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A prison captain who was removed from his job last year — and then reinstated — discharged pepper spray directly into the face of an inmate who was restrained and left him in distress for 24 minutes, according to confidential documents and a videotape of the incident obtained by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
Capt. Shawn Welch was fired from his job at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham in August after an investigator looking into the June 10 incident said he violated several prison policies and used excessive force on the inmate because he had a personal grudge against the prisoner, according to Department of Corrections documents.
"In my investigation it appears that the situation went from a security situation to a punishment one," Scott Durst, a former Maine Drug Enforcement Agency detective, wrote in his report.
Welch was fired and appealed his termination, according to documents. The appeal was denied by Scott Burnheimer, superintendent of the Maine Correctional Center, on Aug. 15 in a letter that said he would not be offered another position in the department. However, Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte later overruled the recommendation to fire Welch, resulting in Welch's being suspended for 30 days, rather than fired.
Ponte said he weighed Welch's inappropriate behavior in the incident, which he said began legitimately because the inmate was injuring himself, against Welch's work record over many years. Welch's work record is otherwise clean, Ponte said.
"When you've got a substantial amount of years of good, sound decision-making and performance measured against one bad decision, it's kind of, you look at the odds," Ponte said.
Since the incident, he said, the department has brought in training experts from the Connecticut Department of Correction, considered a leader in innovative and nonconfrontational ways of managing people who injure themselves.
A videotape of the incident obtained by the newspaper and the ensuing investigation offer an unusual glimpse inside the prison and a disturbing perspective on the sometimes violent confrontations between inmates and staff. Officials say the incident is an aberration and that treatment of prisoners has improved dramatically in recent years.
On the tape, Paul Schlosser III, who is serving seven years for robbery, is shown gagging and gasping for air after Welch sprays him in the face. A spit mask is then put over Schlosser's face, trapping the powerful irritant. Welch taunts Schlosser, telling him to cooperate or be sprayed again.
Welch himself told the investigator, "Certainly from an outsider's point of view it looks horrific," according to the report. But he said the use of pepper spray was appropriate because Schlosser, who has hepatitis C, spit on one of the officers and was not being cooperative. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that is present in saliva if someone with the infection has open sores in their mouth or bites their cheek.
Contacted at the Maine Correctional Center, Welch declined to comment, saying that any interviews or press inquiries had to go through the administration.
Steve Yerger, an Oregon-based private consultant who trains officers about use of force, said spraying an inmate who is already restrained is generally unreasonable and unethical.
"The use of force is to get control of the situation and keep everybody safe. It's not a form of punishment, which leads to torture," Yerger said. "That's a clear, blatant violation in most facilities."
Pepper spray causes intense and often overwhelming discomfort to mucous membranes in the eyes, nose and mouth but several studies have found the concentrated pepper spray has no long-term health effects.
Some experts say the use of pepper spray, called OC spray for the active ingredient, oleoresin capsicum, can be a reasonable way to get control of a situation, even if a person is already restrained.
"Typically, when someone is in a chair, they don't present much of a threat if they are already restrained," said David Klingler, a former police officer and a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who consults on use of force issues. "However, if there's a need to be in close proximity, to provide medical attention, maybe OC spray would be an appropriate tool to use. Corrections officers don't get paid to get spit on."
Schlosser, 27, of Standish, was arrested in 2010 after several robbery attempts in Portland in one morning as he sought money for drugs, according to police. He has at least 18 prior convictions, mostly for theft and drugs but no violent crimes.
Before 2008, Schlosser was a medic in the military but had been discharged. He takes medication for bipolar disorder and depression, according to DOC documents and statements Schlosser made on the tape.
On June 7, Schlosser made deep, repeated cuts in his left arm — something he had done before — and was taken to Maine Medical Center, where his wound was stapled closed, according to DOC records. It's unclear how he caused the injury. The wound was so gruesome, Ponte said, that one medical staff person needed to take time off afterward.
In a telephone interview last week, Schlosser said he hurt himself because he was depressed over the recent breakup of his marriage and was frustrated because he had been kept in the highly restrictive classification section of the prison for two months, waiting to be moved to the general inmate population.
When he returned from the hospital, he took the dressing off his wound and was placed under observation by a guard and videotaped through the food tray slot in his cell door. Officials also approved the use of the restraint chair, if needed, for medical staff to treat his arm, the investigator's report said. The restraint chair is seldom used in the prison.
On June 10, Schlosser complained that his medication was late and nobody would give him a book to take his mind off his injury. Frustrated, he again pulled the dressing off his wound and refused to go to the medical unit.
"Schlosser is trying to make his own rules and he is under the impression he can manipulate staff," an officer's entry in the prison log said.
Officers assembled a team to remove him and restrain him in the chair. The DOC requires a corrections officer to film all cell extractions when an inmate refuses to cooperate and guards must enter the cell. Because cell extractions are among the most violent encounters between officers and inmates, guards wear padded protective gear and helmets with clear plastic shields to protect their faces.
Welch was in charge of the facility that Sunday. On the videotape, he tells Schlosser to kneel and put his hands behind him. Once in the chair, the guards fasten straps on his waist and ankles, then wheel Schlosser to a cell in the reception area to finish restraining him. Schlosser is compliant, and the guards work to unlock the cuffs on his wrists so they can fasten his arms to the chair.
When one officer pins Schlosser's head to the back of the restraint chair, he appeals to Welch to tell the officer to let go, then struggles. He frees his head briefly and spits up at the officer.
Without warning, Welch sprays Schlosser in the face with a short blast of pepper spray from about 18 inches away, using a Mark 9, a pepper spray canister intended for disabling multiple people at a distance of no closer than 6 feet.
Schlosser gasps and fights for breath. He tries to lean forward to spit out the spray, but the guard holds his head against the back of the chair. One of the guards then puts a spit mask on Schlosser. The mask traps the irritant against Schlosser's face, at one point covering both his mouth and nose.
Schlosser says he can't breathe and promises not to struggle or argue anymore.
In the 24 minutes between Schlosser being sprayed and when he can wash the spray off his face, Welch strolls in and out of the cell holding the OC spray canister, telling Schlosser that if he doesn't cooperate, "this will happen all over again."
"You're not going to win. I will win every time," he says.
Welch says repeatedly, "If you're talking, you're breathing," suggesting that as long as Schlosser was complaining, he was not in serious medical distress. Welch does call for a member of the prison's medical staff.
At one point, he whispers to Schlosser, "Useless as teats on a bull, huh … What do you think now?" an apparent reference to an insult Schlosser directed at him two days earlier, according to the investigator's report.
Schlosser said he remembers little of the period leading up to being restrained in the chair, saying at one point he thought he was sprayed once before he was strapped down.
"They had me all medicated. I was so out of it I don't recall even them asking me to come get cleaned up." He said he was taking Vicodin for pain and Ativan for anxiety. Schlosser said he also was on Thorazine, an anti-psychotic medication, but did not know why.
He remembers spitting on the officer and the captain spraying him with the large canister.
"I couldn't breathe. It was just an awful, claustrophobic … it wasn't even the burn that really bothered me," he said.
His mother, Laura Schlosser, shown a copy of the video by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, said afterward, "As a mother, it makes me want to throw up … I guess that's their form of punishment to prevent him from doing it again, but if he doesn't remember what he did, how's he going to learn from that?"
The investigator concluded that Welch's treatment of Schlosser was personal.
"Welch continues to brow beat Schlosser and it looks like he has made this a personal issue," said Durst in the report. "There is not one incident of de-escalation and in fact Welch continues to escalate the situation even after the deployment of chemical agent."
Durst, who worked for the MDOC before becoming a civilian contractor in Afghanistan, said he could find no prison policy on how soon a person should be decontaminated after being sprayed. A number of police departments require that the person's face be washed with water immediately, he said.
"In this case Schlosser did not have that option and could not calm down due to the reaction to the chemical agent," he said.
Durst identified a number of prison policies that Welch violated:
• The commanding officer is supposed to watch cell extractions from a safe place while sergeants handle the actual entry.
• Even though officers knew Schlosser was prone to spitting, they did not place a spit shield on him after he was restrained.
• The Mark 9 OC spray canister Welch used is intended for use in a large room on several targets with a range of 18 to 20 feet. Its manufacturer says it should not be deployed closer than 6 feet to the subject.
• Pepper spray is to be used to bring a subject under control and if that is not adequate, the prisoner can be restrained, the highest form of nondeadly force according to the prison's use of force policy.
"Welch told me that he looked at the total situation at the time and felt he needed to stop Schlosser from moving around, possibly injuring his left arm which was still pinned behind his back," Durst wrote in the report. "Welch also told me that he had to take into consideration the officers' feelings at the time, that one of their own had just been spit on and the whole event needed to stop."
Inmates who injure themselves to get what they want are some of the hardest prisoners to manage, Ponte said while discussing the video and the investigator's findings. The department is obligated to stop inmates from harming themselves, but managing them runs counter to some of the fundamental approaches to corrections.
"The feeling sometimes with staff is, you're giving in to them," Ponte said.
If such an inmate is upset because they have not been assigned to a cell, as was the case with Schlosser, it makes sense to deal with them quickly, even if it might not be in keeping with standard practice, to avoid a dangerous and costly confrontation, he said. Ponte said that threatening to punish an uncooperative inmate who is prone to harming himself doesn't work.
Overall, the prison system rarely uses the restraint chair, and while cell extractions used to happen three and four times a week, they now occur less than once a month, he said.
