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A Needless, Senseless, Tragedy - American Thinker
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A Needless, Senseless, Tragedy
By James Simpson
Losing a child is the worst possible thing that can happen. Losing 20, as occurred in Newtown, Connecticut is a monstrous, indescribable tragedy. My heart bleeds for those devastated families. Their Christmases, their lives, will never be the same.
Some have used this tragedy as an opportunity to vilify our "gun culture" and predictably, right up to the President, have said we need "meaningful action", by which of course he means more gun control. But guns are not the problem here.
Throughout the last century, up until the gun control act of 1968, there were few restrictions on gun ownership, save the heavy regulation of automatic weapons. A kid could order a rifle through the mail. There were no Columbines, no Virginia Techs', no Auroras, no Newtowns. There were many people with mental illnesses, ADD, Asperger's, autism and other problems, although perhaps they went by different names. But these kinds of things just did not happen.
What changed? What changed is that our society became unhinged from its bedrock belief in God. In earlier times, churches were filled on Sundays and people generally conformed to a code of decency and behavior accepted throughout society. We swore less, raged less, dressed more modestly, frowned upon braggarts and liars, respected authority and approached life with a modesty and humility borne both of hard experience and religious training.
Of course there were exceptions, but for all our collective failings as human beings, we took our religions and our religious beliefs seriously. Organized religion, especially Christianity, demands a level of decency, modesty and humility that is largely missing in today's distracted, self-absorbed, ego-driven, anything-goes culture. And we are reaping the rewards.
Back in the 1920s, a group of German Communists started the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany. It would become known as simply the Frankfurt School. Its goal was to implement communism in the West quietly by gradually subverting popular culture -- a movement known as Cultural Marxism.
Early on, these people recognized that Christianity was the single greatest impediment to the advancement of communism in the West and they set out to destroy it by every means possible. Soviet propagandist and organizer Willi Munzenberg articulated the school's goals:
We will make the West so corrupt it stinks... [We will] organise the intellectuals and use them to make Western civilisation stink [sic]. Only then, after they have corrupted all its values and made life impossible, can we impose the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Today their goal has been largely accomplished. We have been lured away from the moral anchors of our Judeo/Christian heritage, and the result is visible all around us: broken homes, endemic divorce, unwed mothers, convenience abortions, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, increasingly toxic sexual licentiousness - which brought us AIDS, among other things - and an increasingly ignorant class of people, so self-absorbed and unaware, they can't even name our Capital.
Our culture is indeed becoming so corrupt it stinks, and it is not surprising that evil now finds such an easy home here. Gun control will not cure this. Stricter laws will not cure this. Stricter enforcement may not even cure this. The only cure is a healthy society, a humble society; a society whose strong Christian heritage used to make it uncool to feed off others, uncool to boast, uncool to have a self-serving attitude; uncool to ignore the Golden Rule.
This is nothing new. The pattern has been repeated since the days of antiquity. When a society finds and abides in God, health, peace and affluence follow; when it forgets God, disaster is not far behind.
We as a nation have forgotten God.


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Vantage view – Doing what's possible on drug prices
Grandiose plans to rein in the price of prescription drugs in the US have shrunk to targeted initiatives to reduce beneficiary cost-sharing and expenditures in government health programmes. President Donald Trump's 2019 budget plan proposes a series of alterations that would, on balance, shrink federal drug spending by less than 1% of the total.
Among the proposals is one that would see Medicare beneficiaries share in manufacturer rebates, which would have the effect of making it appear to patients that prices have been cut but would in reality raise US government spending. Missing from the debate, of course, is the notion of using government fiat or purchasing power broadly to restrain prices, something Mr Trump had promised after being elected in 2016.
In his state of the union address Mr Trump said of prescription drugs: "Prices will come down substantially. Watch." Defining the meaning of "coming down" and "substantially" is taxing, of course – in the absence of market disruption either in the form of competition or government intervention it is hard to imagine the prices of patent-protected pharmaceuticals being reduced.
Aspirational
But Mr Trump's claim found its expression in the budget plan released earlier this week. This document is always an aspirational one, as Congress sets government spending targets and authorisations. However, proposals contained in the budget can make their way into law, especially when the political aims of legislative leaders align with the White House.
Most significant for biopharma is a proposal that will allow Medicare pharmacy plans more flexibility in setting their formularies – exclusions are limited in certain therapy areas like oncology, epilepsy, HIV and mental health. Separately, budget proposals would loosen first-to-file generic exclusivity for companies that have had their applications rejected.
