text:
Time IS a factor, and, while I've had the post from the other day in the hopper for a while, time got ahead of me… and so too did the post which I had timed to be released. Of course, time continuing to be a factor, I'm just now catching up with it, with this post…
But, that's ok.
Let me cover the basics again…
On Feb. 9, 1862, the Rev. Kensey Johns Stewart was arrested by Union officers after failing to offer a prayer for the President during the height of the Civil War. A melee occurred in the sanctuary as the congregation attempted to defend its minister. On that same day, a warning was issued to "females and others," threatening arrest for offensive remarks and demonstrations—prompted, no doubt, by the actions of several St. Paul's ladies, including one who is said to have dropped her Prayer Book down from the gallery onto the head of an offending officer.
On June 28, 1862, St. Paul's was seized and used as a hospital for Federal forces until the spring of 1865. It was at the Appomatox Courthouse, home of a St. Paul's parishioner, Wilmer McLean, that Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865.
Alright, standing by itself, the story about St. Paul's Episcopal Church is moving, but I meant to add that I have a learned connection to it, meaning it isn't in our family memory… neither the event itself, or the ties to that particular church.
In fact, my 4th great grandparents are buried in the church cemetery, as are other kin.
Aquilla (a very cool name, by the way… which also happens to be the given name of yet another ancestor, though unrelated to this ancestor) and Susannah Simpson Emerson resided in Alexandria, where Aquilla operated a tavern, opposite Market House, "a few doors above the old Bank on Cameron St. lately occupied by Mr. Lanham as a public house; 1808, 1818, 1819, licence granted to keep an ordinary; Wm. B. Stewart, Laurence Hooff, Jr., James Campbell was his security; 1821, operated a tavern at the lower end of Wolfe St. opposite the Jail on Potomac Strand; ACCOB: July term 1808, 24th day; April term 1818, 10th day; April term 1819, 13th day."
I don't know a great deal about him otherwise, but have learned that, on January 29, 1846, Aquilla signed legislative petition A538, which dealt with the "passage of a provisional act by the Legislature accepting the retrocession to Virginia of a portion of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River."
Aquilla died in March of 1850, so he missed all of the activities that were to come just over a decade. His wife passed August 26, 1859, so she too missed the events that were to follow.
While they missed out on those events, so too did my third great grandfather and his family, having removed to Shenandoah Valley in the 1820s. Still, I wonder if he kept in touch with his siblings back in what is now Old Town Alexandria, or even if he made any return visits. Sad to say, that part of my family history is simply lost.
So, in short, I wouldn't be surprised if Emerson family members were present, that day, when Rev. Kensey Johns Stewart refused to pray for President Lincoln. Though I don't even have their impression (if they were present that day), fellow blogger Ron Baumgarten helped me out with the impression of those from the other side of the event… at least one of those the 8th Illinois Cavalry.
…yesterday morning at St. Paul's Church, during what ought to have been divine service, but which the reverend traitor converted into an insolent and defiant endorsement and glorification of treason and rebellion.
Wish I had more, but that's about all I can grab from p. 73 of Abner Hard's account. No doubt, the day was a tremendous one for all who partook.
So, who, from among my third great grandfather's siblings, may have been in attendance that day? I am sorry to say, I don't know exactly when John Simpson Emerson and his wife died (he was born ca. 1794), but, perhaps some of their children were in attendance that day. I wonder…
What I do know is that there is another grave of a family member in the church cemetery… that of Benjamin Franklin Emerson. Granted, Ben wasn't there on that February day in 1862, but was engaged in other activities, elsewhere. Yet, I wonder if any of his siblings wrote him of the event, and, how it impacted what he thought. Was he even more resolved in his decision to remain with… Co. E, 17th Virginia Infantry? If he did get word, I imagine that he may well have become even more resolved. Then too, if my branch of the family kept up with the Alexandria branch, I wonder (if they received word) how it may have inspired my own second great grandfather, Henry K. Emerson, who had been serving under Turner Ashby, in Co. D, 7th Virginia Cavalry, since August 1861.
It's a guessing game at best…
But, let's think about this from a "memory" angle. Should I… today… be irked at this, and start ranting about how hideous these "Yankee invaders" were? Nahhhh… that's just pure silliness. Rather, what I take from this is that this is an amazing story, and one part of my overall story as a Southerner… and even more importantly, only one part of my Southern family story as it relates to the Civil War era. Additionally, as I mentioned, it's only learned history… a history by association, and I have nothing via family stories that say anything about this.
O.K., as a follow-up… I like "what happened to…" elements of these types of stories…
What happened to Benjamin Franklin Emerson?
He continued to serve with the "Mount Vernon Guards" until he was wounded at Frayser's Farm. He died of those wounds on July 19, 1862, and was buried in or near Richmond. His body was disinterred and brought home, to be buried again in the St. Paul's Church cemetery. To my knowledge (and according to my research), he was the only one of five age-eligible sons of John Simpson Emerson to serve in the war. I've covered the very interesting story of one of his siblings… Edwin Arthur "Ned" Emerson, in a post a few years ago. Whether you recall or not… he was my cousin who acted regularly with John Wilkes Booth… knew him quite well… and was in the play that President Lincoln watched on the night of his assassination. Good stuff that I've learned over the years.
As for Henry K. Emerson… yup, I've touched on his story as well, in a previous post. I always love an opportunity to visit the land of his old homestead, as well as the old family cemetery, tucked in the bosom of the western hollows of the Blue Ridge, every chance I can.
Oh yes, and as for Rev. Stewart… he also has an interesting story. While not a relative, I may write about it in another post, sometime soon.
**Be sure to also check-out fellow blogger Ron Baumgarten's post on the church!


