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Research Digest
Crimeans weigh in on annexation, one year later
It has now been a year since the Russian annexation of Crimea, which contravened international law and raised international tensions between East and West rarely seen since the end of the Cold War. The Russian take-over of this region from Ukraine was widely viewed in western democracies as a belligerent political move carried out by military might against the wishes of many in the local population. But recent public opinion research reveals a different picture, in which a strong majority of Crimean residents approve of the annexation and believe it has been a positive change for their region.
The research comes from a recent public opinion study commissioned by openDemocracy, and conducted in December 2014 by the Moscow-based Levada Center. Unlike many surveys reported in western media, this survey was in-depth (conducted by telephone in Russian), encompassing about 150 questions covering a range of topics about identity, politics, media consumption and general issues facing the region.
Results from the survey show that a strong majority of Crimeans approve of the Russian annexation, with 84 percent of Russian and Ukrainian ethnic groups saying it was "absolutely the right decision", with Ukrainian sentiment only modestly lower than that of Russians. The small minority of ethnic Tatars (who make up an estimated 12% of the population) is split between approval and disapproval, with 20 percent saying the annexation was "absolutely" right.
Consistent with these results is the fact that few Crimeans consider themselves to be "European", in contrast to sentiments in other parts of Ukraine. And a clear majority (85%) expressed the view that Crimea is now moving in the right direction, in contrast to previous polling (e.g., 6% indicated this view in a 2009 survey by the International Republican Institute). Ethnic Tatars are largely divided on these questions.
The research shows that the vast majority of Crimeans of Russian and Ukrainian identity approve of the recent annexation of their region, with the Tatar minority divided. Does popular will trump international law? openDemocracy describes this as an example of an act that is "illegal but legitimate", the same words used almost 20 years ago to describe NATO's intervention that led to Kosovo's separation from Serbia.
Is this survey legitimate, in terms of accurately portraying the opinions of the Crimean population? openDemocracy describes the Levada Center as having a reputation for "integrity, professionalism, and independence", and there was no indication of government interference with the survey fieldwork. There is no other way to validate the results other than to await further research that might be undertaken by other organizations based outside of Russia.
Apart from providing important insights about the public mood in Crimea, this research provides a current and compelling example of the valuable role that survey research can play in international affairs. This type of research may not contribute directly to resolving political disputes, but it does provide necessary empirical evidence to settle key questions about public opinion that would otherwise be a battle of anecdotes and political spin.
Research Industry wrestles Margin of Error monkey
Almost any time you read about a public opinion poll you will see a sentence, usually at the end, stating a "margin of error" percentage, "plus or minus." Those who know something about research will understand this to be a statistical measure of the representativeness of the sample of survey respondents recruited from the broader population under study. Those who know how survey research is done are likely aware that there is growing controversy about the use of this statistic as an indicator of survey quality.
The issues boils down to the following: The margin of error statistic applies to probability samples, such as those historically used for telephone surveys where every household is theoretically available to be sampled for a given survey. Such samples are increasingly difficult (and costly) to generate , and most surveys today are conducted through online methods that rely on non-probability samples. And yet the research industry and its clients continue to rely heavily on margin of error as the sine qua non indicator of survey accuracy.
The issue is well known within the research community but not discussed, until now. Annie Petit of Peanut Labs recently hosted a well attended webinar on this topic. The webinar featured four senior level researchers from the market research industry who discussed the relevance and applicability of margin of error in today's world. The discussion is a bit dry, and may be difficult to follow for those who lack a basic understanding of margin of error and how it works since the webinar is aimed at industry practitioners. But the discussion is well worth listening to for those involved in survey research as a practitioner, client, journalist, or anyone who wants to understand better about how surveys are done.
There is no surprise in the fact that the four panellists all agreed that margin of error statistics are no longer as relevant in survey research today, and that they may do more harm than good in providing irrelevant and possibly misleading information about survey data quality. So why does the practice persist? In part this is because there are no other metrics of survey quality that offer the conciseness and face validity of margin of error. There are numerous sources of error that can affect the accuracy of survey results, and these are complicated if not impossible to measure.
The most revealing insight to come out of the webinar is how research companies are stuck with an irrelevant metric of survey quality because their clients demand it. Several panellists noted how they write survey reports that include a margin of error and then state it does not actually apply to the results (as a way to appease clients who insist the statistic is included). One panellist commented that to stop quoting margin of error even when it does not apply could well risk to the loss of valued clients. What this reveals is an underlying conflict between the science and business aspects of market research in today's world. Commercial and media clients need data to drive or justify decisions, and they need to show their data is sound. Margin of error has been cast in the role of providing that seal of approval, and the inconvenient truth behind the science is easily ignored.
Not all survey research is conducted for business, and it would be illuminating to also hear the perspective on margin of error from practitioners in government, university and non-profit settings who are focused more on sound data than business confidence. Perhaps this will be the topic of a future webinar.
You can listen to the Peanut Labs webinar in its entirety here.
When survey research goes to war
Public opinion surveys are used for many purposes, and some have much less profile than others. A good example is how survey research is now being used by governments and their militaries as a counter insurgency tool in conflict areas. This research flies largely under the media radar, but is nicely discussed in a recent Monkey Cage blog post in the Washington Post by Andrew Shaver and Yang-Yang Zhou (both are Ph.D. political science candidates at Princeton University).
Shaver and Zhou discuss major research projects undertaken by US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq to measure local population opinions and sentiment in support of military operations. These efforts are substantial in scope – in the case of Iraq entailing in-person interviews every month over a five year period, cumulatively totalling around 200,000 interviews. Topics included level of support for insurgent attacks against the coalition and Iraqi government forces, satisfaction with a range of public goods and services, and expectations about the capabilities of Iraqi security forces. Why this is relevant is because successful counterinsurgency initiatives are unlikely to succeed without local public support.
The scope of such ongoing investment would suggest that the research is proving valuable in helping to anticipate challenges facing military operations as well as measure progress in achieving public support. Shaver and Zhou report the data collected in Iraq revealed a clear positive relationship between public support for insurgent attacks against coalition forces and the actual number of such attacks. But they point out that such data do not tell us whether one leads to the other (does growing public sentiment lead to more attacks, or do such attacks result in more popular support?).
As well, the authors raise what they aptly describe as "the more fundamental and less exciting question of whether the survey responses accurately reflect the attitudes of the citizens they are designed to capture." Do Iraqis and Afghanis tell the truth when being interviewed on surveys being conducted on behalf of an occupying army? There is no way to measure this precisely but it would have to be a concern to those sponsoring such research. Shaver and Zhou briefly outline some of the methodological approaches that have been developed to obtain accurate answers to sensitive survey questions. But these approaches were developed using western populations accustomed to survey participation, and their effectiveness with other cultures and contexts remain to be established.
Apropos this issue, the New England Chapter of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) is hosting a half day mini-conference entitled "New Frontiers in Preventing, Detecting, and Remediating Fabrication in Survey Research." This free event will be held in Cambridge, MA on February 13, 2015 (and also broadcast over the web via WebEx). The event is likely to cover the issues facing surveys conducted by governments overseas, as the agenda will include speakers from the US State Department and the Arab Barometer.
What's wrong with online survey research methods?
Perhaps the most significant trend in market and public opinion research in the past decade has been the emergence of online research methods as the dominant form of survey data collection. This trend has taken for three reasons: a) to leverage the expanding array of digital technologies and their rapid adoption across the population; b) to realize greater efficiencies and lower costs in collecting survey data; and c) to avoid having to deal with the challenges associated with telephone interviewing.
