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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Treatment for larval mosquitoes occurs only when problem species of mosquito larvae are found in large numbers. This involves constant monitoring of mosquito larvae habitats. Heavy rainfalls and exceptionally high tides can cause high increases in larval populations, which will soon advance to the adult stage where they become problems for humans.
Spraying for adult mosquitoes occurs only after the targeted species of mosquito has reached a point where they have become a documented problem. In order to spray for mosquitoes, certain types of mosquitoes must be found in significant numbers.
Show All Answers
Carbon Dioxide (CO2), hormones, and pheromones attract female mosquitoes to humans.
Mosquitoes are an important link in the food chain. Many animals depend on them as a source of food.
During their aquatic stage, mosquito larvae provide food for the other aquatic insects such as, dragonfly nymphs and beetles, fish, frogs and other water-dwelling animals. As adults, mosquitoes are eaten by:
Mosquitoes do not feed on blood alone. The blood meal that is taken, is used by the female to produce eggs. Both males and females need liquid nourishment for food. Plants provide the source of liquid nourishment. Mosquitoes feed on plant nectar, honeydew, fruit juices and liquids oozing from injured plants. Because of this need for nourishment, mosquitoes are important pollinators of wildflowers during this feeding process.
Mosquitoes are more active in the evening, and people are less active. Also, the spray will be lifted quicker from the ground due to rising air currents during the day. Daytime spraying is also not practiced in order to avoid killing beneficial insects.
When conditions meet the required criteria Bay County Adulticide Operation team members spray every district (broken down in to 6 routes) weather permitting. Team Members will work a district until complete before moving on to the next. Adulticide spraying can vary from year to year due to environmental conditions, which include rainfall amounts and tide changes.
The amount of mosquito control pesticide that is sprayed from the trucks is not harmful to people or pets. However, as with any pesticide, it is a good idea to keep exposure to a minimum. For this reason, children should not be allowed to follow the mosquito trucks as people often did in the 1940s and 1950s.
Pets usually are repelled by the high pitch of the machine. Therefore, even if it seems that they are not spraying, the trucks should not be followed. Unless someone is very sensitive or allergic to pesticides, washing the skin with water is all that is needed. At the low insecticide dosage used, no symptoms should be experienced. People who are sensitive should call the office to notify us prior to any spraying.
No evidence to support that likelihood exists. If HIV infected blood is taken in by the mosquito, the virus is digested and quickly dies in the mosquito's stomach. If a mosquito takes a partial HIV infected blood meal from a person and then immediately feeds on an uninfected person, there would not be enough HIV particles present to transmit the disease.
Florida mosquito control programs are established and operated according to the procedure given in the Mosquito Control Law, Chapter 388 Florida Statue (F.S) and the Mosquito Control Rules, Chapter 5E-1 3, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.) The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act of 1972 (FIFRA) requires that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be certain that all personnel handling hazardous or restricted chemicals be trained to do so correctly and safely and that they be certified as pesticide applicators.
The state agency administering the certification is appointed by the governor of each state. In Florida, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) is the lead agency. The law requires that every person applying pesticide be certified or be supervised by a certified applicator. Every Florida district and program goes to great lengths to see that all personnel are trained in proper handling, use and application of pesticides. There are training courses offered throughout the year and each winter there is a week long short course which offers job specific training. This training results in the certification of all mosquito control personnel.
Program directors must abide by a number of laws and regulations to provide for the safe use of pesticides by all employees. Directors are obligated to meet the requirements of the right to know law and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). Ultimately, directors are responsible for everything that goes on within their administration.
There are many repellents that do not contain DEET that can be applied to the skin. Products with citronella (an oil extract from a lemon-scented grass) or eucalyptus can be purchased in health-food or camping/outdoor stores. Avon's Skin-So-Soft, is widely used as a repellent but it is not effective for all people. These are good choices for children, although they must be reapplied more frequently. All of these are much less effective than DEET.
If your child is under the age of 5 years old, always check with your family doctor before you apply any repellent.


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'Baltimore: Standing Together' Town Hall Series
- When:
- Location:
- Town Hall
- Description:
With a number of significant issues facing Baltimore—including the effectiveness of K-12 education, a series of setbacks with the local crime rate, concerns about the city's infrastructure, and more—the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy is joining with city leaders and area media outlets to host "Baltimore: Standing Together," a three-part series of town halls, to encourage public dialogue and increased awareness of potential solutions.
The first "Baltimore: Standing Together" town hall is focused on crime and will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 2 p.m. in the Town Hall in UB's H. Mebane Turner Learning Commons, 1415 Maryland Ave. Each session is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required. (Details listed below.) For those who can't attend, the meeting will be taped for broadcast by WJZ-TV at 6:30 p.m. that day, and also available via streaming at the website for The Baltimore Sun.
For each session, the public may submit questions online for general discussion. City leaders will address these questions as part of each session's conversation.
To attend the first session in this series, register here.
Learn more about the "Baltimore: Standing Together" series and the Schaefer Center for Public Policy.
- Contact Name:
- Chris Hart
- Contact Email:
- firstname.lastname@example.com
Appropriate accommodations for individuals with disabilities will be provided upon request 10 days prior to a campus event and 30 days prior to an event requiring travel.

subset: commoncrawl


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Request to Amend Accountability Plan – Pennsylvania – NCLB Policy Letters to States
May 09, 2011
The Honorable Ronald J. Tomalis
Acting Secretary of Education
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17126-0333
Dear Acting Secretary Tomalis:
I am writing in response to Pennsylvania's request to amend its state accountability plan under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA). Following discussions between the U.S. Department of Education (Department) and your staff, Pennsylvania made a change to its accountability plan, which is now included in the amended plan that Pennsylvania submitted to the Department on January 11, 2011. I am pleased to approve Pennsylvania's amended plan, which we will post on the Department's website. A summary of Pennsylvania's requested amendment is enclosed with this letter. Any further requests to amend Pennsylvania's accountability plan must be submitted to the Department for review and approval as required by section 1111(f)(2) of Title I of the ESEA.
Please also be aware that approval of Pennsylvania's accountability plan for Title I, including the amendment approved herein, does not indicate that the plan complies with Federal civil rights requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
I am confident that Pennsylvania will continue to advance its efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for the achievement of all students. If you need any additional assistance to implement the standards, assessment, and accountability provisions of the ESEA, please do not hesitate to contact (firstname.lastname@example.com) of my staff.
Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, Ph.D.
cc: Governor Tom Corbett
John Weiss
Amendment to Pennsylvania's Accountability Plan
The following is a summary of Pennsylvania's amendment request. Please refer to the Department's website (http://www.ed.govhttps://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html) for Pennsylvania's complete accountability plan.
Including in adequate yearly progress (AYP) determinations students with disabilities assessed on alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAAS) (Element 5.3)
Revision: Pennsylvania updated its Accountability Workbook to include references to its AA-MAAS for reading and science, which will be operational for the first time in the 2010–2011 school year.
In accordance with 34 C.F.R. § 200.13(c)(2)(ii), in calculating AYP, Pennsylvania may count the proficient and advanced scores of eligible students with disabilities who take the AA-MAAS, provided that the number of those scores, at the LEA and State levels, separately, does not exceed two percent of all students in the grades assessed.
In addition, please note that approval of this amendment does not constitute approval of Pennsylvania's AA-MAAS for reading and science, which must be approved through the Department's regular peer review process for standards and assessments.


