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"Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read..also highly persuasive." Time
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
Updated with a new afterword
One of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.
Product Details
Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
Publication date: | 08/26/2003 |
Edition description: | Reprint |
Pages: | 560 |
Sales rank: | 143,827 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d) |
Age Range: | 18 - 17 Years |
About the Author
Boston, MassachusettsDate of Birth:
September 18, 1954Place of Birth:
Montreal, CanadaEducation:
B.A., McGill University, 1976; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979Website:
http://stevenpinker.com/Read an Excerpt
Everyone has a theory of human nature. Everyone has to anticipate the behavior of others, and that means we all need theories about what makes people tick. A tacit theory of human nature—that behavior is caused by thoughts and feelings—is embedded in the very way we think about people. We fill out this theory by introspecting on our own minds and assuming that our fellows are like ourselves, and by watching people's behavior and filing away generalizations. We absorb still other ideas from our intellectual climate: from the expertise of authorities and the conventional wisdom of the day.
Our theory of human nature is the wellspring of much in our lives. We consult it when we want to persuade or threaten, inform or deceive. It advises us on how to nurture our marriages, bring up our children, and control our own behavior. Its assumptions about learning drive our educational policy; its assumptions about motivation drive our policies on economics, law, and crime. And because it delineates what people can achieve easily, what they can achieve only with sacrifice or pain, and what they cannot achieve at all, it affects our values: what we believe we can reasonably strive for as individuals and as a society. Rival theories of human nature are entwined in different ways of life and different political systems, and have been a source of much conflict over the course of history.
For millennia, the major theories of human nature have come from religion. The Judeo-Christian tradition, for example, offers explanations for much of the subject matter now studied by biology and psychology. Humans are made in the image of God and are unrelated to animals. Women are derivative of men and destined to be ruled by them. The mind is an immaterial substance: it has powers possessed by no purely physical structure, and can continue to exist when the body dies. The mind is made up of several components, including a moral sense, an ability to love, a capacity for reason that recognizes whether an act conforms to ideals of goodness, and a decision faculty that chooses how to behave. Although the decision faculty is not bound by the laws of cause and effect, it has an innate tendency to choose sin. Our cognitive and perceptual faculties work accurately because God implanted ideals in them that correspond to reality and because he coordinates their functioning with the outside world. Mental health comes from recognizing God's purpose, choosing good and repenting sin, and loving God and one's fellow humans for God's sake.
The Judeo-Christian theory is based on events narrated in the Bible. We know that the human mind has nothing in common with the minds of animals because the Bible says that humans were created separately. We know that the design of women is based on the design of men because in the second telling of the creation of women Eve was fashioned from the rib of Adam. Human decisions cannot be the inevitable effects of some cause, we may surmise, because God held Adam and Eve responsible for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, implying that they could have chosen otherwise. Women are dominated by men as punishment for Eve's disobedience, and men and women inherit the sinfulness of the first couple.
The Judeo-Christian conception is still the most popular theory of human nature in the United States. According to recent polls, 76 percent of Americans believe in the biblical account of creation, 79 percent believe that the miracles in the Bible actually took place, 76 percent believe in angels, the devil, and other immaterial souls, 67 percent believe they will exist in some form after their death, and only 15 percent believe that Darwin's theory of evolution is the best explanation for the origin of human life on Earth. Politicians on the right embrace the religious theory explicitly, and no mainstream politician would dare contradict it in public. But the modern sciences of cosmology, geology, biology, and archaeology have made it impossible for a scientifically literate person to believe that the biblical story of creation actually took place. As a result, the Judeo-Christian theory of human nature is no longer explicitly avowed by most academics, journalists, social analysts, and other intellectually engaged people.
Nonetheless, every society must operate with a theory of human nature, and our intellectual mainstream is committed to another one. The theory is seldom articulated or overtly embraced, but it lies at the heart of a vast number of beliefs and policies. Bertrand Russell wrote, "Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day." For intellectuals today, many of those convictions are about psychology and social relations. I will refer to those convictions as the Blank Slate: the idea that the human mind has no inherent structure and can be inscribed at will by society or ourselves.
That theory of human nature—namely, that it barely exists—is the topic of this book. Just as religions contain a theory of human nature, so theories of human nature take on some of the functions of religion, and the Blank Slate has become the secular religion of modern intellectual life. It is seen as a source of values, so the fact that it is based on a miracle—a complex mind arising out of nothing—is not held against it. Challenges to the doctrine from skeptics and scientists have plunged some believers into a crisis of faith and have led others to mount the kinds of bitter attacks ordinarily aimed at heretics and infidels. And just as many religious traditions eventually reconciled themselves to apparent threats from science (such as the revolutions of Copernicus and Darwin), so, I argue, will our values survive the demise of the Blank Slate.
The chapters in this part of the book (Part I) are about the ascendance of the Blank Slate in modern intellectual life, and about the new view of human nature and culture that is beginning to challenge it. In succeeding parts we will witness the anxiety evoked by this challenge (Part II) and see how the anxiety may be assuaged (Part III). Then I will show how a richer conception of human nature can provide insight into language, thought, social life, and morality (Part IV) and how it can clarify controversies on politics, violence, gender, childrearing, and the arts (Part V). Finally I will show how the passing of the Blank Slate is less disquieting, and in some ways less revolutionary, than it first appears (Part VI).
Chapter 1
The Official Theory
"Blank slate" is a loose translation of the medieval Latin term tabula rasa—literally, "scraped tablet." It is commonly attributed to the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), though in fact he used a different metaphor. Here is the famous passage from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding:
Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.
Locke was taking aim at theories of innate ideas in which people were thought to be born with mathematical ideals, eternal truths, and a notion of God. His alternative theory, empiricism, was intended both as a theory of psychology—how the mind works—and as a theory of epistemology—how we come to know the truth. Both goals helped motivate his political philosophy, often honored as the foundation of liberal democracy. Locke opposed dogmatic justifications for the political status quo, such as the authority of the church and the divine right of kings, which had been touted as self-evident truths. He argued that social arrangements should be reasoned out from scratch and agreed upon by mutual consent, based on knowledge that any person could acquire. Since ideas are grounded in experience, which varies from person to person, differences of opinion arise not because one mind is equipped to grasp the truth and another is defective, but because the two minds have had different histories. Those differences therefore ought to be tolerated rather than suppressed. Locke's notion of a blank slate also undermined a hereditary royalty and aristocracy, whose members could claim no innate wisdom or merit if their minds had started out as blank as everyone else's. It also spoke against the institution of slavery, because slaves could no longer be thought of as innately inferior or subservient.
During the past century the doctrine of the Blank Slate has set the agenda for much of the social sciences and humanities. As we shall see, psychology has sought to explain all thought, feeling, and behavior with a few simple mechanisms of learning. The social sciences have sought to explain all customs and social arrangements as a product of the socialization of children by the surrounding culture: a system of words, images, stereotypes, role models, and contingencies of reward and punishment. A long and growing list of concepts that would seem natural to the human way of thinking (emotions, kinship, the sexes, illness, nature, the world) are now said to have been "invented" or "socially constructed."
The Blank Slate has also served as a sacred scripture for political and ethical beliefs. According to the doctrine, any differences we see among races, ethnic groups, sexes, and individuals come not from differences in their innate constitution but from differences in their experiences. Change the experiences—by reforming parenting, education, the media, and social rewards—and you can change the person. Underachievement, poverty, and antisocial behavior can be ameliorated; indeed, it is irresponsible not to do so. And discrimination on the basis of purportedly inborn traits of a sex or ethnic group is simply irrational.
The Blank Slate is often accompanied by two other doctrines, which have also attained a sacred status in modern intellectual life. My label for the first of the two is commonly attributed to the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), though it really comes from John Dryden's The Conquest of Granada, published in 1670:
I am as free as Nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of servitude began,
When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
The concept of the noble savage was inspired by European colonists' discovery of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Africa, and (later) Oceania. It captures the belief that humans in their natural state are selfless, peaceable, and untroubled, and that blights such as greed, anxiety, and violence are the products of civilization. In 1755 Rousseau wrote:
So many authors have hastily concluded that man is naturally cruel, and requires a regular system of police to be reclaimed; whereas nothing can be more gentle than him in his primitive state, when placed by nature at an equal distance from the stupidity of brutes and the pernicious good sense of civilized man. . . .
The more we reflect on this state, the more convinced we shall be that it was the least subject of any to revolutions, the best for man, and that nothing could have drawn him out of it but some fatal accident, which, for the public good, should never have happened. The example of the savages, most of whom have been found in this condition, seems to confirm that mankind was formed ever to remain in it, that this condition is the real youth of the world, and that all ulterior improvements have been so many steps, in appearance towards the perfection of individuals, but in fact towards the decrepitness of the species.
First among the authors that Rousseau had in mind was Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who had presented a very different picture:
Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man. . . .
In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
Hobbes believed that people could escape this hellish existence only by surrendering their autonomy to a sovereign person or assembly. He called it a leviathan, the Hebrew word for a monstrous sea creature subdued by Yahweh at the dawn of creation.
Much depends on which of these armchair anthropologists is correct. If people are noble savages, then a domineering leviathan is unnecessary. Indeed, by forcing people to delineate private property for the state to recognize—property they might otherwise have shared—the leviathan creates the very greed and belligerence it is designed to control. A happy society would be our birthright; all we would need to do is eliminate the institutional barriers that keep it from us. If, in contrast, people are naturally nasty, the best we can hope for is an uneasy truce enforced by police and the army. The two theories have implications for private life as well. Every child is born a savage (that is, uncivilized), so if savages are naturally gentle, childrearing is a matter of providing children with opportunities to develop their potential, and evil people are products of a society that has corrupted them. If savages are naturally nasty, then childrearing is an arena of discipline and conflict, and evil people are showing a dark side that was insufficiently tamed.