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Fibromyalgia is widespread
pain in the muscles and soft tissues above and below the waist and on both
sides of the body. People with fibromyalgia feel pain, tenderness, or both even when there
is no injury or inflammation.
Fibromyalgia can cause long-lasting (chronic) pain. It has no cure. But with treatment, most people
with fibromyalgia are able to work and do their regular activities. When it is not controlled, you may not have any energy. Or you may feel
depressed or have trouble sleeping. But there are many things you can do to help manage your symptoms.
No one knows for sure what causes fibromyalgia. But experts have some ideas, such as:
The main symptoms of
fibromyalgia are:
People with fibromyalgia may have other problems, such as:
tend to come and go. You may have times when you hurt more, followed by times when symptoms happen less often, hurt less, or are absent (remissions).
Some people find that their symptoms are worse in cold and damp weather, during times of stress, or when they try to do too much.
Doctors diagnose fibromyalgia based on two things:
Before the diagnosis, your
doctor will make sure that you don't have other conditions that
cause pain. These include
rheumatoid arthritis,
polymyalgia rheumatica,
lupus, and other
autoimmune diseases.
Treatment is focused on
managing pain, fatigue, depression, and other symptoms. You may be able to control your
symptoms by:
people with fibromyalgia also find
complementary therapies helpful. These include
tai chi, acupuncture, massage, behavioral therapy, and relaxation techniques.
Learning about fibromyalgia:
Being diagnosed:
Getting treatment:
Living with fibromyalgia:
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome—a set of symptoms that occur together. Experts have ideas about what may cause it, but there is
not enough evidence to support any one idea. Some ideas include:
Many people connect the beginning of their symptoms to a certain event, such as the
flu, an injury or surgery, or emotional trauma and stress.1 An event of this type combined with other things, such as
increased sensitivity to pain and sleep problems, may lead to
fibromyalgia in some people.
The symptoms of
fibromyalgia vary from person to person. Symptoms can last from days to months or years.
The most common symptoms are:
Other symptoms that can occur
along with pain include:
with fibromyalgia have times when their symptoms get worse and other times
when they have milder or no symptoms. Flare-ups of fatigue and muscle and joint
aches are common, especially following physical or emotional stress. Many
people with fibromyalgia say that cold or damp weather, poor sleep, fatigue,
stress, or being too active makes their pain worse.
For most people,
fibromyalgia seems to involve a cycle of muscle pain,
increased sensitivity to pain, and inactivity that may be made worse by sleep
problems and fatigue.
Although fibromyalgia is a long-lasting (chronic) condition
with no cure, it can be controlled. It doesn't damage the muscles, joints, or
internal organs. Most people adjust to their symptoms and are able to keep working and
doing their daily activities. For more information about managing fibromyalgia, see the Treatment Overview.
Certain things may make you more likely to have
fibromyalgia. Things that increase your risk (risk factors) include:
Call your doctor if you have
had the following symptoms for more than 6 weeks without an obvious cause. They
may be signs of
fibromyalgia, especially if they have developed
If you have fibromyalgia, call your doctor if you have:
Health professionals who may be able to help you
with fibromyalgia include:
You may need to see a specialist who has experience with fibromyalgia. These include:
Pain management programs can be helpful too. These
typically include a team of doctors, counselors, physical therapists, nurses, and pharmacists who
can help you develop a strategy for pain management. Your personal program may
include medicines, complementary therapies, diet, exercise, and counseling.
To prepare for your appointment, see the topic Making the Most of Your Appointment.
There are no specific tests that can
confirm a diagnosis of
fibromyalgia. You will likely have
lab tests to make sure that you don't have another condition causing your symptoms. Your doctor will also ask questions about your
medical history and do a
physical exam.
Doctors use a set of criteria
to diagnose fibromyalgia. Your doctor will look for:
A person may not meet these criteria but may still
have fibromyalgia. That is why diagnosis can be so difficult.
There are many steps you can take to
manage your symptoms. Treatment is focused on
managing pain, fatigue, depression, and other symptoms common in fibromyalgia. The goal is to break the cycle of increased sensitivity to pain and decreased
physical activity.
The treatment you need or want may be based on:
Getting consistent exercise, especially
cardiovascular exercise, is one of the best ways to manage fibromyalgia. Pool
exercise has been found to work well for many people.2
It's important to build up your exercise program slowly so
you don't get sore muscles that cause you to want to stop exercising. Working
with a physical therapist familiar with fibromyalgia may be helpful.1
For more information, see Exercise and Fibromyalgia.
Medicines are part of the long-term treatment of fibromyalgia. Medicines can help you sleep better, relax
your muscles, or relieve muscle and joint pain. Your doctor may suggest
prescription medicines, such as antidepressants, muscle relaxants, and anticonvulsants. Or he or she may suggest nonprescription pain relievers.
Not all people with fibromyalgia will need, want, or benefit from
medicines. You might need to try one medicine before finding
one that works best for you. You may also find that a medicine that has been
helping your symptoms seems to not work as well over time.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy and other
forms of counseling, including hypnotherapy, have been
shown to help people who have fibromyalgia.2
Counseling can help you learn to
manage your pain, learn to
relax, and reduce stress. These can help decrease pain and
fatigue. And it can improve your mood and help you function.2
Taking care of yourself is a vital part of managing
fibromyalgia. For example you can:
With help, you will be able to
start working on most of these goals at home. You may have a team of health
professionals to help you. To learn more, see Home Treatment.
Because the symptoms of fibromyalgia can come and go, you
may find it hard to judge whether a particular treatment is really
working. Different people may respond differently to each type of treatment. Many people with fibromyalgia have other joint or muscle diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus) that need to be treated too.
Finding a treatment
can take time. You may have to try several different treatments to find an
approach that works for you.
Fibromyalgia can't be prevented or cured. But
treating symptoms may help reduce how long a flare-up lasts.
For more information, see the Treatment Overview.
Home treatment is the most
important part of treating fibromyalgia. There are many things you can
do over time to treat your symptoms:
The best results occur when you take an active, committed
role in your own treatment. You may need to adjust your lifestyle to fit home
treatment, especially regular exercise, into your daily routine. It may take time
to find an approach that works for you. Try to be patient. And keep in mind
that consistent home treatment usually can help relieve or control symptoms of
Medicines are part of the long-term treatment of fibromyalgia. They may help break the
cycle of pain and sleep problems when symptoms flare up. Not all people with fibromyalgia will need, want, or benefit from
medicines. People with more severe pain, sleep problems, or
depression that disturbs their daily life may find
medicines helpful.
Fibromyalgia symptoms in different people respond to
different medicines. Your doctor may try more than one medicine before finding
one that works best for you. You may also find that a medicine that has been
helping your symptoms seems to become less effective over time.
Talk with your doctor if you are not getting relief. He or
she may try a different medicine or make suggestions for helping find new ways to modify your activity, sleep, and stress.
Certain types of medicines may be used to
improve sleep, relieve pain and fatigue, and, in some cases, treat depression. These
improvements in symptoms may allow you to feel better and to be more active. Medicines used
for fibromyalgia include:
Often medicines may be combined (such as fluoxetine and
amitriptyline) for the most effective treatment of symptoms of pain and sleep
medicines are being studied and used for treating fibromyalgia,
Nonprescription pain relievers, such as acetaminophen
(for example, Tylenol) or
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS, such as
ibuprofen or aspirin) usually aren't very helpful in treating day-to-day
symptoms of fibromyalgia. But they may be useful in reducing severe pain caused
by a flare-up of symptoms. Check with your doctor if you need to
keep taking these medicines, because they may harm your stomach, kidneys,
or in rare cases, your liver. Your doctor may want to monitor you if you take
acetaminophen or NSAIDs daily.
Most people with fibromyalgia try some type of
alternative therapy.4 They may relieve stress, ease
muscle tension, and help you feel better and healthier. Some of these therapies have been shown to be effective for many people. But for other therapies, such as tender point injections, there is no evidence that they help.
Therapies that have been shown to
be effective for many people include the following:
Other treatments that have been used to treat
fibromyalgia include:
You may find one or more
complementary or alternative therapies to be helpful in relieving some of your
symptoms. Keep in mind that there is only limited information about how well these treatments (and others you may have heard about) work for
treating fibromyalgia.
If you have fibromyalgia and are thinking
about trying a complementary therapy, get the facts before you begin. Consider
these questions with your doctor:
With a hard-to-treat condition like fibromyalgia,
it can be tempting to jump at the promise of an effective treatment. Be
careful. Avoid products that claim to have a secret ingredient or that claim to
cure fibromyalgia. Avoid those that encourage unhelpful behaviors such as
excessive resting or avoiding activity.
Also make sure you know
how much a treatment is going to cost before you agree to it. An expensive,
unproven treatment that may or may not help you may not be worth the high cost.
Beware of treatment providers or products that require a large financial
investment at the start or a series of costly treatments.
The National Fibromyalgia Association was founded to support people who have fibromyalgia and other chronic pain illnesses. This group has an educational website and publishes an international magazine called Fibromyalgia AWARE. The group also helps develop continuing medical education programs and provides a means for fibromyalgia experts to share their research and expertise with patients and health care professionals.
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the
Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP, a division of ACR) are
professional organizations of rheumatologists and associated health
professionals who are dedicated to healing, preventing disability from, and
curing the many types of arthritis and related disabling and sometimes fatal
disorders of the joints, muscles, and bones. Members of the ACR are physicians;
members of the ARHP include research scientists, nurses, physical and
occupational therapists, psychologists, and social workers. Both the ACR and
the ARHP provide professional education for their members.
The ACR
website offers patient information fact sheets about rheumatic diseases, about
medicines used to treat rheumatic diseases, and about care
The Arthritis Foundation provides grants to help find a
cure, prevention methods, and better treatment options for arthritis. It also
provides a large number of community-based services nationwide to make living
with arthritis easier, including self-help courses; water- and land-based
exercise classes; support groups; home study groups; instructional videotapes;
public forums; free educational brochures and booklets; the national, bimonthly
consumer magazine Arthritis Today; and continuing
education courses and publications for health professionals.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) explores complementary and
alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science, trains
complementary and alternative medicine researchers, and gives out authoritative
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal
and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is a governmental institute that serves the public
and health professionals by providing information, locating other information
sources, and participating in a national federal database of health
information. NIAMS supports research into the causes, treatment, and prevention
of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases and supports the training of
scientists to carry out this research.
The NIAMS website provides
health information referrals to the NIAMS Clearinghouse, which has information
packages about diseases.
CitationsBradley LA, Alarcon GS (2005). Fibromyalgia section of Miscellaneous rheumatic diseases. In WJ Koopman, LW Moreland, eds., Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook of Rheumatology, 15th ed., vol. 2, pp. 1869–1910. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.Goldenberg DL, et al. (2004). Management of fibromyalgia syndrome. JAMA, 292(19): 2388–2395.Nielson WR, Jensen MP (2004). Relationship between changes in coping and treatment outcome in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. Pain, 109(3): 233–41.Wahner-Roedler DL, et al. (2004). Use of complementary and alternative medical therapies by patients referred to a fibromyalgia treatment program at a tertiary care center. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 80(1): 55–60.Wang C, et al. (2010). A randomized trial of tai chi for fibromyalgia. New England Journal of Medicine, 363(8): 743–754.Other Works ConsultedAfshar B (2002). Clearing the fog section of Relieving symptoms. In Good Living with Fibromyalgia, pp. 18–19. Atlanta: Arthritis Foundation.Arnold LM, et al. (2007). Gabapentin in the treatment of fibromyalgia. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 56(4): 1336–1344.Arnold LM, et al. (2008). Patient perspectives on the impact of fibromyalgia. Patient Education and Counseling, 73(1): 114–120.Busch A, et al. (2007). Exercise for treating fibromyalgia syndrome. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4).Carville SF, et al. (2007). EULAR evidence based recommendations for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 67(4): 536–541.Crofford LJ, Appleton BE (2001). Complementary and alternative therapies for fibromyalgia. Current Rheumatology Reports, 3(2): 147–156.Crofford LJ, et al. (2005). Pregabalin for the treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 52(4): 1264–1273.Häuser W, et al. (2009). Treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome with antidepressants. JAMA, 301(2): 198–209.Meisler JG (2000). Toward optimal health: The experts discuss fibromyalgia. Journal of Women's Health and Gender-Based Medicine, 9(10): 1055–1060.Richards SCM, Scott DL (2002). Prescribed exercise in people with fibromyalgia: Parallel group randomised controlled trial. BMJ, 325(7357): 185.Taylor AG, et al. (2003). Fibromyalgia section of Pain. In JW Spencer, JJ Jacobs, eds., Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach, pp. 384–395 . St. Louis: Mosby.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2008). 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (ODPHP Publication No. U0036). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Available online: http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/default.aspx.Wolfe F, et al. (2010). The American College of Rheumatology preliminary diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia and measurement of symptom severity. Arthritis Care and Research, 62(5): 600–610.Wolfe F, Rasker JJ (2009). Fibromyalgia. In GS Firestein et al., eds., Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology, 8th ed., vol. 1, pp. 555–569. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
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subset: commoncrawl


