The King's Gardeners Ministries
Reverend S. L. Gardner
Spokane Valley, Washington US
Articles used by permission or are public domain
A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
"Using Your Winter to Win Your Battles"
Acts 1 and 2
King George and his army must have been having
a good laugh.
George Washington and his Continental Army had been whipped in battle after battle in their campaign to become independent from Britain.
British troops had driven the Americans out of New York City, across the Hudson River, across New Jersey, and finally into Pennsylvania.
Then came the winter of 1777, at a place outside of Philadelphia called Valley Forge. Washington's troops faced not only a physical winter there, but an emotional winter. Discouragement and defeat may have been their worst enemies. But General Washington wasn't about to let those enemies win. He fought back by immediately deploying his soldiers to fortifying their camp. Then the drills began. A veteran European military officer began to drill those soldiers every day, teaching them a single set of maneuvers rather than the multiple approaches that had created confusion in those past battles. That winter, they were learning one way of doing things while Washington worked on getting more recruits and building his army into a real fighting force. Many historians believe that the outcome of America's battle for independence was decided at Valley Forge more than in any battle - an army that came out of Valley Forge to stun the British with major victories. One army went into the winter at Valley Forge - divided, discouraged, demoralized. Another army emerged from that winter. They were unified, they were fortified, they were confident because of what they had done with their winter.
In many ways, the outcome of your battles may be decided, not on the battlefield alone, but in how you use your winter. And you may be in one of those cold, bleak times right now. You could succumb to your fears and your feelings and just surrender. Or you could pull a spiritual "Valley Forge." You could use your winter to get stronger, more together, more focused on what you need to do to win.
In some ways, Jesus' disciples expected their winter to begin with His announced departure to heaven. The One who had called them to be with Him was now leaving them and entrusting to them the work He had started. In Luke 24, Jesus tells them to tell the world about Him and then, "...while He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven." In a way, their winter had begun, as it often does when you lose someone you love. But they knew what to do with their winter!
In our word for today from the Word of God taken from Acts 1 and 2, "they all joined together constantly in prayer." Then they got back their team of twelve back to full strength by replacing Judas with another disciple. And, "When the day of Pentecost came (That's the day God sent His Holy Spirit), they were all together in one place ... and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit." At that point, they exploded on the city of Jerusalem with the Gospel that would, that day, start spreading around the world.
But they had to use their winter to get together, to get stronger, and to get closer to God. You need to handle your winter that way.
Don't just sit there worrying or feeling sorry for yourself or wallowing in your emotions. Take action to get strong. Spend extra time with God right now. Strengthen your relationship with your family and your coworkers. Think through what you need to stop doing and what you need to start doing to focus on what really matters. And prayerfully plan for a future, right there in the middle of your valley, even when the future looks very uncertain right now. While the bombs were falling on London during World War II, Winston Churchill was in his underground bunker - not worrying about the bombs, but actually planning the invasion of Germany!
Discouragement and fear and drifting from God - those are your greatest enemies, not what faces you on your battlefields. This winter is not dead time or despair time. It's get ready time. What you do with your winter will decide whether you win or lose!
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Proper practice gives you an edge on the golf course that nobody else has… Do you know what that edge is? The answer is “More Myelin.”
Scientists have recently isolated THE process that takes place in the brain that separates the very best from their “lesser gifted” counterparts.
In a nutshell, whenever certain neurons in the brain are fired properly, they get wrapped with a material called myelin, which insulates the neurons and enhances their ability to fire better. The more wraps of myelin, the better the neurons fire, the more clearly the message gets to the body, and the more exact the results.
How does one stimulate the myelination process?
Proper practice… Which means that any average Joe can do it if they dedicate themselves to it.
Of course, JUST practicing won’t do it… Or we would all be at the top level. There are caveats.
- Your Practice must be highly focused.
- Practice must pay attention to every detail.
- Mistakes must constantly be caught and immediately corrected.
Given the complicated manner of the golf swing, this list shines a light on the reason many pros aren’t at the top of the leader board every week.
The first issue is the method so many golfers are being taught to practice. The vast majority are taught to hit thousands of golf balls and that “Muscle Memory” would take over. Translated: With enough repetition, the brain will automatically create a highly repeating golf swing.
The problem is that in the “Muscle Memory” process, the memory part is passive. It almost sounds ridiculous to think that the muscles can cause the mind to remember something. The muscles are not wired to do that.
But you are also taught not to think about your golf swing because thinking screws up your swing, which is correct…
So how can someone practice their swing, focus on every detail AND correct mistakes as they make them?
That is the very question that drove me for years to discover the process of Bio-Visual Focus.
- Your brain communicates with your body visually, so the “Visual” part of the process is how you learn to think when training without getting in the way of your golf swing.
- To correct mistakes immediately, you need a consistent “map” to compare the movement you “see” in your mind to… That’s the Bio part of the equation.
- The combination of the two parts plus your dedication creates the super focus that you need to stimulate the Myelin to wrap the proper neurons over and over until they become super-conductors.
The advantage of using Bio-Visual Focus is that you can condense 8 hours of practice into 30 minutes or less, which means you can advance quickly. And if you can remain focused… More IS better!
The only disadvantage is that Bio-Visual Focus is a guided process. Every step must be evaluated before moving to the next. Moving through the process too quickly nullifies the process of myelination.
What I’m saying is that so far, the process can’t be canned. If you read The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle, you should notice in every hotbed of talent, there is always one very astute, and patient practitioner that guides the future super-talents through the process.
I am quite excited to be able to say that the results I have witnessed with my students so far show that Bio-Visual Focus stimulates the myelination process faster and produces faster, more permanent results than any other practice method I have seen used in golf to date.


German Waserfal C-2 rocket being prepared for test launch during World War II
Germany Date:1943 Duration:5 min 24 sec Sound:NO SOUND
German Wasserfall C-2 ground to air rocket hoisted on the dolly(trailer) is brought out from the hangar for testing during World War 2. Views of the Wasserfall C-2 ground to air rocket. Wasserfall C-2 erect on test stand IX at Peenemünde, in launching position. Technicians work on the erect rocket. They take the rocket back again into the shelter.
This historic stock footage available in HD and SD video. View pricing below video player.
Have a correction or more info about this clip? Edit Now


“Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.” Anonymous
On Memorial Day we remember all those in the military who sacrificed their lives throughout our nation’s history in pursuit of peace. In turbulent times peace came with a price, an expensive price.
Over 51,000 soldiers died @ the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
“The muffled drums sad roll has beat the soldiers last tattoo, no more on life’s parade shall meet that brave and fallen few.”
“Courage is a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” G.K. Chesterton
On Memorial Day we honor the courage of the fallen…
“Forward! For God’s sake forward!” Major General John F. Reynolds
This beloved Union general was killed shortly after leading his troops into the fray on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
May all those who sacrificed their lives for peace throughout history (Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII and onward) rest in peace in the forever now.
“Day is done.
Gone the sun.
From the sea, from the land, from the sky.
All is well.
Rest in peace,
God is nigh!”
(Traditional Taps lyrics)


Recently, NASA’s InSight probe was successfully landed on the Red Planet to study its deep interior and make it the only planet apart from Earth to be examined this way. InSight is the first outer space robotic explorer to study the interior of Mars – its crust, mantle, and core.
ISRO has launched GSAT-29 communication satellite successfully on board GSLV-Mk III D2 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. With this launch, GSLV Mk III completed the test flights and is declared operational, thus joining the ranks of the working vehicles such as PSLV. Besides, this launch serves as a major boost for Chandrayaan-II (moon) and Gaganyaan (manned) missions.
India recently held the second assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2019. India is the current president of the ISA and France is the co-president.
International Solar Alliance represents India’s continuing efforts towards fighting Global warming and climate change. As the world still deliberates over the possible mechanisms to counter the impacts of climate change, The ISA is an action-oriented, sustainable model to balance the needs of developing countries and environmental efforts. It is the first organization working in the renewable energy sectors focusing solely on solar energy.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that India’s 2nd lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled to be launched in July 2019. The Chandrayaan-2’s lander will touch down near Moon’s south pole in September 2019. This mission holds so much significance for Indian and international space research which we will discuss in this article.


