing to invest in and partner with Jeremy and the Circle team," said Jim Breyer, founder and chief executive officer of Breyer Capital. "The global transformation in payments made possible by Bitcoin and digital currency is one of the most significant investment opportunities in the past 30 years."
Circle is one of the first companies built from the ground up to provide financial products for consumers that harness the power of Bitcoin to enable faster transactions, lower costs, greater privacy safeguards and increased protection against fraud and identity theft while enabling more frictionless global economic activity and cross-border transactions. The company's forthcoming products, which entered limited availability release today, promise to allow consumers and businesses to use digital currency easily, reducing much of the friction and risk that is currently associated with Bitcoin.
Circle has sought to engage governments, regulators and the commercial banking industry as partners in fulfilling the promise of global digital currency. The company is focused on building services that mainstream consumers and businesses can rely upon that are audited and examined by governments in order to ensure businesses are held to stringent requirements around consumer protection and criminals and bad actors are thwarted from abusing digital currency platforms.
Circle launched in October 2013 with a $9 million Series A round from Breyer Capital, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners. Allaire has founded two previous startups that both saw successful IPOs. His company Brightcove (NASDAQ: BCOV), where Allaire serves as Chairman, went public in 2012 and his previous company, Allaire Corp., went public in 1999 and later merged with Macromedia.
About Circle
Circle Internet Financial is a privately held digital currency company based in Boston and with international operations headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company was founded in 2013 by Internet pioneer Jeremy Allaire and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Sean Neville. Circle is backed by venture capital leaders Breyer Capital, Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners and Oak Investment Partners. For more information, please visit www.circle.com.
Rebecca Nowacek
SutherlandGold Group
email@example.com | 210.394.4758 m.


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Hi, welcome to my photography blog, I'm glad you stopped by. I write this blog to chronicle the various photography projects I am working on.
I was honored to have this photo featured on Freshly Pressed:
And this photo included in an article on Fox Sports:
Currently based in England, I've been active in the St. Louis Missouri Camera Club. Here are a few images that have placed in competitions sponsored by them:
I would appreciate constructive comments on my photos I have written about on my blog. Some of my posts include information about how I took the image and edited it. I also post many of my nature photos.
I'm also on Flickr and Twitter, so feel free to visit me there. My images are available for sale on Picfair.
I appreciate your visit.


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Posts Tagged 'phoenix'
Podcast: What the Shmup
One of the oldest and most popular genres in gaming is the "shoot-em-up" or "shmup" for short. Whether you're a space ship, a young girl, or even a winged pod the basic goal is to navigate the screen, rack up points, and don't die. Fred and Jam dive into the origins of the shmup, the sub-genres that exist, and some of their personal favorites.
Download this episode (right click and save)


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After what seems like a long week of false starts and unfortunate hardware melt downs the new Zooomr launched this weekend. I haven't logged in yet but I'm looking forward to exploring all the new features Kristopher has been working on.
I do have a bone to pick with them. They are still not caching images properly! Run any Zooomr hosted image through the Cacheability Engine to test it and you'll get a report like the following:
Expires 1 day from now (Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:04:14 GMT)
Cache-Control max-age=86400
Last-Modified 2 hr ago (Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:04:14 GMT) validation returned same object
ETag –
Content-Length 65.4K (66953)
Server lighttpd/1.4.15
It makes no sense for the image to be sent again. Your browser should be allowed to cache the image. Besides the caching issue, the image is still slow to load and it's only 67k.
Way back in December I asked, Is Zooomr slow for you too? and was heartened when Kristopher Tate said he was working on a fix. Hopefully the fix is part of an as-yet-unreleased part of Mark III. Without it, using Zooomr for image hosting is really not recommended. Please fix the caching. I really want to like Zooomr!
Now, if only Robert would evangelize fixing their image hosting I'd be a happy camper!


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A woman named Nicole stopped by the library last night and offered her legal services to us. She may be ideal for the job, since her regular job is as a criminal justice attorney for a non profit in New York. I was going to post her full details here, which she gave me permission to do, but I've decided to be discreet about that for the time being. Is there a way I can share such information with admins? Should I give Nicole's email and phone number to other working group members at the library itself? Or just go ahead and post it in the spirit of free information? My only concern is for Nicole's safety and privacy. We will, of course, make her part of the forthcoming phone tree.
OWSL now has its own lawyer!
Filed under Announcements, Steve S.
3 responses to "OWSL now has its own lawyer!"
if you send it to the email address, it should go to everybody on the library working group: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Friday, 24 December 2010
Happy holidays
Rest. Relax. Come back January 3 because there are some exciting times ahead on Daily Imprint.
In the meantime, I've started to list all the interviews that have run on the site. After many of you suggested people who had already been featured, I realised there needed to be a better way to access all those amazing people.
Happy reading. Happy New Year!
See you then...
image real living (photography pablo martin; styling natalie walton)
4 comments:
- Luxury Beach Escape said...
Look forward to your interviews in the new year. Love your blog! Happy hols. x
- 24 December 2010 at 10:29
- Mikkili.com said...
Also happy holidays. I love the simplicity of the picture. Very stylish.
- 25 December 2010 at 03:20
- Unknown said...
Merry Christmas! ....smiles.
- 27 December 2010 at 08:17
- Exquisite Accessories said...
Happy New Year! will look forward to 3rd January to see what you have instore for us! :)
- 1 January 2011 at 09:13
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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I shouldn't have written so quickly about not playing Halo 3 single player again: I forgot about the skulls. :)
If you're not familiar, basically Bungie has turned a few Halo 2 easter eggs into a full-blown feature of Halo 3: Now there are 13 of them, and each time you find one, you can alter the game experience in various ways, usually to make it harder. There are silver skulls, which aren't actually worth any achievement points, and gold skulls, which are worth 10 points each. Some are very easy to find, some are quite difficult and some even disappear when certain conditions are met.
Anyway, I guess I'll tool around with the skulls for a few days before completely giving up on single player.
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Just kidding. After moving six times in the last four years, I think I'm just hardwired to pack things into boxes and stack them somewhere in our house every nine months or so. Seems like my calling in life.
In reality, it is finally time for us to deal with this:
Which really extends across the entire living room ceiling:
Because of the havoc that is about to come, I'm putting everything in the living room into boxes and getting it all out of here. I'm sort of digging these shelves sans books right now:
It also means that since chaos is about to ensue anyway, we might as well finally get 1984 completely out of the living room by employing some cheap child labor:
She does a great job, don't you think? Just a mere 24 hours ago, this spot too had 1984 glued firmly in place. Now look at it. Now it just has 1984 painted there, but it is all ready for a fresh look next week.
Problem? Craig and I are having trouble agreeing on the paint color. He doesn't think the fabric I picked out really goes that well with the carpet. Last night I posted all 18 yards on ebay and Craig's List and am hoping for the best. In the meantime I'm saying just do it. Paint it something. Something that isn't peach. Or black. I'll deal with the fabric issue later.
2009, here we come.