But what about the quality of online research? Is something critical being lost by this expanding reliance on online research methods? This question is addressed in the latest issue of MRA's Alert Magazine, with a critique of online research methods by author Neil Chakraborty. He addresses a number of issues, but zeroes in the reliance on non-probability samples, which is widely considered to be the greatest limitation of online survey research.
Survey research blossomed in the latter half of the 20th century largely on the strength of the science of probability sampling that provided a statistically-credible basis for extrapolating results from small representative samples to the populations they are drawn from. This approach requires that every member of the population has a chance of being selected to be surveyed. This could be more or less accomplished when surveys were conducted by telephone, but cannot be done with Internet-based surveys because there is no online equivalent to telephone numbers (unlike telephone numbers, e-mail addresses cannot be randomly generated). This means that most online surveys rely on drawing samples from established panels of individuals who are recruited to participate through website promotions. However balanced such online samples might be, in terms of their demographic and regional characteristics, they do not possess the qualities of probability samples, and cannot be treated as such.
Chakraborty's critique is not new, and his points have been covered by others (see for instance AAPOR's 2010 report on online panels and 2013 report on non-probability samples). But it offers a useful overview of key issues, and includes an important admonishment to research practitioners to both focus on reducing survey errors, and be transparent about the limitations of their methods.
Practical advice about survey research goes video
When organizations, students and newcomers to the survey research business look for "how to" guidance, the choices are largely limited to textbooks, consultants and on-the-job experience. Now there is a new resource in the form of short practical advice videos that have been created by Elon University in Greensboro North Carolina (home of the Elon University Poll).
There are 10 videos in all (posted on Youtube) each about three minutes in length. The featured speaker is Elon Professor Kenneth Fernandez, who covers such topics as:
- Surveys in society
- What is sampling error?
- Methods of collecting survey data
- How to read a crosstab
- 7 tips for good survey questions
The material is basic, and the audience is primarily for beginners. But even seasoned professionals can benefit from refreshing their knowledge.
2013 Survey of American Jews -- Lessons for Canada
Last fall the widely-respected US-based Pew Research Center released the results of a comprehensive survey of American Jews, which generated considerable attention in Canada as well as in the USA.
The survey addresses many themes, but chief among them is how Jewish identity and practice are changing among Americans, and the results may also be relevant to what is happening in the Canadian Jewish community. This was the focus of the Seventh Annual Elka Klein Memorial Lecture held at Congregation Darchei Noam in Toronto on June 23, 2014.
The event featured a presentation on the American survey results by Greg Smith, one of the senior Pew researchers responsible for the study. This was followed by a panel of Canadian experts who discussed how the American findings may or may not be relevant to the Canadian Jewish community (in the absence of any comparable survey of Canadian Jews).
The panel was moderated by Janice Stein (Director, Munk School of Global Affairs), and will include our member Frank Bialystok (University of Toronto), Bernie Farber (former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress) and Aaron Levy (Founder and Executive Director of Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism).
AAPOR launches new initiative on survey methods
The American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) righly bills itself as the leading association of public opinion and survey research professionals. In keeping with this role, AAPOR has just announced the launch of its latest special task force initiatives, in this case to encourage dialogue and deepen our understanding of today's survey methods.
The current research environment is characterized by an expanding array of methodologies, each with its own challenges — increased cost, under-coverage, low participation, mixing of modes, uncertainty in the links between theory and practical application. This trend is producing numerous reactions, from those who are developing and testing new techniques and innovative methods to address many of these issues, to those who have grown skeptical of contemporary survey methods, whether new approaches or traditional methods.
The Task Force will be composed of leading research methodologists, and will have three principal responsibilities:
- Organizing a "mini-conference" at the 2015 AAPOR Annual Conference (May 2015).
- Develop guidance to help consumer of survey data assess the quality of what they commission.
- Identify other ways to feature innovation and learning in this critical area of research methodology.
This type of independent, expert-driven initiative is critically needed at this point in time, and is well worth paying close attention to as it evolves over the next year or so. Watch for updates in this space.
Gallup Tracks Americans: Concerned Believers and Cool Skeptics on Climate Change
By Kristen Pue
Gallup recently concluded a series of public opinion reports on climate change, culminating in a final report that established three categories to articulate American public opinion about climate change. The report showed that age and political affiliation, but not level of education, are important in explaining public opinion on the subject. It also included trend data that can be used to compare the story of climate change skepticism in Canada and the US.
Gallup has released ten reports since March as part of its ongoing climate change series. Each of the reports addressed one aspect of American public opinion about climate change. The reports concluded that:
· Americans value the environment and a majority believes climate change is man-made. Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe that human activity is responsible for climate change, a proportion that has remained steady since 2001. Likewise, Americans prioritize environmental protection over economic growth and favor energy conservation over energy production to solve the nation's energy problems.
· However, climate change is not a top of mind issue for most. Americans express a low level of concern about climate change, particularly when compared with other environmental concerns such as polluted drinking water, soil contamination, and air pollution. A majority of Americans believe the seriousness of global warming has been exaggerated.
· Terminology doesn't matter. The term climate change has increasingly been used instead of global warming, in part because it is believed that climate change will be a more persuasive term. But Gallup found that there is no substantial difference in how the American public responds to the terms global warming and climate change.
Each of the first nine reports, summarized above, highlighted individual aspects of climate change public opinion. Gallup's final climate change report attempted to pull these different snapshots into a single, coherent narrative. In particular, it determined that American public opinion about climate change is polarized, with two prominent clusters and a "mixed middle."
Gallup organized Americans into three categories, according to their views on climate change.
· "Concerned Believers" (39%) believe that climate change is attributable to human activity, are concerned about it, and believe its seriousness has either been underestimated or given a correct level of attention in the news.
· "Cool Skeptics" (25%) do not believe that climate change is man-made, worry little about it, and believe news coverage has exaggerated the seriousness of the threat.
· The "Mixed Middle" (36%) constitutes those people that do not fit into the other two categories. They hold a range of views on the three questions.
Gallup then used this segmentation to offer some conclusions about demography and perceptions about climate change. They found that age and political affiliation are the key dividing factors on climate change opinion. 65% of Cool Skeptics identified as conservative, compared with only 18% of Concerned Believers. The majority of Concerned Believers are under fifty years old, whereas the majority of Cool Skeptics are older than fifty years old. It is worth noting that there is a relationship between age and political affiliation in the US (the average Democratic Party voter is younger than the average Republican Party voter). Interestingly, Gallup also found that climate change opinions in the US are not divided according to level of education.
Gallup also issued trend data for its three clusters, demonstrating the general trajectory of American opinions about climate change. The proportion of Concerned Believers has remained largely the same throughout this period. The Mixed Middle is shrinking, while the Cool Skeptics category has grown.
This section compares Gallup's trend data on this issue to similar data for Canada. Although the Environics Institute's Focus Canada 2013 Climate Change Report is based on answers to different questions, it is possible to qualitatively compare the two reports. Both attempt to measure and track climate change skepticism over time.
The Focus Canada data asks to what extent Canadians believe science has conclusively proven that climate change is caused by human activity. Notably, a clear majority of Canadians believe that climate change is man-made. Climate skepticism has risen and subsequently fallen, returning to just above 2007 levels.
The two surveys asked different questions, so direct comparison isn't possible. But it is possible to draw some conclusions from analysing the trajectory of public opinion in each. In the US, climate change skepticism has been rising since since at least 2006, but in Canada views on climate change science have reverted, and are roughly the same today as they were in 2007.
