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Skip to comments.BEDFORD: Conservatives are wrong to attack Rick Scott
Posted on 03/11/2013 2:50:45 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
In February, Republican Gov. Rick Scott announced his intention to accept Obamacares optional Medicaid expansion in Florida.
Since then, the governor has taken a lot of heat: heat from conservatives accusing him of betraying conservative principals; as well as heat from Democrats saying he didnt go far enough...
Well lay it out in a very plausible hypothetical. Imagine if Mr. Scott flew around the Sunshine State telling voters that Medicaid is broken and needs reform; that expanding the rolls and adding dependents to a broken system doesnt make sense; and that when the federal cash starts to run out in three years, Florida will be stuck with the massive bill. Now imagine if Mr. Crist was able to fly around the same state screeching about how the governor had rejected million of dollars its citizens had already paid in taxes and denied benefits to over a million low-income Floridians because he was a slave to the tea party.
Who here thinks that Mr. Scott would win that sound-byte skirmish?
And in as tight a fight as Mr. Scott is in, a skirmish like that could decide the war. And if the liberals win that war, Medicaid is just the beginning: If Mr. Scott is defeated, conservatives will lose a champion of nearly every other issue dear to them.
In Florida and across the country, progressives are going after guns; toting tax hikes; splurging in spending; abetting abortion; ratcheting up regulations; and resisting reforms to state pension systems and public education. On every one of those fronts, Gov. Scott has successfully opposed them.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
On guns, Mr. Scott signed legislation protecting gun owners from foolish prosecution...
On spending, Mr. Scott has paid down the debt by billions...
On abortion, Mr. Scott signed laws cutting off state funding for abortions
On regulation, Mr. Scotts administration has eliminated some 2,300 burdensome rules.
On state pension reform, Mr. Scott fought to require state employees to contribute to their pension plans, and won the fight...
On public education reform, Mr. Scott signed laws that eliminated tenure for new teachers, and instituted merit pay based in part on student performance. The governor also signed an opportunity scholarship law making it easier for students to transfer from failing schools...
Just some perspective....sff
Thank you for some of the rest of the story. I'm perplexed as to Gov. Scott's decision, especially after all he has been through since Hillary-care. I'm hoping he's playing poker to Obama's Go Fish, but I'm not betting on it.
The writer had some good points on Scott but was downgraded by the East German judge for a hard-to-read website and a questionable command of the language, i.e. principal vs. principle.
Gov John Kasich did the same thing (accepoted Obamacare) in Ohio and not a peep against him. I think he did it to curry favor with the Dems to not come after him hard in 2014 reelection bid.
true....the guv needs to understand that normal decent folks have HAD it and are on the edge. The slightest move to cave on principles...even though false can set folks off.
After the election folks in Florida were in a state of shock/anger....as you know. Voter fraud, scumbags and gutterwhores were out celebrating....we lost Alan West and others. Even the sheriff in Broward county.
I left Florida shortly after the election...but will be returning home soon. I plan to get VERY involved with the S Florida/Broward Tea Party and like groups!
See ya around!
Forget it. Republicans can never outbid Dems on government spending.
"once down the dark side you walk, forever your destiny it will control." Scott walks down the dark side when he takes federal money in hopes of winning the bidding war with Crist.
got that right, Loads of epople around here in north east FL were angry at the voter fraud, the lack of coverage by the lapdog media and at how obama concentrated his fraud by using just the Dem controlled counties.
All of us here who live here know that there was no whay on this earth that obama won this state.
As for Scotts recent decisions, I have no idea why the OH Gov did the same thing but Scott comes under fire, maybe i;ts being driven by the left wing media yet again or the left wing infiltrators which spread crap but to pretend they are us.
hell I;ve seen it on the FL board, and certain posters telling us to always vote for the weaker guy or then telling us to not bother voting because they all suck or even our local tea party which was being infiltrated too.
The left are nothing but scum bags who come down to this state every election time to vote and try to confuse older voters and they also vote in our state and yet vote in their own states
This guy WILL LOSE an election against Crist. It is not even close.
He is not a leader, he is business man with a lot of money. His core principles about negotiating the best deal - not Liberty. He certainly likes most the core Conservative values—but they are subject to "negotiating the best deal"
Think about this - he was unanimously shot down by the the Republican House over expansion and will like also get the same response this week from the Senate.
Its either him for another term or Charlie Crist, seems to be a pretty darn easy choice.
You could add 'sound byte' vs. 'sound bite' in there as well.
ummm no
The only perfect man was Jesus. If you demand that level of perfection from the rest of us then you will be waiting a long long time.
Meanwhile Satan will celebrate your lack of effort to do anything.
Scott is a far better Gov then the phone in govt Crist.
After the legislature Republicans indicated that the Medicare proposal was going nowhere I wondered if there had been a deal between Scott and the Republicans in the legislature. I hope that is the case.
Redstate doesn't surprise me. Erick Erickson's conservatism stops at the edge of his ballot.
Actually, no he is not.
He has no idea how to govern. His successes come from the House which is a well oiled conservative political machine.
By the way earlier in the week he gave away hundreds of millions of dollars for teachers raises. He wants to give every teacher a 2500 dollar raise. PANDERING.
There are a number of young, smart conservative republicans who would be ready to step up to the plate.
I'll say it again - SCOTT WILL LOSE to CRIST. It is not even close
Or there was an agreement beforehand between Scott and the Republican legislators. Crist now has no argument about the Medicare thing and Florida still isn't taking it.
Funny, I remember hearting how Charlie the sun tanned punk was ALSO going to beat Marco Rubio.
You think Crist knows how to govern. BWAHHAAAAA You're a funny guy.
That's why "Democratic-Lite" loses every single time.
Well put.
"That's why "Democratic-Lite" loses every single time."
Scott has done a LOT of good things and is a far cry better then Crist.
Are you supporting Crist?
I love all the Scott payroll warriors on here.
Fist of all there is no deal with the House Repubs and Scott. He acted in his arrogant self interest and was slapped down hard. The Legislature does not care what he thinks.
Secondly, of course Crist is much worse. All I am saying is that now is the time to find a conservative republican taht can beat Crist. Scott can't.
"Secondly, of course Crist is much worse. All I am saying is that now is the time to find a conservative republican taht can beat Crist. Scott cant."
Yeah those conservative republicans are beating down the door to take the job away from Scott.
You play the cards you're dealt, not some fantasy straight flush.
If I'm a Scott payroll warrior I'd sure love a paycheck.
How's Crist pay? Or maybe its the DNC payin your bill.
Scott had etter learn to fight for this election as does the GOP.
We have the house and senate here but there is no way we can aford to have another radical left wing idiot in charge of our state
Thank you for this view point.
I still think it was a bad idea, but certainly sounds LESS bad now.
And the Florida rumor mill is whispering that Christie, the new demorat, will run in the demorat primary for governor thinking he'll win and run against Scott. We'll see how much money the ambluance chasers at Morgan & Morgan put in for Christie.
Crist not Christie. I get the two "twins" mixed up.
Christie - Fat
Crist - Not Fat
I honestly don't understand why the backlash against these guys. The tax money for Obamacare is being taken from Florida citizens whether we like it or not. So, if our state doesn't participate in the program, then our taxes are being taken and given to other people and not benefitting Florida at all. I don't like Obamacare at all, but until it is repealed, it seems that we have to live with it. Liberals will LOVE it if all the conservative states reject the benefits of Obamacare, because then, the bottom line for the program looks fantastic, since it will pay out far less than was planned.
So, I have no right to be critical of someone who does something with which I disagree, because the man is no Jesus?
Is free speech Satan's idea?
If you take money from the federal government, you're often making a deal with Satan, who will collect.
Sure tear down the fairly good conservative gov so we can replace him with a weasel.
Thats the ticket.
If he's doing something that is unwise, perhaps even morally wrong, and will likely cost him votes, are we to stay silent?
"Perhaps even morally wrong. "
Well now you must have specifics or are you just using Alinsky tactics?
Its all about context. If you disagree based on substance with specifics then thats politics.
If you disagree in a way which is helping his challenger then you are helping the challenger.
. . . and then there is the little matter of the special persecutor named in re: Trayvon Martin. I could have said, in re: George Zimmerman, but that wouldnt cover the reality of the issue. Because in reality that isnt about George Zimmerman, who in any event is a Democrat himself.
In reality the Democrats have turned Zimmerman into a caricature of Republican white men nationwide - and that is who is being persecuted in this case. We should be joining the Zimmerman suit against NBC for their egregious edit of Zimmermans discussion with the police dispatcher. But we should be extending the case to the Associated Press and its entire membership - and we should sue under RICO for triple damages, using the Duke Lacrosse perjury case as a notorious example of nationwide coverage of what was, within a week of the alleged incident, patently a case of prosecutor Nifong currying favor with political constituents, knowingly and intentionally against the interests of justice, let alone due process. Thereby showing a pattern of activity intended to demonstrate the influence of the members of the Associated Press.People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary. - Adam Smith, Wealth of nations, Book I, Ch 10The AP has a rendezvous with oblivion, and this would be an excellent opportunity to cause it to keep that rendezvous.But I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19396#sthash.KUR7TBXk.dpuf
ooops....looks like Scott even lost the Senate....
The committee just voted NO on Medicaid expansion
Are you a government employee, or just dense?
Well I'm obviously smarter then you.
No, Im not a govt employee. I'm a business owner.
And you don't understand what's morally wrong with a politician taking federal money to buy votes?
The same could be said of highway funds.
I think he's playing a game as he's been very consistent everywhere else. This deal would allow public hospitals to bill everything they are currently writing off. Many public hospitals will shutdown if things dont change.
They all have dangerous levels of antibiotic resistant strains of lethal bacteria and mutating virus strains permeating those facilities.
They skimp on nursing staff and janitors, but have ever increasing business offices and levels of bureaucratic management.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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The title of this intriguing slide show in Empire Online basically says it all – the milestones that shaped the use of special effects in film. This presentation of 19 moments from ground-breaking films includes a description of the early special effects and the techniques that they made possible in later films.
Starting with Bound for Glory in 1976 the piece progresses through more than 30 years of films highlighting the works the authors thought had a significant impact on the industry.
Did they leave out any films you think made a big difference in the types of special effects available?
Tags: milestone moments in special effects, special effects in film