Last, but certainly not least, is the question of how the Constitution of the United States should be interpreted.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
First, for the best interpretation to take place, one must view the US Constitution from the perspective of the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Since the US Constitution was the imperfect attempt at creating a system in harmony with those principles, it would be illogical to then turn around and view the document divorced from those very principles. Even the Framers themselves tied the US Constitution to the Declaration by the dating of the document.
Certainly, the principles behind the Declaration of Independence are the correct standard by which any government should be compared, including the US Constitution – and therefore, those principles should be the primary mode for constitutional interpretation.
Thus, if the desire for good Constitutional interpretation is present, it is recommended to first study the principles of the Declaration of Independence. The US Constitution is only as good as it is in harmony with those principles; with the most defensible portions, based on truth, being those in which are actually in harmony with those principles, with the the least defensible portions being in contradiction to those principles.
THE FALSE ALTERNATIVE OF “ORIGINAL INTENT” AND THE SO-CALLED “LIVING CONSTITUTION”
In terms of constitutional interpretation and theory, often the mainstream narrative is between Original Intent – or the intent and extent of the framers original intention in drafting the Constitution, and the so-called “Living” Constitution – or the view that the document is not limiting in feature, and thus can be molded based on the relative views and agendas of state officials’ assertions pertaining to, and/or interpretations of the desires of, the populace.
The Constitution is not simply a historical document, but a charter of moral commitments based on principles that are just as applicable today as they were 225 years ago. Therefore, it is herein asserted that the narrative above (namely, that of original intent vs. the living constitution) is a classic A or B fallacy; A false alternative which poses two wrong-headed arguments that both ignore a real benefit of a written Constitution based on principle, as opposed to what is merely historical precedent, often based on political expediency.
First off, in studying the journal of the Convention itself, as well as the debates surrounding ratification – it does not seem at all the case that the framers “original intent” was to produce a purely historical document by which to bind future generations to their own personal opinions as to their welfare, based on what is codified in the Constitution itself. Why even allow for an amending process, for example, if that were the case? And secondly, merely because the Constitution clearly has a basis in limiting principles – based on the assumption of objective truth (“the Laws of Nature, and of Nature’s God“), and not moral/legal relativism – does not mean that the US Constitution, or the principles behind it, should be accurately considered “dead”, as opposed to “living”.
THE “LIVING CONSTITUTION”
As to the point of “living” or loose constructionism – which, unfortunately Alexander Hamilton, himself championed in his opinion in support of the National Bank when it suited him politically (even though the view is contrary to the views he perpetrated in The Federalist) – the simple fact of the matter is that if the Constitution can mean anything, then it means nothing!
In fact, the reasons in support of a written constitution are hollow, if a relative standard of rightness was the basis of the very same written document. The document uses words, and those words have meanings, and somewhere in those meanings are the concepts themselves that are the real issues that are worthy of notice and debate. And honestly, if the Constitution can mean anything, or if the principles by which we interpret the document change (that is not to say that what we interpret cannot change, but that the underlying principles by which we interpret should not change) – then why even have a Constitution at all, let alone one that is written?
As has already been stated in the first section, it should be true principles that are the basis of proper Constitutional interpretation, and not people or groups thereof. The basic flaw of the original intent doctrine is that not only does it come with the flawed assumption that it was their intent to bind us to their own opinions – but that with this interpretive mode comes a blatant double-edged sword. Assuming original intent, the Constitution will only be as correct as far as they were correct, and thus, it will be wrong as far as they were wrong – without any recourse due to the inability to interpret otherwise. This is even worse than a situation when, for example, someone who only quotes Thomas Jefferson will only be right when he was right, and wrong when he was wrong – due to the wide felt consequences of such a general acceptance as a legal mode of interpretation and application.
The principles of the Declaration of Independence themselves should be the standard, and not people. Truth, in the end, is it’s own authority – regardless of the right/wrong opinions different men may have regarding it, including the Framers.
Was the purpose of Constitutional interpretation intended to merely be made up of historical research – or to be an analysis of truths which were to be the basis of the moral commitments behind the Constitution? Another way of looking at this is this: Was the Constitution of United States, and the Bill of Rights which were added in 1791, ends, in and of themselves, or were they attempts at a principle-based means to aid in the end of the attainment of a more free society?
This is not to state that historical analysis is not a factor (which is certainly not the case) ; but merely a secondary one to that of the principles of freedom themselves. It is merely to admit fragility in the limited understanding of man at any time, and to thus, seek the objective reality around us, which is eternally superior to any potentially limited and incomplete view of it.
“The PHILOSOPHIC APPROACH”; Conclusion
Professors Sotirios A. Barber and James E. Fleming, in their book Constitutional Interpretation, quote a very pertinent analogy from the legal scholar Ronald Dworkin, which is definitely worthy of quotation:
“Suppose I tell my children simply that I expect them not to treat others unfairly. I no doubt have in mind examples of the conduct I mean to discourage, but I would not accept that my “meaning” was limited to these examples, for two reasons. First I would expect my children to apply my instructions to situations I had not and could not have thought about. Second, I stand ready to admit that some particular act I had thought was fair when I spoke was in fact unfair, or vice versa, if one of my children is able to convince me of that later; in that case I should want to say that my instructions covered the case he cited, not that I had changed my instructions. I might say that I meant the family to be guided by the concept of fairness, not by any specific conception of fairness I might have had in mind.”
Then, to quote, in part the commentary following the analogy: “Dworkin points out that had the children’s thinking for themselves not been consistent with their father’s instructions, he would have meant something quite different from what he said. He would not have meant not ‘treat others fairly,’ but ‘do as I say fairness demands.’ In the latter case, what’s uppermost in the father’s mind isn’t fairness or his children’s being fair or their reputations for fairness; it’s his authority over his children.” (pp. 28-29)
The professors then go on to argue for a philosophic approach to the constitution, based on it’s not being simply a historical document, but a document of commitment to abstract principles. And truly, there is merit to the argument.
Let’s take the example of “free speech”, as found in the First Amendment. If we were to limit our interpretation of that term to merely what the Founder’s had, or even could possibly have, in mind at the time (setting aside even the issue of determining which founder) – then the protection would obviously not apply to any of the modern modes of communication due to their not even existing in 1791. Yet, if we take the concept of free speech, and not merely the framers/ratifiers respective conceptions of it, then the principle would apply just as much today as it did in their day. Taking the concept, as opposed to their historical conceptions of it, would assume an approach to the Constitution based on a moral commitment to things such as “free speech”.
Therefore, it is a principle-based, or more specifically, a Truth-based philosophic approach which is needed for a correct understanding and interpretation of the Constitution of the United States.


Over October 10th and 11th, Pittsburgh’s finest makers descended upon Nova Place for the first full scale Maker Faire Pittsburgh. This was region’s largest showcase of making, building and creating, and was composed of over 200 makers. Pop Craft is proud to have been among them, and to have helped Maker Faire attendees to make 86 projects though our hands on workshops.
At the Faire, Pop Craft hosted Origami LED and Concrete Casting workshops. Origami was a new addition for our line up, but it was so well received we were over capacity. In response to this excitement for learning origami and combining it with basic circuitry to light an LED, I’m posting the instructions and templates we used in the workshop.
A little bit about Circuits
A circuit is a pathway that carries power to a device, like an LED, to make it light up. Circuits consist of conductive material creating the pathway, and an energy source. In this project, copper tape is our conductive material, and a 3 volt batter is our power source. For power to travel within a circuit, it must be closed, meaning there is a continuous path from the positive battery terminal, to device, and back to the negative terminal. As we create our circuit, it will remain open until we complete our origami and close the circuit with the folds.
Create an Origami LED
To create an Origami LED animals shown in this tutorial, you will need:
- Origami Paper (15 cm / 6 inch size)
- Circuit Stickers
- Copper tape
- 3 volt battery
- Glue Dot
- Origami Circuit Templates and Instructions
Tracing your Circuit
With the templates provided above, you can make either a Frog or a Crane. Using the template for the origami of your choice, trace the thick black lines and the triangle with a pencil on to your origami paper. Take note of which side of your origami paper should be facing upwards while tracing, indicated at the top of the template (colored side or white side). The crane requires tracing onto both sides of your origami paper.
Adding Copper Tape and an LED
Following the bold lines you have just traced, you will cover these lines with copper tape. Where the copper tape runs parallel, make the tape paths run close together, but do not let them touch. In the Crane project, the copper tape continues around the edge – wrap a single piece of tape around the edge so there is not a break in the copper.
Once all of your copper tape is in place, adhere an LED circuit sticker where you traced the triangle. The pointy end of the LED is the negative side, and the fat end is the positive side. The gold in the circuit on the positive and negative sides should run in the same direction as the copper tape, touching one piece of copper tape each.
Once your copper tape and LED are installed, you are ready to fold! Following the instructions for your origami animal, complete all folds. As you get started, if you find that your LED is in the way of a fold, undo previous folds and move the LED out of the way. The LED stickers can withstand some bending, but they will break if bent too far.
To help you with some of the Crane folds, I’m including pictures for a few select steps.
Steps 6, 7, and 8:
And same steps, different angle…
Steps 9 and 10:
Installing the Battery
Once your origami is complete, you will install the battery. On the Frog, the positive terminal will be facing upwards. Attach a glue dot to the origami paper next to your copper tape on the foot of the frog, and then put the battery on top. The battery must touch the copper tape on the foot, and also the copper tape on the body when the body of the frog is pressed down. The pressing down and releasing of the body will make the frog hop.
On the Crane, you will open up the chest of the crane an install the battery on the right side as you look at the crane from the front. In the same way as the frog, attach the glue dot to the origami paper, and attach the battery with the positive side facing outward. When you close the chest, the copper tape should touch on both sides of the battery. Hold the chest and battery as you pull the tail to make the wings flap.
When the two paths of copper tape touch the opposite sides of the battery, you will light your LED!
Check out this video of the wings flapping with the LED lit up. And yes, there have been cat feet and tails in several of the above pictures.
If your LED does not light, here are some common issues you should trouble shoot:
- Reversed battery – If you have the battery backwards, or have installed the LED backwards, you will need to reverse the polarity of the battery.
- Broken LED – Unfold your origami and check that the LED is not severely bent, or broken. A bent LED may lose contact with your copper tape. Flatten it, or replace it.
- Short circuit – If your two paths of copper tape touch each other, this can cause a short circuit and cause the LED to blink, or not light at all. If your folds make your copper paths touch, try widening and offsetting the spacing of your paths.


