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Title: Picking up orchids, oil on canvas, 48"x36
Original painting available for $1,800
print on paper for $150
giclee for $300
This painting was about dreams, like picking up dream flowers. Large format, oil on canvas, the experiment was about creating a dream like feeling, with the background merging in wavelike motions.
Doing it brought me great satisfaction. Of course it took a lot time, and many many layers, as the canvas kept absorbing whatever initial layers I brushed into it.
The outcome was lovely. Somewhat stylized. And the style conservatives find points to draw attention to. But I love the effect.

subset: commoncrawl


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Early Spring
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Back yard March 24th, from my bedroom window. There are numerous CO2 removal devices in my back woods. They remove CO2 from the air and convert it into Oxygen. Many people still call them trees.
13 responses
Regenia Brabham gave props (7 Apr 2012):
Yay! Your spring has finally arrived!! Wonderful view!!
Susan Littlefield gave props (7 Apr 2012):
You have a beautiful view from your bedroom!! Lovely spring colors.
Leanne Silva gave props (7 Apr 2012):
Now this is what spring should look like!
Heather Mellon gave props (7 Apr 2012):
What a beautiful view!! I love the spring greens and those blossoms are amazing!!
Katherine Nak gave props (8 Apr 2012):
You truly live in a beautiful place. Wonderful view!
Raymond Fausel gave props (13 Apr 2012):
very nice
Donna Mullins (Deleted) gave props (17 Apr 2012):
Pretty redbuds and a cool caption. :-)
Jyri Vissak gave props (18 Apr 2012):
Simple is beautiful.
Andrea Petersen gave props (22 Apr 2012):
Great entry for the challenge and a beautiful view.
Richard Knight gave props (26 Apr 2012):
Fine looking shot, Fred. I just returned from a long road trip. I drove the Interstate from Princeton, W.Va. to Charleston, W. Va. Spectacular!
Robert R. Gaines gave props (29 May 2012):
Lovely! A magic time and place well captured.
elfriede fulda (Deleted) gave props (5 Jul 2012):
This is so awesome, like a painting, Fred !
Geoff Plant gave props (6 Aug 2012):
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Brand Strategy
How to Protect Your Pitch Deck from Harried Investors
A recent TechCrunch story revealed how little time venture capitalists spend looking at pitch decks.
Successful pitch decks — the ones that went on to raise money.
3 minutes, 44 seconds to be exact, spread over 19 slides on average. That works out to < 12 seconds per slide.
Again, these were successful decks. Combined, the 200 pitch decks analyzed raised $360 million from investors. No word on how long the same investors looked at unsuccessful pitch decks (2 minutes, 44 seconds? 1 minutes, 44 seconds?)
Now before throwing your hands up and thinking it's not worth putting in the time to get your deck right, OR conversely, putting more of your precious time into the deck, hoping to tack on a few extra seconds of interest from investors, remember this…
Your Pitch Deck is only ONE part of the fundraising process.
While it's an important part (hellz yeah!) it is still only ONE part. There's no need to stress about the short attention spans of venture capitalists, angels or other investors. Instead, concentrate on your entire fundraising strategy, from start to finish. Congruence is the word.
Here's what you should do to give your pitch deck the best chance for success:
Study a firm's investment philosophy. Investment firms normally state their investing thesis everywhere — website, marketing collateral. This way they attract like-minded entrepreneurs while repelling contrarian types. Do yourself (and them) a solid by reading it before contacting them.
Ask yourself whether this firm's value system lines up with yours (e.g., do they normally take on an advisory role?). Could you imagine partnering with them long-term? You gotta be thinking 5, 7, 10 years out for your startup. If the answer to either question is no, find someone else. There are plenty of other sugar daddies in the startup universe.
Understand that investment firms have solid reasons for why they invest. If they pass on you, don't bother arguing or trying to convince them to change their mind. Just say "thanks" and move on. Raising money is more about quality pitches than quantity pitches. You will get more meetings if you contact more investors, but not necessarily more money.
Remember, you're looking to leave meetings with a check in hand, not polite applause.
See who they've funded. The type of investments a firm has made to date will give you a good indication of whether they'd be interested in your company. Investment firms usually advertise their portfolio right on their website. The startups that have generated the biggest returns will get top billing. You can also use third-party platforms like VentureFocus, AngelList and Venture360 to examine the strategy and portfolio of an investment firm.
Now obviously, if you notice that they've already funded a direct competitor of yours, you probably don't wanna contact them. The reason being that savvy investors try not to cannibalize their portfolio.
Study the pitch decks in their portfolio. Although as the SEC likes to remind us, past performance does not necessarily predict future results, often it does. That is to say, if a pitch deck worked 1X, it might work 2X. Just google "XYZ Company pitch deck" and you can see what format worked for them. Startups are a lot less protective of their old decks nowadays, because you really can't steal the important IP stuff. SlideShare is packed with old pitch decks.
Study your investor's backgrounds, especially before sending a cold email ("we both hate the new Star Wars trailer!"). Even if you can get a warm introduction, it's always good to have something in common for reference purposes.
This is NOT ass kissing or groveling, just sales psychology. Investors are people and they prefer doing business with other people who they know, like and trust. A lot of investment firms, especially the newer ones, exist because of personal connections from work, school or hobbies.
Peter Thiel, venture capitalist and PayPal founder, recommends probing deep into the background of your investor targets. For example, if one of them wrote a book, read it. If another one has been on TV, watch the interview. If a third owns a restaurant, try it out. This will help you pick up the subtle clues about an investor's priorities. Most other founders won't bother with this step. When you know a person's background, you can personalize every aspect of the pitching process, setting your company apart.
The actual Pitch Deck
Once you've selected a list of investors to reach out to, you can get started on your deck. Your deck should follow good design principles — clean lines, punchy copy, sharp images and short bullet points. Your slides gotta emphasize the 3 T's (Team, Technology, Traction). Create as few slides as possible (but as many as necessary).
Your pitch deck has to answer the BIG questions any shrewd investor would ask. Variations of those questions are:
- Why does this (problem) matter?
- Why should I care?
- Why now?
- How is your product different (from everything else)?
- Is this inevitable?
Michael Wolfe says he sees a lot of entrepreneurs scrambling to answer these questions once they've secured a meeting with investors. This is exactly backwards. As he says, "you need the answers because you need the answers, not to impress VCs." Jason Lemkin says you'll "win" if your deck can answer all the right questions without having anyone there to present it.
Your deck is not a one-shot miracle pill, it's a quick-n-dirty version of where your company is now. Hopefully this article has taken away some of the mystique around pitch decks.
While it's always tempting to look at the early decks of massive companies like Airbnb and think funding success is a mystery of the universe, it's really not. Early investors at Airbnb saw what could be, rather than what was. They did not get sidetracked by the deck's crudeness, realizing that the team and the idea was better than the packaging.
If all a pitch deck needed to secure funding were beautiful, intuitive and clean design, then EVERY creative agency would be cranking out winners. That just ain't so. Great design flows out of a startup's work, mission and unique talent. A killer pitch deck presupposes a detailed understanding of the company.
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Tilapia and Kale
21 Day Fix Recipes, Main Dishes
March 11, 2016
Tilapia and Kale 0 0 5 0
Simple yet tasty!
- Prep: 5 mins
- Cook: 25 mins
5 mins
25 mins
30 mins
1Cook your tilapia in the oven for 20 minutes.
2Pull kale off of the thick stems. Cook it in a frying pan with balsamic vinegar. It will shrink a lot, so make sure to make at least double of what you think you need.
3Cook brown rice according to package directions. 1/4 cup dry rice (1/2 cup water) makes 1 serving (1 yellow).


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If I had to give an award for the best collection on the high-street (so far) it would have to go to Zara. I popped in with a friend and we literally wanted to buy everything. From beautiful studded leather jackets, to colour-popping pastel dresses and printed pyjama-style trousers, there are styles to suit all.
Heading to the till with at least five items in hand, I knew I had to try and be sensible and only buy one item that a) I needed and b) think is different to all of my other items.
The item I decided to go for was this amazing Leopard shirt with applique collar which you can buy here for £29.99. I fell in love with the print as it's not your usual leopard print, you'll see what I mean in the below image! And there's always a guarantee that I'll buy anything studded, so the detail on the collar and cuffs completely sold it to me.
The below images are featured on Zara's 'The People' page here. I will soon be doing an outfit post to show you how I've been wearing mine.
|Close up: Leopard print detail, and gold studded cuffs.
|I love the two studs on the collar!
Happy spring summer shopping!