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1. Food - naturally: Got a bite to eat at Baba Ghanouj Café on Barrington Street, where I was treated to wonderful and friendly service from the owner and head chef himself, and the best - BEST - falafel I've ever had in Halifax. I even got a hot and straight-outta-the-oil falafel to snack on while my falafel sandwich was being prepared. Moist, fresh and downright delish.
|How cute is this place?
2. Dessert - bien sûr: a 1/2 dozen beautiful cupcakes from Layers Cakes that I took home and shared with my (then) fiancé, parents, and niece and nephew who were visiting. It was the end of the day, but even still, I scored two Coconut, two Raspberry White Chocolate, and two Vanilla Bean, all of which were a big hit at home.
3. Shopping - couldn't resist: I purchased these adorable cards from Paper Chase and Biscuit General Store, as well as a sweet, sweet necklace from Biscuit that seemed rather fitting a week before saying my "I dos". Can you blame a girl for feeling sentimental?
4. Pampering - the ultimate indulgence: I had an express manicure from Fancy Nails (located in the basement of the Maritime Center on Barrington) and a blow-out from Urban 30 Blowdry Bar before my bachelorette party. Unfortunately, my fresh 'do fell out about 10 minutes later, but it was lovely while it lasted, and given I'm a curly head and didn't have to do my hair myself (not to be understated), it was still something fun and different for a special night out.
I had a fabulous time visiting each of these downtown businesses. With the exception of Biscuit and Paper Chase, each business was new to me and ones I had been eye-balling for a while, so I'm glad to have finally scratched the itch. I already can't wait for my next taste of Baba Ghanouj's falafel!
I actually still have a bit of a balance left on my cards, as this was all I could fit into one evening, so it shows that you can certainly do a lot for $150 downtown. If you're prepping for your bachelorette party, for example, just an FYI: you can do every bit of it downtown. I even shopped for a white dress at Biscuit, and because it was the end of the season, there were a ton of dresses on sale for $39. Unfortunately I didn't find what I was looking for, but I easily could have fit the dress into my $150 indulgence budget!
Check out the Downtown Halifax website to see what the other 29 bloggers did with their $150, and/or follow #BigDayDowntown on Twitter for updates and links!


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Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego's "Apollo 18" has been bumped more times then I can keep track of but right now it's shooting for a September 2nd lift off and today we've got a new trailer for the found footage flick. The movie is set up as real footage of a secret moon landing in 1973 shot by 2 American astronauts. Did you get the "lift off" pun? Pretty clever, huh?
"The Ganzfeld Experiment" has one of the most confusing plot descriptions I've ever tried to read and now Rumer Willis, who has one of the most confusing names I've ever read, has signed on to play in the film along with Dominic Purcell. Alright here goes. 5 college kids go away for the weekend in order to partake in a ESP experiment. During the weekend they uncover their forgotten past, dreams, and their future somehow. Then things go nuts or something. This may or may not be a big rip off of "Flatliners". I have no idea.
Mark Vadik has been confirmed to direct and upcoming and I assume straight to DVD remake of the 1986 Tawny "I can't believe I watched this whole thing and she didn't go topless" Kitaen film "Witchboard". For those of you not familiar with the original it follows a group of party goes who accidentally unleash an evil demon while playing with a Ouija board. Any Tawny Kitaen doesn't get naked in it.
If you haven't been following all the exciting news around "Hellraiser: Revelations" here's a short recap. It's a new direct to DVD "Hellraiser" movie that apparently had such an awful script that Doug Bradley (the original Pinhead) wanted nothing to do with it. Along with that the reviews for the one screening of the film have been nothing but negative. But hey good news now, it's coming out on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 18th so you can see it for yourself. Merry half Christmas.
I might be the only one who watches "Eureka" but I don't care, Colin Ferguson is a dream boat and someday he's going to marry me. More proof of his dreaminess can be found in these news clips from "Lake Placid 3", by far the most awe inspiring clips of the entire "Lake Placid" series to date.
Remember those "Witchboard" movies from the 80's? The only reason anyone watched them was in hope that you might get to see Tawny Kitaen naked. Spoiler alert, you didn't. "Ouija Board" apparently has nothing to do with those films but word has it Pierre Morel, who directed "Taken" will also take the helm of this one. That tied in nicely, didn't it?
I'm pretty sure at this point every women in Hollywood has been rumored to be taking the lead in the "Alien" prequel and today it's Anne Hathaway. I think the producers are just getting drunk and looking at their DVD collection and randomly screaming out names. "'The Princess Diaries'! That movie changed my life, get me that girl. Oh god I just messed myself"


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District Staff Joins Together to "Stock the Closet"
Did you know that CCSD59's Community Cares Closet (CCC) helps district families in need of basic necessities? For no charge, qualifying families can shop the store, housed at the Ridge Family Center for Learning, for items they need.
Since there can be a wide fluctuation of stocked items, especially those that can't be donated gently used, certain items can be more difficult to come by, so the D59 Education Association (DEA) stepped in to lend a hand.
CCSD59's DEA learned that the CCC was in dire need of children's undergarments, socks, and diapers, so they held a drive to "stock the closet."
"Diapers are a constant need that some organizations are unable to offer to our families," said Mary Jo Long, region council member for the Illinois Education Association and teacher at Grove Junior High. "Underwear and socks are also a basic necessity that everyone is always in need of which organizations don't always have the privilege of offering. For these reasons, we determined that our CCC would benefit from having these items be continuously replenished."
Nelly Perez, a community outreach specialist, agreed that sometimes basic necessities are often the items that get overlooked. "When we donate clothing, we are always thinking of shirts, pants, outerwear, and those type of items, but there are essential items we all use daily that we would never think to donate," she said. "That is why the DEA's drive was so important. Families that come to the CCC are in real need of these clothing items."
The items were collected from January 29 through February 9, with the goal of collecting 1,000 total items from DEA members. All items were collected from each location and delivered to Ridge the week of February 12.
The CCC breaks up packages into individual items for maximum benefit to those who need them, and far more than the original goal of 1,000 items were collected.
"We talk about how we can contribute to our communities, and we all care about them," said Long. "I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to come together and support this worthwhile entity of our district. This was an easy ask of staff members."


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Getting Your Home Ready For Sale
Marilyn Jacobs' Property Sale Marketing Plan
Unmatched Professional and Personal Services
- Assist you in pricing your home at fair market value for quickest possible sale after touring the property in person to arrive at pricing for fastest sale in shortest time. To make a sound and informed decision on price, we suggest getting an appraisal and inspection before we list the property.
- Review and discuss currently active homes and recent home sales in your subdivision, community, and nearby areas that could be considered "comparables".
- Marilyn reviews her buyer's portfolio to find clients looking for a property like yours and phones or emails prospects to tell them about your property.
- Discuss showing procedures; prepare MLS information; take photos for MLS, for www.MarilynJacobs.com (almost 2 Million hits so far); flyers to be sent to up to 38,000+ local agents and to 1,000+ agents personally known to Marilyn and 1000+ flyers to be sent to luxury agents in other areas; information about your property and photos are sent to upscale targeted buyers who, if not ready to purchase a property, have friends and family who might be interested.
- As a real estate practitioner who is well-versed in local customs and requirements, Marilyn will guide you through the entire process and make your experience stress- and hassle-free. She will inform you about the important things you'll want to know about the process of selling your property!
- All showings are for qualified buyers only.
- How much does all of this cost you? Not a penny! Marilyn's services are paid for by the seller. But don't worry about her loyalties - Marilyn represents YOU and is YOUR advocate throughout the entire process.
- An explanation of escrow basics is found on this site.
- Count on Marilyn to find you your next property in this area or refer you to a top agent elsewhere.
Week One and Two and Beyond
- Input your property info & photos into the Multiple Listing Service and Realtor.com, where your listing will be featured. Whereas many listings have no photos or just a few, your listing will have sixteen photos or more, and whereas many listings are very sparsely described, if at all, more space in the addendum will be used to describe the best features of your property so as to entice buyers to come. Marilyn is a member of the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLSFL) and the Palm Beach Board of Realtors (pbb).
- Picture your home on the various blogs that Marilyn manages for Palm Beach County cities and communities as well as her various websites and many internet sites where 85% of today's buyers start their home searches, including Zillow, Trulia, Oodle, and many other sites which then syndicate them to OTHER internet sites where LOCAL, INTERNATIONAL and NATIONAL BUYERS are looking for their next home... "EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE" leads Marilyn to your buyer as quickly as possible.
- Check with associates who have shown your property and relay their comments to you
Marilyn can find more buyers because of her:
- Aggressive advertising programs, websites and blogs, professional resources and being acquainted with many area agents who want to do business with me, and I want to do business with them. Many of us have already worked together and shared sales.
- Extensive knowledge of the Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Palm Beach and all Palm Beach County Real Estate market plus friendships and acquaintanceships with so many other luxury specialists, local, national and international Realtors
- List of trusted partners at your disposal, including experienced title company, thorough inspectors, licensed appraisers, mortgage professionals, moving companies, veterinarians, plumbers and a host of other professionals to make your transition as smooth and pain-free as possible.
WARNING: if you list your house with Marilyn
MARILYN FARBER JACOBS, Realtor, ePRO


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We're now moved in and pretty much settled and have been discovering the take-out of our new 'hood. Why? I haven't figured out how to grocery shop apparently. Ugh - too much stuff to do and not enough time!
I drive by Pit to Plate every day on my way to and from work - I have long heard about Pit and got my first taste of them at the Taste of the NFL a few weeks back. So on the way home from work one day - I decided to grab some to-go for Larry and I.
Pulled chicken, (sauce on the side - can't see it), corn muffin, green beans, taters & gravy for Larry!
For me, pulled pork, cole slaw, baked beans and corn muffins.
Seriously - I just want a dozen of those corn muffins!!
Also - they get HIGH marks for customer service - those girls are the friendliest, happiest bunch ever!
Next up is Big Arts - it's only a couple minutes away - so it's just as close as PTP. I mentioned to someone I liked PTP and they told me I HAD to try Big Arts...so off I went.
I got the same thing - pulled pork dinner to go. It came with two sides and a roll for $9.99. The pork was fine but it was much dryer and the sauce was more bitter. The green beans were also bitter and bleh. But the worst were the roll and the potato - DRY DRY DRY. There was no butter, no sour cream, no nothing. MMMMM - who doesn't want a dry ass roll AND a dry ass baked potato!!
To me - if I'm getting it to-go, they should at least ASK if I need anything. They weren't very friendly either - on the phone or when I went to pick up my order.
Thus - in the Pulled Pork Faceoff - the clear winner is PIT TO PLATE!!!
Why Should You Go? Cheaper, tastier and friendlier!!!!