Are you of the belief that you have to hit your head in order to have a concussion or that concussions are easily diagnosed and managed? If so, then you are not alone! In fact, traumatic brain injury (TBI)—the proper term used when bleeding occurs within the skull occurs—and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)—the term applied when no bleeding occurs—remains poorly understood by many healthcare providers. This is partly due to not having any definitive method of testing that yields an accurate diagnosis.
Another problem is the under-reporting of concussion, as close to 40% of people who experience an mTBI do not report it to their doctor. Because of the significant negative consequences regarding the outcome and whole life ramifications associated with concussion, the importance of improving on the ability to diagnose or identify and treat concussion is huge!
We know that mTBI results from the transfer of energy from environmental forces to the brain by a sudden acceleration followed by a sudden deceleration that literally slams the brain into the inside bony skull.
The clinical work-up must include a review of body systems, with a special emphasis on the nervous system, including cognitive and behavioral symptoms. A partial list of post-concussion syndrome symptoms includes headache, balance problems, nausea and/or vomiting, vision problems, dizziness, brain fog (problems with attention, concentration, and speed of mental processing), memory problems, fatigue/drowsiness, light/noise sensitivity, and more.
The good news is that many mTBI sufferers fully recover, but the bad news is up to 25% do not! Promising newer technologies such as Diffuse Tensor Imaging can identify injury to the neural structures (axonal shearing) in those who’ve experienced a head trauma (such as from a car accident, sports injury, or slip and fall). The Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 2 (SCAT2) has been adopted by numerous sports leagues and others, but many healthcare practitioners do not utilize a structured tool such as this.
One promising tool is a blood test that measures brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF)—a chemical hormone that helps maintain the health of neurons (nerve cells)—which can help diagnose mTBI conclusively and with good reproducibility! Blood levels of BDNF typically are low in patients with TBI or mTBI, and studies have shown patients with very low levels of BDNF are more prone to an incomplete recovery.
Put simply, this type of blood test can help a doctor diagnose, determine the severity, and determine the likelihood of recovery of TBI/mTBI! Doctors of chiropractic are frequently sought out by those with mTBI and understand the importance of careful management of this common and often poorly identified condition.
Thousands of Doctors of Chiropractic across the United States have taken "The ChiroTrust Pledge": “To the best of my ability, I agree to provide my patients convenient, affordable, and mainstream Chiropractic care. I will not use unnecessary long-term treatment plans and/or therapies.”
To locate a Chiropractor, google "The ChiroTrust Pledge" and the name of your city in quotes.
(example: “ChiroTrust Pledge” “Olympia, WA”)
If you’re a D.C. who would like to take the ChiroTrust Pledge, click here.
Leave Your Comment Below!


The level of CO2e emissions and emissions per passenger kilometre on passenger trains decreased in the 12 months to March 2020, despite an increase in both electricity and diesel usage.
Figures released by the Office of Rail and Road on November 5 reveal that for the April 2019-March 2020 financial year, electricity usage for passenger trains increased by 5.3% compared with the previous 12-month period (up to 4,186 million kWh, and an increase in KTonnes CO2e emissions of 1.4%).
However, while diesel usage by passenger trains also rose (up 1.5% to 476 million litres), a decrease in KTonnes CO2e emissions of 5.8% was recorded.
The net result is a 2.7% drop in KTonnes CO2e emissions and a 4.1% decrease in CO2e emissions to 35.1g per passenger km - the lowest since the time series began in 2011-12.
ORR attributes this to a transition towards renewable energy sources in the electricity sector. It also says that passenger rail usage during the first quarter of 2020-21 was severely affected by lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and that this is expected to have a large effect on emissions for the current financial year.
However, the amount of diesel consumed by freight trains increased to its highest level in five years (172 million litres, up 12.5% from 2018-19), while the freight sector’s electricity consumption dropped by 6.3% compared with the previous year (to 70 million kWh).
This resulted in a net increase of 3.6% in KTonnes CO2e emissions compared with 2018-19 and an increase in CO2e per tonne km of 8.6% - the highest since the series began in 2011-12.
- For the FULL story, read RAIL 918, published on November 18, and available digitally from November 14.