Ponte says there was no need for Welch to have the Mark 9 canister once Schlosser was removed from his cell.
"This is all problematic. There's no purpose here," he said, as Welch is heard on the tape telling Schlosser to behave if he wants to avoid future confrontations.
"This actually crosses the line here, one of the reasons the captain was disciplined," he said. "It's more about this dialogue that we're concerned with" than use of the wrong OC canister, he said.
Ponte said the most effective decontamination for OC spray is evaporation, though he conceded that would be difficult if Schlosser had the mask on.
OC spray is made with the oil extract of a natural hot pepper. The pain comes from the spray's ability to instantly dry out mucous membranes, which causes intense pain.
It can often lead to a sensation of not being able to breathe, although a National Institute of Justice study found it does not compromise a person's ability to breathe.
"It's just like getting jalapeno pepper in your eye, only multiplied by a bunch," said Robert Trimyer, a use of force instructor and OC trainer with the University of Texas Health Science Center Police Department in San Antonio. Depending on the concentration, OC spray is roughly 300 times "hotter" than a jalapeno pepper.
"It's painful, but it goes away. The people that have the problem breathing, it's really more of the anxiety involved," said Trimyer.
Yerger believes that putting the spit shield on top of the pepper spray would intensify the effect of the spray.
"I have never heard of any trainer I have ever worked with as a peer that would ever say, 'Put a spit hood on someone after pepper spraying them,'" he said.
"They're spinning out of control. Restraint, pepper spray, now cover their face — you're just escalating the situation. In cases I've reviewed when people have died in a (restraint) chair, it's not uncommon to see factors like that involved."
Yerger, who noted that he had not seen the video, said pepper spray is not the appropriate response to spitting, since it doesn't stop someone from spitting.
"Most correctional facilities in the U.S. do not allow for punitive use of force," Yerger said. "That's how people die in chairs. Those situations right there lead to serious injuries and death with restraint chairs, and it has happened well over 300 times."
Lauren Petit, a staff attorney with the nonprofit Prisoners Legal Services in Massachusetts, said firing an officer and then reinstating him raises questions about the rationale behind that decision.
"It is both to punish the person who has inflicted excessive force and also to send a message to other employees that there will be consequences for those who do go outside the policies and behave in that way," she said.
Brian MacMaster, head of investigations for the Maine Attorney General's Office, watched the video of the incident and told Durst the incident did not appear criminal but did violate several policies, the report says.
After he was reinstated, Welch was given a performance improvement plan to address the policies he violated.
The plan calls for no specific training because, according to the plan, Welch is an expert in all four policies and capable of training other staff.
Ponte said he believes Welch will be a better captain for the experience.
"As we looked at the overall years of service and performance which have all been very good, one bad incident here with some mistakes in judgment — with a … last-chance agreement so anything else is straight termination, no appeal — this was best for the employee, best for the agency," he said.
After the episode, Schlosser was sent for a time to Maine State Prison in Warren for mental health treatment and returned to the Windham prison, where he is now in the general population. He said he is doing much better and has had no further encounters with Welch, although they see each other regularly.
"I don't get in trouble," said Schlosser, who is due to be released in 2017, when he's 31.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
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Table of Contents
We discuss about Harshdeep Ahuja Net Worth, Age, Height, Wiki, Net Worth, Spouse Husband/Wife, Parents Mother/Father and Partner Girlfriend/Boyfriend. Read this article if you are a well-wisher.
A youtuber is a person who creates video content for popular video sharing portal called Youtube. There are thousands of YouTube personalities throughout the world.
According to the latest research hundreds of celebrities are born every day, and some will become famous overnight because of their viral content. YouTube celebrity uploads large number of video from every aspects of life ranging from health, lifestyle, entertainment, education, Science and much more.
These Internet celebrities, not only upload videos but they are also equally benefited through its monetization concepts. Also, some youtuber get corporate sponsors too.
Any person, who has a sound idea of videography and editing concept, can be a future YouTube star. In 2019, if we have to name few most successful channels in youtube are Pewdiepie and T-series. There are some other names too but these two are the most subscribed ones.
Among them, Harshdeep Ahuja is falls under a trending one. Their subscribers and views are increasing at alarming rates.
Quick Facts:
Quick Facts: Harshdeep Ahuja
First Name | Harshdeep |
Last Name | Ahuja |
Birthday | August 8, 1991 |
Nationality | India |
Height | |
Weight | |
Body Measurements | |
Profession | Youtube Star |
Parents ( Father Mother) | |
Wife or Husband | |
Son and Daughter | |
Ethnicity | |
Net Worth | |
Wikipedia | |
Youtube |
Harshdeep Ahuja Net Worth – $200 thousand to $2 Million Dollars.
Harshdeep Ahuja Net Worth is estimated from $200 thousand to $2 Million Dollars.
As we already discussed, youtubers earns through their video content. The more the number of subscribers or the views the more revenue they earn from it.
With the money they earned, they buy luxury mansion, apartment or house. They even have a nice cars, jewelry and expensive stuffs.
Some of the stars do have lovely pets, luxurious family vacation and awesome lifestyle.
Isn't this a cool idea? So people, what are we waiting for? Why don't we think creative and start our own channel. Who knows, the idea might hit the internet.
Harshdeep Ahuja Age and Height
When we think about a youtuber's age we might think they are young. This might be true in their sense because youtube just started in 2004. Before that there was no any video streaming portal.
However, the logic may not be true in general; age doesn't define the skills and experience of people. We never know that kids from teen age to old elderly men can be a successful youtube personality.
Harshdeep Ahuja is 27 years years old. For everyone, their Birthday or birth date carries a greater importance. They celebrate it among their family and friends.
One of the best things we love about our birthday is we gets a lots of gifts and blessings. We cut Birthday Cakes, enjoys lavish food and drinks. Some richer celebrity will have champagne and cognac.
Similarly, Harshdeep Ahuja has a tall/average/short height. Normally, they have their height in feet. Sometime we can convert it to metre.
Height is very much significant when it comes to celebrity. In case of female youtuber, their body measurements also play a greater role in their personality.
A woman with a perfect figure is appreciated well enough. They look very attractive in bikini and mini dress.
Also, their shoe size, bra size and dress size are searched all over the internet. They are all followed by mens and woman who want to copy their style and habits.
If in case of man, their shirtless images, hair piece etc are followed.
Likewise, their religion, ethnicity and nationality are also the topic of interest.
Harshdeep Ahuja Family
As like us, Harshdeep Ahuja too have their own family. They have as loving parents as ours. Some celebrity are raised by mother while some are raised with father.
Some celebrity might have grandparents and lucky are those celebs whose grandparents are still alive. They got chance to hear the greatest stories or past times.
Celebrity families comprise of father, mother, husband, wife, and children. They support and respect each other equally. Their love for each other is beyond eternity.
Harshdeep Ahuja Wiki and Bio
Harshdeep Ahuja may or may not have their glorious biography in Wikipedia and Imdb.
Maximum youtubers have their wiki page. Their fans and followers are benefited well from it because they will get the required information and life events of their favorite star. Some celebrity will have a inspiring life story and we can learn a good lesson from them.
If in case they don't have any bio, do not worry, we are here to cover their life activities among our users.

subset: commoncrawl


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In this tutorial:
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of getting your site ranking as high as possible for relevant content within search engines such as Google or Bing. There are other search engines out there, but for the purpose of this article, we will focus on Google as it is the most widely used search engine in the world. While there are some general rules, SEO is something that is constantly changing. What does it change so much? Because search engines like Google are constantly changing their code to provide more and more relevant searches to their users. This is good for your site because Google wants to show information that is relevant to the individual's search and eliminate spammy tactics. As long as you produce high-quality content, your site should rank nicely and naturally rise through the rankings.
Why is SEO important?
Almost every user on the internet now uses some sort of search engine to locate new websites and information. Without proper search engine traffic to your site, you are not tapping into the full potential of your site. Sure, you may have come to InMotion Hosting through a friend of maybe a link on your favorite website who may use us, but chances are you searched for something like "best web hosting" or maybe "wordpress hosting". Without search engines, you may have never found us.
What does Google look for when considering your site?
While this will change over time, there are a few things that Google considers when judging your site's "worthiness" of being on the top of their rankings, r even being listed at all.
The relevancy of your domain
One of the things considered is how relevant your domain is. If you're a landscaping company in Regular Old City, USA and want to target people looking for landscaping in your local area, a domain like regularoldcitylandscaping.com or something similar would give you a bit of an edge over someone else. While a site that has been around for 10 years and has solid SEO on their site may outrank you, an exact match domain will increase your ranking potential. Even a partial match in the domain is helpful such as jeffmlandscaping.com or something similar will help your rankings a bit
The relevancy of your content
The old saying in the SEO community is "content is king". This cannot be any truer over the years as Google has made more and more efforts to update their algorithms to include more relevant search results. Even if you have exact match keywords within your domain, if you don't have anything useful on your site, it is of no use to search engines to provide people with relevant information on your site. We will continue with our landscaping example to give a bit more light on the subject.
If for example, you had several pages on your site for things like services that are offered, locations, a little bit about your company, instead of just placing basic information there, provide some in-depth information that will not only help your customers choose the right services, but search engines will have plenty of data on your site to pull from. As a rule of thumb, lots of relevant content to what you offer is a very good thing and will typically improve your search engine statistics. In addition to the pages that you would typically have, add a blog to your site. Here, you can provide updated information about any new services you may offer, or just write helpful posts that your customers will enjoy. As search engines such as Google want to see lots of fresh new content, your SEO rankings will increase and your customers will have a reason to keep coming back to your site to check for new updates.