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Culture clash
The steam bath is firmly established in many cultures – and each has its very own rules and customs
The traditional Indian sweat lodge cleanses and heals body and soul with extreme heat, drumbeats and chants. The Mesoamerican version of the sweat lodge, the temazcal, is currently experiencing a revival in Mexico.
Peace and relaxation? Not quite. In Russia, the banya is a popular venue for business meetings at temperatures that can rise above 100°. The water thrown onto the hot stones contains beer. Good for the circulation: taking a lashing with some birch branches.
It's practically mandatory for a Japanese steam bath to have a television screen inside, just as it is to have coffee grounds there to neutralize bodily odors. Tattoos are taboo – because only gangsters have them.


text: The remains of Holley Wimunc, the Fort Bragg Army nurse who went missing on Thursday, have been found. Wimunc's father announced today that authorities have found the remains of his daughter in a brush fire near Camp Lejeune on Sunday. Wimunc's husband, Cpl. John Wimunc, and another Marine, Kyle Ryan Alden, have been arrested for burning a house next door to Holley Wimunc's torched apartment, although the connection between the arrests and Wimunc's apartment and death has not been made by authorities as of yet. [AP]


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RED SOX: Royals sweep doubleheader
BOSTON -- Lorenzo Cain walked with two outs and the bases loaded in the 10th inning to give Kansas City a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday and complete the Royals' sweep of a day-night doubleheader.
Ervin Santana (2-1) pitched seven strong innings in the opener, when Kansas City won 4-2. Kelvin Herrera (2-2) got the win in the night game, a makeup of the one postponed on Friday night because of the city-wide lockdown during the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers.
Alex Gordon had three hits in the second game, including a single with one out in the 10th. Alcides Escobar walked and, after Billy Butler struck out, Eric Hosmer reached on an infield single -- his fourth hit of the day.
Andrew Miller (0-1) walked Cain on four pitches to bring home Gordon, who scored his third run of the game.
Herrera allowed one hit and one walk, striking out three in two innings.
It was a disappointing ending to an emotional weekend for the Red Sox, who returned on Thursday night to a city still reeling from the Boston Marathon bombings. Friday's game was postponed while police searched for the suspects, and on Saturday the emotion of the pregame ceremony seemed to carry the ballclub to victory.
A more subdued atmosphere -- and smaller crowds -- greeted the teams on Sunday, but there were still some signs that things had changed: The American flag in left-center field remained at half-staff, Red Sox players wore a "B STRONG" patch on their jerseys and law enforcement officers were cheered whenever they were shown on the scoreboard.
In his first two at bats on the day game, Jonny Gomes used a bat with the words "Boston Strong" and the names of the four people killed in the bombings and its aftermath. He popped out and grounded out, then said he planned to auction off the bats for charity.
For his third straight start, Santana allowed runs in the opening inning then settled down as the Royals ended Boston's seven-game winning streak. Santana allowed two runs on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
"I was leaving a couple of pitches up in the first inning," said Santana, who gave up four runs and nine hits in the first inning, then one run on 12 hits in his other 20. "I feel comfortable every time I take the mound and I have confidence."
The Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against Bruce Chen and Aaron Crow, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded out to Crow. Greg Holland pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five opportunities.
The Royals scored three runs in the fourth. Salvador Perez's two-run single broke a 2-2 tie against Ryan Dempster (0-2), who had struck out the previous two batters.
Dempster allowed four runs on six hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking three. That ended a season-opening streak of 16 games by Red Sox starters of allowing three runs or less, tying an AL record achieved by the Oakland Athletics in 1978 and 1981.
Notes: Red Sox RF Shane Victorino missed his first game of the season after leaving Saturday's 4-3 win with back spasms. ... Dustin Pedroia has reached base in all 18 games, the most consecutive games to start a season by a Red Sox 2B, breaking the record set by Pete Runnels in 1959. ... Jacoby Ellsbury has hit in 11 straight games. ... Cain had hits in seven straight at bats before grounding out on the first then getting his double in the fourth of the day game. ... The Royals recalled LHP Will Smith from Triple-A Omaha. ... Felix Doubront (1-0) pitches for the Red Sox against A.J. Griffin (2-0) in the opener of a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Monday night at Fenway Park. ... Kansas City is off Monday before starting a three-game series at Detroit on Tuesday night with Wade Davis (2-0) pitching for the Royals against Max Scherzer (1-0). ... Koji Uehara had gone 18 1-3 scoreless innings before allowing Butler's homer in the eighth of the night game.


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Photo of the week: Sail away
Photo of the week: Target Field
Photo of the Week: Jellies
Red Wing Brewery
44.566069 -92.536956
Last ride for the bride
Dear Nicole,
This post is for you. Remember that time you helped throw a bachelorette party for your friend and everything was adorable?
Dear Everyone Else,
Sorry if you get bored, but if you don't love pictures of cute things, I'm not sure what you're doing looking at this blog. I still like you, and I'll be sure to post something less cute next time.
Photo of the Week: Dinkytown
44.983334 -93.266670