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Reports about Facebook's and Google's nascent battle against purported "fake news" must be considered in solemn gravity — not because there are bogus articles circulating — but because, in actuality, it constitutes a war on legitimate, factual information and dissenting opinion.
Certainly, many of us grumble when an article about aliens invading New York City passes through our newsfeeds only to be taken seriously — but the so-called "problem" of "fake" news Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is referring to isn't targeting such vapid content.
What Facebook will target, however, should concern all of us.
After the absurdity that was the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton supporters and establishment Democrats excoriated Zuckerberg for dereliction of duty in failing to remove sham news articles and sites from his wildly popular platform — because, in their eyes, this putative "fake" news literally swung the election toward Donald Trump.
But this seemingly hapless campaign of finger-pointing — the Clinton camp also railed against FBI Director James Comey, among many others, in their search to blame anyone but themselves — has nothing at all to do with inane articles of no worth.
Rather, the new war on "fake" news is simply a poorly-disguised attempt to quash legitimate information unfavorable to the liberal establishment's agenda — for good.
This perilous course of blanketing, State-sponsored censorship marks what might be the most overarching effort to kill dissenting opinion in decades — perhaps approaching or exceeding the height of the Red Scare and McCarthyism.
Here's why:
Mark Zuckerberg, a known proponent of establishment narrative and supporter of liberal goals, originally responded to this criticism somewhat rationally, saying the actual percentage of imposter news items is so miniscule, it could not possibly have affected the outcome of the election.
He's right. Or at least, he was.
"Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99 percent of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes," the Facebook head wrote in a post to his site on Saturday.
"The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics. Overall, this makes it extremely unlikely hoaxes changed the outcome of this election in one direction or the other."
After the failed Clinton campaign turned and targeted Zuckerberg and Facebook with its bitter wrath of loss, he abruptly switched his tune — and a plan is now underway for how to "cope" with this "fake" news [non] "problem."
It's imperative to consider several points concerning Facebook's burgeoning war — with over one billion users worldwide, no staff would be large enough to combat reports of fraudulent news that will undoubtedly be rolling in soon.
So, the plan? Artificial intelligence — a self-teaching algorithm to identify and remove the supposedly counterfeit news items, and likely relegate the source as a Scarlet Letter verboten site.
But an issue of grave concern has already arisen before the war on fake news even gets off the ground.
Business Insider boasted in a headline "It took only 36 hours for these students to solve Facebook's fake-news problem" — but there's a serious problem. Their algorithm failed. Miserably.
In fact, one of the two items touted by Business Insider as proof of the success of the spurious news-slaying algorithm can be proven factually true — nearly verbatim — on the government's own website.
According to Business Insider, the four students from various top universities participated in a recent hack-a-thon at Princeton University — which Facebook co-sponsored.
In a mere 36 hours, they created an extension for the Chrome browser to ostensibly identify and parse out whether suspicious items constitute legitimate, truthful news, called "FiB: Stop living a lie."
"It classifies every post, be it pictures (Twitter snapshots), adult content pictures, fake links, malware links, fake news links as verified or non-verified using artificial intelligence," one of the students told the outlet.
"For links, we take into account the website's reputation, also query it against malware and phishing websites database and also take the content, search it on Google/Bing, retrieve searches with high confidence and summarize that link and show to the user.
"For pictures like Twitter snapshots, we convert the image to text, use the usernames mentioned in the tweet, to get all tweets of the user and check if current tweet was ever posted by the user."
Appearing smug in the article's lead picture, Nabanita De, a second-year master's student in computer science student at UMass Amherst; Anant Goel a freshmen in Purdue University; Mark Craft, a sophomore at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Catherine Craft, a sophomore also at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all believe they've discovered the quick fix to Zuckerberg's [now] problem.
As an example, the extension identified and marked an article "not verified"; but the article, a report touting findings from the National Cancer Institute which appeared on the government's National Institute on Drug Abuse site — "Marijuana Kills Cancer Cells, Admits the U.S. National Cancer Institute" — isn't fake at all.
From the government's site, with emphasis added:
"NIH-funded and other researchers are continuing to explore the possible uses of THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids for medical treatment.
"For instance, recent animal studies have shown that marijuana extracts may help kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others.
"Evidence from one cell culture study suggests that purified extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumors.
"Research in mice showed that treatment with purified extracts of THC and CBD, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation."
Beyond this one example, and much further to the point, the Democratic establishment is leading the call to abolish "fake" news — a blaring alarm bell for anyone paying attention this election cycle.
A trove of published leaked emails and documents by Wikileaks concerning the Democratic National Committee, campaign chair John Podesta, and Hillary Clinton, proved a staggering degree of corruption and collusion undertaken for years by establishment insiders and corporate media, which, for all intents and purposes, amounted to an attempt to throw the election in their favor.
As the campaign came under heavy fire from all sides, Clintonites were quick to shift blame and try to discredit the mountainous evidence of wrongdoing — first by blaming Wikileaks for trying to throw the election, then by claiming the information being published was fake.
Except it wasn't.
For nearly the entire duration of its existence, Wikileaks has offered a prize of several hundred thousand dollars for anyone who can prove even a single document it published isn't authentic.
And that bounty, though challenged from time to time, remains unclaimed.
And now the outgoing Democratic party wants to initiate a war on fake news? Nothing to see here, folks.
"Everyone has the right to say what they want, have access to sites that they want, share what they want," Obama and Democrat Party insider, Teddy Goff, told Politico — which, incidentally, starred in several damning emails for colluding with the Clinton campaign.
"But a publisher with a record of making stuff up is not likely to rank that highly on Google, and the equivalent ought to be the case on Facebook. […]
"Two, three weeks ago, many of us are beginning to talk about what a big problem this is, both from the campaign and from the administration, and just sort of broader Obama orbit, and are talking about, this is one of the things we would like to take on post-election.
"This is something we were very aware of, saw zero percent chance Facebook was going to be compliant or work with us during the election, but wanted to take on post-election."
Recall the aforementioned and justifiable doubt Zuckerberg originally expressed about the nonexistent "problem" of "fake" news — and consider Goff told Politico these ostensibly false news items posted to Facebook painted 'Clinton as corrupt, criminal or otherwise beyond the political pale.'
In fact, evidence of corruption, media collusion, and highly questionable, if not explicitly criminal, activity now mar Hillary Clinton's legacy as Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic nominee — not because of bogus reporting.
There was no need for fake items, and — although a few websites certainly blew points out of proportion — the emails, themselves damned Clinton's campaign.
Thus, the liberal establishment's war on fake news — for which the head of the largest social media platform has now been roped in — amounts to little more than a witch hunt to silence truthful, but damaging, information.
Information vital to the American public, imperative for making informed choices, and indispensable if this nation is still to be characterized as maintaining even a shred of freedom.
Employing failed algorithms — or even people — is a hopelessly flawed solution to a problem that simply doesn't exist.
And what will result is a war on alternative, independent media and opposing thought — in all forms.
Considering the insidious, wholly one-sided nature of this plan, it would be errant not to draw parallels to a new McCarthyism.
Indeed, independent media websites likely did help turn the election away from Hillary Clinton — not by posting inane, false garbage, or slanted reporting — but by having the integrity to post the truth about her dealings behind the scenes.
And, where corporate media failed in journalistic integrity and due diligence, alternative sources — led by Wikileaks — excelled.
Had the same vault of information surfaced about Trump, alternative media would have had the same field day — and that's where the Clintonites have it all wrong.
Fake news — dissenting opinion, opposing viewpoints, a free press — none of that tilted the election.
Unless, of course, by fake news they are referring to corporate media's submitting articles to the Clinton campaign prior to editors, or Hillary insiders collaborating on articles so ensure the 'right' angle was employed — or any of the examples proven in leaked documents.
Nominating Hillary when a veritable revolution erupted behind Bernie Sanders, however, did.
It would behoove them to turn tail, learn the lesson, and walk away, instead of imposing a blanketing and unnecessary campaign of censorship against "fake" news when the truth is a bitter pill to swallow.
Meanwhile, the Mainstream Media has been caught faking news countless times, which had serious consequences worldwide:
1. CNN caught producing fake news during the Gulf War
2. CNN caught producing fake news during the Syrian conflict
3. CNN caught producing fake news during Sandy Hook and Boston Marathon "Bombing"
4. Former CNN journalist: "CNN is paid by foreign and domestic government agencies for specific content"
5. FOX News – and all other news agencies – are 'corporate persons' and can LEGALLY LIE their viewers
6. New York Times openly admits MSM stories are scripted by the White House
7. MSM censored/ignored a shocking admission of highest level Turkish false flag against Syria, which would have triggered a war between the two nations
8. 4 Examples of Mainstream Media Fabricating News to Push for War
9. BBC Journalist Comes Clean: 'Believe Nothing You Read Or Watch'