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Oryun Community Church, South Korea
The Opportunity
Founded in 1988, Oryun Community Church is a South Korean Christian organization that operates multiple churches and worship spaces in and around Seoul. The church's primary facility is known as Oryun Vision Center, which regularly attracts thousands of people for Sunday masses. The organization also recently built a new religious retreat called Oryun Vision Village outside of Seoul, which is available for group rental and also serves as the church's training center. Facilities at Vision Village include a chapel with 900- and 500-capacity worship spaces and two residence houses with private rooms, meeting spaces, offices and cafés. The grounds also feature a swimming pool, numerous fields and courts for outdoor activities and a serene walking path called the Vision Trail. Oryun Church needed end-to-end audio and control systems for both the Vision Center and Vision Village facilities.
The Solution
Having had a positive experience with HARMAN products during their last renovation, Oryun Church recently hired TechData Co., Ltd. to design and install end-to-end HARMAN audio and control systems for both the Vision Center and Vision Village facilities. At Oryun Vision Center, TechData selected a combination of JBL VTX V20 and VT4886 line array loudspeakers with VTS S25 subwoofers to provide adequate power and coverage for the main sound reinforcement system. Two-way JBL AC15, AC18/26 and AM512/95 loudspeakers supplement the main system, providing high output and full-range sound in compact form factors with 5.25", 8" and 12" low-frequency drivers, respectively. Crown I-Tech 4×3500HD and 12000HD amplifiers, supplemented by DCi 8|600N and 2|600N models, provide plenty of power and headroom for the extensive sound system. BSS BLU-806 and BLU-50 signal processors form a powerful digital audio network that offers flexible routing and powerful DSP across the complex system.
On stage, AKG C568B shotgun microphones provide clean, isolated signals and WMS 420 wireless microphone kits give worship leaders and speakers freedom of movement while delivering crystal-clear sound. JBL VP7212MDP powered stage monitors ensure that everyone onstage can hear clearly, and musicians use dbx PMC16 personal monitor controllers to fine-tune their own monitor mixes. Church staff use Soundcraft Vi3000 and Si Expression 2 digital consoles and JBL LSR308 8" powered studio monitors to deliver clear, powerful live mixes for the congregation. TechData also included a JBL EON206P portable PA system for outdoor and remote events.
For Oryun Vision Village, TechData selected a similar range of HARMAN solutions. JBL VTX line array loudspeakers and subwoofers form the main sound system, with JBL M20 dual 10" powered monitors on stage. Crown I-Tech amplifiers and BSS BLU signal processors form a flexible audio network, controlled by compact yet powerful Soundcraft Vi1 and Si Impact digital mixers. AKG D5, C5 and C451 microphones deliver clear, high-fidelity sound on stage for a wide range of instruments and voices. To make the entire system easier to use, Tech Data installed AMX touch panel control systems for intuitive operation.
The Impact
"We were very satisfied with the HARMAN solutions we acquired in our 2015 renovation," said Sunho Ju, Sound Director at Oryun Community Church. "Since Vision Village is not only our training center but also available for outside rental, we needed a solution that would be easy for anyone to use, including those who are less familiar with technology. TechData solved this by installing an AMX touch panel control system at Vision Village, which allows us to control our equipment with ease."
"Oryun Vision Village requested a design with the same audio quality as the Vision Center's main hall, using JBL VTX line arrays," said Seungduk Seo, Tech Lab Lead at TechData Co., Ltd. "To make the system easier to operate, we suggested the use of AMX control panels, which AMX technicians assisted us in integrating. HARMAN's capability to cater to projects of any scale helps us tackle large church installations and smaller congregation spaces with ease."


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Signaling an intent to compete with giants in the collaboration software space, Google on Thursday is introducing an API to extend the Google Sites collaborative content development tool, featuring a capability to migrate files from workspace applications such as Microsoft SharePoint and Lotus Notes to Sites.
One application already built using the Google Sites API is SharePoint Move for Google Apps, developed by LTech for migrating data and content from SharePoint to Sites. Google Sites is a free application for building and sharing Web sites; it is described by Google as a collaborative content creation tool to upload file attachments, information other Google applications such as Google Docs, and free-form content.
More from IT World Canada – Google releases Wave to Apps users
Asked if Google, with its API, plans to compete with SharePoint and Lotus Notes in the collaboration space, a Google official sidestepped the question.
"As a wiki, Google Sites is a powerful collaboration container, and we have a large number of customers using the product in this way," said Scott Johnston, senior product manager for Google sites, in an e-mail response. "We plan to continue to invest in this direction."
But an industry analyst said the API appears to show Google's desire to be a player in the collaboration arena. "It does seem like they're trying to kind of get into this space," said analyst Al Hilwa of IDC.
"I think they want to be in every category, but they want to be in a Web approach. They want to habituate the user community to a Web style of doing everything," Hilwa said. Google, though, has to understand corporations are not quite ready for this yet but believes it is just a matter of time, he said.
The API, released by Google Code Labs, enables exporting of Google Sites pages and editing them offline. Also with the Sites API, updates can be made from third-party applications. For example, a sales team's Google Sites page can be automatically updated when new leads are added to a CRM system. The API is a Google Data API, offering standard protocol support around authentication and querying.
Users can re-import updated content. Sites also can be exported for backup, and users can monitor changes across internal and public sites from a single gadget, Google said. Content such as changes to employee policies or a new corporate logo can be pushed to any site on the user's domain.
Like other Google Data APIs, the Sites API offers standard protocol support around authentication and querying.
In addition to SharePoint Move for Google Apps, an application already built on top of the API is the open source import/export project on Google Code, for exporting entire sites as static HTML, maintaining structure and page hierarchy.