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Civil Noncompliance
by James L. Payne | Posted September 04, 2012
As a piano technician I come across many unusual requests, but none so bizarre as one I received some time ago from a man whom I'll call Mr. Green. Could I, he asked, strip the ivory from the keys of a Steinway grand piano?
I was appalled. Applying ivory to piano keys is a fine art. The ivory on each key is two separate pieces that have been color matched, cut, and glued together so carefully that there is no visible seam, then clamped exactly over a special wafer of cloth impregnated with white pigment that gives the translucent ivory a white, lustrous hue. To ask me to undo this fine craftsmanship was preposterous. It would be like asking me to slash the Mona Lisa or blow up Buddhist statues in Afghanistan. I asked Mr. Green why he wanted me to perform this sacrilege.
His answer was the law demanded it. After searching all over North America, Green had found precisely the right piano for his concert pianist wife. It was located in Canada's province of British Columbia. As he made arrangements to have it shipped to his home in Connecticut, he learned that the piano would not be allowed into the United States because the ivory of its keys is prohibited by a law that bans the importation of ivory. Hence the need to remove the ivory from the keys.
"That's ridiculous," I said. "The piano was made in 1970, twenty years before the ban came into effect. Surely there is an exception for things made before the ban was adopted?"
"I can't find out about that, it's really crazy," he sputtered. "I've called and called. I'm going out of my mind, I'm not getting any sleep. It's a nightmare."
Unable to get any straight or useful answer from U.S. Customs, he had retained a customs broker, who wasn't able to find a way around the problem, either. The seller of the piano had, for his part, contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which supposedly administers the ban, and had received only a vague and equivocal response. If there was a way of applying for an exception, it was buried so deep in the bowels of bureaucracy as to be inaccessible to human beings. At his wit's end, Green decided to have the ivory stripped off the keys, ship the piano to Connecticut, and then have the keys recovered with plastic.
The Death of Common Sense
The problem Mr. Green faced is familiar. The accumulated weight of regulation today is so great that we bump into its inane and counterproductive demands all the time. Author Phillip Howard focused on this problem in his 1995 book, The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America. "Modern law," he says, "has not protected us from stupidity and caprice, but has made stupidity and caprice dominant features of our society." His book surveys the mountain of regulations that "crushes our goals and deadens our spirits."
To ask me to undo this fine craftsmanship was preposterous, like asking someone to slash the Mona Lisa or blow up Buddhist statues in Afghanistan.
Social scientists have also noticed the issue. Their research into the many ways that laws go awry has prompted them to formulate the "Law of Unintended Consequences." This generalization, first popularized by sociologist Robert Merton in 1936, ranks along with death and taxes as one of the few certainties of social life. It holds that every government effort to improve life has unexpected and harmful side effects. In many cases, these harmful effects are so severe as to defeat the original purpose of the law.
The ban on ivory is a good illustration of this dysfunctional pattern. From a distance, the problem seemed simple. Poachers kill elephants for their tusks, thus reducing the numbers of elephants — and, in certain areas, possibly driving them to extinction. The theory was that a law against the importation of ivory would deprive poachers of their market, and the killing of elephants would stop.
Alas, the world is always more complicated than it seems to those who make laws. Now, poaching and overhunting of elephants still takes place, but thanks to scarcity the practice is more lucrative than ever. Before the ban, ivory was selling for $200 a kilo; now the black market price is over $2,000.
But this is only part of the problem. Some African countries have too many elephants. These beasts overgraze and destroy the habitat in wildlife preserves, threatening plant and animal species with extinction. In these cases, wildlife experts recommend culling elephants to reduce their numbers. In other places where elephant population is too high, these animals destroy crops of poor farmers. This problem is managed by cooperative arrangements that cull some elephants, and reimburse farmers for crop losses with money gained from selling tusks of the culled animals. A ban on ivory undercuts these arrangements and thus encourages farmers to kill them secretly.
Before the ban, ivory was selling for $200 a kilo; now the black market price is over $2,000.
Another point that the ban does not take into account is that ivory has positive, non-substitutable human uses. Piano and organ keys are a case in point. Plastic piano key tops do not give the same feel as ivory. When dry, they are too "sticky," not allowing the fingertips to slide from note to note. When wet with perspiration, plastic key tops become too slippery. A total ban on ivory, then, means that musical performances at the highest level are compromised.
These are just a few of the complexities that the law against the importation of ivory overlooks. Distant publics and shallow-minded legislators suppose that such a law is like a meat axe, and that one swing will fix, simply and finally, the problem they have in mind. But in its actual operation, it is more like a grenade, doing damage in many different directions that no one could predict when it is first put into effect. That the ivory ban would require the sacrilege of stripping ivory from the keys of a Steinway grand piano illustrates the kind of unanticipated, harmful side effects that come with every law.
Democratic Dead End
How do we fix this problem of laws that make a mockery of common sense? One answer might be to use the democratic process. That's what the civics books recommend: if you don't like a law, then you write a letter to the editor, or to your congressman. This advice might have made sense in an age of small government and few laws, but it is painfully unrealistic today. The mass of regulations now in place represents the accumulation of many decades of lobbying, coalition-building, administrative interpretation, and judicial precedent. The idea that an individual could even be noticed in this quagmire, let alone clear it up, is fanciful.
Furthermore, the democratic process gave us these laws. Politicians promised them as the solutions to problems. Sure, they ignored the harmful side effects, but this is the way the system works. The modern politician's goal is not to make things better. It is to display good intentions, to gather kudos from a shallow media and curry favor with single-minded pressure groups. Politics has become theatre, where the politician-actor struts upon the stage playing the hero, and the audience applauds his performance.
The modern politician's goal is not to make things better. It is to display good intentions, and to curry favor with single-minded pressure groups.
Thus, within democratic politics, there is no way of stemming the tide of shortsighted laws. If you go to the legislators and point out that a certain law has backfired, they are not going to repeal it. Lawmakers passed the ban on ivory in order to look good. They are hardly going to agree to offend the environmental pressure groups by reversing themselves (Headline: "Senator Endorses Slaying of Elephants"). If the politicians do anything, they will pass additional laws to try to fix the problems they caused with the first law — giving rise, of course, to more unintended consequences.
In the Tradition of Thoreau, Gandhi, and King
Is there nothing that we can do to counteract foolish and destructive laws?
In 1849, Henry David Thoreau elaborated the principle of civil disobedience, the idea that it is right for an individual to disobey an unjust law. Though a familiar concept for abolitionists and others who objected to government power on religious grounds, Thoreau's work proved revolutionary in separating civil disobedience from specific religious traditions, allowing men to appeal not to any higher power, but to the reason of his fellow man. Following in Thoreau's footsteps, Mohandas Gandhi developed civil disobedience into a method of political reform. With his mass protests in South Africa and India, Gandhi showed the world that law need not be treated as a god. When laws contradict our sense of morality and decency, it is right to disobey them. Later, Martin Luther King, another of Thoreau's disciples, grounded the American civil rights movement on the same principle.
Civil disobedience points the way to a tactics of reform, but it will not itself address the problem of overregulation. Civil disobedience is a tactic of mass protest. It assumes a single, objectionable law so prominent that large numbers of people can be marshaled to demonstrate in the streets against it.
The problem we face with law in the modern state is that there are tens of thousands of silly regulations, and no single one merits a high-profile campaign. To take Mr. Green's case, imagine the difficulties we would have in trying to attract crowds, and the media, to a "piano-importing protest" at a U.S. customs check point on the Canadian border. To resist and counter the regulatory regime, we need a small-scale, convenient strategy that can be applied in thousands, even millions, of instances. I call it "civil noncompliance." Its aim is to counter a destructive law by finding a quiet way to evade it. This was what I used to counter the unjust effect of the law on ivory importation affecting Mr. Green.
To resist and counter the regulatory regime, we need a small-scale, convenient strategy that can be applied in thousands, even millions, of instances.
My sister and I drove to Canada for a round of golf. While she played, I visited the home of the seller, took the piano apart, removed the keys and put them in a cardboard box which I put in the back of my station wagon. Then I put the piano back together, ready to be shipped to Mr. Green in the ordinary way, sans ivory. I picked up my sister at the golf course, and drove to the border.
The U.S. customs agent was friendly. What was the purpose of our visit to Canada?
"We played golf."
"How did you do?"
I said, "Don't ask!"
He laughed and waved us through. The next day I shipped the keys to Mr. Green, to be put back in the piano when it arrived. Travesty avoided!
The Polite Reform
By calling the tactic "civil" noncompliance, I mean to emphasize the element of social responsibility. I do not advocate disobeying laws just because one can get away with it. One must have a helpful, socially constructive purpose in mind. For example, you shouldn't run red lights as a general practice. Even if there were no policemen to notice it, that behavior would be both rude and dangerous; that is, uncivil. But if you were driving an injured child to the emergency room late at night when no other cars were about, driving through the red light would be an act of civil noncompliance.
By using the term "noncompliance," I mean to emphasize that this is a polite disobedience. It is not confrontational, and certainly never violent. Civil noncompliance does not presume a battle with government officials enforcing the law. The idea is to be unnoticed by them, or to receive their tacit support in avoiding a regulation's requirements. The idea that officials may be willing to "look the other way" is an unusual point, for we are accustomed to portray bureaucrats as rigid, power-mad enforcers who enjoy making life difficult for ordinary people. There are undoubtedly some in this category, but most government employees are ordinary human beings who want to be friendly and helpful.
Government officials often see that regulations are irrational and harmful. Out of sympathy, or embarrassment, they can become allies.
I'm sure readers can cite cases of officials who helped them evade some destructive regulation. My favorite episode took place years ago in Peru when, as a student, I was applying for a residency visa. After filling out the form, I went to the cashier, who said the charge would be $1,800! Of course I couldn't pay this astronomical fee (which had been set with oil company executives in mind). I was directed to the head of the agency. After hearing my plight, he looked at my form.
"Since you're not 21 years old, you only have to pay the fee for a minor of age, which is $25."
"Oh, but I'm afraid I'm over 21," I replied. "My birthday was—"
"You don't understand," he said firmly. "Look here," he tapped his finger on the form. "See, you're not 21."
I finally got it through my thick skull that he was trying to help me. "Oh, yes. I see. Right! Thank you!"
He called over to the cashier and told her, "Es menor de edad."
She nodded and told me the charge was $25.
Government officials often see that regulations are irrational and harmful. Out of sympathy, or embarrassment, they can become allies in the tactics of civil noncompliance. In fact, sometimes they can be the leaders. Take the case of wolves in Idaho. The state's environmentalists, hunters, and ranchers had worked out a modus vivendi for dealing with wolves, a system that involved compensation for ranchers who lose stock to wolves, and some hunting to cull the wolf population. This system ran afoul of the federal courts and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which in 2010 banned wolf hunting in Idaho. That decision no doubt made urban treehuggers happy, but it thoroughly disgusted Idahoans. In response, Idaho governor Butch Otter practiced civil non-compliance: he ordered state officials to stop investigating wolf kills.
A Quiet Revolution
Civil noncompliance is more than a strategy for getting by in an age of over-regulation. It affords an avenue for remaking social governance along new lines.
The political approach to addressing problems and managing social life is running out of steam. Generations ago, idealists believed that politics held the key to building a new society. Candidates, parties, and revolutionary movements — from communists to progressives, fascists to democratic socialists — were energized by the conviction that control of government would give them the power to set the country on the path to their dreamed-of Utopia.
No informed person now looks at politics in this way. Government today is more like an ineffectual goo, a spreading blob of noise and hypocrisy that can be neither directed nor reformed. Journalist Jonathan Rauch made this point in his 1994 book Demosclerosis (revised and expanded in1999 as Government's End; Why Washington Stopped Working): "Government has become what it is and will remain: a large, incoherent, often incomprehensible mass that is solicitous of its clients, but impervious to any broad, coherent program of reform."
It is also clear that the system cannot be overthrown. At bottom, the public wants big government. Yes, most people are aware that government fails miserably time after time, and they realize that most of the politicians who make the laws are shortsighted and hypocritical (when not downright corrupt). Nevertheless, the public clings to government as an object of worship. Government fills the human longing to believe in a higher power that cares for us, a God-like force that can answer our prayers in troubled times. Government also fills the need for heroes to worship, for famous figures the public can ooh and aah over. Finally, politics provides the excitement of competition for a nation of bored, media-hungry couch potatoes. To get an idea how difficult it would be to do away with big government, imagine trying to abolish God, Santa Claus, and the Super Bowl all at once.
We will have the show of politics, then. We will have candidates promising, lawmakers denouncing, and pressure groups nagging. But as civil noncompliance is increasingly practiced, this posturing will have less effect on the real world. The end point — Utopia, if you will — would be a society where politicians provide entertainment with their posturing, passing laws that promise this and prohibit that. Meanwhile citizens quietly ignore these laws in their daily lives and do what is right and helpful.
Such sensible times may yet be far off. But as I drove away from the customs checkpoint with those ivory piano keys rattling in the back of my car, I thought, I have seen the future, and it works!
James L. Payne has taught political science at Yale, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, and Texas A&M University. His latest book is Six Political Illusions: A Primer on Government for Idealists Fed Up with History Repeating Itself.
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Dave H
One way to limit things is to require all laws to have an expiry date on them and the requirement for a debate before voting to renew the law for another term. That way, if a law needs to be kept, there's a cost of time for legislators. Laws that are no longer useful can simply and quietly be allowed to expire with no fanfare. Eventually the legislators will be so busy debating and renewing old laws that they will have no time to introduce new ones, or will have to lose something in order to introduce a new one.
Of course, this will have a few unintended consequences too.
Thu, 2012-09-13 15:27
Rodney Choate, P.E.
Enjoyed the Feature and would agree that the applauded practice of civil non-compliance would be useful in carving out a tiny piece of liberty from the "oppressive democracy". However, I think that taking the recommendation too seriously would amount to another version of the belief that (somehow) freedom can be achieved or maintained without the proper philosophical understanding by a sufficient number of people. In a way the concept of "civil non-compliance" is the mirror image of "anarchy", while both (taken too seriously) share the mentioned flaw.
Proper government with rational laws is a REQUIREMENT of freedom. They are inseparable concepts. Under oppressive government I think opportunities for successful acts of civil non-compliance would be relatively small, few and fleeting.
Tue, 2012-09-11 23:09
I agree about the blight of overregulation. I think there's a kind of collective action problem about regulation: every law adds a little bit to the general cost of overregulation, but this always seems to be "outweighed" by the benefits of *this particular* law for some group or purpose.
I think, however, we might disagree on which laws are instances of overregulation. To me, it is absurd to ban squatting in abandoned or unused buildings, dumpster diving, panhandling, street drinking, and other acts which don't do any direct harm; and it's absurd to ban things (like loud parties, graffiti, skateboarding) which cause only minor nuisance (i.e. the harm of the law outweighs the harm of the act it counters). I sense from the tone of your article that you'd be quite happy with the regulation of "politeness" and of "property rights". If so (and I'm guessing), then you're indirectly contributing to the climate of overregulation.
In terms of ivory - there is a simple and effective way to stop African farmers killing elephants, or American farmers killing wolves - which is basically to pay them - to compensate for wolf kills, to pay them for upkeep of elephants, etc. In Africa this has been done quite effectively through something called Community-Based Natural Resource Management, which entails taxing ecotourism, safari hunting, etc to provide revenues to local communities. This has led to big reductions in poaching. This would be even more effective if the payments were simply provided directly, from general taxes. But this again would run counter to libertarian philosophy. I would suggest that it would lead to an overall reduction in the burden of regulation, at the expense of fairly small redistributions which simply contribute for bad luck and pay for a great good (conservation). I suppose I'm for small government, but a different kind of government than you. If there's going to be a government, its role should mostly be distributive justice, not regulation - Somali xeer law might be a good model to use.
More generally, I think there's some simple principles which would make overregulation and especially absurd uses like the piano case much harder to occur:
1. Every law (and maybe also every rule in a social context as well) must have a declared reason, and there must be a general legal principle that the use of a law outside its intended reason, in a way which does not benefit or runs against it, shall be struck down. (Of course the declared reason must also itself be both constitutional and sufficient, and the measures proportionate).
This would mean no more antique piano bans, no more arrests for filtering bathwater during a hosepipe ban, no more classification of children's treehouses or snowmen as "unauthorised developments" or Papuan performers' musical instruments as "animal materials", etc etc.
2. Every law must undergo periodic review, and new laws come under instant review. The review will use criteria which are as scientific as possible, and which include such things as whether the "offence" is detectable, whether the passage of the law has reduced its occurrence, and whether the law has caused greater suffering than it has alleviated. Any law which proves unenforceable, counterproductive or which remains on the statute books without being used, shall be struck down after a set period (say, 5 years after passage or at its 10-yearly review).
This would quickly see off most of the moral-panic laws such as the UK Dangerous Dogs Act, a lot of the petty lifestyle laws, and dangerous archaisms like the Espionage Act, which remain active indefinitely.
3. A constitutional structure which makes it harder to pass laws than to repeal them. For instance, a consociational system making any new laws pass through multiple assemblies of different constituencies with vetoes. Repeal should be considerably easier - perhaps each law should come up for renewal every so often, and have to be re-pass the entire process to remain law.
The aim here would be to make the number of laws smaller, the degree of consensus needed for them higher, and to make it difficult to pass laws based on elite capture of the executive and/or based on conflicts between social groups. It would also require greater negotiation on whichever laws *are* passed, which should in turn make them "better".
4. A constitutional requirement that an *act in itself* must be harmful to be illegal (not simply contribute to a harmful trend in general).
This would lead to a lot of the more petty laws, the stuff police regularly harass people over, things like licensing and zoning systems, "quality of life laws" and drug laws, into dead letters.
Mon, 2012-09-10 13:13
Jim Williams
All too often, the "unintended consequences" of laws are foreseeable. As Bastiat said, look beyond what is seen to what is unseen.
Foreseeable consequences cannot be called "unintended". I believe that the blob of crazy results (e.g. to ivory piano keys) is exactly what the political class wants. Keeping individuals tightly snared in an incomprehensible mass of "crimes" increases the power of the State.
Sat, 2012-09-08 12:10
Jon Harrison
I would put it somewhat differently. Most politicians are lawyers, and they write laws because it increases their power and feeling of self-importance. Additionally, however, they sometimes write laws simply to benefit society -- and occasionally they succeed. It's undeniable that some of the laws on the books are beneficial.
Since the rise of civilization societies have been ruled by one of the following three: priests, soldiers, or lawyers. I don't particularly like lawyers, but I prefer lawyer-rule to the rough hand of the soldier or the fanatical parasitism of the priest. The only other alternative is anarchy. And the first to be destroyed in a reign of anarchy would be the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals who pontificate about the virtues of anarchy from their campus offices and urban studio apartments.
"Forseeable consequences cannot be called 'unintended'". Gee, really? The point is that human actions often have unintended, unforseen consequences. History is replete with examples. And sometimes (not always, by any means) we are better off living with the unintended consequences of otherwise sound laws. To aver that a concious conspiracy exists to keep individuals "tightly snared" in an "incomprehensible mass of 'crimes'" is, at least in an American context, a last refuge of the paranoiac.
Sun, 2012-09-09 09:03
Some context on Jon Harrison's last para comment regarding Unintended Consequences: "To aver that a concious [sic] conspiracy exists to keep individuals "tightly snared" in an "incomprehensible mass of 'crimes'" is, at least in an American context, a last refuge of the paranoiac".
Dear Reader, the Consequences Of Govt ARE Intended (and Foreseeable) AND Not An "Unintended Consequence"!
Gen. McChrystal has discovered what so many others before him learned — from Socrates to Thomas More to Gen. Smedley Butler to Sophie Scholl to Daniel Ellsberg to Seymour Hersh to untold governmental "whistleblowers" — even, more recently to Helen Thomas — that it is dangerous to speak truth not to power, but to ordinary people.
The owners of the political establishment know the truth; they are fully aware of the lies they have fabricated; the deceptions they — along with their obliging media and academic supporters — have carefully manipulated into a perception of "truth."
The owners don't want you to know what they know. Those who would dare to so inform you get labeled as "paranoid conspiracy theorists," "disgruntled former employees," "racists," or "anti-Semitic." When I am asked if I believe in "conspiracy theories" of history, I respond — in the words of the late Chris Tame — "I am not interested in conspiracy theories, but in the facts of conspiracies."
Excerpt from Butler Shaffer
"Making It McChrystal Clear"
Regarding JH's comment: "Since the rise of civilization societies have been ruled by one of the following three: priests, soldiers, or lawyers. I don't particularly like lawyers, but I prefer lawyer-rule to the rough hand of the soldier or the fanatical parasitism of the priest. The only other alternative is anarchy. And the first to be destroyed in a reign of anarchy would be the intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals who pontificate about the virtues of anarchy from their campus offices and urban studio apartments".
"There is no alternative" (TINA) IS clearly yet another BIG LIE forced upon the majority of the world's population by the oligarchic elites. But TINA t'aint so. It t'aint so.
To compound the chaos of the State, some people call themselves "anarchists" but openly destroy the property of, and call for controls over, the peaceful behavior of those they hate - so proving that they really favor government. So we have to recall the definition: a genuine anarchist doesn't want to rule anyone, except himself. We love freedom - and not just for ourselves. We're happy for everyone else to enjoy it too. Anarchy the actual word does not mean no rules. It does mean self rule and it is not synonymous with chaos.
Now back to the actual cause of chaos and the actual bomb throwers of history. Right now, the world is on fire (to cite just two examples) aggressive war and aggressive fiat currency inflation — the former being nothing other than Mass Murder, the latter being Massive Theft through official fraud. Need I point out that this is Govt at work?
People ignorant of such are what led to Hitler, the government loses control and they demand a strong leader, cowards build up some tyrant (NOT anarchists) who then go around Mass Murdering the: "intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals [jews, gypsies, anarchists etc] who pontificate about the virtues of anarchy [self-rule/not no rules] from their campus offices and urban studio apartments" [but certainly not 24x7 via a statist obliging media and academic support].
It is certainly not those who practice self-rule that are the cause.
Re JH's: "Most politicians are lawyers, and they write laws because it increases their power and feeling of self-importance. Additionally, however, they sometimes write laws simply to benefit society -- and occasionally they succeed. It's undeniable that some of the laws on the books are beneficial".
Nope again. There are the 300 Federal laws that are passed every day! Can anyone imagine how any of these Federal Laws (made by Lawyers) could possibly have anything to do with the Non-Aggression Principle? They don't even have time to read them. I would like to thank Simon Black yesterday on LewRockwell.com for that information.
Let us now completely dispense with Jon Harrison's "lawyers [in govt] sometimes write laws simply to benefit society --and occasionally they succeed. It's [not] undeniable that some of the laws on the books are beneficial". Any customary laws made into statute law cannot be good!
Briefly the tacit assumption that natural laws do not apply to human relationships led men to believe they must have a central system of Statutory Laws to fill the gap and maintain social order. The principle behind a Statutory Law written a priori cannot be made to fit all circumstances. Its application is UNOBJECTIVE and misses value structure objectivity of profit and loss calculations. This market price *breakthru came from Mises's 1920 paper refuting Socialism.
Paraphrased from The Market for Liberty
Morris and Linda Tannehill
On another front, Julian Assange continues to expose significant fraud and crimes committed by the State. Indeed it is the State That Fears Information (and so-far the linked site) and clearly conspires and propagates propaganda AND fear. After all without followers the State cannot buy enough bullets nor recruit enough thugs to fire the bullets.
Let us proceed from where we are today: A Top-Down-Minority that dictates down to us. If you think about it, it necessarily requires the equivalent of Kings men (lawyers etc) using fraud, force and propaganda on a population to make it follow its Political Agendas. No one in their right mind would volunteer to get plundered otherwise.
By contrast the Customary Laws of family, municipality and merchant law do not rely on force and fraud. These laws have a natural following and have ALREADY been tested, improved and accepted/or discarded from the Bottom-Up by populations over long periods of time; and across continents; and with actual experts in the particular field in dispute. And are necessarily UNForced as people would walkaway otherwise.
Finally, the following link addresses how and why it IS customary law that actually keeps order and NOT Govt; It also shatters the myth that government must define and enforce "the rules of the game".
I recommend: "Enterprise of Customary Law" Mises Daily: Friday, June 29, 2007 by Bruce L. Benson
Imperial Conditioning and the American State by Bill Buppert
The Anarchist Alternative
Book review--Freedom Naturally
Correction with apologies: "On another front, Julian Assange continues to expose significant fraud and crimes committed by the State. Indeed it is the State That Fears Information [NOT the Tannehill's Market For Liberty, nor this site] and those that conspire and propagate propaganda AND fear. After all without followers the State cannot buy enough bullets nor recruit enough thugs to fire the bullets".
Wed, 2012-09-12 21:32
For another music-related example do a search on the Gibson Guitar company's problems with importing wood and the mess they are in.
Non-compliance will be a natural result of choking regulations and corruption. What follows will likely be third-world style dysfunction and a good dose of draconian attempts at enforcement. I don't see that as much of an improvement.
But your analysis of what modern government really amounts to seems to ring a bell.
Wed, 2012-09-05 18:37
Jon Harrison
"Civil noncompliance" happens every day, and it's a tool that most property-owning and otherwise law-abiding citizens need to use from time to time.
With respect to the ivory issue specifically, the piano in question could have been imported into the US legally, I'm virtually certain. But I can imagine the difficulties in getting permission to do so.
As regards the efforts to ban ivory imports, in fact the laws on the books have had positive results. Poachers will hunt elephants whether the price of ivory is $1 a pound or $2,000. The rise in price is attributable to the successes anti-poaching efforts have achieved. The African elephant population has fallen by about 50% in the last 50 years. Some of this decline is necessary, given human encroachment on elephant habitat. But without anti-poaching efforts, the African elephant would be extinct, or nearly so, today. This noble beast deserves protection. We often make the mistake of wanting to throw out the baby with the bath water: because laws don't work perfectly, we want to just get rid of them. Sometimes we should do that, but sometimes we need to live with the unintended consequences of the laws we make. Laws designed to protect the elephant have worked -- not perfectly, by any means, but they have prevented or at least delayed the disappearance of this highly intelligent and interesting animal.
The one legitimate use for ivory is, as the author mentions, in the manufacture of piano keys. Perhaps one day science will come up with a substitute, but until then ivory obtained from necessary culling could be used for the purpose.
Wed, 2012-09-05 12:53
"But without anti-poaching efforts, the African elephant would be extinct, or nearly so, today."
I beg to differ.
Fri, 2012-09-07 15:58
Jon Harrison
Read the article you recommended at the Mises site first thing this morning before I read the papers. It makes valid points but, like all ideologically-driven work, skews the facts when needed. For example, it implies that Zimbabwe (which allows elephant hunting) does not conduct anti-poaching operations. In fact it does. The article also admits that conservation efforts have brought the bald eagle back from the brink of extinction, yet goes on to say that the eagle would be even better off if it were a food item for humans. There's no evidence for that, but because the author has an ideological argument to maintain, he goes ahead and says it anyway. It's unfortunate that the author, like many other libertarians, can't rise above the intellectual herd. Holding onto the faith becomes all-important, and that which contradicts the faith must be ignored, suppressed, or beaten (not literally) into submission. It's a weakness many libertarians share with religious believers, socialists, and touchy-feely animal lovers.
A better article on the subject is at:
I eat meat and live in the heart of a hunting culture. I have no problem with controlled hunting of elephants and other animals. We have controlled hunting of deer, turkey, etc. here because hunting with controls is what maintains a proper balance between man and animals. I lived in a suburban community that was (and is) being overrun by deer because no hunting whatsoever is allowed there, and the coyotes are too few to keep the deer population down. Every few years the town pays a few professionals to come in and cull the three herds that live there. In the meantime the deer eat through people's gardens and create other headaches (on the roads, etc.). There is enough open space in the town to allow hunting with guns as well as bows, but the townspeople prefer to ban hunting. It's as absurd as thinking that Austrian economics holds the key to wildlife management.
Sat, 2012-09-08 06:19
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text:
priscilla presley plastic surgery helps popular film and show business stars to be beautiful and to introduce new standards of beauty. We watch with interest as the faces and figures of our idols become more attractive from year to year. That is why every woman thinks about, and not to correct whether and me anything, for example, nose, cheekbones, thumping or his behind. People want to know more, what is behind all this glamour? How safe is priscilla presley plastic surgery? We could help you to consider in more detail these changes in the appearance of our idols.
Your attention Piedmontese priscilla presley plastic surgery.
In this section you will find all the popular stars and their plastic surgery. We show how the appearance of our idols changed from year to year, what are they new they made themselves from the best masters of their craft. What was the first stage applications of plastic surgery. What was the last surgery done.
This page is about Piedmontese priscilla presley plastic surgery.
You can see how people change through plastic surgery. A striking example-111. Most stars do priscilla presley plastic surgery, but not all admit it openly.
The source of their beautiful appearance prefer to keep secret, explaining his beautiful appearance natural gift. And this case is no exception.
Photos before and after plastic surgery in Piedmont.
You can see how plastic surgeons perform miracles. However, there are bad examples. We will tell you about it and show you in the photo. You can find a list of failed operations on the site.