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Home / Browse / Architectural Styles
A region’s architecture “speaks volumes about the culture of the inhabitants and their level of technology,” notes the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Over time and space, several styles have developed to reflect cultural changes and moods. James Curtis, in the Journal of Cultural Geography, writes that a “distinctive architectural style…is often the most enduring and expressive manifestation of the spirit of an age.”
Architecture fits into two broad categories—traditional (folk) houses and high style houses designed by architects who try to set or follow trends. From early settlers’ simple log structures to the elaborate Victorian styles of the nineteenth century to today’s Modern styles, Arkansas’s architecture reflects the trends of the rest of the country.
From the early to mid-1800s, three popular styles appeared in Arkansas: French Colonial, Federal, and Greek Revival. Estevan Hall (ca. 1826) in Phillips County is an example of French Colonial. Such structures usually have hipped roofs, narrow doors, and windows with shutters. Federal architecture is balanced and symmetrical. The Federal-style Confederate State Capitol (ca. 1836) in Hempstead County and the Absalom Fowler House (ca. 1840) in Little Rock (Pulaski County) have horizontally and vertically aligned windows. Greek Revival architecture is characterized by columns and a low-pitched roof, and the roof’s cornice line usually is accentuated by wide trim. The Frog Level Plantation (ca. 1854) in Columbia County is an example of Greek Revival architecture.
From the mid- to late 1800s, Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Second Empire styles became popular, and Arkansas has examples of each. Gothic Revival structures tend to have steep roof pitches with many of the edges decorated with “gingerbread” and ridge rows adorned with finials. The Edward Dickinson House (ca. 1875) in Independence County is in the Gothic Revival design, as is the Trinity Episcopal Church (1866–1871) in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County). Italianate, or Italian Villa style, buildings often have tall, round-topped windows, are more than one story tall, and usually possess a square tower. Examples include the Bonneville House (ca. 1870) in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Little Rock’s Capital Hotel (ca. 1873). Second Empire characteristics include Mansard roofs along with extensive use of brackets, primarily under the eaves. The Villa Marre (ca. 1882) in Little Rock, which also has ironwork on top, is a prime example, as is the Old Jackson County Courthouse (ca. 1869–1872).
Two other architectural styles appeared near the end of the nineteenth century: Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival. Wilcox notes that many Queen Anne structures are irregularly shaped and have asymmetrical façades. Bays, balconies, towers, and turrets are associated with Queen Anne architecture. The Queen Anne Pillow-Thompson House (ca. 1896) in Helena (Phillips County) exhibits most of these qualities. Romanesque Revival architecture is also identified with asymmetrical façades but normally has arches over windows or doors. The James K. Barnes House (ca. 1893) in Fort Smith fits this description, as does the Berger-Graham House (ca. 1904) in Jonesboro (Craighead County).
Many architectural styles developed at the end of the nineteenth century: Colonial Revival, Neoclassical, Prairie, Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Art Moderne, and Art Deco. Colonial Revival residences typically have the front entrance as the focal point on a symmetrical façade, along with multi-paned windows. Examples include the Bishop-Brookes House (ca. 1925) in De Queen (Sevier County) and the Lake Village Post Office (ca. 1938) in Chicot County. Neoclassical architecture is identified by the use of columns and symmetrical façades and is commonly associated with honorific public buildings. Many of Arkansas’s county courthouses (such as those in Lonoke and Phillips counties, for instance) fit this category. Residential Neoclassical examples tend to be large and built for upper-class families. The Galloway House (ca. 1910) in Monroe County is an example. Prairie style emphasizes horizontal construction through low-pitched roofs and wide eaves. Prairie representations include the MacMillan House (ca. 1903) in Pine Bluff and the Naff House (ca. 1919) in Portland (Ashley County). Craftsman homes and buildings exhibit just that, craftsmanship. The Marshall House (ca. 1908) in Little Rock and the Russell House (ca. 1925) in Fordyce (Dallas County) reflect the quality of the Arts and Crafts movement. Houses of Tudor Revival, often referred to as Elizabethan or half-timbered, have steep roofs and typically have prominent chimneys. Half-timbered buildings have exposed framing, and the spaces are filled with brick or stone. Two such houses are the Wood Freeman House (ca. 1934) in Searcy (White County) and the Charles Murphy House (ca. 1925–1926) in El Dorado (Union County).
The machine age and space travel greatly influenced the Art Moderne and Art Deco styles. Art Moderne structures are streamlined similar to a “modern machine,” and many have rounded corners. Examples include the Greyhound bus station (ca. 1936) in Blytheville (Mississippi County) and the Studebaker Showroom (ca. 1948) in Mena (Polk County). Art Deco has been labeled the “last of the total styles.” From furniture to skyscrapers, the emphasis was on the future and materials; chrome and aluminum were frequently incorporated. Many Art Deco buildings have a vertical focus and employ geometric designs and Egyptian motifs. Structures that exhibit this form are the UARK Theater (ca. 1940) in downtown Fayetteville (Washington County), and the Medical Arts Building (ca. 1929) in Hot Springs (Garland County).
In recent decades, the Modern style has dominated. Housing styles in this mode include the ubiquitous ranch, split-level, and contemporary. An Arkansas example of Modern architecture is the Stoneflower house (ca. 1965) in Cleburne County. With flat roofs, blank walls, and an emphasis on functionality, many new government buildings fit this category.
Another style of note is folk architecture, which is built by someone who has a learned model of how finished houses, barns, bridges, or fences should look. Rather than being elaborate or decorative, these structures are conservative, functional, and traditional.
Six traditional house types can be found in the Ozarks—single pen, double pen, saddlebag, central hall cottage, dogtrot, and the I-house—and all appear in both log and frame construction. In addition to the six traditional types, there are three more nontraditional, popular types: the bent house, the prow house, and the one-story pyramid roof house. These styles are nontraditional because they do not have a log or braced frame, they are not one room (or single pile) deep, and they reflect trends in popular culture beyond Ozark architectural traditions. The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program points out that these are general classifications, and not all structures fit exactly into these categories. One of the best traditional examples is the two-story dogtrot Jacob Wolf House (ca. 1825) in Baxter County. Other notable traditional examples include the “half-dovetailed” Frierson Log Cabin (ca. 1825) in Craighead County, the double pen John Vickery Homestead in Stone County, and the Mitchell House, an 1891 central hall cottage in Yell County.
Another example of vernacular architecture in Arkansas is the shotgun house, found throughout the Delta. A shotgun house is so named because when looking through the entrance, a person can see through the back exit, thereby making it possible to fire a shotgun down the house’s entire length, usually three rooms deep. Such houses are often found with their gable side rather than their long side facing the road.
More contemporary folk architecture is also found in abundance. This includes mobile homes, Quonset huts, A-frames, and geodesic domes. Of this list, mobile homes are the most common. The 2000 Census indicated that Arkansas had 1,173,043 housing units, 14.9 percent of which were mobile homes. Additionally, several roadside eateries are housed in contemporary A-frame buildings, and the Burdette school gym (ca. 1948) in Mississippi County is a Quonset hut, which also demonstrates modern architecture’s focus on utility and function, not necessarily the quality and/or form.
Bridges, barns, granaries, and other utility structures should not be overlooked. Many of Arkansas’s older structures need renovation and preservation, especially historic bridges, which are falling victim to the ravages of time and were not built to handle today’s automobile and truck traffic loads. Examples include the concrete Fourche LaFave Bridge (ca. 1941) in Perry County, the Little Missouri River Bridge (ca. 1910) in Clark County, and the stone Cedar Creek Bridge in Petit Jean State Park in Conway County (ca. 1934).
For additional information:
Burns, Richard Allen. “The Shotgun Houses of Trumann, Arkansas.” Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 33 (April 2002): 44–51.
Harington, Donald. The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks. New Milford, CT: Toby Press, 2004.
McLaren, Christie. Arkansas Highway History and Architecture, 1910–1965. Little Rock: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 1999.
Nichols, Cheryl, and Helen Barry. The Arkansas Designs of E. Fay Jones, 1956–1997. Little Rock: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 1999.
Sizemore, Jean. Ozark Vernacular Houses: A Study of Rural Homeplaces in the Arkansas Ozarks, 1830–1930. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994.
Sutherland, Cyrus A., et al. Buildings of Arkansas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018.
Winningham, Geoff. Of the Soil: Photographs of Vernacular Architecture and Stories of Changing Times in Arkansas. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2014.
Arkansas State University
Last Updated 11/2/2018
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Shout! Let it all out!
Sweden shuffles into the limelight of written history very late. If for history we demand detailed and voluminous written sources produced by knowledgeable participants in the events themselves, then the history of Sweden begins only in the 13th century.
A major group among the earliest written sources is the provincial law codes. Medieval Sweden was a patchwork quilt of old tribal areas, recently confederated, most of them sporting their own laws.
It is a matter of debate whether these codes preserve a lot of orally transmitted legislation from the Viking Period or if they were mainly as new to Sweden as the stone architecture and the monasteries. Likewise, it is uncertain if the laws were actually enforced in every detail. Things could be a bit disorganised in an area with lousy communications and no police. Some statutes look like they were dreamed up by legalistic quibblers who didn't pause to think whether they would be at all practicable.
But despite all this, the law codes are treasure troves for details about rural life in the Middle Ages. They describe crimes, disputes and other situations that were clearly considered not unlikely to come about.
My colleague Alf Ericsson has pointed out a fine example to me in the law code for Östergötland, codified in the late 13th century. In the section on land rights, Byggningabalken §28:2, a procedure to determine the border between a private farmstead and the commons of the hundred is described.
"Here is a farmstead, settled and old, farmstead with mounds and from pagan times; it borders on the commons. Now the border is disputed. Then stand on the oldest edge of the property and cry, when the day is at its deafest, between the feast-day of St. Botolf and mid-summer; let the farmstead's property reach as far as the cry can be heard, and border upon the commons."Picture this. It's a beautiful day in early summer, 1306. A farm owner is standing at the edge of his land, bellowing like a madman, watched by a few neighbours and some incredulously giggling children. Meanwhile, a group of good men and true walk off into the woods, asking each other every now and then, "Can you still hear him?".
(My translation of Holmbäck & Wessén's paraphrase in modern Swedish, 1933, p. 216.)
[More blog entries about Medieval, law, history, Sweden; medeltiden, lagar, historia.]