subset: commoncrawl


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Showing 1 - 1 of 1 Results
2003 BMW X5 Ratings, Reviews and Analysis
Pricing Trends
Average price by trim:
- 3.0i $9,437
- 4.4i $10,044
- 4.6is $13,101
Safety Ratings and Recalls
Front Crash Driver Side
Front Crash Passenger Side
Side Crash Driver Side
Side Crash Passenger Side
Recall Notices
Campaign Number: 15V318000
Component Name: AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE INFLATOR MODULE
Manufacturer: BMW of North America, LLC
Description: BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain model year 2002-2005 325i, 325xi, 330i, and 330xi Sedans, and 325xi and 325i Sportswagons, 2002-2006 330Ci, 325Ci, and M3 Convertibles and 325i, 330i, and M3 Coupes, 2002-2003 M5, 540i, 525i Sedan, and 530i Sedans, and 540i and 525i Sportswagons, and 2003 X5 3.0i and 4.4i Sports Activity Vehicles. Please note that the 5-series and X5 vehicles are only included if they are equipped with the optional sports steering wheel. The affected vehicles are equipped with a dual-stage driver frontal air bag that may be susceptible to moisture intrusion which, over time, could cause the inflator to rupture.
Defect: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Corrective Action: BMW will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front driver air bag module, free of charge. The recall began Aug 2016. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417. Note: This recall supersedes recall 14V-348 in its entirety. Additionally, vehicles that have had their driver side frontal air bag replaced previously as part of a recall remedy need to have their air bag replaced under this recall as well. Note: On December 17, 2015 BMW removed the model year 2004 X5 3.0i and 4.4i Sports Activity vehicle from this recall. Those vehicles were mistakenly identified as including the air bags that are subject to this recall.
Campaign Number: 03V197000
Component Name: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:HOSES, LINES/PIPING, AND FITTINGS
Manufacturer: BMW of North America, LLC
Description: ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE BRAKE LINE AND THE STEERING SHAFT JOINT IS NOT SUFFICIENT. IF THIS OCCURS, THE BRAKE LINE COULD COME INTO CONTACT WITH THE JOINT AND EVENTUALLY SUFFER DAMAGE AND CORROSION.
Defect: A LOSS OF BRAKE FLUID, INDICATED BY A WARNING LIGHT IN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL, COULD OCCUR. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY A REDUCTION IN FRONT BRAKE PERFORMANCE. THIS COULD LEAD TO A CRASH.
Corrective Action: DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE BRAKE LINE AND THE STEERING SHAFT JOINT, AND IF NECESSARY, INCREASE THE DISTANCE. OWNER NOTIFICATION BEGAN JUNE 23, 2003. OWNERS WHO TAKE THEIR VEHICLES TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER ON AN AGREED UPON SERVICE DATE AND DO NOT RECEIVE THE FREE REMEDY WITHIN A REASONABLE TIME SHOULD CONTACT BMW AT 1-800-831-1117.


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by S Kess Express » Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:18 pm
by RIBrownsFan » Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:14 pm
S Kess Express wrote:Did anyone watch this game? It was unbelievable, and I'm so pumped Liverpool pulled it off.
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how about one more, this is addicting a beautiful koge hanaire
and .
I like this shape and the yohen, the shizenyu (ash glaze) and koge. This vase was in the fire box and received koge development. Koge results when clay is buried in embers for a prolonged period. Koge begins to develop texture as ash is deposited and runs into the ember bed. As the ash saturation turned rock like it became Ishi-koge. This piece is approximately 4 3/4" high by 3 " wide. I'd like to make some bigger ones.
Thanks for looking, Bill


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Keeping the Glass Half Full - Page 3
Monitoring Hydration
Monitoring your hydration level is difficult, so understanding your hydration needs is important. Relatively frequent urination with clear to light-colored urine is a good sign. At the same time, a lack of urination for six or eight hours is not uncommon even among experienced athletes who are on top of hydration as moredate-to-intense exercise triggers a reduction in urine production. However, as exercise intensity decreases late in long ultramarathons, urination frequency often increases.
Do not rely on thirst to determine whether you need to drink. Drink according to your predeternined plan. During exercise, thirst often lags behind hydration needs, and you do not want to be playing catch up out on the course. On the other hand, if you are thirsty, you had best start drinking!
Hauling Your Hydration Source
Unlike road races, it's rare that you will be able to amply hydrate by drinking only at less frequetly encountered aid stations, which means you should carry your own fluids between them.
Carry one or two handheld water bottles, which consist of a bottle and a strap assembly that holds the bottle to your hand. If you like drinking from bottles, but prefer to free up your hands, use a waist pack that holds one or two bottles. Some runners prefer the convenience of a backpack with a hydration bladder.
Test your hydration system before race day; a pack that works for someone else may cause you severe chafing or jostle too much. While a bouncing bottle on your waist, for example, might not end your day, the annoyance can detract from your performance and your enjoyment.
The Delicate Water-Electrolyte Balance
Electrolytes: HIGH
|Hydration: HIGH
|Hydration: OK
|Hydration: LOW
|Hypernatremia w Overhydration
|Hypernatremia w Dehydration
|Likelihood: Very rare
|Likelihood: Rare, transitory if water available
|Likelihood: Moderate
|→Weight is up a few pounds or more
|→Weight is normal
|→Weight is down a few pounds or more
→Thirst is high, and salty foods taste bad
|→Thirst is high, and salty foods taste bad
|→Thirst is high and salty foods taste bad
|→Possible mental confusion
|→Mouth is not very dry
|→Mouth and skin are dry
|→Hands may be puffy
|→Food acceptance is poor
|→Shortness of breath, rapid heart rate
|→Absence of urination
|→Food acceptance is poor
|Causes: Over consumption of salt, probably from a combination of sources
|Causes: No access to water, or voluntary restriction of water intake; body electrolytes concentrated by loss of water
|Causes: Restriction of water intake; body electrolytes concentrated by loss of water.
|What to do: Stop electrolyte intake. Drink only to wet mouth until wight is normal.
|What to do: Drink water to satisfy thirst, so that excess electrolytes are removed by sweating and urination. Restrict salt intake until excess is urinated and sweated out.
|What to do: Get access to water and drink. Restrict electrolytes until weight is near normal


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Donald Moffett doesn't call his artworks in "The Radiant Future" sculptures. They're not paintings either. The Staten Island-based artist prefers the word "contraptions."
"He has really taken apart the idea of what a painting is and can be," said Michael Goodson, exhibition director of CCAD's Canzani Center Gallery, where Moffett's exhibition will be on view through the end of the year.
Balancing his paintings on jaunty-yet-jarring constructions — oops, contraptions — Moffett challenges how paintings are typically displayed.
"I still do hang on to the category of painting as my prime interest. I think that will be clear in the show," Moffett said. "With the way the paintings have been developing over the last few years, with the drilling and the opening up of the structure, the wall became a real downer."
Thus, he brought them into a three-dimensional space by hanging them on constructions made of things like wood and donkeys, a little man and a Snow White look-alike.
"We did go a little berserk with the hanging devices. We clearly got into them," Moffett said. "However, through all of that, as elaborate as these hanging contraptions might be, they are supporting a painting just as a wall traditionally does. … But clearly they're not neutral. They are symbolic. They come off as symbolic. They're not random. They're not un-thought."
Those symbols in the hanging devices (as well as the holes in the works) are up to the viewer to decide what they mean to the paintings, which shamelessly embrace "the fat of oil paint," Goodson said. They look more like shaggy carpet than oil paint.
"I've learned a lot from working with oil paint," said Moffett, who originally intended to paint the work with acrylic but it didn't hold the refinement of the shape quite like oil did. "You learn why oil paint lasts 500 years. It's durable. It's malleable. It's sculptural even. That's a lot of paint. That oil paint is still wet in a lot of cases."
Goodson likened the thickness of Moffett's paint to when the impressionists turned to impasto, in which the paint was so thick brush strokes were visible.
"It's a celebration of paint and the history of paint in a different, smart way," said Goodson (who, we might add, managed to get this exhibit up on time despite Moffett's art storage space being smacked around by Hurricane Sandy).
The idea for the near-illusionary shape of the paintings was inspired by Moffett's participation in a cake decorating class. The piping of pastries with icing made him consider how paint would hold up through a similar application.
"The Radiant Future" exhibit is paired with a compilation of works Moffett made near the start of his career. He drew the 17 sketches in "Mr. Gay in the U.S.A." when he attended the sentencing of Ronald Gay. Gay opened fire in 2000 at a Virginia gay bar because he blamed the LGBT community for his last name being a source of amusement for his peers.
The drawings are sparse — some made of only two or three lines — but as moving as Mr. Gay's story is tragic.
"[The drawings are] very honest in a way and that kind of also includes bad drawings," Moffett admitted. "Some are a little embarrassing. But I stick by them and don't go back into them because they were too honest."
The shooting "was crushing in a lot of ways," he said.
This is the first showing of "Mr. Gay in the U.S.A." in which Moffett also offers a viewing of ephemera he collected while working on the project.
Opening simultaneously this Friday at the Canzani Center Gallery is a suite of paintings by Byron Kim made every Sunday since 2001 called "The Sunday Paintings" and "Simulacrum," a collection of works by numerous artists that have ditched digital and returned to studio practice of making art from the ground up.