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You might remember a while back, I told you about the PO-14 SUB, the Pocket Synth from Teenage Engineering. It's such a joy to play with, and I've used it a lot lately. But now, you can have it! I'm selling it on Letgo! Watch the video below (It's in Norwegian, sorry.), and pick up the synth HERE. (Only for Norwegians, sorry.). If you want to get shopping in your own area, you can download the app HERE.
Author: iammartindanielle
It might actually be spring already in Oslo! Today was so warm, we sat down in the park with no jacket on. I'm literally flabbergasted. But this happens every year. The winter is so long and dreary and then suddenly – Spring!
The Stockholm Syndrome
Long days in the studio does my blog no favors. I'm lacking new and interesting stuff to tell you guys about, so I'd thought I'd take you down memory lane for a minute. Also, Carl Louis new album is called Memory Lane, go check it out, it's incredible.
Fun facts about The Stockholm Syndrome:
- The girl in the video is actually my ex-girlfriend, Ada Martini.
- The guy in the video is Samuel, one of my good friends from New York. He runs a boxing bootcamp in Marseille these days, so if you feel like an active holiday, you should check it out.
- This song is one of Thomas Hayes favorite songs.
- The vocals on this track is by Frøder, who also features on Phoenix with me.
- We performed this live on TV, as the opening act for Norwegian Grammys.
Thank You, Stavkroa!
The gig at Stavkroa was as fun as ever. Thank you to everyone who came out, and to Calle and his crew for the superstar treatment. Can't wait to come back ❤
All photos by Rainer Kleive.
Getting ready for Hemsedal
It's such a pleasure to play in Hemsedal. This place does not only hold one of the wiildest afterskis in the world, but it's also home to the best promoter and host, Calle. I love doing gigs in collaboration with him. He's such a pro and great guy. Make sure you stop by Stavkroa or Hemsedal Café if you're in the area!
Today we've spent some time getting ready for tonights show, which means drinking prosecco in the slopes, without actually getting any skiing done. Even though we're avid skiers, we forgot to take our skis with us. Maybe thankfully so, as there was an avalanche in the slopes today (nobody was hurt), and with our luck we'd probably be the ones who got the blame for it.
Anyway, so ready for tonight!
CLMD x BOE
I absolutely love watches, and I'm a firm believer that a great watch can make any outfit. I've known the Norwegian brand Boe for years, and now they've done me the incredible honor of designing a style in my name! Say hello to the CLMD Time Rocker!
I love the gold and black steel combination, and this watch is like an echo of my wardrobe, so it goes with almost everything I have.
But it doesn't actually stop there. This piece is getting a new dial these days, and it's looking insanely cool. I can't believe they're writing CLMD all over this piece.
What do you think?
Stavkroa – Hemsedal
I'm hitting the road again this weekend. Saturday I'm heading for the mountains to play a show at what is supposed to be one of the best after-skis in the world, Hemsedal. I've been coming to Stavkroa in Hemsedal for years and it's tons of fun every time. Calle, the man in charge up there, is also one of the greatest people to work with, and we always come up with a great show together. If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by!


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I have the kind of job where I often get the chance to think, "Wow. I'm really interested in what this student wrote."
Where I sometimes get to think, "Wow. I'm really proud of what this student has ended up writing."
And then there are those very rare moments when I get to think, "Wow. I wish I had written what this student wrote."
Sometimes, I am lucky enough to read a piece of student writing that leaves me with a true sense of wonder. How can someone so young say something so simply, so beautifully? Usually it is in moments when they are writing unselfconsciously, as in an email written late at night, or in the writing journals I have them keep. It was in one such journal that I came across this sentence:
English is the study of poorly defined questions.
I find myself...lingeringly troubled by this statement. Not because I think this student was knocking his English class, but because of those two descriptors: "poorly defined." As if to ask a question without a rigid shape, and without an easy answer, is something not quite to be trusted. As if by making a question blurry, it loses some of its potency; loses some of its importance.
Here's what I have to say about poorly defined questions (which, I warn you, is probably going to be a little obtuse):
They ask you not to calculate, but to explore. Not to find some right answer--the what--but the WHY. Why do things fall apart? Why do things hold together?
I understand why these questions are troubling. Poorly defined questions are steps into a dark tunnel, not knowing what you'll find there; they are expeditions that could lead you anywhere, or everywhere, or nowhere. They can make you feel like you're throwing yourself off a cliff with no means to claw your way back up. But they are also about making connections between different ideas, different threads, different moments in a piece of literature, and using them to find a larger possible truth. Why do things fall apart in Lord of the Flies? There are many reasons, and they all lead back to the question of whether we, as humans, are inherently good. Whether compassion and empathy can withstand the blunt force of the need to survive and to control. Are there clear answers to these questions? Are there easy answers? No. But might they lead us to conclusions that matter? I think so.
For me, poorly defined English aren't about answers. They are about the means by which you seek those answers--intellectually and otherwise--and what you might discover along the way. I love asking these questions in my classes because I learn about my students through the answers they give. I can ask a room of students, "What is the American Dream?" and they can answer in one of so many different ways, all of which can be both right and wrong. All of which will give me some insight into what interests my students, and what drives them, and what matters to them, which ends up being what matters to all of us.
What do I love about poorly defined questions? That essentially they are all asking about the same thing: about what it is to be alive in the world. And those questions will always result in different answers, and the same answers.


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This original recipe is the result of making a very nice recipe a few weeks ago, something with ground beef seasoned and made into meatballs, and then a sauce that – and this is all I remember for sure – included chopped figs and balsamic vinegar, simmered & reduced. I don't remember what else was in the fig-vinegar dressing/glaze, and I decided afterwards that making meatballs was an unnecessary step when cooking for one person, but I did like the flavor combination.
Then this weekend, I impulse-bought some more figs at the store, but when I got home, I couldn't find/recall the recipe I used.
So I decided to improvise! It turned out pretty well, in my opinion, so I want to keep some sort of record of what I did… but I was improvising, which meant I didn't measure anything. Soooo…. here we are, at this probably-not-very-helpful recipe.
- some figs (I had about 10 oz)
- balsamic vinegar
- brown sugar
- rosemary
- ginger
- mustard
- salt & pepper
- 1 lb ground beef
- handful finely chopped onions
Prepare figs – cut off the tip, then quarter vertically. Cut each quarter in half or in thirds, depending on size.
In small saucepan, combine fig chunks and balsamic vinegar. I emptied out what was left of my bottle, then added a little water until the figs were mostly submerged. I would estimate 1/3 or 1/2 c. balsamic vinegar and 1/4 c. water. Bring to a (very) low boil, then reduce heat and let simmer.
Add about Tbs brown sugar, Tbs rosemary, 1 or 2 tsp ginger, 1 or 2 tsp mustard, and any other spices you think would be complimentary. Stir well, mashing the fig pieces slightly (they should be pretty soft after coming to a boil, but you don't want to pulverize them, just mush), and leave at low heat.
In preferred pan (I always use a certain skillet when browning a pound of ground beef), begin cooking ground beef. Stir in a handful of finely chopped onion and salt & pepper to taste. (Feel free to incorporate other veggies that you need to use up; bell pepper was a nice inclusion, for example.)
By the time the meat is nearly finished cooking, the fig sauce should have reduced somewhat. Empty fig-vinegar sauce into beef; stir well.
Continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until sauce is reduced as much as you'd like.
…so you end up with, basically, just flavored ground beef – but it's fantastically flavored ground beef! I put a serving of it on salad, or serve with sautéed zucchini & carrots, or anything else that's handy. ¡Fantastico!


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Certain burrito enthusiasts may balk at the idea of going without guacamole, but a potential avocado shortage shouldn't affect one of the restaurant world's hottest stocks, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.
Last month, Chipotle Mexican Grill told investors the popular restaurant chain could temporarily suspend serving guacamole, plus one or more of its salsas, because of rising food prices attributable to "global climate change." The chain added that such a move had the potential to hurt sales and tarnish its brand, but the alternative would be passing on the cost to its patrons through menu prices.
Cramer, who owns a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn, said he knows how rising raw ingredient prices have hit his bottom line. Still, it's not a reason to suddenly get bearish on Chipotle, a stock that's seen a 77 percent runup in the past year and reached an all-time high in early trading Wednesday morning. Cramer called it the "monster momentum stock" in the restaurant industry.
(Read more: Cramer's 7 major investment themes built to last)
"I'm not that concerned," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street." "I think they may have to raise prices because of guacamole. I have to tell you, because I own a Mexican restaurant, guacamole hits the income. It hits the bottom line. It's like 17 times tequila."