Further, it is worth highlighting American and Canadian climate change public opinion in the context of major events and public discussions on the subject.
Climate Skepticism Began to Grow in 2006/2007
Uncertainty about whether climate change is attributable mostly to human activity began to grow in 2006 in the US and in 2007 (or earlier, as Focus Canada trend data on this issue only captures the period of 2007-2013) in Canada. There is no obvious reason for this to have occurred, but it may reflect the general intensification of public debate about climate change.
2006 would seem to have been an excellent year for climate change activists. An Inconvenient Truth was released and the Stern Report controversially argued the costs of adapting to climate change will be greater than the costs of prevention. That same year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US was sued for its failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Massachusetts v. EPA was decided by the Supreme Court in 2007. The Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the EPA has the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and that it could not sidestep its authority unless there was a scientific basis for its refusal. It is surprising -- given these developments -- that American climate change skepticism grew during this period.
The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report is seen by some as a watershed moment for climate change science: it declared with 90% certainty that human activities cause climate change. However, climate change skeptics had some notable moments in 2007: questions were raised surrounding factual inaccuracies in An Inconvenient Truth and The Great Global Warming Swindle, a divisive climate denialist UK documentary, was released. Both Canadians and Americans became less certain during 2007 that climate change is caused by human activity, suggesting that rebuttals to An Inconvenient Truth and other climate change denialist publications were successful in calling into question the conclusive nature of climate change science.
"Climategate" Deepened Skepticism
In both data sets, climate change skepticism accelerated between 2009 and 2010, likely in response to the "climategate" scandal in which over 1000 emails between climate change scientists were stolen. Although this scandal did not actually unveil evidence that scientists had been manipulating climate change data, they did show that the scientists were very reluctant to share their data with people they saw as only wanting to make trouble. It is likely that this scandal impacted public opinion in both Canada and the US. In each case, the percentage of climate change believers -- in the US, "Concerned Believers" and in Canada those believing the science is conclusive that climate change is caused mostly by human activity -- reached its nadir in early 2010.
The Copenhagen Accord, which was signed in late 2009, likely contributed to the high rates of climate skepticism in 2010. The meeting in Copenhagen failed to deliver a global agreement on climate change, and was seen as a spectacular disappointment. This failure halted momentum on climate change action, and was followed with negative media coverage.
Belief in Climate Change is Slowly Recovering
In Canada and the US, the view that climate change is attributable to human activity is regaining popularity, but has not returned to 2007 levels.
In 2011, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report concluding that the world has just five years before climate change will be irreversible.
The percentage of Concerned Believers in the US began to grow again in 2012. This may be because the sense of urgency expressed in the IEA report was made tangible for many in North America. Summer ice cover over the Arctic Ocean reached a record low. Hurricane Sandy catalysed discussion on climate change; most Americans now link climate change and extreme weather.
2013 proceeded with a leaked draft of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that made headlines, particularly for its findings on the implications of climate change for food security. This draft was timely, given the protracted heat wave across the Southern US in 2012, which prompted discussion about climate change and concerns about current and future wheat yields. The Intergovernmental Panel also declared 95-100% confidence that human activity is the primary influence on planetary warming.
Increasingly since 2010, Canadians and Americans believe that climate change is man-made. This may be due to a combination of increased scientific data about climate change – and efforts to articulate these findings in publicly salient ways – and extreme weather occurring in 2012.
For a comprehensive timeline on climate change, click here.
For more on climate change and American public opinion, check out the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies' Project on Climate Change Communication. This project, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade, conducts social and public opinion research on climate change; designs and tests strategies to engage the public on the issue of climate change; and empowers opinion leaders by giving them tools to more effectively engage audiences on climate change. As part of this mandate, they recently released the following report: Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies in November 2013.
The World Bank surveys the globe on open government
Sometimes important public opinion research does not receive the attention it deserves. The Global Opening Government Survey – a study undertaken through collaboration between the World Bank's Open Government Practice and RIWI Corporation, a Toronto-based company – is one such survey.
Global in scope, the Global Opening Government Survey spanned 63 countries on every continent. It asked the fundamental question: Do citizens perceive their governments to be open, as well as why, and how they want government to be more open.
It's an important topic. Government openness is an important democratic requirement; it enables citizens to make informed choices, to question policies and hold politicians to account. In this sense, the extent to which citizens perceive government as open may be a litmus test for a healthy, democratic environment.
This topic is also timely, given controversy in various countries surrounding how much citizens know about what their governments are doing – from news that the NSA's PRISM surveillance system is being used on American citizens, to reports that CSEC (Communications Security Establishment Canada) has been using free airport wifi to keep watch on Canadians.
The survey method is innovative. The Global Opening Government Survey uses an innovative new technology for conducting online surveys with citizens on a global scale without relying on recruited opt-in panels. The method was developed from RIWI's random domain intercept technology (RDIT), which connects with Internet users across devices and platforms who mistype a URL or type a URL for a website that no longer exists. On the error page, users are asked to answer a short set of questions.
It's a hidden gem. The Global Opening Government Survey is worthy of attention because it hasn't received any. If you haven't heard about this study you are not alone; the data was presented at the World Bank's Open Government Partnership Summit in London last year and then posted on a website, but has received very little media coverage.
One reason this study may have attracted little attention is that its publication was not accompanied by a comparative analysis of the findings that presented a global picture or cross-country comparisons. So the key insights and value of this research take some effort to identify.
Perceptions of government openness do not correspond to measures of democratic quality. One might expect that people in well-established democracies would be the most likely to say their governments are open, since democratic systems rely on transparency and open debate. But this does not prove to be the case. The five countries whose citizens most believe their governments are open can all be found on the African continent: Tanzania, Ghana, Malawi, Liberia, and Kenya.
Developed democracies – countries that score well on democracy indexes like the Global Democracy Ranking – varied considerably in terms of public perception of government openness.Norway, Finland, Canada, and the Netherlands were near the top of the list in terms of citizens rating their government as the most open, while publics in the United States, Spain, and Italy were least apt to share this view. This discrepancy between actual level of democracy and perceived level of government openness suggests that populations across countries have different ideas and expectations about what it means to have an "open" government.
Citizens in developed democracies are less demanding for more government openness. More often than not citizens in developed democracies are less likely than others to express the desire for their government to become more open and to provide more information about what it does. They are also less likely to say they would be more likely to trust government or pay taxes if their government was more open. The results suggest that citizens in developed democracies are, comparatively, satisfied with current levels of government openness.
A few other notable findings:
Mongolia stands out. Of all countries surveyed, Mongolians have the least optimistic assessment of how open their government is, and the highest level of demand for more government. This is noteworthy given that Mongolia has a healthy democratic system with open information, a lively multi-party system with elections that are generally free and fair and an active civil society sector.
Only 25% of Latvians – less than any other country by far – think citizens should have a say in government spending. Denmark (42%) had the second lowest proportion of its public saying citizens should have a say in government spending. By comparison, this expectation is expressed by at least eight in ten citizens in such countries as Mongolia, Brazil, and Kenya.
Canadians are generally positive about the openness of their governments. Of the 63 countries surveyed, Canada is 13th highest proportion of its citizens rating their government to be open; third among developed democracies.
Canadians also expressed a greater than average demand for more government openness, amongst developed democracies. Two-thirds (64%) of Canadians think citizens should have more say in government spending and contracting, which is a high proportion compared with publics in other developed democracies. Canadians are also more likely than citizens in most other developed democracies to say they would be more likely to pay their taxes if government were more open.