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Nurturing My Creative Self – Thank You Universe for Showing Me the "Way"
by livewhatyouknow
Sometimes when you find yourself on a spiritual seeking endeavor or a "path" towards enlightenment or simply trying to become the best version of yourself you leave part of you behind. With the best intention I kind of did that a few years back. I thought attachment to "my story" would only have been from the ego and I did my best to set it aside and not feel attached to it any longer. Even as I look at the "about" section and "my story" page within it on my blog I realize that although what I wrote seemed like truth for me at the time, it isn't quite all there really. It's some words I thought wouldn't offend anyone or ruffle any feathers or take me down the attachment to old wounds road. I did acknowledge that I wasn't really into my story anymore and offered a brief one anyway. I can see now that there will be some editing to be done in the future. I won't scrap the old one, I'll just keep updating it with the journey and the willingness to do so becomes my real story.
I do love being old enough now to lean back and see how everything has worked in my life so far and I couldn't feel more grateful for all of the life lessons. I can feel the evolution of things and the miracles and beautiful way they fit together are astounding. I love the tough stuff as much as the rest; even more perhaps. Although, it is nice that my "problems" are much more tolerable these days than they once were and my more recent stories never end with a traumatic and awkward twist as the old ones sometimes do. 🙂 Over the last year I realized that I had abandoned a part of me that needed some nurturing. Many things happened that opened old wounds and took me back to remembering things I had blocked out and practically forgotten. I recently felt so deeply that I needed to nurture that version I had abandoned. I hate the idea of the wounded inner child dominating the future or even one moment of the Now we are truly meant to live though, so I was at a bit of a crossroads trying to figure it out.
I accidentally (there are no accidents) stared a childhood monster in the face via a mug shot on the internet recently. I found myself completely reacquainted with the frightened little girl who once lived inside me that I had known so well. Being somewhat comforted at the thought that that particular monster couldn't get me anymore and realizing that I had been living with some fear of that happening someday, I quickly found a brave side of me allow myself to reach out to forgotten family members and lost childhood relationships I may have been able to have without that fear. A baby-step reach out, but at least something. I realized how much family I have lost over the years for various reasons. I remembered things I had completely forgotten. I knew there was work to be done to help me circle back and nurture my abandoned self while maintaining all the presence and wisdom from the many years of constantly seeking evolution since.
I'd been reading various things and one book had suggested recalling your specific hell-and-back to identify your tribe and the specific things you could help others through. In fact, these sentiments may have started the whole remembering process and "accidental" confrontation of old trauma. I knew that my future and my finding and answering my true calling depended on my willingness to look at the past with healthy detachment without outright abandonment of the wounded self. So there I was working with the past three books, making my own so-called workbook to really live the lessons I was learning. I was building confidence and praying for presence and consciousness while recalling and reliving old trauma with the intention to bring healing to myself and others all the while.
In comes… the Artist's Way. A Lifeline! Pure Love from the Universe!
I am indeed very grateful for this blessing that came into my life several years ago called the Artist's Way. It was given to me by a dear friend and sat patiently on my shelf for over six years or so. A few weeks ago it was pulsating on the shelf and screaming at me to pull it down and experience it. I had already chosen my next read, but felt the pull towards it so strongly as I randomly walked past the bookshelves that night. Thank goodness I listened and felt all that the Universe was trying to bless me with.
I knew nothing of what the book was about, it hadn't really spoken to me when I first received it and from then on it simply looked pretty on the shelf. It had never been the right time. From the second I grabbed it that night, I knew it was meant for me now at just the right time. It turns out that it is a twelve week endeavor to recover your creative self. It is hard for me to put into words just how perfect it is for me now.
As I said, the whole wounded inner child thing really turns me off and feels like a step back rather than forward. However, as I have shared, I knew there was work along those lines to be done and I was (and still am) willing to do it. This gift of the Artist's Way is so lovely. It matches my best intentions perfectly and provides the path that is in line with all I have studied so hard for the past ten years and all that I have lived through before. It will allow the nurturing of my inner child with the beautiful intent of recovering the creative being that dwells within…within me and within us all.
It would be more words than anyone has time to read to describe all that it is. I can do so over the next few months hopefully. I'll just say that I signed the contract. I'm in it to finish it. I already know that the "morning pages" and the "artist's dates" I've committed to are life changing endeavors. I am so excited to share more as I go. I couldn't feel more blessed than I do to see the perfection in this gift from the Universe at this time. I am never ever at a loss for words, but to even try to describe the hundreds of synchronicities and dots connecting and showing up as miracles and Universe hugs making this process available to me right now would be impossible. The wordless acceptance is much better. "Thank you" is thing that feels perfect to say about it so far.
My dear friend that gave me the book years ago is going through the process with me now. What a gift! I had one friend say with enthusiasm that she had gone through it years ago but didn't finish it. I encouraged her to do it again, knowing that we experience things so differently as we change and grow. I sent a copy to a friend on Monday, just this moment another friend sent a photo of her copy that had just arrived in the mail after we recently discussed it. Such a blessing! I recently purchased the version that is written for parents in hopes of also bringing more creativity to my children's lives. I welcome the opportunity to hear from anyone that has been blessed by this course/book. Do tell me how it showed up in your life if it has. Join me on the journey if you like! We are all creative beings. We are all artists creating our lives. We can bring our creative selves and more creativity to whatever it is we spend our time doing. It is all Art! Our Life is the canvas.
In a sense, as we are creative beings, our lives become our work of art. –Julia Cameron, the Artist's Way
I hope to post about "the morning pages" soon. I wish the blessing that they are for everyone! If you're at all intrigued, just search "the morning pages" and see for yourself. Fun!
Sending love and joy today and always! Wishing us all time with our creative artist within!


