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-- You know, we start out pretty good - a little noisy at first, but pretty good. But then along the way we get wrecked, by a lot of different things. For starters we get wrecked by our own sin. That`s what is going on in the story we just read about Zacheus. He`s a tax collector. Tax collectors made their living by collaborating with the occupying Roman army and price gouging their fellow Jews. They were traitors and cheats, and nobody liked them. It would be like saying he was a drug dealer. His decision to take advantage of people had shrunk his soul to the point where the only thing he cared about was money and possessions, and he was miserable. Our sin wrecks us " addictions, anger, lust, obsessions, pride " all in one way or another wreck us.
-- Sometimes it`s other people that wreck us. Zacheus made sinful choices, but other people probably had a hand in wrecking him too. The story points out that he was short, which in that culture would have been taken as a sign of weakness. So for all of his life Zacheus was probably getting called names, getting bullied, getting shoved into lockers ''or whatever the first century equivalent was''. Junior High was probably miserable for him. Parents who criticize too much, peers who humiliate us, spouses who use us or don`t pay enough attention to us, all of that leaves us lonely, insecure, and afraid. Sometimes it`s other people that wreck us.
-- Finally, sometimes the circumstances of life wreck us. In the other story we read there is a man possessed by a demon. We don`t know exactly what was going on there. Maybe there was a demon, or maybe he was mentally ill. Whatever it was, he probably didn`t choose it. Sometimes our circumstances such as disease, disabilities, unemployment, or all kinds of things can happen to us that we don`t choose. We get beat up by life. We get wrecked. As a result, we are not the people that God intended us to be.
The first way that Jesus builds his kingdom in us is:
1'' Jesus seeks us, he is looking for us. Ever feel unnoticed? Like no matter what you do no one`s paying attention? No matter your skills, your talents, people just pass you by? I`m sure Zacheus felt that way. Every time he oiled his tax-collecting, price gouging, money grubbing, Roman collaborating self down the street, people would just turn the other way. He was a non-person. But not to Jesus. In this story Zacheus climbs a tree because he`s looking for Jesus, and what he finds is that all along Jesus has been looking for him. That changes him. Having been noticed he begins to notice others and to care about them. Jesus is always looking for us. That heals us of the wounds that have been inflicted by other people, because having been noticed and cared for by Jesus we can notice and care for others. Jesus seeks us.
The second way that Jesus brings his kingdom to us is:
2'' He forgives and accepts us no matter what we`ve done. In spite of all of Zacheus` sins Jesus forgives him. But not only that, he wants to go have dinner with him, wants to socialize with him. Zacheus has been a social leper for years, and now finally someone wants to be with him. God wants to be with you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God likes you? He doesn`t just love you because he`s God and theologically he has no choice. He likes you. He wants to be with you. When we experience his acceptance we can become a lot more accepting people ourselves because we feel secure that we are loved.
The third way that Jesus brings his kingdom to us is:
3'' He puts us in community. Jesus said that Zacheus is also a son of Abraham. What he is saying there is that he belongs in this community just like you. He`s putting Zacheus back into community, and that`s what he does with us, that`s how he builds his kingdom. He puts people around us, to encourage us and challenge us and hold us accountable so that we can grow into the people he created us to be. He seeks us, he forgives and accepts us, he puts others around us.
Finally, the fourth way Jesus restores us is:
4'' He invites us to build his kingdom with him. As soon as Zacheus meets Jesus he starts building the kingdom. He brings reconciliation by paying back everything he has taken from other people. He starts being part of restoration by saying, "I`m going to give some of my money to the poor." And the scene ends with him and Jesus going off to rejoice together at his house. Zacheus starts to build the kingdom. One of the best ways I know of to get over some problem I have is to get my eyes off myself and put them on someone else and begin to help. And I think that`s why God in order to restore us and heal us calls us to build his kingdom with him, so we can get our eyes off our own problems and put them on to someone else and on to God. Jesus brings his kingdom in us by seeking us, forgiving and accepting us, putting us around other people, and asking us to build his kingdom with him. All of that changes us. Our part in all of this is simply to say that we need Jesus. The old fashioned word for this is `repent.` All we need to do is say, "Lord Jesus, I need you; I need you to forgive my sins, I need you to make my life whole, I cannot do this on my own." Say that, and then follow him with our head, heart, hands, and habits so that he can transform us. It`s not always easy, it can take a lot of time, and it involves some hard work on our part, but the promise of Jesus is that he will bring his kingdom in us; he will restore us to who he created us to be.
By: Scott Dudley
Category: Jesus Gives Good News: the Kingdom of God has Come to Earth
(12) Comments


text:
Selected Essays on
Translated from the French by
Edited by GEORGE B. de HUSZAR
Property and Law
The confidence of my fellow citizens has invested me with the title of legislator.
I should certainly have declined that title if I had understood it as Rousseau did.
"Whoever ventures to undertake the founding of a nation," he says,
should feel himself capable of changing human nature, so to speak; of transforming each individual, who by himself is a perfect and separate whole, into a part of a greater whole, from which that individual somehow receives his life and his being; of changing the physical constitution of man in order to strengthen it, etc., etc ... If it be true that a great prince is a rarity, what, then, is to be said of a great law- giver? The first has only to follow the model that the other constructs. The latter is the artificer who invents the machine; the former is only the operator who turns it on and runs it.
Rousseau, being convinced that society is a human contrivance, found it necessary to place law and the lawgiver on an extremely lofty elevation. He saw between the lawgiver and the rest of mankind as great a distance, or rather as great a gulf, as that which separates the inventor of the machine from the inert matter of which it is composed.
In his opinion, the law should transform persons and should create or not create property. In my opinion, society, persons, and property exist prior to the law, and--to restrict myself specifically to the last of these--I would say: Property does not exist because there are laws, but laws exist because there is property.
The opposition between these two systems is fundamental. Since the consequences that follow from them keep eluding us, I hope I may be permitted to make the question very precise. First, let me state that I use the word property in the general sense, and not in the limited sense of landed property. I regret, and probably all economists regret with me, that this word involuntarily evokes in us the idea of the possession of land. By property I understand the right that the worker has to the value that he has created by his labor.
Now, this much granted, I ask whether this right is created by, law, or whether it is not, on the contrary, prior and superior to the law; whether law is needed to give rise to the right to property, or whether, on the contrary, property is a pre-existing fact and right that gave rise to law. In the first case, it is the function of the legislator to organize, modify, and even eliminate property if he deems it good to do so; in the second, his jurisdiction is limited to guaranteeing and safeguarding property rights.
In the preamble to a draft for a constitution, published by one of the greatest thinkers of modern times, M. de Lamennais [Felicite de Lamennais (1782-1854), French philosopher, Catholic priest, reformer, and ardent champion of the working classes.--TRANSLATOR.] I find the following words:
The French people declare that they recognize rights and duties prior and superior to all positive laws and independent of them.
These rights and duties, emanating directly from God, are summed up in the triple dogma which these sacred words express: Equality, Liberty, Fraternity.
I ask whether the right to property is not one of those rights which, far from springing from positive law, are prior to the law and are the reason for its existence.
This is not, as might be thought, a theoretical and idle question. It is of tremendous, of fundamental importance. Its solution concerns society most urgently, and the reader will be convinced of this, I hope, after I have compared the two systems in question in regard to their origin and their consequences.
Economists believe that property is a providential fact, like the human person. The law does not bring the one into existence any more than it does the other. Property is a necessary consequence of the nature of man.
In the full sense of the word, man is born a proprietor, because he is born with wants whose satisfaction is necessary to life, and with organs and faculties whose exercise is indispensable to the satisfaction of these wants. Faculties are only an extension of the person; and property is nothing but an extension of the faculties. To separate a man from his faculties is to cause him to die; to separate a man from the product of his faculties is likewise to cause him to die.
There are some political theorists who are very much concerned with knowing how God ought to have made man. We, for our part, study man as God has made him. We observe that he cannot live without providing for his wants, that he cannot provide for his wants without labor, and that he will not perform any labor if he is not sure of applying the fruit of his labor to the satisfaction of his wants. That is why we believe that property has been divinely instituted, and that the object of human law is its protection or security.
So true is it that property is prior to law that it is recognized even among savages who do not have laws, or at least not written laws. When a savage has devoted his labor to constructing a hut, no one will dispute his possession or ownership of it. To be sure, another, stronger savage may chase him out of it, but not without angering and alarming the whole tribe. It is this very abuse of force which gives rise to association, to common agreement, to law, and which puts the public police force at the service of property. Hence, law is born of property, instead of property being born of law.
One may say that the principle of property is recognized even among animals. The swallow peacefully cares for its young in the nest that it has built by its own efforts.
Even plants live and develop by assimilation, by appropriation. They appropriate the substances, the gases, the salts that are within their reach. Any interruption in this process is all that is needed to make them wither and die.
Man, too, lives and develops by appropriation. Appropriation is a natural phenomenon, providential and essential to life; and property is only appropriation that labor has made a right. When labor has rendered substances assimilable and appropriable that were not so before, I do not really see how it can be alleged that, by right, the act of appropriation should be performed for the benefit of another individual than the one who has done the work.