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"The children of God should not have any other country here below but the universe itself, with the totality of all the reasoning creatures it ever has contained, contains, or ever will contain. That is the native city to which we owe our love." --Simone Weil
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Damned Sinners Addendum
I think John has a point. You see, on supralapsarian Calvinism the ultimate purpose of creation is to display God's majesty, which is found both in God's merciful love and in His justice. But this theology assumes that God cannot fully display both together (an assumption that I think wreaks havoc on some of the most important and profound understandings of the Atonement, by the way, but I won't get into that here). To fully display both and thus achieve the full purpose of creation, the creation must be such that there are appropriate beings on which to manifest the glory of His justice--"vessels of wrath"--and others on which to manifest His merciful love--"vessels of mercy."
It follows from this that the supralapsarian God couldn't fully achieve the purpose of creation without the existence of vessels of wrath to serve as proper objects of the divine displeasure. And so, the existence of sin and sinners is taken to be required in order for God to put His majesty on full display. In other words, the supralapsarian Calvinist believes that God wants there to be sinners--and actually designed His creation so that there would be--because in their absence He'd only be able to display half of what is so majestically wonderful about Him.
If this is right, then what I say about sin and divine retribution in this series of posts is incomplete. It's not simply the case that divine justice neutralizes the negative value of sin (althought that's part of it). And it's not simply the case that sin justly repudiated by God is "as good" as no sin at all. Rather, on this theology a world without sin would be worse than a world with sin--at least so long as in the latter, all the sinners end up writhing in eternal anguish for the sinfulness that God guaranteed they'd possess in order to be able to justly punish them for all eternity and thus display His justice.
Or, put another way, this theology takes it that the act of neutralizing the negative value of sin with a punitive response produces a meta-level good (the display of divine justice) that wouldn't have otherwise existed. On this theology, the problem of explaining why there is so much wickedness in a world created by a morally perfect God is answered as follows: God wants wicked people to be there, because only then can His justice be fully put on display through His smiting of them.
And so, on this view, God really is like the government that would rather have the murder rate spiral out of control, so long as every murderer is justly punished, than have a society without murder. On this theology, God positively wills sin as a means of displaying His justice, and as such does not want a world without sin. On this theology, the existence of that which is fundamentally opposed to God is better than its nonexistence, so long as it's properly punished. On this theology, sin simply isn't as thoroughly bad as other theologies (including my Lutheran one) take it to be.
But here's the thing: this theology strikes me as so morally awful that the thought that there are people out there who really embrace it at a fundamental level (not just playing pious lip service to it out of communal allegiance) makes me spiritually nauseous. I think that if I could get myself to really believe that deep down anyone wholeheartedly embraced this idea, I'd be pushed in the direction of a species of supralapsarian Calvinism in which God created supralapsarian Calvinists so as to have vessels of wrath on which he could heap his just outrage against people who harbor such awful convictions.
I'm kidding of course. I'd remain a universalist even if I could be convinced that anyone wholeheartedly embraced supralapsarian Calvinism. Really. My point is that since my aversion to this theology is so potent, part of me doesn't believe that there are people who honestly think it's right; and so I find myself developing my arguments as if there were no such people--and this means that some of what I say may end up begging the question in relation to anyone who really does embrace this theology deep down.
Reviewing my previous posts in this series, it seems clear to me that I did not ever take very seriously the following idea: Murder punished is better than no murder at all because the former not only fully erases the negative value of murder but in the process of doing so manifests the meta-level good of justice-having-been-done. And hence, God deliberately acts to ensure that there are murderers (and other kinds of sinners).
I never took this idea seriously, and hence never show how my arguments bear on it. But this idea is one that some Calvinists explicitly endorse. As such, my arguments don't seriously and explicitly engage with an idea that at least some Calvinists explicitly endorse.
Mia culpa.
That said, I don't think my core argument is undermined by this oversight. Even if the existence of justly repudiated sin is taken to be better than no sin at all because it makes possible the meta-level good of manifesting God's justice, we still have to confront the intuitively implausible idea that an act which guarantees the propagation of sin succeeds in neutralizing sin's negative value. You can't get the meta-level good if the evil of sin isn't neutralized by the punitive response. And I just can't see how this punitive response is supposed to achieve such a result.
It seems pretty clear that (given Calvinist assumptions about grace being a necessary condition for overcoming sinfulness) being cast eternally from God's presence does guarantee that one persist eternally in a state of sin. The punishment for sin thus perpetuates sin, and this magnification of sinfulness in the universe is supposed to produce the meta-level good of manifesting God's just wrath against sin.
One answer I anticipate runs something along the following lines: "It's a mystery we can't understand, but we know it's true because of divine revelation in Scripture." But even if you grant a high view of Scripture according to which Paul's use of the "vessels of mercy/vessels of wrath" language (Romans 9:22) was God-inspired, it's an enormous challenge to holistically interpret such passages in light of other ones--such as, for example, all of Romans 11, which is following up on the same issue that motivates Paul to ask his hypothetical "vessels of wrath" question (Paul asks "What if" God operates in the way that the supralapsarian Calvinist insists God in fact operates).
In Romans 11, the "hardening" of Israel against God, and the concomitant divine repudiation, is described as a stage in a process aimed at saving both "the full number of the Gentiles" and "all Israel" (vs. 25-26). This chapter ends with the striking claim that "For God has bound over all men to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all" (vs. 32). This starts to sound as if, on Paul's view of things, each of us is both a vessel of wrath and a vessel of mercy, albeit at different stages in our moral and spiritual evolution--and it sounds as if serving as a vessel of wrath is always in the service of the ultimate goal of mercy being shown to all.
But, of course, at other points it doesn't sound as if he's saying this at all. Limiting ourselves to Paul's epistle to the Romans, sometimes Paul sounds like an outright and blatant universalist (e.g. Romans 5:18-19 and elsewhere); at other times he sounds as if this is merely a fervent hope and prayer (Romans 10:1). And at one point he asks a hypothetical question that, if treated as if it were a veiled assertion rather than a question, would support supralapsarian Calvinism.
The attempt to read the whole, to understand the parts in light of the whole, and to extract from such a complicated text a coherent theology that does justice to the whole given the apparent tensions and conflicts--that task isn't easy. And it seems to me that part of what Christians who pursue such a task need is to recognizing when a particular interpretive effort has, for example, implications that clash with the voice of conscience, or produces internal problems that raise concerns about consistency.
In other words, even given a very high view of Scripture there is an important place for philosophy in the assessment and development of doctrinal views--an important place for the pursuit of such philosophical tasks as tracing out the counterintuitive implications of a view, or calling into question its internal coherence, or determining what other plausible beliefs have to be rejected if one is to hold to a certain view.
But all such efforts are, of course, fallible and shaped by human prejudices. Which is why it is so important to engage in such efforts in thoughtful conversation with others who might not share our particular prejudices (although they'll have their own), who might know things we don't (and vice versa), and who might notice where our reasoning goes astray even as we notice where theirs does.
Philosophy done best is philosophy done in community. One reason I appreciate my co-author, John--and other philosophical interlocutors in my life, and the various thoughtful contributors to this blog--is because they help to provide me with this community of discourse.
13 comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
Oops, two typos. Take two:ReplyDelete
Hmm, I do not understand why any Christian would insist that God's glorious justice must mean that some sinners must suffer punishment literally forever with no chance of liberation. For example, some murderers have rejected God's offer of salvation and then accepted God's offer of salvation before dying, and any supralapsarian Calvinist would say that God's glory has been revealed in this salvation. So why cannot a murderer who never repents in this life eventually find salvation while suffering punishments in hell?
- Bernard BeckettJanuary 26, 2012 at 6:47 PM
Hi EricReplyDelete
I imagine you have addressed this in your book, but what is the model of free will you use that allows the idea of sin to make sense in the first place? How do you escape the apparent problem of our decisions either being the product of our environment (which would make the creator of the environment responsible?) or containing a random component (for which we could hardly be held responsible either)?
I understand why a community might embrace a construction of free will and responsibility for pragmatic reasons, indeed I think it's a very good idea, but the notion of sin requires something more than this, doesn't it?
Bernard--The nature of freedom and its relation to the concept of sin or moral wickedness is very difficult. We do in fact devote two chapters of God's Final Victory to exploring the doctrine of hell in relation to alternative conceptions of free will.ReplyDelete
In fact, because free will is such a vexing issue, we don't adopt a single conception of it but rather trace out what we take to be the implications of alternative conceptions.
Summarizing that work in relation to the concept of sin is too big a project for a blog comment (and for the five minutes I have available at the moment), but I may try to do something along these lines in the future.
- keith johnsonJanuary 27, 2012 at 10:16 PM
Bernard asks a great question, one that my personal approach is an appeal to mystery--I shrug my shoulders and say "I dunno". But when I think these kinds of things it seems to me that if we are merely dancing to a tune played by our genetics and/or our experiences then our "choices" are not morally significant. Since my deepest intuitions tell me our choices ARE morally significant, I conclude we are NOT just dancing to a tune played by our genetics and/or experiences. Both of those determine the menu of possible choices we face (eg. if my excessive urge to eat pizza is determined genetically, I am more tempted than most to swipe a slice from your table next to mine at Pizza Hut) but I conclude that beyond that nature/nurture legacy there is a "me" that can choose things. This spiritual "me" might well have a nature, but "I" am not a victim of that nature--I *am* that nature.ReplyDelete
Now how this fits into the universalism question, well that's long story:-)
- Bernard BeckettJanuary 28, 2012 at 7:03 PM
Hi KeithReplyDelete
I agree. If we can't find a way past the determined/random conundrum, then we are forced to either deny free will, or accept it's just a mystery. Privilege, as you say, our deepest instincts over our reason.
The problem I have with the second approach only emerges if we then want to call out some other group for their own appeal to intuition on a related matter. So, perhaps Eric is right to argue the notion of eternal damnation contains a logical flaw, but if the very notion of sin upon which the discussion is based also requires us to ignore an unresolved logical problem, mightn't there be a danger then of holding others to a standard which we don't apply to ourselves?
This is a version of the new atheist objection to liberal theology, I suppose, which says that as soon as one privileges one's own intuition over the intuition of others (which seems to me to be the basic difference between fallibilism and agnosticism) it provides credibility to those whose intuitions we find abhorrent (some of the less palatable versions of fundamentalism, for example).
Not sure about this, and hence I'm eager to hear the counter arguments.
- keith johnsonJanuary 29, 2012 at 1:44 PM
hi Bernard: I am not sure I *have* a counter argument, exactly. The bottom line here is a subject we have discussed before: how should we treat our basic intuitions. We have been through this discussion before I know, but *I* claim we have no choice *but* trust our basic intuitions. Or maybe it's more that we necessarily *do* trust our basic intuitions. That's my claim. To an arguer who said "but unless you believe your intuitions are better than your neighbor who disagrees with you, you *ought* to remain agnostic about the deliverances of your basic intuitions", I would have to say, you accept the main premise of that argument *because* it fits with your basic intuitions.ReplyDelete
I agree that my intuitionism (is that a real word? :-) raises the question of how to adjudicate between competing intuitions. I have no answer to that question, I guess I don't worry that much about being *able* to come to agreement with my friends who disagree with me. I might agree that I am more likely to be right about things that all of us agree on than about other things, but in those areas where there is no such agreement, I don't see a good reason to just ignore what seems true to me. It seems to me that humility only demands that I recognize I could be wrong and that therefore I should be respectful to the people who think differently, that I consider what they think. But at the end of this process, at the foundation of it all, lies our intuition. Or so it seems to me. If I cannot trust my intuition it seems to me I cannot trust any deliverance of my mind, no matter how uncontroversial--in fact I couldn't even trust my sense of what is or isn't controversial.
- Bernard BeckettJanuary 30, 2012 at 12:40 AM
Hi KeithReplyDelete
it is interesting, isn't it? I'm not sure the agnostic needs to make an intuitive claim about what is and isn't true. Their only claim is that there doesn't appear to be any way of distinguishing between true and untrue statements without appealing to intuition. I don't make that as an intuitive claim. Rather it's claim about all the examples I'm aware of, and I'm entirely open to the counter-example.
From there it's a matter of taste. Do you want a vision of truth so badly that you are prepared to downgrade the intuitions of others, or not? For me, that's unspeakably arrogant. For others it's apparently fine. Each to their own.
I still think a problem emerges if the application of reason becomes inconsistent, and within the context of this post I'm wondering out loud if the free will/sin problem isn't a case in point. If we must in some sense do a logical sideways shuffle in order to establish sin as a reasonable concept, aren't we then bound to accept similar shuffles from those who want to establish eternal damnation as equally reasonable?
Of course I say this believing the random/determined dilemma in free will remains unresolved. Again, open to the counter arguments.
Thanks for this series of posts. I think the dogma of hell is the most harmful error in the current state of theology, and I appreciate what John and you are doing in trying to demonstrate why. I understand that this dogma is today very strong both in the popular and in the official sense, and I suppose your task may appear to be daunting, but here is a good thought: Since God is truth, and since God has created us with the innate capacity to perceive truth, this battle for truth will be won in the end. So, no matter the short or medium term response to your efforts, you are doing God's work.
The idea that God has created supralapsarian Calvinists in order to prove them right on their own skin made me laugh. But there may be some truth in the idea that people will experience what they expect to experience. Here, very roughly, is what I mean: I hold that creation is a continuous emanation from God, but also that in freedom creation is also to a small degree an emanation from us. In a non-trivial sense we are co-creators of our own personal condition. The quality of our experience of life is then influenced by our own use of freedom; the world in which we live is in part of our own creation. On this view then an atheist creates the godless reality in which she experiences living, a theist creates the god-filled reality in which she experiences living, and the self-transcending all-forgiving theist creates the universalist reality in which she experiences living.
[continues bellow]
[continues from above]ReplyDelete
Which leads me to a point I think I disagree with you, namely about the ontology of sin. I understand you hold that sin is some kind of affront against God, a thing that has a negative value in itself. But on theism the metaphysically ultimate is the person of God, and thus what intrinsically exists and may thus have intrinsic value are persons. God loves and therefore "sees" persons - sins and even good deeds are dust. Now a necessary property of persons is the freedom to will, and that freedom can be exercised in good or evil ways. The evil ways are those that go counter the grain of reality (i.e. counter the character of God) and thus injure the doer's soul and move her away from how God is. Sin does not have an intrinsically negative value; rather it is because it injures the person's soul that it may be said that a sin has a negative value. If I am right in this then much of the talk about sin confuses the ontological horse and cart. It is not that sin is bad and therefore God "punishes" the doer, rather it is because sin injures the doer that sin has a negative value. It is misleading to think that God punishes or rewards people. Rather it is the intrinsic personal freedom entailed in theistic reality that allows creatures to move closer or further to God, a dynamic which we qualify as "reward" or "punishment", or as "joy" or "suffering". Metaphysically then the debate between the dogma of hell and universalism, is really about the dynamics of freedom. Sophisticated hellists hold that some people will move so far away from God that they will by their own choice remain eternally separated from God. Universalists hold that God's love is so strong that it will in the end illuminate and warm even the hardest heart. Or, in esthetic terms, that no person no matter how blind will resist falling in love with God's beauty.
You speak of what may balance the negative value of sin. On the above understanding the question becomes about what can balance the negative value of an injured soul. In Greek soul is called "psyche" and a modern word which signifies a good deed is "psychiko" – or "what mends the soul". There is an unofficial but pragmatically useful moral teaching which says that when you have sinned instead of punishing yourself with remorse you should instead use your energy for doing a "psychiko", a good deed which will mend the injury to your soul.
One final point in this context, which I think is both important and beautiful. A good deed, i.e. love made visible, has not only the power to mend one's own soul, but also to mend the injury in others. Since we are all God's creatures, we are not metaphysically separate beings but are all connected through the universal bonds of love. If one person self-transcendingly loves and thus moves closer to God, that person causes all other persons to move a little closer to God too. In this sense love works like the gravitational force. Thus hellism is not only false but incoherent, for there is no such thing as an individual salvation. In that all of creation is united with God will anybody be united with God. The perfection of God entails that only perfect atonement is possible.
Just a few comments: First, Calvinists appear to embrace a compatibilist understanding of freedom according to which a choice being free is take to it being entirely compatible with being determined.ReplyDelete
So, they resolve the puzzle of free will by biting the bullet and embracing determinism. Their conception of sin is rooted in this determinism. I share the intuition that a robust notion of sin that could underwrite a theory of damnation requires some concept of freedom that doesn't reduce choices to either determined events or random ones. As such, I intuitively find the combination of the Calvinist view of human choice and their embrace of damnation for those determined to be sinful very unattractive (to say the least).
But I don't want to rest my case on that intuition alone. And one way to critically assess a belief system unlike your own without just begging the question against it ("It's mistaken because it conflicts with key elements of my belief system"), is to step within this alternative belief system and explore its internal consistency.
Doing that is hard, because it is hard to fully dispell the influence of your own convictions, which can slip covertly into the critical analysis. When it comes to the notion of retributive punishment, I'm personally very conflicted. But it is clear that advocates of a traditional view of hell, including Calvinists, endorse the idea that punishment proportionate to an offense is a fitting response, and may even be in some sense required. So, working within that belief system, I look for the most plausible way of working out a theory of retributive punishment--and then see if, on that theory, the doctrine of eternal damnation can be made sense of.
The result? I have failed to make sense of it. One thing Bernard wonders about is whether, in the face of the difficulty of making sense of this belief system, its advocate can simply appeal to mystery-and whether we have any grounds for complaining about such an appeal if, for example, we appeal to mystery in the face of the challenges of making sense of human freedom.
On this issue, I think we can distinguish between different kinds of appeals to mystery, and different contexts within which such appeals are made. My own sense is that sometimes appeals to mystery are appropriate and sometimes they're not--and that it is possible to articulate and justify in something more than an intuitive way the difference between the cases. But making the case for that goes beyond what I can do right now.
- keith johnsonFebruary 5, 2012 at 9:46 AM
Hi Eric: I share your intuition about the moral incongruity of applying everlasting torment as a punishment for a compatiblist free choice, this is one of the reasons it seems to me that the arguments Calvinists make against Arminians helps bolster the case for universalism. But I'm not sure about how one could possibly discern when an appeal to mystery is an inappropriate response to an argument. Apologizing for the abstraction here, but consider the argument:ReplyDelete
1. A is true
2. if A is true then B is true
3. Therefore B is true.
Suppose a person is really convinced that B is in fact false, even after carefully and respectfully considering what his disagreeing friend has to say the topic. Logically he cannot consistently hold that (1) and (2) are true but (3) is false--he must reject (1) (2) or he must accept (3). What if he still feels convinced, but he has no good response to his disagreeing friend's argument in favor of (1) and (2)? It seems to me the best he can offer is "I don't know everything". Wouldn't it be wrong in an epistemic sense for him to choose (1) and (2) over (3) just because he couldn't respond to a debating partner?
In the case of damnation, maybe he is convinced that the Bible is the inerrant word of God & that it clearly teaches that some people are forever lost. Logically that person has to conclude that EITHER A is false or the if/then inference is wrong.
This is nicely stated. I have several thoughts on appeals to mystery as solutions to problems--especially in relation to matters of faith. Unfortunately, don't have time to develp them right at the moment, between a spike in work and extracurricular time commitments. Definitely worth exploring more fully soon, though.
Note to self: When you get more time, devote a post to appeals to mystery, attempting to develop some thoughts about when they are "reasonable" and when not.