The actual writings of philosophers are always more complex than the theories they come to symbolize in the textbooks. In reality, the views of Hobbes and Rousseau are not that far apart. Rousseau, like Hobbes, believed (incorrectly) that savages were solitary, without ties of love or loyalty, and without any industry or art (and he may have out-Hobbes'd Hobbes in claiming they did not even have language). Hobbes envisioned—indeed, literally drew—his leviathan as an embodiment of the collective will, which was vested in it by a kind of social contract; Rousseau's most famous work is called The Social Contract, and in it he calls on people to subordinate their interests to a "general will."
Nonetheless, Hobbes and Rousseau limned contrasting pictures of the state of nature that have inspired thinkers in the centuries since. No one can fail to recognize the influence of the doctrine of the Noble Savage in contemporary consciousness. We see it in the current respect for all things natural (natural foods, natural medicines, natural childbirth) and the distrust of the man-made, the unfashionability of authoritarian styles of childrearing and education, and the understanding of social problems as repairable defects in our institutions rather than as tragedies inherent to the human condition.
The other sacred doctrine that often accompanies the Blank Slate is usually attributed to the scientist, mathematician, and philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650):
There is a great difference between mind and body, inasmuch as body is by nature always divisible, and the mind is entirely indivisible. . . . When I consider the mind, that is to say, myself inasmuch as I am only a thinking being, I cannot distinguish in myself any parts, but apprehend myself to be clearly one and entire; and though the whole mind seems to be united to the whole body, yet if a foot, or an arm, or some other part, is separated from the body, I am aware that nothing has been taken from my mind. And the faculties of willing, feeling, conceiving, etc. cannot be properly speaking said to be its parts, for it is one and the same mind which employs itself in willing and in feeling and understanding. But it is quite otherwise with corporeal or extended objects, for there is not one of them imaginable by me which my mind cannot easily divide into parts. . . . This would be sufficient to teach me that the mind or soul of man is entirely different from the body, if I had not already been apprised of it on other grounds.
A memorable name for this doctrine was given three centuries later by a detractor, the philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976):
There is a doctrine about the nature and place of minds which is so prevalent among theorists and even among laymen that it deserves to be described as the official theory. . . . The official doctrine, which hails chiefly from Descartes, is something like this. With the doubtful exception of idiots and infants in arms every human being has both a body and a mind. Some would prefer to say that every human being is both a body and a mind. His body and his mind are ordinarily harnessed together, but after the death of the body his mind may continue to exist and function. Human bodies are in space and are subject to mechanical laws which govern all other bodies in space. . . . But minds are not in space, nor are their operations subject to mechanical laws. . . .
. . . Such in outline is the official theory. I shall often speak of it, with deliberate abusiveness, as "the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine."
The Ghost in the Machine, like the Noble Savage, arose in part as a reaction to Hobbes. Hobbes had argued that life and mind could be explained in mechanical terms. Light sets our nerves and brain in motion, and that is what it means to see. The motions may persist like the wake of a ship or the vibration of a plucked string, and that is what it means to imagine. "Quantities" get added or subtracted in the brain, and that is what it means to think.
Descartes rejected the idea that the mind could operate by physical principles. He thought that behavior, especially speech, was not caused by anything, but freely chosen. He observed that our consciousness, unlike our bodies and other physical objects, does not feel as if it is divisible into parts or laid out in space. He noted that we cannot doubt the existence of our minds-indeed, we cannot doubt that we are our minds-because the very act of thinking presupposes that our minds exist. But we can doubt the existence of our bodies, because we can imagine ourselves to be immaterial spirits who merely dream or hallucinate that we are incarnate.
Descartes also found a moral bonus in his dualism (the belief that the mind is a different kind of thing from the body): "There is none which is more effectual in leading feeble spirits from the straight path of virtue, than to imagine that the soul of the brute is of the same nature as our own, and that in consequence, after this life we have nothing to fear or to hope for, any more than the flies and the ants." Ryle explains Descartes's dilemma:
When Galileo showed that his methods of scientific discovery were competent to provide a mechanical theory which should cover every occupant of space, Descartes found in himself two conflicting motives. As a man of scientific genius he could not but endorse the claims of mechanics, yet as a religious and moral man he could not accept, as Hobbes accepted, the discouraging rider to those claims, namely that human nature differs only in degree of complexity from clockwork.
It can indeed be upsetting to think of ourselves as glorified gears and springs. Machines are insensate, built to be used, and disposable; humans are sentient, possessing of dignity and rights, and infinitely precious. A machine has some workaday purpose, such as grinding grain or sharpening pencils; a human being has higher purposes, such as love, worship, good works, and the creation of knowledge and beauty. The behavior of machines is determined by the ineluctable laws of physics and chemistry; the behavior of people is freely chosen. With choice comes freedom, and therefore optimism about our possibilities for the future. With choice also comes responsibility, which allows us to hold people accountable for their actions. And of course if the mind is separate from the body, it can continue to exist when the body breaks down, and our thoughts and pleasures will not someday be snuffed out forever.
As I mentioned, most Americans continue to believe in an immortal soul, made of some nonphysical substance, which can part company with the body. But even those who do not avow that belief in so many words still imagine that somehow there must be more to us than electrical and chemical activity in the brain. Choice, dignity, and responsibility are gifts that set off human beings from everything else in the universe, and seem incompatible with the idea that we are mere collections of molecules. Attempts to explain behavior in mechanistic terms are commonly denounced as "reductionist" or "determinist." The denouncers rarely know exactly what they mean by those words, but everyone knows they refer to something bad. The dichotomy between mind and body also pervades everyday speech, as when we say "Use your head," when we refer to "out-of-body experiences," and when we speak of "John's body," or for that matter "John's brain," which presupposes an owner, John, that is somehow separate from the brain it owns. Journalists sometimes speculate about "brain transplants" when they really should be calling them "body transplants," because, as the philosopher Dan Dennett has noted, this is the one transplant operation in which it is better to be the donor than the recipient.
The doctrines of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machine—or, as philosophers call them, empiricism, romanticism, and dualism—are logically independent, but in practice they are often found together. If the slate is blank, then strictly speaking it has neither injunctions to do good nor injunctions to do evil. But good and evil are asymmetrical: there are more ways to harm people than to help them, and harmful acts can hurt them to a greater degree than virtuous acts can make them better off. So a blank slate, compared with one filled with motives, is bound to impress us more by its inability to do harm than by its inability to do good. Rousseau did not literally believe in a blank slate, but he did believe that bad behavior is a product of learning and socialization. "Men are wicked," he wrote; "a sad and constant experience makes proof unnecessary." But this wickedness comes from society: "There is no original perversity in the human heart. There is not a single vice to be found in it of which it cannot be said how and whence it entered." If the metaphors in everyday speech are a clue, then all of us, like Rousseau, associate blankness with virtue rather than with nothingness. Think of the moral connotations of the adjectives clean, fair, immaculate, lily-white, pure, spotless, unmarred, and unsullied, and of the nouns blemish, blot, mark, stain, and taint.
The Blank Slate naturally coexists with the Ghost in the Machine, too, since a slate that is blank is a hospitable place for a ghost to haunt. If a ghost is to be at the controls, the factory can ship the device with a minimum of parts. The ghost can read the body's display panels and pull its levers, with no need for a high-tech executive program, guidance system, or CPU. The more not-clockwork there is controlling behavior, the less clockwork we need to posit. For similar reasons, the Ghost in the Machine happily accompanies the Noble Savage. If the machine behaves ignobly, we can blame the ghost, which freely chose to carry out the iniquitous acts; we need not probe for a defect in the machine's design.
Philosophy today gets no respect. Many scientists use the term as a synonym for effete speculation. When my colleague Ned Block told his father that he would major in the subject, his father's reply was "Luft!"—Yiddish for "air." And then there's the joke in which a young man told his mother he would become a Doctor of Philosophy and she said, "Wonderful! But what kind of disease is philosophy?"
But far from being idle or airy, the ideas of philosophers can have repercussions for centuries. The Blank Slate and its companion doctrines have infiltrated the conventional wisdom of our civilization and have repeatedly surfaced in unexpected places. William Godwin (1756-1835), one of the founders of liberal political philosophy, wrote that "children are a sort of raw material put into our hands," their minds "like a sheet of white paper." More sinisterly, we find Mao Zedong justifying his radical social engineering by saying, "It is on a blank page that the most beautiful poems are written." Even Walt Disney was inspired by the metaphor. "I think of a child's mind as a blank book," he wrote. "During the first years of his life, much will be written on the pages. The quality of that writing will affect his life profoundly."
Locke could not have imagined that his words would someday lead to Bambi (intended by Disney to teach self-reliance); nor could Rousseau have anticipated Pocahontas, the ultimate noble savage. Indeed, the soul of Rousseau seems to have been channeled by the writer of a recent Thanksgiving op-ed piece in the Boston Globe:
I would submit that the world native Americans knew was more stable, happier, and less barbaric than our society today. . . . there were no employment problems, community harmony was strong, substance abuse unknown, crime nearly nonexistent. What warfare there was between tribes was largely ritualistic and seldom resulted in indiscriminate or wholesale slaughter. While there were hard times, life was, for the most part, stable and predictable. . . . Because the native people respected what was around them, there was no loss of water or food resources because of pollution or extinction, no lack of materials for the daily essentials, such as baskets, canoes, shelter, or firewood.