It is because of these primordial facts, which are necessary consequences of the very nature of man, that the law intervenes. As the desire for life and self-development can induce the strong man to despoil the weak, and thus to violate his right to the fruits of his labor, it has been agreed that the combined force of all members of society should be devoted to preventing and repressing violence. The function of the law, then, is to safeguard the right to property. It is not property that is a matter of agreement, but law.
Let us now seek for the origin of the opposing system.
All our past constitutions proclaim that property is sacred, a fact that seems to indicate that the goal of social organization is the free development of private associations or individuals through their labor. This implies that the right to property is prior to the law, since the sole object of the law would be to protect property.
But I wonder whether such a declaration has not been introduced into our constitutions instinctively, so to speak, as a mere pious phrase, as a dead letter, and whether, above all, it underlies all our social convictions.
Now, if it is true, as has been said, that literature is the expression of society, doubts may well be raised in this regard; for never, certainly, have political theorists, after having respectfully saluted the principle of property, invoked so much the intervention of the law, not to safeguard property rights, but to modify, impair, transform, balance, equalize, and organize property, credit, and labor.
Now, this supposes that an absolute power over persons and property is imputed to the law, and hence to the legislator.
This may distress us, but it should not surprise us.
Whence do we derive our ideas on these matters, and even our very notion of rights? From Latin literature and Roman law.
I have not studied law, but it is sufficient for me to know that the source of our theories is in Roman law, to affirm that they are false. The Romans could not fail to consider property anything but a purely conventional fact--a product, an artificial creation, of written law. Evidently they could not go back, as political economy does, to the very nature of man and perceive the relations and necessary connections that exist among wants, faculties, labor, and property. It would have been absurd and suicidal for them to have done so. How could they, when they lived by looting, when all their property was the fruit of plunder, when they had based their whole way of life on the labor of slaves; how could they, without shattering the foundations of their society, introduce into their legislation the idea that the true title to property is the labor that produces it? No, they could neither say it nor think it. They had to have recourse to a purely empirical definition of property -- jus utendi et abutendi ["The right to use and abuse.-- TRANSLATOR.] -- a definition that refers only to effects and not to causes or origins, for they were indeed forced to conceal the latter from view.
It is sad to think that the science of law as we know it in the nineteenth century is still based on principles formulated in antiquity to justify slavery; but this is easily explained. The teaching of law is monopolized in France, and monopoly excludes progress. It is true that jurists do not create all of public opinion; but it must be said that university and clerical education prepares French youth marvelously to accept the false ideas of jurists on these matters, since, the better to assure this, it plunges all of us, during the ten best years of our lives, in the atmosphere of war and slavery that enveloped and permeated Roman society.
Do not be surprised, then, to see reproduced in the eighteenth century the Roman idea that property is a matter of convention and of legal institution; that, far from law being a corollary of property, it is property that is a corollary of law. We know that, for Rousseau, not only property but the whole of society was the result of a contract, of an invention, a product of the legislator's mind.
The social order is a sacred right that serves as the basis of all the others. However, this right does not come from Nature. Therefore, it is founded on convention.
Thus, the right that serves as the basis of all the others is purely conventional. Hence, property, which is a subsequent right, is also conventional. It does not come from Nature.
Robespierre was imbued with the ideas of Rousseau. In what the disciple says about property, we recognize the theories and even the rhetorical forms of the master.
Citizens, I propose to you first a few necessary articles to complete our theory of property. Let this word alarm no one. You sordid souls, who esteem only gold, do not be frightened; I do not wish to lay hands on your treasures, however impure their source ... For my part, I would rather be born in the hut of Fabricius than in the palace of Lucullus, etc., etc.
Here it should be noted that, when one analyzes the notion of property, it is irrational and dangerous to treat this term as synonymous with opulence, and, even worse, with ill-gotten opulence. The hut of Fabricius [Gaius Luscinus Fabricius, distinguished Roman general and consul whose integrity so impressed Pyrrhus when he was sent as an ambassador to treat for the ransom and exchange of prisoners in 280 B.C. that they were released without ransom. He died so poor that the state had to provide for his daughter.--TRANSLATOR.] is property just as much as the palace of Lucullus. [Lucius Licinius Lucullus (110-56 B.C.), Roman general and plutocrat famous for the sumptuousness and elegance of his mode of life and especially for his extravagant gourmet meals.-- TRANSLATOR.] But let me call the reader's attention to the following words, which sum up the whole system:
In defining freedom, man's primary need, the most sacred of his natural rights, we have said, quite correctly, that it has as its limit the rights of others. Why have you not applied this principle to property, which is socially instituted, as if the eternal laws of Nature were less inviolable than the conventions of men?
After these introductory remarks, Robespierre formulates his principles in these terms:
Art. 1. Property is the right that each citizen has to enjoy and to dispose of the portion of goods that is guaranteed to him by law.
Art. 2. The right to property is limited, as are all others, by the obligation to respect the rights of others.
Thus, Robespierre sets up an opposition between liberty and property. These are two rights of different origin: one comes from Nature; the other is socially instituted. The first is natural; the second, conventional.
The fact that Robespierre imposes identical limits on these two rights should have led him, it would seem, to think that they come from the same source. Whether liberty or property is in question, to respect the right of others is not to destroy or impair the right, but rather to recognize and confirm it. It is precisely because property as well as liberty is a right prior to the law that both exist only on condition of respecting the like right of others, and it is the function of the law to see that this limit is respected, which means to recognize and support this very principle.
In any case, it is certain that Robespierre, following Rousseau's example, considered property as a social institution, as a convention. He did not connect it at all with its true justification, which is labor. It is the right, he said, to dispose of the portion of goods guaranteed by law.
I do not need to recall here that through Rousseau and Robespierre the Roman idea of property has been transmitted to all our self-styled socialist schools of thought. We know that the first volume of Louis Blanc, on the Revolution, is a dithyramb to the philosopher of Geneva and to the leader of the Convention.
Thus, this idea that the right to property is socially instituted, that it is an invention of the legislator, a creation of the law--in other words, that it is unknown to men in the state of nature-- has been transmitted from the Romans down to us, through the teaching of law, classical studies, the political theorists of the eighteenth century, the revolutionaries of 1793, and the modem proponents of a planned social order.
Let us now proceed to consider the consequences of the two systems that I have just placed in opposition. Let us begin with the legal system. The first result is to open an unlimited field to the imagination of the utopians.
This is obvious. Once it is accepted in principle that property derives its existence from the law, there are as many possible ways of organizing labor as there are possible laws in the heads of dreamers. Once it is accepted in principle that it is the responsibility of the legislator to arrange, combine, and form persons and property in any way he pleases, there are no limits to the imaginable ways in which persons and property can be arranged, combined, and formed. At this moment, there are certainly five hundred proposals in circulation in Paris for the organization of labor, without counting an equal number of proposals for the organization of credit. Undoubtedly, these plans are mutually contradictory, but all have in common this underlying thought: it is the law that creates the right to property; it is the legislator who disposes of the workers and the fruits of their labor as an absolute master.
Among these proposals, the ones that have attracted the most public attention are those of Fourier, Saint-Simon, Owen, Cabet, and Louis Blanc. But it would be absurd to believe that these five modes of organization are the only ones possible. There are an unlimited number of them. Each morning a new one may appear, more seductive than that of the day before, and I leave it to your imagination to envision what would become of mankind if, as soon as one of these plans were imposed on us, another more plausible were suddenly to make its appearance. Mankind would be reduced to the alternative either of changing its mode of life every morning, or of persevering forever along a road recognized as false, simply because it had already been entered upon.
A second result is to arouse in all these dreamers a thirst for power. Suppose I conceive of a system for the organization of labor. To set forth my system and wait for men to adopt it if it is good, would be to assume that the initiative lies with them. But in the system that I am examining, the initiative lies with the legislator. "The legislator," as Rousseau says, "should feel strong enough to transform human nature." Hence, what I should aspire to is to become a legislator, in order to impose on mankind a social order of my own invention.
Moreover, it is clear that the systems which are based on the idea that the right to property is socially instituted all end either in the most concentrated privilege or in complete communism, depending upon the evil or good intentions of the inventor. If his purposes are sinister, he will make use of the law to enrich a few at the expense of all. If he is philanthropically inclined, he will try to equalize the standard of living, and, to that end, he will devise some means of assuring everyone a legal claim to an equal share in whatever is produced. It remains to be seen whether, in that case, it is possible to produce anything at all.
In this regard, the Luxembourg [The meeting-place of the National Assembly.-- TRANSLATOR.] has recently presented us with a most extraordinary spectacle. Did we not hear, right in the middle of the nineteenth century, a few days after the February Revolution (a revolution made in the name of liberty) a man, more than a cabinet minister, actually a member of the provisional government, a public official vested with revolutionary and unlimited authority, coolly inquire whether in the allotment of wages it was good to consider the strength, the talent, the industriousness, the capability of the worker, that is, the wealth he produced; or whether, in disregard of these personal virtues or of their useful effect, it would not be better to give everyone henceforth a uniform remuneration? This is tantamount to asking: Will a yard of cloth brought to market by an idler sell at the same price as two yards offered by an industrious man? And, what passes all belief, this same individual proclaimed that he would prefer profits to be uniform, whatever the quality or the quantity of the product offered for sale, and he therefore decided in his wisdom that, although two are two by nature, they are to be no more than one by law.