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Arrival dates and shipping costs above are estimates. Exact shipping costs, arrival dates, and any applicable taxes will be available when you checkout.
Return Policy – Returns are accepted within 90 days of order ship date. Learn MorePuritan's Pride® Q-SORB™ Co Q-10 provides [100/120] mg of coenzyme Q-10 in each rapid-release softgel to promote energy production.* Through its role in the electron transport chain, coenzyme Q-10 is vital for the conversion of food into a form of energy your cells can use.* Co Q-10 is especially important for tissues and organs that have high energy requirements such as the heart and muscles.*
The fact that Co Q-10 is found in almost every cell of the body demonstrates the significance of this important nutrient.
Puritan's Pride's own Q-Sorb™ Co Q-10 is a naturally fermented, highly purified form of Co Q-10. We take the same form of Co Q-10 your body naturally produces and enrobe it in naturally sourced oils to improve absorption. Q-Sorb™ is available in rapid-release softgels in various dosages to suit your needs.
Supports a healthy heart
and cardiovascular system*
healthy aging*
Promotes energy production
within your heart and muscles*
Helps the body convert
food into energy*
Co Q-10 levels in the body reach their peak by age 20 and
decrease by up to 50% in different parts of the body by age 80.3
Statins can lead to a 51%
decrease in Co Q-10 plasma levels
within 30 days of use.++
The average dietary intake of Co Q-10 is only about 3-5 milligrams per day.3 Not nearly enough to replenish levels lost due to age-related decline or prescription drugs.
Depending on your needs, Co Q-10 supplementation recommendations can range anywhere from 60-600 milligrams per day to increase tissue concentrations.
Co Q-10 acts as a key component in our mitochondrial machinery involved in making up a large percentage of the body's energy.
This energy is produced via the electron transport chain in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) across the inner mitochondrial membrane.1
Co Q-10 is vital for the muscle of the heart.2
The reason is due to the heart's requirement of a constant supply of ATP energy. While blood vessels transport blood, the heart provides the force to pump blood around the body.
As a result, Co Q-10 concentration is an important determination of heart function and cardiovascular health.5 Historically, scientific studies evaluating the effects of Co Q-10 have been mainly focused on its potential support to cardiovascular health.9*
Co Q-10 supplements can help replenish what is lost with age or what statin medications deplete.
However, Co Q-10 is not intended to serve as a replacement for statin therapy, nor should you discontinue taking any prescribed medications while supplementing with Co Q-10.
As you get older opt for a higher dose Co Q-10 supplement, but don't forget to choose a highly purified Co Q-10 like Q-Sorb™ Co Q-10.
Why should I supplement with Co Q-10?
As we get older, our natural Co Q-10 levels decline, especially in the heart, other organs and tissues with high-energy requirements, and in outer layers of the skin. A highly purified Co Q-10 supplement like Q-Sorb™ may assist in keeping these levels up, especially as we get older.*
Can I get Co Q-10 from my diet?
Although Co Q-10 can be found in foods like fish, pork, and beef, we may not obtain enough Co Q-10 in our daily diets, especially as cooking methods like frying reduces the natural Co Q-10 content in these foods. Following a plant-based diet may also mean lower Co Q-10 intake. By taking a Co Q-10 supplement, this gap in our diet may be filled.
How does Co Q-10 work?
Co Q-10 is needed for the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is the energy our body cells use to perform their daily activities optimally. Certain cells in the body are more metabolically active and have higher energy requirements. Co Q-10 levels are naturally higher in the heart and skeletal muscles for this reason.
I take a statin and my doctor recommended I take Co Q-10, why?
Studies have found that statins deplete Co Q-10 levels in the body. A Co Q-10 supplement can help replenish what a statin medication might deplete. Please be aware that Co Q-10 is not intended as a replacement for statin therapy, nor should you discontinue any prescription medication while supplementing with Co Q-10.
What is Q-Sorb™ Co Q-10?
Puritan's Pride's own Q-Sorb™ Co Q-10 is a naturally fermented, highly purified form of Co Q-10. We take the same form of Co Q-10 your body naturally produces and enrobe it in naturally sourced oils to improve absorption. Q-Sorb™ is available in rapid-release softgels in various dosages to suit your needs.
Is Co Q-10 an energy stimulant or will give you the "jitters"?
Although Co Q-10 helps the body produce energy, this energy production is at a cellular level so Co Q-10 will not give you the sudden energy boost you may get from consuming caffeine or a sugary snack.
If I take a multivitamin and mineral every day, do I need Co Q-10?
Most multivitamin and mineral supplements contain no or very low quantities of Co Q-10. Additionally to support absorption, Co Q-10 is best taken in a softgel along with a meal. Co Q-10 supplementation may be especially important as we age as our Co Q-10 levels naturally decline as we get older.
Should I only supplement with Co Q-10 in the ubiquinol form?
Co Q-10 is also called ubiquinone and is converted into the body to its reduced and active form called ubiquinol. While ubiquinol is an advanced form for those looking for increased absorption, supplementation with ubiquinone is sufficient to raise Co Q-10 levels in the body.
Is Co Q-10 easily absorbed in tablets or in powder form?
Efficient absorption of any ingredient is dependent on a variety of factors, but with Co Q-10, delivery form is of particular importance. Taking Co Q-10 in a softgel rather than in a powder form makes Co Q-10 more absorbable. By choosing a high purity Co Q-10 like Q-Sorb™ Co Q-10, you know you're getting not only quality you can trust, but also that your body is going to absorb it more efficiently too.
Can I stop my cholesterol-lowering medication if I use Co Q-10?
No. Co Q-10 is not intended to serve as a replacement for statin medication, nor should you discontinue taking any prescribed medications while supplementing with Co Q-10 without consulting your doctor.
Supplement Facts | |
Serving Size 1 Softgel | |
Amount Per Serving | % Daily Value |
Q-Sorb™ Coenzyme Q-10 | 100 mg ** |
**Daily Value not established. |
No Artificial Flavor or Sweetener, No Preservatives, No Sugar, No Starch, No Milk, No Lactose, No Gluten, No Wheat, No Yeast, No Fish, Sodium Free.
Getting the most out of life every day is what inspires us to deliver over 3,000 outstanding products that help you achieve your health and wellness goals.
We take pride in manufacturing the vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements that complement your healthy lifestyle, plus we offer essential oils, nutritious foods and more.
So get out there and embrace life… because the journey is your reward.


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Coral – responsive coming soon theme is a clean and modern under construction/coming soon theme built with HTML5 and CSS3.
Key features
- Clean & simple design
- Fullscreen background slider
- Responsive layout
- 16 social icons
- Twitter feed rotator
- Subscribe form
- Blur effect & animations
- Customizable
- PSD files included
Heads up!
The theme is tested and working in the latest versions of Chrome, Opera, Firefox and IE9+.
Any modern canvas enabled browser should be supported, but I advice you to test before purchase!