Table of Contents
PrefacePart 1: The Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machine
Chapter 1: The Official Theory
Chapter 2: Silly Putty
Chapter 3: The Last Wall to Fall
Chapter 4: Culture Vultures
Chapter 5: The Slate's Last Stand
Part II: Fear and Loathing
Chapter 6: Political Scientists
Chapter 7: The Holy Trinity
Part III: Human Nature with a Human Face
Chapter 8: The Fear of Inequality
Chapter 9: The Fear on Imperfectibility
Chapter 10: The Fear of Determinism
Chapter 11: The Fear of Nihilism
Part IV: Know Thyself
Chapter 12: In Touch with Reality
Chapter 13: Out of Our Depths
Chapter 14: The Many Roots of Our Suffering
Chapter 15: The Sanctimonious Animal
Part V: Hot Buttons
Chapter 16: Politics
Chapter 17: Violence
Chapter 18: Gender
Chapter 19: Children
Chapter 20: The Arts
Part VI: The Voice of the Species
Appendix: Donald E. Brown's List of Human Universals
What People are Saying About This
"Steven Pinker has written an extremely good book-clear, well argued, fair, learned, tough, witty, humane, stimulating." (The Washington Post)
"Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read. It's also highly persuasive." (Time)


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A year ago, Google announced its Chrome OS project, ushering in a new front in its war on established OS vendors like Microsoft and Apple, one that is based on the web and web applications. (Read my Google Chrome OS Preview for the details.) This week, Google expanded on its plans, provided a new roadmap for its fledgling OS and padding out the supporting services that it feels will put it over the top.
I watched this week's Google event live on You Tube but tried to resist immediately writing about my reactions. As many of you know, I've been an ardent supporter of cloud computing since it became a term, and I moved my email, contacts, and calendar management out of the Outlook tar pits and up to Google services years ago and have never looked back. Too, I've championed the need for Microsoft--or, really, any platforms company--to simply turn its back on the past and start fresh with something new, built from the ground up for today's users' needs. (Historical footnote: When Microsoft began its NT project in 1989, that was the point. It's perhaps instructive to note that the company hasn't reset its platforms direction as completely since that time. That is, we're still running NT today.)
So I watch what Google is doing here, and a combined sense of dread and excitement sets in. On the one hand, I see Netscape reborn, promising to relegate Windows and its aging infrastructure to the dustbin of history. Only this time it's coming from a company, Google, that can actually make it happen, thanks to its ever-increasing cash hoard and a Terminator-like insistence on bringing its idea of the future to fruition, damn the costs. On the other hand, this is what I've always asked for. When Google says that no major new non-web applications have been created in, well, forever, they're right. When Google says that the future of computing is connected and mobile ... right again, and I've been saying that for years.
On the increasingly defensive Microsoft side of the fence, I see a disbelief that the ways of the past aren't working any more, when in fact they never really worked at all outside of a few core markets. I see a company that suddenly doesn't have the cheapest and most accessible solutions not know how to react to a competitor that is out-Microsofting it. And I see an unwillingness to change.
I'll get to some more direct Microsoft comparisons in a moment. But first, let's look at what Google announced this week, with an eye towards understanding how this impacts Microsoft, its products, and its customers. First up, the web browser.
Chrome web browser
At its event a year ago, Google said that Chrome had jumped to over 40 million active users, a figure I put in perspective by noting that Chrome accounted for barely 3 percent of all web browsers in use worldwide, behind even Safari. But those numbers have gone up dramatically since then. By mid-2010, Chrome had over 70 million active users, and as of now, the figure is a whopping 120 million users. That is simply incredible growth, about 300 percent since January of this year. Web browser market share--really, usage share--is hard to measure, but according to a median measurement of various market watchers, Chrome controls 11 percent of the browser market and is the number three browser overall, behind IE (52 percent) and Firefox (26 percent), but well ahead of Safari (5 percent) and Opera (2.5 percent).
Google's approach to Chrome is somewhat unique in that it developed the product as a "modern operating system for web applications" rather than as an application that runs under a traditional OS. This isn't just marketing speak: Chrome was actually designed, from the start, to incorporate OS features, features that will make it more compelling as the basis for an actual OS. Microsoft's approach, incidentally, is to make IE part of the OS and, in IE 9, to expose web applications to the user in ways that mimic traditional Windows applications. This makes sense--if you're the traditional OS vendor trying to maintain your market position--just as is Google's desire to wrest control of the browser--i.e. the delivery system for its own money-making services--from Microsoft (and Apple).
Google pushes three key aspect of Chrome: Speed, simplicity, and security. But let's be serious, Chrome is all about speed, and as any Chrome user will tell you, the primary reason they moved to Google's browser is that it just performs better. Give Microsoft a bit of credit for addressing this problem in IE 9, which indeed does feel about as fast as Chrome, on a new PC install. But the problem with IE 9 is that most users don't have clean PCs. And if you upgrade to IE 9 from your current IE version, it will bring along all the browser add-ons ("cruft") that were previously installed, slowing down the browser like before. This simply doesn't happen in Chrome: I've never seen this browser bog down because of add-ons, ever.
Go figure, but Google isn't sitting still in the speed department. At this week's event, the company showed off a number of performance-related tweaks that are coming to the browser. The Chrome Omnibox--its combined address bar and search box--is getting a new feature that auto-loads your most frequently-accessed web pages as you type. (What this means: If you access ESPN a lot, as in the demo, and simply type 'e' in the Omnibox, espn.com will load as you type.) Google also dramatically enhanced its PDF renderer, providing not just in-browser PDF display, but also near-instant rendering, regardless of document size.
In a bit of a jab at Microsoft and IE 9, Google is working on hardware acceleration for Chrome as well. Google is using WebGL to display web graphics using your PC's GPU. This is most certainly not as pervasive and powerful as Microsoft's all-in approach to hardware acceleration, but it wasn't by chance that Google chose an IE 9 Test Drive-like aquarium demo to make its point. (On the other hand, Google didn't bother to compare Chrome's performance here to that of other browsers, as Microsoft has done. For now, at least, Microsoft appears to have the edge in this area.)
Looking at the simplicity of Chrome, I've always appreciated this browser's low-key design. People talk about how various products "get out of the user's way" but there's a fine line between subtle and useless. Chrome somehow manages to be both subtle and useful, and really does get out of the way. Chrome's approach has been so successful, in fact, that Microsoft is aping it in IE 9, and to good effect. But let's give credit where it's due: Google was the first company to aspire to put the browser in the background, and make the web apps you use the focus. It's the right approach.
Google's simplicity--like that of IE 9's--is more than skin deep. The company highlighted some other areas in which the browser has been simplified. Software updates are seamless and automatic, something no other browser--and few applications--can claim. There are no modal dialogs, meaning small windows that pop-up and block your access to other browser windows. And this week, Google announced a new major area of simplicity: if you turn on Chrome Sync, you can sync every aspect of the browser--bookmarks, themes, extensions, and so on--to the cloud, so that your browser will always look and work the same way, no matter what PC or device you use. And this feature works: I'm on the Google Beta channel and have been using it for months. There's nothing like it on the IE side, certainly nothing as automatic, fast, and seamless.
As any Internet user will tell you, security is always a paramount concern. In Windows, Microsoft has worked for years to shore up the underlying platform and, in particular, its flagship browser. Those efforts have been largely successful, but there's still an underlying impression that Windows users somehow need to be extra careful online, and sales figures for unnecessary Internet security suites speak volumes to this perception. More important, perhaps, real threats do exist. And they continue to evolve.
Google highlighted three main areas of Chrome security this week: The seamless, automatic updates, its sandboxing of web applications/tabs, and a new feature called plug-in sandboxing. The automatic updates feature is nice, and cause Chrome to work like a web application: It's something that Google just takes care of for you, and one less thing that you have to worry about. Microsoft's approach here, of course, is to give the user choice. But the way it really works is that users have to think about security and wander over to Windows Update on their own occasionally to make sure everything is up to date.
Sandboxing is a traditional software development technique in which code is contained within a certain virtual space, or boundary, and is unable to affect--or infect--other similarly sandboxed code. Sandboxing occurs throughout Windows, both through innate functionality that has existed since the dawn of NT--the imperfect memory space sandboxing of applications, for example--and via functionality that's been tacked on over the years.
According to Google, only Chrome offers "true" sandboxing among browsers. It sandboxes web pages already, and via a new feature it will offer browser plug-in (what Microsoft calls add-on) sandboxing too. Making this work is difficult, since plug-in vendors have certain expectations around their ability to integrate with the browser. But Google says it is working with the major plug-in makers, including Adobe, to ensure that their plug-ins are sandboxed properly but still function. It's unclear if this feature is available in any form currently, but it appears to be more of a future direction than a currently shipping, widely-available feature. That said, plug-ins/add-ons is one area that Microsoft has ignored in IE 9, most likely because it simply has too much work to do elsewhere. But I think this is a mistake, and the IE add-on model needs an overhaul. (This isn't strictly related, but IE provides no way to remove add-ons directly, while add-ons can often magically just appear in the browser without the user's explicit consent.)