This is where we get when we start from the assumption that the law is stronger than nature.
Those whom he addressed apparently understood that such arbitrariness is repugnant to the very nature of man, that one yard of cloth could never be made to give the right to the same remuneration as two yards. In such a case, the competition that was to be abolished would be replaced by another competition a thousand times worse: each worker would strive to be the one who worked the least, who exerted himself the least, since, by law, the wage would always be guaranteed and would be the same for all.
But Citizen [This title of address used during the French Revolution has. of course, an ironic connotation here, much like the term "Comrade" in our time.--TRANSLATOR.] Blanc had foreseen this objection, and, to prevent this dolce far niente so natural in man, alas! when his work is not remunerated, he thought of the idea of erecting in each community a post where the names of the idlers would be inscribed. But he did not say whether there would be inquisitors to spy out the sin of laziness, tribunals to judge it, and police to carry out the sentence. It is to be noted that the utopians are never concerned with the vast governmental apparatus that alone can set their legal mechanism in motion. When the delegates of the Luxembourg appeared a bit incredulous, up strode Citizen Vidal, [Francois Vidal (1814-1872), journalist, politician, and writer on economic subjects. An ardent advocate of government intervention in the relations between labor and capital, he edited a number of publications, including La Presse. After the Revolution of 1848, Louis Blanc made him secretary of the commission for the organization of labor. He later took an active part in the political opposition to Louis Bonaparte. His most famous work, to which Bastiat's French editor makes reference on p. 327 infra, is entitled De la repartition de richesses ou De la justice distributive en economic sociale (1846). It is a critical examination of the economic doctrines of his day.--TRANSLATOR.] the secretary of Citizen Blanc, to add the finishing touches to the thought of the master. Following Rousseau's example, Citizen Vidal proposed nothing less than to change human nature and the laws of Providence.2
It has pleased Providence to give to every individual certain wants and their consequences, as well as certain faculties and their consequences, thus creating self-interest, otherwise known as the instinct for self- preservation and the desire for self-development, as the great motive force of mankind. M. Vidal is going to change all this. He has looked at the work of God, and he has seen that it was not good. Consequently, proceeding from the principle that the law and the legislator can do everything, he is going to suppress self-interest by decree. He substitutes for it the code of honor. It is no longer in order to live or to raise and support their families that men are to work, but to maintain their honor, to avoid the fatal post, as if this new motive were not again self-interest of another sort.
An even more striking effect of the harmful principle that I am here seeking to combat is the uncertainty that it always holds suspended, like the sword of Damocles, over labor, capital, commerce, and industry; and this is so serious that I venture to ask the reader to give his full attention to it.
In a country like the United States, where the right to property is placed above the law, where the sole function of the public police force is to safeguard this natural right, each person can in full confidence dedicate his capital and his labor to production. He does not have to fear that his plans and calculations will be upset from one instant to another by the legislature.
But when, on the contrary, acting on the principle that not labor, but the law, is the basis of property, we permit the makers of utopias to impose their schemes on us in a general way and by decree, who does not see that all the foresight and prudence that Nature has implanted in the heart of man is turned against industrial progress?
Where, at such a time, is the bold speculator who would dare set up a factory or engage in an enterprise? Yesterday it was decreed that he will be permitted to work only for a fixed number of hours. Today it is decreed that the wages of a certain type of labor will be fixed. Who can foresee tomorrow's decree, that of the day after tomorrow, or those of the days following? Once the legislator is placed at this incommensurable distance from other men, and believes, in all conscience, that he can dispose of their time, their labor, and their transactions, all of which are their property, what man in the whole country has the least knowledge of the position in which the law will forcibly place him and his line of work tomorrow? And, under such conditions, who can or will undertake anything?
I certainly do not deny that among the innumerable systems that this false principle gives rise to, a great number, the greater number even, originate from benevolent and generous intentions. But what is vicious is the principle itself. The manifest end of each particular plan is to equalize prosperity. But the still more manifest result of the principle on which these plans are founded is to equalize poverty; nay more, the effect is to force the well-to-do families down into the ranks of the poor and to decimate the families of the poor by sickness and starvation.
I confess that I fear for the future of my country when I think of the seriousness of the financial difficulties that this dangerous principle will aggravate still further.
On February 24, we found that we had a budget that exceeds the income that France can reasonably attain; and, beyond that, according to the present Minister of Finance, nearly a billion francs worth of debts payable immediately on demand.
In this situation, already so alarming, the expenses have been continually increasing, and the receipts constantly decreasing.
Nor is this all. The public has been deluged, with an unlimited prodigality, by two sorts of promises. According to one, a vast number of charitable, but costly, institutions are to be established at public expense. According to the other, all taxes are going to be reduced. Thus, on the one hand, nurseries, asylums, free primary and secondary schools, workshops, and industrial retirement pensions are going to be multiplied. Slave owners are going to be paid indemnities, and the slaves themselves are to be paid damages; the state is going to found credit institutions, lend to workers the tools of production, double the size of the army, reorganize the navy, etc., etc., and, on the other hand, it will abolish the tax on salt, tolls, and all the most unpopular excises.
Certainly, whatever idea one may have of France's resources, it will at least be admitted that these resources must be developed in order to be adequate for this double enterprise, so gigantic and apparently so contradictory.
But here, in the midst of this extraordinary movement, which may be considered as above the power of man to accomplish, at the same time as all the energies of the country are being directed toward productive labor, a cry arises: The right to property is a creation of the law. Consequently, the legislator can promulgate at any time, in accordance with whatever theories he has come to accept, decrees that may upset all the calculations of industry. The worker is not the owner of a thing or of a value because he has created it by his labor, but because today's law guarantees it. Tomorrow's law can withdraw this guarantee, and then the ownership is no longer legitimate.
What must be the consequence of all this? Capital and labor will be frightened; they will no longer be able to count on the future. Capital, under the impact of such a doctrine, will hide, flee, be destroyed. And what will become, then, of the workers, those workers for whom you profess an affection so deep and sincere, but so unenlightened? Will they be better fed when agricultural production is stopped? Will they be better dressed when no one dares to build a factory? Will they have more employment when capital will have disappeared?
And from what source will you derive the taxes? And how will you replenish the treasury? How will you pay the army? How will you meet your debts? With what money will you furnish the tools of production? With what resources will you support these charitable institutions, so easy to establish by decree?
I hasten to turn aside from these dreary considerations. It remains for me to examine the consequences of the principle opposed to that which prevails today, the economist's principle, the principle that derives the right to property from labor, and not from the law, the principle which says: Property is prior to law; the sole function of the law is to safeguard the right to property wherever it exists, wherever it is formed, in whatever manner the worker produces it, whether individually or in association, provided that he respects the rights of others.
First, whereas the jurists' principle involves virtual slavery, the economists' principle implies liberty. Property, the right to enjoy the fruits of one's labor, the right to work, to develop, to exercise one's faculties, according to one's own understanding, without the state intervening otherwise than by its protective action--this is what is meant by liberty. And I still cannot understand why the numerous partisans of the systems opposed to liberty allow the word liberty to remain on the flag of the Republic. To be sure, a few of them have effaced it in order to substitute the word solidarity. They are more honest and more logical. But they should have said communism, and not solidarity; for the solidarity of men's interests, like property, exists outside the purview of the law.
Moreover, it implies unity. This we have already seen. If the legislator creates the right to property, there are as many modes of property as there can be errors in the utopians' heads, that is, an infinite number. If, on the contrary, the right to property is a providential fact, prior to all human legislation, and which it is the function of human legislation to safeguard, there is no place for any other system.
Beyond this, there is security; and all evidence clearly indicates that, if people sincerely recognize the obligation of every person to provide his own means of existence, as well as every person's right to the fruits of his own labor as prior and superior to the law, if human law is needed and intervenes only to guarantee to all the freedom to engage in labor and the ownership of its fruits, then all human industry is assured a future of complete security. There is no longer reason to fear that the legislature may, with one decree after another, stifle effort, upset plans, frustrate foresight. Under the shelter of such security, capital will rapidly be created. The rapid accumulation of capital, in turn, is the sole reason for the increase in the value of labor. The working classes will, then, be well off; they themselves will co-operate to form new capital. They will be better able to rise from the status of wage earners, to invest in business enterprises, to found enterprises of their own, and to regain their dignity.
Finally, the eternal principle that the state should not be a producer, but the provider of security for the producers, necessarily involves economy and order in public finances; consequently, this principle alone renders prosperity possible and a just distribution of taxes.