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Win Signed Advance Reader Copy (Rare!) of David Kirby's Animal Factory
David Kirby has kindly given us one of the few advance reader copies (ARC) of his new book, Animal Factory, available NOW for presale. Publishers print a handful or ARCs before the final book is published and we have one for you, signed by David Kirby. Visit the website HERE. Order your copy at Amazon HERE.
THE CONTEST IS CLOSED. Thank you.
"A propulsive chronicle. Thanks to Kirby's extraordinary journalism, we have the most relatable, irrefutable, and unforgettable testimony yet to the hazards of industrial animal farming." BOOKLIST
"Immensely readable, should be required reading for anybody concerned with how CAFOs are changing the nature of livestock farming." LIBRARY JOURNAL
Swine flu. MRSA. Unusual concentrations of cancer and other diseases. Massive fish kills from algal blooms and flesh-eating parasites. Recalls of meats, vegetables, and fruits because of deadly E-coli bacteria contamination. Recent public health crises raise urgent questions about how our animal-derived food is raised and brought to market. In Animal Factory, bestselling investigative journalist David Kirby exposes the powerful business and political interests behind large-scale factory farms, and tracks the far-reaching fallout that can contaminate our air, land, and water supply.
Animal Factory is an important book about our American food system gone terribly wrong—and the people who are fighting to restore sustainable farming practices and safe natural resources.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Apple's in the eye of flaw finders
The year of the OS X exploit?
At the recent ShmooCon hacking conference, one security researcher found out the hard way that such venues can be hostile, when an unknown hacker took control of the researcher's computer, disabling the firewall and starting up a file server.
While such compromises have become common in the Windows world, this time the computer was an Apple PowerBook running the latest version of Mac OS X. The victim, a security researcher who asked to remain anonymous, had locked down the system prior to the conference and believes that a previously unknown exploit caused the compromise. However, in the following weeks, forensics performed on the system did not reveal any clues as to how the PowerBook had been compromised.
"The machine was as hardened as best practices could suggest for anyone," the researcher said. The person who breached the PowerBook used information gathered from the computer to contact a friend of the researcher and bragged about the compromise. "This was not a subtle hack," the researcher stressed.
The compromise underscores a number of trends that has already caused a shift in focus among flaw finders and could result in more attacks on Mac OS X. Security researchers themselves have moved over to Apple computers in the past few years and have learned the ins and outs of the operating system. The company's move to Intel-based hardware for its next-generation of Macs also gives flaw finders familiar territory in which to look for bugs. Finally, as Apple continues to garner more market share, the lure of a larger set of targets will make attacks more likely, say security researchers.
"This is almost certainly the year of the OS X exploit," said Jay Beale, a senior security consultant for Intelguardians and an expert in hardening Linux and Mac OS X systems. "The OS X platform may be based on a Unix platform, but Apple seems to be making mistakes that Unix made, and corrected, long ago."
Apple also has been widely criticised for not talking about the details of its vulnerability-response process or how it manages security incidents. While Microsoft has the lion's share of security problems - and the Mac OS X hardly any - the Redmond, Wash, based software giant has received high marks from security researchers for its responsiveness, while Apple has often been the focus of complaints.
"On a good day, Apple doesn't even make it to Microsoft's level of security awareness," Beale said.
The company has generally refused to discuss the security of its Mac OS X operating system with the media and declined to comment for this article. The security researcher whose PowerBook was compromised has discussed the issue with Apple but without any conclusions being reached.
Apple has made good decisions regarding the Mac OS X architecture and has had far fewer security problems as a result, said Adam Shostack, chief technology officer for security firm Reflective.
"There are some things that make the Mac more secure," Shostack said. "There is a user model that does not rely on a user running programs in administrator mode. There is no ActiveX in Safari and there is no ActiveX equivalent. That makes it harder to go to a web page and have your Mac compromised."


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- Attacking Intelligence - All-new positioning intelligence wires attacking players with the intelligence to analyze plays, and to position themselves to create new attacking opportunities.
- FIFA 13 Complete Dribbling - Make every touch matter with the control to be more creative in attack, and the freedom to exploit 1v1 opportunities.
- FIFA 13 1st Touch Control - A new trapping system eliminates near-perfect control for every player by creating uncertainty around trapping.
- Player Impact Engine - The second generation of the award-winning physics engine expands physical play from collisions for the ball to off-the-ball battles, giving defenders more tools to win back possession.
- Tactical Free Kicks - Create dangerous and unpredictable free kicks utilizing the most skillful players on the pitch. Position up to three attacking players over the ball and confuse opponents with dummy runs, more passing options, and more elaborate free kicks.
- New Passes - Two new passing options give players the ability to dink passes over the outstretched leg of a defender or loft through balls to teammates.
- FIFA 13 Fundamentals - Essential elements have been refined to make the experience more authentic. Referees will now make better decisions awarding fouls and cards, goalkeeper intelligence has been improved, and Tactical Defending has added lateral mobility for players in defensive containment.
- Complete Authenticity - Over 500 officially licensed clubs and more than 15,000 players.


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RentalCars24h.com provide only high-quality and friendly service. While other companies dictate their prices we do the search job for the cheapest car rental to give you all the existing Smart car rental Dublin variants. That makes your choice come out of 800 car rental companies which we compare in a moment to give you only the items you are interested in at the lowest prices! After you've chosen the affordable price - rent a Smart in several clicks using our car rental form.
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.... And it was absolutely fine! Don't know what I was so worried about! Yet again, a CSSIW inspector proved to be helpful, encouraging, supportive and above all, friendly!
I had all my paperwork on hand for her to see, I had a three year old and 14 month old here so she could observe me. She said that as I only had one over 8 in my setting, she didn't really need to speak to her and that she could just do my inspection with the little ones.
Just wanted to reassure anyone who hasn't had their inspection under the new framework yet that it's not in the slightest bit scary!