Sites linking to you
This particular SEO ranking factor is one to be cautious of. When a website places a link to your site, it shows search engines like Google that people are aware of its existence and that it may have useful information on it. This is good for your rankings and over time, you will naturally acquire links to your site. Too many links, from non-relevant sites can, however, bring your ranking down or even punish you. You will want to encourage people to link to your site if they find it useful, but there are many link-building services out there that will actually bring your ranking down more than it will increase it. As long as people naturally link to your content, and you are not using tactics such as purchasing links that could potentially hurt your rankings.
Social media
The current trend on the internet is social media and it shows no signs of slowing down. Now, search engines such as Google are paying attention to what its users share and are using that information to locate trends. If you share a to your friends on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, and they all share it to their friends, your website will gain some pretty large traction quite fast. Google realizes this as will use it in consideration for your rankings. If a lot of people like a page on your site, there is a good chance that they will also like your website when searching as well.
How to track your progress
There are tools available for SEO that will allow you to track how your site is ranking, and give you more insight into how you can improve it. The most widely used and highly recommended by us would be both Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. Google Webmaster Tools will allow you to view your ranking over time to see the number of impressions versus the number of clicks that are coming into your site. From there, you can also see how many pages on your site are indexed, if Google has a problem with accessing your site, or if there may be other factors that adversely affect your ranking. Google Analytics does a good job of analyzing the individual visitors that are coming into your site. From within Google Analytics, you can see information such as where the users are coming from, what they do when they visit your site, and what keyword they searched for to get there. In the SEO world, the more data that you have about your customers, the better.
Where do you go from here?
Now that you have a solid domain, excellent content, a good social media following, and plenty of data to show, where do you go from here? Well, as the SEO world is changing every day, your next steps can vary. You will want to continue to work and tweak your site for optimal results. If you have a business, learn how to create a Google My Business page. SEO is largely a numbers game that you will need to dig in deep to find true success, but with a good solid foundation under your feet, you should now be able to hit the ground running.


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Cielo | Apartments in San Diego, CA
Cielo is a contemporary urban residence that's surrounded by Little Italy's Old World charm. Residents are close to the Waterfront Park, the Bay, and all the other attractions of the city. Where city chic meets coastal splendor, indulge in the best of both worlds.
Take in the striking views of the bay and city lights, whether from the comfort of your own home or with friends under the stars on our rooftop deck. Cielo is a community that encourages refined living in a casual setting. Furry friends welcome.
San Diego ( SAN dee-AY-goh, Spanish: [san ˈdjeɣo]; Spanish for 'Saint Didacus') is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States and the seat of San Diego County, the fifth most populous county in the United States, with 3,338,330 estimated residents as of 2019. The city is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches and parks, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center. San Diego is the second largest city in the state of California, after Los Angeles. Historically home to the Kumeyaay, San Diego is frequently referred to as the "Birthplace of California", as it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the U.S. west coast.
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One of the greatest Catholic intellects and writers of the twentieth century, Christopher Dawson (1889-1970), worried deeply about the ideological, political, and cultural crises of the western world during the entirety of his adult life. The root of the problem, Dawson had come to believe between the two world wars, was the fundamental decline in the significance, love, and cultivation of ideas and respect for the faculty of imagination.
For nearly a century, Dawson feared, the western world had, in all of its technological and scientific "progress" simplified its understanding of the immense complexities of man. The great intellects of the nineteenth century—men such as Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, and Sigmund Freud—had narrowed the understandings of what motivates a man, be it economics, biological adaptation, or misunderstood sexual longings at a young age. While any one of these things might be true, it is far more likely that each is true, along with millions of other complicated and complicating factors. Man, Dawson knew, could not be understood in merely simplistic, materialist terms. By his very nature of bearing the infinite Imago Dei, finite man carried a uniqueness within him that was genuine and irreplaceable, no matter how hidden such gifts might be to the person himself.
By the 1930s, ideological regimes—democratic as well as fascist and socialist—were centralizing, collectivizing, and mechanizing. One only had to look at the ideological armies, unfurling flags of red (communist), blue (liberal/capitalist), pink (socialist), black (conservative), and brown (National Socialists) to see how ridiculous things had become. As if any person, persons, or idea worth any thing could be symbolized by a color…. The narrowing of ideas in the 19th century had become the very narrowing of reality in the 20th century. Propaganda had replaced art, the pamphlet had replaced literature, and the greats of western civilization were dismissed as elitist and irrelevant to a modern world. How wrong all of this was, Dawson knew. Such propaganda demeaned the human person as it appealed to the lowest parts of him—his emotions, his passions, his instincts. Man "becomes a subordinate part of the great mechanical system that his scientific genius has created," Dawson lamented. "In the same way, the economic process, which led to the exploitation of the world by man and the vast increase of his material resources, ends in the subjection of man to the rule of the machine and the mechanisation of human life."[1]
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To follow the course of the ideologues, Dawson feared in 1938, would only end in the "mechanical monster," and the regulation and de-personalization of every aspect of life. Such mechanization would homogenize every human person and every individual culture into one cosmopolitan, bland mess. Already, modernity had brought about horrible mechanization. Even something as seemingly innocuous as the automobile, meant to make life more convenient, had done nothing but "bring mutilation and death to large numbers of harmless people. We see it on a large scale in the way that the modern industrial system, which exists to serve human needs, nevertheless reduces the countryside to smoking desolation and involves whole populations in periodic troughs of depression and scarcity," Dawson lamented. "But we see it in its most extreme and devilish form in modern warfare which has a nightmare quality about it and is hardly reconcilable with a human origin or purpose."[2] Mass society will lead to the destruction of true individuality, and society will "dissolve into a human herd without personality."[3]
The result of such conformity, Dawson argued, would be "the Kingdom of Antichrist."[4] After all, the new ideological states are "inevitably contaminated with all sorts of impure elements and open to the influence of evil and demonic forces."[5] The situation was as bleak as could be imagined. "For the first time in the world's history the Kingdom of the Anti-Christ has acquired political form and social substance, and stands over against the Kingdom of God as a counter-church with its own creed and its own moral ideals, ruled by a centralized hierarchy and inspired by an intense will for world conquest."[6]
In these fears and beliefs, Dawson was not alone. A number of humanist and Christian Humanist thinkers—Irving Babbitt, Paul Elmer More, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, Jacques Maritain, and Romano Guardini, to name a few—had made similar arguments.
The decline, as noted above, had begun at the beginning of the 1930s, but it had only worsened by the mid 1940s. "One has to face the fact that there has been a kind of slump in ideas," he confided to his closest friend. "There is not only a positive lack of new ideas but also a subjective loss of interest in ideas as such" (Dawson, private letter, August 26, 1946). Mars had hastened the growth of Leviathan. "We are still living much under the shadow of war and the uncertainty of the future of Europe is unfavourable to creative work," Dawson wrote in a private letter, Sept. 9, 1946. Ideological limitations and propaganda were quickly pervading thought, art, and music in the various Christian churches (Catholic and Protestant), Dawson argued. "The modern theologians in ceasing to be poets have also ceased to be philosophers" (Dawson, private letter, July 28, 1946).
While the reconstruction of Christendom, should it even be possible, Dawson argued in a series of articles and books between 1946 and 1962, would prove exceedingly difficult, it must begin with a proper understanding of the liberal arts and the western tradition. The two were intimately related, one to another. "Virgil and Cicero, Ovid and Seneca, Horace and Quintilian were not merely school books, they became the seeds of a new growth of classical humanism in Western soil," Christopher Dawson wrote in 1956. "Again and again—in the eighth century as well as in the twelfth and fifteenth centuries—the higher culture of Western Europe was fertilized by renewed contacts with the literary sources of classical culture."[7]
The liberal arts must also embrace and engage, at a fundamental level, the faculty of imagination. Only the latter would prevent the narrowing decay of an understanding of the world and the human person. Indeed, the imagination should not only allow a person to place himself within the created order and realize his relations with God and other men (a play on the classic definition of justice, to "give each man his due"), but it should also reveal to the human person just how extraordinarily complicated the world is. Consequently, the liberal arts humble and elevate the human person simultaneously, connecting a person to both time and eternity.
During the sixteen years prior to a series of strokes that forced Dawson into retirement, the English Roman Catholic offered a number of suggestions as to how to revive the liberal arts. He developed a four-year curriculum for Catholic Colleges, began to edit a series of works on the lives of the saints (the real movers of history, from Dawson's perspective), and the formation of a new religious order dedicated to the Christian intellect. Unfortunately, poor health, poor administration skills, and poor fund-raising abilities hindered Dawson in each of these efforts.
Still, Dawson never ceased to remind us of the necessity of the liberal arts as citizens of the West and of Christendom. It is appropriate to end with his words, a challenge to each of us.
Western man has not been faithful to his Christian tradition. He has abandoned it not once, but again and again. For since Christianity depends on a living faith and not merely on social tradition, Christendom must be renewed every fresh generation, and every generation is faced by the responsibility of making decisions, each of which may be an act of Christian faith or an act of apostasy.[8]
This essay first appeared October 10, 2012 on the Imaginative Conservative website and is reprinted with permission.