Let us never forget that, in fact, the state has no resources of its own. It has nothing, it possesses nothing that it does not take from the workers. When, then, it meddles in everything, it substitutes the deplorable and costly activity of its own agents for private activity. If, as in the United States, it came to be recognized that the function of the state is to provide complete security for all, it could fulfill this function with a few hundred million francs. Thanks to this economy, combined with industrial prosperity, it would finally be possible to impose a single direct tax, levied exclusively on property of all kinds.
But, for that, we must wait until we have learned by experience --perhaps cruel experience--to trust in the state a little less and in mankind a little more.
I shall conclude with a few words on the Association for Free Trade. [In 1846, Bastiat helped to organize the first Association for Free Trade in Bordeaux, and soon thereafter he was named secretary of a similar association established in Paris.--TRANSLATOR] It has been very much criticized for having adopted this name. Its adversaries have rejoiced, and its supporters have been distressed, by what both consider as a defect.
"Why spread alarm in this way?" said its supporters. "Why inscribe a principle on your banner? Why not limit yourself to demanding those wise and prudent changes in the customs duties that time has rendered necessary and experience has shown to be expedient?"
Why? Because, in my eyes at least, free trade has never been a question of customs duties, but a question of right, of justice, of public order, of property. Because privilege, under whatever form it is manifested, implies the denial or the scorn of property rights; because the intervention of the state to equalize wealth, to increase the share of some at the expense of others, is communism, as a drop of water is just as much water as the whole ocean; because I foresaw that the right to property, once weakened in one form, would soon be attacked in a thousand different forms; because I had not given up my solitude in order to work for a mere reduction in customs duties, which would have implied my adherence to the false idea that the law is prior to property, but to fly to the rescue of the opposite principle, compromised by the protectionist system; because I was convinced that the landed proprietors and the capitalists had themselves implanted, in the tariff, the seed of that communism which now frightens them, since they asked the law for additions to their profits, to the detriment of the working classes. I saw clearly that these classes would not delay in claiming also, by virtue of equality, the benefit of the law for the equalization of wealth, which is communism.
If our critics will but read the first statement issued by our Association, the program drafted at a preliminary session, May 10, 1846, they will be convinced that this was our dominating idea:
Exchange, like property, is a natural right. Every citizen who has produced or acquired a product should have the option of applying it immediately to his own use or of giving it to whoever on the face of the earth consents to give him in exchange the object of his desires. To deprive him of this faculty, when he has committed no act contrary to public order and good morals, and solely to satisfy the convenience of another citizen, is to legitimize an act of plunder and to violate the law of justice.
It is, further, to violate the conditions of public order; for what order can exist in a society in which each industry, aided and abetted by the law and the public police force, seeks its success in the oppression of all the others?
We placed the question so far above customs duties that we added:
The undersigned do not contest the right of society to levy on the merchandise that crosses its borders taxes reserved for the common expense, provided that they are determined solely by the needs of the public treasury.
But as soon as the tax, losing its fiscal character, has for its object the exclusion of a foreign product, to the detriment of the treasury itself, in order to raise artificially the price of a similar domestic product, and to exact tribute from the community for the profit of one class, from that moment protection, or rather plunder, makes its appearance, and this is the principle that the Association seeks to discredit and to efface completely from our laws.
Certainly, if we had been working only for an immediate reduction in customs duties, if we had been, as has been alleged, the agents of certain commercial interests, we should have been very careful not to inscribe on our banner a word that implies a principle. Is it supposed that I did not foresee the obstacles that this declaration of war against injustice would place in our path? Did I not know very well that by evasive maneuvering, by hiding our aim, by veiling half our thought, we should the sooner achieve such or such a partial victory? But just how would these triumphs, actually ephemeral, have redeemed and safeguarded the great principle of property rights, which in that case we should ourselves have kept in the background and out of the discussion?
I repeat, we asked for the abolition of the protectionist system, not as a good governmental measure, but as an act of justice, as the realization of liberty, as the strict consequence of a right superior to the law. We should not conceal what we really want under a misleading form of expression.3
The time is coming when it will be recognized that we were right not to consent to put into the name of our Association a lure, a trap, a surprise, an equivocation, but rather the frank expression of an eternal principle of order and justice; for there is power only in principles: they alone are a beacon light for men's minds, a rallying point for convictions gone astray. In recent times, a universal tremor has spread, like a shiver of fright, through all of France. At the mere mention of the word communism everyone becomes alarmed. Seeing the strangest systems emerge openly and almost officially, witnessing a continual succession of subversive decrees, and fearing that these may be followed by decrees even more subversive, everyone is wondering in what direction we are going. Capital is frightened, credit has taken flight, work has been suspended, the saw and the hammer have stopped in the midst of their labor, as if a disastrous electric current had suddenly paralyzed all men's minds and hands. And why? Because the right to property, already essentially compromised by the protectionist system, has been subjected to new shocks consequent upon the first one; because the intervention of the law in matters of industry, as a means of stabilizing values and equilibrating incomes, an intervention of which the protectionist system has been the first known manifestation, now threatens to manifest itself in a thousand forms, known or unknown. Yes, I say it openly: it is the landowners, those who are considered property owners par excellence, who have undermined property rights, since they have appealed to the law to give an artificial value to their lands and their products. It is the capitalists who have suggested the idea of equalizing wealth by law. Protectionism has been the forerunner of communism; I say more: it has been its first manifestation. For what do the suffering classes demand today? They ask for nothing else than what the capitalists and landlords have demanded and obtained. They ask for the intervention of the law to achieve balance, equilibrium, equality in the distribution of wealth. What has been done in the first case by means of the tariff, they wish to do by other means, but the principle remains the same: Use the law to take from some to give to others; and certainly since it is you, landowners and capitalists, who have had this disastrous principle accepted, do not complain, then, if people less fortunate than you are claim its benefits. They at least have a claim to it that you do not.4
But finally people's eyes are beginning to open, and they see the nature of the abyss toward which we are being driven because of this first violation of the conditions essential to all social stability. Is it not a terrible lesson, a tangible proof of the existence of that chain of causes and effects whereby the justice of providential retribution ultimately becomes apparent, to see the rich terrified today by the inroads made by a false doctrine of which they themselves laid the iniquitous foundations, and whose consequences they believed they could quietly turn to their own profit? Yes, protectionists, you have been the promoters of communism. Yes, property owners, you have destroyed the true idea of property in our minds. It was political economy that gave us this idea, and you have proscribed political economy, because in the name of the right to property it opposes your unjust privileges.6 And when the adherents of these new schools of thought that frighten you came to power, what was the first thing they tried to do? To suppress political economy, for political economy is a perpetual protest against the legal leveling which you have sought, and which others, following your example, seek today. You have demanded of the law something other and more than should be asked of the law, something other and more than the law can give. You have asked of it, not security (that would have been your right), but a surplus value over and above what belongs to you, which could not be accorded to you without violating the rights of others. And now, the folly of your claims has become a universal folly. And if you wish to ward off the storm that threatens to destroy you, you have only one recourse left. Recognize your error; renounce your privileges; let the law return to its proper sphere, and restrict the legislator to his proper role. You have abandoned us, you have attacked us, because you undoubtedly did not understand us. Now that you perceive the abyss that you have opened with your own hands, hasten to join us in our defense of the right to property by giving to this term its broadest possible meaning and showing that it includes both man's faculties and all that his faculties can produce, whether by labor or by exchange.
The doctrine which we are defending arouses a certain opposition because of its extreme simplicity; it confines itself to demanding of the law security for all. People can scarcely believe that the machinery of government can be reduced to these proportions. Moreover, as this doctrine restricts the law to the limits of universal justice, it is reproached for excluding fraternity. Political economy does not accept this accusation. This will be the subject of a forthcoming article.
Slightly edited by Faré Rideau. See also the original french text "Propriété et loi" on Bastiat.org.

subset: commoncrawl


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Update: the electric mower works well, cuts better than my old gas mower, and the drive option works very well. Since the batteries make it heavier than a gas mower, the power drive makes a big difference. Hacking through very long grass, the batteries last about half an hour, keeping previously cut grass trimmed short I think it would last a lot longer. Its enough for me]
Actually, what really happened was that I tried to mow the grass last weekend and decided that my old gas lawnmower wasn't up to the job, so I did some research and bought an electric one. Its quiet, doesn't need gas, the throttle and air intake don't need cleaning out and just starts when I want it to.
I ordered it from Amazon.com on Sunday evening, as usual, with the free 5-7 day shipping option, and it arrived on Tuesday. I guess Amazon had nothing better to do than ship stuff... but it was nice to save $67 for shipping a 100 lb package and still get it very fast.
I got the latest biggest electric I could find, the Epic EP21H 24Volt cordless self propelled 21 inch. The rear wheels are belt driven from the main motor via a gearbox. It has a high efficiency brushless motor that drives the blade directly and two 12V lead acid batteries and should run for 40-50 minutes per charge. This is plenty of time for me to get fed up with mowing and charge it overnight. Its a bit bigger and more rugged than my old 4HP 20inch gas mower, and has a side discharge option so won't get clogged trying to mulch tall grass. I'll try it out after work.