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Pork Chops with Carolina Rub(Adapted from CL)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 center-cut pork loin chops
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
Preheat Grill
In a small bowl, whisk together garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, paprika, chili powder, pepper, and salt. Rub spices all over pork chops and let sit 10-15 minutes.
Place pork on a lightly oiled grill rack. Grill 4 minutes on first side and then flip over to grill 2 minutes on the other side. Brush each chop with 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce, and grill 2 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
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We are reminded of that every day in news reports: Of the more than 6,000 men, women and children who still lie beneath what was once the World Trade Center, more than 300 are firefighters who died doing their jobs. Quesada, like so many who live and work in Manhattan, has a friend lying somewhere beneath the still-smoldering debris. He is a fireman. Where, Quesada fretted, is Spider-Man when you really need him? He is in the pages of a comic book, saving a fictional Manhattan from imagined enemies. He is useless. In the days following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, that's just how Quesada--one of the comic industry's most powerful executives--felt.
In the hours after the attack on the World Trade Center, which stood not far from Marvel's East 40th Street headquarters, Quesada and his top editors were deluged with e-mails from fans offering suggestions about how the company might respond. They pitched story ideas; they recommended writers and illustrators. Some even asked the company to publish a benefit book. But none of the ideas was immediate enough. Quesada wanted something out now--something helpful, something meaningful. "I would just as soon go back down to the hospital and donate blood again or try to help out at one of the places where volunteers were being taken," Quesada says.
Finally, an assistant editor suggested that Marvel publish a poster book full of single illustrations by some of comicdom's best and best-known artists. It could be assembled and published quickly, within a matter of days, which meant the proceeds could more quickly go toward myriad relief funds set up hours after the attacks.
On October 12, Marvel will ship Heroes, a book in which, Quesada says, "the world's greatest superhero creators are honoring the world's greatest superheroes"--firefighters, police officers, EMS workers, doctors. For the fund-raising project, whose proceeds will largely go to the widows and children's funds of the New York City police and fire departments, Marvel has rounded up top talent, including artists and writers who haven't worked for Marvel in years, among them: Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns), Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn), Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Alex Ross (Kingdom Come), filmmaker Kevin Smith (currently writing DC Comics' Green Arrow), Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (the team responsible for Watchmen) and even Marvel's legendary figurehead, Stan Lee.
Quesada estimates that only a quarter of the illustrations in the 64-page book will contain references to superheroes; for the moment, at least, they have been relegated to the margins. Most feature firemen and police officers pulling bodies from the wreckage; many are seen grieving over fallen comrades, who are represented only by their helmets. Illustrator Jae Lee contributes one of the most poignant pieces: a black-and-white rendering of dazed men and women scouring the streets with "Missing" posters painted in red.
"The premise behind it, of course, is I was discouraging the use of superheroes as metaphors, but they weren't completely off-limits," he says. "If you wanted to do Marvel superheroes in some kind of situation that reflected what was happening, fine, but mostly what I wanted was images of the real heroes who are down there working their assess off."
Marvel is not the only comic-book company releasing such a book: In January 2002, the Florida-based Alternative Comics expects to publish its own 128-page paperback, 9-11 Emergency Relief, which will contain contributions by beloved veterans such as Spirit creator Will Eisner and some of the underground's best-known writers-illustrators, including Sock Monkey creator Tony Millionaire and Artbabe Jessica Abel. Dark Horse, Chaos!, Oni, Image and Top Shelf--among the largest independent comics publishers--are also combining resources for their own graphic novel, which, for now, will contain short stories bereft of superheroes. Paul Levitz, publisher of the AOL Time Warner-owned DC Comics, says his company has no plans at present for a benefit book. Instead, DC will sell, through comics retailers, a poster featuring the cover of a 1942 issue of Superman; it portrays the Man of Steel with an eagle perched on his arm, in front of a star-spangled shield. The poster bears the inscription, "We Salute America's Heroes."
"We're part of one big comic-book family," says Bill Rosemann, Marvel's marketing communications manager. "I think a struggle people in the industry were facing was: 'How can I help out? All I can do is make comics. We can't operate heavy machinery. We don't have health-care skills. What can we do?' Maybe we can entertain someone and take their mind off the horror. Maybe children can even see a good example of the heroic things to do--what good exists in relation to such evil. But we're surrounded by brightly clad crime-fighters every day. When this was happening, people said, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we had superheroes?' and we looked at each other and said, 'We do--firemen and police officers.' They wear costumes and do heroic deeds of action and phenomenal sacrifice."
Since September 11, the entirety of the entertainment industry has grappled with how to reconcile its power and disposability. Actors who insist they feel useless, if not downright irrelevant, turn out by the dozens on telethons to raise millions for relief efforts. Musicians bury their egos and collaborate on benefit albums; artists forgive old grudges and team up for projects such as Heroes. And, for a moment, they feel valuable, necessary. But once the coffers are full and the dead are buried, they will return to the industry of entertaining. Only, they wonder, how can they get back to business as usual?
Comic books, especially, have long profited off the destruction of cities, if not entire planets; it's easy to blow up all of Manhattan with pen and ink. It costs nothing--not money, not lives. The history of the medium is littered with examples: In a 1945 comic called The Duke of Broadway, Joe Simon, the creator of Captain America, annihilated all of Manhattan. In the story "My City is No More," the borough was laid waste by the accidental detonation of an atomic bomb; its buildings were reduced to rubble, its streets pulverized into dust, its inhabitants turned to ghosts.
"I destroyed New York once," says Simon, who lives in Manhattan. "But, my God, you don't think some lunatic's gonna come around and really do it. It's beyond all comprehension."
Thirty-two years later, Scott McCloud abolished the entirety of the Manhattan skyline, bit by agonizing bit, beginning with Wall Street and the World Trade Center. He worked his way north, obliterating Washington Square Park, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building...all of it, ground into a wretched, twisted heap of smoke and devastation. McCloud insisted it was all in good fun: "meaningless, overblown violence, mayhem and destruction," were the exact words on the cover of Three Dimensional Destroy!!! in 1987. And the very week of the attacks on New York and Washington, DC Comics published an issue of Adventures of Superman in which Lex Luthor's Metropolis headquarters--the LexCorp building, looking exactly like the WTC--were depicted as smoldering tombstones jutting out of the landscape. The image was prophetic and eerie--a two-dimensional snapshot of what television was revealing as three-dimensional atrocity.
Around the Manhattan offices of Marvel and DC, editors have been meeting since September 11 to discuss just how their medium will react to such real-life horror. They wonder if they will ever again be able to blow up a building without conjuring still-fresh memories and grief. Even as their film and television counterparts hold and edit moving pictures dealing with mass destruction and terrorism, comic-book companies likewise postpone releases. DC is holding up publication of a paperback that will collect several issues of Goddess, in which skyscrapers are destroyed and airliners are crashed. The company is also delaying release of The Authority: Widescreen, in which a huge section of Manhattan is devastated, forcing costumed heroes to search the debris for survivors.
"It's just not appropriate to put [those titles] out while people are reacting," Levitz says. "You don't want to add to anyone's nightmares."
At Marvel, Quesada has postponed publication of at least one title that deals with the Middle East and domestic terrorism, and one writer has asked that the World Trade Center be removed from a forthcoming book; the author wants the Twin Towers "conspicuous in their absence," the editor says. Quesada also says that scripts submitted for the relaunching of the Captain America title, which will feature a new creative team, have been scrapped at writer John Ney Rieber's request. But Marvel will also be the first company to deal directly with the attacks: Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski says Marvel asked him to write a story about the bombings because Spider-Man is a native New Yorker. (Indeed, most of Marvel's action takes place in Manhattan, not the thinly veiled Gotham City or Metropolis of DC.) He penned his story in 24 hours. "The whole thing is one lengthy meditation on the tragedy," Straczynski explained last week in an Internet posting.
"Look, the entertainment business does what it does, and Marvel's in the entertainment business," Quesada says. "But I feel that we have the ability to tell some very poignant stories and to lead by example."
In a post-September 11 world, even the phrase, "Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!" sounds different; its awe has been replaced by shock and revulsion. The sense of escapism comic books have provided no longer exists; the fantasy world must give way to the real one.
On comics-related Web sites, such as www.comicbookresources.com and www.comicon.com, comicdom's best-known illustrators and writers have been posting their thoughts on the direction in which their industry must head. Many are sickened by what longtime DC editor Denny O'Neil refers to as "the pornographic use of violence" in comics and other entertainment media. Neil Gaiman has said he hopes the industry will realize violence must now come with consequences and no longer be used "as a simple plot mcguffin." Influential creator and publisher Jim Steranko has gone online to offer the most damning criticism of the industry of which he's been a large part for decades.
"I'm repulsed by the plague of violence and death ravaging our nation and feel frustrated, even helpless, to combat it," Steranko wrote in a posting on comicon.com. "I find it particularly disturbing that the artistic form with which I'm most closely identified has seemed to turn its back on the virtues upon which it was built...Today's comics are possessed by brutality, destruction, depravity, cynicism and obscenity." The debate has only begun to rage and does so in plain sight.
Comics always served an important function during wartime; they've rallied support for the troops and raised money for savings bonds. Superman fought grotesquely caricatured Nazis and Japanese soldiers; Joe Simon's Captain America was duking it out with Hitler months before the United States entered World War II. And the medium has never shied away from incorporating topical issues into its panels and word balloons; in the 1960s and '70s, even superhero comics were populated by drug addicts, battle-scarred Vietnam veterans and racist hate mongers. Like all media, it reflected--and distorted--the horrors of the everyday. But that was before war struck our shores and claimed thousands of innocents. It was before movie producers, such as Jerry Bruckheimer, started wrapping crass nihilism in jingoistic red, white and blue. It was before millions, if not billions, were made off catastrophes marketed as populist "art."
On September 10, violence sold. On September 11, you couldn't give it away.
"You just try and use what strength you have to tell a story that will make the world a better place," says DC's Levitz. "People need different emotional messages. People need different entertainment messages. Writers and artists, in whatever medium they're working in, try to respond to that by telling stories that add meaning to life. Violence has certainly been a tool in that. Anything that affects people's lives with drama or comedy has been a tool in that, and you just look at each circumstance as the world evolves, and you try to deal with the best ways that as a storyteller you can use your tools for what people need.
"This is not only an act of war come home to our shores, but whether you live in New York or the most remote town in America, it came into your living room. I don't know what that does to the world, and I don't know what that does to our role as storytellers. We have to search that out, and it will be a difficult task."