[1] Dawson, "Christianity and the New Age," 162. See also, Dawson, "European Democracy and the New Economic Forces," The Sociological Review 22 (1930), 33.
[2] Dawson, Beyond Politics, 5-6.
[3] Dawson, Beyond Politics, 79.
[4] Dawson, Beyond Politics, 113.
[5] Dawson, Beyond Politics, 132; and Dawson, "The Hour of Darkness," The Tablet (December 2, 1939), 625.
[6] Dawson, quoted in The Ave Maria (2 June 1934), 695.
[7] Dawson, "Christianity and Ideologies," Commonweal (May 11 1956), 141. See also Richard M. Gamble's masterful, The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What it Means to be an Educated Human Being (Wilmington, Del.: ISI Books, 2007).
[8] Dawson, Historic Reality of Christian Culture, 17.


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Increased interoperability is providing the critical building blocks for a surge in new services and applications.
Technology development is accelerating, and consumer and enterprise demand for bandwidth-hungry content and applications continues to expand. Today, the need for global standardization has become an industry prerequisite, driven by the needs of service providers to deliver robust new services quickly and cost-effectively. As new technology and management standards emerge, service providers are faced with the question of how to adapt their current architecture, network makeup or management practices.
Standards set the bar for quality and new service definitions, but they can be open to interpretation. It is the detailed specifications developed by organizations like the Broadband Forum that establish migration options, capture best practices to facilitate greater industry adoption, and lead the development of comprehensive interoperability and compliance certification programs that expedite the cost-effective network evolution for providers everywhere.
Service providers have been leading the push for compliance and interoperability programs within the industry's standards bodies and are major contributors to establishing the global market requirements. For the last 18 years, the Broadband Forum has been a key broadband organization, addressing test plan development and testing activities such as private Plugfests, public interoperability demonstrations, and now market-driven certification programs to serve the industry. Beginning with a focus on ADSL, the Forum has engaged in test development on other network aspects such as fiber and management protocol adherence.
Certification validates product standards compliance
Certification provides the certainty for service providers that the devices they are deploying or supporting on their networks comply with the standards and will be interoperable. It ensures equipment and services can be rolled out more quickly and offers added confidence to consumers and resellers that everything they purchase will operate compatibly with one another.
The Broadband Forum BBF.247 GPON ONU Certification Program, launched last year, is a prime example of how important such programs are for service providers. This program was heavily led by service provider requirements and developed in cooperation with Full Service Access Network (FSAN), and as such, it is paving the way for optimum interoperability within fiber networks. To date, ONUs from Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom, Cambridge Industries Group, FiberHome, Huawei, PMC Sierra, PT Inovacao, Tecom and ZTE have been certified.
According to Gavin Young, head of strategy and planning, technology strategy, and architecture at Cable & Wireless Worldwide: "GPON interoperability and assured performance levels will be key to optimizing the choice of GPON equipment for use in different types of premises and for different market sectors. It will help to give greater choice to service providers as they seek to balance functionality and cost for different deployment scenarios."
The benefits have been recognized around the globe.
Wei Leping, speaking on behalf of China Telecom, commented, "With the Chinese market moving toward an estimated 250 million subscriber lines by 2015 and a household penetration of 50 percent, China Telecom sees GPON and the advent of certified GPON products as an important step in making this a reality."
Alain Maloberti, senior vice president of Orange Labs Networks at France Telecom-Orange, developed this further and said: "Our expectation is that this certification will allow next-generation systems to come to the market promptly and with interoperability from day one. It will allow us to reduce dramatically the amount of specific testing needed before we deploy new equipment in our network."
Certification is key to connected home success
The latest certification option offered by the Broadband Forum is the new BBF.069 Device Certification Program, which verifies device conformance to the TR-069 management protocol. TR-069 enables the cost-effective remote configuration, monitoring and control of a wide range of devices and is one of the most widely deployed broadband home management standards in the world. TR-069, also known as the Broadband Forum's CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP), was first released in 2004 and has grown to be globally recognized as the "gold standard" of remote CPE management. It was recently recognized with a prestigious InfoVision award for "Outstanding contribution to broadband success" at the Broadband World Forum.
A recent Ovum report estimated that there are more than 150 million devices already managed via TR-069, and vendors are quick to point out their TR-069 adherence in their product descriptions. Originally conceived for the connected home market, TR-069 continues to evolve with the times and has been updated to address business services, M2M and cloud environments.
The BBF.069 CPE certification has been welcomed by service provider representatives such as Michael Fargano, industry standards program manager at CenturyLink's Office of the CTO, who commented: "Building on our commitment to customer service excellence and our active engagement in developing the TR-069 protocol, we at CenturyLink are pleased to support the launch of BBF.069. This certification program is a great step forward in helping service providers like us roll out new products and services with great confidence and success, knowing that they are certified and will be easily provisioned and managed by CenturyLink. It all comes down to happier customers, and that is what CenturyLink focuses on every day."
TR-069 is particularly important against the backdrop of a rapidly changing market. As a plethora of new devices come online, connecting users to new services and applications, there is a growing need for a compliance and interoperability program that ensures that all of these devices recognize one another and do their job correctly within a multi-vendor, multi-device network. The BBF.069 Device Certification Program verifies that devices are TR-069 protocol-compliant, and therefore market-ready. The goal is to simplify integration of home networking systems and equipment into providers' networks and to improve device interoperability, making it cost-effective and easier for service providers to provision and manage their devices. The program just launched in October 2012, with five companies' products already passing certification: Broadcom, Cisco, D-Link, Huawei and Lantiq.
Certification gives service providers worldwide confidence in the quality, and therefore the competitiveness, of their vendor equipment selection. Network planning and installation is simplified, and maintenance and support costs are reduced. Certification to a standard means equipment and system vendors can address a larger overall market. At the same time, the end user experience is improved, and consumers can benefit from lower costs, speedier rollout, and therefore mass deployment of superfast broadband.
Independent, standards-based certification creates a common language, understood by service providers and vendors alike. It is a badge of certainty in a constantly evolving world, and it helps to reduce costs for vendors that are able to develop products to agreed specifications, and to competitively position their products globally. It shortens test cycles by offering a single round of universally recognized tests, and it eases the launch of products and expedites broadband deployments.
Interoperability provides the stable platform for all innovation
As broadband achieves global mass market, the industry is at a key turning point. Increased interoperability and shared architecture and management tools are providing the critical building blocks for a surge in new services and applications. Providers are harnessing the power of interoperability to expedite deployments and to evolve to the next-generation network that can support all of the new applications and opportunities coming to light. It is time to focus on empowering this next wave of innovation and to define the long-term broadband evolution.
With its commitment to facilitating a wide range of standards-based deployments at the forefront of its development, the Broadband Forum has launched a new working group called SIMR – Service Innovation and Market Requirements. This is chartered to drive medium- to long-term innovation in broadband. Focused on the early detection and addressing of future business requirements, as well as potential enablers and disruptors, the Forum is committed to leading the delivery of interoperability standards as early as possible in the product development lifecycle, before products are implemented and deployed. Work has already started on the potential impact of cloud, virtualization and software-defined networking (SDN) on current broadband deployments.
With greater anticipation and planning for the next wave of innovation in place, the Broadband Forum can provide early migration solutions and drive interoperability from day one of new services – proactively removing many obstacles to new service provider offerings and ensuring greater customer satisfaction.
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Archive for July 2015
IVF can be an emotional stress giving process of infertility treatment. Both partners should be prepared to respond to a variety of emotionally stressful demands as they undergo IVF. Despite the stressful consequences of infertility and IVF, the vast majority of patients adjust well emotionally. To minimise the stress level during treatment one should gather information about the treatment and plan ahead, prepare for decision making and identify stress giving things and find the ways to cope up with it. The 10-14 day waiting period between transfer and receiving the pregnancy test results is often described as the most difficult stress giving part of the cycle.
IVF – Preparing for Emotional Considerations – Coping with the Emotional Roller Coaster Ride in IVF – Coping with IVF Cycle Outcomes – Emotional Effects of Infertility on the Couple's Relationship – Learn to reduce IVF stress with Specialist at Blossom Fertility Centre – IVF, Infertility Clinic, Fertility Clinic in Surat, Gujarat – Coping with the IVF stress – How to cope up with IVF Fertility Treatment Stress – Stress Doesn't Impact Success of IVF -Manage IVF Stress in simple way with Blossom Fertility Centre – Nurture Your Relationship during Fertility Treatment – Infertility, IVF and Stress – Stressful Fertility and Infertility Treatment – The emotional stress during IVF Journey – Handful tips to cope up Stress during IVF – Minimise stress during the Two Week Wait of IVF Cycle – Emotional Impact of Infertility – Stress Doesn't Hurt Chances of Success with IVF – Fertility centre, IVF clinic, IVF Surat India, In Vitro fertilization
In Vitro Fertilization is a one assisted reproductive technology (ART) commonly referred to as IVF. IVF is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus. Other forms of ART include gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT).
IVF can help you get pregnant if you have problems with ovulation or egg quality, blocked fallopian tubes, or endometriosis; if your partner has problems with sperm count or motility; or if you're using donor eggs to become pregnant.
It takes about four to six weeks to complete one cycle of IVF. You have to wait a few weeks for your eggs to mature. Then you and your partner spend about half a day at your doctor's office or clinic having your eggs retrieved and fertilized. You have to go back again three to five days later to have the embryos inserted into your uterus, but you'll be able to go home that same day. Finally you have to wait till the pregnancy test is taken.