On the Medicaid side, the budget proposes a pilot to allow states to negotiate prices directly with manufacturers. It would also tighten up definitions in the best-price programmes that allow certain branded drugs to be categorised with generics and thus reduce the rebate owed.
Taken together, those four proposals would reduce US expenditure on drugs by $7.7bn between 2019 and 2028. By comparison, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services forecasts that that the two health programmes will spend $2tn on prescription drugs in 2016-25.
Proposed savings and projecting spending for drugs in US health programmes
2019-2028 savings ($m)
Increase Medicare Part D plan formulary flexibility 5,517
Reform exclusivity for first-to-file generics 1,788
Medicaid direct negotiation pilot 85
Reform Medicaid best price rebates 319
Total proposed savings 7,709
Total Medicare drug spending 2017-2026 1,484,200,000
Total Medicaid drug spending 2017-2026 484,400,000
Total spending 1,968,600,000
Sources: Office of Management and Budget, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
This is a far cry from the hard line Mr Trump promised a year ago, when direct negotiation with drugmakers or price controls was viewed as a realistic possibility, and when every anti-pharma tweet seemingly had the effect of depressing share prices in the sector.
When these budget proposals emerged on Monday the Nasdaq biotechnology and S&P pharma indices, the barometer of the small and big-cap companies, rose 2% and 1% respectively, possibly reflecting the largely benign impact of the proposed changes.
What the White House budget has done, however, is propose some Medicare programme changes that could give the appearance, to patients at least, that prices have come down. Most importantly, the way in which it proposes to alter cost-sharing for part D – the outpatient pharmacy programme – could leave millions of beneficiaries believing that drug prices have in fact dropped.
The main proposal is one that passes through a share of manufacturer rebates to beneficiaries, something that Lilly's chief executive, David Ricks, has been advocating – Lilly has such a pass-through mechanism in its employee health plan. In essence, it would reduce beneficiary cost-sharing and make drug prices appear to have fallen, but with the effect of raising US expenditures by more than $42bn over the 2019-28 decade, by altering government reimbursement formulas.
This would be clawed back through a separate proposal that would impose costs on patients who enter a coverage gap called the doughnut hole. The proposal would eliminate manufacturer rebates from the calculation of cost-sharing, thus keeping beneficiaries in the doughnut hole longer. This proposal, which would effectively make the doughnut hole larger, saves $47bn over the 10 years.
Finally, an out-of-pocket limit on those beneficiaries who spend through the coverage gap and enter catastrophic coverage would again make it appear that drug prices have fallen. This proposal would cost $7.4bn from 2019 through 2028.
Taken together, the interaction of these three cost-sharing changes would end up costing the US government only $2.4bn over the 10 year period.
These proposals are modest enough that almost any president could have proposed them, and certainly do not bear the hallmarks of a politician who once promised to use the government's buying power to lower prices (Fickle Trump showers disappointment on biopharma's golden day, January 12, 2017).
The sector's charm offensive over 2017, combined with commitments to invest in US manufacturing and give post-tax-reform bonuses to employees seem to have soothed Mr Trump's ego.
Prices of drugs that were launched in 2017 were in many cases below expectations – witness, for example, Roche's Ocrevus, which in previous years would have come in at a premium – and in other cases were subject to "outcomes-based" pricing schemes that reduced payments for non-responders.
Yet, through the 12 months of 2017, the prescription drug consumer price index rose 2.8%, ahead of the 2.1% average for all items measured by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, signifying that, even in a year of caution for big pharma, medicines were still consuming an increasing share of household budgets. And new government projections released yesterday indicate that annual prescription drug spending growth of 6.3% a year over the next decade will outpace every other major category of health care services.
Mr Trump's new proposals might have an effect on the margins, but the forces that have led to rising drug prices have not been addressed.
To contact the writer of this story email Jonathan Gardner in Virginia at jonathang-us@epvantage.com or follow @ByJonGardner on Twitter
Astellas Pharma
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories
Endo International
Merck & Co
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International
The list of shame no biopharma wants to join
Vantage Point – Pricing battle shifts to states
Congressional control big biopharma risk in 2016 election
Political gridlock could be good for biopharma
Pegging US Medicare prices to international index not the easy answer it looks

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Highline Public Schools seeking input on Language Arts materials for Students
Nov 24, 2020 | Des Moines, Education, Education, Featured Post, News
Do you have an opinion on what local students are learning? Highline Public Schools plans to adopt new materials for language arts – and they want your input.
Your voice is important as they the district selects new language arts instructional materials for kindergarten through 12th grade.
The district will be holding eight public input sessions starting Monday, Nov. 30, 2020 (full schedule below).