IE 9 vs. Chrome
When Microsoft revealed its plans for the IE 9 user experience back in September, there were some cries of Chrome copying--the clean new UI, and so on--but I think most understood why Microsoft is heading in this direction. To me, the biggest new features in IE 9 are those related to Windows 7 integration. Those users with both Windows 7 and IE 9 can mix and match local Windows applications with web apps on the taskbar, and switch between them as if they were the same thing because, logically, they really are the same thing. (Read more about this functionality in my review, Internet Explorer 9 Beta, Part 3: Windows 7 Integration.)
Of course, Chrome offers a similar ability to create application shortcuts for web sites and apps, though it's much more limited than the IE 9 offering. That is, yes, Chrome will let you create a shortcut to a web app--say, Gmail--on the Windows 7 taskbar. And yes, when you click that shortcut, Gmail launches as a pseudo-application in its own right, with no browser "chrome" and its own place in the ALT-TAB windows management hierarchy.
IE 9 goes quite a bit farther, adding support for Windows features like Jump Lists, Aero Snap, icon overlays, and thumbnail preview controls. These are all useful features, though web sites/apps will need to support them explicitly. But I'm not sure they make a difference. Remember IE 8 features like the Favorites Bar, Web Slices, and Accelerators? Probably not: Few people actually used these features, and it's possible that the IE 9 integration features--which, frankly, require a lot more work and foreknowledge on the user's part--will suffer from a similar fate.
And then there's the simple matter of supporting the stuff people really use. I happen to use Gmail, Google Calendar, and Picasa, so guess which browser application shortcuts work better for these particular web apps? It's not IE 9, and even if I chose to use IE 9 as my daily use browser, I'd still create application shortcuts for these services with Chrome. To a new generation of users, Google-friendly products are increasingly relevant. So it's neat that Jango has IE 9/Windows 7 integration. But who the heck uses Jango?
But there's more. While Microsoft has been glacially developing IE 9 over an incredibly, almost inexcusably long period, Google has delivered 8 Chrome versions in rapid succession, all released without fanfare. The situation with IE 9 now reminds me of that of Windows 2000, which went through a similar (if lengthier) development process, one that was so long that Microsoft just started adding features to the product over time, since the market was changing. So too, with IE 9: This week, in response to the FTC's call for Do Not Track functionality in browsers, Microsoft announced that, sure, they could add that to the ever-in-beta IE 9. What the heck. It's never coming out anyway.
Mark my words: If and when Google decides to add this kind of functionality to Chrome, it will just be a feature of the next version and it will ship in a few months, and then they'll move on to the next version and whatever new features that has. With Microsoft, it's like the white smoke going up before the introduction of a new pope. It's a major event for some reason, and it's a feature that wasn't even on the drawing boards two months ago.
But back to the theme of giving people what they want. In part two of this series, I'll look at Google's new Chrome Web Store, which provides a way for people to find web applications and "install" them in their browser. This is iTunes for web applications, people, and why Microsoft has nothing like this in IE (or in Windows for that matter) is unclear. But you can be sure that when they do announce something like this, it will be a big deal, it will come to many months--or years--too late, and it will be accompanied by another round of handwringing on the parts of people, like me, who don't understand why, how, or when Microsoft lost its mojo.
The Internet moves quickly. Google moves quickly with it. Microsoft, I think, wants to maintain a comfortable, almost stately, gait, one that made sense in, say, 1993. That's not going to cut it in this new world. I feel like I've been issuing this same warning for years, of course, and while I sometimes do see little signs of life--IE 9 really is high-quality, by the way, Windows Phone 7 is hugely innovative, and Windows 7 was competent to shut up the Mac fanatics for a while--I'm concerned about the big picture. I'm concerned about the perceptions. And I'm concerned about the execution.
Google quick, Microsoft slow. Google right, Microsoft wrong. Google win, Microsoft lose? We'll see.
More soon...

subset: commoncrawl


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20110122-12011, digital image and unique archival pigment printCopyright S.Monnier 2011 The zoomable versions of the works are currently unavailable. Bookmark or share Back to the index A blog post related to this work: February 1st 2011 Truchet and MondrianRecently I wrote a variation on the Truchet pattern. Recall that the Truchet pattern involves a tiling as well as a set of decorated tiles. The decorated tiles are distributed randomly on the tiling, creating a pattern. In the variation, instead of having a fixed set of decoration, a decoration for each (square) tiles is constructed as follows. Through each edge of the tile, there will be a segment of line perpendicular to it. The actual location of the line segment is chosen randomly. Inside the tile, the line segment coming from all four edges are somehow combined to complete the decoration. When they are assembled, an interesting pattern appears.
A typical tile decoration. The endpoints on the edges of the outgoing segments are chosen randomly. Nine tiles. The edges of the tiles are drawn in light gray. The pattern is drawn in black. The pattern, without the underlying tiling. Now we can color the middle regions of each tile and get something reminiscent of Mondrian's famous pattern. The second image is simply a zoom, to get the size of the pattern compared to the size of the image in a ratio closer to Mondrian's paintings.
Of course it is not very interesting to draw Mondrian-like pictures, and in order to do this, one could simply draw random vertical lines, horizontal lines and color some of the resulting regions. What is interesting about this way of drawing Mondrian-like pattern is that it is local. The algorithm needs to know only what is going on in the tile the pixel belongs to. Such "pixel by pixel" drawing algorithms can be scaled easily and are well-suited for pattern piling. Here are two pictures resulting from piling Mondrian-like patterns. Click on the pictures for zoomable images. The two pictures differ only by their "magnification step", namely the scaling factor between two piled patterns. It is equal to 2 in the first one and to 6 in the second one.
20110121-1 20110122-1 [Update : A picture of the fractal Mondrian pattern is available as open edition prints here.]


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- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:22 06:35 12:33 15:53 18:26 19:39
Novak Djokovic has reinvented himself from precocious but fragile talent to set new standards in men's tennis, raising the bar set by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The 25-year-old once had a reputation for retirements, seen graphically at the 2009 Australian Open when, as defending champion, he pulled out of his quarter-final with Andy Roddick citing exhaustion in the extreme heat.
But Djokovic underwent a transformation, dropping gluten from his diet and changing his training habits, and after helping Serbia win the 2010 Davis Cup he put together one of the finest seasons ever seen in 2011.
Jaws dropped, and kept on dropping, when he went 41 matches unbeaten at the start of the year, picking up seven titles along the way including his second Australian Open win.
Trophies at Wimbledon and the US Open followed as Djokovic finished the season with a 70-6 win-loss record, a haul of 10 tournament victories and as year-end number one for the first time.
The wins kept on flowing last year as Djokovic defended his Australian Open title and reached the French and US Open finals, and again finished the season as world number one.
But it was in the Melbourne final that he won his reputation as an iron man as, after a five-hour semi-final with Andy Murray, he came out on top of a record 5hr 53min final with Nadal, the sport's toughest battler.
"You know, Fed raised it; Nadal matched and raised it; Djokovic, for that intense little period of time, even raised it," commented American great Andre Agassi.
"It's been amazing watching the standard continually get better. You wonder how it's possible to continue at that sort of rate," he said.
At this year's Australian Open, Djokovic's amazing powers of recovery came into focus after he went five punishing sets against Stanislas Wawrinka, but showed no ill-effects in his quarter-final with Tomas Berdych.
After his near-perfect, 89-minute demolition of Spain's David Ferrer in the semi-finals, Djokovic found time to dress up as a doctor and amuse the crowd by pretending to examine Henri Leconte.
And in Sunday's final, Djokovic wore down US Open champion Andy Murray in four physical sets to win 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-2, clinching the first hat-trick of Australian Open titles in 46 years.
Details of his recovery programme are a closely guarded secret, but Djokovic insists there is nothing untoward.
"After five hours of match, you need to really put a lot of time into recovery, different kinds of recoveries. As I said, I understand that many people have many different views and opinions, and I respect that.
"But I'm doing everything that is legal, that is correct, that is natural that I can, possibly can in my power, and it's working well."
And after beating Murray, Djokovic displayed his renowned charm and largesse by personally handing out chocolates to journalists in the press room.
"Every tournament, especially the major tournaments, is very special," he said. "It's very thrilling. I'm full of joy right now. It's going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season, that's for sure."
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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About us
British Paulson is an old hereditary surname derived from a patronymic, and it has been in use since 1100-1400.
It is thus well suited for Y-DNA surname genealogy. The name will have been used through unbroken paternal lines for 20 or more generations.
Scandinavian Paulsson - Paulsen have only been in use as hereditary last name since around 1850.
It was originally a Scandinavian patronymic, and not a surname. The name will have followed paternal lines for 3-5 generations only. Scandinavian Paulson lines from Denmark, Sweden or Norway should rather join the geographical projects for the area, see list below.
Paulsen with various spellings from a line of Scandinavian ancestry, show that you in your paternal line have someone called Paul! Paul or Pål is a common first (given) name in the three Scandinavian countries. The last name Paulson has only been in use as last name since around 1850, thus not being suitable for Y-DNA surname research. Scandinavians with last name Paulsson are not related or descendants from the same family, instead it means that they had an ancestor whose given name was Paul, and that the family started to use the patronymic Paulsen as a new hereditary last name, sometime around 1800-1900 or on emigration to America.
A patronymic chosen as family name is called a frozen patronymic.
The -sen versions are mainly Danish or Norwegian, the -son versions are Swedish or Norwegian.
The use of frozen patronymic names as family names only go back 2-6 generations from people today. This is not enough to use it as for Y-DNA surname research, which relies on the principle that surnames are inherited unchanged from father to son through the centuries (just like the Y-chromosome). For Frozen patronymic names this is not the case.People with patronymic last names from Denmark, Norway or Sweden should join the geographical projects for the area.