To have own children is insatiable human need. This strong natural urge exerts tremendous pressure on couples unable to have a baby. And the pressure to reproduce becomes increasingly acute as couples grow older and become more aware of their own mortality. The introduction of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) more than 30 years ago has made parenthood possible for millions who otherwise would never have been able to conceive.
Learn more about IVF procedure, ivf treatment, ivf cycle, its success rate and everything about ivf at http://www.blossomivfindia.com/ivf
The biggest decision an infertile couple will ever make in regard to IVF is whether or not they really want to become parents. An IVF procedure requires an enormous emotional commitment at each level of the treatment, whether or not IVF is successful. Stress is one of those paradoxes of living with infertility. Both partners should be prepared to respond to a variety of emotionally stressful demands as they undergo IVF. It turns out that stress and tension, while detrimental to overall health, may have little impact on couples' chances of getting pregnant with in vitro fertilization. ONE in five couples who give up fertility treatment does so because of the psychological and physical burden of the process, rather than the expense, according to a major study of assisted reproductive technology. While researchers once thought that stress caused infertility, more recent studies do not make this connection.
While general assumptions may be made about stress levels during IVF, the experience for infertility patients will be personal and unique–each patient will experience the stress differently based upon his or her own personality and life experiences.
Unexpected Challenges
The treatment of IVF stressful and affect all parts of couples life – marital, social, physical, emotional, financial, and religious. Time is stressful, both in the time commitment to an intense treatment which leads to disruption in family, work, and social activities, and for some, in long waiting periods for treatment services. Couples also may find themselves stretched financially, paying for the high cost of IVF treatment with a somewhat limited probability of success. Dealing with the medical staff and with the side effects or potential complications of medical treatment has its own stress: hot flashes, headaches, mood fluctuations, injections, sonograms, future health concerns, and decision making about embryos, their disposition and multiple pregnancies. IVF is more stressful if dealing is with third party reproduction.
The first treatment cycle of IVF is more stressful for patients, with the possibility of high levels of confusion, bewilderment and anxiety. This is because of the new experience with an unfamiliar medical process, medications and treatment protocols that can change during the cycle, and possibly working with a new team of healthcare professionals. In one complete cycle of ivf there are different stages of treatment like monitoring, oocyte retrieval, fertilization, embryo transfer, waiting period, and pregnancy test stages. The level of stress, anxiety, and anticipation rises with each stage, peaking during the waiting period. Amongst all the stages waiting to hear the outcome of the embryo transfer is the most stressful, followed by waiting to hear whether fertilization has occurred and then the egg retrieval stage. Patients are aware of the importance of these key phases in the IVF process, and the uncertainty of the outcome is often highly distressing.
Coping Strategies
Despite the stressful consequences of infertility and IVF, the vast majority of patients adjust well emotionally. Further, there seems to be no long-term impact on the marital relationship and individual functioning. In fact, some research has shown that the crisis of infertility may actually improve marital communication and emotional intimacy. Couples may learn coping skills and communication patterns that provide life-long benefit. Those individuals who do develop uncomfortable anxiety or depression symptoms should opt for counselling. IVF has the potential to be an emotionally, physically, and financially exhausting experience.
If you are a patient about to begin an IVF cycle, here are some tips to help you get ready for IVF while minimizing stress level during the process of IVF:
- Gather information and plan ahead: Good decision-making involves being well educated and informed about your body, the IVF process, and your clinic/treatment program. IVF is an anxiety-producing experience, and one of the best antidotes for anxiety is information and knowledge. The more you know and understand about the process, the less stress you may feel. Look for articles and other reading materials about IVF. Take advantage of resources from your treatment centre, talk to others who have been through IVF and consider seeking their support.
- Prepare for decision-making: It is important to anticipate decisions that may occur during IVF and discuss your options ahead of time. Sometimes these decisions may have moral and religious implications that you will need to consider and discuss. You will need to decide, along with your physician, how many embryos will be transferred while maximizing your chances for pregnancy and minimizing the possibility of multiple babies. You will also need to decide what you will do with extra eggs and/or embryos, i.e. freeze, dispose of, or donate them. If there is a possibility that donor gametes (sperm or egg) will be used in the cycle, it is important that you carefully discuss the issues involved in raising a donor-conceived child before starting the cycle. Counselling can assist you in exploring these issues and is recommended in the treatment guideline of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
- Tend to your psyche and your relationships: A long struggle with infertility may have taken a toll on how you are feeling about yourself, your marital relationship, and/or your relationship with others, causing distress and isolation. You will want to be in a good place emotionally and have your relationship on solid ground before starting an IVF cycle. Facilitate communication with your partner by setting a limited amount of time to talk about IVF, such as 20 minutes a day, and then putting infertility talk aside. Discuss ahead of time your hopes and expectations of each other during the cycle. For example, whether you want to be together at appointments, on the day of the pregnancy test, and when you are expecting a call from the doctor. Counselling can be very helpful when you and/or your partner are feeling depressed, unusually anxious, emotionally stuck or in a rut. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so get help early before problems arise.
Know in detail about IVF cycle, embryo transfer, two weeks waiting period and much more from IVF specialists at http://www.blossomivfindia.com/pages/ivf-specialist
- Garner your support: Friends and family can be your best support or they can be your worst. Decide in advance whom you will like to inform about your treatment and seek support and whom you will not be telling. It's better not to disclose to many as it sometimes adds to the pressure. Let everyone know when you are ready to inform about what is going on. In addition, look outside your usual support network to those who truly understand other infertility patients. Consider joining an IVF support group, or check out other infertility self-help organizations. The internet also is a ready source of infertility support and information, through various websites and chat rooms. A great deal of healing can come from others who understand.
- Identify your stresses and your coping mechanisms: Each person experiences stress in different ways, so it is helpful to identify where yours may come from. For some, it may be in just getting to the clinic in the morning for monitoring, for others it may be injections. Anticipating ahead where your stresses may come from will help in developing coping strategies. Know yours and your partner's styles for dealing with stress and what has helped in the past. It is not unusual for each member of a couple to react differently to stress. For example, women may need to talk and receive support, while men may prefer to be involved in an activity or hobby to cope. Stress management classes, listening to relaxation tapes and other mind/body techniques used regularly can help in handling these feelings and dealing with treatment procedures. Of course, all of the above applies to single individuals undergoing IVF as well.
- Decide what you have control over and what you don't: To help eliminate any unnecessary stress, you will want to make you life as simple as possible during the cycle. This is not a time to make important decisions or changes in your life, such as a move or job change. If at all possible, avoid major undertakings at work that can add stress to your life. In addition, you will want to think about how to deal with other daily life challenges on the job, at home, and with family and friends. You do have control over the choices you make in your daily life while how the treatment course progresses is usually out of your hands.
- Anticipate problem areas: Plan for possible changes and difficult times during your cycle, such as the waiting period after transfer and the day you will get the results. Expect the unexpected, as changes are frequently made in the cycle because of everyone's unique medical situation. There are possibilities for failure at every step of the cycle, from a poor response to medication to no fertilization after retrieval.
The 10-14 day waiting period between transfer and receiving the pregnancy test results is often described as the most difficult part of the cycle. During the IVF cycle you are constantly on monitoring with your ivf specialist and once the embryo is transferred, you have to wait for your pregnant test. This period is very stressful as you are filled with lots of anxiety, fear and hope. One has to be ready for all the possibilities- positive pregnancy test or negative pregnancy test.
The IVF process is stressful and since in general per egg retrieval, there is at least as great a chance of not being successful, it is essential for IVF patients and their partners to be realistic about the prospects – to be guardedly optimistic but to prepare themselves emotionally so that they are not overwhelmed by failure in case IVF does not succeed.
Both partners should be prepared to respond to a variety of emotionally stressful demands as they undergo IVF. The decision to pursue fertility treatment is never easy. That is why you need a fertility centre with the proven ability to succeed – a trusted partner that delivers results to thousands of patients every year. Blossom Fertility and IVF Centre is deeply committed in helping patients become parents. Our expertise in fertility treatment and cutting edge technology has helped majority of our patients achieve pregnancy and has made us the most successful fertility centre in Surat, Gujarat. The IVF treatment is a complex and stressful process. The team of IVF specialist at Blossom Centre understands the pain, stress and agony faced by the couples undergoing the treatment and hence offers them all possible help from information about the ivf process, no. of embryos to transfer, when to go for egg and sperm donation and most importantly offer them support and counseling from the experts about dealing with stress and anxiety during the whole process. When needed, we advise our patients to seek help of professional independent counselor.
You can contact our fertility experts at any time to know about IVF cycle, the treatment process of IVF procedure and the success rate involved at http://www.blossomivfindia.com


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Eat less, live longer
A new evolutionary theory in BioEssays claims that consuming a diet very low in nutrients can extend lifespan in laboratory animals, a finding which could hold clues to promoting healthier ageing in humans.
Scientists have known for decades that severely restricted food intake reduces the incidence of diseases of old age, such as cancer, and increases lifespan.
"This effect has been demonstrated in laboratories around the world, in species ranging from yeast to flies to mice. There is also some evidence that it occurs in primates," says lead author, Dr Margo Adler, an evolutionary biologist at UNSW Australia.
The most widely accepted theory is that this effect evolved to improve survival during times of famine. "But we think that lifespan extension from dietary restriction is more likely to be a laboratory artefact," says Dr Adler.