text:
First Team vs. Chesterfield (1 : 4)
Sheffield FC kicked off their 2017-18 pre-season campaign with a solid performance on Tuesday, writes Stuart James, however they were no match for a strong Chesterfield first team squad who ran out 4-1 winners.
The Spireites opened the scoring on 15 minutes, when Ian Evatt rose to nod home in the box, following a well-executed free-kick from Connor Dimaio.
Club gave the League Two side a good resistance, forcing the visitors onto the back foot, however the highlight from the hosts came in the form of a superb triple save from keeper Brett Souter who denied Kristian Dennis, Charlie Wakefield and Reece Mitchell to deny Chesterfield.
Ten minutes before the break it was 2-0, as Connor Dimaio turned provider once again, playing the ball through to Kristian Dennis who slotted the ball under the keeper.
It took just three minutes of the second half for Chesterfield to make it 3-0, as Dion Donahue curled a nice effort in from the edge of the area.
Club got a goal back on 55 minutes, as Dylan Parkin and Sam Hird got in a right old mix-up, allowing Jack Mawson the easiest of tap-ins.
Sheffield kept the score respectable with some competitive football, and it took until the 82nd minute for Chesterfield to complete the scoring, with Ricky German tapping home from close range after some good work down the right-hand side.
Sheffield FC: Souter, Turner, Algar, Turnbull, Varley, Magee, Robson, Travis, Morris, Gascoigne, Gregory. Subs: Roney, Butt, Carter, Howe, Ibrahim, Johnson, Cusworth, Goodwin, Dawson, Dawes, Mawson, Booth, Royles.
Chesterfield: Anyon, Wiseman, Evatt, Smith, Barry, Dimaio, Rowley, Wakefield, Mitchell, Dennis, Ugwu.
Second Half: Parkin, McGinn, Hird ©, Donohue, Maguire, German, Brownhill, Binnom-Williams, Sinnott, Brewster, O'Grady. Subs: Ofoegbu, Hand.