If country of origin is known, please join one of these projects - and note that the project admins will assist in adding you to the most relevant ones:
A patronymic name (pater=father, latin) is a name constructed from the father's given name. In Norse custom patronyms and matronyms were formed by using the ending -son (later -søn and -sen in Danish and Norwegian) to indicate "son of", and -dóttir (Icelandic -dóttir, Swedish and Norwegian -dotter, Danish and Norwegian -datter) for "daughter of". This name was used as a descriptive name for most Scandinavians. Sometimes also a third name based on location or personal characteristic was added to differentiate people.
The patronymic system gradually disappeared and was replaced with a last name system in all three Scandinavian countries:
- Denmark during 1828-1904
- Sweden around 1900
- Norway in 1923
Families would then adopt a name, either a patronymic in recent use, a farm name (Norway) or place name from the family history, a soldier name (Sweden) or other to be their hereditary last name.
- Patronymic: a descriptive name telling us the first name of the person's father
- Surname: a hereditary last name normally inherited from one's father, that can be used to follow a paternal line back in time, shared by the whole family
- Last name: a last name is used by an individual and his/her family, normally inherited from one of the parents. A last name can be a hereditary surname, a former farm name, a frozen patronymic or other variants, and was introduced in Denmark from 1828, in Sweden from 1850 and in Norway in 1923.
- Frozen Patronymic: A former patronymic (male form, -sen or -son) adopted by a family as their new last name, family name. It is not considered a surname.
We therefore assist our members with Scandinavian origin in rather joining the geographical projects and haplogroup projects for their results.
This project function as a Portal to DNA-testing for people who are not sure which project to join.
For British origin Paulson, we explore Y-DNA lines and common origin.
Scandinavia and the Nordic Countries
- Scandinavia = Denmark + Norway + Sweden
- Nordic countries = Scandinavia + Finland + Iceland
In Iceland the patronymic names are still used, and people do not have hereditary surnames.
Finland is one of the Nordic countries together with the Scandinavian countries, but it is not part of Scandinavia, and has a very different language as well as a naming tradition. In Finland hereditary surnames have been used for many centuries.
Read more:
- Patronymic Last Names
- Adding Names and Ancestors to your FTDNA Account
- Norwegian Names
- Which Projects Should I Join?


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Through cooperative planning by the City of Fairfield and Butler County Transportation Improvement District (TID), the SR 4 Bypass is being widened to four lanes from SR 4 to SR 129. A 6 lane section will run from Symmes Road to Tylersville Road. A Superstreet Intersection design will be utilized for the intersections of the Bypass with Hamilton-Mason, Tylersville and Symmes Roads. (local news clip and ODOT information/contacts)
Within the City of Fairfield, the intersection of the Bypass and Port Union Road will be widened; an additional bridge over the CSX railroad will be constructed; and the intersection of the Bypass with State Route 4/Ross Road will be modified to utilize a new Quadrant Roadway Intersection (PDF) design that will split the traffic between multiple intersections, improving the flow of traffic. See the remaining links for more information on this design. FHWA's full Alternative Intersection and Interchanges Report can be viewed in its entirety at FHWA's website.
In addition to the widening between SR 4 and SR 129, the TID is working on a potential plan for lanes north of Route 129. The initial widening, however, will only involve the Bypass to the south of SR 129.
The City of Fairfield, LJB Inc., and Sunesis Construction received the 2012 Donald C. Schramm Award from the American Society of Highway Engineers - Triko Valley Section for the category of construction projects over $3,000,000.
In addition, the project also was awarded an Honor Award (PDF) from the American Council of Engineering Companies.
Get information from the APWA Reporter (PDF).


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SoundMAGIC E10 In Ear Isolating Earphones, Gold - Refurbished
SoundMAGICSoundMAGIC E10 - Refurbished
These earphones have been sold via Amazon and returned to us as not required but in near perfect condition. We have cleaned, tested them and replaced any missing accessories.
SoundMAGIC's award winning earphones get better and better with each revision. Now fitted with an anti-tangle twisted-pair high-fidelity audio cable, E10 is the perfect earphone for everyday use. Remaining incredible value for money, the E10 keeps on winning high praise from listeners worldwide.
SoundMAGIC's acoustic engineers carefully configured the drivers of the E10 to produce exciting sound with powerful bass and balanced musical detail. They punch well above their weight in terms of sound quality. The in-ear design combined with the right eartip makes sure the sound is not lost or diluted. Sitting comfortably in the earcanal, the E10 ensures hours of fatigue-free listening fun.
Machined in one piece, the metal earphone housing make the E10 tough enough to withstand the rigours of everyday use. The splitter and jack connector of the E10 are also made of metal ensuring a long life of the earphones. Inside the sheath of the cord the twisted wiring ensures a tangle-free listening experience.
Entertaining musical detail with powerful bass.
Musical Detail & Powerful Bass
SoundMAGIC's engineers have tuned the drivers of the E10 to deliver a heavy bottom end. Delivering deep rolling bass balanced with superb musical detail, the E10 creates an exciting and fun listening experience.
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Machined in one piece, the metal earphone body makes the E10 robust and ready for the rigours of everyday life, whatever you throw at them. These earphones are built to last.
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Carefully chosen colours have been combined to make the E10 not only a feast for the ears but the eyes as well. Choose from four vibrant variations to suit your style.
Twisted Cable
Inside the sheath of the cord a twisted cable ensures a tangle-free listening experience.
Comfort Fit
Ergonomically designed sound tubes sit perfectly in the ear canal and stay in the ear comfortably without falling out.
Sound Isolation
The in-ear design combined with the right eartips seals music in and leaves unwanted noise out. Lower volume requirements allow you to protect your hearing from damage loud music can cause.
Sound Signature
Weighty bass response, clear vocals and sparkling trebles.
SoundMAGIC E10 Reviews
What Hi-Fi? 2011, 2012 & 2013 Award Winner: Best In-Ear Headphone under £40
"These are exceptional for the money, and the new affordable choice for those looking to upgrade those bundled buds."
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"These brilliant earbuds pack an awesome punch, excellent balance from treble to bass and loads of detail. A stylish and durable makes the E10s feel much more expensive than they actually are."
Anythingbutipod Celebrates E10 with Editor's Choice Award
"I can really recommend the Soundmagic E10 if one's looking for a natural, dynamic, non-fatiguing sound signature. They provide honest, effortless reproduction of audio material. The E10 are definitely worth their money, and then some."
Macworld Evaluation of SoundMAGIC E10 Earphones - Impressive
"Impressive but affordable upgrade. If you're thinking about buying a new set of earphones to replace the standard issue iPod ones, SoundMAGIC's E10 is definitely worth considering."
KNOWYOURMOBILE Assesses SoundMAGIC E10
"Overall we love these headphones. The price is right, the sound is great and the build quality is second-to-none. What more could you want?"
German Review Website Kopfhoerer.com Examines E10 - Editor's Choice
"The metal casing of the E10 is sturdy and well made. With an almost perfect fit the bass is impressive, hard and precise. In this price range that could hardly be better."
Technical Specifications
- Driver: Dynamic 10mm Neodymium
- Frequency range: 15Hz - 22kHz
- Impedance: 46Ω
- Sensitivity: 100dB at 1kHz/mW
- Cable length: 1.2m
- Connection: Gold-plated straight stereo 3.5mm
- Earphone body material: Aluminium
- Weight: 11g
SoundMAGIC E10 Features
- Unique, all metal earphone construction
- Powerful bass balanced with superb musical detail
- Comfortable fit and distinctive design
- Robust metal earphone built to last
- Tangle-free twisted cable
Package Includes
- SoundMAGIC E10 Earphones in Black & Gold
- 3 pairs dome shaped silicone eartips (S/M/L)
- 3 pairs flat silicone eartips (S/M/L)
- 1 pair Double Flange silicone eartips (M)
- Cable clip
- Travel pouch


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Empire to Commonwealth: Consequenses of Monotheism in Late Antiquity By Garth Fowden
Princeton University Press, 206 pages, $17.95
This smart, elegant book is about many things. Here is one of them:
When Constantine became a Christian he created a golden opportunity to unite a wholeheartedly universalist religion and its abundance of scriptural authority and missionary impetus with an empire's forces of political, military, and economic expansion in order to create a genuine world empire.
Even before Constantine, Rome had universalist tendencies. Roman authorities expected the official religious cults to bind the allegiance and affection of the remotest provincials to Rome, "the temple of the whole world." Even during the turmoil of the third century, when the Eternal City's attractions became "decreasingly meaningful," a new god, Sol Invictus (with the emperor as his "Living Law"), became for a time the bearer of Rome's universalizing tendencies. With the Emperor Constantine's conversion, however, the Christian historian Eusebius could join Roman ideals with the new faith and proclaim the advent of "One God, One Empire, One Emperor." Roman universalism and missionary monotheism became inseparably bound in a dynamic synthesis of power and knowledge in a way never before seen. Of course, Constantine's Empire soon went the way of all empires. But Constantine's synthesis endured.
It was the empire of Constantine, not that of Scipio or Augustus, that was transformed into the four commonwealths that became the medieval bearers of the antique heritage: the First and Second Byzantine commonwealths, the Islamic caliphate, and Latin Christendom.