This past spring, language arts curriculum adoption committees reviewed curricular tools and narrowed down the options. Explore videos, lessons and information on the Instructional Materials webpage. Families and community members are invited to join vendors and adoption committee members for question & answer sessions to delve deeper into content.
Your feedback will inform the committee's recommendation to the school board in February. Materials will be introduced in the 2021-22 school year.
Elementary Language Arts
Elementary materials up for review include tools and content from ReadyGen and American Reading Company. Materials are available in both Spanish and English and support dual language programming.
Explore Elementary Language Arts Materials >>
Secondary Language Arts
Secondary materials up for review include Inquiry by Design and Pathways to College and Career.
Explore Secondary Language Arts Materials >>
Family Preview and Q&As:
ReadyGen: Family Previews and Q&A
Monday, November 30 | 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Monday, November 30 | 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
American Reading Company: Family Previews and Q&A
Tuesday, December 1 | 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, December 1 | 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Pathways and Inquiry by Design: Family Previews and Q&A
Thursday, December 10 | 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Thursday, December 10 | 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
See curriculum webpages for family webinar Zoom links. Spanish, Vietnamese and Somali interpretation will be available.
In September 2019, Highline announced a kindergarten-12th grade language arts adoption process. See the timeline (planned and adjusted) and committee membership on the Instructional Materials webpage.
New materials ensure students have the highest quality instructional materials, regardless of whether students are engaged in distance, hybrid or in-person learning. During school closures Highline has continued to involve stakeholders in the adoption process, which includes teacher collaboration and ongoing feedback from school staff and community members.
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What is the differnce between Metis, Hmetis and Parametis?
I want to ask What is the differnce between Metis, Hmetis and Parametis?
If I want to partition a hyper graph with millions of node, which is the best?
hMetis, as it is the only tool that can handle hypergraphs.
Submitted by karypis on Mon, 2012-04-02 04:56.


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SMSF member bodies confirm merger
25 May 2017 — 1 minute read
Two associations that represent SMSF trustees have this afternoon confirmed they will be merging, pushing their collective pool of members to over 10,000.
With a view to form a "stronger united voice", the Self-managed Independent Superannuation Funds Association (SISFA) and the SMSF Owners' Alliance (SMSFOA) have merged.
The new body will be badged SISFA and it mission will be "speaking up for the one million Australians with SMSFs".
Both bodies have been focused on representing the interests of SMSF trustees to the government.
SMSFOA executive director Duncan Fairweather said the body has had success in its lobbying efforts, but it was time to "move it to the next level".
"What we need as an advocacy organisation is more strength in terms of expertise, and SISFA were a very good fit there because they essentially are closer to the coal face in terms of how policy applies," Mr Fairweather told SMSF Adviser.
He said talks of a merger have been in place for approximately six months.
"Amalgamation into a single combined force and single effective voice will protect and promote the interests of Australians who have taken responsibility for managing their own retirement savings and generating their own income in retirement without focusing on the age pension," the newly formed body said.
"During a long and complex debate regarding superannuation and the role of small and self-managed funds within the sector, our two organisations have realised our views are aligned on the ways to improve the fairness and efficiency of the superannuation system and the needs of members and trustees of self-managed funds."
Last Updated: 25 May 2017 Published: 25 May 2017


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St. Francis Hospital Enrolls First U.S. Patient in New Cardiovascular Clinical Trial
Catholic Health's St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center® is the first hospital in the United States to enroll a patient in a ground-breaking clinical trial that will investigate the effectiveness of a new device to treat refractory angina.
The COSIRA-II (COronary SInus Reducer for the Treatment of Refractory Angina) trial will study the Neovasc Reducer. The new device is designed to reduce symptoms of refractory angina, a painful and debilitating condition that occurs when the coronary arteries deliver an inadequate supply of blood to the heart muscle despite treatment with standard revascularization or cardiac drug therapies. The condition is estimated to affect 600,000 to 1.8 million Americans, with 50,000 to 100,000 new cases per year.
Results of the study will complement international research on the device and support a pre-market approval application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of Reducer in the U.S.
The first patient was enrolled at St. Francis Hospital under the care of the hospital's DeMatteis Cardiovascular Institute Director Ziad Ali, M.D., DPhil., and Director of Intravascular Imaging Evan Shlofmitz, D.O. The patient has a history of chronic refractory angina and previously endured multiple cardiac catheterization procedures to treat his recurrent symptoms. None of the previous procedures were successful in alleviating the patient's chest pain.
"Participating in the COSIRA-II clinical trial once again allows us to be at the forefront in the use of new technology to help treat our patients," said Catholic Health and St. Francis Hospital Chairman of Cardiology Richard Shlofmitz, M.D. "We are excited by the prospects of this new device and hopeful that it will provide a solution to treat those whose quality of life is negatively impacted by angina."