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Island Girls
A Novel
A Novel
A Novel
A Novel
By Nancy Thayer
By Nancy Thayer
By Nancy Thayer
By Nancy Thayer
By Nancy Thayer
By Nancy Thayer
By Nancy Thayer
Read by Cassandra Campbell
By Nancy Thayer
Read by Cassandra Campbell
Category: Women's Fiction | Contemporary Romance
Category: Women's Fiction | Contemporary Romance
Category: Women's Fiction | Contemporary Romance
Category: Women's Fiction | Romance | Audiobooks
Paperback $16.00
Jun 17, 2014 | ISBN 9780345528742
Mass Market Paperback $7.99
Jun 26, 2018 | ISBN 9780525618355
Buy the Audiobook Download:
Heat Wave
The Secret of Everything
The All You Can Dream Buffet
Dream Country
Lies and Other Acts of Love
Tapestry of Fortunes
Summer House
Golden State
Island Girls
"Nancy Thayer is one of my favorite writers, and Island Girls is one of her best. The Randall sisters are like your own family members or your best friends: funny, smart and emotional, infuriating and good-hearted. Here is a book to be savored and passed on to the good women in your life."—New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs
"Full of emotion and just plain fun, this novel is delightful."—Romance Reviews Today
"In this touching summer read, forgiveness benefits both the person bestowing it and the recipient."—Kirkus Reviews
Moon Shell Beach
"Nancy Thayer has a deep and masterly understanding of love and friendship, of where the two complement and where they collide. Read Moon Shell Beach and get swept away."—New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand
"A beautifully textured story about love, friendship, and forgiveness, a great beach read. It will make you want to pack your bags for Nantucket."—New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah
"Thayer's sense of place is powerful, and her words are hung together the way my grandmother used to tat lace."—Dorothea Benton Frank
"A charming and fun summer read . . . Readers will love this story of family and love."—The Plain Dealer
Summer Breeze
"Nancy Thayer is the queen of beach books. . . . All [these characters] are involved in life-changing choices, with all the heart-wrenching decisions such moments demand."—The Star-Ledger
"An entertaining and lively read that is perfect for summer reading indulgence."—Wichita Falls Times Record News
21 Books You've Been Meaning to Read
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Win Tickets to see Vanaprasta at Central SAPC December 16, 2011
December 15, 2011
I'm really excited about this show and here's why: I missed all four of Vanaprasta's residency shows at The Satellite in November. Missing the shows due to scheduling conflicts (on my side, of course) was a disappointment. I hate to miss a show – especially an outstanding show – and I certainly don't want to miss FOUR shows. While missing Vanaprasta every Monday night was hard, it wasn't nearly as devastating as waking up four Tuesdays in a row to Tweets, text messages, and reviews from some of my most-trusted music sources saying how amazing these shows were.
Thankfully, I have another chance to experience Vanaprasta and so do you:
One Rock Is A Girl's Best Friend reader will win a pair of tickets to see Vanaprasta at Central SAPC in Santa Monica on Friday, December 16, 2011.
Here's what you need to know to enter:
- The contest begins now and ends at 12:01 am EST December 16, 2011
- TO ENTER: Visit Rock Is A Girl's Best Friend on Facebook
- You will see there are several ways you can enter and you can get additional entries for each thing you choose to do. You can follow Vanaprasta on Twitter, tweet about the contest, like us on Facebook, and more. ENTER NOW
- Winner (1) will be selected by random.org and notified via email on the morning of December 16, 2011. Winner will have 5 hours to respond before a new winner is selected
- Your tickets will be available for pick up at Will Call at Central SAPC on the evening of the show. Photo ID will be required to pick up tickets
- You must be 21+ to attend this event
- Transportation and accommodations not included
About Vanaprasta:
Vanaprasta knows where rock music has been, and the Los Angeles quintet knows where it wants to take it. "Someplace mystical," singer Steven Wilkin says, "where there's arena-sized sound."
In less than three years, Wilkin, bassist Taylor Brown, drummer Ben Smiley and guitarists Collin Desha and Cameron Dmytryk have circumnavigated the nebulous L.A. indie-rock universe, releasing an EP, teasing with a couple of singles and turning in enough neck-snapping live performances to give Angelenos whiplash from Silver Lake to the Sunset Strip.
Finally, after three forays into the studio, Vanaprasta unveils Healthy Geometry (out Nov. 1, 2011), a forward-thinking, galactic-sounding debut that draws from the indie, experimental, psychedelic and R&B worlds to shape music that is at once visceral and visionary. Critics have name-checked the Killers (LA Weekly), Kings of Leon (Consequence of Sound) and Mew (Buzz Bands LA), but Healthy Geometry"s broad dynamic also finds antecedents in the work of Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Muse, Modest Mouse and Black Sabbath.
"For a while, we called our sound 'guitarwave,' and the guys joke around that it should be 'Indie Rock Guitar Hero' or 'Epic Karaoke,'" Wilkin says with a smile. "But whatever it is, I"m glad we had the patience to find the best way to capture it, and to cultivate who we are as a band."
And who is Vanaprasta? It is five technicians from divergent backgrounds (with equally broad tastes) who comingled in L.A.'s musical melting pot in 2008. From their first jam session, the mixing of molecules in the room generated an energy that was palpable, and end result of that night was, Vanaprasta.
The key ingredients in the quintet's stew are the colliding guitars of Dmytryk, a former punk-rock kid from Oregon, and Desha, a native Hawaiian with a foundation in slack key guitar, which wrestle atop powerful, shape-shifting rhythms from Brown and Smiley. Wilkin's balletic tenor (he was a child opera singer in Utah) holds the mold together.
The band's stadium sound illuminates themes ranging from the highly emotional to the dauntingly intellectual. Vanaprasta (whose name derives
from the Sanskrit word for a forest-dweller who has given up much of his worldly possessions) is fascinated with numerology, geometry and patterns, and what any or all them might mean in a world seemingly ruled by inefficacy and chaos.
Healthy Geometry was produced and mixed by Dave Schiffman, who recorded the band using mostly live takes with minimal overdubbing. It was mastered by Howie Weinberg, who kudoed the band on what he heard. "Working with Dave was super smooth," Wilkin says. "He came out and saw us live, and basically we let him run with his interpretation of our live show.
Healthy Geometry, which can"t be categorized into any particular genre but stands on its own as a complete body of work, encapsulates all the different moving parts and ingredients that make up Vanaprasta.
-Kevin Bronson
What Now?
Well, if you haven't already done so, ENTER TO WIN TICKETS NOW.
For more info about this show or Central SAPC click here.
If you have questions or comments, please leave them for me below.
Thank you!