I've also been looking forward to getting solar power installed on my roof, and I'm finalizing plans to make a commitment to get it done this year. I will blog my way through the process as it happens...
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Fractal iPhone app source code
I have posted the source to Fractal's iPhone app to google code. I'm hoping that other bands can replace the artwork and URLs and quickly get their own promotional apps out there. If we end up with bug-fixes and improvements, then everyone gains....
Thursday, April 09, 2009
iPhone apps that don't work on 3.0beta2
Both dictionary.com and PocketFlix fail immediately after they launch with iPhone os 3.0beta2
Most other apps seem to be working, and beta2 is faster and more stable.
Most other apps seem to be working, and beta2 is faster and more stable.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Fractal - free iPhone app
App store link
It's finally ready for download.... Don't forget, Hotel Utah SF Sat April 18th is the next gig.
It's finally ready for download.... Don't forget, Hotel Utah SF Sat April 18th is the next gig.
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"Priceless Principles for Success," Ensign, Nov. 1994, 27
Priceless Principles for Success
Dear brothers and sisters, I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for having sent me to this earth to loving parents who, from my boyhood, taught me the priceless principles of righteousness, honesty, faithfulness, and how to work.
I was born into a poor family, and early in my life I had to work. This has been a great blessing to me. When I was twelve years old, I had to go to evening school because I worked ten hours during the day. Many times on the way to school I would sleep on the bus or train. Sometimes I would even fall asleep during class. However, upon arriving home late at night, I would always find my loving parents waiting for me.
At that time all I wanted in life was to become a successful man, which to me meant having many material possessions, comfort, and a life of ease. With this as a goal, I went on working and studying.
After I was baptized into the Church, I came to understand the true meaning of success. Being successful means to be a servant of God, serving our fellowmen, being truly committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and keeping the commandments of God.
During the time I presided over the Brazil Manaus Mission, I witnessed great examples of true success, stories which came from people truly devoted to the gospel and to their covenants with God.
One man I met lived simply in a tiny, little town in the middle of the Amazon. After being baptized with his family, he could hardly wait to complete a year's membership in the Church so he could take his wife and children to the temple. The São Paulo Brazil Temple is very far from the Amazon. It usually takes four days by boat and four days by bus to get to the temple—about a week's travel. This man was a cabinetmaker. How could he save enough money to pay for himself, his wife, and his children? Although he worked hard for many months, he made very little money.
When the time came to go to the temple, he sold all his furniture and appliances, even his electric saw and his only means of transportation, a motorcycle—everything he had—and went to the temple with his wife and children. It required eight days of travel to reach São Paulo. After spending four glorious days in the temple doing the work of the Lord, this family then had to travel seven more days to return to their home. But they went back home happy, feeling that their difficulties and struggles were nothing compared to the great happiness and blessings they had experienced in the house of the Lord.
During my mission, I met missionaries—young men and women—who for me were examples of true success. They were so faithful and excited about the gospel that they were never bothered by the scorching high temperatures and excessive humidity of the Amazon climate. They were truly angelic messengers carrying the gospel message to the people of northern Brazil.
I remember a faithful and devoted member of the Church who was always in a good mood and always smiling. But one day I saw him crying. He told me the reason he was sad was because, at the age of seventy, he saw himself as a failure for having never been able to give his family the material comforts he felt they deserved.
I asked him, "How many children do you have?" He answered, "Four." I continued, "How many are members of the Church?" He said, "Four." I asked further, "How many are faithful members of the Church?" His answer: "Four." "How many are sealed to you?" "Four." "How many have married in the temple?" Again his answer was "Four." Then, moved by the Spirit, I told him that the success he had achieved in his life was one of the greatest success stories I had ever heard.
I have learned much from the scriptures about success. It is wonderful to read about the journey of Lehi and his family to the promised land. Of Lehi's older sons, Nephi and Sam, through their faithfulness to the Lord, charted their course for true success. For them, being successful meant being faithful in following the Lord's commandments. Through their example the lives of millions of people have been blessed to this date. And because of their obedience, many people have followed the path of truth and righteousness, striving to be worthy of the Spirit of the Lord in their lives.
I often think about the rich young man who approached the Master to ask Him what he should do to gain eternal life. Upon receiving the answer that eternal life meant giving up his riches and following the Lord, he turned his back and went away sorrowful because he was unwilling to forsake his many possessions.
I am grateful to the Lord for having touched my heart and for helping me to choose the better part—that which, so long as I strive for worthiness, cannot be taken from me. Being faithful to God as worthy members of His church, learning about Him and how to truly follow and worship Him, is more priceless than gold, silver, or diamonds.
The General Authorities of the Church, for whom I am most grateful, are true heroes for me. I had been a member of the Church for just one week when I met my first General Authority, Elder Royden G. Derrick, a member of the Seventy. I shall never forget the challenge he presented to the members of the Church to be exemplary in all aspects of our lives.
I shall always remember the counsel given by our beloved President Spencer W. Kimball about not only spiritual matters but also how to manage our temporal lives. I have followed his counsel, and I am happy and grateful for the protection that comes from hearkening to the words of the prophets, Apostles, my Brethren of the Quorum, and my local leaders. Only when we keep the commandments of the Lord and do His will can we feel totally safe. I know that God lives. Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that we are guided by a prophet today. I testify to you that President Howard W. Hunter is a prophet of God. My testimony is renewed every time I hear and follow his counsel. My life has been very blessed through the gospel. For this I am most grateful, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


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Physcial Sciences Division
Research Highlights
May 2013
Rosettes and Rods
Scientists reveal morphology, growth mechanisms of precipitates from carbon dioxide storage
This research graced the cover of Microscopy and Microanalysis. Image credit: Microscopy and Microanalysis, Microscopy Society of America, and Cambridge University Press. Enlarge Image.
Results: Capturing carbon dioxide and storing it in underground rock formations is one proposed solution to mitigate climate change. New knowledge about the chemical reactions between stored carbon dioxide and forsterite (Mg2SiO4) is helping determine how much confidence can be placed in using igneous rocks with magnesium-rich olivines for long-term carbon sequestration. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory determined that the carbon dioxide and forsterite react to form hydrated dypingite [(Mg5(CO3)4•5H2O)], which precipitates from solution.
The hydrated dypingite precipitates grow by different mechanisms and with a different morphology based on whether the starting phase is synthetic forsterite or the natural form. In synthetic forsterite, magnesium solutions seeped into pores where evaporation left rosettes of dypingite behind. On natural forsterite, dypingite precipitates formed only on the surface and in rod-like structures. This finding, made possible by multimodal high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic analysis, gives new insight into the geochemistry of supercritical carbon dioxide storage. Images from this research graced the cover of Microscopy and Microanalysis.
Why It Matters: Generating electricity from coal and other fossil fuels accounts for just over half of the planet's human-made carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions contribute to changes in weather patterns that affect crops, water availability, and air quality. Capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide could mitigate its effects, but fundamental questions need to be answered about the reactions that would occur during storage. By understanding the basic interactions between carbon dioxide and the minerals in low water situations at sequestration sites, scientists can inform engineers, policymakers, and others about different options.
Methods: To store carbon dioxide waste, such as from industrial processing, it would need to be captured, condensed under high pressure and high temperature, and converted to supercritical carbon dioxide-a fluid with both gas and liquid properties that could then be injected deep underground. Researchers mimicked these deep underground conditions, incubating the carbon dioxide in a highly humid environment with forsterite. They used imaging, including helium ion microscopy, as well as chemical analysis techniques at EMSL to study the changes in the chemistry of the system ex situ.
Critical to their studies, the research team developed a new sample preparation protocol to preserve the very fragile reaction products that formed under the high-pressure and high-temperature experimental conditions.
What's Next? Drawing on the Lab's nearly 50 years of expertise in subsurface science, the team is continuing to delve into the reactions that would occur between carbon dioxide and different minerals found deep underground.
Sponsors: This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division
User Facility: Helium ion microscopy, focus ion beam-scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy analyses were performed at EMSL
Research Area: Subsurface Science
Research Team: Bruce W. Arey, Libor Kovarik, Odeta Qafoku, Zheming Wang, Nancy J. Hess, and Andrew R. Felmy, PNNL
Reference: Arey BW, L Kovarik, O Qafoku, Z Wang, NJ Hess, and AR Felmy. 2013. "Investigation of Mineral Transformations in Wet Supercritical CO2 by Electron Microscopy." Microscopy and Microanalysis 19(2):268-275. DOI: 10.1017/S1431927612014171


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Robots, Glitter, and a New Spin on STEM
Today's guest post is from Savannah Loberger, a 2013 National Award Winner and 2011 Oregon/SW Washington Affiliate Award Winner of NCWIT's Award for Aspirations in Computing. This summer, Savannah ran a STEM and computer science camp for middle school girls as part of our pilot AspireIT program. She is a 2013 graduate of Hillsboro High School, and will attend Oregon State University in the fall of 2013. Savannah plans to study Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. She has been a strong advocate for STEM education since a young age and plans on continuting outreach during and after college.