Lifespan extension is unlikely to occur in the wild, because dietary restriction compromises the immune system's ability to fight off disease and reduces the muscle strength necessary to flee a predator.
"Unlike in the benign conditions of the lab, most animals in the wild are killed young by parasites or predators," says Dr Adler.
"Since dietary restriction appears to extend lifespan in the lab by reducing old-age diseases, it is unlikely to have the same effect on wild animals, which generally don't live long enough to be affected by cancer and other late-life pathologies."
Dietary restriction, however, also leads to increased rates of cellular recycling and repair mechanisms in the body.
The UNSW researchers' new theory is that this effect evolved to help animals continue to reproduce when food is scarce; they require less food to survive because stored nutrients in the cells can be recycled and reused.
It is this effect that could account for the increased lifespan of laboratory animals on very low-nutrient diets, because increased cellular recycling reduces deterioration and the risk of cancer.
"This is the most intriguing aspect, from a human health stand point. Although extended lifespan may simply be a side effect of dietary restriction, a better understanding of these cellular recycling mechanisms that drive the effect may hold the promise of longer, healthier lives for humans," she says.
It may be possible in future, for example, to develop drugs that mimic this effect.
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December 20, 2013
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Log in to the State of Kansas Employee Self Service, or ESS, to consent to receiving your W-2 information on-line. Access electronic W-2 for step by step instructions.
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I hope you all had an amazing New Years. It was great to have a long, relaxing weekend :) I wanted to give guys some updates on what to expect from my blog and YouTube.
First off, my laptop has a virus and can't even log on. Until then, no new videos unfortunately. I'll try to consistently post though and hopefully this issue will be resolved soon.
I have a lot of videos coming up, these include:
- Sigma Makeup reviews, tutorials, and the return of Sigma Makeup Friday giveaways
- drugstore makeup review and giveaway
- Review of new Eve Pearl products
- L'oreal Matte Eyeshadow Review and Tutorial
Atlanta Makeup Artist


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MBA Custom Accounting Software
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Upcycled Dress: Violette Field Threads Olive Shirt
Last season of Kid's Clothes Week got me so wrapped up in "upclycling", that I have continued to turn two more dresses into shirts for Cadence. One is another Juicy Couture dress from her Mimmy (that was way too short for me) and the other is an Ann Taylor dress of mine that hung in my closet for 2 years with the tags still on.
As they were both striped dresses, I thought the Violette Field Threads Olive Shirt pattern was a very good choice for an upcycle project.
Violette Field Threads Olive Shirt
What a wonderful pattern! I have never gone wrong with Violette Field Threads, and I just love the ruffles on the back! I made the similar Adele Dress pattern awhile back and was very pleased with the results. This time, I wanted a simpler look, so I omitted the top ruffle. I had enough fabric left over with the grey and pink Juicy Couture dress, to make a scarf for a very sophisticated look.
The Process:
I laid each dress out flat and cut along the side seam so there were two pieces (a front and a back). I folded the front piece in half long wise and laid the Violette Field Threads Olive Shirt front bodice pattern at the fold. This way, I was able to keep the neck line from both dresses!
I repeated the process with the back panel. The rest of the back was a large enough piece to turn sideways in order to create the back ruffle with contrasting vertical stripes. The only thing left to do was sew up the sides, and create the straps/sleeve bias with left over fabric. Some of the easiest sewing I have done yet!
a. juicy couture chain link dress b. juicy couture striped dress c. tory burch tank top


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A phrase employed to designate the mental and moral state of honest, even if objectively unfounded, conviction as to the truth or falsehood of a proposition or body of opinion, or as to the rectitude or depravity of a line of conduct. One who is in this condition, so far as the violation of positive law, or even, in certain junctures, of the natural law, is concerned, is said to labour under an invincible error, and hence to be guiltless. This consideration is often invoked in behalf of those who are outside of the visible affiliation of the Catholic Church. It is not unfrequently applied to determine the degree of right or obligation prevailing in the various forms of human engagements, such as contracts, etc. In the matter of prescription it is held to be an indispensable requirement whether there be question of acquiring dominion or freeing oneself from a burden. Likewise, in deciding the duty incumbent upon one who finds himself in possession of another's property, cognizance is taken of the good faith with which perchance the holding has been begun and accompanied. Finally, if a person, although actually in the state of mortal sin, were in good faith to come to Holy Communion, such a one, according to the judgement of many theologians, would receive sanctifying grace. The reason alleged by them, although not regarded by other moralists as convincing, is that good faith saves the communicant from the conscious interposition of any obstacle to the productive activity of the Sacrament.
APA citation. (1909). Good Faith. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06642a.htm
MLA citation. "Good Faith." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06642a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas. Dedicated to Bill Vernon.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.


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We made the class very practical, no PowerPoint, in fact apart from a 5 minute video it was computer free. Yes we talked, yes we used flip charts but most of all it was practice, this was about writing after all. Only about an hour in and we had our participants putting pen to paper to write some patterns.
For this we used a video about milk packaging from TetraPak, there is an English version on You Tube, as it happens we used the short German version but it was the pictures not the words which were important. After watching this we did some brainstorming to identify what was happening in the video, i.e. what solutions were being used to solve which problems.
Initially we asked the participants to think about three things: the state before the solution, what the solution was and how things were different after the solution. Once the groups had grasped this we expended these into the traditional parts of a pattern: context, problem forces; solution and implementation; consequences and all the other bits (known uses, etc.)
During the writing myself and my co-presenters (EuroPLoP regulars Klaus Marquardt and Didi Schueltz) circulated between the groups to answer questions, provide advice and deliver a bit of shepherding.
And then we repeated the exercise with different subject material. We did some brainstorming to identify ideas which the participants would like to write patterns about, problems in their own domain. We repeated the writing process and finished the day with a writers workshop.
So in the space of one day we covered all the pattern basics. Although not in as much depth as maybe we could have. We carried on into a second day but only used half of the day. Next time I'll be sure to use two whole days.
On the second day we covered the ideas behind shepherding, talked some more about pattern form, answered some questions and ran a second writers workshop, this time on an existing pattern by an experienced writer.
More than ever I left feeling that patterns are a generally applicable knowledge management technique. Not everything belongs as a pattern but the form is useful in many domains. And pattern thinking (or perhaps pattern analysis is a better term) is useful even when the thing you are writing (or just analyzing) is not a pattern.
And what did I learn? Well...
- I really enjoyed teaching pattern writing and hope to do it again
- Using a video to provide source material worked well
- Not using slides worked well, it requires confidence but the result was better
- You still need to give the attendees something to take away so having support material is necessary. Still, I'm always disappointed with slides which are little more than bullet points after the class. We did hand out some of my writing about patterns and patterns form, some patterns about patterns and some links to websites with more information and patterns.
- Having co-presenters was good. This was an intensive class so it needed more than one person
- You really need two days to do this properly
- Having attendees experience what you do was far more valuable than just lecturing them


text:
Show #124 Online Education for Dummies with Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson
Women of Web 3 #124 Online Education for Dummies with Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson
This was a wonderful conversation with the co-authors of "Online Education for Dummies," Susan Manning and Kevin Johnson. Due to some technical difficulties with the stream on EdTechTalk, we hosted this session on Elluminate which gave us an opportunity to see some of their online resources and book excerpts as they shared some of their best tips and advice about online education. We were also able to involve participants in a brainstorming session on the whiteboard about criteria for a successful online experience. You can listen to the audio recording on EdTechTalk or view the full Elluminate recording here . Their website has excerpts from their book including a wonderful "cheat sheet" to help students decide if online education is for them.: http://online4dummies.weebly.com/ The cheat sheet provides tips for evaluating online programs and habits of successful online students among other suggestions.
Link to full Elluminate recording of this session:
Chat: May 2, 2010
00:14 - Peggy George
takes a second to get the recording started :-)
00:21 - Susan Manning
Kevin do you have that photo?
00:25 - Susan Manning
of dummies book cover
00:29 - Peggy George
I'm very excited to hear from Susan and Kevin!!
00:46 - Peggy George
I got to hear their interview with Steve Hargadon on Future of Education and it was outstanding!
01:07 - Susan Manning
I'm glad you got to hear that, Peggy!
01:09 - Susan Manning
01:21 - Peggy George
even listened to it twice :-)
01:53 - Kevin Johnson
02:57 - Peggy George
love that!! caught the fire!! :-)
03:19 - Susan Manning
03:28 - Susan Manning
he was 5
03:57 - Peggy George
Welcome Maureen and Jen--so glad you found us!
04:01 - Sharon Peters
LOL, really?
04:12 - cheri.toledo
that's great
04:21 - Peggy George
online learning has opened so many possibilities!!
04:48 - Peggy George
what a great story!!
05:35 - Peggy George
isn't that such a wonderful thing that you can co-teach with people from anywhere??!!
05:42 - Kevin Johnson
06:00 - Peggy George
feel free to bring anything up in web tour you would like
06:10 - Kevin Johnson
Good evening Jen, Maureen, mslaneeus, and Nick
06:20 - mslaneeus
Good evening.
06:31 - Peggy George
Welcome Nick!!
06:49 - Sharon Peters
Hi Nick, great to have you with us tonight
06:56 - cheri.toledo
Yea, he made it
07:47 - Sharon Peters
I am taking an online course right now - to get me ready to teach the IB programme at my new school; and I also have some questions about motivation and dealing with online inertia....