We already know the origins of jeans, created for miners as work wear by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in 1871. But, when did basic jeans become flared? And when did this become a trend? The first ones to incorporate flared jeans to their uniforms were the sailors in the 19th century. Comfort produced this change in jeans’ sillouttes. The navy needed to take off easily and quickly the uniform boots, and to give them even more practical uses flared jeans were wide enough to roll up and/or take off when getting wet.
Probably, when we think of flared jeans the first image that comes to our minds are 60’s and 70’s clothes. This is the exact period when they became a fashion item, forgetting their useful and practical concept. Even though this trend started in the late 60’s (among other colourful bell buttons, minis and boots), the boom of flared jeans is attributed to 70’s fashion. Not only the hippies used them, but also the parallel fashion style: disco. Often worn with heavy platforms, crop tops, tight shirts and longhair waves; flared jeans became a must in those generations’ closets.
Who thought this trend would regenerate from ashes like a phoenix bird? Nowadays, after filling our wardrobes with skinny jeans we must move on. What can some pair of flared jeans do to our style? This reassures the 70’s comeback we’ve been admiring in the latest fashion weeks when discovering bangs, longhairs, flared jeans, platforms, squared below the knee boots, fringed items and very colourful patterns. If Yves Saint Laurent made the flared jeans part of his world, what makes you think you can’t incorporate them to your own and particular style?
OUR FAVORITE FLARES:


The basics of what it means to live a long, happy life seem simple: exercise and proper eating. Yet, people can’t be relied on to take the initiative to make themselves fit or to eat well. Considering how much of our lives is spent studying or working, it’s not surprising people can’t find the time to go to the gym or perform basic exercises. While not everyone exercises, you still need to eat. Therefore, to at least make some attempt to improve your life, why not focus on your food choices? And as the year has come to an end, you can use next year as a fresh start, making sure your plates of food are greener than ever. Students are notoriously lazy for eating badly, because they can afford to be. Students’ bodies are more capable of dealing with bad ingredients in cheaper, but tastier, food. But the time to start being smart about food is now, not later. You can make healthy eating into a habit that you live with for the rest of your life.
Replacement not rethinking
One of the difficulties you might have in trying to go healthy is thinking you have to sacrifice your enjoyment of food. But this isn’t true at all. For every craving you have, there are healthy alternatives. For example, everyone loves the savoury taste of potato crisps. Giving that up is not easy, considering how easily they’re available, the cheap price and variety of flavours. Yet, it’s possible to easily find an alternative. Time Magazine even listed a series of alternatives, such as taro or apple, which make for healthy options that can fulfil your craving. You can even trick yourself by switching to sweet potato, which is “packed with vitamin A and the essential mineral manganese, sweet potatoes make surprisingly tasty, crunchy, reduced-fat chips. They’re most delicious when baked with a spice blend.”
Similarly, you can begin cutting out your sugary drinks entirely. Simply don’t buy any. If you’re thirsty, keep a glass of water in the fridge. When you drink it, the water will be refreshing and be so much better for you than any other liquid refreshment. As the Daily Mail summarised, replacing sweet drinks with water could help prevent metabolic disorders, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.
“Dr Hu’s study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also found that unsweetened coffee or tea might be a good alternative to sugary beverages.
The researchers estimated that replacing one cup of a carbonated drink or fruit juice with one cup of coffee or tea could reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 12 to 17 per cent.
Dr Hu said the study is important in pointing out that fruit juice is not an optimal substitute for soda or other sugar-sweetened drinks.”
Cut out alcohol
Alcohol is also another type of drink to reconsider. While many enjoy these to help them relax after a hard day’s work, it might be better for your health to cut them out entirely. Indeed, one way to think about cutting out alcohol is to view it as a wonder drug. As the Independent.ie notes:
“If a tablet was developed that reduced blood pressure, cholesterol and the risk of several life-threatening diseases, while at the same time helping people to lose weight, sleep and concentrate, it would be hailed as a new wonder drug. While no such drug has yet been developed, it seems that exactly the same effects can be achieved by stopping drinking alcohol for a month.”
Research from University College London (UCL) even found some participants lost 6lbs, reporting improvements in concentration and sleeping.
Why healthier is better
One question you should also confront is why exactly eating healthy is better. After all, why can’t people enjoy the foods they eat? As the President’s Council on Fitness notes:
“Even for people at a healthy weight, a poor diet is associated with major health risks that can cause illness and even death. These include heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and certain types of cancer. By making smart food choices, you can help protect yourself from these health problems.”
This will have an effect on health care offers for hospital plans. Insurance companies will be less happy to have you on their schemes, if you aren’t prioritising your health. You could end up being a burden to your loved ones or losing out on work, due to complications from illnesses arising from poor health.
It’s time to reconsider your approach to a healthier life, since everything will be affected by how you handle what goes into your body.


Preparing Students for College and Careers: Early Findings from the Implementation of Ready Now Yuma
With increasing demands on the 21st-century workforce, all students should graduate from high school prepared to enter college or start a career. Improving the skills required to succeed in college and a career is a major challenge in the United States. According to the nonprofit organization Achieve (2012), about 11 percent of freshmen entering two- and four-year postsecondary institutions require remediation in reading, 14 percent in writing, and 22 percent in math. Similarly, a recent national readiness report by American College Testing (ACT; 2013) showed that 28 percent of students who took the ACT college entrance examination failed to meet any of ACT’s four college readiness benchmarks while only 25 percent of graduates met all four of the benchmarks. These numbers are alarming when connected with 21st-century workforce reports that show technological changes and increased competition require a workforce with strong cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities (Karoly, 2007).
To address these challenges, Helios Education Foundation began to take steps to identify a new comprehensive, high school reform initiative focused on preparing students for college and careers. Beginning in 2010, Helios Education Foundation awarded the Center for the Future of Arizona a $450,000 grant to: (a) identify a district to demonstrate a whole-school reform model; and (b) collaborate with that district and Helios Education Foundation to develop an innovative, comprehensive, and sustainable initiative to prepare all students, especially those from low-income and minority backgrounds, for college and careers by the end of high school. This brief provides a short history of the development of policies and practices around college and career readiness, outlines the research and theory of action behind the Ready Now Yuma initiative, and highlights key findings around implementation roughly halfway through the five-year project.


Health Impact News
Dr. Suzanne Humphries has made available to the public her lecture on neonatal immunity presented in New Zealand in May of 2014. It is a segment of a larger lecture series covering what she calls the “three year pregnancy” which covers gestation and the first 2 years of extra-uterine life. (Full lecture series here.)
In the lecture that can be viewed in the video below, Dr. Humphries begins by discussing the impact of injecting animal DNA, matter, and cells via vaccines.
The long-term effects of injecting animal and human DNA material into children via vaccines have not been studied, particularly in combination with so many vaccines in the childhood vaccination schedule today, which has greatly increased over the past several years.
Aluminum and Pregnancy
Dr. Humphries starts the section on aluminum and pregnancy with a quote from Dr. Paul Offit’s website, Children’s Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, Vaccine Education Center, April 2013:
“Aluminum is considered to be an essential metal with quantities fluctuating naturally during normal cellular activity. It is found in all tissues and is also believed to play an important role in the development of a healthy fetus.”
Dr. Humphries states that when this statement was published on Dr. Offit’s website, a website specifically setup to “educate” professionals and others regarding vaccines, she sent a copy of this statement to “one of the world’s most knowledgeable aluminum experts” who is usually very diplomatic and polite, and he replied with a very “unflattering statement” about Dr. Offit’s comment regarding aluminum.
Dr. Humphries then asks how someone supposedly as intelligent and educated as Dr. Offit could make such a statement, particularly after reading very well-known research and statements regarding aluminum, such as this one by Dr. Kawahara:
Dr. Kawahara’s research on aluminum and its neurotoxic effect is discussed by Dr. Humphries, in regards to pregnancy. Dr. Kawahara’s article is supported with 176 references in the medical literature: aluminum is a death factor for cells.
It should be noted that Dr. Offit holds a patent on one of the vaccines in the childhood vaccine schedule, and earns royalties from the sale of that vaccine.
Aluminum Damages Cells
Next, Dr. Humphries discusses the oxidative damage done to cell by aluminum, highlighting the research of Dr. Verstraeten.
Injecting versus Ingesting Aluminum
The difference between ingesting aluminum versus having it injected via a needle containing vaccines is elaborated on by Dr. Humphries. One of the common arguments proposed by pro-vaccine advocates is that we are already exposed to toxic elements like aluminum or mercury which are prevalent in our environment and in our foods at much higher levels than what are contained in vaccines. But there is a huge difference between oral ingestion of aluminum, and injecting it directly into the body.
Dr. Humphries explains that when you eat aluminum, you absorb between 0.2% and 1.5%. If you have healthy normal-functioning kidneys, it will be excreted (Dr. Humphries is a nephrologist.)
When you inject aluminum intramuscular, however, you absorb 100% of it.
Aluminum is presumed to be safe, according to Dr. Humphries, simply because it has been in our food and in vaccines for so many years. However, it has never been tested against a placebo to be safe. She shows the cumulative effects of aluminum from vaccines in the first 18 months of a child’s life, beginning at birth:
Aluminum and Kidney Function
One thing that is never considered when discussing aluminum ingestion, whether oral or intramuscular, is the kidney function of the individual. As a practicing nephrologist (kidney doctor), Dr. Humphries states that when giving kidney dialysis, everything is done to be sure that aluminum is not entering into the kidneys because the harmful effects of aluminum on those with kidney related illness is very well known.
Besides those with damaged kidneys, infants also have low kidney function early in life:


In the sense of deciding which part of the egg to spend time in. But not everyone is convinced:
Developing reptile embryos that have temperature-dependent sex determination were long thought to passively accept their weather-based fate. But now, new research suggests that at least in M. reevesii, embryos can move around to find slightly cooler or warmer regions within their eggs, and thereby have some control over the sex they develop into. The authors propose that this ability may help offset drastic, population-wide shifts in sex ratios that are occurring due to climate change. The findings appear today (August 1) in Current Biology.
“I find it fascinating that [embryonic movements] may be an important contributor to the production of equal numbers of males and females at intermediate conditions in the wild,” writes evolutionary biologist Nicole Valenzuela of Iowa State University to The Scientist in an email. “It is quite a novel finding.” …
Fredric Janzen, an evolutionary biologist at Iowa State University, is yet to be convinced that embryos can shift around the egg and influence their sex. As he and others have argued previously, the idea is implausible for several reasons. “In a real nest, they’ve only moved basically a millimeter—a millimeter in a thirty-four-millimeter egg . . . there’s no thermal gradient in a millimeter,” he explains. “And really, there’s no way for them to move because the yolk sac is large, it’s surrounded by an impenetrable membrane—so it’s not like these things can just swim.
Katarina Zimmer, “Turtle Embryos May Have a Say in Deciding Their Sex” at The Scientist
No claim is being made that the turtles in the eggs are actually weighing the options, just that their individual pre-hatching movements would make a difference. Some have made such claims though:
… there is the weird habit of attributing impossible thought processes to animals who are supposedly thinking in Darwinian terms about how to ensure the survival of their selfish genes. For example, the mares who supposedly cause an abortion because they perceive that the stallion will not accept another stallion’s offspring. The mare presumably knows all this and can act on it—even though she cannot otherwise perform the simplest reasoning tasks.
And there’s the Darwinbird of pop science who “is optimising the likelihood of her offspring mating and rearing young (so ensuring the continuation of her genes into future generations)” by controlling the sex of her offspring: “There is some evidence she can bias the sex ratio by controlling hormones, particularly progesterone.” So we are really to believe that a bird who is too stupid to evade a giant wind turbine is planning her offspring’s future? Does “science-based thinking” really require that of us?
In real life, what’s fascinating is how complex it all turns out to be, yet there always seem to be enough turtles of each sex.
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The Carbon Buster is a slab of brown amalgamate — carbon dioxide, sand, cement, water, glass, shells, wood shavings. This is not that different from any other concrete block you use to build buildings. What makes it special, according to the company that made it, is where all that sand and cement and glass and wood came from.
More than 50 percent of the material that goes into the Carbon Buster is recycled. One ingredient begins as residue from waste-to-energy plants. The residue is mixed with carbon dioxide and other ingredients to make small pebbles. Those are then mixed with even more recycled materials and made into something that looks more or less like a brick.
The company says the Carbon Buster is the first “carbon negative” building block — it contains more carbon than its manufacture emits. That’s what happens when you reuse materials that are already in the production system — you might have to process them a little bit, but that takes less energy than it does to mine virgin materials from the ground. Which means that as long as you avoid adding glass, metal, drywall, insulation, or humans, you could have a completely carbon-neutral building!
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- A multiple choice test shows a student's ability in one, brief period. If his best friend is mad at him, her parent lost a job, she didn't get enough sleep last night, or he hasn't had a good meal in days, a student will not likely perform well regardless of how much they know and are able to do.
- Some people naturally do well on multiple choice tests and some struggle. I've watched brilliant students have trouble with multiple choice because they are able to justify more than one answer. They can talk themselves out of correct answers.
- It's very stressful to be tested on an entire year (or multiple years) of learning at once. Some students get sick because they are so concerned about the test.
However, the reality of these portfolios has been absurd. We use this alternative assessment for our limited English speakers in place of taking the reading test. We have to document each and every part of every reading standard. For example, standard 5.4 reads, "The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy. Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words. Use knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Use dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, and other word-reference materials."
I think it's a good standard. I teach my students all of those things. To prove it for the portfolio, we must have documentation for each piece:
- "Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words."
- "Use knowledge of root words,
- and suffixes."
- "Use dictionary,
- and other word-reference materials."
The sheer amount of documentation is daunting. That's my first frustration. I think it should be reasonable to think that we could prove a student's mastery of that standard with only three or four pieces of documentation (a multiple choice test would not hit every single one of those eight aspects).
My second frustration is on us. Instead of documenting students' learning in authentic ways; anecdotal records from reading groups and conferences, response letters students have written about their reading, literature discussion notes, etc., we're documenting mostly with worksheets. We rarely, rarely use worksheets at this school. I know this sort of documentation is a result of our inexperience with this. As we continue to use these portfolios we'll get better at using what we are naturally doing in the classroom for our documentation. Of course, that also assumes that the state will accept more authentic documentation.
Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I should be grateful the state allows us the option of an alternative assessment that is a portfolio. Maybe...but I think I'll still strive for an assessment that is authentic to the teaching and learning going on in our school.


I have been discussing various freedoms: the freedoms of speech, association and expression. Although these sort of freedoms are fairly well known, other freedoms are not. The freedom of excellence is not as well known but it is just as important as the others. The freedom of excellence is the freedom to engage in a particular skill and do well in it.
Skills are many and varied. We can divide skills into two kinds. The first kind of skills we can call productive skills. These are the sort of skills used to make particular objects, buildings and technologies. So this would include skills of plumbing, electrical work, construction, rocket science and many others. The second kind of skills do not make anything. They perform a particular kind of action. We might call these active skills. These skills include the skills used by doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, hair stylists, actors and many others. These various skills sometimes require training and materials. Most importantly, these skills can be done either well or poorly.
Now most individuals want the freedom to engage in the sorts of skills (if any) that they choose. They do not want to have their occupation chosen for them. Neither do they want to be excluded from particular skills based on any non-moral consideration. The freedom of excellence just is this kind of freedom. Someone who has this kind of freedom is free to excel in whatever skills they wish to excel in. They can even choose to excel in few skills and spend their efforts on learning and understanding the world instead.
There are possibly two objections that could be raised against this sort of freedom. First, should we allow too many people to focus on one kind of skill? If we do, then society may be imbalanced. This may be true, but there is no reason to suppose that this kind of imbalance happens as easily as you can conceive it happening. Societal imbalance of this kind does not happen that often at all. Second, should some skills be restricted or controlled. For example, doctors and soldiers both use active skills. However, we do not let anyone practice those skills under any situation. Doctors can only practice with a license, and soldiers can only practice under the direction of the army. This is accurate and it is certainly a good idea. However, freedom of excellence does not imply that all skills will be equally easy to obtain. It only says that there will be no non-moral barriers to getting them. The restriction of doctors and soldiers skills are for moral reasons. Therefore, the restriction is not a restriction on anyone’s freedom.