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Aurora Boutique
Come shop our Boutique today!
Visit our store to see what shopping is all about. You will love the atmosphere and the VIP treatment. We love helping our clients find the perfect outfit. We are known for having high quality products and fair prices. Check it out.
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which separates the Beach from the mainland city of Miami. The neighborhood of South Beach, comprising the southernmost 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) of Miami Beach, along with Downtown Miami and the Port of Miami, collectively form the commercial center of South Florida. Miami Beach's population is 82,890 according to the 2020 census.
Bayshore, Beach, Beverly Terrace, Biscayne Neighborhoods Association, Biscayne Point, Brickell, Buena Vista, Coconut Grove, Collins Park, Eastern Shores


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Stan: Książka używana posiadająca normalne ślady użytkowania. Może zawierać dedykację lub być podpisana. Jeżeli chcesz otrzymać zdjęcie przedstawiające stan książki skontaktuj się z nami.
Condition: The book is used and has signs of normal use. Might contain a dedication or be signed. To obtain a real picture please contact us.
Autor/Author: Henry Cloud,John Townsend
Tytuł/Title: Safe People: How to Find Relationships That Are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't
Data wydania/Publish date: 1996-11-01
Wydawnictwo/Publisher: Zondervan
Liczba stron/Number of pages: 208
Too many of us have invested ourselves into relationships that left us deeply wounded. We've been abandoned or taken advantage of, and left with little to show for what we've given. We've lost our sense of security and personal value in the process. And what's worse, we tend to either repeat the same mistakes of judgment over and over . . . Or else lock the doors of our hearts entirely and throw away the key. Why do we choose the wrong people to get involved with? Is it possible to change? And if so, where does one begin? Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend offer solid guidance for making safe choices in relationships, from friendships to romance. They help identify the nurturing people we all need in our lives, as well as ones we need to learn to avoid. Safe People will help you to recognize 20 traits of relationally untrustworthy people. Discover what makes some people relationally safe, and how to avoid unhealthy entanglements. You'll learn about things within yourself that jeopardize your relational security. And you'll find out what to do and what not to do to develop a balanced, healthy approach to relationships.


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Privately produced Leopold Auer recording, signed by the artist on June 7, 1920.
Access this collection
Jascha Heifetz Collection
The Jascha Heifetz Collection was donated by Jack Pfeiffer, Heifetz's longtime friend and record producer at RCA Victor. It includes not only Heifetz's own performances, but also his personal collection of recordings by other artists. One such rarity is a private 1920 recording of Heifetz's teacher, Leopold Auer. The record (pictured) is signed and dated by Auer, who was venerated as an instructor but never commercially recorded.
Containing over 1,000 discs and reels produced from 1911-1972, the collection is also a testament to the technological changes in the recording industry during that period. It includes standard long-playing records, 78 rpm commercially-released records, test pressings ("artist approval" records preceding commercial releases), and instantaneous discs ("temporary" homemade records).
The collection was processed under the auspices of the Council on Library and Information Resources and is generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Related collections
Yehudi Menuhin Collection
The Menuhin Collection contains many test pressings of Menuhin's performances as a violin soloist.


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IBM announced that Evalueserve.com Pvt. Ltd, a global knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) company based out of India has chosen IBM to help build a private cloud environment that supports a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) for its 2,000 employees. The private cloud deployed on IBM Systems will increase productivity significantly.
Availability is of utmost importance to Evalueserve, which provides clients with customized research conducted by professionals with industry-specific technical skills and deep domain expertise. Evalueserve clients include investment banks, insurance companies, private equity firms, leading consulting firms, law firms, and intellectual property firms. Its employees need timely access to client applications and data in order to provide consulting, research and analytics services through a global network of knowledge centers in Chile, China, India, and Romania. The company found that keeping pace with evolving needs of clients was putting a strain on its existing IT infrastructure, specifically its server and storage resources.
"Operating at maximum capacity, our server and storage resources were finding it hard to keep up with our growing business needs," said Sachin Jain, CIO, Evalueserve. "IBM helped us create a scalable and flexible cloud infrastructure which can easily support our growth for the next 10 years."
IBM worked with its business partner Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia (Avnet EM Asia) and IBM Premier Business Partner Integrated Tech9labs Pvt. Ltd. (Tech9labs) to develop a private cloud solution using IBM Systems, Storage and the IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business solution. The upgraded IT platform was capable of supporting a private cloud and a virtual desktop infrastructure for nearly 2,000 users.
The new platform helped Evalueserve to optimize existing infrastructure resources in a virtualized environment, which provided its employees quicker access to client research data. It also significantly reduced energy costs leading to improved ROI on existing IT infrastructure.
Evalueserve has reported an overall reduction in management effort needed for creation of VDI. The solution helped the company improve system availability and flexibility, which in turn led to accelerated client response times."Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are turning to IBM to help them identify and resolve client problems proactively," said Siddhesh S Naik, Country Manager for System x, India and South Asia. "IBM technology creates a resilient, high-performance IT infrastructure for Evalueserve which in turn enables their employees to access data quickly."