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Sancho Ramírez(Redirected from Sancho V of Navarre)
Sancho Ramírez (c. 1042 – 4 June, 1094) was King of Aragon from 1063 until 1094 and King of Pamplona from 1076 under the name of Sancho V (Basque: Antso V.a Ramirez). He was the eldest son of Ramiro I and Ermesinda of Bigorre. His father was the first king of Aragon and an illegitimate son of Sancho III of Pamplona. He inherited the Aragonese crown from his father in 1063.[1] Sancho Ramírez was chosen king of Pamplona by Navarrese noblemen after Sancho IV was murdered by his siblings.
|Sancho Ramírez
Sancho (Sancius filius, Sancho the son) with his father, King Ramiro (Ranimirus rex)
From a thirteenth-century manuscript of Jaca
|King of Aragon
|Ramiro I
|Peter I
|King of Pamplona
|Sancho IV
|Peter I
|c. 1042
|Isabella of Urgell
Felicia of Roucy
|House of Jiménez
|Ramiro I
|Ermesinda of Bigorre
Sancho Ramírez succeeded his father as second King of Aragon in 1063.[1] Between 1067 and 1068, the War of the Three Sanchos involved him in a conflict with his first cousins, both also named Sancho: Sancho IV the king of Navarre and Sancho II the king of Castile, respectively. The Castilian Sancho was trying to retake Bureba and Alta Rioja, which his father had given away to the king of Navarre and failed to retake. The Navarrese Sancho begged the aid of the Aragonese Sancho to defend his kingdom. Sancho of Castile defeated the two cousins and retook both Bureba and Alta Rioja, as well as Álava.
Sancho Ramírez followed his father's practice, not using the royal title early in his reign even though his state had become fully independent. This changed in 1076, when Sancho IV of Navarre was murdered by his own siblings, thus prompting a succession crisis in this neighboring kingdom that represented Aragon's nominal overlord.[2] At first, the murdered king's young son, García, who had fled to Castile, was recognized as titular king by Alfonso VI, while Sancho Ramírez recruited to his side noblemen of Navarre who resented their kingdom falling under Alfonso's influence. The crisis was resolved by partition. Sancho Ramírez was elected King of Navarre, while he ceded previously contested western provinces of the kingdom to Alfonso. From this time, Sancho referred to himself as king not only of Navarre but also Aragon.
Sancho conquered Barbastro in 1064, Graus in 1083, and Monzón in 1089. He was defeated by El Cid, who was raiding his lands and those of his Muslim allies, at the Battle of Morella, probably in 1084.[3] He perished in 1094 at the battle of Huesca, supposedly from an arrow while inspecting the walls of the Muslim stronghold.
Sancho contracted his first marriage in c. 1065, to Isabella (died c. 1071), daughter of Count Armengol III of Urgel. They were divorced 1071. His second marriage, in 1076, was with Felicia (died 3 May 1123), daughter of Hilduin IV, Count of Montdidier. A third marriage—to Philippa of Toulouse—is sometimes given,[4] but contemporary evidence records him as still married to Felicia at the time of his death.[5] He was father of four sons: by Isabella, he had Peter, his successor; by Felicia he had Ferdinand, who was alive in 1086 but died within the next decade, Alfonso, who succeeded Peter, and Ramiro, who succeeded Alfonso.[6]
Marriage and familyEdit
Sancho Ramírez married Isabella of Urgell, daughter of Ermengol III, Count of Urgell around the year 1062. They had one known child:
- Peter (c. 1068 - 1104), known as "the Catholic", who ruled as King of Aragon and Pamplona from 1094 until 1104. Peter married Agnes of Aquitaine.
Sancho Ramírez remarried around 1071 with Felicia of Roucy, daughter of Hilduin IV, Count of Montdidier.[7] They had three children:
- Fernando Sánchez (1071 - 1094)[8]
- Alfonso Sánchez (c. 1073 - 1134), known as "the Battler", King of Aragon and Pamplona from 1104 until 1134. He married Urraca of León, Queen of León, Castile and Galicia. Their marriage was annulled in 1112.
- Ramiro Sánchez (1086 - 1157), known as "the Monk", King of Aragon between 1134 and 1157, and married to Agnes of Aquitaine in her second marriage after Viscount of Thouars, Aimery V.
|Ancestors of Sancho Ramírez[9]
- ^ a b Vicente Salas Merino, La Genealogía de los Reyes de España, (Visionnet, 2007), 220.
- ^ Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in Twelfth-Century León and Castile, (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 9.
- ^ Bernard F. Reilly, The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain, 1031-1157, (Blackwell, 1995), 109.
- ^ Richard, Alfred, Histoire de Comtes de Poitou, 778–1204
- ^ Szabolcs de VAJAY, "Ramire II le Moine, roi d'Aragon et Agnes de Poitou dans l'histoire et la légende", in Mélanges offerts à René Crozet, 2 vol, Poitiers, 1966, vol 2, p 727-750; and Ruth E Harvey, "The wives of the first troubadour Duke William IX of Aquitaine", in Journal of Medieval History, vol 19, 1993, p 315. Harvey states that, contrary to prior assumptions, William IX was certainly Philippa of Toulouse's only husband. Vajay states that the marriage to an unnamed king of Aragon reported by a non-contemporary chronicler is imaginary, even though it has appeared broadly in modern histories, and likewise he cites J de Salarrullana de Dios, Documentos correspondientes al reinado de Sancho Ramirez, Saragossa, 1907, vol I, nr 51, p 204-207 to document that Felicia was clearly still married to Sancho months before his death, making the marriage to Philippa several years earlier, as reported in several modern popular biographies of her granddaughter, completely unsupportable.
- ^ An origin legend of the house of Ayala gives him another son, Vela or Velasgutto de Ayala, by a Barcelonan lady. An alternative version makes the father Ramiro I. This story is without solid foundation, and may represent a confused memory of a feudal relationship with Sancho Ramírez of Viguera and his Vela clan vassals.
- ^ Les généalogies entre l'histoire et la politique: la fierté d'être Capétien, en France, au Moyen Age, Bernard Guenée, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, 33e Année, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1978), 471.
- ^ Lema Pueyo (2008:48)
- ^ Salas Merino 2008, pp. 216-218.
- ^ The Crónica de Aragón, produced in 1499, names her Doña Caya, but she is named Sancha in a contemporary donation. Ballesteros y Beretta, v. 2, pp. 319–320.
External sourceEdit
Sancho RamírezBorn: c. 1042 Died: 4 Juni 1094
|Preceded by
Ramiro I
| King of Aragon
|Succeeded by
Peter I
|Preceded by
Sancho IV
| King of Navarre