In the sixth century John of Ephesus defined a commonwealth as "the politeia of the party of the believers." John was a Monophysite Christian (those who exaggerated Christ's divinity at the expense of his humanity), an anti-Chalcedonian. And thereby hangs the tale both of why Constantine mattered and also of what he could not do. In Fowden's telling, monotheism is creative and dynamic but not necessarily proselytizing. Monotheism may not be universalizing but it is likely to be rigidly opposed to other religious beliefs and practices. If a rigid and dynamic monotheism is linked to a rigid and dynamic political force that can create a climate favorable to conversion, then "world empire" will be the result.
In some ways Fowden takes "world" to mean any area whose inhabitants can plausibly claim that it is the world. But in antiquity there was a very special region that thought of itself as the center of the world-the band of lands running from Arabia through Syria-Palestine to Mesopotamia where the world's three great monotheisms all arose. This region was ringed by mountains that ran from Armenia to Ethiopia. On either side of this heartland lay competing powers with universal pretensions: Rome and Persia (Iran).
The Persians conquered these lands first but could not hold them because their imperial institutions were too weak and because their cultural demands were too few. Rome correctly saw that Persia was its greatest potential foe and therefore struggled mightily to control the territories that lay between Constantinople and Ctesiphon. But rigid monotheism, says Fowden, calls heresy into being. The lands from Armenia to Ethiopia that formed a bulwark against Persian advance were also an anti-Chalcedonian block (those who held that the divine and human persons remained separate in the incarnate Christ) of Monophysites, Nestorians, and others. These peoples, these politeiai of believers, rallied around local clergy, maintaining a belief in their own orthodoxy and becaming members of a "commonwealth." Roman Constantinople could not coerce these people and had to maintain civil relations with them in order to retain some sense that there was still a world empire in the eastern Mediterranean. Where Christianity had once been a means for the center to forge bonds with the periphery, Christianity was now giving the periphery the means to define itself against the center. And thus the ancient world passed from empire to commonwealth.
Usually, as Fowden notes, historians tell a story of Rome evolving into the medieval commonwealth of Western, Latin Christendom. But Constantine's unwitting legacy lay in the pattern of the several commonwealths that succeeded to the Roman Empire. The first of these was in the east and so was the second, the vast Islamic caliphate. To those who have always seen the progression of Western history as a Translatio Imperii and a Translatio Studii running from Jerusalem to Athens to Rome to Paris, Fowden introduces the Nestorian Catholicos Timothy I (780-823). Timothy asserted the primacy of Ctesiphon over the patriarchates of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople because the east had been honored above all lands, the Garden of Eden was in the East, Nimrod had been the first man to wear a crown, Christ's ancestors according to the flesh had come from the East, and the Magi of the East had embraced Christianity before the rest of the world. Here, as Fowden says, was a path out of antiquity that did not lead to the Renaissance.The second commonwealth arose from the disintegration of the Islamic caliphate in the middle of the ninth century. Fowden draws out the interesting parallels between Constantine and Muhammad. Each grew up in an environment rich with monotheism; each saw himself as the equal of the prophets and apostles; each had an intense desire to spread his faith. Muhammad produced a new secular order, a new revelation of the One God, and a new religion (although the latter may not have been among his original intentions). By Islam's conquest of all the old monotheist heartlands and the Persian plateau, the conditions for an Islamic world empire were met. But with the conquests of Egypt and Iran it became clear that Islam would not be an exclusively Arab faith. As non-Arab peoples converted to Islam, they demanded a share of the power initially wielded by an Arab elite, and the Islamic empire of the caliphs broke down into a commonwealth-a commonwealth whose common denominator was broadly cultural and religious rather than political. It is a shame that Fowden does not devote serious attention to the other two commonwealths that emerged from Constantine's Rome. The third was the Slavic world of Orthodox Christianity that maintained varying and complex relations with Constantinople. Here there was no heresy but neither was there a political bond. This commonwealth differs from the others, yet Fowden does not say how it was formed or what sustained it. The fourth was the Latin Christian and Fowden says not a word about it, which is regrettable for many reasons. Universalizing, missionary, monotheistic dynamics were potent features of Charlemagne's Europe. The great Frank called his people a "New Israel" and boldly contested both Muslims and Byzantines on grounds of universality. The Europe of the high Middle Ages is arguably a commonwealth that emerged from the ruins of the Carolingian Empire of the eighth and ninth centuries. If Fowden rightly says that some roads out of antiquity did not lead to the Renaissance, it is undeniable that other roads led straight to that destination. Even the Europe of the Reformation may be seen as a commonwealth in which believers maintained communal horizontal bonds with one another on the plane of culture while establishing independent bonds between themselves and God.
Moreover, the very period between a.d. 400 to 600, when the First Byzan tine Commonwealth appeared, saw a series of kingdoms in the western Mediterranean that retained close connections with Constantinople, used Latin and various administrative relics of the western Roman provinces, and professed Christianity-Arian Christianity, for the most part. It is true that these kingdoms either converted to Catholicism or disappeared. But for a time they represented a remarkable analogue to Fowden's eastern Commonwealth. What was crucial here, Roman inheritances or the Christian faith? Presumably these lands do not draw Fowden's attention because they did not lie between Constantinople and Ctesiphon and because they did not sit atop the key centers of monotheism. But the Slavs and their commonwealth, not to mention that of Charlemagne, fail on these scores too. Fowden seems too anxious to avoid roads that lead to the Renaissance.
Fowden's conceptual framework provides interesting perspectives for thinking about why communism could not come to the aid of the Soviet Empire to produce either a world empire or a successor commonwealth. Likewise, we can see through Fowden's lens why the more admirable but no less secular ideologies of the West have produced neither world empire nor commonwealth in modern times. I am sorry that Fowden did not pursue these themes just a little. Had he stopped with late antiquity I would have expressed no such disappointment, but Fowden invites some criticism by concluding an intelligent and erudite book with a set of superficial and strained reflections on multiculturalism and the global village.
Fowden simply asserts that monotheism is rigid and that its rigidity will generate heresy. A moment's reflection on the history of Judaism will lead to doubt about Fowden's assertion. And heresy is merely one of many possible fault lines in the Christian world. Consider the many- colored cloak of American Christianity. Which color is the one against which the others are to be judged? Do religious differences alone cause empires to fragment into commonwealths? The American experience would suggest not. So one might ask of late antiquity whether it was other than religious forces that gathered some communities together while driving others apart. Fowden has thought hard and creatively about some important questions. But there are, perhaps, more things in his world, and in ours, than he has thought to think about.
Thomas F. X. Noble teaches in the Department of History at the University of Virginia. His latest book, coedited with Thomas Head, is Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints' Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.


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The SBA 7(A) loan is the most popular national program for small business owners with very good reason- we'll guide you through what you need to know.
4 Trends Transforming The Auto Industry
The Restaurant Industry in 2019: Growth Trends & Funding Options
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Small business loans hit record high at big banks nationwide, bounce back to pre-shutdown levels at SBA as commercial lending experts connect small businesses with funding in 2019 Los Angeles, CA (February 18, 2019)—After being shuttered for nearly a month due to the...
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"I have formatted my phone and then I lost my messages and Contacts. What should I do? I haven't backup data on computer. Please help! PS: My mobile phone is HTC One M9."
What's the main cause of deleting data from HTC devices? If SIM Card in your HTC One broke down, you have to format your phone. But it will lead to loss of data in your phone. If you cancel messages, contacts or photos in your phone by mistake, can you resume them? Of course you can. With Android Data Recovery, it's easy for you to get your deleted files back.
Android Data Recovery is specially designed for people to retrieve information including messages, Contacts and SMS and more from HTC phone and other Android devices. With an elegant and friendly interface, you can manage the app with ease.Free download the trial version from here.
Note: Please don't import new data into your phone. Otherwise, your original files will be overwritten. We will guide you on the following part. Let's take recovering Messages as an example.
How to Recover Deleted Data from HTC Devices
Step 1. Connect your M9 with Computer
After you download the app, install and run it. Connect your HTC to computer and it will detect your HTC automatically.
When a window pops up to remind you to enable USB debugging, please click here: "Settings > Developer options > check USB debugging". If it cannot work, follow "Setting > About > Software Information > More" to tap "Build Number" for 7 times to be a developer, so you can check debugging again from "Settings > "Develper options".
Step 2. Select the Type of Files you Want to Recover
After your M9 connect your PC successfully, the window below will ask you to select the type of data you just want to recover. If you want to recover data from HTC, please tick "Select all" and click "Next"
Step 3. Scan your HTC One for Data
Turn to your phone, there is a request to remind you. Just click "Allow" and then back to desktop, click "Start".When your phone is been scanning, please keep M9 with computer. Android Data Recovery can scan lost data including Contacts, Messages, videos, photos and audio. If you would not like to scan videos or photos, you can stop it.
Step 4. Recover Deleted Data from HTC One
On the left column, there are files which you can recover. The deleted files and existing files are separated in different colors. You can only display the deleted items by clicking the button on the top. Mark the data and then click "Recover".
Well done! The information you want to regain have save onto your computer with the help of Android Data Recovery. Maybe you can't wait to try it, just download it from here.


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U.S. Farmers Expected to Plant Record-High Soybean Acreage in 2014
April 1, 2014
Producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant an estimated 81.5 million acres of soybeans in 2014, which is up 6 percent from last year and an all-time record high, according to the Prospective Plantings report recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). If achieved, soybeans will surpass the previous record of 77.5 million acres planted in the United States that was set in 2009.
Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are up or unchanged in all states except Missouri and Oklahoma. The largest increase is expected in North Dakota with a record high 5.65 million acres, an increase of one million acres from 2013. If realized, the planted area of soybeans in Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin will also be the largest on record.