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"My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39).
In a sermon titled "The Dark Garden," Tim Keller explains how he came to understand that a god without wrath and Hell is not as loving as the God we find in the Bible:
We see the height of God's costly love in what He did to give us grace, but you can't know the beauty of this grace—the very concept of grace will be meaningless to you—if you reject the rightness of His justice.Because [a cup of poison] was the method of execution for many people,…the Hebrew prophets came to use the cup as a metaphor for the wrath of God on human evil…. For example…Isaiah 54: "You will drink the cup of His fury and stagger." So the reason why [Christian martyrs] who died for what they believed in didn't die the way Jesus is dying—didn't fall to the ground, didn't find this horror coming down—was that they didn't face the cup. They didn't face the justice of God against all human wickedness and evil, which was just about to come down on [Jesus]….
It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that I came finally to grips—I made my peace, as it were—with the wrath of God. Now, it might shock some of you that…a preaching minister was struggling with the very idea of a God of wrath, a God who sends people to Hell…. And then it was studying the Garden of Gethsemane when I finally came to peace with it because I realized this: The reason why people get rid of the idea of Hell and wrath is because they want a loving God…. They say, "I can't believe in Hell and wrath because I want a more loving God." And I came to realize in the Garden of Gethsemane that if you get rid of the idea of Hell and wrath, you have a less loving God.
Because if there is no wrath by God on sin, and there is no such thing as Hell, not only does that actually make what happened to Jesus inexplicable—Jesus staggering the way He is, asking God, "Is there any other way?" [and] sweating blood means that He was wimpier than hundreds of His followers, if there was nothing like [God's wrath]—but…the main thing is, if you don't believe in the wrath and Hell, it trivializes what He's done…. If you get rid of a God who has wrath and Hell, you've got a god who loves us in general, but that's not as loving as the God of the Bible, the God of Jesus Christ, who loves us with a costly love.
Look what it cost. Look what He did. Look what He was taking. You get rid of wrath and Hell, He's not taking anything close to this. And therefore, what you've done is you've just turned His incredible act of love into just something very trivial, very small….
And by the way, if the anticipation of these sufferings—if the very taste of these sufferings—sent the Son of God into shock, what must it have been to drink them to the bottom?