My name is Savannah Loberger, and I created Girls Get IT (Innovative Technology) Camp. We have had six successful camps in the past three years. I was tired of being the only girl in my tech classes and on my robotics team, and I wanted to share with other girls how cool STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) really is. So, the summer after my sophomore year I organized and ran a summer camp so that middle and high school girls could experience technology hands-on in a pressure-free environment, and that's where this all began. There are a few things that always happen on the first day of camp. We start with science-themed decorations like balloons and confetti, and then add rocking good music. This opens the girls to meeting new people, making friends, and trying something new. The energetic volunteers add to the positive atmosphere. Lastly, glitter everywhere. Seriously. My favorite part of the first day is meeting all the new campers and looking forward to knowing each one by the end of the week. It is really hard to explain the energy level and the environment of the camp unless you experience it for yourself. Teachers pictured above working on the robotics curriculum before the camps. From left to right: Alexa, Erika, Mary Catherine, Ashley, and Josie I have been fortunate to have the best teachers work with me for the Girls Get IT! Camps. They are all high school girls that have a passion to get other girls involved. The growth that I've seen from my team is amazing, from the first to the last day of camp (and these ladies were amazing before I met them!). One fantastic fact about this summer is that every teacher pictured had attended a camp and then came back to teach this year. Girls Get IT! is different because the teachers (high school girls) are the ones who create the curriculum, plan the activities, and teach the sessions. The program is designed by girls, run by girls, and is for girls. Having the girls taught by high school girls made the whole experience more fun, more rewarding, and easier for the girls to relate to and understand. It is important for girls to realize that technology is out there for them but what is priceless is when they have the confidence in themselves to help each other. Every year as I walk through sessions during camp and see a girl helping her neighbor, you would have never guessed that she learned how to program a robot to go forward in RobotC just five minutes earlier! On the first day the girls learn many electronic components through Electronic BINGO. This summer (2013) we ran two camps and reached 80 girls! The two weeks were divided into two levels, levels one and two. Each week offered different activities for the girls, but both focused on hands-on activities. Using short, intense learning activities and multiple topic transitions the girls were introduced to a variety of STEM-related topics. Activities included safety, the importance of communication, logic gates and how information can be processed. There were projects using CAD software to design items that were then built from both a 3-D printer and a laser cutter. Then there were the programming topics: learning binary as a second language, controlling robots in NXTG and RobotC, creating a game with Gamemaker, and building a web page with HTML. Other hands-on activities included soldering onto a printed circuit board and delving into computer hardware. And more! Our second week had 17 activities. These classes were oriented at enhancing the girls' experiences and knowledge. Topics included robot and sensor programming through auto shop, CAD software to design jewelry pieces to be cut on the laser cutter, cookie cutters to be printed on a 3-D printer, soldering, Gamemaker to develop multi-level games of expanding complexity, Arduino to control LED light actions, the physics involved in building and testing bridges, and more! Many of the girls' favorite activity was soldering. The girls pictured above are soldering together a Simon Says kit that they will take home at the end of the week. Every girl was successful in making theirs work! We had inspiring guest speakers from industry sharing their story and giving advice. This past summer during the camps, one girl told me,
"Before this camp I didn't really think I was smart, but now I know that I can get it, and I can understand things, I am smart."
The excitement and the empowerment of her realization was breath-taking. This is only one of several examples. This makes me proud that the girls realize the potential that they really have. Above two girls are changing a tire for the first time! My favorite activity from this past year was robot programming with an automotive twist. I grew up helping my dad fix the car, from changing the oil to changing the brake pads. I wanted to prove to the girls that robots are all around us in everyday life, and what is the perfect example of that? A car! The sensors are the inputs, then there is the 'brain' of the car, and finally the outputs of the motors and air conditioning for those hot days. By the end of the camp the girls accomplished many amazing things including changing a tire for the first time. I asked if any of the girls had ever changed a tire and out of 40 girls only one girl raised her hand! Above I am sharing with a group of the girls what a real piston and chamber looks like in a car. By the end of the day they could tell you themselves! Our written surveys and interviews verify that most girls don't sign up for tech-related classes. Most girls are signed up by parents or coaxed into coming by their friends. With that said, by the end of the week every girl leaves with confidence in themselves and their abilities in STEM. From left to right: Jill Eiland, Aubrey Clark, Savannah, Lisa Neal-Graves, and Chelsea Hossaini This transformation Girls Get IT! empowers girls that otherwise would have been missed and possibly never realized their potential in technology. 57% of STEM majors decide in high school; I knew since 5th grade. One week of positive activities with STEM ignites that spark in the girl that may design the next big thing for computers, or may launch the next mission to space, or even become an engineering teacher reaching kids and inspiring them to follow their passion making the world a better place. This camp would not be possible without a lot of hard work from several people, especially Jim Fister, a mentor and long time supporter of the camps, Mr. Domes my technology teacher from Hillsboro High School who allowed us to use the facility and has always been supportive, and my mom who, without her encouragement, I would not believe that anything is possible. Thank you! Without opportunities I never would have found my passion in technology. I look back on my experiences and a huge part of encouragement has been the community support. And as I look closer I see Intel's role in providing both funding and volunteers towards opportunities for kids such as myself. With their help, Girls Get IT! has empowered over 230 girls and we are looking forward to expanding and providing more girls with opportunities to feel confident in STEM. I am excited to see where Girls Get IT! is going next and am filled with joy that it is continuing even after I leave for college. I look forward and congratulate Ashley on the great job that she is going to do. I am involved because of the opportunities. I have stayed because of the support from mentors. I am continuing because it is my passion to make a difference to advance and empower other girls and women.


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Michael W. Naylor MD
- Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
- Director, Behavioral Health and Welfare Program
- Director, Comprehensive Assessment and Response Training System
- Director, Clinical Services in Psychopharmacology
- mnaylor [at] uic.edu
- (312) 413-4567
Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR)
1747 W. Roosevelt Rd.
Chicago IL 60612
Dr. Naylor is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Medicine. He is the Director of the Behavioral Health and Welfare Program, a program formed by contract between the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and UIC to address the mental health needs of the most severely disturbed state wards. In addition, he directs the UIC Clinical Services in Psychopharmacology Program and consults with the DCFS Psychotropic Medication Consent Line regarding psychotropic medication consents for youth in state custody. He is board certified in child and adolescent psychiatry, general psychiatry and sleep disorders medicine and is an expert in child and adolescent mood disorders and psychopharmacology. He has published more than 100 peer reviewed manuscripts, abstracts and book chapters and has presented his work at national meetings. Dr. Naylor received the 2008 Norbert and Charlotte Rieger Service Program Award for Excellence as the Director of the Behavioral Health and Welfare Program. Dr. Naylor earned his medical degree from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. He completed his general psychiatry residency, his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship, and his sleep disorders fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
Utilization of Psychotropic Medications by Youth in State Custody
Naylor MW, Greden JF, Alessi NE: Plasma dexamethasone levels in children given the dexamethasone suppression test. Biological Psychiatry,27:592-600, 1990.
Naylor MW, Shain BN, Shipley JE: REM latency in psychotically depressed adolescents. Biological Psychiatry, 28:161-164, 1990.
Venkataraman S, Naylor MW, King CA: Fluoxetine induced mania in depressed adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31:276-281, 1992.
Naylor MW, King CA, Lindsay KA, Evans T, Armelagos J, Shain BN, Greden JF: The effects of sleep deprivation on mood in depressed adolescents and psychiatric controls.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,32:753-759, 1993.
Naylor MW, Staskowski M, Kenney MC, King CA: Language disorders and learning disabilities in school refusing adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), 33:1331-133, 1994.
Kaminski KM, Naylor MW, Cheryl CA, Ghaziuddin N: Reactive mood and atypical depression in psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. Depression,3:176-181, 1995.
Ghaziuddin N, King C, Ghaziuddin M, Naylor M, Chaudry N, Giordani B, DeQuardo J, Tandon R, Greden JF: Electroconvulsive treatment in adolescents with pharmacotherapy refractory depression: A prospective study. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 6:259-271, 1996.
Naylor MW, Anderson TR, Morris, A: Child psychiatry and child welfare: A collaboration for change. Residential Treatment for Children and Youth, 21:33-50, 2003.
Pavuluri MN, Henry D, Naylor M, Carbray J, Sampson G, Janicak PG: A pharmacotherapy algorithm for stabilization and maintenance of pediatric bipolar disorder. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(7):859-867, 2004.Pavuluri MN, Henry DB, Carbray JA, Naylor MW, Janicak PG: Divalproex sodium for pediatric mixed mania: a 6-month prospective trial. Bipolar Disorders, 7(3):266-73, 2005.
Pavuluri MN, Birmaher B, Naylor MW: Pediatric bipolar disorder: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 44(9):846-71, 2005.
Kratochvil C J, Vitiello B, Brent D, Bostic JQ, Naylor MW: Selecting an antidepressant for the treatment of pediatric depression. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 45:371-373, 2006.
Pavuluri MN, Henry DB, Carbray JA, Sampson GA, Naylor MW, Janicak PG: A one-year open-label trial of risperidone augmentation in lithium nonresponder youth with preschool-onset bipolar disorder. Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychopharmacology.16(3):336-50, 2006.