While these numbers are strong compared with other developed democracies, they are less than compelling in absolute terms. Just over half of Canadians would like government to be more open (53%), and to have more information about government (53%). A sizeable minority were unable to even offer opinions on these questions.
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The Global Opening Government Survey provides valuable information about an important topic, and was conducted using an innovative new method. The raw data, publicly available online, is potentially useful for policy-makers, activists, and journalists. It is worthy of further attention and comprehensive analysis.
Majorities in 22 of 40 Countries Say Believing in God is Essential to Morality
To be a moral person and to have good values is it necessary to also believe in God? Many people from around the world answered "yes" in a recent Pew Research Center report; a clear majority in 22 out of 40 countries believe that morality emanates from one's religious views.
In some countries, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, the view that it is necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values was nearly universally held – for example, in Ghana there is 99% support for this perspective. In other countries, however, most people disagreed: in France only 15% believe morality is contingent upon belief in God.
The Asia-Pacific exemplifies this diversity of opinion: perspectives range from Indonesia and Pakistan on one end (where 99% of people believe it is necessary to believe in God to be moral) to China on the other (with only 14% support for this view).
Beyond the range of global perspectives on religion and morality, there are two additional findings worth highlighting.
Views about morality and God are closely linked to wealth.
People in richer countries are more likely to believe that morality does not require belief in God than people in poorer countries, a correlation shown below in this chart from the Pew Research Center's report. For example, a majority of people in every European country surveyed hold that it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral.
Although people in wealthier countries are more likely to believe that morality exists independent of one's belief in God, the USA and China are notable outliers. Just over one in ten people in China – a country of average wealth amongst those surveyed – hold that belief in God is necessary for morality. And, unlike all other western liberal democracies surveyed, a majority of Americans believe that theism is required for morality.
Viewpoints on this question remained remarkably stable.
Pew Research asked this same question in previous years (2002, 2007, and 2011), and opinions have changed very little in most cases. For example, Mexico's responses have shifted by two percent between 2002 and 2013. Ghana is a notable exception: the percentage of people that believe it is necessary to believe in God to be a moral person was 73% in 2007 but skyrocketed to 99% in 2013.
This stability in opinions about whether belief in God is necessary to one's moral character is notable given the substantial social changes that have taken place over the past decade. Austerity has done little to change the perspective of most Europeans on this question. The United States has adopted a more secular outlook on this question over the decade, but the change is slight – just 5%. And despite seismic societal shifts emanating from the Arab Awakening, the Middle Eastern countries included in this study retain the same aggregate views about morality and belief in God.
Where Canada Fits
Canada fits the trend that wealthier countries take a secular perspective on this question: just 31% of Canadians think it is necessary to believe in God to be moral, a view that has not changed since 2002. Of all countries surveyed, Canada is most similar to Germany. However, the percentage of people who believe that morality is inseparable from religion is smaller in most European countries than in Canada – among them France (15%) as well as countries like Italy (27%) that have large religious populations.
Younger and college educated Canadians are least likely to agree that morality is contingent upon belief in God.
How does this report relate to what we know about religion in Canada?
According to the Environics Institute's Focus Canada data from 2011, eight in ten Canadians believe in God or a universal spirit. Likewise, most Canadians express a religious affiliation (69%), while just over a quarter identify as atheist, agnostic, or without a religion. So, most Canadians believe in God; at the same time, most believe that morality is not contingent upon believe in God. What explains this difference?
One possible explanation is that Canadians distinguish religious questions from certain other values. Lending some evidence towards this view, Canadians were asked in 2011: if they have a religious affiliation, do they share common values with those that don't; if they don't have a religious affiliation, do they share common values with those that do? A majority in both groups agreed that they share common values on most things.
Another possibility is that many Canadians may separate theism from morality because religion plays only a small role in their lives. For example, half of Canadians reporting a religious affiliation rarely if ever attend religious services.
The results of this Pew Research report reflect the complex relationship between religion and morality, a question that has become increasingly poignant as more people in rich, western countries identify as atheist or agnostic, while other parts of the globe are becoming more religious.
Kristen Pue


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Tip of the day
The top eight players in men's tennis learned who they will face in the climax of the season on Tuesday when the draw was made for the group stage of the ATP World Tour Finals at London's O2 Arena.
Although Andy Murray will have many supporters among the British crowd, the world No. 5 was handed a tough challenge after placed in a pool alongside three in-form players in David Ferrer, Robin Soderling and Roger Federer. All three have won tournaments in November.
Mr. Federer, who won the Basel Indoor tournament in Switzerland, starts as the 13/5 favorite with Totesport.
The match between Mr. Murray and Mr. Soderling opens the singles competition on Sunday and the Swedish player is a good price to win the meeting at 11/10 with Bet 365 and Stan James. He comes fresh from victory at the Paris Masters last weekend, while his opponent may still be nursing a slight wrist injury.
The other half of the draw features world No. 1 Rafa Nadal and third-ranked Novak Djokovic, priced at 10/3 with William Hill and 5/1 with Unibet respectively. Of the two, Mr. Djokovic is the better bet and a good tip to win outright. The Serb won this event in 2008 and tends to finish the season strongly. By contrast, Mr. Nadal hasn't played for a month.
In such a strong field, it may pay to look further down the list: At 10/1 with Victor Chandler, Mr. Soderling is a good each-way option.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tiki Scorch
South Florida isnt Hawaii, but theyre so damn similar, who cares? Since middle-class Americans discovered Florida was a nice place to spend the winter and a cheap facsimile of that faraway Pacific island chain theyve been putting on grass skirts and making the best of things. And for the past ten years, the Hukilau has been claiming to be the East Coasts largest tiki and Polynesian pop gathering.
Thursday at 7 p.m., the tiki festival will kick off with a party at the Bahia Cabana, with performances by the Intoxicators! and Tikiyaki Orchestra. Friday is the Hukilau main event, with MC King Kukulele and live shows by Grinder Nova, the Fisherman, Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid, and the Exotics beginning at 7 p.m. at Bahia Mars Commodore Ballroom (801 Seabreeze Blvd., Fort Lauderdale). Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in the Bahia Mars Mariner Room, see Beautiful Girls That Live Like Fish! an exhibit of vintage photos and film from a famous 60s mermaid attraction. The Hukilau closes Sunday at 4 p.m. with a meet-and-greet with surf guitar great Dick Dale at Mai-Kai (3599 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale). Dont forget to hit every happy hour, buy plenty of Polynesian souvenirs, and get a commemorative photo taken after all, no one has to know you werent actually on the Big Island.
June 9-12, 7 p.m., 2011
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Sam, thanks for the information. I was finally able to get a reply to my concern and the majority of my order shipped. I have no problem with the delay in shipping backordered parts, if that information is made clear up front and isn''t for a part that hour website shows as "In stock." My frustration arose out of getting no reply to an e-mail message to correct a quantity mistake I made, and being concerned about getting the correction in advance of shipping to avoid the added inconvenience of a return. I try to order things that I do not need yesterday and hopefully as your bugs are worked out, I will be able to order those types of immediately-needed parts as well. I do appreciate your low prices and your apparent desire to improve customer service responsiveness.
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'Very nice bar for the money + BLUETOOTH!'
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The Portfolio
Meet Iricel
I am a storyteller of LOVE stories (And who can resist a good love story!) & my camera is my pen. Capturing life's greatest emotion through the lens can be both magical & hauntingly beautiful. I am so blessed with an abundance of love and support in my life that empowers me to follow my dreams. You can do anything when you are loved and give love!