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Stentor wrote:Chip wrote:I had a bag of Shincha SM from Kagoshima from O-Cha sitting here and decided to give this a go with the adjusted parameters. Outstanding!!! Better than any previous attempts with O-Cha's Kagoshima SM.
I would say that the Shizuoka offering is more veggie while the Kagoshima offering is sweeter. Both really good but different!
Sounds good! I have a bag of O-Cha's Kagoshima Sae Midori here just waiting to be opened.
AdamMY wrote:Maiko Karigane from the Shincha OTTI. Down to my last two samples from that, why do I always have Shincha around so late in the year? I still have the NOTTI offerings as well. I best get to work on that Shincha.


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'GOING DOWNHILL QUICK': Here's What Employees Hate About Working At Groupon
Working at Groupon, it turns out, is kind of awful.
As in sue-your-employer bad.
The reviews on Glassdoor.com would tend to agree.
Reading through them—especially all the ones from recent months—is painful.
Luckily, we did the hard part for you.
All you need to do is clickthrough and enjoy the photos of the Chicago office paired with some of the best of the bad reviews.


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Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/6 of recipe
Calories 319
Total Fat 9.5 g
Saturated Fat 3 g
Sodium 489 mg
Total Carbohydrate 17 g
Dietary Fiber 3.5 g
Protein 29.5 g
Ingredients and Preparation
Ingredients Measures
Olive oil 2 teaspoons
Beef bottom round, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes 1 ½ pounds
Mushrooms, cleaned and quartered 8 ounces
Medium yellow onion, chopped 1
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Whole wheat flour 3 tablespoons
Burgundy wine (can also use Cabernet) 2 cups
Beef broth 3 cups
Tomato paste, no salt added 3 tablespoons
Fresh rosemary sprig 1
Bay leaf 1
Firmly packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon
Medium carrots, peeled, quartered, and sliced into 2-inch long pieces 4
Fresh pearl onions, peeled 1 cup
Flat-leaf parsley, chopped ¼ cup
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Add meat and cook until browned on all sides. Add mushrooms, onion, and pepper, and sauté until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook for 2-3 minutes more.
- Add wine, broth, tomato paste, rosemary, bay leaf, and brown sugar. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot and bring to a simmer.
- Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Bake for 1½ hours. Remove pot from oven and add the carrots and pearl onions. Bake uncovered for another 30 minutes, until carrots and meat are tender. Garnish with parsley and serve.


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David Hall: The incredible MS68 coin surfaced at a Mid-West coin show in the 1980's. Dealer Chuck Walanka asked me if I wanted to see two special coins and then he proceeded to show me the 1884-S later graded by PCGS MS68 and the 1896-S later graded by PCGS MS69!!!!! Needless to say, I was virtually speechless. I bought the coins for what was a big price at the time...I think I paid him $40,000 for the pair. I sold both coins to collector George Bodway. Later, Jack Lee bought the Bodway collection intact, combining the two best Morgan dollar collections of the time into one. Jack continued to upgrade his set, building the greatest Morgan dollar set of all-time.
Chuck Walanka - David Hall - George Bodway Collection - Jack Lee Collection


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Christine Larsen
Funeral services for Christine Larsen, 76, will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2014, at the Turtle Mountain Lutheran Church, Souris, with interment following in the church cemetery.
Christine Ellen Larsen, 76, wife of Richard F. Larsen and mother of Reidar F. Larsen and Maia M. Leon, died peacefully in her home in Santa Monica, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2013, after a short fight with cancer.
Christine, the only child of Michael and Lillian Frawley, was born in Worcester, Mass., on Nov. 7, 1937. She attended college in Boston where she met, and subsequently married, Richard F. Larsen in New York City on April 1, 1961. During their 52 years of marriage they lived in London; Grand Forks and Bismarck; Bethesda, Md.; and San Francisco, Calif., before moving to Santa Monica in 1975. An avid reader she worked at a publishing house in London when first married and subsequently helped start and manage a regional bookstore in Grand Forks.
She enjoyed gardening, cooking, bicycling, horseback riding, reading and spending time with her family and friends, including her three grandchildren, Reid, 19, Ella, 17, and Matthew, 8.
Christine, a 37-year resident of Santa Monica, was a member of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and the Angels Attic Museum.
To help planning for the reception, please RSVP to her daughter Maia Leon (firstname.lastname@example.com).
Arrangements with Hertz Funeral Home, Harvey.
Online condolences may be left at (www.hertzfuneralhomes.com).


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Over at Rough Trade, the always intriguing James Poulos celebrates the increased attention now being given to the "relationship between economic and religious life," pointing to the Acton Institute's very own Samuel Gregg to kick things off.
Yet he remains unsatisfied, fearful of a return to what he views to be unhelpful "conceptual frameworks and cultural antagonisms" of the past, and urging us to push toward "a new mode of analysis that breaks away from the old, exhausting debates." For Poulos, this means embracing an "economics of grace," an interrelated component of something he has called "radicaltarianism" in the past (see more on this here and here).
Poulos observes the typical divides among Christians as follows:
Christians who accept these teachings [about the fall of man and grace] tend to split into two economic camps: those who lean toward an uncritical embrace of free-market capitalism, and those who tilt toward a far more skeptical, suspicious attitude. For the first group, the social upshot of Christianity is an institutional framework that supports flourishing with minimal reliance on the state. Christianity supplies a good foundation for market activity. For the second, the most durable and authentic institutional frameworks supplied by Christianity raise damning questions about the sustainability of neoliberalism — the secular "democratic faith" that gives market capitalism its modern philosophical foundations. For both groups, the key is that, ultimately, religion drives sustainable economic life. The difference is that the first group typically understands religion in a Protestant way, as a driver of explosive, and morally legitimate, economic growth, while the second takes a more Catholic view, doubtful of the moral purity of explosive growth, and focused much less on growing capital than other sorts of things, like families.
Although I disagree with where precisely Poulos draw his lines — sharing much of Rodney Stark's skepticism about an explicitly Protestant ethic (etc.) — such divides do exist, labels aside.
Describing the state of the debate more broadly, Poulos argues that our political factions have also proven unhelpful, using terms like "economic growth" based on limited materialistic assumptions. (more…)


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Who is Scioto Susie?
The Columbus Dispatch - February 05, 2013 02:32 PM
Scioto Susie is pretty and perky and loves to post pictures on Facebook of all the jackpot winners at the racino at Scioto Downs.
She's also fictional ... and real, sort of.
"We love Scioto Susie, she's kind of our avatar, the face of our property," said Troy Buswell, general manager of the racino.
And, he said, an actual person is responsible for the Scioto Susie tweets and Facebook posts.
"It's one of our promotion coordinators," Troy said. "But I can't say who; it's a secret."


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Grilled Tuscan Porterhouse with White Bean-Grilled Shiitake Mushroom Salad
Recipe Copyright 1999 by Bobby Flay. All Rights Reserved.
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive
- 1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 (3 pound) porterhouse steak
- Kosher salt
- 4 shiitake mushroom caps
- Olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 cups warm white beans, cooked or canned rinsed and drained and heated
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 3 tablespoons chopped chives
- 3 plum tomatoes, finely diced
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Combine all the ingredients in a medium baking dish. Add the steak and toss to coat. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours or up to 2 days. Bring steak to room temperature before grilling.
Preheat grill. Remove steak from marinade and wipe off any excess and season with salt to taste. Sear the steak for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Close the grill and continue cooking for 10 to 15 minutes for medium rare. Let rest for 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch thick slices.
Preheat grill. Brush mushrooms with some of the oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side, remove and slice into 1/4-inch slices. Place the warm beans in a large bowl, add mushrooms, herbs and tomatoes.
Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and garlic and pour over the beans. Add the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Yield: 8 servings
Recipe Copyright 1999 by Bobby Flay. All Rights Reserved.
Cooking Tips
More Recipes and Ideas
Grilled Lamb Porterhouse with Fig-Cascabel Sauce
Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay


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- From our Embraceable collection of luxuriously soft pajamas. Add a pair of our cushy slippers for cool mornings.
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Nary a word has been spoken about climate change on the presidential campaign trail, and it's a silence that some journalists find deafening.
In the last few weeks, a variety of reporters have called out the candidates for utterly ignoring the issue. The Associated Press's Steven R. Hurst, for instance, reminded readers that just four months ago, Barack Obama told Rolling Stone that he suspected climate change would become a major point of debate.
"I will be very clear in voicing my belief that we're going to have to take further steps to deal with climate change in a serious way," Obama said. But that promise has come to naught, Hurst reported. Instead, Obama is fighting Republican challenger Mitt Romney "over the struggling American economy and stubbornly high unemployment."
The New York Times's Felicity Barringer observed that the candidates are willing to talk about energy policy (as they did last week), largely because it is intimately related to the jobs debate. But "climate change has been the issue that national politicians seem to avoid at all costs," Barringer wrote. That's a problem, National Journal's Amy Harder argued, since "the next president will have to address [global warming], no matter who wins in November."
Apart from the heat waves, droughts, and wildfires that have "thrust climate change back into the spotlight," Harder wrote, "the State and Transportation departments must address a European Union cap-and-trade law aimed at forcing airlines to pay fees for greenhouse gases emitted by all flights to and from Europe. Yet neither candidate is addressing these unavoidable realities—at least not yet."
Last week, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication released the results of a national survey conducted in March, which suggested that "taking a pro-climate stand appears to benefit candidates more than hurt them with registered voters." According to the report:
- •  A majority of all registered voters (55 percent) say they will consider candidates' views on global warming when deciding how to vote.
- •  Among these climate change issue voters, large majorities believe global warming is happening and support action by the US to reduce global warming, even if it has economic costs.
- •  Independents lean toward "climate action" and look more like Democrats than Republicans on the issue.
- •  A pro-climate action position wins votes among Democrats and Independents, and has little negative impact with Republican voters.
- •  Policies to reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels and promote renewable energy are favored by a majority of registered voters across party lines.
- •  These patterns are found nationally and among 10 swing states.
Polls are murky, though. A survey conducted in June by The Washington Post and Stanford University also found that most Americans accept that climate change is real and want the government to take corrective action, but that they don't think it's the country's biggest environmental problem. Moreover, there are a lot of other, non-environmental problems that people would like to see politicians address first, Gallup has consistently found.
The public might show more concern if the presidential candidates would only debate climate policy, or if the media could get them to do so, Drexel University sociologist Robert Brulle suggested in post for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In a recent study, Brulle and his colleagues found that statements by "elite" figures were the largest single factor influencing how much people worry about climate change. Quoting US Sen. John Kerry, Brulle accused Obama and Romney of a "conspiracy of silence," pointing out that:
Citizens use media coverage of controversial issues to gauge the positions of elites they find credible, and then interpret the news based on ideology and party identifications.
It may still be true, as the AP's Hurst put it, that "there is little chance that the few undecided American voters who will decide the razor-close election will cast their ballots based on the candidates' position on climate change," but taken together, the recent polls do suggest that climate change is an issue that deserves more attention on the campaign trail.
The reporters who've called out Obama and Romney for clamming up are doing what they can. In late July, The New York Times launched a campaign blog called The Agenda, which has made "the planet" one if its core issues. In a post about the "climate and energy stalemate," reporter John Broder explained that the paper "hopes to jump-start a discussion" over the next couple of months.
That's exactly the right attitude. Journalists need to force the candidates to debate climate policy, and they should continue to shame them for their silence as long as they refuse.