text:
Where's the love,
crack-smoking judges?
I loved the movement of Dmitry Sholokhov's candy dress from the unconventional challenge — and he and Melissa Fleis were a great team when turning purple-haired April Johnston into a silver Emmys goddess.
And this week, he created a simple but very chic and classic look for "Project Runway" Season 10, Episode 4's Michael Kors day-to-night challenge. Michael called it the best-made dress on the runway, but he wanted it in a different color, maybe red instead of black. Which is weird, since Michael Kors NEVER wears any other color than black. The judges felt like Dmitry needed to turn the volume up creatively.
He didn't win. He has yet to win anything. If he quit out of frustration I could almost understand. But nope. Andrea Katz and Kooan Kusuke quit. Buffi Jashanmal has talked about quitting (not that she needed to; she was eliminated this week) and Nathan Paul even cried when talking about how he wanted to quit too, but wouldn't do it.
As much as he irritates me, I think Christopher Palu is a pretty good designer and he'll go far. Just like Joshua McKinley. I loved Christopher's leather jacket for his day-to-night look. If Dmitry didn't win, I could understand Christopher winning. This time, anyway.
But no.
I like Sonjia Williams but I'm still not convinced I love her clothes. I feel like her woman-on-the-go look wouldn't be flattering on too many non-model body types, but what does that matter to guest judge Hayden Panettiere? Sonjia won the challenge and Hayden is going to wear the look. I did love Sonjia's candy dress, and I think she should stick around, but I'm not as in love as the judges.
Ven Budhu has already won two challenges, but this week he was just safe. Still, he'll probably go far. Unless he's the one Heidi Klum was talking about in this quote to the Huffington Post: "We have someone right now, for example, but I can't really say his name. But there's one guy, great designer, but then he really couldn't make it work that one challenge so he had to go. It was only fair."
I just hope she wasn't talking about Dmitry. Right now I'm still Team Melissa and/or Dmitry but the judges clearly aren't on the same page.
Why am I never in agreement with these people!