I am also blessed to be raising the most beautiful and free-spirited, little girl with the love of my life and my best friend. My world gets a little crazy from time to time as I strive to maintain that sweet spot between being a mom, wife and photographer, but I wouldn't have it any other way!
I would describe myself as a hopeless dreamer and romantic who believes that everyone has a love story. Your story is important to me and is the foundation from which I draw inspiration for your life's moments and I can't wait to tell it!
Wedding + Engagement
We absolutely LOVE photographing engaged couples and their Big Day!
We are happy to offer the following services to our couples:
Complimentary consultations where we meet face to face and discuss all the exciting details of the couple's big day.
Complimentary portrait session (engagement, bride & groom, bridal, trash the dress) that is included in our
wedding packages.
Private in home or in office presentation sessions where you will get the opportunity to view your beautiful images on an 80 inch projection screen.
Complimentary in home design & installation with purchase of one of our luxe wall gallery collections.
Now offering bridal gift registry & referral program!
Why Bella Jay
Why you WOULD choose Bella Jay as your wedding photographer….
Looked through my portfolio and love what you see.
Looking for a good blend of unique and traditional style and posing.
Desire a highly personalized experience from start to finish.
Interested in custom quality services, products, and other offerings.
Understand the skill, creativity, and work that is required in professional Portrait/Event Photography.
Value photography as an art form and understand that it is an investment.
Why you would NOT choose Bella Jay as your wedding photographer….
You have looked through my portfolio and it does not speak to you. It is important that your style matches and that you connect with your photographer (you know…those warm and fuzzies).
Looking for ultra- traditional style and posing. I am primarily natural light photographer whose shooting approach incorporates both natural candid shots with some strategic posing.
Price is your only factor. We are not the "cheapest" photographer around and choose not to compete on price alone. Now customer service is another story!
Solely interested in someone "snapping pictures" and handing you a cd with the digital images. I strongly believe it is a disservice to simply hand my clients a cd and send them on their way to figure out the rest on their own. I would be wary of a photographer who chooses to do business this way and go into it with eyes open. You get what you pay for. When you hire a professional photographer with a good reputation, great products, keen eye, professional process and appropriate pricing, you lift the burden of worry. And since quality, custom portraiture does require an investment, it is important to consider these things.
What to Expect
1. Our lucky paths cross
2. We schedule a consultation – usually over coffee and a cupcake (or something equally as fabulous)! We show you some examples of our work, probe you for details about your wedding, and explain to you all of the reasons why you will love being a Bella Jay Bride! This is also where we find out what makes you tick. Don't be surprised if we ask you how you and your fiancé met; we are suckers for a sweet love story. Once we know your needs…how many hours that you need day of, how many portrait sessions you'd like, do you want prints or digital files, etc; then we will recommend one of our lovely packages or we will create a custom one suited just for you! We will go over all our services such as gift registry and be sure to show off all our wonderful products and samples we have in the office.
3. If you've just fallen in love with us and want to make sure no one else books your date…put down a deposit (30% of package price)! Do you need a payment plan? We would be happy to set you up with monthly or quarterly pre-authorized withdrawals if this works best for you.
4. Now that we've got you on the calendar…relax and we will take care of the rest. Between now and your big day, we will schedule your complimentary 1 hr engagement session and get you guys warmed up in front of the camera. Contact us anytime with questions or if you just want to chit chat! We love hearing from our brides! And don't forget to send us a Save the Date and a Wedding Invitation if you have extras. We will be sure to keep in touch with you along the way and send you helpful info and a few goodies too!
5. We will be sending you a "Day Of" Questionnaire within 60 days of your big day, which will give us any important information to help us build your timeline. Fill out…send back! Let us know if you need this sooner.
6. There is another 30% due within 90 days of booking and the remaining balance is due no later than 2 weeks before your Big Day. You can pay by check or credit card. There is a small "convenience charge" for credit cards so ask us about that before you make a final decision on your form of payment. And don't worry about keeping track of due dates; we'll send out payment reminders a couple weeks before each scheduled due date. We got you covered!
7. The BIG DAY! We show up…take a million fabulous pictures! We will be sure to email you within a couple of days and let you know what to expect in the upcoming weeks.
8.The BEST part!!! Within 6-8 weeks of the wedding day your proofs will be ready. You will receive a link to your online gallery where you will be able to ooh and ahh over your images for 1 week. After that, you will have the choice between a private in home or in office projection presentation session where you can view your pictures again, select your favorites if you haven't already done so, peruse our sample products, and place your order. More info will be sent before scheduled presentation session.
9. Second best part…your goodies have arrived and are ready to be picked up! This is one of our favorite parts. We will take extra care to personally inspect your items and hand wrap with our signature packaging. After all, presentation is everything! Please allow 2-4 weeks from time of order depending on size of order.
10. Be on the look out for your very own blog post featuring highlights and favorites from your special day. Treasure these lovely keepsakes for a lifetime and call us when you need photography in the future! And don't forget to fill out your comment card and mail back for an extra little treat.
11. If you "heart" us…Like us on Facebook and tell all your friends! Heck! Tell the world! All our couples get automatically enrolled into our referral program, which is a great way to earn Bella Jay bucks and can be used towards any future purchases or visits.
All our collections include a complimentary engagement session as well as a beautiful album to showcase and highlight your favorite images from your special day.
Our collections begin at $3000.
Please contact us for more details.
Do You Travel Outside Of The Statesboro Area?
We love destination weddings and are always excited to explore new places! Anything beyond a 30 mile radius of Statesboro Ga will incur a travel fee of .50 per mile and may be subject to further travel expenses such as hotel accommodations.
What Forms Of Payment Do You Accept?
We take cash, check, or PayPal. You can access our online payment portal here . (There will be a small convenience charge for the latter payment method based on amount).
When Is Payment Due?
A 30% deposit is due at the time of booking and will be applied towards your total package price. Once we receive your deposit and contract, your date will be locked in and reserved just for you. Another 30% will be due every 90 days until the day of event with all remaining balances being paid 2 weeks prior to event unless other arrangements have been made.
How Many Pictures Come With My Complimentary 1 Hr. Engagement/Portrait Session?
Your complimentary engagement session comes with 20 digital images of your choice. Digital images will be delivered in a low resolution format that will allow for social media sharing and printing up to an 8×10 size. You may choose to upgrade your session to receive all successful images in your gallery.
How Many Pictures Of My Wedding Will I Receive?
Number of images is based on how many hours of shooting comes with your package. For example: 4 to 6 hrs. (500-700 images), 7 to 8 hrs. (700-800 images), 8+ hrs. (800+ images). This is just a good estimation and is not a guarantee. Other factors may affect quantity of images.
Will All My Images From My Wedding Be Edited & Retouched?
Rest assured that we will spend hours upon hours looking through your beautiful images and handpicking the very best. All your images will have basic edits with a little enhancement such as color/tone, but will not include retouching (skin smoothing, eye enhancement, slimming, spot removals etc.) due to the large number of images we end up with. We reserve that type of retouching for those select pictures that you choose as your favorites and plan on enlarging.
What Color Or Style Will My Images Be Edited In & Can I Get That Image In a different color?
As far as color and style, every session is unique to that person, family, couple, etc. and is inspired by different things including the clients style, likes, dislikes, etc. Things things will be discussed further at pre-session consultation. Please visit the about me page on more about my shooting style and be sure to look through my work on my site. It is very important that you have a thorough understanding and liking for your photographer's style. For example, it would not be a good match between photographer & client if one likes traditional, posed, or studio photography and the photographer they choose is a natural light, non-traditional photographer.