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Two big China stories you missed this year
The brief yet radical shift of patriotic fervor into criticism of the government after the Sichuan earthquake and the official revival of Confucius were crucial moments in a pivotal year.
| Irvine, Calif.
To say the least, 2008 has been a pivotal year for China. It was marked by tragedy (the Sichuan earthquake) and by triumph (the lavish Olympic opening ceremonies). Riots in Tibet, the milk scandal, and, most recently, the crackdown on democratic dissent, are just three of the many China stories that captured headlines across the globe.
Yet there are two major stories that received little notice. Each reveals important things about China. Each helps place its tragedies and triumphs into a richer context. And each presages the bigger pivots ahead in China's course.
1. Chinese nationalism becomes an oppositional force
Chinese patriotic fervor, especially as manifested on the Net, got plenty of attention, mostly portrayed as something welcomed or even stirred up by the regime. This portrayal makes sense, up to a point.
Yes, officials liked seeing posts denouncing the French after a torchbearer was roughed up in Paris, and later, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama. But these same authorities never forgot that patriotism has often proved notoriously difficult to control in China. Chinese elites know that the mix of patriotic outrage and frustration with official corruption, malfeasance, or selfishness has often driven people into the streets.
This didn't happen in 2008. But at one crucial moment in May, right after the earthquake, a familiar shift from outward-focused to inward-focused patriotic fervor occurred. This made Chinese officials nervous – for good reason.
The tone of the Chinese blogosphere suddenly changed, with posts criticizing foreigners for being unwilling to let the Olympic torch relay be a celebratory event disappearing. In their place came posts chiding the government for continuing to run upbeat stories about the torch.
How, some bloggers asked, could official news agencies be so self-absorbed and callous as to focus on the torch when the citizens of Sichuan were suffering? Rulers who truly care about the people, they insisted, should have a clearer sense of priorities during national crises.
This whiplash could have led to large-scale street actions that made headlines, but it didn't. That's partly because China's leaders, who keep a close eye on the Web as a barometer of popular sentiment, called on the media to take a more somber tone in torch stories – and then even suspended the relay for a time.
This didn't completely defuse discontent at a precarious moment. There were still small gatherings in Sichuan villages and towns, often linked to anger at shoddily constructed school buildings that collapsed while nearby structures remained standing. And it didn't put an end to all expressions of outrage on the Web, as some bloggers picked up on the school collapses, claiming in posts that corrupt deals struck between developers and local officials were to blame for the large number of children left dead or injured in earthquake zones. Still, the about-face on the relay limited the extent of these sorts of dissent.
The government realizes that few Chinese now have any faith left in the formal ideologies espoused by Chinese leaders Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and their successors. It also knows that the Communist Party is perceived as being riddled with out-of-touch officials who care only about lining their pockets.
One response to this long-term legitimacy crisis has been a new emphasis on social welfare and social harmony in propaganda, mixed in with a drumbeat of references to the Communist Party's role in returning China to a position of global importance.
When the tenor of blog posts shifted in May, the regime concluded quickly that business as usual regarding the torch was making its talk of striving to create a "harmonious society" (President Hu Jintao's mantra) ring even more hollow than usual – and the result could be dangerous. This was probably the right conclusion to draw.
2. An old Chinese philosopher gets the star treatment
The philosopher at the center of this second overlooked story is Confucius, who has been making an extraordinary comeback in a land where, within living memory, he was officially excoriated as a retrograde thinker.
As recently as the early 1970s, the Communist Party still held to the Marxist dictate that progress tended to comes as the result of struggle and conflict (whereas Confucius celebrated harmony), and Chairman Mao insisted that old modes of thought that venerated the past and prized social hierarchies (as Confucianism did) had to be uprooted once and for all for China to advance toward utopia.
In addition, Mao's longtime archrival, the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, had praised Confucius as China's greatest thinker – another point against the sage in the eyes of the Communist Party of the Cultural Revolution era, when mass rallies denouncing him were held.
The revival of Confucius has been going on for years. It has been linked at the popular level to a general loss of faith in Marxism and Maoism, which has led to an interest in reappraising many once-discredited belief systems. And recently, thanks to how nicely Confucian bromides fit in with talk of a "harmonious society," the sage has gotten official support. Old temples honoring him have been rebuilt, new statues of him have gone up, and "Confucius Institutes," devoted to spreading Chinese culture, have been set up in foreign countries.
It is hard to tell whether this official embrace of Confucius expresses a genuine renewed admiration for the sage within the leadership, or is merely a cynical use of his image and legacy. It may be a bit of both. Another factor behind the popular official revival alike may simply be national pride. Whatever strengths or weaknesses may be in the man's ideas, there is no question that he ranks as among the most famous philosophers in world history.
This revival reached new heights during the torch run, when the flame's arrival in Qufu, the sage's hometown, was celebrated lavishly. It was then taken to an even higher crescendo during the Opening Ceremony, when Confucius was quoted as Hu and other leaders looked on with approval. Then 3,000 actors took the stage at the Bird's Nest, dressed up to represent a massive contingent of the sage's disciplines.
The prominent Confucian sayings and symbols played in the opening ceremonies were treated in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way, as though Confucius had never ceased being a revered figure and positive symbol of China's long history.
For the historically minded, the effect was shocking. It was similar to what a sports fan might have experienced if a man who had won a gold medal as a sprinter at the Rome Olympics in 1960, then disappeared from the track scene, suddenly took the lead in the finals for the 100-meter dash in the 2008 Games – and the commentator simply said: "Gee, we always knew he was fast!"
Each of these under-the-radar stories played a role in making 2008 a Chinese "year of great significance" – to borrow a phrase my colleagues and I use in the title of a forthcoming anthology.
And each gives us a sense of things to watch for in 2009 and beyond, as the Communist Party continues to try to ride out still longer the legitimacy crisis it has faced ever since the faith in Maoism as a creed dissipated decades ago. In struggling to come up with novel ways to remake their image and stay in power as a ruling group, China's leaders will very probably continue to play the nationalism card and rev up still further the uses of Confucius.
We should be ready for these developments. We should also watch for moments when, as happened briefly last May, patriotic fervor morphs into antigovernment backlashes, and officially sponsored Confucian-sounding calls for pursuit of a "harmonious society" are attacked by the public as nothing more than window dressing for a ruling group most of whose member care above all simply about keeping hold of the reins of power.
• Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor of Chinese History at University of California, Irvine, is the author of the just-published "Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: A History in Fragments," and a co-editor of "China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance," forthcoming in March.