text:
There are poisonous elderberry lookalikes, so consult an expert before harvesting from the wild. (Actual elderberries pictured here.)
The new Green American should be hitting your mailboxes any day now, and as promised in that issue, the Green America editors will be blogging about our favorite green holiday traditions every Thursday from now through December. However, before I get to that, I want to encourage you to visit the website of our latest campaign, GMO Inside--just launched today! Through this major campaign, we're going after big biotech like a green cannonball (just ask Hershey), until these companies stop hiding the health and environmental risks of genetically modified organisms and get these dangerous substances out of our food and farm fields.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog....
I have a black thumb when it comes to gardening. A couple of years ago, I interviewed PBS host Patti Moreno, aka "The Garden Girl," and she assured me that even I could grow herbs. So last year, I finally bought some seedlings from a local organic herb farm and planted them. After a Master Gardener friend told me that herbs "thrive on terrible soil and neglect," I figured they just might be my kind of plants.
To my everlasting surprise, my summer herb garden flourished despite my best inadvertent efforts to kill it, and I've finally discovered the joys of cooking with freshly snipped oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and cilantro. Herbs also have a bewildering variety of other uses. Ergo, I've also started making my own herbal aromatherapy body care products, which will make up many of my holiday gifts this season.
I'm getting an earlier-than-usual start this year on my DIY holiday gifts, because the latest issue of the Green American focuses on how to "Go Green for the Holidays," and working on it served as good reminder to get on those projects sooner rather than later.
Last year, with help from my friend Deb Doubek, owner of the Peterman Brook Herb Farm in northern Wisconsin, I gave handmade organic lavender soap to family members for the holidays. This year, thanks to the fact that Deb is very generous with her herbal knowledge and her recipes, I'm planning on mixing up some lavender-chamomile face/body moisturizer and bergamot-neroli lip balm.
I'm also giving bottles of elderberry syrup, which Deb just taught me how to make.
Elderberries have long had a reputation in the herbal world as being immune-system boosters and effective at staving off a cold or the flu. While I'm not a doctor or a naturopath, I can say that a 2004 study out of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem found that flu patients who received 15 ml of elderberry syrup four times a day for five days got better an average of four days earlier than flu patients who only received a placebo. Elderberries also have anti-inflammatory properties, which may help relieve cold and flu symptoms. In addition, elderberries contain cancer-fighting antioxidants.
This Elderberry Syrup, included courtesy of Deb Doubek, is rather soothing on a sore throat. It also smells and tastes lovely, which is why a pretty glass bottleful makes a great stocking stuffer.
Elderberry Syrup
1 cup fresh or ½ cup dried elderberries
3 cups of water
1 cup regular or creamed honey
2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger or 1 Tbsp. dried ginger
Cloves, cinnamon sticks, and star anise, as desired.
Place elderberries, ginger, water, and other spices in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer over low heat for 40 minutes. Crush the berries and then strain through cheesecloth. Add honey and bottle syrup. Store in refrigerator for up to three months (it gets yummier with age).
DOSAGE: Child: 1 tsp. per waking hour at the onset of cold or flu symptoms. Adult: 1 Tbsp. per waking hour at onset of symptoms.
WARNINGS: This syrup is not to be used for children under the age of 1. If your symptoms are severe, please consult a medical professional. Also, there is an elderberry lookalike shrub that is poisonous, so before you harvest what you think are elderberries, be sure to have an expert (herbalist, botanist, etc.) ensure you have true elderberries.
If you don't have your own stash of elderberries, you can get dried organic herbs and organic essential and carrier oils from several Green America Green Business Network™ members, including the San Francisco Herb Co., Frontier Natural Products Co-op, and Mountain Rose Herbs. (As of this writing, San Francisco Herb Co. is the only one who has them in stock.) Mountain Rose also sells glass bottles in which to package your herbal concoctions.
Do you have any favorite winter wellness tips? How about any favorite DIY holiday gift ideas?