text:
Im Januar 2018 wird die SDA mit den zwei Beiträgen "Conceptualizing Resource Orchestration - The Role of Service Platforms in Facilitating Service Systems" und "Service Dominant Architecture: Conceptualizing the Foundation for Execution of Digital Strategies based on S-D logic" auf der HICSS (http://hicss.hawaii.edu/) vertreten sein.
Die jeweiligen Abstracts sind:
1. Conceptualizing Resource Orchestration - The Role of Service Platforms in Facilitating Service Systems
The digitization, as the profound digital transformation of business activities, processes, competencies, and models, leads in many companies to the implementation of digital service platforms as a nucleus for rapid development and the implementation of reusable digital innovations and solutions. Based on service platforms, companies strive to gain superior resource density that enables interaction with customers and partners in real-time and foster service innovation. This paper focusses on the role and purpose of service platforms in value creation and in particular, the management of resources. For this, a longitudinal single-case study method is conducted that comprises three embedded case studies as units of analysis. In this context, the meta-theoretical foundations of S-D logic are reflected and, as a result, resource orchestration as a management capability of service platforms is introduced and discussed. Moreover, the role of service platforms in managing resources in the development of innovative service systems is examined.
2. Service Dominant Architecture: Conceptualizing the Foundation for Execution of Digital Strategies based on S-D logic
Service Innovations are an opportune strategy for companies to compete in the digital age and to transform their business models taking a service perspective on their value creation. Digital business models require unique value propositions that incorporate digital technologies. Companies are required to build new digital capabilities to design and implement digital strategies. The paper takes a visionary perspective and motivates to view value creation through a service lens to respond to current challenges of digital transformation. We apply Service Dominant Architecture (SDA) to translate requirements of business initiatives into sustainable new IT infrastructure capabilities.


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Because morkies are considered a designer dog breed and are not officially recognized by the American Kennel Club, prospective owners must find information about them from sites such as PetGuide.com. Morkies are a cross between a Yorkshire terrier and a Maltese. Alternative names for the breed include the Yorktese, malkie and malki.
The morkie is recognized by the American Canine Hybrid Club, the Designer Dogs Kennel Club, the International Designer Canine Registry and the Designer Breed Registry.
Because they are half terrier, morkies are generally small in stature, with an average adult weight of 4 to 8 lbs. and a full-grown height of 6 to 8 inches tall at the shoulders. Their small size and the fact that they shed very little make morkies popular with many households. The dogs may also be less likely to irritate those with allergies because of the low-shed coat.
Like most terriers, morkies have a lot of energy and need to be exercised daily. They may also be more rambunctious than other, larger breeds. This means owners will need to pay special attention to obedience training from the time the dogs are puppies.
Primary health concerns for morkies include issues with the ears, mouth and eyes. They may issues with reverse sneezing or a collapsed trachea and should see a veterinarian on a regular basis to check for any problems.


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|Counseling & Psychotherapy
|Barbara's Bio
Barbara Cohen, Psy.D.
Welcome and thank you for visiting my website.
I hope the information I provide will assist you in making an informed choice when making your decision to seek a provider of psychological services.
Concerns about mental health and psychological well being are as important as concerns about physical health, and should not be ignored. Choosing the right therapist is the first step toward the process of healing and growth.
Since 1987, I have successfully treated clients struggling with issues of:


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Parents Corner
Frequently Asked Questions
Bed Bug Educational Information:
Q: Does West Virginia have nonmedical exemptions for compulsory school entry/attendance?
A: No, West Virginia only allows for medical exemptions by a reputable physician, according to W.Va. Public Health Code §16-3-4
Q: Does West Virginia allow attendance without completion of all immunizations?
A: Yes, West Virginia will allow student's to provisionally enter school with one dose of each required vaccinations listed in W.Va. Public Health Code §16-3-4 and WVDHHR/BPH-Immunization Interpretive Administrative Rule 64CSR95. The provisional enrollment period is based on the ACIP recommended time frames for next dose administration.
2014 Recommended Immunization Schedules
The schedules and the MMWRs describing the 2014 changes to each are listed below:
Immunizations for School Entry:
W.Va. Code §16-3-4(online version) requires all children entering school for the first time in West Virginia to be immunized against diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough. The CDC, WVBPH-Immunization Program and American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) recommends immunizations at specific ages to prevent communicable diseases. Please view these recommendations to ensure your child stays healthy.
To download the WORD document click on the following link, W.Va. Code §16-3-4 .
2008 Bureau for Public Health Immunization Interpretive Rule (64CSR95)- effective on February 28, 2008. This new interpretive rule was based on multiple laws with focus on the current 21st century recommendations and school population thus including the PreK population, current immunization reccommendations such as Varicella, Mumps and Hepatitis B and recommendations for other age appropriate vaccinations.
Immunization FAQ for WV Public Schools:-2009 Immunization FAQ
2008 Immunization Requirements for WV Public School New Enters and PreK:
-2008 WV Public School Pre-K Immunization Requirements
-2008 WV Public School New Enterers Immunization Requirements
-2008 DHHS/CDC Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule
Starting in the 2012/13 school year, grades 7 and 12 will be required to show proof of certain vaccinations. Please go to http://www.dhhr.wv.gov/oeps/immunization/requirements/Pages/default.aspx to view the new requirements.
Commissioner and State Health Office of WV-BPH Memo on Two Week Grace Period for Adolescent Vaccinations
Please click on the above to read the two week grace period memo for the 2012/13 school year.
Immunization Requirements for WV Public Schools prior to Febuary 28, 2008:
The requirements and interpretation below pertains to students who entered a WV Public School system prior to Febuary 28, 2008.
-2007 WV Public School New Enterers in K-12 Immunization Requirements
-2007 WV Public School PreK Immunization Requirements
-A Superintendent's Interpretation on "Required Immunizations" was published on July 28, 2005
An Ounce of Prevention: Keep the GERMS Away-GET IMMUNIZED
CDC-National Center for Infectious Disease website with frequently asked questions about immunizations.
Launches Voices of Meningitis!
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcal Aureus (MRSA):
Q: What is MRSA?
A: See websites below
West Virginia Bureau for Public Health Information:
MRSA Parents and Schools Fact Sheet
MRSA Parents and Schools Poster
MRSA Correctional Resident Fact Sheet
Please visit the WVDHHR-Office of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology for UP-TO-DATE information at http://www.wvdhhr.org/idep/a-z/a-z-staph.asp.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) MRSA Information:
CDC MRSA Prevention and Control
CDC MRSA Outbreak Assistance and Information
CDC MRSA Educational Materials
Please visit the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/index.htm.
Q: What screenings are required prior to enrollment into a West Virginia school?
Speech and Language
Developmental- Preschool and Upon parent/guardian request prior to kindergarten entry)
Dental- Preschool only
Comprehensive Physical Exam(i.e.HealthCheck)- Preschool only
Q: What if my child completed a comprehensive physical exam or HealthCheck or physical within the past year, will the school accept this for their required screenings?
A: Yes, West Virginia public schools will gladly accept a comprehensive physical exam or HealthCheck within the past one year from the child's physician or mid-level provider. West Virginia public schools will rescreen students during their academic career when signs and symptoms are identified. The process of duplicating screenings are not a productive utilization of time for school nurses or school personnel
W.Va. Code §18-5-17 requires county boards of education to conduct preenrollment hearing, vision, and speech and language testing to detect any impairments. This law pertains to all children entering public school for the first time in West Virginia.
W.Va. Code §18-5-22 requires county boards of education to provide proper medical and dental inspections for pupils and specialized health care procedures under the direction of the school nurse.
W.Va. Code §16-3D-3 requires students transferring from a school outside of the state of West Virginia to have a read and evaluated Tuberculosis (TB) test prior to attending public school. The above link will take you to the W.V. Code site then find 16-3D-3 listed and click on it. Dowload the WORD document of WV Code 16-3D-3.
Dietary Supplements:
Q: Will West Virginia public schools administer dietary supplements?
A: No, Dietary supplements no longer fall under the safety of the Federal Drug Association (FDA) thus eliminating research to prove the efficacy and safety of these supplements utilized for medical treatment. No school nurse or school personnel will be able to administer these supplements to students in West Virginia public schools. Currently the American Academy of Pediatrics and the West Virginia Board of Nursing do not recommend the administration of these supplements to children Parents/Guardians are welcome to come to the school and administer a dietary supplement to their child at anytime during the school day. Please view the AAP research at http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZFP21YQ7C.htm?&sub_cat=1 or the WV Board of Nursing response.
Field Trips:
Q: Are West Virginia schools required to provide nursing services for all field trips?
A: Schools are to provide nursing/health services only if the field trip is curricular or co-curricular and related to the Content Standards and objectives. Schools will make every effort to provide school health services to children with specialized procedures but must check the ability to delegate certain procedures in other states and the time frame for delegating or practicing nursing in another state.. Arranging a field trip can be a lengthy process and requires ample notification to the school nurse and parent. The school will do everything in it's power to ensure health services to any student but state limitation in practice of school nursing may inhibit schools from providing services and require parent/guardian involvement, please work closely with the school system to ensure a collaborative, coordinated effort in meeting the needs of your child. Sometimes school are forced to make decisions which are best for the majority of students in an emergency situation, again please work with the schools in all arrangements.
Off-label Use of Medications in Medical Practice:
Please review the following information:
American Academy of Pediatrics, Use of Off-Labeled Drugs at http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;110/1/181.pdf
Institute of Neurological Research at http://www.nrimed.com/offlabel.htm.
Medication Administration:
Each county board of education is required to develop a medication administration policy utilizing the guidelines set forth in Policy 2422.8. Please review your county's medication administration policy for county specific question.
Asthma Medication:
W.Va. Code §18-5-22b requires children with asthma medication to be allowed to self administer after a parent/guardian written authorization, a written statement from a physician or advanced practice registered nurse with specific requirements, and passing an assessment by the school nurse technique of self-administration and knowledge. Please review the law in it's entirety.
Asthma in Schools:
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) have developed "Asthma Talks". Asthma talks is a compilation of AASA members and partners discussing asthma in schools. Please listen to their voices from the field at http://www.aasa.org/focus/content.cfm?ItemNumber=7449.
West Virginia Department of Education's Guidelines for Allergies in the School Setting
School Nursing Services:
There are approximately 215 Certified School Nurse serving 279,457 students in 765 public schools in the state of West Virginia. In 2002-03 school year, approximately 36% of these students had a medical diagnosis.
Current law, W.Va. Code § 18-5-22, requires each county board to employ 1 school nurse per every 1500 children in grades kindergarten through seven; provided that each county shall employee full time at least one school nurse.
Who Is YOUR School Nurse?
West Virginia School Nurses Per County
What is a School Based Health Center?
Clinics located in schools that: 1) are sponsored and operated by community based health organizations 2) provide primary health care services (including but not limited to diagnosis and treatment of acute illness, management of chronic illness, physical exams, immunizations and other preventive services) to students who are enrolled in the health center; and 3) follow state and federal laws, policies, procedures and professional standards for provision of medical care.
There are presently 40 School-Based Health Centers and one School-Linked program serving 50 schools in 24 counties in West Virginia. To learn more about school based health centers go to West Virginia School-Based Health Assembly's web site. A directory can be found by clicking on "Research".
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the difference in School Nursing Services and School Based Health Centers?
A certified school nurse is an employee of the county board of education and functions in West Virginia public schools to provide health services. School nurses are available to all children participating in public schools. School Based Health Centers provide medical services to students who enroll in the centers for primary health services.
Health services in the school setting are those activities rendered by professional school nurse:
Medical services in the school setting are those activities rendered by a physician and/or advanced nurse practitioner, which include but are not limited to the following:
The professional school nurse and school based health center also provide the following comprehensive health services by:
Both the school nurse and the SBHC have distinct roles and each contributes to students' health, academic outcomes, life-long achievement, and over-all student and staff well-being. One does not replace the need for the other.
National Association of School Nurses (June 2001). POSITION STATEMENT: Joint Statement on the School Nurse/School-Based Health Center Partnership.