Naylor MW, Davidson C, Ortega-Piron DJ, Bass A, Gutierrez A, Hall A: Psychotropic medication management for youths in state care: Pharmacoepidemiology and policy considerations. Child Welfare,86(5):175 - 192, 2007.
Slade M, et al.: Best practices for the treatment of patients with mental and substance use illnesses in the emergency Department.Disease-a-Month, 55(11/12):529-580, 2007.


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8555.0 - Sound Recording Studios, Australia, 1996-97
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/09/1998
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ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION This publication presents results in respect of 1996-97 from a census of employing businesses mainly engaged in the sound recording studios industry. The ABS previously conducted a survey of sound recording studios in respect of 1995-96. However, direct comparisons of results are not possible. The 1995-96 survey excluded freelance recording personnel, location sound recordists and mobile studios which were included in the 1996-97 survey. Also, the 1995-96 survey included sound recording studio businesses mainly engaged in composing advertising and jingles, and in operating audio/multimedia schools, which were excluded from the 1996-97 survey. Unlike the 1996-97 survey, the 1995-96 survey included non-employing businesses. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window. |


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One of the baffling electronic properties of the iron-based high-temperature superconductor barium iron nickel arsenide is that, at sufficiently low temperatures, it becomes a better conductor of electricity in some directions than in others.
The odd behavior, which has been documented in a number of materials, occurs at temperatures slightly higher than those needed to bring about magnetism; magnetism is believed to be essential for the origin of high-temperature superconductivity. A new study in Science Express offers the first evidence that the directionally dependent behavior arises from inherent physical properties of the material rather than from extraneous impurities, as had been previously suggested.
The new findings are based on inelastic neutron-scattering experiments performed on several samples of barium iron nickel arsenide at the PUMA triple axis spectrometer at TUM's Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum in Garching, Germany. The research team said they hope the findings will prove useful in explaining the underlying physics of directionally dependent electronic phenomena that have been observed in several different types of superconducting materials.
Credit: Tanyia Johnson/Rice University
"Most high-temperature superconductors, and many closely related compounds, exhibit a number of exotic electronic phases, particularly as they approach the critical temperature where superconductivity arises," said Pengcheng Dai, professor of physics and astronomy at Rice and the study's senior corresponding author. "Inelastic neutron scattering and other techniques are now allowing us to explore the physical basis of many of these phases."
Explaining high-temperature superconductivity remains the foremost challenge in condensed matter physics. First documented in 1986, the phenomenon is marked by zero electrical resistance in some crystalline ceramic materials below a critical temperature. While very cold, the critical temperatures for high-temperature superconductors -- between 50 and 150 kelvins above absolute zero -- are relatively high in comparison with the temperatures required for conventional superconductivity.
Like most high-temperature superconductors, barium iron nickel arsenide is a composite crystal. Its molecular structure consists of layers of arsenic and barium atoms that are sandwiched between checkerboard planes of iron atoms. The nickel atoms are then partially substituted for iron to tune the material's physical properties. The atoms in the crystals form an ordered pattern that looks identical in both the right-left (x-axis) and forward-back (y-axis) directions, but not in the up-down (z-axis).
At room temperature, the material acts as one might expect, conducting electricity equally well along both its x-axis and y-axis. However, as the material is cooled to near the critical temperature for magnetism, it passes through a phase where electrical resistance is higher in one direction than the other. Physicists call directionally dependent behavior "anisotropic resistance."
In the new study, Dai and colleagues bombarded crystals of barium iron nickel arsenide with neutrons. Neutron-scattering measurements can reveal the molecular structure of materials in great detail, and inelastic neutron-scattering tests allow physicists to see, among others, the vibrational properties of materials. In the magnetic inelastic scattering experiment at TUM, the incoming neutrons brought about short-lived magnetic waves in the crystals. Surprisingly, the intensity of these magnetic waves turned out to be different in the x and y directions. The experiments revealed that this directional dependence of magnetic excitations in the barium iron nickel arsenide occurs at precisely the same temperature range as the anisotropic resistance, thus establishing a crucial link between the two phenomena.
Rice theoretical physicist and study co-author Andriy Nevidomskyy, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, used the analogy of a crowd gathered at a stadium to watch a sporting event.
"During the game, all eyes are on the field, and this is an ordered state that describes all the individuals in the crowd in relation to one another," he said. "This state corresponds to the collective arrangement of electrons we see in magnetism and in superconductivity. The disordered arrangement we observe at room temperature, on the other hand, corresponds to the chaos we would see in the crowd one hour before the game begins, when people are turning from side to side and occasionally glancing at the field.
"The anisotropic state found in our study corresponds to a moment just before the kickoff, when the individuals are still looking in random directions but are aware that the game is about to start," Nevidomskyy said. "The incoming neutron pulse is the equivalent of someone blowing a whistle on the field. For a split second, the crowd reacts as one to the whistle, and every head turns to see if the game has begun. The individuals in the crowd quickly return to their random behavior, but the whistle has revealed an order that wasn't present an hour before."
The inelastic neutron scattering experiments uncovered an analogous behavior in the barium iron nickel arsenide. At high temperatures, the pulse of energy revealed no underlying order. The temporary, collective anisotropic order occurred only in the brief temperature interval prior to the onset of magnetism where the anisotropic resistance had previously been measured.
Rice theoretical physicist Qimiao Si, another study co-author, said the magnetic behavior observed by the inelastic neutron-scattering measurements reflects the way the spins of the electrons are dynamically organized in the material.
"This spin excitation anisotropy sheds new light on the microscopic origins of electronic phases in the iron pnictide superconductors," said Si, Rice's Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy. "It may help explain the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity and, more generally, the mechanism for superconductivity, in the iron pnictide superconductors."


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Sonic State Studio / Audio Software / |
Arboretum Systems, Inc. Ray Gun At a Glance Arboretum News(2) |
Released: 1998 Version: 1.30 | |
Rated: Not Reviewed Add review: (0) | ||
Audio Software LinksSubmit a link | ||
Software: Win 95/98, Win NT, Win XP, Mac, OSX, | ||
Plugin formats: VST. DirectX. Audiosuite. Premiere. Audio Units. RTAS |
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Walking into Fronimo's is like walking into a café in the Mediterranean. With golden-colored walls, ethnic music and framed photographs of Crete, the atmosphere in Fronimo's is warm and inviting. The menu offers a mix of specials (gyros, moussaka, pastitsio, lamb shank and more) and American fare like hamburgers, tuna melts and grilled cheese. The food is fresh and delicious—including the light and flavorful pita bread. Traditional offerings such as the spanakopita and baklava are moist and perfectly spiced. Items are reasonably priced, and after you order at the counter, you can get your food to-go—but with such a nice environment, you might as well stay and soak up the Mediterranean vibe.
Runners up:
2. Opa!
2990 N. Campbell Ave., No. 130
3. Athens on Fourth Avenue
500 N. Fourth Ave.
624-6886, athenson4th.com


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Dr. Amar Bose '51, Bose Corporation's Founder, has given to MIT the majority of the stock of Bose Corporation in the form of non-voting shares.
MIT will receive annual cash dividends on those shares when dividends are paid by Bose Corporation; those cash dividends will be used by MIT to sustain and advance MIT's education and research mission.
Under the terms of the gift, MIT cannot sell its Bose shares and will not participate in the management or governance of the company. Bose Corporation will remain a private and independent company, and operate as it always has, with no change in strategy or leadership. Dr. Bose will remain Bose Corporation's Chairman and Technical Director.
Dr. Bose received his bachelor's degree, master's degree and PhD from MIT, all in electrical engineering. He was asked to join the faculty in 1956, and accepted with the intention of teaching for no more than two years. He continued as a member of the MIT faculty until 2001, making important contributions to the Institute's teaching of undergraduate electrical engineering.
In 1964, Dr. Bose founded Bose Corporation. From its inception, the company has remained privately owned, with a focus on long-term research. Learn about the company here.
In expressing gratitude for this gift, MIT President Susan Hockfield remarked not only on Dr. Bose's generosity, but also on his humility. "Amar Bose gives us a great gift today, but he also serves as a superb example for MIT graduates who yearn to cut their own path. Dr. Bose set the highest teaching standards, for which he is still admired and loved by his faculty colleagues and the many students he taught. His insatiable curiosity propelled remarkable research, both at MIT and within the company he founded. Dr. Bose has always been more concerned about the next two decades than about the next two quarters."
"Dr. Bose," Hockfield continued, "has asked us not to shine too bright a spotlight on him today. So to honor that wish, let us simply celebrate Dr. Bose's profound belief in the transformative power of an MIT education."
In a letter to Bose Corporation employees, Dr. Bose paid tribute to his mentors at MIT: Professors Y. W. Lee, Norbert Wiener and Jerome Wiesner. He explained that the gift represents his long-held desire to support MIT education, and reaffirmed the company's mission to play for the long run.
"We will continue," Dr. Bose wrote to his employees, "to remain true to the principles upon which our company was founded."