08:02 - Peggy George
are any of them open courses that anyone can participate in?
08:13 - cheri.toledo
08:29 - Susan Manning
08:51 - Sharon Peters
Yeah, I have some questions about online courses that such institutions such as MIT sponsor....
08:55 - Susan Manning
The UW Stout courses are for credit and cost. The ION courses also cost, but if you're a member school, it is significantly decreased.
09:47 - Peggy George
thanks Susan
10:06 - Sharon Peters
It depends on the teacher...
10:06 - Peggy George
great answer--it depends :-)
10:35 - Maureen (bcdtech)
Good question... personally I like blended courses better than just online. I like to actually meet people f2f once in a while.
11:10 - Peggy George
@Maureen--many people think that is the best alternative--blended learning with both online and f2f
11:28 - cheri.toledo
@Maureen - the synchronous tools can give you that blended experience
12:02 - Maureen (bcdtech)
@Peggy- I do learn a lot from online courses, but really feel more connected when I have a chance to actually meet the people involved
12:11 - Peggy George
they were just talking about accreditation for online courses tonight in EdTechWeekly :-)
12:35 - Peggy George
Hi Joyce! So glad you found us!!
12:49 - Kevin Johnson
Hi Joyce
14:21 - cheri.toledo
Yes, I've heard that too
14:30 - Peggy George
yes that happens so often with online courses and webinars!
14:55 - Peggy George
someone in the room said only seat time or university hours count for their re-certification
15:07 - Peggy George
Welcome seani!!
15:39 - Peggy George
good way to describe it--getting a little messy out there :-)
17:15 - Peggy George
17:18 - cheri.toledo
@Peggy - let's put up a whiteboard
17:37 - Peggy George
you've got it :-)
17:59 - Peggy George
this will be a fun variation for WOW 3!
19:47 - Peggy George
great list!! thanks everyone!!
20:06 - Peggy George
now it's your turn Susan and Kevin!!
20:36 - Peggy George
student to student work is so important--not all learning comes from the instructor!
20:51 - Peggy George
yes MEDIA!! and so much easier to share it online :-)
21:34 - Maureen (bcdtech)
How about making sure the instructor keeps up with the work as well... I took a course where the instructor rarely commented, and got behind
21:41 - Peggy George
great points Susan!!
21:45 - Kevin Johnson
21:48 - Maureen (bcdtech)
Yes, presence is so important
21:49 - Peggy George
is this in your book???? :-)
22:29 - Susan Manning
It is kind of in the book, but subtly....if you read between the lines we say this is what makes an awesome course
22:51 - Susan Manning
the book is really written for adults who have to take courses and don't have a clue
23:09 - Maureen (bcdtech)
How about multiple ways to complete the assignments?
23:11 - Kevin Johnson
Another great resource:http://www.qualitymatters.org/rubric.htm
23:15 - Kevin Johnson
23:18 - Peggy George
tell us more about why someone interested in online courses should read your book :-)
25:23 - Peggy George
25:30 - Sharon Peters
Excellent advice!
25:43 - Peggy George
I love the Dummies books!! Great way to learn!!
26:00 - Sharon Peters
How pertinent do you think your book could be for educators and learners in developing nations? Do you think it could cross cultures?
26:12 - Peggy George
you can go straight to what you need and don't have to read the entire book!!
27:08 - Peggy George
great strategy to read the book from the student perspective to evaluate it
27:34 - cheri.toledo
Would the principles in the book transfer to other learning delivery; e.g., mobile learning
28:11 - Peggy George
Moodle now has a mobile learning app :-)
28:15 - mslaneeus
Is this book meant for online students in the U.S.? Or is there information for Canadian students too?
28:21 - Peggy George
thanks for joining us seani!
31:22 - Peggy George
that's very exciting information!
32:21 - Peggy George
good point about the opportunity to get their education from the US if that is what they want-regardless of where they live!
34:22 - Peggy George
so Kevin--I was doing it at the same time
34:29 - Peggy George
34:39 - Peggy George
very helpful to see these pages :-)
35:18 - Peggy George
what a great guide!!
35:52 - Peggy George
36:17 - Peggy George
great suggestion!! :-)
38:10 - Peggy George
these are such great tips!! I have grandkids who are considering online courses and they really need to read this!! they do have a lot of misconceptions about it
38:24 - mslaneeus
Whoops. That resonated. I am definitely a wallflower with these web presentations...
38:31 - Peggy George
38:49 - cheri.toledo
I'm usually a lurker too :-)
38:54 - Peggy George
that's the good thing though mslaneeus!! it's ok to be a lurker until you're comfortable jumping in :-)
39:10 - Peggy George
there should be alternatives for different learning styles
39:41 - mslaneeus
It's intimidating. Everyone knows each other...you feel as though you are interrupting a conversation among friends.
39:45 - mslaneeus
Up to me to get over that.
40:03 - Peggy George
that is so true!! they work to the deadline so you can't get a conversation going
40:29 - Sharon Peters
So important, I agree
40:34 - Peggy George
good strategy Nick!
41:08 - Peggy George
there's definitely a difference between quantity of posts and quality of posts
41:22 - Sharon Peters
the online course I am taking is a bit frustrating right now.... too much info to read and not enough ways to engage with it, plus inertia on the part of the course participants
42:05 - Sharon Peters
no discussion right now!
43:20 - Peggy George
what kind of accountability do you have for the required reading Sharon?
43:51 - Sharon Peters
44:01 - Peggy George
love it!!!
44:59 - Peggy George
good example for us to talk about Sharon
45:33 - Susan Manning
Theinstructor needs to create assignments that ask you to put it into prtactice
45:39 - Susan Manning
use it or lose it
45:52 - Peggy George
are you encouraged to contribute to a forum in the class Sharon?
46:01 - Sharon Peters
Yes, Peggy
46:09 - Peggy George
does anyone do it?
46:11 - Susan Manning
and there's a lot of evidence that unless we design courses that require a "do" activity, just absorbing information doesn't create lasting change
46:36 - Susan Manning
so I would encourage him to create application assignments that are then shared in smaller teams for peer review and feedback
46:38 - Peggy George
for sure, Susan!! they will do the minimum they need to do to earn the credit
46:52 - Sharon Peters
cool idea
47:12 - cheri.toledo
47:22 - cheri.toledo
Here's an article I wrote about asking good questions
47:26 - Sharon Peters
Thanks for that
47:32 - Peggy George
thanks Cheri!
47:33 - Susan Manning
as a student, I would beg the instructor to reconsider communication
47:53 - Susan Manning
oh, for sure!
48:22 - Susan Manning
I call that whispering
48:27 - Peggy George
48:30 - Susan Manning
which is half the art of facilitation
48:59 - Peggy George
we have about 5 minutes remaing--want to share WOWs of Week?
49:05 - Peggy George
49:09 - cheri.toledo
ONe more question
49:12 - Peggy George
49:20 - cheri.toledo
we started late :-)
49:38 - Sharon Peters
49:42 - Peggy George
love to hear about rumors like that!!
49:52 - Peggy George
Technology Tool Belt for Teachers :-)
49:58 - cheri.toledo
technology toolbelt for teachers
50:29 - Peggy George
what a great idea!! almost like the FAQ sections of online courses!!
50:51 - Sharon Peters
am so glad that we got to use Elluminate tonight
50:51 - Peggy George
wonderful conversation!!! thank you so much Susan and Kevin!!
51:56 - Peggy George
oh yes :-)
52:03 - cheri.toledo
52:11 - cheri.toledo
love the odds
53:11 - Peggy George
woo hoo! Congratulations Nick!!
53:13 - Sharon Peters
how much fun!
53:20 - Peggy George
when are you going to put it on Kindle???
53:24 - Kevin Johnson
53:40 - Nick Toledo 1
thank you
53:40 - Peggy George
didn't see it there
53:51 - cheri.toledo
53:54 - Sharon Peters
how cool, I have a Kindle, this could be useful for me to bring to Africa
53:58 - Peggy George
great to know
54:40 - Peggy George
we can share our WOWs in web tour :-)
54:51 - cheri.toledo
55:10 - Peggy George
stop/pause the sound :-)
55:12 - Kevin Johnson
55:37 - Peggy George
56:14 - Maureen (bcdtech)
Wow- looks great- thanks Peggy
56:53 - Kevin Johnson
57:04 - Peggy George
58:01 - Susan Manning
wow, this is going to keep me busy!
58:09 - Peggy George
58:25 - cheri.toledo
Susan and Kevin - thanks again!!!
58:26 - Peggy George
definitely!! isn't this fun??~~
58:31 - cheri.toledo
We need to meet up again :-)
58:54 - Peggy George
that's so exciting for the SLA students!!!
59:05 - Peggy George
thrilled to see the recording posted!
59:47 - Susan Manning
thank YOU!
59:52 - Kevin Johnson
Thank You!!!
59:53 - Kevin Johnson
59:55 - Peggy George
wonderful!!! so great to have you with us tonight Susan and Kevin!!
1:00:00 - Maureen (bcdtech)
thank you
1:00:05 - Peggy George
this worked great!!!
1:00:10 - Susan Manning
I had a blast..thank you for having us!
1:00:20 - Peggy George
thank you Maureen and mslaneeus and Nick for joining us!!!
1:00:26 - mslaneeus
Thank you.
1:00:27 - cheri.toledo
Thanks everyone!!
1:00:33 - Peggy George
I'll post the link to the recording on ETT :-)
1:00:40 - Susan Manning
Good night
1:00:42 - Peggy George
good night everyone!