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Green Eve is all about making the world a better place, whether it be by going green or just simply changing your perspective on life for the better.
So today's tip of the day couldn't be any simpler: SMILE :) !
Not much of an explanation needed here, but trust me a simple smile goes a long way.
Make sure to turn your frown upside down :)
P.S. Check out this song, we love love love!
Green Eve


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Three years ago Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.'s comic book delighted audiences with its graphic violence and fresh spin on superhero movies and horrified The Daily Mail. In short, it was a win for everyone, so the inevitable sequel has a lot to live up to and judging by the first trailer it's not going to do that. With Vaughn acting as producer and relative newcomer Jeff Wadlow in the director's chair, Kick-Ass 2 looks a bit cheap and charmless compared to the cult original. Hit-Girl looks like a shadow of her former bad-ass self and as much as I love Jim Carrey he can't possibly top Nic Cage's Big Daddy. Still, it's early days, and maybe it'll turn out to be better than this trailer has led us to believe. Here's some other things to expect:
1) Hit-Girl will swear, and it won't be as funny as it was three years ago.
2) A few nods and winks to recent superhero films, especially Avengers Assemble.
3) A black guy will die first; my money's on Morris Chestnut.
4) Donald Faison will make a funny face.
5) Offensive comments about Russia aimed at Olga Kurkulina's character.
6) Marty Eisenberg/Battle Guy will be all chubby and useless.
7) Jim Carrey will be Jim Carrey.
8) Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be annoying.
These are facts.


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Unseen Horror is a blog dedicated to investigating Simon Grundig's 1974 film, The GoatMan. In it, myself, Septic Boaby, and various contributors examine the film from a variety of angles, and provide excerpts from what is almost certainly the genuine soundtrack album.
There is no official record of this film ever having been made.
Robin F. Hamlyn


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Online savings up to $1000
Beautiful corded hemstitch!
Attendees will learn how to create an embroidery business with the BERNINA E 16 and BERNINA Embroidery Software 7
BERNINA of America, the premier manufacturer of sewing, embroidery and quilting machines, is pleased to announce that Inspired to Sew, a BERNINA Dealer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will host a Business of Embroidery event on Tuesday, July 26 and Wednesday, July 27 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the Dealer located at 1000 Old Marion Road. BERNINA event team member, Elva Mungai will go into detail about the benefits and steps needed to start an embroidery business. She will demonstrate the capabilities of the BERNINA E 16 and BERNINA Embroidery Software 7, and explain the advantages of using them in your business. The cost is $50 and includes lunch. Registration is required as space is limited. To register, call (319)373-0334, stop by the store or go online at http://inspiredtosew.com/inspire-me/classes-and-events/events/the-business-of-embroidery-event.html.
The BERNINA E 16 features an extra-large embroidery field of 440 mm x 350 mm with the BERNINA hook system, an ultraprecise laser alignment for accurate design placement, and an intuitive BERNINA Operating System that is icon-driven and easy to use. The E 16 has one of the largest sewing fields in the industry, 16.8" x 16.9" allowing you to stitch large designs without re-hooping or rotating the hoop to complete your embroidery project. Additionally, the E 16 reads ART-formatted files and comes equipped with an intuitive user interface, the auto thread trim, and the Acti-feed Tension System. It has an adjustable height presser foot, appliqué command, and a quality design library of 1,000 ready-to-stitch designs. The E 16 is compatible with BERNINA Embroidery Software 7 and BERNINA's Exclusive Embroidery Design Collections. The BERNINA E 16 will personalize team uniforms and caps, monogram stylish totes, commemorate a special occasion, or complete an elaborate embroidered quilt. Whether it is a jacket back or a small pocket area that needs embroidering, the E 16 will complete the task like a pro. For more information, visit www.bernina.com/multineedle.
BERNINA Embroidery Software 7 places a host of powerful design tools at the fingertips of sewists, including 3-D effects like StumpWork, Trapunto and PunchWork, as well as advanced monogramming and lettering, autodigitizing and full manual digitizing functionality to complement the hundreds of built-in and ready-to-stitch designs. It also sports an easy-to-use interface that features larger icons and icon grouping, and easy-to-change outline stitches and fill stitches. For more information, visit www.bernina.com/software.
Elva Mungai is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Home Economics Education. She has been teaching classes on BERNINA Embroidery Software since the earliest software versions.
Inspired to Sew is an authorized BERNINA Dealer which provides top-quality service to area residents. The Dealer offers BERNINA sewing machines, software, and accessories, and also provides a variety of sewing, embroidery and quilting classes for people of all skill levels. For more information, visit www.inspiredtosew.com/.
About BERNINA
Founded in Switzerland more than 100 years ago, BERNINA is the world's premier manufacturer with a proven reputation for offering quality state-of-the-art sewing, quilting and embroidery machines, overlockers, and embroidery software. BERNINA's leadership is marked by an impressive number of ambassadors, industry leaders, influencers and bloggers, who chose to partner with the company. BERNINA products are sold in the United States through a network of over 400 fully trained independent dealerships that also offer support and education. Select BERNINA and bernette machines, and BERNINA software can also be purchased through BERNINA's eCommerce site, shop.bernina.com. BERNINA products are designed for beginning to advanced sewists and priced to meet a variety of budgets, with new products being introduced every year. You can follow BERNINA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/berninausa, Instagram: @BERNINAUSA, and Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/WeAllSew, and read BERNINA's WeAllSew blog at www.weallsew.com. To learn more about BERNINA and to find a Store, visit www.bernina.com or call (630)978-2500.