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A teacher at Elkford Secondary was suspended for two days after she lectured students who had cross-dressed in support of a LGBTQ student.
A B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch report released this week said Tami Lynne Chechotko told a group of Grade 11 and 12 students that she was disappointed in them for how they chose to support their peer and the LGBTQ community as a whole.
During the Dec. 16, 2016, confrontation, Chechotko told them their actions were "disrespectful and offensive, like painting your face black or wearing a feather headdress."
The school's vice-principal told her the school was okay with the students' dress, but she told the teens the cross-dressing could make students "question someone's sexuality which could potentially result in suicide."
Some of her students at the time had their next class with her, and four of them decided to go to the library instead.
When Chechotko went looking for them, she found one of the students crying and pacing.
She then became "loud and agitated" and again lectured the students about why their cross-dressing was inappropriate.
She was suspended without pay for two days on Jan. 25, 2017.
This is not Chechotko's first time being punished. In June 2016, the South Kootenay School District issued her a letter about not making "upsetting statements" to a vulnerable student about her family.
In September of that same year, she was told to stop providing advice to students that was different from what the school recommended and to not interfere with students' course selection or graduation.
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"I, for my part, can truthfully say that whenever I see this painting, it seems to be for the first time, and that I can never have my fill of it." Thus wrote Giorgio Vasari, known as the father of art history, in 1550 about "The Coronation of the Virgin" (ca. 1450) by Fra Angelico, the saintly Dominican friar-painter who is the subject of an enchanting special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until Jan. 29, 2006. A higher compliment for a work of art is scarcely imaginable. Yet, Vasari continues, "Those blessed spirits [therein depicted], one imagines, must appear in heaven just as Fra Angelico has painted them...because they are all full of life, their expressions are gentle and charming, and, moreover, the coloring could well be the work of one of the angels or saints themselves. So we can understand why the good friar was always called Fra Giovanni Angelico."
Not only did Fra Giovanni paint like an angel; he was, in his personal life, an angel himself. The friar's "angelic" style and "rare and perfect talent," Vasari informs us, were the result of a "simple and devout life":
Fra Angelico was most gentle and temperate and lived chastely, withdrawn from the snares of the world. He would often comment that the man who occupies himself with the things of Christ should cling to Christ.... It is also said that he would never take up his brushes without a prayer. Whenever he painted a Crucifixion, the tears would stream down his face; and it is no wonder that the faces and attitudes of his figures express the depth and sincerity of his Christian piety.
Thus began, through the vastly influential pen of Giorgio Vasari, the long-enduring "angelic" reputation of Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (born near Florence ca. 1390/5, died in Rome in 1455), about whose personal life, however, we possess very little documentary evidence. If Vasari is to be believed—as he was for centuries—the Dominican master's distinctively graceful, "mystical" style not only had no peers among his contemporaries; it had essentially no connection to the revolutionary technical developments of the new Renaissance pictorial imagination then being developed in Fra Angelico's Florence, most notably by Masaccio (1401-28). One of the last flowerings of the Gothic style amid the burgeoning of Renaissance classicizing humanism, Fra Angelico's style was treated as a nearly supernatural phenomenon, unique and solitary. This assessment was readily accepted and further popularized by the 19th-century Pre-Raphaelites and other Romantic critics, including John Ruskin, who on visiting the Florentine convent of San Marco in 1848 declared Fra Angelico's frescoes there to be not works of art but "visions."
Not only did Fra Giovanni paint like an angel; he was, in his personal life, an angel himself. The friar's "angelic" style and "rare and perfect talent," Vasari informs us, were the result of a "simple and devout life."
More recently, explicitly citing Vasari as his principal authority, Pope John Paul II celebrated the painter-friar in very much the same terms in the papal document Qui Res Christi Gerit, issued on the pope's initiative (motu proprio) on Oct. 3, 2002. With that personal letter (not a step in the process of canonization, as mistakenly reported by the Met and others), the pope also granted to the Dominican Order approval for their observance of the liturgical cult of "Frater Ioannis Faesulanus" and formally conferred upon Fra Angelico what had long been his traditional, popular title, Beatus, "Blessed."
"The Coronation of the Virgin," much praised by Vasari, is not included in the Met's exhibition (superbly organized by Laurence Kanter, chief curator of the museum's great Lehman Collection), but that is no reason to think less of the show. The exhibition represents a remarkable achievement and a once-in-a-lifetime event. Spanning the artist's entire professional career, it collects a prodigious number of objects from around the world, among them new discoveries and new attributions, newly cleaned and restored pieces, rarely seen items from private collections or dispersed fragments of larger composite works seen here together again after centuries of separation. It also has the distinction of being the first major monographic exhibition devoted to the artist in 50 years (since the 1955 anniversary celebration in Florence) and the first ever hosted in the United States.
Why the rarity of Fra Angelico exhibitions? The principal reason is simply that most of the artist's best works are either frescos still embedded in their original walls or large wooden altarpieces that are too fragile to ship long distances. (Another reason might be the marked decline of Fra Angelico's popularity since that 1955 anniversary—but more about this later.) Hence, the present exhibition includes only small to medium-sized panels (as well as drawings and manuscript illuminations), many of which represent secondary scenes adorning the bases of disassembled altarpieces. But even these smaller works are extremely rare outside of Italy, and the opportunity to see them here gathered together is another cause for rejoicing.
Using these works to illustrate and analyze the evolution of Fra Angelico's artistic style, the exhibition aims to overturn the long-held myth of the painter's essential isolation from the new artistic developments of his time and place. As the introductory wall panel states, "It is in an effort to restore his reputation as one of the pioneers of the stylistic revolution known as the Italian Renaissance and as one of the greatest masters of the Western pictorial tradition that this exhibition is dedicated." Not surprisingly, it turns out that the angelic friar's style was not impervious to the influences of the new humanistic art and did indeed contribute and respond to the new ways of representing reality, especially with respect to the construction of perspective and the rendering of more naturalistic human figures. In truth, the scholarly task of demonstrating this began years ago, even before the mounting of this exhibition; but, to be sure, this exhibition and its excellent catalogue advance the pace considerably.
As important as all this close analysis of style and technique might be for art historians and professional connoisseurs, it probably does not represent the focus of attention of the average visitor to the exhibit. In this respect, in its exclusive emphasis on technical matters of style and connoisseurship, the Met's exhibition is faithful to what the big public museums conceive as their narrow, traditional role in the presentation of art, ignoring the growing public desire for another type of exhibition, more thematic in nature, that places the works more explicitly in the historic, social and religious context of which they are a direct product and reflection. It would be difficult for me to count the number of regular museum visitors (among them highly educated people) who have told me in the past several years that they find it difficult to be truly engaged and excited by a work of art (especially pre-1800 art) merely on the basis of style and technique. Instead, once they know more about its historical milieu, its subject matter and the originally intended message (most Old Master paintings have a carefully constructed message), they respond more enthusiastically and more appreciatively to those formal, technical qualities by which the subject matter and message are communicated.
Some of the works on display in Fra Angelico cry out for historical explanation. For instance, one of the most striking and most touching of the images is "The Meeting of St. Dominic and St. Francis," a detail from "Virgin of Humility." Kneeling at the feet of the Madonna, Dominic and Francis face each other with frontal directness, their eyes fixed on each other and their outstretched hands united in a warm, tight clasp. A common scene in Dominican and Franciscan art, the image makes sense only when we know of the often bitter rivalry between the religious orders founded by the two saints. Elsewhere, of all the possible scenes from the life of St. James the Apostle, why was that of "James Freeing the Magician Hermogenes" chosen? Might it have something to do with the Franciscan campaign against witchcraft then being waged, especially through the revivalist sermons of the charismatic Bernardino of Siena, who had preached to overflowing crowds in the very same church for which this altarpiece was made, only shortly before its making?
Moreover, we come across many allusions in the exhibition and catalogue to the involvement of Pope Eugene IV in Fra Angelico's Florence and in his career. Isn't it pertinent to our understanding of the friar's artistic vision to know that his childhood and much of his adult life were lived in the spiritually and ecclesiastically unsettled aftermath of the Great Schism of the Western Church (1378-1417), which had sown chaos in the papacy and throughout all ranks of the Italian church? A reflection of this is the fact that Pope Eugene IV was living in exile in Fra Angelico's Florence from 1434 to 1443, having had to flee in disguise from the violently angry populace of Rome.
Despite the lack of historical contextualization, visitors to "Fra Angelico" will happily find that even among these modestly sized works, what has been most celebrated in Beato Giovanni's style is here in abundant evidence: the exquisitely delicate, masterful draughtsmanship; the rich, bold, luxurious colors in wonderful juxtaposition; the charmingly wrought human figures, especially the Madonna and Child, and saints who exude an ineffable ethereal quality and a grace, both corporal and spiritual (even in the midst of martyrdom, as Cosmas and Damian), that would not be equaled until Raphael. What struck me with greater force this time was the stirring realism and deep psychological "presence" of Fra Angelico's faces, some of which must be portraits from life (e.g., "St. Anthony Abbot"). This, however, is true principally of his male faces, and not his more generically wrought female ones, perhaps not surprising in a celibate painter who lived and worked in exclusively male environments.
The scene that was most arresting for me, and I suspect for many viewers, is the unique and powerfully confrontative "Christ Crowned With Thorns." Richly wrought in black and red and gold, it starkly contrasts the regal divinity of Jesus with his suffering humanity, vividly communicated even down to the unusual detail of the thoroughly bloodshot eyes. The latter detail, the accompanying label explains, comes from that medieval best-seller, the mystical Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden, who says she received much of her information directly from the Blessed Virgin herself.
One would need to consult the text of Bridget's Revelations to see whether she also specifies the further detail that Christ, Mary, the angels and most of the female saints were of the blond-haired, fair-eyed, white-skinned type that Fra Angelico uniformly presents. The blessed friar simply could not bring himself to depict them as the darker Mediterranean Semites and Latins that most of these personages historically were. This brings us to what for many today represents a considerable obstacle to the embracing of Fra Angelico's art as a truly engaging, timely expression of Christian piety. There is too much ethereal sweetness and otherworldly charm, too many blond, alabaster-skinned angels and saints. This might make him ideal for Christmas cards and postage stamps, but can his art speak to us today as it did in centuries past? Can we identify with his world? In the post-World War II period, Fra Angelico's appeal declined markedly among the general public, as even the more conservatively devout flocked in greater numbers and with greater enthusiasm to the more gritty, more earth-bound, un-idealizing devotional art of a Caravaggio. Caravaggio, that intriguing bad boy of the Baroque, seems to understand better the complexity, ambiguity and shadow side of all human experience, including the religious.
But who knows? Much has changed in our society in the past few years; maybe the times are ripe for a Fra Angelico revival.