As far as color/editing changes, this is done on a case by case basis and can be discussed during your ordering session. We try and provide a good mixture of black & white images and color images and spend hours handpicking the best images and editing them in a way we think showcases your session in the best way. During your consultation prior to your session, we will take careful consideration of any color preferences you may have which will help ensure that you are happy with the result.
Studio Policies
2. If you must cancel your session due to child illness or other personal emergency, please provide our studio with 48 hours' notice so we can reschedule your session and provide this time for another client. Failure to provide adequate notice of a cancellation will result in the forfeiture of your session fees, and new session fees will be required to reserve a different date.
3. Session fees are nontransferable and nonrefundable.
4. Print Credits have no cash value and can only be used towards the purchase of prints and other studio products.
5. Charges incurred by insufficient check funds are the sole responsibility of the client. Payment must then be made via certified check, money order, cash or credit card.
During our session:
6. Attendance at photo sessions is limited to those being photographed, including siblings. In the case of children and newborns, attendance is limited to two parents only. Please do not bring siblings, personal assistants, nannies, caregivers, or friends not being photographed. Having additional people present can be distracting to both the photographer and to those being photographed.
7. Cameras of any kind are not permitted at our shoot.
8. Please arrive on time to your session properly dressed, made up and ready to begin. Because the session is of a set length, additional time for preparation will reduce the amount of time we can spend in-session and will limit the amount of images we can capture.
9. You will be contacted once your session images are ready to preview, and a presentation appointment will be arranged. This appointment will assist you in making image selections and choosing sizes for wall portraits. Because your order will be taken on this date, please arrive with the provided ordering guide prepared to make decisions regarding your order. Family and friends are welcome to attend this presentation if they wish to place their own order or if you feel their presence will assist you in preparing your order
10. Images from your session will not be placed online or presented in an online gallery. We prefer to provide clients a higher level of service by taking the time to provide a quality, custom experience in the studio using profession projection equipment.
11. Each session entitles a family to a two-hour design consultation and presentation appointment. As needed, additional appointment time may be booked for $150.
12. Client images are held for a maximum of three months after our photography session. If a presentation appointment has not been arranged by the client or is repeatedly rescheduled, the studio must discard the images to make room for new clients. After this time, our studio bears no liability where resulting image loss is concerned.
13. Ordered images remain on file for one year from the date of your portrait session. All unordered images are purged 30 days after your presentation appointment.
14. Completed portrait orders can be obtained at the studio once you have been notified that your print order is ready. Please call to make pick up time arrangements before you arrive so your order can be assembled and ready for you.
15. Reprint orders can be made at any time throughout the year while your images are in our archives. Please note there is a minimum $250.00 investment required for all re-orders.
16. Due to the custom nature of the products and services provided by Bella Jay Photography, all sales are final once received and items cannot be returned. You may add to your order at any time, but a sale is considered final at the time the order is made.
17. Bella Jay Photography cannot be held responsible for portrait damages incurred as a result of improper handling, framing, hanging, or shipping when the sender is not directly affiliated with our studio. Please read the enclosed Client Care Cards included with your order to learn how to frame and handle your finished prints.
18. All digital images and other digital material shall remain the exclusive copyrighted property of Bella Jay Photography and client shall have no ownership or other rights in such images or other material. It is hereby expressly agreed that Bella Jay Photography shall have the exclusive right to use such images or other material for display, publication, competition or other purposes as determined in the sole discretion of Bella Jay Photography. Upon delivery of a an online gallery containing downloadable low or high resolution files (depending on package), client will receive a letter granting client permission to produce copies directly from the disc; provided, however, that any and all copies shall only be for the private and personal use of client, in no event shall client or any other person, other than Bella Jay Photography, make any copies for the purpose of sale or publication and in no event shall client or any other person, other than Bella Jay Photography, sell or publish any photographs or images provided by Bella Jay Photography (or any copies thereof).
19. Client shall have 30 days from receipt of image catalog to download any digital images that may come with package. After 30 days, a $50 download fee shall be applied for up to 90 days. Images are archived after the 90 day period and will be subject to a $100 recall fee. Digital images will not be available 180 days after the receipt of image catalog.
Prices & policies subject to change without further notice.
We don't know about you, but we just love to shop on Etsy! Check out some of these sites and their links below if you need ideas where to shop for your session. Also, we are always on the hunt for super cute stores & vendors, so please feel free to share any of your favorites with us!
For more inspiration, check out our Pinterest page !
Baby/Kids/Clothing & Accessories
Baby Girl/Kids/Clothing & Accessories/Birthday
Baby Boy/Smash the Cake/Birthday
Ready to see your portraits?
Click on your name below to see your personal gallery.
Make sure you have your user name and password ready! If you don't have your
user name and password, email us and we will send you one as soon as your gallery is ready.
Megan + Cohen
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Fine art photographer in Statesboro , GA.
The inspiration of photography is everywhere and it has personally touched and enriched our lives. We are honored and humbled to be doing and sharing something so awe inspiring!
We are a storyteller is love stories – (and who can resist a good love story!) & my camera is my pen. Capturing life's greatest emotion through the photography lens can be both magical & hauntingly beautiful. We are so blessed with an abundance of love and support in our lives that empowers me to follow my dreams.You can do anything when you are loved and give love!
Bella Jay Photography is a fine art photographer located in Statesboro, GA. We serve clients in Statesboro, Savannah, Hilton Head, Charleston, Sea Island , Bluffton, and all over the low country. We can also travel for your Destination Wedding!
Bella Jay offers photography for all of life's important moments. Check out our blog for the lastest news on what we've been working on!
Wedding Photographer
Engagement Photographer
Senior Portrait Photographer
Family Portrait Photographer
Product Photographer
Commercial Photographer


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How do I dock singlehandled?
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I handle a 53' ketch alone all the time & the secret is SPRING LINES.
Once I have an aft spring line on I turn the helm away from the dock (tiller's [ob or boat] the opposite, of course; have a bit of line to hold it in place), put the engine in forward which holds the boat into the dock on the spring line, & go about the business of getting the other lines on at your leisure.
This works in any wind/current conditions; you only need to vary the engine rpm's to the point where the boat is held tight alongside the dock.
I have proper midship spring line cleats, but your gene winches will do as suggested above. If you are going to be a serious single-hander, you might consider installing midship cleats (with bolts & backing plates, NOT screws) p & s.
I do the same when preparing to leave; put engine in gear against the spring, remove all other lines, then put engine in neutral, slip the spring & pull away from dock/slip.
This always works & makes you look pretty competent, too.
Last edited by capta; 07-10-2011 at
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2012 Gear & Apparel on SaleSave on 2012 Gear & Apparel on Sale at Proboardshop.com! Great selection of snow gear at unbelievably low prices. Proboardshop has been selling 2012 Gear & Apparel on Sale and outdoor gear for over 30 years and we're proud of it.
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Outdoor Research Backbowl Ski Pants
Size: Small, Large, X-LargeReg: $159.95
27% OffOn Sale: $116.95


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24.08.06 - Britain's No.1 fighter is back! WBO /IBF World Super-Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe headlines the magnificent M.E.N Arena on Saturday 14 October and takes on the Australian dangerman Sakio Bika. The show will also feature:
The WBO & WBU Cruiserweight Championship of the World
Johnny Nelson v Enzo Maccarinelli
The Light-Middleweight Championship of England
Andrew Facey v Matthew Hall
Final Eliminator for the Super-Featherweight Championship of Great Britain
John Murray v Ricky Burns
Plus three further title fights to be added.
A top quality undercard includes Paul Smith, Tony Doherty, Thomas McDonagh, Tony Quigly and Tony Delaney.