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GM Trucks Experience Record Sales
Truck sales are booming. Not every company is reporting vibrant sales, but General Motors is an exception. GM trucks are doing incredible business. Those who thought truck buying would wane in the purported era of the hybrid car were wrong. American consumers do love their trucks. Right now, the United States is in the midst of a "truck craze" and General Motors is reaping the rewards.
GM earned $9.7 billion in revenues for 2015. Truck sales were a large part of the revenues, and SUV sales were strong as well. Car sales do not seem anywhere near as huge, but the truck and SUV sales definitely carried the year for the Detroit automaker. Less than a decade ago, there were serious fears General Motors would be in dire financial shape. Rebounding was thought to be very difficult. The ebbs and flows of the market can swing in any direction and, in this case, the swing was towards larger profits. GM delivered models consumers found appealing. Big sales followed.
Analysts like Marc Sparks are also looking at whether or not the massive boom in sales is sustainable. No, this is not a cynical attempt at downplaying the red hot sales. Rather, questions about whether or not sales are going to remain high allow General Motors to be ready and more prepared for a possible drop-off. Sales are sure to fall somewhat after hitting a massive and unexpected peak.


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Current Newswire:
Mozilla Resets for Firefox 25 and 26Sep 23, 2013, 14:00 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Sean Michael Kerner)
The open-source browser effort is aimed at fixing flaws and improving security in upcoming releases of Firefox.
Providing a preview of what's to come, Mozilla developers are now out with development versions of the next two releases of the open-source Firefox Web browser.
0 Talkback[s] (click to add your comment)


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Some books just demand to be read. Their characters are so real perhaps, or their concepts so deeply intriguing. They may be non-fiction or fiction, but they draw you in with their questions or situations and invite you to think. They engage the head and heart, maybe even the soul, making you hear your own voice echo in characters or arguments. And you know they'll end with something deep that leaves you deeply fed.
I wish Divide by Zero could be one of those novels. It felt that way as I wrote it. I knew the characters so well I'd walk around the neighborhood talking to them, arguing why and how, and asking them sometimes to change their mind. There's a dark secret in the novel which I didn't even know until I learned it halfway through. Then I had to go back and ask the perpetrator where he was coming from. I had to know more; after which I went forward again, mourning with the community, wondering how it would survive until a small boy, an imaginary boy, looked at a picture in the (imaginary) paper and gave me the answer. Divide by Zero grabbed me so much I had to spend more time after writing it with Sylvia, now the star of Infinite Sum. And I'm learning more about Evie from someone who hardly even appeared in the original novel. But I saw his face. I had to ask.
I hope Divide by Zero might become one of those must-read novels. Meanwhile here are some books that stood out for me recently and demanded to be read:
Fields of Blood, by Karen Armstrong, leads readers through the history of nations, tribes and peoples, tracing the growth and meaning of religion, in answer to that oft-heard complaint that religion causes most of the world's wars. The answer's not a gut-response yes or no, but a nicely nuanced and beautifully researched investigation of what religion means, where faith comes into it, and how easily we choose to destroy life if there's nothing to tell us our neighbor's life has meaning. It's a long read, but it's very well worth the read and I really enjoyed it. Lots of cups of well-balanced, smooth, full-flavored 3-star coffee recommended.
A children's book dealing sweetly and generously with the aftermath of war seems a suitable one for my next review. The Olive Tree, by Elsa Marston, illustrated by Claire Ewart, is a simple picture book, set in Lebanon, telling the tale of a boy whose family stayed, and a girl whose family have just returned after war. Can the two be friends? Can they share the fruit of the olive tree growing between them? Or has too much been lost? It's a beautiful tale, simply told, with a beautiful child's eye view, and it's highly recommended. Enjoy with a well-balanced smooth 3-star coffee.
Next is a book I'd been looking forward to for quite some while, a tale of small-town battles rather than war, set in a small English town where a member of the local council has just died. The Casual Vacancy, by J. K. Rowling, introduces a wealth of convincing characters, all of them hurting and flawed. Much like the TV show Broadchurch (or Gracepoint in the US), these very believable people all hide their different secrets, and no one is wholly good. There's an odd sense of redemption as each flaw shows its past, and a deep sorrow in the aftermath, grown wide, of small events. Enjoy this one with a rich, elegant and complex 4-star coffee.
And finally, another book I'd been looking forward to is Aaron Paul Lazar's Devil's Lake. It turned out not to be my favorite of his novels, but it's a powerful story of a woman, kidnapped and abused, and how she might pick up her life when she returns home. For me, the American politics loomed a little large, but there's a valuable lesson in the difference between controlling and protecting; and redemption proves more important than revenge after all. Enjoy this dark tale with a bold dark 5-star coffee.


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When you have the desire to know the possible amounts you will get from equity release, then brightretirement.co.uk/ is the right place. Why so? Just like many sites, this provides you an online calculator, so you will know how much you can get when dealing with equity release. Equity release schemes are becoming a great way to release the cash benefit from your home's value. Perhaps you ever heard this but never experienced it, right?
When it comes to releasing equity, you can choose one of two available ways. The first method is a lifetime mortgage, which involves taking the secured loan on your home. The second one is the home reversion scheme. For your information, this usually involves the selling of the portion of your home in order to get the valuable funds or the amounts you need. Before making the decision of releasing equity, make sure you have the clear reason.


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Information for G04145
Trilateral cooperation in agriculture: Achievements and lessons from AgriTT
Investment in African agriculture remains well below average global levels and currently falls short of achieving the United Nation's 'Global Goals for Sustainable Development'. Whilst there is growing interest in the potential for trilateral development cooperation to promote learning and accelerate agricultural technology transfer, there is very little empirical evidence exploring how such partnerships work in practice. This study aims to address this gap through a review of the Working in Partnership for Agricultural Technology Transfer (AgriTT) programme, which ran between 2012 and 2017. Focusing on two of the programme's pilot projects this report discusses the achievements and challenges encountered, and finds potential opportunities for efficiency gains in longer term, multi-phased projects. Furthermore, evidence presented on the benefits of this innovative partnership model, including joint learning and formation of horizontal relationships, makes a strong case for more investment in this area.
Publication information
- IIED code: G04145
- Published: Apr 2017 - IIED
- Area: China, Uganda, Malawi
- Themes: Natural resource management, Governance
- Language:
Project information
China's economic progress over the past few decades has been dramatic, but so are the challenges in social and environmental governance both within the country and in its overseas engagement. IIED's China team works to improve China's role as an international development actor at home and abroad, particularly in Africa.
More at www.iied.org:
Our China work


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The Purchasing Division, a division of the Finance Department, processes and handles over 100 formal bidding opportunities and over 28,000 other purchasing related items in excess of $35 million, excluding non-payroll expenditures throughout Cleveland Metroparks.
Bids include commodity items (such as automotive supplies, aggregated stone, paper products, animal feed, office supplies, janitorial, and other services) and construction contracts (such as paving, building renovation, facility construction, etc.)
To maintain, with a high degree of financial integrity, a continuous supply of goods and services necessary to support the quality of park and recreation services common to Cleveland Metroparks.
Under the direction of the Board of Park Commissioners and Chief Executive Officer, the Purchasing Division has the responsibility of procurement related activities throughout the Park District and making the final determination for sources of supply, quantities purchased, delivery schedule and price negotiations of all goods and services.
The Purchasing Division is committed to taking an instructive, supportive and interactive role in daily expenditures of Cleveland Metroparks. Our commitment guarantees the taxpayer the ultimate dollar value and ensures the financial integrity of Cleveland Metroparks.
The Purchasing Staff facilitates all purchasing related activity to guarantee the daily operation and expenditures are followed according to the Cleveland Metroparks and Purchasing guidelines. The dedicated staff works seamlessly to ensure such actions and guidelines are met.
Cleveland Metroparks
Attn: Purchasing Division
4101 Fulton Parkway
Cleveland, Oh 44144
Phone Number: 216.635.3200
Fax Number: 216.635.3286
Charlie Rosol, CPPO, CPPB, Procurement Manager
Becky Eicher, Procurement Specialist
The awarded list predominantly presents commodity award items.
Viewing open solicitations through Public Purchase will allow a supplier to receive electronic...
The bidding process is applied to transactions on materials, products and/or services with an...
How to conduct business with Cleveland Metroparks.
Cleveland Metroparks is entitled to purchase supplies and services outside of a purchase contract.
Equal Opportunity Vendor Policy
View products/services currently out to bid.
Click here to download (pdf) Cleveland Metroparks purchasing manual