What is Chronic Pain Syndrome ?
Chronic pain syndrome is a common problem, affecting almost 40-50% of total world population. Pain is the sensation that is been triggered by the central nervous system as an alarm of a possible injury. However, in case of chronic pain, these signals are kept on firing by the nervous system, which can be continued for weeks, months and years. This type of pain can as well be called as neuropathic pain due to the pathological changes in neurons of the peripheral and central nervous system.
There need not be any past injury or evidences of any, body damage for the initialization of a chronic pain syndrome. The chronic pain can be defined as the pain that has lasted for more than 12 weeks and not responding to any treatments. Thus the chronic pain is considered to be more challenging than other disabilities as there are no objective evidences or findings, supporting the chronic pain and there are as such no medical tests available so far, which can measure its levels.
How prevalent is Chronic Pain Syndrome?
The chronic pain can be accounted for the most universal form of the human stress. The chronic pain syndrome being very common; its prevention, assessment and treatment are the principal challenges for healthcare providers. The prevalence rates of chronic pain syndrome may vary, but it is so far clear that almost more than 50% people only in the US are suffering from one or the other types of persistent pain. In a more detailed study, more than 45% of the people are suffering from musculoskeletal pain such as back pain, neck pain, knee pain, etc. Most recent data has confirmed that more than 13% of the people worldwide are suffering from the pain daily.
Factors responsible for Chronic Pain Syndrome
Chronic pain is the pain that last for more than normal healing period i.e. 1-2 weeks. In general, it is very difficult to evaluate the severity of pain because majority of the pain is classified as imaginary and only the patient can experience it. Furthermore, it has been observed to be disturbing sleep and hence degrades ones health and functional capacity. This can in turn be responsible for financial burden on the individual.
Some of the factors, which can be responsible for pain, are injury, disease, viral or bacterial infection, accidents, surgery, etc.
Symptoms Associated with the Chronic Pain Syndrome
The symptoms of the chronic pain may include
- Mild to severe disturbing sensation such as shooting, burning, aching.
- Feeling of discomfort, soreness, tightness or stiffness.
Apart from the sensation, other problems that are as well associated with the pain can include
- Withdrawal from activity and increased desire to sleep.
- More sensitivity to infection due to weak immunity
- Frequent moon swings
- Functional disability
Some of the other obvious causes, which are directly proportional to the severity and duration of the pain, are as follows:
- Limb or leg amputation
- Facial nerve problems
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Spine Surgery
What goes wrong in the Chronic Pain Syndrome?
Chronic pain is a challenging condition wherein the pain remains active in the nervous system beyond the period of healing. The chronic pain need not be always an after effect of any injury or infection. This can take a toll on person’s physical, emotional and financial well being.
For instance, the most commonly, a chronic pain may originate from headaches, knee joint pain, back ache, etc. Other kinds of chronic pain may be originated from sports injury or generalized muscle or nerve pain can also be accounted into chronic conditions.
It is evidently observed that the above mentioned pathological changes can damage or weaken the neuron in the central nervous system. Due to this damage, the normal pain signalling process can be disturbed to the great level. This in turn can cause hyper sensitization or spontaneous neuronal activity of the nervous system and hence nerve within that system cannot work to transmit sensation to the brain. This leads to the sense of numbness due to which an individual may experience pain in the affected region.
How Stem Cells treatment can help!
Stem cells are the master cells that are responsible for developing an entire human body from a tiny two celled embryo; due to their unlimited divisions and strong power to differentiate into all the cells of different lineage. This power of stem cells has been harnessed by the technology to isolate them outside the human body, concentrate in the clean environment and implant back.
Thus, Stem Cell treatment for Chronic Pain involves administration of concentrated cells in the targeted area to form colonies; a peculiar characteristic of stem cells, adapt the properties of resident stem cells and initiate some of the lost functions that have been compromised by the disease or injury.
After years of research, it has been believed that it is better to alter the microenvironment with the application of stem cell therapy instead of suppressing the immune system. Mesenchymal stem cells are known to have angiogenic, transdifferentiation and homing properties, which are useful for forming new blood vessels, differentiating into required targeted cells and creation of microenvironment for the faster secretion of immune cells.
These unique properties of stem cells may be exploited to differentiate them into neuronal origin to compromise with the nerve damage in a chronic neuropathic pain.
Treatment of Chronic Pain Syndrome at GIOSTAR
We have mastered the technology for isolating maximum number of viable stem cells from either the autologous sources of your own body or allogeneically with the matched donor to treat various patients with chronic pain. We are the licensed, private organization with the excellent, well-equipped state of the art facility to isolate process and enrich the viable number of stem cells, which can be re-infused back into the patient’s body. Generally, these cells are administered through any one of the below-mentioned methods depending upon our expert’s advice:
- Local Administration:-Through this mode, cell are infused directly at the targeted site of injury.
- Intravenous Administration:- Through this mode, cells are infused through the veins expand blood volumes in the central nervous system, to ensure that the maximum number of cells are reaching to the targeted area.
Once infused back in the body, these cells may be repopulated at the damaged parts of the organ, through their strong paracrine effects and differentiate into lost or damaged cells to restore back the function. These stem cells are known to create a suitable microenvironment to accelerate the secretion of growth factors, promote the differentiation of targeted cells e.g. in case of chronic pain syndrome, brain cells of central nervous system are generally targeted. This will help to restore back the lost function.
Thus with our standardized, broad-based and holistic approach, it is now possible to obtain noticeable improvements in the patients with the chronic pain syndrome, in the symptoms as well as their functional abilities.
What Sets Us Apart
- Headquartered in USA.
- The founder is leading stem cell scientist credited with helping in setting up the stem cell research labs at top research institutions in the US including Salk Research Institute, Sanford-Burnham Institute, UCI, UCSD.
- Scientific And Medical Advisers/Consultants are comprising of luminaries who have worked at University of California, San Diego (UCSD), University of California Irvine (UCI).
- State of the art and the first private hospital in the India inaugurated by (then Chief Minister of State of Gujarat) and present Prime Minister of India.
- One of the world’s largest Stem Cell Hospital funded by the government of Gujarat, India.
Disclaimer : Results may vary for each patient. GIOSTAR practice the application of stem cell therapy within the legal regulations of each country.


Scientific papers could appear extraordinarily difficult to jot down. The quantity of analysis concerned is huge. However then once more, if you happen to don’t again up all of your claims with corresponding sources, your paper could have zero worth. Citations are extraordinarily worthwhile as a result of they assure that your paper was well-researched. Figuring out the principles shouldn’t be sufficient, and college students typically overlook the best way to format their in-text works. Really, apply makes good, and the best strategy to perceive a format like APA is thru examples. Listed below are some sensible in-text APA samples of citations so that you can observe.
1. Citing a E-book
Citing a e book with one creator is completely different from citing a e book with two or extra authors, so you’ll want to be extraordinarily cautious when formatting your quotation. The next examples ought to assist:
- A e book with one creator: Weller, T. (2013). Historical past within the digital age. New York, NY. Routledge
- A e book with two or extra authors: Grey A., Bell E. (2013). Historical past on tv. New York, NY. Routledge
- An eBook: Toussaint-Samat, M. (2009). A historical past of meals [Kindle version]. Retrieved from amazon.com
- A e book taken from a database: Grubler, A. (2003). Expertise and World Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom. Retrieved from google.com
An in-text quotation of a e book has to incorporate the title of the creator and the publication yr of the e book.
- A e book with one creator: (Weller, 2005)
- A e book with one creator and a direct citation: (Weller, 2005, p.60)
2. Citing a Journal
In-text citations taken from journals differ from citations added on the finish of a scientific paper. The next examples ought to clear issues out:
- An entire quotation of a journal article: Goff P. A., Jackson M. C., Lewis Di Leone B. A., Culotta C. M., DiTomasso N. A. (2014). The Essence of innocence: penalties of dehumanizing black kids. Journal of Character and Social Psychology.
- A parenthetical in-text quotation: It has been reported that … (The Essence of innocence: penalties of dehumanizing black kids, 2014)
- A journal article discovered on the net: Goff P. A., Jackson M. C., Lewis Di Leone B. A., Culotta C. M., DiTomasso N. A. (2014). The Essence of innocence: penalties of dehumanizing black kids. Journal of Character and Social Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-a0035663.pdf
3. Citing an Article Taken from a Web site
- An entire quotation of a web-based article: Anderson S., (2017, February 18). When America imprisoned Japanese People. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/websites/stuartanderson/2017/02/18/when-america-imprisoned-japanese-americans/#fe0af537e9b0
- An in-text quotation of a web-based article: (Anderson S., para 1. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/websites/stuartanderson/2017/02/18/when-america-imprisoned-japanese-americans/#fe0af537e9b0
4. Citing an Article Taken from a Journal
- An entire quotation: Cosper, A. (August, 2016). Why we stability ardour with purpose. Entrepreneur. September 2016 Version. 10-12
- An in-text quotation: (Cosper, 2016)
Citing sources when writing a scientific paper is significant. In any other case readers gained’t imagine that the data you present is correct or real looking. College students ought to pay very shut consideration to particulars. In-text citations are shorter and are completely different from citations added on the finish of a paper. Nonetheless, they’re equally vital as a result of they assure the worth of your claims and affirmations.
You probably have any doubts, you should use our Free Quotation Generator that can assist you make certain that you’ve cited a supply accurately.