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THE REVOLVING BOOK FRIDAY EDITION IS THE HORROR "SAINT SANGUINUS" by JULIA SMITH
GENRE: HISTORICAL HORROR – A Dark Ages Vampire novel
PUBLISHER: Self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon, and on Smashwords
AMAZON KINDLE: http://tinyurl.com/725c59x
SMASHWORDS: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/105486
Book review from Melissa Bradley @ Melissa's Imaginarium
"This book is savagely beautiful. Julia Phillips Smith puts the monster back into vampire. She weaves a spell over her readers with her subtly brilliant dialogue and lush descriptions. I could smell the forest, hear the crackle of the fires and oh my God can she write fight scenes in all their bloody, violent glory."
Book review from Travis Cody @ Trav's Thoughts
"Her vampires are dark and ravenous; monsters more in the tradition of the vampire as deadly, dangerous and blood thirsty. But it's not a horror story. It's a dark romantic adventure with appeal to men and women. All together an outstanding debut."
An elite brotherhood stands between humans and vampires, preventing one side from annihilating the other. Who are called to this service? Only those warriors who curse God with their dying breath.
Welsh warrior Peredur falls to a spear before he can claim Tanwen for his bride. Raging on the battlefield, Peredur utters the curse that seals his fate and leads him to another life. Using the power of a saint whose bone makes up an amulet, Peredur takes on the trials to become a true member of the brethren. Yet his need for the chieftain's daughter Tanwen still burns.
Tanwen resists her father's command to take a husband. The only one who understands her sorrow is Cavan, the wise woman's son. When he promises that he can reunite her with her beloved, she agrees to his terms. But does Tanwen truly understand the depth of the price that must be paid?
Debut author Julia Phillips Smith is honored to add this special milestone to her arts industry background.
A graduate of Ryerson University's film program, Julia's previous writing credits include scripts for radio and television. She has donned various creative hats, including stage manager (theatre), 3rd Assistant Director (independent feature film) and editor (TV documentary).
Julia lives on Canada's east coast with her husband, her mom and their dog. A longtime blogger, she invites you to visit A Piece of My Mind (http://julia-mindovermatter.blogspot.com/).
On Facebook:
On Twitter:
Romance Bandits – Jan. 6th – http://romancebandits.com/
TBR – Jan. 11th – http://tbrtheblog.blogspot.com/p/2012-schedule.html
Peredur hung forward, his arms stretched awkwardly behind him, bound behind a large tree. Now fully awake, he tried to stand upright and surge forward, but the bonds held.
His brethren gathered all around the tree. Melnak who stood farthest away in the shadows, pulled his amulet from where it hid in his robes then lifted it over his head. As he approached, Melnak said, "God our Father, our brother now descends into the trial you have given him."
The brethren intoned, "Our Father, hear us," just as Peredur's body began to jerk away from the amulet as though compelled to do so. Melnak brought the shining polished bone to rest against the bottom rib of Peredur's left side.
For a moment Peredur couldn't see. All before him was blinding white light.
When he came to, Peredur sensed he was somewhere else entirely, no longer bound to the tree.
In the distance, a figure waited for him, a miserable bent man barely clothed in rags. Peredur tried to join him, but at the hint of motion his legs shot through with fiery tendrils. The figure turned his face to see who approached.
Such a man. His face held the expression of one who had endured a torturous vigil, rather like the one from which Peredur could not free himself. But the face also held a beauty that hurt to see. Peredur wanted to turn his face away, but the gaze of those tormented eyes held him and despite the pain, he forced a step or two forward.
I'm coming, Peredur tried to tell him, but the bent figure lowered his head as if overcome by agony after all. Peredur grit his teeth and pushed forward with all his might.
His feet finally moved, but suddenly it seemed the saint was miles from where Peredur could reach him. Peredur's heart sank.
He remembered in his boyhood, how heavy the sword had been at first, when the sword master made him swing it again and again. His legs just now were the same. They rebelled against his commands.
Move! he shouted at them. Move!
Anger at the injustice of it coursed through him. As the anger rose, the binding stiffness released his legs and his steps grew easier.
Peredur wanted to race to the saint's side, but what use would there be in that? Now that he could move, he walked with dread toward the fallen bundle of rags and limbs. Kneeling there, he took the saint in his arms and brushed the matted hair from the bruised face.
Saint Cittinus' eyes fluttered open.
Peredur looked down at the youthful saint in his arms, made old before his time by the captivity and mistreatment he'd endured. As if for the first time, Peredur saw the clear white line of a scar across the saint's neck, as if a rope had choked him there.
Saint Cittinus looked into Peredur's eyes. Those cracked lips moved. Instead of 'I thirst,' the saint spoke clearly, if softly. "We have no one else to fear," he said, "but our Lord God. Who is in Heaven."
Peredur nodded. He stayed as he was and watched the saint expire before his eyes. All the while his angel never took his hand from Peredur's shoulder.
Saint Cittinus faded from Peredur's grip, though he still felt the weight of him in his arms. No sooner than he'd seen it, but Peredur came to.
He found himself still straining in his bonds against the tree. With breathtaking intensity, the pain in his rib returned. Melnak held the amulet to him still, with unyielding grimness.
He thought of the scar upon the saint's neck. Instead of struggling and cursing as Peredur had done on the battlefield against the spear, Cittinus had accepted the wound that had given him the scar.
It was time to stop fighting.