Corn growers intend to plant 91.7 million acres in 2014, down 4 percent from last year and if realized the lowest planted acreage since 2010. Expected returns for corn are anticipated to be lower in 2014 compared with recent years. Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts and Utah are expected to increase planted acreage from last year. If realized, planted acres in Idaho will be a record high.
The Prospective Plantings report provides the first official, survey based estimates of U.S. farmers' 2014 planting intentions. NASS's acreage estimates are based on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of March from a sample of more than 84,000 farm operators across the United States. Other key findings in the report are:
All wheat planted area for 2014 is estimated at 55.8 million acres, down 1 percent from 2013.
Winter wheat planted area, at 42.0 million, is down 3 percent from last year but up slightly from the previous estimate.
Area planted to spring wheat for 2014 is expected to total 12.0 million acres, up 4 percent from 2013.
Durum wheat is expected to total 1.80 million acres for 2014, up 22 percent from last year.
All cotton planted area for 2014 is expected to total 11.1 million acres, 7 percent above last year.
NASS today also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of March 1. Key findings in that report include:
Soybeans stored totaled 992 million bushels, down 1 percent from March 1, 2013. On-farm soybean stocks were down 16 percent from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 13 percent.
Corn stocks totaled 7.01 billion bushels, up 30 percent from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were up 45 percent from a year ago, and off-farm stocks were up 15 percent.
All wheat stored totaled 1.06 billion bushels, down 15 percent from a year ago. On-farm all wheat stocks were up slightly from last year, while off-farm stocks were down 18 percent.
Durum wheat stored totaled 38.1 million bushels, down 10 percent from March 1, 2013. Both on-farm and off-farm stocks of Durum wheat were down from the previous year, 3 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
The Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks reports and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov.
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Press Release
Easter Parade Featured on EarthCam in Live Streaming Video Webcast Annual New York City Fifth Avenue Tradition Attracts Thousands FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, April 1, 2010 -- EarthCam (www.earthcam.com), the Internet's premier global webcam network, will webcast Fifth Avenue's Annual Easter Parade on Sunday, April 4, from a location near St. Patrick's Cathedral. The streaming video camera with audio is located one block south of the cathedral. EarthCam will transmit live views of New York City's traditional spring stroll, known for creative bonnets, the latest fashion and some outlandish outfits, from 10am-4pm ET. Described as the "most unorganized" parade in the city, the event has been an annual tradition since the mid-1800s. The live views of the Easter finery are also available for the iPhone and iPod Touch by searching "Fifth Avenue Cam" within the Live Cams – EarthCam application. After the Easter Parade, the camera will continue to offer 24/7 live views of Fifth Avenue from the unique EarthCam vantage point above the famous avenue including daily activities, major parades and traditional events throughout the year. EarthCam.com, the premier international network of live public access webcams, is recognized internationally as the leader in complete infrastructure services to manage, host and maintain live streaming public and private, password-protected network camera systems. The company delivers millions of images daily for business and industry, as well as federal, state and local government. EarthCam's more than 13 years of experience includes developing products and software to maintain and manage thousands of applications. Clients include Paramount Pictures, New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Pictures, Clear Channel Communications, PBS, ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, CNN, MTV, Major League Baseball, NFL, This Old House, Coca-Cola, Sprint, Volkswagen, GE, Yahoo! and NASA. Clients in more than 1,500 cities in all 50 states and 46 countries rely on EarthCam webcam systems. Visit EarthCam at www.earthcam.com. ### |


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John Holmes is among the biggest male stars to have ever worked in the adult industry, achieving household name status during the 1970s-80s. His filmography is comprised of as many as 2,500 hardcore movies and film loops over nearly 20 years, from 1969-1988. Holmes rose to stardom because of his legendary penis size, which was promoted as the largest in the business -- as big as 12.5 inches. He is said to have had sex with as many as 3,000 women during his career.
Holmes was born John Curtis Estes on August 8, 1944 in Ashville, Ohio. His father left when John was an infant. When John was two, his mother married Harold Holmes and changed her children's last names. It was a troubled marriage lasting only two years. John's mother married Harold Bowman when John was eight. At age 16, escaping a troubled home life, John joined the army and spent the next three years in Germany with the Signal Corps. After leaving the military he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as an ambulance driver and forklift operator. One day, in the bathroom of a club, a man talked him into doing nude pin-ups. In the late '60s John acted in his first 8mm hardcore film loops. Due to the porn laws of the time, none of these films were legally available. Only in the early '70s, when movies like DEVIL IN MISS JONES and DEEP THROAT drew lots of people into theaters, did porn become more acceptable and finally legalized. During that time John Holmes found his most popular role, that of smooth-talking private dick Johnny Wadd, which he played in several films. Although known for his work in straight porn, in 1983 Holmes starred in a gay porn flick titled THE PRIVATE PLEASURES OF JOHN HOLMES. His final film was THE DEVIL IN MR. HOLMES.
At the height of his career Holmes earned $3,000 a day as an adult film actor. Even in his private life, rich men and women paid huge amounts of money to party with him. He fell on hard times during the late '70s, partially as a result of cocaine use, and was at one point charged with four gang-related murders (later acquitted, after spending 110 days behind bars). In the '80s, his career was less prolific.
In 1986 Holmes tested HIV positive. He died on March 13th, 1988. Holmes has been called the Elvis of porn and he remains a fascinating legend today, inspiring at least two Hollywood films: Boogie Nights and Wonderland.


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Luke Bryan Sports 'Vintage Blake Shelton' Look at Crash My Playa
Good buddies Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton (who are now also reality-show rivals) are known for goofing on each other whenever they get the chance—so, when Shelton was scheduled for a headlining set at Bryan's annual Crash My Playa concert festival, Bryan wasn't going to let a golden opportunity pass him by.
He rose to the occasion by dressing up as old-school Blake, complete with mullet, cowboy hat, and giant belt buckle. Oh, and a drink in hand, of course. "Vintage BS," he captioned the shot.
Bryan's wife, Caroline, even got in on the fun herself, donning a life jacket with "Sexiest Man Alive" emblazoned on it—a dig at Shelton's infamous People designation last year.
Caroline didn't stop at just teasing Shelton. She made sure to get a dig in at her own husband, too. "Luke really wanted to capture the vintage Blake look...but he actually looks like Luke from our college days," she observed. (Pretty funny, but since the Bryans met when they were in college, we're guessing Caroline knows what she's talking about!)
Crash My Playa, which Bryan hosts at an all-inclusive resort in Riviera Maya, kicked off on Jan. 17 and ran through Jan. 20. In addition to Bryan and Shelton, the bill featured Sam Hunt, Maren Morris and her fiancé Ryan Hurd, Brett Young, the Cadillac Three, Dustin Lynch and Maggie Rose.
Who Are Country's Hottest Men? We Like These 10!


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
A return envelope is enclosed with each bill that is addressed to a post office box for our lockbox service. The lockbox service is provided by Century Bank of Medford, MA. The mail is opened, sorted, and then posted to a file which is electronically forwarded to the Town for posting to the taxpayer's individual accounts. Checks are deposited daily. Any correspondence that is out of the ordinary is returned to the Treasurer / Collector's Office for further attention.
Show All Answers
You may request this information in person or by mail. If requesting by mail, please provide a self-addressed stamped envelope. Additional fees may apply.
The fee is five dollars for tax services only. Duplicate bills can be found by logging into the City Hall Systems website and entering the bill Number and last name or we can reproduce a copy free for residents.
View the Online Presentment and Payment FAQs (PDF).
Motor vehicle excise taxes are due 30 days from the date of issuance. The bills are generated from the Registry of Motor Vehicles and are produced from the information provided to the Registry from your vehicle registration.
Personal Property Tax is assessed to and is the responsibility of the owner of the record. The owner of the record is the owner of the property as of January 1st of the previous calendar year. Please contact the Assessor's Office to see if you are eligible for abatement.
Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 60a, Section 2 states "So long as a municipality mails an excise bill to a registrant and the bill is sent to the registrant's address, as that address appears on the vehicle's registration, or as the person has otherwise specified in writing, the registrant is presumed to have received the bill, regardless whether he has received it in fact. If the registrant fails to receive such a bill, he is nevertheless, liable for its timely payment, and interest and fees will accrue if the bill is not paid on or before the due date.
All address changes must be made through the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
No, real estate and personal property taxes are due in the Tax Collectors office by the due date. Penalty interest will accrue at an annual rate of 14 percent.
Yes, there is a secure drop-off box located at the rear of the Town Hall Annex. This box is provided for your convenience and any mail deposited in the drop box is emptied and distributed to the appropriate department each day.
The Town of Tewksbury is on the quarterly tax billing system. Therefore, the bills are due on August 1st, November 1st, February 1st and May 1st of each year.
Yes, our mailing address is Tax Collector, Town of Tewksbury.
Tax CollectorTown of Tewksbury11 Town Hall AvenueTewksbury, MA 01876
If you do not receive your bill within a few days of the issue date, please contact the Treasurer / Collector's Office immediately. Our phone number is 978-640-4340. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Please remember that it is your responsibility to make sure that you obtain a tax bill. You are responsible for the payment of the taxes even if you did not receive the tax bill. We mail the tax bills to the address provided to us by the Assessor's Office.
The bills are mailed thirty days before the August 1st and February 1st due dates. Please note that you will not receive a separate bill for the November 1st or May 1st due dates. These amounts are included on the bills sent thirty days before the August and February due dates.