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The Smart Grid demonstration project is a collaborative research effort focused on design, implementation, and assessment of field demonstrations to address prevalent challenges with integrating distributed resources in grid and market operations, as well as in system planning. Some of the barriers that need to be addressed are insufficient communication and control infrastructures and lack of interoperability standards. The Project will demonstrate a variety of approaches for overcoming these barriers and identify appropriate standards and best practices for distributed resource integration.
One of the key components of the project is to address the cyber security requirements, particularly in the integration framework, reference architecture, and information exchange model. This was done by documenting the cyber security strategies, including the risk assessment, requirements specification, and mitigation controls implemented by the participating organizations. This information was then used to identify security gaps and issues and best practices.


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Unique Pixie with Shaved Sides
This is a Rockabilly hair style. It is short and stylish. The front of her hair forms a point in the middle of her forehead. while the rest of her hair fits nicely on the top of her head.This winter get noticed with this very short stylish Rockabilly hair cut. Her layered hair with a buzzcut (shaved)around her ears and to the back of her neck makes a very strong statement.Discover this amazing hair colour of Platinum Blonde.
Royston Blythe Artistic Team Hair: Royston Blythe Artistic Team, Wolverhampton Make-up: Justine Collins Products: L'Oreal Professional Photos: David Goldman


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HI guys,
i'm thinking about calling for this one, as we talked about it in a past meeting.
(if/when it develops, could be found all under this topic?)
What you think of this blurb?
"Suitcase Series" at TOTALKUNST Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
TotalKunst is a lively artist-run gallery at the heart of Edinburgh city centre. We are inviting proposals for our ongoing gallery project "Suitcase Series" that plays with notions of distance, space, location, interpretation and interaction. The work consists of instructions sent to us for altering or otherwise using the gallery space, which we will undertake, set up and interpret according to the parameters set by you. We will produce documentation of this process that will then be sent back to you. We will also cover all publicity for your exhibition. While we are welcoming all kinds of proposals in all media, due to the location of our gallery in a high traffic area of the city we are particularly suited for work that involves audience participation. For more information, please email:
**here - which email should be used?**
there should be a stock letter to be sent out to the inquiries that would include details of the space ( blueprint) and general info that would tell them about the variable duration of the slots, about possibility to negotiate a SMALL amount of postage if they need to send something, about the gallery being non-invigilated so if there is some sent material or interactive bits, they need to take this into account ( for example limiting the time of the interaction so that somebody from us can be there - i would not mind, for example) ...
I will write this and post here.
any ideas where to advertise,
i have so far:
visual artists ireland
artservis forum
CAA opportunities
artreview com
re-title com
...to start with. There are some U.S , european and australian ones here too, that might be interesting. Who knows...?


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Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Raytheon to Supply MH-60R Targeting Systems
The U.S. Navy has granted a contract to Raytheon to provide 24 multi-spectral targeting systems for the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk. The $22-million agreement covers a targeting system that uses a turreted sensor package to provide laser designation, long-range surveillance, range-finding, target acquisition and tracking for NATO and tri-service laser-guided munitions. The contract runs until October 2013.
Related: Attack Helicopter News


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Mavericks stampede Madelia
MADELIA – The Martin County West girls basketball team held the Madelia Blackhawks to just eight points during the final 18 minutes to coast to a 58-26 Valley Conference victory on Friday night in Madelia.
Kate Thiesse netted a team-leading 18 points to go along with three assists and two steals for the Mavericks in the win.
Morgan Williamson doled out three assists, while Taryn Tumbleson pocketed four steals for MCW.
The Mavericks made 25 of 62 shots from the floor, and sank 7 of 13 free throws on the game.
Danielle Arndt scored 13 points for the Blackhawks.
Martin County West (16-2, 10-2 Valley) plays host to Jackson County Central on Thursday night in Trimont.
Madelia 18- 8-26
Harris-Lake Park 38, North Union 29 – The Wolves held the Warriors to only five first-half points to fuel an eventual nine-point Corn Belt Conference win on Friday night in Lake Park, Iowa.
Madison Bollig scored eight points to top North Union, Cheyanne Boland netted six points and made three steals, while Dena Looft chipped in six points.
Peyton Oleson pocketed five steals, while Aurora Oliver and Jasmine Clausen each grabbed four rebounds for the Warriors.
North Union hit 9 of 28 shots from 2-point range, only 1 of 15 from behind the bonus arc and just 8 of 22 at the charity stripe.
North Union (10-6, 6-2 CBC) plays host to Corwith-Wesley-Luverne on Tuesday night in Armstrong.
Cleveland 69, Truman 44 – The Clippers only held a 22-20 lead over the Bluejays at halftime, but were able to light up the scoreboard in the second half to post a 69-44 Valley Conference win on Friday night in Cleveland.
Taylor Holicky's 18 points led the Clippers, while teammates Kyle Krause and Cylie Hankins each tallied 14 points.
Cleo Maloney, who got injured with the Bluejays trailing by five during the second half, recorded a team-high 11 points. Maloney also doled out five assists and made four steals.
Brooke McDonald and Savannah Hodge also reached the double-digit mark by scoring 10 points each.
McDonald also pulled down 13 boards to complete a double-double performance, while Ciera Drevlow snagged seven rebounds.
The Bluejays made 7 of 13 free throws on the game, while the Clippers went 13-for-25 from the line.
Truman (1-18, 1-10 Valley) travels to New Ulm Cathedral for a 7:30 p.m. nonconference game on Monday.
Cleveland (8-10, 4-7 Valley) hosts Martin Luther on Thursday night.
Boys Basketball
Blue Earth Area 87, Waseca 81 – The Bucs boys basketball team overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to claim an 87-81 South Central Conference victory over the Bluejays on Friday night in Waseca.
Dallas Barslou scorched the nets for 26 points to go along with four assists to lead the Bucs' comeback.
Luke Monson and Isaac Darrington each recorded double-double efforts of 17 points and 10 rebounds and 11 points and 10 boards, respectively, for the Bucs.
Brandyn Olsen added 15 points and dished out four assists in the win, while Colin Squiers netted nine points.
Steven Plocker distributed four assists for the Bucs, who made 26 of 49 shots from the floor and 29 of 41 from the line.
Shane Streich netted 25 points, while Nick Dufault tallied 23 points for Waseca. Streich also doled out seven assists, while Jake Busse pulled down seven boards.
The Bluejays sank 28 of 61 shots from the floor, while making 15 of 23 from the charity stripe.
Blue Earth Area (7-6, 2-3 SCC) plays host to St. Peter on Thursday night.
Harris-Lake Park 67, North Union 30 – Eli Ihnen erupted for a game-high 34 points to propel the Wolves to a 37-point Corn Belt Conference victory over the Warriors on Friday night in Lake Park, Iowa.
Aric Runge delivered 11 points, six rebounds and three assists to North Union's effort, Colton McConnell scored six points, while Jacob Braddock and Shane Mills netted five points and five rebounds, respectively.
The Warriors made 8 of 24 shots from 2-point range, 4 of 14 from behind the 3-point arc and 2 of 3 at the free throw line.
North Union (3-15) plays host to Corwith-Wesley-Luverne on Tuesday night in Armstrong.


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Data copyright © Council for British Archaeology unless otherwise stated
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Fax: 01904 671384
Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are persistent identifiers which can be used to consistently and accurately reference digital objects and/or content. The DOIs provide a way for the ADS resources to be cited in a similar fashion to traditional scholarly materials. More information on DOIs at the ADS can be found on our help page.
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Council for British Archaeology (2007) CBA Research Reports [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] (doi:10.5284/1000332)
This volume is the record of a conference held in Cambridge in September 1983 in honour of Harold McCarter Taylor. The papers are on the history and archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon church, and explore current ideas, discoveries and trends in the study of Anglo-Saxon architecture.
|The Anglo-Saxon Church (CBA Research Report 60)
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quote LegendOfNufcMeh, it's no surprise that that particular thread constitutes of so many guest posts as the issue in question is/was a common problem with FIFA 13. The thread title is very close to what people would type in a search engine in order to find a solution so it's no shock that many guests have found that thread via search engines and posted their problems with the online pass here.S'pose it is better then this anyway: Guest Beehive
quote LegendOfNufcSorry about the wait. I need to learn to respond to notifications as soon as I look at them. I acknowledge the points you made in that post however the Updates and the Discussion thread are going to remain separate. This is always subject to change in the future but as of right now things will stay as they are. I hope this resolves your query.I'd dislke to say that I have been hanging on the phone-line for 3 days waiting for an answer, but I have to AliB110...
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Can anyone tell me when/why the articles section of my account is now registration access only?
Generally it is a good resource for me to have external people looking at previous and updated projects that relate to the forest ethos. This was available to public before, I wish it to return, otherwise its a lot of re shuffling for me of this content. And as I am working on new projects and wish people to look at past projects the link is handy.