- Log in to post comments


text:
So farewell, then, News of the World. We will remember Squidgygate and Camillagate, the buying up of witnesses ("blood money"), the "kiss and sell" affairs, the share-tipping scandal, the celebrity hacks, and, most recently, the necrophilihacks. Its editors have been "drinking at the last-chance saloon" for the past 30 years, which should enter into the Guinness record book as the longest swill in history.
It saw off the powerless Press Council, replaced by the worthless Press Complaints Commission. Nothing has really changed since it was condemned for publishing topless pictures of Diana on a private beach, to which judgment the paper responded by republishing them under the headline "This Is What the Row's All About, Folks."
News of the World proved that self-regulation was bound to fail, whenever cutthroat circulation was at stake, to instill any sense of ethical conduct, or even respect for the criminal law, in the business of tabloid infotainment. That is partly because Britain is an excessively prurient society, addicted to Sunday-morning schadenfreude as it reads of other people's grief and adulteries. But it is also because the harlot's prerogative through the ages, of power without responsibility, has cowered most of the U.K.'s democratic institutions that should stand up for decency and the rule of law.
For all the self-righteousness on display in Parliament this week, MP's took their cue from the prime minister's utterly mistaken assumption that there should be no public enquiry until police investigations had run their course. By which time—years into the future, as Scotland Yard virtually admitted yesterday, engulfed by 11,000 pages with 4,000 hacked names (and that's just for 2006)—memories will have faded and News Ltd will be the proprietor of BSkyB.
This is exactly the situation that the U.K.'s Inquiries Act was passed, as recently as 2005, to avoid. It permits a speedy and authoritative examination of a matter of scandal and concern, so as to allay public disquiet and ensure the scandal is not repeated. The inquiry does not prejudge trials—it has no power to determine anyone's civil or criminal liability. But its chairman has power to require the production of documents and to insist that anyone—even Rupert Murdoch—attend for public examination. This power can be enforced by the High Court, on pain of criminal sanction. Such an inquiry is set up by resolution of both Houses of Parliament, to examine a matter "of urgent public importance."
The issues that need urgent inquiry are not made any less urgent by the closure of the paper. They are not only those identified by the prime minister, such as ineptness of the original police investigation. There must be an examination of the culture of the tabloid press, the bribery and corruption that have gone on between journalists and their police sources, the total failure of self-regulation (and whether to replace it), and the inadequate training of English journalists in law and ethics (most had no idea that phone hacking was made illegal in 1998, and payments to police are still regarded as "inappropriate" when they are seriously criminal).
Previous Royal Commissions into the press (the last reported in 1975) did achieve some useful reforms, especially by introducing rules to protect against media monopolies (scandalously ignored by the Thatcher government when News Ltd took over The Times and The Sunday Times) and laying down the test for "fit and proper" proprietors. That is a test that a public inquiry would be much better equipped to answer than Jeremy Hunt, a Tory minister who is judge in his party's cause.
There can be no excuse, other than fear of News Ltd (and, to be fair, the company has said it would welcome a public inquiry), to delay. Police inquiries in the U.K. are not very competent or comprehensive; witnesses and suspects do not have to answer questions; there will be no attempt to get at the truth about ethical standards. Police are notoriously poor at investigating senior police officers, whose relations with media executives need to be put under the microscope. In such sensitive and political matters, Britain is still in the age of Constable Dogberry—in the U.S., the process would be conducted much more effectively by special prosecutors and in Europe by examining judges.
So a public inquiry under the 2005 act, set up in the next few days with a clear brief (which must include the issue of whether Murdoch can buy BSkyB) and a deadline to report in six to nine months, is the only sensible way forward. David Cameron is right to avoid a sitting judge—they should be kept out of politics. Fortuitously, two leading jurists who have valuably contributed to intellectual debate on press freedom—Lord Hoffman and Sir Stephen Sedley—have recently retired, and may be available to act as chairman. A few respected members of press and public should be appointed to the tribunal—the likes of Kate Adie, Ian Hislop, Martin Bell, Richard Branson, and Harold Evans [who is married to the editor in chief of The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company] come to mind. With its own counsel and team of investigators, the hearings could begin in October and be over by Christmas, with the report published by Easter. Hunt has postponed his quasi-judicial decision on BSkyB until September, but no one will believe it is in any sense "judicial" unless it is informed by a proper inquiry into the fitness of News Ltd.
The closure of News of the World must not end the British debate over the ethical limits of tabloid journalism: this dramatic gesture should be a signal to begin it in earnest. The Press Complaints Commission is a confidence trick that has ceased to inspire confidence—other countries that respect free speech have statutory "press ombudspersons" who adjudicate public complaints, direct retractions and compensation, enforce rights of reply, and monitor ethical standards. Had the British media been prepared to accept this form of statutory regulation, the public would be enjoying News of the World for many years to come.


text:
There's been a lot of chatter about a recent RFC from Pádraic Brady on the php.internals maling list - his proposal to add native escaping to the PHP core. He shares some of his own thoughts about the proposal in a new post to his site.
A short time ago today, I submitted a PHP RFC for discussion which proposes adding an SPL Escaper class and, quite possibly, a related set of functions dedicated to escaping data for output to HTML/XML to PHP: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/escaper. The RFC itself should be a good read if you want to understand why I'm proposing this but the basics are quite simple. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is one of the two most common security vulnerabilities in web applications – the other being SQL Injection. Despite this, PHP's offering of escaping functions is extremely limited.
He talks about what problems the proposed solution solves and how it could help protect PHP programmers more effectively than the more complicated methods they have to go through now. If you're interested in reading the conversations so far, you can start here and walk through the messages.


text:
Richard B. Williams Awarded White Crown Award
April 20, 2012
American Indian College Fund President and CEO Richard B. Williams received the prestigious White Crown Award from the American Indian Business Leaders group during their national conference in Denver, Colo.
The award gets its name from the white hair that elders have. Older Natives in the Oglala Lakota tradition often called it a white crown. In the 1970s, Henry Big Boy, an Oglala elder living in Kyle, South Dakota, said not many Natives reached an old age because life was so hard. He said, "As you grow older, different things don't work as well or just give out." He added that in traditional times, the ageing disappeared in the hills or on the prairie, where they went to die so that they would not slow or endanger the camp. As a result, people who lived to an old age with good health inspired awe in their people, and they revered those that were white-headed.
A white crown was a sign of a wealth of knowledge or experience. People who wore white crowns were available for the asking, and since Natives were mostly oral learners, it was important to have the white crowns share their stories with the young and provide advice because, by virtue of wearing a white crown, the oldest person knew what was best.


text:
Beautiful, golden fossilized amber begins as resin. Exuded as a sticky liquid from bark or wood, it polymerizes into solid amber. It slowly degrades when left in the open and therefore must be rather quickly buried in dense sediments. There are about twenty amber deposits, the most prominent locations are in the Baltic and Dominican Republic.
Many thousands of amber pieces contain fossils. A variety of animals are preserved in those golden tombs, including insects, crustaceans, tadpoles, lizards, annelids, snails, and spiders. In 1997, a piece of Dominican amber was appraised at $50,000 because it contained a frog. Even hair of mammals has been found. Such preservation gives us an idea of the pre-Flood ecosystem thousands of years ago.
The beautiful and aromatic blue amber of the Dominican Republic is the most rewarding of the ambers for aesthetic and scientific reasons, and holds the record when it comes to fossil content. Not only does this amber contain ten times more insects than Baltic amber, it also is 90% more transparent. Some of the fossilized creatures are extinct, but this is hardly evidence for vertical evolution.
There have even been discoveries of preserved animal and plant DNA, "Amber has preserved ancient life to such infinitesimal detail that it even captures fragments of DNA of the organisms entrapped in it."1 The discovery of DNA segments is not surprising for the creationist. However, it stupefies the Darwinist, because evolutionists maintain that amber is many millions of years old.
The oldest known amber containing insects is — according to evolutionary dating — 146 million years old. But what is found are animal forms that remain unchanged. Secular biologists are constantly amazed that creatures displayed in such a clear sarcophagus can be identified down to genus or even species. For example, small oak tree flowers have been found dated at "90 million years old," but they are still oak. The same is true for the oldest feather (100% feather — not a transition from a scale), the oldest mushroom, mosquito, biting black fly, and fig wasp. All that is seen in these organisms is no change ("stasis") or the possibility of extinction. This in no way supports the case for macroevolution, but is certainly what creationists expect.
To conclude, just as the mineralized fossils found in sedimentary rock units worldwide fail to support macroevolution, the same holds true for animals and plants found in "ancient" amber. Creation scientists aren't particularly surprised by the plants, animals, and DNA found in amber considering the youth of this planet. Furthermore, creationists have been requesting these creatures in amber should be subjected to Carbon 14 dating. A similar request is made to date the "70 million year old" soft dinosaur tissue recently discovered in eastern Montana (see Origins Issues "The Devastating Issue of Dinosaur Tissue").2 But secular scientists are reticent. Why? The search for truth should actively go where the physical evidence leads.
- http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/amber/
- See also Yeoman, B. April 2006. Schweitzer's dangerous discovery. Discover, p. 37.
* Frank Sherwin is a zoologist and seminar speaker for ICR.
Cite this article: Sherwin, F. 2006. Amber: A Window to the Recent Past. Acts & Facts. 35 (7).