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KKK & Hate Groups On The Rise After Obama Won Election! "White People Prolly Get What They Deserve For Voting For Him"
ABC reports "The newest generation of hate groip and what is being done to stop them surge in numbers"
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WE RECOMMEND: Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks Definitive gold box collection
I have the great capacity to be a TV junkie. We got rid of cable at my house in large part because no matter how embarrassingly degrading a show was, I could get sucked into the menial drama in no time. My most embarrassing moment in TV viewing might have been the short-lived reality show "Dating in the Dark," in which contestants—you guessed it!—dated each other in the dark and then had to decide whether their feelings were real once they saw the person through a two-way mirror. I'm not a big believer in "guilty pleasures" but this was a real low point.
So now that we don't have cable, my TV show viewing is limited to shows on Netflix or on DVD. Since it's so easy for me to get sucked into a new show, I love having the option to watch the entire run of a series without having to wait for the next episode. And the show that has so far sucked me in the most, that I managed to watch over the course of about a week (30 episodes in 9 days!), is the early 90s cult classic "Twin Peaks."
I've desperately tried to love David Lynch but to me his movies almost always fall flat somewhere along the way. While "Twin Peaks" isn't perfect (wait until the second season subplot involving James and the manipulative housewife Evelyn), I think this is the best Lynch gets. "Twin Peaks" starts off as a murder mystery when the titular Washington town's homecoming queen turns up dead. But in true Lynchian fashion things are not always what they seem, and what started off as a simple stranger-comes-to-town crime solver devolves into a supernatural head trip. The ensemble cast includes some of the decade's up-and-comers (Lynch favorite Kyle MacLachlan, Lara Flynn Boyle, Heather Graham) and surprising appearances by seasoned actors (Piper Laurie, the mom from Carrie; Peggy Lipton, former star of the "Mod Squad" and ex-wife of Quincy Jones; Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn, both stars of the film version of West Side Story). MacLachlan's Dale Cooper is one of the greatest characters in TV history. The images the viewer takes away from the show are lasting and haunting. Someday I want my bathroom to look like the "Red Room."
"Twin Peaks" made such an impression on me that I was truly sad when it was over. Over for me, anyway, since it's actually been off the air since 1991. I watched the show for the first time last summer. I rewatched it in its entirety this winter. This time I think it took about 14 days to watch the whole thing, but that's because the DVD has some pretty great extras. And the cult of "Twin Peaks" lives on, which I realize now that I understand references to the show. The Log Ladies are a New Orleans band saluting their namesake's memorable character; "Twin Peaks" festivals occur around the world; and the show's stars still pop up all over the place (Leland Palmer on "Mad Men?" Awesome!).
The Monroe Library has the full series on DVD with all the excellent extras. There's also a prequel film called Fire Walk With Me. I'm not a fan, but it's worth seeing if only to round out your "Twin Peaks" experience. If you're like me, you're going to finish watching the series and then jump in your car to come back to the library 10 minutes before closing time to check out the movie. The spooky town of Twin Peaks just has that effect on some of us.
-Elizabeth Kelly, Instruction and Special Collections Librarian


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Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
At the end of Steve Sheinkin's book BOMB: The Race to Build --- and Steal --- The World's Most Dangerous Weapon is a copy of a letter to President Roosevelt from Albert Einstein. Dated August 2nd, 1939, the letter outlines the potential for Germany to weaponize uranium and the need for a coordinated response from the scientific community. This letter provides the theoretical framework for the Manhattan Project, an initiative involving some of the greatest minds of the century to create the world's first atom bomb.
Steve Sheinkin's BOMB: The Race to Build --- and Steal --- The World's Most Dangerous Weapon uses the lives of scientists, saboteurs, and spies to tell the story of the first atomic bomb. With material gleaned from archival materials and declassified government reports, Sheinkin includes tales of Norweigan saboteurs who helped destroy Hitler's capability to create nuclear materials, as well as the stories of numerous spies who ferried scientific discoveries --- and sometimes the scientists themselves --- across international borders in a world at war. At first thrilling tales of adventure and intrigue, these seemingly separate threads eventually narrow down to the atomic bomb and the terrible consequences of creating a weapon of such overwhelmingly destructive powers.
"But perhaps the most striking aspect of BOMB is the way it subtly begs one central question: why?...Sheinkin does not answer these questions directly, but gives us many explanations, sometimes from the people who had to make the decisions for themselves."
Sheinkin includes key personalities and first-person accounts of the creation, deployment and aftermath of the atomic bomb. Among these, one of the most charismatic of the movement, J. Robert Oppenheimer emerges as a tragic figure. A physicist at University Berkeley, he was handpicked by General Leslie Grove to recruit scientists and coordinate scientific efforts. Oppenheimer goes from absent-minded professor to genius mastermind before he is broken by the weight of his conscience and a vote of no-confidence by his country. Oppenheimer's outspoken opposition to using the powerful weapon he was instrumental in creating eventually led to congress stripping his security clearance and removing him from the role of researcher and advisor to the U.S. government forever.
BOMB is similarly filled with striking moments and images. Even readers familiar with the topic will be impressed by the breadth and depth of Sheinkin's research and how much information he manages to condense into this small book. Simple diagrams help explain the nuclear fission process and the different methods the Manhattan Project came up with to weaponize the energy potential of the split atom. For the first time, with the aid of pictures of simple explanations, I was able to understand that they developed not one bomb, but two bombs utilizing different trigger methods and different core materials. Likewise, the outrageous communist hunts of the era seem saner in the context of how Soviets --- then allies in the war --- were able to access nuclear secrets.
But perhaps the most striking aspect of BOMB is the way it subtly begs one central question: why? Knowing the risks they took to create it, and the devastating destruction that would result, why did scientists do this research? Why did spies give away the secrets? How could someone choose to use such a terrible weapon? What is to be done now that the secret is unlocked and we must live with the consequences?
Sheinkin does not answer these questions directly, but gives us many explanations, sometimes from the people who had to make the decisions for themselves. Many of the scientists involved in the project were excited by the challenge of nuclear research, at the same time believing Hitler to be an imminent threat. Perhaps the most difficult decision was made by President Truman when he decided to use the bombs on Japan, effectively ending the war. Since that time, there has been a great deal of controversy about this decision; it is the only time when nuclear bombs have actually been used in war.
I believe the best non-fiction books are not merely educational, but instill something extra in their reader: the ability to start asking questions about what they're reading and whether it has resonance in their own lives. Although a timeline and a 'rogues gallery' of key players would be helpful additions to BOMB, Sheinkin's book achieves what other nonfiction titles do not. In writing a book about the development of the atomic bomb, Sheinkin takes on some of the biggest moral quandaries of our time.
In the epilogue, Sheinkin acknowledges the difficulties of addressing such a big topic. "In the end, this is a difficult story to sum up," he writes. "The making of the atomic bomb is one of history's most amazing examples of teamwork and genius and poise under pressure. But it's also the story of how humans created a weapon capable of wiping our species off the planet. It's a story with no end in sight… And like it or not you're in it" (p236).
What awes me most in reading BOMB: The Race to Build --- and Steal --- The World's Most Powerful Weapon is not the terrible destruction wrought by the world's most brilliant minds, but the fact that it has not been used in warfare again. Despite the conflict our world has seen since 1945, humanity has been united in its decision not to deploy nuclear weapons. It is my hope that the sights Sheinkin describes in his book --- whether the brilliant light and colors of a nuclear explosion or the horror and devastation that follows --- will never be seen again.
Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon
- Publication Date: January 9, 2018
- Genres: Children's 10-14, Children's Nonfiction, History, Nonfiction
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Square Fish