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Mortgage Rates in Daniels, West VirginiaCurrent Daniels, West Virginia fixed rate mortgages for a 30-Year Fixed FHA mortgage are at 5.875% with 2.125% point(s), 15-Year Fixed Jumbo mortgage rates today with 0.000% point(s) in Daniels, West Virginia are at 5.875%, 20-Year Fixed mortgage rates today with 2.000% point(s) in Daniels, West Virginia are at 5.650%. Daniels, West Virginia Mortgage Rates:Search and compare mortgage rates and refinance rates in Daniels, WV. Our rate table has a list of Daniels, West Virginia mortgage rates and mortgage refinance rates. You can also use our free mortgage calculator to calculate monthly mortgage payments. Compare mortgage and refinance rates in Daniels, West Virginia. Save money by using our free tool to find customized mortgage and refinance rates for Daniels, West Virginia (WV). Use our mortgage calculator to check how much monthly payments will be on your home loan. When you start your search for current mortgage rates in Daniels, West Virginia you need to first have an understanding of the types of mortgages available and their corresponding interest rates. Adjustable rates on 5/6 Month ARM loans in Daniels, West Virginia with 1.000% point(s) are at 6.750%, Daniels, West Virginia 7/1 Jumbo ARM mortgage rates are at 6.000% with 0.890% point(s), Mortgage rates on adjustable loans include 7/1 ARM with 0.000% point(s) in Daniels, West Virginia at 6.750%. Mortgage
30-Year Fixed Conforming
15-Year Fixed Conforming
30-Year Fixed Jumbo
15-Year Fixed Jumbo
5/6 ARM Conforming
5/6 ARM Jumbo
Types of rates available in Daniels, WV include conforming mortgage rates, super conforming rates, jumbo rates, adjustable rates, HELOC rates and home equity loan rates. There are variations of each type of mortgage available in Daniels, WV listed below. Mortgage Rates in Daniels, WV March 4, 2024Show More
The mortgage rates presented are solely intended for informational use. Please consult the mentioned lenders for up-to-date mortgage rates. The actual mortgage rates and other loan conditions depend on the lender's approval and are not guaranteed. Daniels, West Virginia Lenders and Mortgage BrokersList your company here at no cost: Are you a lender or mortgage broker in Daniels, West Virginia? Are you interested in having your company, contact information, website and logo listed here? Contact us at to find out how. Daniels, West Virginia Real Estate AgentsList your contact information at no cost: Are you a real estate agent agent in Daniels, West Virginia? You can list your company, contact information, website an logo here. Contact us to find out how. Daniels, WV Conforming Mortgage RatesConforming mortgage rates are rates on mortgages that meet the criteria set out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. There are limits set for each county of West Virginia. There are higher mortgage loan limits for designated high-cost areas, like on the coasts and in large cities. Daniels, WV mortgages that "conform" to the standards set out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency can be purchased by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This process guarantees banks are able to resell Daniels, WV mortgage loans that have been made. As a result, Daniels, WV mortgage rates today are lower than jumbo interest rates in $regionName. Conforming mortgages and jumbo mortgages are available in terms of 40 years, 30 years, 25 years, 20 years, 15 years and 10 years. Daniels, WV Super Conforming Home Loan RatesSuper conforming mortgages in Daniels, WV are mortgages that have higher mortgage loan amounts but still "conform" to the standards set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Super conforming mortgages are available for the higher cost housing areas like the coasts and in large cities. Daniels, WV Jumbo Loan Interest RatesDaniels, WV jumbo mortgage rates are rates for mortgage loans that have a dollar amount higher than conforming and super conforming loan amounts. Jumbo home loan rates in Daniels, WV are usually 0.75 basis points higher than conforming mortgage rates in Daniels, WV because there is no guarantee banks and credit unions can sell these mortgages after they make the loans. Daniels, WV Fixed Rate MortgagesFixed rate mortgages are the most common mortgage available in Daniels, WV. The mortgage rate and the monthly payment stay the same for the entire life of the mortgage loan. This makes fixed rate mortgages the most stable and predictable for mortgagees. Daniels, WV Adjustable Interest RatesDaniels, WV adjustable mortgages have a fixed mortgage rate for a certain number of years and then the mortgage rate adjusts every year after the initial period. There are usually yearly caps and life time caps on how much the mortgage interest rate and fluctuate. Your monthly mortgage payment will be lower at first but can rise when mortgage rates rise. Adjustable mortgages are available in terms of 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years and 10 years. Daniels, WV Interest Only Home Mortgage RatesDaniels, WV interest only mortgages are mortgages that the borrower pays only the interest on the principal balance or a set period of time. After the initial period the mortgagee pays both interest and principal. Interest only (IO) mortgages were popular during the housing boom. Daniels, WV FHA Mortgage Mortgage RatesBorrowers in Daniels, WV must meet certain requirements established by FHA to qualify for a mortgage insured by the FHA. FHA mortgage interest rates in Daniels, WV are usually lower than conforming mortgage interest rates because mortgage lenders bear less risk because FHA will pay the lender if a homeowner defaults on his or her mortgage loan. Daniels, WV Rates & ResourcesDaniels, West Virginia Savings RatesDaniels, West Virginia CD Rates Daniels, West Virginia Bank Branches Daniels, West Virginia Credit Union Branches Daniels, WV Mortgage ProductsDaniels, West Virginia Conforming Mortgage RatesDaniels, West Virginia Jumbo Mortgage Rates Daniels, West Virginia Conforming Adjustable Mortgage Rates Daniels, West Virginia Jumbo Adjustable Mortgage Rates Other Mortgage Rate Deals
Refinance Rates off Record Lows as Bond Yields Increase: 15 Year Refi Rates at 2.99 Percent
Home Mortgage Rates Jump Higher Today 10/14: 30 Year Mortgage Rates at 4.32%, 15 Year Mortgage Rates at 3.68%
Mortgage Rates Lower 6/10: 30 Year Jumbo Mortgage Rates Hit Low for 2011, Homeowner Equity at WWII Levels
Credit Union Mortgage Interest Rates Generally Lower
Happy State Bank Mortgage Rates
Liberty Bank for Savings Mortgage Rates
Redstone Federal Credit Union Current Mortgage Rates
Home Mortgage Rates Today 10/20: 30 Year Conforming Mortgage Rates at 4.25%, 15 Year Conforming Mortgage Rates at 3.70%
Better.com Mortgage Rates
United Bank Mortgage Rates


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He's her patient. She's his doctor.
They shouldn't. But God, do they want to.
New Sports Romance by Amy Daws!
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Camden Harris, the famously hot, hulk of a footballer is laid up in a London hospital. But his busted knee doesn't stop him from running his well-practiced game on Indie Porter—his redheaded spitfire of a doctor. She's not his type, not even close. But she could be the perfect distraction from the soul-crushing damage this injury could cost him.
Indie's tired of her naivety putting a target on her back. As a gifted child, she's let her education take the front seat her whole life. But a fling with a footballer like Camden might be just what she needs to grab life by the balls.
And he could be the perfect guy for the plan she's been sitting on for over two years.
But when feelings make a final play, there's no amount of medicine that can heal the damage to their hearts.
She chooses that second to lean over top of me and stuff the blood pressure cuff into a metal basket above my bed. She loses her footing slightly and, well, never one to waste an opportunity, my hands reach up to grip her lower back and pull her down on top of me. Her chest hits mine, and I'm assaulted with an orgasmic scent that must be distinctly of the Dr. Porter variety.
I'm not sure what I had planned. Truth be told, I didn't completely think it through. Most likely I was just going to say something smart and see what else I could get to come out of her gorgeous mouth. But a flurry of excitement rips through me when her eyes flash to my lips and, in that instant, I know what I have to do.
I have to taste her.
Without hesitating, I sample her lips, giving her what her eyes were so quietly begging for. She lets out an audible groan, but it's not a frightened groan. It's a "you cheeky sod, I like this" sort of groan. It's the kind of groan you make when you're young and trying to fight off an orgasm that comes much too soon because you're so inexperienced. It's the kind of groan that makes all the pain in my knee completely dissipate. It's the kind of groan that gives me the slightest glimpse of how hot she would be in the sack.
I forget all about the fact that I'm kissing my doctor. Right now, she's simply an incredibly sexy woman who has managed to consume ninety percent of my thoughts since I arrived here over an hour ago. And denial is a dish best served hot and luscious, so I'm eating while I have the chance.
About the Author
Amy Daws lives in South Dakota with her husband, and miracle daughter, Lorelei. The long-awaited birth of Lorelei is what inspired Amy's first book, Chasing Hope, and her passion for writing. Amy is a lover of all things British and her award-nominated contemporary romance series, The London Lovers Series, is centered around Americans in London. It's emotional and self-deprecating with lots of humor sprinkled in.
On most nights, you can find Amy and her family dancing to Strawberry Shortcake's theme song or stuffing themselves inside children's-sized playhouses because there is nothing they wouldn't do for their little miracle.
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Publisher Description
Escapee is a vivid journey through abstract design, it pulls together visual information and ignored knowledge from every conceivable corner. The overlooked art found in the natural world crosses over with man-made landscapes, images surround us which we imitate everyday; man mirroring nature reflecting man. The feedback loop must exist for progression to endure, everything interconnects in shapes, patterns and colours, these contextual elements are used and reused in the symbols consumed and avoided on a daily basis. As technology becomes everyday life its interaction becomes a seamless story developing its own meaning and emotion. There is an inherent need to find form where none existed before and look for substance even after the meaning has passed. As these relationships develop the process taken is as important as the output generated, leaving the viewer to become part of the experience itself.