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I'm always amazed when PLO propaganda surfaces in an editorial in our beloved paper, which is what happened in a recent editorial when it was reported that the Israeli prime minister was equated with Assad, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, because he drove the final nail in the coffin of a two state solution by approving housing in a suburb of Jerusalem, which the MWDN editorial referred to as the West Bank. So the paper equates the murder of thousands of citizens in Syria and the stated intention of Hamas to obliterate Israel with the issuing of� a building permit for what will be essentially the kind of low income housing that is needed near a major, urban capital.
News flash: the land which Rick identifies as the "West Bank"is the site of a Jewish community which dated back at least 3000 years, and which provided homes for many of the people who worked in the Temple (what Rick would probably call Ultra Orthodox Extremists), and whose descendents lived there until 1931, when over 300 of them were murdered by Arab terrorists and the remainder driven from their homes. While the world was silent. And while the terrorists were receiving British weapons. �The site of the new "settlements" is a traditional Jewish community and a traditional part of Jewish Jerusalem, and if rebuilding� a site of Arab terrorism is a nail in the coffin of a peace agreement, then I guess Rick� and the freakoid would be�ready to hand over the World Trade Center site to Al Qaeda.
Get real. the�editorial was an anti semitic whitewash, a blood libel just in time for Christmas.


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We're all sick of "Somebody That I Used To Know" by now, but don't hold that against Gotye. The man wrote a damn fine mid-tempo ballad that happened to catch fire; our pop music industrial complex is to blame for the song's relentless grip on the radio dial. (Seriously, it's been in heavy rotation on at least five Columbus stations for months.)
Furthermore, "Making Mirrors," the 2011 album that birthed 2012's most inescapable single, is the kind of Sting record Sting should still be making. To top it off, Brooklyn darlings Chairlift and ex-Books venture Zammuto are the opening acts, making Monday's show among the more artful '80s throwbacks to grace Columbus this year.