My neighbour is a dairy farmer. He sells milk to the local grocery store for $1 per litre. I have a farm too, and I think I can produce milk cheaper (for whatever reason: I have access to better feed, my kids help out on the farm, I know a lot about cows). So I buy some cows and start selling my milk to the store for 95c per litre. Now everyone who buys milk at the local store gets cheaper milk.
Then I wake up one morning and two burly government employees are walking down my driveway. I approach them, but they push past me and head to the barn where my cows are. They proceed to break my cows’ legs with baseball bats and say to me: “Nobody is allowed to sell milk for less than $1 per litre. Raise your price to $1 per litre, or else”.
This happens every day in Canada.
Canada has a system called Supply Management in which government regulated organizations decide how much milk (and cheese, eggs, and chicken) they think people need, and set a price for how much they think it should cost. Anyone producing milk is restricted to selling it at that set price: no lower.
But what if someone can produce it cheaper? Shouldn’t I be able to buy it for that lower price? Yes, you should. But you can’t.
You might be wondering how such legislation could ever come to exist. One stormy day in 1970, dairy farmers got together with the Prime Minister in a secret lair inside a volcano. Here’s how the meeting went:
Dairy farmers: “Gentlemen, let’s set a high price for milk, and let’s all agree to sell milk at that price. Prime Minister, we just need you to make sure no one else sells milk cheaper than that. In exchange, you’ll get our support in the next election.”
Prime Minister (brandishing a baseball bat): “You got it.”
If that sounds like a government-backed cartel, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. But there’s no way the public would go along with it if they knew that’s how it went down. So here’s how the dairy farmers try to sell it to you:
1) With Supply Management, you will have a steady supply of milk.
2) The price will be stable.
Supply and price fluctuation doesn’t seem to be a significant issue with other foods at the grocery store. Still, sometimes the supply and price of goods do fluctuate: this is normal and healthy.
3) We’ll be able to keep Canadian dairy farmers in business, and you’ll get made-in-Canada milk.
This is the kind of thing Donald Trump would say to rally his xenophobic/protectionist base. But most people don’t fall for that anymore.
4) With Supply Management, we don’t have to use government subsidies to prop up the dairy industry.
Or in other words, instead of taking money from you in the form of taxes, we’ll take it from you in the form of more expensive milk.
Don’t be fooled. Supply Management is primarily a way for dairy farmers to extract economic rents from consumers. And you don’t really notice it happening: it’s only a few cents per litre. But the dairy farmers definitely notice it. For them, those few cents add up and could mean the difference between them keeping their farm or losing it. That means they have some real incentive to make sure this legislation is in place. So they spend time and money lobbying the government to keep it around.
I know it’s hard to be outraged by slightly more expensive dairy, chicken, and eggs, but we have to try. Those little price hikes add up: especially for the poor. Fortunately, people are starting to catch on. Some politicians (like this guy, who has a decent shot at being the next prime minister) are saying enough is enough. And we should be too. Supply Management hurts consumers, and is an affront to economic freedom.


In the first installment, I set out the traditional Greco-Roman letter format and looked at the “Judases” and “Jameses” in the New Testament. There seemed to be only one good option for whom the Judas/Jude to whom this letter is attributed could be, the Judas/Jude who is the brother of Jacob/James and Jesus. In the second installment, I weighed the arguments on authorship and decided the best evidence does indeed point in that direction. I then looked at what this means for the date of the letter and the location, or place, in which the letter was written. In this, the third installment, I begin to examine the content of the letter itself, the reasons the letter was sent, and the goals of the letter.
6. The Letter of Jude:
The letter of Jude appears in the NT just before the book of Revelation, so if you are suddenly coming across a dragon that attempts to devour a woman and her son, and beasts from the sea and land, you have gone too far. Turn back, although when you get to Jude you will find that there are a number of apocalyptic elements in this letter as well as in John’s Apocalypse.
a) Salutation: verses 1-2
1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance. (NRSV)
A salutation in a Greco-Roman letter consists of the sender, the recipients, and a greeting. The sender, Jude, has already been discussed in the first two installments, as is his relationship to James, and which James it is, so we need not rehash that here. He also describes himself as a doulos of Jesus Christ, which might be better translated as “slave” instead of “servant,” though both are possible. This seems to have been a fairly common appellation in early Christianity, since Paul calls himself a doulos of Jesus Christ in Romans 1:1 and Galatians 1;10, as do James and 2 Peter. Kelly sees Old Testament origins in this language (241) and Hartin draws the same connections, as with Moses in 1 Kings 8:53 and David in 1 Kings 8:66, where both are called a “slave of God” (51). Kelly says that the “underlying thought is that, having been rescued from slavery to sin and death, Christians now belong wholly to him as His slaves. As a self-designation, however, the title has specialized significance: it connotes one who is charged to labour in his service.” (242)
The letter is sent “to those who are called,” which indicates a letter that could have been sent to many churches. This is argued by many scholars, who believe the letter is general or “catholic,” such as Reicke (194-95) Brosend (14) Catherine Gunsalves Gonzalez, 1 & 2 Peter and Jude, 215 and Daniel Keating, First and Second Peter, Jude, 197. Kelly (242-43) and Thomas Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 429 believe that the letter is sent to specific churches because of the particular theological problems that they see the letter addressing, which means it was sent to some churches, but not the whole of the Church. Finally, Hartin, due to the authorship and the connections of Jude and James to Jewish Christianity, states the letter was sent specifically to Jewish Christians.
“Those who are called” definitely includes all Christians, indeed, it was another way to say “Christian” in the early Church, so I opt for this letter being a general, “catholic” letter. It is true, as we shall see, that the letter is addressed to specific errors or problems in the Church, but even when problems only occur in one branch of an organization, it is often taken as an opportunity to warn the whole corporation about problems or the threat of problems and an attempt to forestall such a problem appearing elsewhere. This is what I see taking place with Jude’s letter. It might have been, in the first order, sent to Jewish Christians, since these were the Christians with whom the Jerusalem church was most in contact, but since the “called” are inclusive, I take the recipients to be inclusive of the whole Church.
“Those who are called” are also described in two other ways: “beloved in God the Father” and “kept safe for Jesus Christ.” There are two interesting aspects to these descriptions: one is that there is an “eschatological,” or end of the world, sense to these descriptions; and two is that they reflect the elements of the Servant is described in Isaiah. The first element has to do with the description of those who are called being “kept safe” (Richard Bauckham, Jude and 2 Peter, 26). The verb, têreô, found as a participle in Jude, has the meaning of “kept safe,” “to take care of” or “guarded.” So the Christians, the called, are being “kept safe” or “guarded” for Jesus Christ. This could mean being kept safe or guarded from error, but it could also indicate that they are being protected and guarded for the coming end when Jesus returns. I think this is a clear sense of the “guarding,” being protected until the return of Jesus.
Both Bauckham (25-27) and Keating (197) believe that the threefold description of “called,” “beloved,” and “kept safe” might be borrowed by Jude from the servant songs in Isaiah 40-55, which is possible. It also seems to me that the Christians, like Israel, understood themselves as called, and a part of this call was God’s love and protection, which is seen throughout the Old Testament, not only in Isaiah. I have nothing against the suggestion that Isaiah might have influenced Jude, I just see this as possibly a broader influence and a natural understanding of the experience of God. It is, obviously, a Christian innovation to attribute the protection to Jesus Christ himself.
I should mention, too, that some scholars do not approve of the translations “beloved in God the Father” and “kept safe for Jesus Christ.” Schreiner particularly offers these translations (from the NIV): “who are loved by God the father” and “kept by Jesus Christ” (427). He has a fairly long discussion of these translations (427-431) in which he argues for the symmetry of being “loved by” and “kept by,” but the bottom line is that the NRSV does a better job of translating the Greek itself, especially the en, which means in, in “beloved in.” Now translation discussions are important, sometimes very important, but however one translates these phrases, it seems quite clear that those who are called are loved by God and protected by Jesus Christ. I do prefer the NRSV translation, since it is truer to the original text, and those who are beloved in God and kept safe for Jesus Christ are being kept safe and beloved by God and Jesus Christ. There is no other agent than God.
The greeting to thee churches, “may mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance,” also garners some attention, though the Greek is clear and simple, as are the wishes the greeting calls forth, because many early Christian letters have a twofold greeting. The most common twofold greeting in Christian letters is “grace and peace” (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, Galatians 1:3, etc.), although 1 Timothy 1:2 and 2 Timothy 1:2 have “grace, mercy and peace.” The most interesting aspect of this is actually that “grace” is missing from the greeting, but the word “mercy” must include aspects of “grace.” Besides, why should every early Christian letter have the same or identical greeting? “Mercy and peace” are found in some Jewish letters (2 Baruch 78:3) and that Jude would add “love” (agape) to this makes sense. It is fairly Christian, is it not?
So, here is the beginning of the letter, sent to Christians, who are loved and protected by God, wishing them mercy, peace and love. It’s a beautiful start to the letter!
John W. Martens