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- Includes "Intention Setting" instructions to prepare the soul.
- Responsibly packaged with eco-friendly materials and compostable baggie.
Happy manifesting to you!


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Which donut pillow is best?
When sitting down becomes too painful, the right pillow can offer much-needed relief for whatever ails you. Donut pillows are popular support cushions for those dealing with tailbone injuries, postpartum recovery or nagging hemorrhoids, among other concerns.
Donut pillows come in various sizes from different materials, focusing on convenience, movement or longevity. Our top pick is this Kieba Donut Pillow, though it's crucial to find the right option to suit your needs. Our guide rounds up the critical information and salient details about donut pillows so you can sit comfortably and confidently.
What to know before you buy a donut pillow
A variety of materials are used to create donut pillows, each with its own benefits. The most common options available are:
- Memory foam: Supportive and durable, memory foam is popular in both mattresses and pillows. They conform to the contour of your body to provide both support and relief. Higher quality options will bounce back after a cool-down period so that it doesn't stay conformed and flat, which is a drawback of lower-quality memory foam.
- Polyurethane foam: This type of foam comes at a more affordable price than memory foam while still maintaining a soft, bouncy surface. It's not as resilient as memory foam, however, and tends to conform over time.
- Rubber or vinyl: Inflatable donuts pillows have long been popular due to their adjustable nature and affordable price. You can also add or remove air based on your preference. However, without extra care and caution, leaks and punctures may occur, and inflatable options tend to wear out over time. Still, they are ideal for those on a budget or anyone seeking some short-term relief.
Donut pillows range in texture and support, from soft to rigid. The firmness, or lack thereof, will influence the type of relief you'll receive, as well as the duration. For those users feeling tender or sore, a softer pillow is ideal. However, it's important to note that softer pillows may lose support over time, creating other issues for your tailbone or lower back. Medium-firm is ideal for most users, while heavier individuals should seek out firmer pillows.
Donut pillows vary in size, from 14-22 inches in diameter. When considering size, keep in mind where you might be using the pillow, whether it's on a couch, office chair or in a car. It should fit comfortably with both your frame and location.
What to look for in a quality donut pillow
Some donuts are shaped and designed to enhance comfort by bolstering certain areas. Leg depressions and coccyx cutouts are some of the more common options that improve circulation and relieve pressure when in use.
Some pillow donuts come with or may accommodate a cover, which will help keep the pillow clean and long-lasting, which is particularly useful if you're frequently transporting your pillow. Keeping the pillow free from dust and dirt goes a long way to maintaining its structure. Most covers are machine-washable, making for easy maintenance.
Cooling technology
One drawback to memory foam is that it tends to trap in heat, creating a stuffy pillow that won't be as comfortable for some users, particularly for prolonged use. Some foam pillows add cooling technology to offset this, either through ventilated holes to promote airflow or by infusing gel into the foam.
How much you can expect to spend on a donut pillow
A quality donut pillow usually costs $15-$25 depending on size, material and additional features.
Donut pillow FAQ
Will a donut pillow cure my ailments?
A. A donut pillow should provide relief and comfort. In most cases, it's best used to supplement a treatment plan from a medical professional or aid in recovery.
How do I properly use the donut pillow?
A. Though it may seem intuitive, a donut pillow's improper positioning can lead to pain, potentially inflaming already sensitive areas. Place the donut pillows in the right direction, with the backside touching the back of the chair, couch or seat. Avoid reclining on the pillow, as that can place excessive pressure on your tailbone. Instead, sit up straight or lean forward slightly.
What's the best donut pillow to buy?
Top donut pillow
What you need to know: A quality pillow with a pleasing shape and comfortable design that caters to most individuals.
What you'll love: Provides comfort and support for a variety of pain, including from hemorrhoids or pregnancy. The dense foam is durable and responsive, and the whole pillow easy to clean.
What you should consider: It's slightly smaller than most and may not accommodate larger users.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top donut pillow for the money
Dr. Frederick's Original Donut Pillow
What you need to know: This budget-friendly, inflatable donut provides convenient and immediate relief and support.
What you'll love: Will evenly distribute body weight for a comfortable sitting experience. Made from a hypoallergenic material that inflates quickly and efficiently while supporting up to 330 pounds.
What you should consider: Not intended for extended use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Bonmedico Orthopedic Donut Pillow
What you need to know: Resilient and responsive pillow intended to relieve severe pain and deliver prolonged support.
What you'll love: Has a firm design constructed from both gel and memory foam for a versatile and relaxing experience that is highly supportive around the tailbone.
What you should consider: Dual surface design may prove uncomfortable to some users.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Anthony Marcusa writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.