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Garfield, Leon
Leon Garfield 1921–
British novelist, short story writer, and nonfiction writer. Garfield has used the content and background of English history in his works to create an interpretation both modern and unique. Operating out of the tradition of writers such as Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Robert Louis Stevenson, he has brought an original viewpoint and style to such established literary forms as the adventure novel and picaresque romance. Many of his works are novels of experience which employ a journey motif, often describing the involvement of a young homeless or rootless hero with characters and situations that lead him to an understanding of his true identity. He will often provide twists in narrative and characterization to show both hero and reader the deceptiveness of appearances, especially as they relate to good and evil. Garfield's heroes uniformly search for values that are solid and permanent, and his fiction has been said to reflect his own similar concerns and desires. He had an unsettled childhood, with a neurotic mother and an irresponsible father whom he has compared to the character of Mr. Treet in Devil-in-the-Fog. Garfield originally wanted to become an artist, but World War II interrupted his studies. Following the war, he worked for twenty years as a biochemical technician in a London hospital, and wrote in his spare time. Both art and chemistry have influenced Garfield's style, since he has a painter's eye for composition and detail, and a scientist's predilection for research, detail, and fact. Although the times and events he describes are only occasionally particularized, such as the French Revolution in The Prisoners of September, he makes them appear believable and authentic, and presents attitudes to such subjects as mental illness without overemphasis or sentimentality. Garfield has been criticized for concentrating on atmosphere over plot and for being too wordy, melodramatic, and hard to read. Some critics also feel that he tries too hard to be allusive and symbolic. The modern reinterpretations of Greek myths which Garfield wrote with Edward Blishen have especially been criticized for their loftiness, and for losing the significance of the myths in the psychological theorizing of the authors. However, he is often considered among those contemporary writers who are headed towards classic status, and whose works are closing the gap between literature for adults and the young. Devil-in-the-Fog was the winner of the first Guardian Award for children's fiction in 1967, and The God Beneath the Sea was awarded the 1971 Carnegie Medal. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 17-20, rev. ed., and Something about the Author, Vol. 1.)
[Jack Holborn] is not easy reading, for the plot is involved, and there are slight lacunae in its unfolding, as if the book had been cut and certain connecting links lost. Yet the brilliantly written episodes, of which the appearances of mad Taplow's "ghost" are among the most graphic, remain in one's mind, alight with promise for Mr. Garfield's future….
A book for rather older children, it requires some patience, even rereading in places, for the author does not always treat his plot expertly. He seems unable to control his main themes through the tortuous paths of shipwreck, slavery and mistaken identity. A firmer editorial hand might have clarified the issues. Nonetheless, a vividly painted rogue's gallery and a robust style that owes something to [Tobias] Smollett—a statement intended as a compliment—make Mr. Garfield an author worth watching. (p. 1072)
The Times Literary Supplement (© Times Newspapers Ltd. (London) 1964; reproduced from The Times Literary Supplement by permission), November 26, 1964.
There is more action to the square page in [Jack Holborn] than can be adequately condensed…. [Leon Garfield] writes well and uses a myriad of absorbing detail to make you see, hear and smell the disparate sections of 18th century London and the world. The cast of characters is enormous of course, but the dialogue is so well done that each of the many voices emerges as a distinct personality, partly through the descriptions of Jack Holborn, the young narrator, and partly through their own choices of revealing words and identifying phrases. (Jack has the master gossip's great ear for reporting whole conversations.) The book is proof positive that all good stories deserve re-telling, because in lesser hands, each of the amazing dramatic turns Jack's story takes would be just a series of thundering cliches…. It's done with such terrific good nature and flair that you begin by liking Jack, whose instincts are good, and wind up enjoying the whole teeming book. (p. 1082)
Virginia Kirkus' Service (copyright © 1965 Virginia Kirkus' Service, Inc.), October 15, 1965.
Margaret Sherwood Libby
Jack Holborn [is] a taut, tough and exciting story, complicated but so well-told that it held me to the last page. The old cliches [about pirate tales] are given fresh turns, and the spectacular additions to the formula include a desperate trek through an African wilderness, a tense slave-market auction and a London trial in which the prisoner claims a place on the judge's bench….
[Jack Holborn] plays a more effective part in the story than most young pirate victims, and the ups and downs of his fortunes provide as good an incursion into the world of derring-do as any older boy would wish while many a younger one … will find this his dish. (p. 42)
Margaret Sherwood Libby, in Book Week—The Sunday Herald Tribune (© I.H.T. Corporation; reprinted by permission), October 31, 1965.
Geoffrey Trease
Devil-in-the-Fog is 18th-century—not history, but luscious melodrama, complete with wicked baronet, missing heir, convenient recognition scar, the lot. And much more than the usual lot, because Mr Garfield has humour too and ingenuity in mixing old ingredients to produce something fresh. This is first-person narrative, with showers of exclamation-marks, a proliferation of parentheses, and enough lines of dots to demarcate the parish boundaries on an ordnance map. But the warmth and gusto are genuine enough, the characters swagger, the drama is riveting. (p. 708)
Geoffrey Trease, in New Statesman (© 1966 The Statesman & Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), November 11, 1966.
Jean C. Thomson
If readers of Stevenson delighted in "Jack Holborn," Garfield's first book, "Devil-in-the-Fog" will suit devotees of Dickens. Such comparisons are only approximate, for this author's inventions are original, and his tempo is modern. He writes with such dazzling ease that all else falls effortlessly into place, and his artistry is more satisfying than any conjurer's—begging Mr. Treet's pardon. (p. 55)
Jean C. Thomson, in The New York Times Book Review (© 1966 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission). November 20, 1966.
Devil-in-the-Fog [is] doubly disappointing after the author's Jack Holborn. Mr. Garfield's earthy, fantastic style, so at home in an exotic pirate setting, here seems altogether too clever. It was a mistake to make the young travelling actor George recount his own adventures. He speaks in character ("Oh God, I whsipered, Why? Why?") and his eighteenth-century grammar, even if accurate, is difficult to read. When the mysterious stranger who overshadows the lives of the Treets pays his last visit and George takes up his apparently rightful position as son and heir to Sir John Dexter, strange characters crowd confusingly in…. The identity of the wicked Principal remains a fairly good secret until the end. There are humorous moments, like the seven little Treets perched on the stocks where their father sits, but that gentleman, reminiscent of both Vincent Crummles and Wilkins Micawber, scarcely merits George's extravagant adulation. The characters of eighteenth-century high life are unreal, and we feel little involvement until the end, when George finds himself back among those who love him for his own sake. (p. 1078)
The Times Literary Supplement (© Times Newspapers Ltd. (London) 1966; reproduced from The Times Literary Supplement by permission), November 24, 1966.
Margery Fisher
The dead little gentleman—what a title that would have been for [Devil-in-the-fog, a] strange compound of mystery, violence and Dickensian humour. Did the infant George Dexter die in truth or was he really farmed out among the numerous progeny of Mr. Treet the itinerant actor? There is a search for identity in this book, as there was in Jack Holborn, worked out in just such a way, with dropped hints, evasive half-answers, events acquiring meaning bit by bit as the story winds on. The theme is implicit in the first lines ('My father is put in the stocks again! Oh, the injustice of it! My father is a genius—as are all of we Treets') as it is in the last ('For the dead little gentleman sleeps in the...
(The entire section is 717 words.)
Naomi Lewis
Smith crosses the line into brilliance.
Smith himself [is] a pickpocket by trade…. After he has taken—something—from a troubled-looking old gentleman, he sees his victim murdered and searched by two men in brown. His find is a document: but Smith cannot read…. The tale leaps on in a series of dazzling scenes—a session in Newgate where Smith is held for the old man's murder; an eerie flight through a kind of ventilator; the reading at last of the script; the tomb with the black stone angel to which it leads; the extraordinary climax. Leon Garfield speeds with shrewd or crackling or poignant wit through the London of dark thieves' kitchen and gentleman's mansion, in and out of St...
(The entire section is 149 words.)
Margery Fisher
Smith is an outstanding book on many counts. Set in the author's favoured period, the mid-eighteenth century, the story owes its unerring sense of period partly to the characters. But though they are, you might say, period types … they transcend costumes, idiom, manners, because the author uses them to communicate more than just a sense of the past. This intricate mystery of ancient wrongs and present revenge has the kind of tempo and vitality we expect from Leon Garfield. Adventure is here, initiated when Smith … witnesses a murder seconds after he has snatched a document from the pocket of the victim. What the document holds, how Smith worries at its secret and what danger his curiosity...
(The entire section is 515 words.)
Geoffrey Trease
Leon Garfield has quickly established himself by general acclamation as one of the most gifted and individual writers for the older child. He has staked out a special corner for himself; one is tempted to say 'a graveyard plot', so macabre is his fancy, but that description would belie the vitality, the exuberant gusto, with which he claps his skeletal grip upon the bristling nape and sends his delicious frissons down the spine.
Those who seek absorption, and dislike short-story collections, need not be put off by the title of his new book, Mister Corbett's Ghost and other stories …, for there are only three stories, and two are of novella length. Both [novellas] have Mr Garfield's favourite...
(The entire section is 235 words.)
Virginia Haviland
[Black Jack is another] graphic eighteenth-century story from this master of prose [which] suggests his earlier macabre situations and characters, but also possesses an overriding warmth of human kindness…. [Leon Garfield] has reached his highest level in the fresh, rich period story so dramatically told. His full realization of scenes, incidents, and problems indicates the vast research which must lie behind the vivid detail. (pp. 310-11)
Virginia Haviland, in The Horn Book Magazine (copyright © 1969 by The Horn Book, Inc., Boston), June, 1969.
The successful Mr. Garfield is best taken in small doses, and so [Mr....
(The entire section is 227 words.)
Margery Fisher
The separation of mind and feeling is the theme of Mr. Corbett's ghost, the first of three stories which confirm the pattern of Leon Garfield's language and thought. He has never rendered atmosphere with as much power as he does in the scenes of his first story, making Hampstead Heath an expanding place of terror and possession. The bitter struggle of a young apprentice to free himself from a cruel master is shown, literally, on the frontiers of the human spirit…. To his chill and mysterious detail Leon Garfield adds a wry and mature understanding of the indignities of human nature. So finely is his story worked out that we are hardly aware that strong form and verbal dexterity have done their part in...
(The entire section is 270 words.)
Ruth Hill Viguers
An outstanding English writer of the sixties is Leon Garfield, whose books have pace, humor, and unusually good characterizations. In each of his books mystery is focused on a strange, dominating figure…. Smith…, the tale of a small pickpocket of the eighteenth century, is a triumph of story telling, characterization, and suspense. Few presentday writers combine the attributes that seem so effortless in Mr. Garfield's work: well-built plots, suspense, a writing style suited to the mood of each book, and characters that come to life. (pp. 491-92)
Ruth Hill Viguers, in A Critical History of Children's Literature, by Cornelia Meigs, Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth...
(The entire section is 122 words.)
Sheila Egoff
The rising star in [the field of the British historical novel] is Leon Garfield, who has called forth comparions with Fielding, Hogarth, and Dickens. Not merely concerned with creating a strict historical setting, he conveys the very atmosphere of time past. Using the ingredients of melodrama—pickpockets, highwaymen, smiling villains, cut-throat sailors, stolen documents and diamonds, escapes and hurried journeys—he welds them into tales of high adventure that have their own inner purpose. The only direct problem Mr Garfield poses to readers is how to put a book of his down. (pp. 442-43)
Sheila Egoff, in Only Connect: Readings on Children's Literature, edited by...
(The entire section is 124 words.)
Margery Fisher
Leon Garfield's imagination is disciplined so that the surprises and bizarre events in his stories are properly related to the whole. He makes it seem natural, and yet astonishing [in The Drummer boy], that Charlie Samson the drummer boy, the "golden lad" of the regiment, should be the link between the General who gave orders (or said he did) in anticipation of ambush, his son-in-law who disastrously failed to carry them out and the young soldier whose remarkably unheroic death will deprive the General's daughter of life and love—unless Charlie is prepared to stand substitute…. What is heroism? What is love? How can a mere boy, trained to lead with the sound of his drum, learn to work out his own orders for...
(The entire section is 348 words.)
Ted Hughes
There have been many retellings of Greek myths for children but this interweaving of about twenty of them [in The God Beneath the Sea] must be among the best. It is difficult to add authentic language and atmosphere to such old and familiar stories. [Leon Garfield and Edward Blishen] have succeeded.