Tickets are priced at: £40, £50, £75, £100, £150, £200, £300 and are available from:
Ticketmaster: 0870 602 1122* www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Ticket Line: 08700 667 799* www.ticketline.co.uk
All Ticket Club: 0207 593 2095* www.allticketclub.com
*Tickets subject to a booking fee
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Book your room at Residence Inn by Marriott - Lloyd Center
Studio, 1 Queen Bed with SofabedMax Occupancy: 4 guests (up to 3 children, 3 infants)
3-star family-friendly aparthotel near Memorial Coliseum
This family-friendly Portland aparthotel is located in the business district, within a 15-minute walk of Holladay Park, Lloyd Center, and Norse Hall. Portlandia and Memorial Coliseum are also within 3 mi (5 km).
Property Features
This smoke-free aparthotel features a 24-hour fitness center, a spa tub, and a 24-hour business center. Free buffet breakfast, free WiFi in public areas, and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a seasonal outdoor pool, meeting rooms, and dry cleaning are onsite.
Room Amenities
All 168 apartments feature kitchens with refrigerators and microwaves, plus free WiFi and cable TV. Other amenities available to guests include coffee makers, hair dryers, and phones.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
In addition to a seasonal outdoor pool, Residence Inn by Marriott - Lloyd Center provides a spa tub and a 24-hour fitness center. High-speed wireless Internet access is complimentary. Business-related amenities at this 3-star property consist of a 24-hour business center and meeting rooms. Guests can enjoy a complimentary breakfast. Event facilities measure 973 square feet (88 square meters). This family-friendly aparthotel also offers complimentary newspapers in the lobby, a fireplace in the lobby, and laundry facilities. Onsite self parking is complimentary.
Residence Inn by Marriott - Lloyd Center is a smoke-free property.
- Free WiFi
- 24-hour business center
- Conference space size (feet) - 973
- Conference space size (meters) - 88
- Number of meeting rooms - 2
- Meeting rooms
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Free newspapers in lobby
- 24-hour front desk
- Express check-out
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Fireplace in lobby
- Elevator/lift
- Number of floors - 3
- Laundry facilities
- Total number of rooms - 168
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Free self parking
- Smoke-free property
- Spa tub
- Outdoor seasonal pool
- Use of nearby fitness center (discount)
- Free breakfast
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Free Wi-Fi
- Kitchen
- Laundry facilities
- Refrigerator
- Microwave
- Cribs/infant beds (complimentary)
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Premium TV channels
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Kitchen
- Microwave
- Cookware, dishware, and utensils
- Refrigerator
- Coffee/tea maker
- Daily housekeeping
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Cable TV service
- Iron/ironing board
- Desk
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
Guests are offered a complimentary buffet breakfast.
Nearby Things to Do
A seasonal outdoor pool and a spa tub are on site. Other recreational amenities include a 24-hour fitness center.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Volleyball on site
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Pets allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- Pet fee: USD 75 per stay


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The Joester Loria Group has brokered a deal to bring The World of Eric Carle to a line of 365 Everyday Value juices at Whole Foods Markets across the U.S.
U.S. grocer Whole Foods Market and The World of Eric Carle have partnered for a series of cereal boxes featuring games for children and Carle's signature artwork.
The World of Eric Carle has partnered with Native Organics for a line of natural, non-toxic cleaning products featuring artwork from Eric Carle books.
Oriental Trading Company is planning a multi-category program of school and party supplies featuring artwork and characters from The World of Eric Carle.
The Joester Loria Group, global licensing agent for The World of Eric Carle, has appointed Team! Licensing to build the brand in Germany.
The Joester Loria Group has brokered a new deal for The World of Eric Carle brand to expand its current program into stationery, craft and confections.
The World of Eric Carle will expand its current ranges of infant and toddler products with a host of new offerings including sleepwear, graphic tees, blankets and layette.
The World of Eric Carle is headed to specialty retailer Gymboree on a line of apparel and accessories for children.
Plush toys and gifts manufacturer Kids Preferred will launch a new line of preschool toys featuring The World Of Eric Carle this spring.
Barnes & Noble is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar with a series of hands-on events across the U.S.
©2015 ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS INC. All rights reserved.


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OPI Matte Nail Envy is a nail strengthener with wheat protein and calcium that helps nails grow stronger, harder, longer, and prevents cracking and breakage. Nail Envy works best when directly in contact with the nail which makes it an excellent bast coat, however it can also be used as a top coat.
OPI Matte Nail Envy has the same benefits as OPI Original Nail Envy except it will leave your nails with a natural looking matte finish.
Usage Instructions: Apply one coat every other day for one week than remove and start process again applying every other day.
Showing reviews 1-10 of 20 | Next
Posted by Tatiana on 2nd Nov 2014
I really like the way it looks on my nails and it probably will strengthen healthy nails. My nails started splitting and peeling and I was sad to notice that this product did not have any effect on them . I had to go back to Nailtiques formula 2 and THAT product did the job. I will use OPY Matte Nail Envy in future just won't expect anything special from it.
It looks beautiful on the nails!
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Posted by Unknown on 18th Sep 2014
It seemed to be working for me then in the last month or so my nails were becoming more weak,breaking and splitting. So stopped and am letting my nails breathe to perhaps get them back to being normal. Thought this was my saviour but guess not!
Posted by Scheri on 22nd Jul 2014
I had gel nails for many years. I decided to have them removed and found my nails to be weak and cracking on the tips. I have used this now for (6) weeks with great success. I apply daily for (3) days, then remove and start again.
Posted by Unknown on 2nd Sep 2013
I have used the original nail envy for years with good results but I like this much better. It is ver natural looking, goes on easily and dries quickly. Without the gloss you don't notice wear as much
Posted by Joan on 11th Jul 2013
My daughter buffed my nails which had a lot of ridges, put on two coats of nail envy, two coats of polish (not opi) and a top coat of nail envy on June 22. I normally hate my nails because of the ridges, but I loved how they looked after my daughter did them. Still looked good more than a week later when I removed the polish and my nails were still smooth. Buffed again and applied nail envy, two coats and another coat every 2nd day for a few days, then two coats of polish and top coat of nail envy and today July July 11 they still look perfect. They look so healthy.
Posted by Unknown on 2nd Jul 2013
this is my favourite nail treatment i've ever purchased. it made my nails so strong!
Posted by Unknown on 3rd Jun 2013
I've been using nail envy for about a week, and my nails where nubs prior to using nail envy, one day after use, it is stronger and looks healthier! a week of use and I see significant growth in my nubbins! I love nail envy!!
Posted by Christine on 30th May 2013
I've been using this regularly and really like it.