Bose Corporation will remain private and independent; dividends will sustain and advance MIT's mission.
Publication Date:
Image courtesy of the MIT Museum


text: Mitchell Joni - California Second Version: chords and tabs for the song. Watch chords and tablatures for all songs of the singer (group) Mitchell Joni. Other chords and tabs for the "California" can find at the bottom of the page. CALIFORNIA- Joni Mitchell TUNING: E B E G# B E, capo 1st fret INTRO: E ------------------5--5-5--5-------------------0- B ---4h5p4-0-0---0--5--5-5--5-5--------7--------0- G# -------------0----5--5-5--5-----5--7---7------0- E Esus4 E Esus4 E E ------------------5--5-5--5---5----------7----0- E(2) A F# Sitting in a park in Paris France reading the news and it sure looks bad B E(2) They won't give peace a chance, that was just a dream some of us had E(2) A F# Stole a lot of lines to sing but I wouldn't want to stay here B A It's too old and cold and settled in its ways here A (Asus4) E C# Ah but California, California I'm coming home A E B I'm gonna see the folks I dig, I'll even kiss a sunset pig Bsus4 E California I'm coming home RIFF: E -2h4p2-0-0---0-4--4-2-4-4--- B -----------2---0--0-0-0-0--- G# ---------------3--3-1-0-0--- E(3) EaddA E(3) Esus4 E Esus4 E E ---------------4--4-2-0-0--- I met a redneck on a Grecian isle, we did the goat dance very well He gave me back my smile but he kept my camera to sell Oh the rogue, the red red rogue, he cooked good omelettes and stews And I might have stayed on with him there, but my heart cried out for you California, Oh California I'm coming home Oh make me feel good rock and roll band, I'm your biggest fan California I'm coming home RIFF BRIDGE: E F# A E(2) B Oh it gets so lonely When you're walking and the streets are full of strangers F# A B D All the news of home you read just give you the blues B Bsus4 A Asus4 A B E [like intro] Esus4 E Esus4 E Just give you the blues So I bought me a ticket I caught a plane to Spain Went to a party down a red dirt road There were lots of pretty people there, reading Rolling Stone reading Vogue They said how long can you hang around, I said a week maybe two Just until my skin turns brown and then I'm going home To California, California, I'm coming home Oh, will you take me as I am, strung out on another man California I'm coming home RIFF BRIDGE #2: E F# A E(2) B Oh it gets so lonely when you're walking and the streets are full of strangers F# A E(2) B All the news of home you read, more about the war and the bloody changes F# A E(2) Oh will you take me as I am, will you take me as I am B F# A Will you, will you take me as I am E(2) B F# A E(2) B Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm, take me as I am ...... CHORDS: E Esus4 F# A B C# D E(2) Bsus4 Asus4 E(3) EaddA E -0---0-----2--5--7---9--10---12-----7------5----4-----5---- B -0---0-----2--5--7---9--10---12-----7------5----0-----0---- G# -0---1-----2--5--7---9--10---12-----8------6----0-----0---- E -0---0-----2--5--7---9--10---12-----7------5----0-----0---- B -0---2-----2--5--7---9--10---12-----9------7----0-----0---- E -0---0-----2--5--7---9--10---12-----7------5----0-----0---- NOTE: There have been some previous postings of this song in different tunings. I recently saw a video of Joni doing this song live, and believe me, this is the correct tuning. |


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This article is more than 1 year old
Disgruntled fanbois sought for iPhone 4 Apple prosecution
Owners with thumbs wanted
A California law firm is trolling for iPhone 4 owners frustrated by flaws in their recently purchased Cupertinian handsets.
The firm, Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff LLP, as pointed out by Valleywag, is the same group of worthies that sued Facebook and Zynga late last year, alleging that "Most, if not all, of the online offers presented through Zynga are scams".
Now KCR is fishing for iPhone 4 users who "have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals", presumably in the hope of initiating a class-action lawsuit against Jobs & Co.
The firm may be mining a rich vein of discontent. Although KCR's call for complaints is limited to reception problems, the iPhone 4 has garnered a host of grievances: spotty displays, erratic Proximity Sensors, and screen scratches being among them.
While we applaud KCR's good ol' American ambulance chasing resourcefulness in trying to scare up a gaggle of clients in order to tilt against Cupertinian windmills, we fear that their quest may be a quixotic one.
After all, according to Apple, the reception difficulties being experienced by iPhone 4 owners are their own fault: they're holding them wrong. ®


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It's difficult to describe nkwiatek.com, but I will try to use my words. When you mouse over Nick Kwiatek's site, red ASCII characters explode across your screen like those cheesy Javascript mouse followers with an effect that is as far away from those cheesy Javascript mouse followers as can be. It's really pretty, and it makes me think of a murmuration of starlings.
(via @mattonlymoore)


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Skip ahead about 2,000 years and think of the ruins of buildings that humans (or otherwise) might experience -- much like travelers see the Acropolis today.
Apple's newly proposed headquarters might spark speculation as to its purpose. A perfect circle, standing four stories tall, that housed 12,000 workers -- and bucked convention by burying the parking lots and doubled the trees. Oasis? Maybe a temple? A killer shopping mall?
Or maybe a landed spaceship, as Steve Jobs described it to the Cupertino City Council on Tuesday night.
[UPDATE: Mayor Has No Plan to Let Apple Escape Cupertino]
Boasting the world's largest piece of architectural glass, the circular structure would be built on some former Hewlett-Packard property that Jobs' team bought.
The entire area to be renovated is about 150 acres, according to Jobs. The campus design would actually increase green space and landscaping by about 350 percent more than at present. Campus parking goes underground to help increase the tree count from 3,700 to 6,000. The senior arborist at Stanford is overseeing that aspect of the project.
Here's Jobs describing the architecture of the building:
When it came to the Q&A part of the evening, Jobs was very clear in the benefits to the city of Cupertino. He said if they don't approve the project he will move his entire company to some place like Mountain View.
This video is from the Cupertino City Channel. It begins with Jobs' presentation. The slides of the building begin at 5:15. The Q&A begins at 11:01.
The transcript of Jobs' opening remarks is below the player. Enjoy the future...
Steve Jobs' Opening Remarks
[TIMESTAMP :50] - ... Apple's grown like a weed, as you know, we've always been in Cupertino. We started in a little office park, and eventually got the buildings we are in now, corner of De Anza and 280, but we've, and those buildings maybe hold 2600 people, 2800 people.
2:25 - But we've got almost 12,000 people in the area - so we're renting buildings, not very good buildings, either (laughing); at an ever-greater radius from our campus. We're putting people in those. And it's clear that we need to build a new campus, so we're just out of space. And that doesn't mean we don't need the one we've got, we do need it, but we need to augment it.
2:58 - And so we've got a plan that lets us stay in Cupertino, and we went out and bought some land, and this land is kind of special to me.
I, When I was 13 i think, I called up Hewlett and Packard, they were my idols, and I called up Bill Hewlett, because he lived in Palo Alto, and there were no unlisted numbers in the phone book, which, gives you a clue to my age.
And he picked up the phone, and I talked to him, and I asked him if he would give me some spare parts for something I was building, called a frequency counter, and he did, but in addition to that, he gave me something way more important, he gave me a job that summer.
A summer job at Hewlett/Packard, right here in Santa Clara, off 280, with the division that built frequency counters.
Right around that exact moment in time, Hewlett and Packard themselves were walking along some property here in Cupertino, on Pruneridge, and they ended up buying it, and they built their computer systems division there, and as Hewlett/Packard has been shrinking lately, they decided to (sell) that property, and we bought it.
We bought that, and we bought some adjacent property, and it all used to be apricot trees, and orchards, and we've got about 150 acres - and we would like to put a new campus on that, so that we can stay in Cupertino.
And we've hired some great architects to work with, some of the best in the world, I think. And we've come up with a design that puts 12,000 people in one building.
When you think about that, that's rather odd -- 12,000 people in one building, but we've seen these, these office parks with lots of buildings and they get pretty boring pretty fast, so we want to do something better than that, and I'd like to take you through what we'd like to do.
So this is supposed to work, here, there we go. Can you see this?
So, here's where we are today - which is, uh, on the intersection at De Anza; and what we've done, we've bought this land right here, we tried to buy the apts in the corner, but they're not for sale. We bought everything else. And the campus we'd like to build there, is one building that holds 12 thousand people and it's a pretty amazing building; it's a little like a spaceship landed, but there it is, and it's got this gorgeous courtyard in the middle, and a lot more.
It's a circle, so it's curved all the way around, and if you've built something, you know it's not the cheapest way to build something. There's not a straight piece of glass on this building, and we've used our experience making retail buildings, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world, for architectural use - and we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curved all the way around the building. It's pretty cool.
Today, about 20% of the space is landscaping, most of it is big asphalt parking lots. We want to completely change this and make 80% of it landscaping. And the way we're going to do this - we're going to put most of the parking underground. And you can see what we have in mind. Today there are 37-hundred trees on the property, we'd like to almost double that.