Victorian moralizing dullness was more concentrated on the ancient Greeks, and on what children should be taught from them, than on almost anything else. This dullness is monumentalized in masses of poetry and literature for children. Very few writers have been able to touch, let alone release, the real life sealed up in those old shapes. The joint authors of this book deliberately set out to crack...
(The entire section is 382 words.)
Clive Pemberton
There is a type of book which operates both on an adult and a juvenile level. I am not thinking of books like Robinson Crusoe or Gulliver's Travels, which probe deeply into the human condition and to which the child may bring his own uncluttered and innocent responses, taking from the surface of the work an enjoyable fiction comprehensible within the limits of his own world. Nor do I have in mind those books (Alan Garner's The Owl Service may be one) which have been written with professional competence for a specific market, but which hold within them a range of interpretation that may seriously activate and perhaps even tax the critical and intellectual faculties of an intelligent adult. I am...
(The entire section is 1483 words.)
Catherine Storr
[A] writer who ridicules villainy, though the tone of most of his books is not comic but deeply serious and moving, is Leon Garfield. He involves his readers in a situation where, identified with the hero, they see the forces of evil moving to engulf them and then, suddenly, by a delicate twist of phrase, he shows not the wickedness of the villain but his weakness and, above all, his vanity. As Thackeray pointed out, once you understand a man's vanity, he is in your power; for this reason the Garfield villians evoke almost as much sympathy as terror. (p. 125)
Catherine Storr, "Things That Go Bump in the Night" (reprinted by permission of the author), in The Sunday Times...
(The entire section is 141 words.)
Richard Camp
Karl Kraus said: "There are two kinds of writers, those who are and those who aren't. With the first, content and form belong together like soul and body; with the second, they match each other like body and clothes." Leon Garfield in The Drummer Boy has become one of "those who are". It is no more a children's book than Gulliver's Travels is a travel book; but the fact that it had to be prepared for the children's market may be the reason why it is so perfect a work of art: enforcing compression of complex ideas within the accepted length of a children's novel, and enforcing exclusion of all that may not have been central to them. (p. 47)
[The] landscape of the book is, as in [D. H.]...
(The entire section is 1531 words.)
Barbara Wersba
A re-creation of myriad Greek legends, this long and detailed book ["The God Beneath the Sea"] quivers with excitement. Its language is like a mosaic of fiery, precious jewels; and its interwoven plots are brilliantly handled. Beginning with the creation of the world, the book advances swiftly to the creation of the gods and then to the creation of man. The cast of characters is enormous, yet each god takes on a distinct personality. Nothing is omitted here, whether it be the agony of the bound Prometheus or the tragic fate of crippled Hephaestus or the wild lusts of Zeus. The making of mankind from a few handfuls of clay is perhaps the most moving part of the story…. The death of the first pitiful man, the...
(The entire section is 206 words.)
Peter Geoffrey Townsend
In an Afterword the co-authors [of The God Beneath the Sea] explain that their aim in re-telling the Greek myths to the young is to avoid 'A haphazard sequence of tall tales' often related in a manner arising from certain conventions of translation from Greek poetry, but rather, to relate, 'as a continuous narrative' using a 'literary voice of our own time'. The manner in which many of the better known myths are put within a dramatic framework and given a coherence, both chronological and psychological, is indeed probably the greatest achievement of the book.
The narrative is strung between the two falls of the god, Hephaestus, hurled from Olympus first by Hera, his mother, and later by Zeus....
(The entire section is 484 words.)
Margery Fisher
What is a children's book? What is a young adult? What pigeon-hole is big enough for Garfield? The answers to these questions must depend finally on each reader's discretion. Certainly [The strange affair of Adelaide Harris] is a book for all to read—all, that is, from a reasonably sophisticated eleven years upwards, for an intricate plot, a devastating mock-heroic tone demand some such starting point of age. As for the top limit, this is a comedy, a superb comedy whose slapstick, irony and farce may be readily accepted by adults on its own terms. All the same, there is one respect at least in which this book is within the particular reach of young people; to use [Edward] Blishen's phrase, there really is 'a...
(The entire section is 757 words.)
Frank Eyre
Leon Garfield is one author who has invented what is almost a new category of his own…. His books are not historical novels—though they are set in the past—nor are they simply adventure stories—it is even possible to see them, in some lights, as fantasies. But they are more likely to be read and enjoyed by those who like stories with plenty of action and excitement, than by lovers of historical stories or fantasy…. (p. 98)
Although Leon Garfield's work has strengthened with each book, his manner and method has remained unchanged and it is impossible to mistake any book by Garfield for one by any other writer. They are all set in a not too precisely defined part of the eighteenth century; a...
(The entire section is 1066 words.)
John Rowe Townsend
Of all the talents that emerged in the field of British writing for children in the 1960s, that of Leon Garfield seems to me to be the richest and strangest. I am tempted to go on and say that his stories are the tallest, the deepest, the wildest, the most spine-chilling, the most humorous, the most energetic, the most extravagant, the most searching, the most everything. Superlatives sit as naturally on them as a silk hat on T. S. Eliot's Bradford millionaire. They are vastly larger, livelier and more vivid than life. They are intensely individual: it would be impossible to mistake a page of Garfield for a page written by anybody else. They are full of outward and visible action, but they are not just chains of...
(The entire section is 1992 words.)
Gladys Williams
Leon Garfield's latest, The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris, is a glorious, non-sensible frolic, with carefully erudite period roots, that will charm and refresh adults as well as the teenagers for whom it is primarily intended. Garfield has always seemed to have power to summon the ghosts of both [Robert Louis Stevenson] and Dickens to his elbow when he starts to write, interweaving the sinister blood-chill of Blind Pew and Long John Silver with the stench and slime of Simon Tappertit and cronies' underground cellar. But this time he's taken an unexpected turn into the sunlight, and added Saki to his established familiars. A lovely outburst of joyful, impudent satire has resulted, with horror and violence in...
(The entire section is 173 words.)
Brian W. Alderson
It is Bostock and Harris who are responsible for 'the affair' [in The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris], they (or at least Harris) having decided to expose Harris's sister Adelaide on the down above Brighton in the hopes that she will be adopted by a wolf. This decision sets in train a sequence of events of extraordinary complexity, their relationship to real life being a fragile one, but their existence for the sake of Mr. Garfield's art being amply justified. Casting aside the elements of romantic drama which characterised such books as Jack Holborn and Black Jack, and turning his back on the pretensions of The Drummer Boy, he has allowed full play to the ingenuity and wit that are also...
(The entire section is 268 words.)
Eleanor Cameron
Devotees of Leon Garfield's distinctive way of expressing himself will take pleasure in [The Ghost Downstairs]…. A tale whose meaning dances full circle, it is for any child, teenager, or adult who delights in fantasy. Despite its verve, however, it may grow too fantastical for those not sufficiently enchanted by its style to enter into a willing suspension of disbelief. (p. 13)
Eleanor Cameron, in Book World—Chicago Tribune (© 1972 Postrib Corp.), May 7, 1972.
(The entire section is 71 words.)
J. Allan Morrison
[Sir John Theophilus Lee is portrayed in Child O'War] as an ingratiating nonentity…. His one substantial claim on the regard of posterity, apart from the memoir around which Child O'War is built, issues from a judiciously negotiated contract for the supply of lemon-juice to the navy.
A pretty slender target, you may think, for Mr. Garfield's bubble-pricking broadsides. But Lee's is by no means the only character to be raked, for little good is said of any of the actors in the revolutionary drama. Callous heads are hacked broadcast from fat, bemedalled bodies on both sides of the Channel; all politicians are pompous fools, or worse; only the First Consul himself is allowed—true to...
(The entire section is 185 words.)
Gillian Tindall
Splendidly logical is Leon Garfield's The Ghost Downstairs …, with the spooky originality one expects from this writer. I'm not sure how old a child would have to be to appreciate the true meaning of its Faustian theme, let alone the chilling concept of selling one's own childhood: I suspect that this is really a tale for adults. But then so were some of the most enduring children's books ever written. (p. 760)
Gillian Tindall, in New Statesman (© 1972 The Statesman & Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), June 2, 1972.
(The entire section is 84 words.)
Margery Fisher
The ghost downstairs tantalises with fleeting likenesses—among them Bosch and Breughel, Coleridge and M. R. James; the last not only because "a ghost in the sunshine is a fearful thing" but also because of Leon Garfield's urbane, polished style….
The Pathetic Fallacy is used brilliantly in this book; fog and sunshine, the gloom of a basement and the fiery flickering of a steam train, by turns reflect and represent the alternating moods of greedy hope and sharp despair as the clerk, who has sold not his soul but seven years of his childhood to the old man downstairs, realises his mistake and tries in vain to think of a way out of the ingenious legal contract he has devised so cunningly. The...
(The entire section is 497 words.)
Rhodri Jones
Leon Garfield dislikes being described as a writer for children. He regards this as a publisher's convenience—a slot into which his books can be easily put. What interests him is the novel as narrative, and since the modern novel for adults tends to be concerned with psychological states and sexual exploration rather than with the telling of an intricate and neatly dove-tailing story, Garfield's novels are regarded as being more suitable for children. Certainly they appeal very strongly to young readers and a very important element of this appeal is the strong story-line.
Each of his novels is built on a complicated but firm plot, following the adventures of the main character through a series of...
(The entire section is 1019 words.)
Marcus Crouch
Leon Garfield seems to have had no 'prentice period. His first book, Jack Holborn …, has all his characteristic qualities; indeed if one were to be unkind one might venture to say that he has gone on telling the same story ever since…. [The book includes] mutiny, shipwreck, jungle trekking, a slave-market and a great trial scene. The ingredients are all conventional enough. It is the author's expert chemistry—appropriately he is a biochemist by calling—which makes the unpromising materials react to produce tension and atmosphere.
Jack Holborn is sustained through great physical ordeals by the hope that he will discover his identity…. When the truth is made known … it is...
(The entire section is 578 words.)
MYLES McDOWELL
What is one to say … of the view of life expressed in, for example, Smith, by Leon Garfield: is that simplistic? The word hardly seems an apt description for a kaleidoscopic view of fortune and deservings such as Garfield presents. Schematic, I suggest, is the more appropriate word. And in this word, I think, is contained one of the essential differences between an adult's and a child's view of life. By and large adults have effected a bifurcation between the moral and the physical imperatives. But this understanding is itself of fairly recent growth, having its springs in the development of scientific rationality during the last three centuries; and in popular terms perhaps is restricted to presently living...
(The entire section is 302 words.)
Gerard Benson
In The Golden Shadow [Garfield and Blishen] have combined a number of stories from disparate sources into a literary whole. Gods, demi-gods and god-like humans strive, love, lust, inhabiting a landscape whose very rocks and stones, whose tides are alive with menace and promise. The stories are linked through the figure of an aged story-teller who wanders from place to place, always, like the hero of Ted Hughes's Bedtime Story, inattentive at the crucial moment; so that he is there when the events happen, but never sees them happen…. It is an interesting device, and a successful one, as if the authors had imaginatively become this archetypal figure, and tried to eavesdrop on the scenes they described....
(The entire section is 1203 words.)
Judith Vidal-Hall
[The Golden Shadow] is in no way a conventional retelling of the deeds of a strong-arm bully whose heroism is measured in monsters slain and enemies lying dead in heaps. It is every bit as idiosyncratic an interpretation as [The God Beneath the Sea], concerned more with the hero as a man than a superman, and questioning the nature of heroism itself. If there are two ways into myths as has been suggested, it is true to say that this book takes the inward route, looking beneath the outer religious and moral purpose of the stories to their inner preoccupations. We feel Heracles primarily as a man, still larger than life, but in weakness as well as in strength; the archetype not of the hero as species, but...
(The entire section is 311 words.)
Shulamith Oppenheim
"There is no doubt about it," wrote Thomas Mann in 1936, "the moment when the story-teller acquires the mythical way of looking at things … that moment marks a beginning in his life." And with this gem of a book ["The Golden Shadow"] to back me up, I would add: the moment the listener, in this case the young adult reader, is confronted with such a story-teller, this moment must mark a beginning of a deeper insight into the dark recesses of man's fantasy life.
Is this saying a great deal? I mean to. One should not underestimate the literary gift of a thoroughly successful work, one that is sure to influence the inner life of every child and adult who reads it.
The original...
(The entire section is 219 words.)
C. S. Hannabuss