Posted by Natasha on 21st Apr 2013
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text: Beauty Oscars 2012 Beauty 27 February 2012 Lisa Niven ANGELINA JOLIE - The actress became engaged to Brad Pitt in 2012, following almost eight years of dating. READ MORE ABOUT BRAD AND ANGELINA'S ENGAGEMENT Picture credit: PA Photos LAST night's Oscars saw some of Hollywood's most famous faces take to the red carpet - and with them a host of beautiful hair and make-up looks.SEE THE BEST HAIR AND BEAUTY LOOKS HEREAngelina Jolie, Rooney Mara and Milla Jovovich all opted for bold red lipstick - referencing the vibrant pouts seen at the autumn/winter 2012-13 shows these past few weeks - pairing them with smoky eye make-up in grey, brown and black.SEE THE BEST-DRESSED ON THE RED CARPET Meanwhile hairstyles ranged from glamorous curls - as seen on Jolie, Jessica Chastain and Natalie Portman - to sleek up-dos, as well as Michelle Williams' signature pixie crop in a new lighter blonde shade. Related Gallery Red Carpet Beauty 2012 Related Reading Oscars 2012 27 Feb 2012 Oscar Winners 27 Feb 2012


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A City Unbottled: Mary Beard's Pompeii
Visit the ruins of Pompeii today, stroll to the famous "Villa of the Mysteries," and you will discover a room of enigmatic frescoes gleaming in the dim light, their crimsons and golds seeming as rich and resplendent as if they were painted yesterday. In a sense, they were: the walls of the room were heavily and repeatedly retouched, waxed and varnished with petroleum when they were discovered a century ago. The frescoes are typical of Pompeii's charms, the way its many relics seem to testify to the constancy of human invention and encourage us to forget the passage of time. Stroll around the site a little more, and you'll come across recognizable kitchenware, medical instruments and even graffiti: stickmen doodled in a doorway at the level of a child's eye, a naked Venus painted on a bake shop wall like a centerfold pinned up in a modern garage, the lament (or is it a boast?) "Atimetus got me pregnant."
But as Mary Beard shows in The Fires of Vesuvius, her marvelous excavation of Pompeii's history, the city is rarely what it is billed to be. A leading historian of Roman culture, a prolific essayist and an irrepressible blogger, Beard punctures conventional pieties about history and culture with formidable scholarly authority, always paying keen attention to the layering effects of the passage of time. Her Parthenon, published in 2003, wove unfamiliar episodes in the temple's history, notably its life as a mosque starting in the fifteenth century, into the tale of the monument's makeover into the quintessential icon of Western civilization. The Roman Triumph, from 2007, reassessed the sources for the eye-popping imperial parade billed as a triumph in shows like HBO's Rome, complete with horn-blasting legionaries and girls scattering rose petals. Beard's purpose was to expose how the legalistic, institution-minded bias of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians of the classical era attributed to the civic life of imperial Rome a far more regularized and ideologically orthodox dimension than it is likely to have enjoyed through most of its existence.
With The Fires of Vesuvius, Beard has produced a lusciously detailed, erudite account of life in ancient Pompeii, and in keeping with her earlier work, she first clears the evidentiary ground. She reveals how a city badly roughed up by earthquakes, rebuilt, shaken again, partly evacuated, blasted and blanketed by volcanic ash from Vesuvius in 79 CE, then tunneled into, looted and finally forgotten was rediscovered in the eighteenth century, excavated, rebuilt, bombed by Allied forces in 1943 and reconstructed once more, becoming the "city in a bottle" dramatically if misleadingly packaged for tourists. (It was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1997.) Sensitive to the fragility of evidence, Beard frankly admits that much about Pompeii, even the exact date of its destruction in 79, will remain unknown. The eyewitness account of the younger Pliny, who wrote that his naturalist uncle died getting a closer look at Vesuvius on August 24-25, is undermined by medieval manuscript variants recording several different dates and the on-site discovery of autumnal vegetables and a coin minted later in the year. Beard insists on only one thing: "'Our' Pompeii is not a Roman city going about its business, then simply 'frozen in time' as so many guidebooks and tourist brochures claim. It is a much more challenging and intriguing place."
Beard's intent isn't to spoil sunny Italian holidays with storms of skepticism. (She admits that she isn't immune to Pompeii's charms, including the Stabian Baths and the Temple of Isis.) Rather, the challenge of The Fires of Vesuvius rests in the way that its portrait of Pompeii overturns longstanding conceptions about the empire to which the city belonged. Most important is Beard's depiction of the chaotic diversity of Pompeian life--the sheer variety of its religious experience, its linguistic multiplicity, its class tensions--which raises far-reaching questions about the nature of cultural and political identity in the imperial Roman context. Pompeii is advertised today as a Roman city. Of its roughly 12,000 residents (by Beard's estimation), perhaps half of whom would have been slaves, which ones would have considered themselves Roman? What did the word mean?
Though the buildings in use when Vesuvius erupted in 79 were no more than 300 years old, the site where Pompeii stood had been settled for at least six centuries. Even in its earliest phases, Pompeii was a meeting place for Romans, Etruscans, indigenous Italians speaking Oscan and Greeks who had settled the Bay of Naples just fifty kilometers away. In the third century BCE the town became a subject ally of its neighbor 240 kilometers to the north; though most of its residents probably still spoke Oscan, it supplied soldiers for the Roman legions and followed Rome's lead in relations with Carthage and the local Greeks.
In 91 BCE the so-called Social War between Rome and its discontented Italian allies broke out, and traces of its intensity are still visible within Pompeii's walls, where Roman bullets and ballista bolts are lodged alongside World War II shrapnel. Scrawlings in Oscan discovered under a few layers of plaster may record instructions to the town's defenders, telling them to go "between the twelfth tower and the Salt Gate" or to fight "where Matrius, son of Vibius, is in charge." In the aftermath of the war, Italian settlements were integrated more tightly into the civic fabric of Rome. Pompeii was refounded as a Roman colony for army veterans, its name changed to Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeiana, signifying its status as a settlement for veterans who had fought under Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, whose divine patron was Venus. Its Oscan chief magistrate was replaced by magistrates called by Latin names, like the duoviri, the "two men" designated to govern town business. Latin overtook Oscan as the language of public records in stone.
But to conclude that Pompeii became somehow fully "Romanized" would be wrong. The evidence of inscriptions and graffiti suggests that Pompeians living at the time of the eruption spoke Oscan, Greek and possibly Hebrew as well as Latin. In this they likely resembled many denizens of the empire now referred to in most histories as "Romans," such as the poet Ennius. A famous early literary innovator, the first to write Latin epic in Greek hexameter, Ennius exerted profound influence on later authors like Virgil. And he was fond of remarking that he had three hearts, because he was fluent in Greek, Oscan and Latin. As the historian Andrew Wallace-Hadrill has recently argued in his book Rome's Cultural Revolution, the big, three-hearted life of Ennius cannot be fully comprehended as an example of the "local" being subjected to "external," "global" or "colonizing" influences. Wallace-Hadrill uses the concept of "code-switching" to describe how, like Ennius, many Romans would have shifted from one language and one set of cultural expectations to another, even within a single sentence. The notion of code-switching suggests that the definition of "Roman" would have changed as the empire grew, not only as Romans encountered unfamiliar languages, customs and religious practices but because Romanness would now have incorporated the experiences of conquest, annexation, tribute-squeezing and governance. Pompeians, then, were not simply "Italic" or "Hellenized" or "Romanized" or some immigrant "blend" of hyphenatable ingredients: they were in fact "Roman," if not exactly in the way we are accustomed to using the word.
To grasp the significance of this point fully, it helps to recall what the city has meant to its visitors since excavations began in the 1740s. Pompeii became a Grand Tour attraction during an age of revolutions that transformed ideas about the role that history should play in shaping the present. The American historian Edmund Morgan has said that "all government...rests on fictions, whether we call them that or self-evident truths"; and while he was referring to the powerful fiction of the sovereignty of the people, his remark also applies to the image of classical Rome that loomed large in the minds of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century political theorists in Geneva, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Caracas--an image preserved in ostensibly pure material form in Pompeii's evocative ruins.


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text: Gender-based medicine is a budding 21st-century concept. New and fascinating findings are frequent in this field of study. However, the full extent of gender differences in medicine is still to be seen, and for that we rely entirely on research in gender biology and the forward push to ensure proper gender representation in clinical trials.