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Thursday July 31
http://www.evancarmichael.com/Book-Reviews/ – Review by Nikki Leigh for Jill Lublin's book – Get Noticed Get Referrals.
Dyan Garris will be interviewed on The Frazzled Entrepreneur Program: The Author as Entrepreneur series that we're doing with the Frazzled Entrepreneur – www.blogtalkradio.com/frazzledentreneur
8 pm EST – Call-in Number: (646) 200-0886
For more information about Jill – visit www.jilllublin.com. For full tour details, visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/06/jill-lublin-author-of-get-noticed-get.html
Friday is the last day of Jill Lublin's tour and we'll share a review by Carolyn Howard Johnson.
Nikki Leigh – Author, Publicist and Tour Coordinator
www.nikkileigh.com – Book Promo 101: Learn the Basics of Book Promotion
www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com – Get more information about virtual blog tours
Filed under: online promotion, virtual blog tour, virtual book tour | Tagged: get noticed get referrals | Leave a comment »


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Posts Tagged 'wildlife'
Cream of Pheasant, Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup
Cream of Pheasant, Wild Rice & Mushroom Soup by Barbara Tagami 2 PHEASANT BREAST MEAT 1/2 TSP SALT 1/2 TSP GARLIC POWDER OR 1 CLOVE FRESH GARLIC –SLICED 2 TSP CHICKEN BOULLION OR 2 CANS CHICKEN BROTH BLACK PEPPER to taste COMBINE INGREDIENTS IN A POT AND ADD ENOUGH WATER TO COVER THE PHEASANT Read More »Read More
Slow-cooked Canada Goose Vegetable Stew
As promised, I bring you the first of many Barbara Tagami Wild Edibles recipes. We hope you enjoy it! (Wild game jambalaya recipe) We would love to hear your thoughts on the recipe, your comments after tasting it, or even your own recipes – if you're willing to share. Just leave a comment at the Read More »Read More


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"We were not Gods, but were of God, the strands of our existence
not yet teased apart by Becoming, our function not yet defined."
So much for a Saturday evening… the night of the week most folk sit relaxing by the hearth or meet with friends. Me? I was taking dictation from a Goddess… or that was what it felt like as I wrote.
I had done plenty of research, burying myself under a small mountain of respectable tomes to remind me of the details of the great story I was working with as I wrote The Osiriad. The names on the spines… Budge, Spence and Frazer, Iamblichus and Herodotus… suggested that ancient Egypt had something to do with the whole process, as would the printed papyri that littered the table. I had been feeding my imagination on tales of Egypt for years.
"There was a time we did not walk the earth.
A time when our nascent essence flowed, undifferentiated, in the Source of Being."
But research isn't everything. There are scholarly accounts in abundance out there with an academic weight I could never match. Nor did I intend to try. I hoped to speak to the emotions and imagination instead, so it was enough to get a broad overview of the subject. Having immersed myself in the scholarly works, I set them aside to write, hoping to weave the disjointed myths of Egypt into a single story. Which is where it began to feel as if I was taking dictation… and I wrote non-stop until the book was done.
"We wore flesh like a garment, clothing our immanence…"
It is a curious process when, with the first keystrokes, the tenor of language changes and takes on a flavour all of its own. Even stranger when the character who is speaking in the narrative comes to life under your fingers and starts to 'dictate' and you find yourself typing concepts you were not consciously aware of before writing them down. I think I speak for many who write with this. It is a well-known phenomenon that our heroes and heroines begin to act independently in the imagination and the writer becomes little more than an observer and reporter of events over which, it almost feels, they have no control.
I found as I wrote that tale that I was tapping into areas of understanding that had lain unexplored in mind and memory, shrouded in the cobwebs of neglect. There is far more stored away in our minds than we notice. We tap into it through practices like meditation and the creative process. The two, I think, are more closely aligned than we generally realise. Many who paint slip into another state of mind, very similar to that experienced in meditation. Many who write will go back and find things they barely remember having written, things beyond their usual scope that they hardly recognise as their own. Things that surprise them with their depth or intensity.
Imagination is such a powerful thing. It is at the root of so many aspects of our lives yet we often dismiss it or fail to notice it. We even train our children away from its magic by telling them not to daydream or imagine things, pulling them back to reality. Yet every design, every concept, begins the process of its manifestation within the imagination of its creator. Every object we use began with a 'what if', every story was once just the germ of an idea.
It is imagination that fuels our emotions. What would we fear without that mental picture that haunts us? Would we strive to attain a goal without the image of success imprinted upon our mind? Yet it is a two-way process, for imagination feeds on memory and emotion too and they paint a vivid picture for it to work with. Think of the possibilities for change we could have by consciously harnessing these natural gifts we all have in abundance. It is this power of the imagination that is drawn upon by all the methods of positive thinking, and though many of the concepts they present may be flawed by the desire for profit and worldly success, the basic premise, that we can shape our own vision of reality through imagination, is sound.
Mystery Schools, including the Silent Eye, have always taught the power of the controlled imagination. Very often, though, in my experience, the power of the heart is neglected by the student, overlooked in their concentration on study, with the result that the focus becomes purely intellectual and loses the true meaning of such a path, which is to take understanding out into the life of the world and live it. It is by engaging the emotions in full awareness, in conjunction with the imagination, that the inner vision opens to allow exploration of the hidden corners of the mind and the realisations that come in this way can be truly astounding.


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Bulls' Dunleavy suffers bloody gash
Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Chicago Bulls guard/forward Mike Dunleavy was forced to leave Thursday night's game against the Houston Rockets after suffering a cut above his right eye.
With 7:54 left in the second quarter, Houston's Chandler Parsons drove into the lane and his elbow collided with Dunleavy's face. Dunleavy, who held his ground to take the offensive foul, was forced off the court due to excessive bleeding.
Dunleavy, who received 10 stitches to close the wound, returned to the court to start the third quarter and came out on fire. He scored 10 points during Chicago's 20-2 run that expanded its lead to 70-44 midway through the period.
Dunleavy scored 18 of his 21 points in the third quarter and boosted the Bulls to a 111-87 win.