The richly styled atmospherics of Leon Garfield form one of the salient literary features in the landscape of the last decade and a half of children's books…. [His] tales of misty derring-do, replete with coincidental encounters and nightmare villainies that work an insidious chemistry on the imagination of the reader, will remain on booklists for a long while. Nevertheless the strength of stories like Devil-in-the-Fog and Black Jack and Smith should be seen side by side with the pastiche heaviness of Child O'War, the manneristic parody of The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris, and now the sense of self-imitation that arises in The Sound of Coaches….
(The entire section is 224 words.)
Ethel L. Heins
A favorite Garfield theme—the mystery of the hero's identity—forms the backbone of [The Sound of coaches]; and a few lines quoted from The Beggar's Opera sets a theatrical atmosphere for the picaresque tale…. The threads of the skillfully-woven plot are almost too neatly tucked in at the end of the story; and after all the expended energy, the final chapter seems to go a bit limp. But the book bears many of the author's hallmarks—his melodrama; his discerning character development; and his humor: "two … professional ladies in the company … both not so much past their prime as having missed it altogether." And Garfield is still an alchemist with language, whipping it into a fine froth,...
(The entire section is 143 words.)
C. E. J. Smith
[The Prisoners of September is a] real reader's book. The plot is as nicely convoluted and ironically involved as one has come to expect; the characters have a touch of the eccentric excess that so delights: but the great fascination to the committed reader is that Mr. Garfield uses words so well, so prodigally, so precisely, so colourfully, powerfully, brilliantly. (p. 66)
Here are mystery and madness, violence and virtue, terror, conspiracy, coincidence, character, humour and surprise….
Mr. Garfield has been accused of self-indulgence—there seems little here. And it is asked: For whom does Mr. Garfield now write? Surely he writes for those who love fine words and a...
(The entire section is 420 words.)
Margery Fisher
This splendidly unclassifiable novel [The Prisoners of September] opens in a mood of exuberant mock-Gothic comedy, with a hero as gullible, though hardly as winning, as Catherine Morland: it ends in tragedy, in the victory of violence and compromise over idealism and innocence. Events of great moment in the past—the French Revolution in general and the Septembrist massacres in particular—are treated with the opportunism of a Dickens or a Dumas, used to give a positive turn to the lives of two heroes who prove, in the end, to be anti-heroes. (p. 2679)
I have no doubt that The Prisoners of September will be read with an eye to its relevance to the present day, for the very direct look...
(The entire section is 306 words.)
Gordon Parsons
Leon Garfield has said that we are all the ghosts of what we were. Unfortunately, if we are to afford Garfield the level of critical response his remarkable achievements demand, it must be acknowledge that [The Prisoners of September] echoes uncomfortably the stylistic brilliance of earlier works without developing into significant, fresh areas.
It is as if he is drawn spectre-like to the scene of previous triumphs. The characters are disconcertingly recognisable, patchwork creations from the dramatis personæ of earlier novels, while the relationships too explore familiar ground—the love-lorn boy drawn irresistibly to the blood-sucking woman for instance.
I hasten to add,...
(The entire section is 227 words.)
Russell Hoban
Leon Garfield is an example of what talent can do to a children's book writer: it can drive him out of children's books as he follows the development of his material wherever it takes him, and that is precisely what's happened. The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris, for instance, has to be considered as an adult book. Comedy is a serious business in that it relies on dead accuracy of insight—the laughs don't happen unless we recognize ourselves and others in each situation. And the depth of recognition for Adelaide Harris requires adult experience.
Garfield's outstanding characteristic has always been energy and exuberance, his gusto in using words; and this has sometimes led him into...
(The entire section is 458 words.)
Anne Wood
All [Garfield's] books deal in some way with an atmosphere of concentrated evil shot through with possibilities for good. Perhaps his wartime experiences have had something to do with the springs of his writing inspirations. On the other hand, the press handouts all tell us that he "has a passion for secrets and mystery". However they are sparked off, Leon Garfield's books are unique in children's literature.
He is as aware as any other author for children of the need for frequent action. Never a page is turned but something happens, and yet the overwhelming contribution of his books is that they deal in that old-fashioned quality, morality. At the centre of each story is a young person, a boy...
(The entire section is 647 words.)
Margery Fisher
"Garfield's Apprentices" opens with two stories—Mirror, Mirror and The Lamplighter's Funeral—which offer examples of cruelty and compassion, defeat and victory…. Though the tales are short and structurally simple, they will appeal mainly to children experienced enough to catch the tone of a writer's voice and listen to his unspoken message. Both tales are full of imagery—the brilliance of jewellery and glass in the first, the revelations of torch light in the second….
These are stories intended not to teach children history but to surprise them into realising that time does not change humanity very much. Leon Garfield's particular version of the London of Fielding and Hogarth...
(The entire section is 124 words.)
Peter Hunt
[With The Pleasure Garden] Leon Garfield has produced another rich meal from his sub-Smollett/Hogarth/Dickens recipe, and as a heavily decorated thriller it is very impressive. The cameos and grotesques are all alive—the stay-makers, beggars, blackmailers, half-innocent urchins, the whores. But this time, his packed world is paralleled by an equally packed symbolism, centred on the microcosm of Mrs Bray's Mulberry Pleasure Garden with its masks, confessions, and dubious redemptions. Thus the Reverend Justice Young's search for a murderer is also a search for his own salvation; the trouble is that he often seems to be wading knee deep in symbols as well as red herrings.
Perhaps it is all too...
(The entire section is 295 words.)
Paul Langford
[The House of Hanover] takes the form of a stroll through the Hanoverian portions of the National Portrait Gallery, with a running commentary on the principal personalities of the age as they appear. It is a short book, but the approach is self-indulgent, with lengthy accounts of conversations between the author and a garrulous attendant, and a good deal of jovial jocularity. It is page forty before we actually reach the age of Hanover, though the result hardly justifies the effort of getting there. Each character is treated in a few superficial words, which convey Leon Garfield's prejudices, such as they are, but little of interest or consequence. There is no attempt to relate the artists and writers discussed...
(The entire section is 351 words.)
Margery Fisher
I would hesitate to offer The House of Hanover to anyone who did not already possess a reasonably good idea of the sequence of events in the eighteenth century and their own views on some at least of the century's writers. On the other hand, those who do already relish the period are likely to find Leon Garfield's dish somewhat over-spiced. This is, by intention, a very personal view of the period and one which is almost disavowed by the author when, having made a rapid and dogmatic tour of the National Portrait Gallery, he is adjured by the attendant to "Go through the gallery again—and come out with a different answer". So, we must accept, even if we do not like, echo or agree with, the attitudes he takes...
(The entire section is 386 words.)
C. S. Hannabuss
The Lamplighter's Funeral and Mirror, Mirror [are] … very much in the style of books like The Ghost Downstairs and Black Jack. The misanthropic lamplighter Pallcat in The Lamplighter's Funeral has a strange nocturnal meeting with Possul, a street urchin with disconcertingly innocent eyes and, when he becomes Pallcat's apprentice, with an uncanny and disturbing way of lighting up scenes of human misery in the murky Victorian streets. Travellers learn to avoid him, but Pallcat's thoughts are changed by this boy and by the bizarre way the boy views his job. Mirror, Mirror, too, develops a story both sinister and symbolic: apprentice Daniel Nightingale, working for a...
(The entire section is 231 words.)
J. Allan Morrison
[There] is too much of Garfield [in The House of Hanover: England in the Eighteenth Century] and he is showing-off like mad. The first person singular may have appeared in the earlier books, but I recall no instance; Garfield however talks as much about himself as about his characters and in that exuberance of verbiage which is a delight in his novels but which is quite out of keeping here. The smooth continuity of the [Mirror of Britain] series is rudely jarred. He is always readable, but I am not sure that he is believable. (p. 29)
J. Allan Morrison, in Children's Book Review (© 1976 Five Owls Press Ltd.; all rights reserved), October, 1976....
(The entire section is 111 words.)
Julia Briggs
Leon Garfield [presents] his simple people simply as they are [in Moss and Blister], in a comic view that surprisingly avoids being patronizing while delighting in absurdity at every social level. His laughter is quite without contempt, despite the fact that his methods are akin to caricature…. Moss and Blister is the latest in Garfield's series of "apprentices", odd little books whose length suggests a slightness that their energy contradicts. Moss the midwife and her scrawny apprentice are a splendidly comic duo, plying their trade of delivering babies—itself seen as essentially comic, perhaps for the first time since Dr. Slop—on Christmas Eve. (p. 1545)
(The entire section is 264 words.)
Margery Fisher
Leon Garfield's "Apprentice" stories are not for a young reading age, despite the somewhat misleading format and plentiful illustration. In these terse, ironic tales there is a concentration of imagery, an elusive technique of characterisation and a breadth of social comment which demand an alert reader (I suggest, ten and over) ready to accept an idiosyncratic but authentic view of the past. Like their predecessors in the series, the present books, numbered 5 to 8, contain several linking devices. The London scene shifts from one street to another within the City, from St. Martin's Churchyard in The Valentine to a dingy yard off Old 'Change in Labour in Vain, from a Jewish clockmaker's in Carter Lane in...
(The entire section is 408 words.)
Rhodri Jones
Leon Garfield's five early novels—Jack Holborn, Devil-in-the-Fog, Smith, Black Jack, and The Drummer Boy—established very clearly the kind of world we associate with Garfield's writing. Since then, he has continued to produce prolifically, but the sense of unity, the sense of direction, seems to have become dissipated. It is not just a question of wanting or expecting him to go on writing as he has done or to write about the same things as before. After all, one doesn't expect each of William Mayne's books, for example, to be the same—in fact, one is surprised and gratified that each new novel is different and unpredictable. Nor does Garfield's later work lack quality—The God Beneath the Sea,...
(The entire section is 1301 words.)
Philip Holland
Garfield's novels appeal to young readers for reasons which should become clear in looking at them individually. All his work has a strong narrative line and his books are worlds of violent adventure. Theatricality and melodrama are part of their fabric. The hero's search is not only for his identity but also for moral certainties in the shifting sands of good and evil. The hero is usually an adolescent boy, bewildered by the duplicity of the adult world. He is a valuable point of identification for the young reader. The moral choices he has to make are presented not in terms of psychological analysis (until we come to The Pleasure Garden) but in terms of action and discussion which offer a high level of...
(The entire section is 3239 words.)
Ann A. Flowers
[Leon Garfield], noted for his Dickensian novels about London, has written [with The Apprentices] an ingeniously linked series of twelve tales about apprentices set in successive months, so that the book covers one year; each tale has a relationship to at least one of the others and each deals with a different craft. Many of the stories tell of some unlikely and unexpected good deed. For instance, "The Lamplighter" is the tale of Pallcat, a dirty, stingy old man, who reluctantly takes a pathetic waif as his apprentice and, to his own surprise, becomes attached to him…. Characters appear and reappear, sometimes as major figures, sometimes as passersby. A lamplighter or a linkboy crops up in almost every story,...
(The entire section is 171 words.)
Roni Natov
Leon Garfield has been hailed as one of the best contemporary writers for adolescents for his lively and unmistakable style, his ability to weave a series of endlessly fascinating plots, and for his quirky and unforgettable characters. He draws richly and with originality from our great masters of fiction: Fielding, Smollett, and Dickens. His debt to Fielding and Smollett is most obvious in terms of the settings of his novels, all of which take place in the 18th century. Many of them make use of the picaresque episodic structure and the complex combination of comedy and violence found in those early works. Encounters with all kinds of rogues, kidnappings, attempted and actual murders are not unusual in a Garfield...
(The entire section is 2559 words.)
Gordon Parsons
The final two stories in Leon Garfield's 'Apprentices' series [The enemy and the filthy beast] introduce respectively the love-lorn Hobby, apprenticed to a modeller of plaster statuettes, and Shag, the trainee house painter who spends most of his life venting his earthy humour from his precarious scaffolding perch on those who pass below. These apprentices like their predecessors are, however, first and foremost apprentices to the business of life. (pp. 349-50)
I have not yet read all twelve 'Apprentices' but I suspect that the characteristic Garfield style, with its distinctive imagery and knowing, gentle irony, while weighing a little too heavily in the context of a single short volume, may...
(The entire section is 495 words.)


text:
Want a Ford Tri-Motor type rating?Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
With employment the way it is during this economic recession you may want to cover all your bases. With an $11,000 type rating you could be hopping rides to tourists above the Grand Canyon in one of the heavier models of the Ford Tri-Motor. (Only three Tri-Motors now flying require a type rating. The models that operate at a lower gross weight under a supplemental type certificate do not require a type rating.) Read about it here.