Participation in clinical trials continues to be a focus at St. Francis Hospital, rated as one of the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for Cardiology & Heart Surgery and as high performing in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, heart bypass surgery, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
The quality care from the renowned St. Francis team is now available across Long Island through St. Francis Heart Center at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown and Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre.
More information on the cardiac care services offered at Catholic Health may be obtained by visiting www.chsli.org/heart-vascular-care or calling (866) MY-LI-DOC.
St. Francis Heart Center
Catholic Health gives you access to the highest level of cardiovascular care at St. Francis Heart Centers across Long Island.


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The Present — January 16, 2012
Morality is relative but not subjective
Photo credit: Mubariz Mehdizadeh on Unsplash
Adam Lee
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Guest post by Samantha Eliza Benten
The Law of Non-Contradiction, as stated by Aristotle: "One cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time."
Often, this is expressed in the formula: A ? ¬A, where "¬A" signifies "not A" or "not having quality A". (To prevent a common error, understand that it does NOT mean "the subset of everything except A." For example, to say that "an animal that is a cat cannot be, at the same time, a dog" is NOT an application of the law of non-contradiction. To say that "an animal that is a cat cannot, at the same time, also be a 'not cat'" IS to apply the law of non-contradiction.)
Worded a bit more clearly: Nothing can both have the quality of A and lack the quality of Aat the same time. Before I get into the significant consequences this law of logic will have on morality, I'd like to begin with numerous examples of it applied to everyday life.
Imagine your kitchen table. Got the image in your head? All right, does it have any black paint on it? Your answer to this must naturally be either yes or no. It cannot both have black paint on it and not have black paint on it, at the same time. Whether or not it also has red paint or silver paint or a wood finish on it is irrelevant. And if you decide to paint it red immediately on arriving home tonight, that also makes no difference. All that matters, as far as the law of non-contradiction is concerned, is that your kitchen table cannot both possess and lack the quality of having black paint on it at any given moment.
This law also applies to certain subatomic behavior. An electron behaves in one of two ways: as a particle or as a wave. The way I understand it (though I'm no quantum physicist), when it is seen as a particle, it has all of characteristics of being a particle and none of being a wave. When it is seen as a wave, it has all of characteristics of being a wave and none of being a particle. However, it cannot both possess and lack the quality of being a particle at the same time. Same goes for its wave form.
Now, sometimes the law of non-contradiction is only as good as the quality of our definitions. For example, the traditional qualities of a mammal (warm-blooded vertebrate having hair-covered skin, bearing live young, and nursing offspring with milk) accurately describe the vast majority of animals categorized this way. But the duck-billed platypus mixes and matches qualities from other animal families (having a duck bill and laying eggs). Given that our definition embodies so many qualities, it's harder to assert that the platypus is absolutely either a mammal or not a mammal. That creature defies logical law in the face of our definition. Of course, its evolutionary relationship to other animals has placed it solidly within the mammals, despite its not exactly fitting in all respects.
The same goes for a person's sex. Yes, the traditional definition, based on genetics and on genitalia, works for the vast majority of people. However, there are exceptions. Some people are born with XXY or XXX chromosomes. Some people are born with genitalia of both genders (hermaphrodites). To frame the question as "Is this person male or female?" is to ignore the law of non-contradiction. To break it down into two questions ("Does this person have or lack male characteristics?" and "Does this person have or lack female characteristics?") is the law of non-contradiction properly applied.
Another example comes from politics. Being conservative on some issues (fiscal policy, national security, etc) in no way prevents someone from holding more liberal views on other issues (gay marriage, for example). The terms liberal and conservative embody a slew of ideas, and there is a continuum of attitudes toward them, from dictator-like conservatism to anarchic liberalism, and everything in between. To say that each individual person must be either a conservative or not a conservative (by the law of excluded middle) is ludicrous, and doesn't describe life as people live it. Such laws of logic only work when we get into the nitty gritty details of particular instances. For example, it would be easier to say whether or not a person actively supports a conservative decision made by a particular politician. (Of course, even in those instances, people often admit complexity and/or doubt about their beliefs, or simply don't care.)
Yet, do these failures of definition mean the law of non-contradiction is flawed? Not in the least. All that is necessary to reinstate the legitimacy of the law is to break things down into individual characteristics or a particular example. The platypus cannot both possess and lack the capacity to lay eggs at the same time (whether it is hairy, duck-billed, etc. as well is irrelevant). A human being cannot both possess and lack a penis at the same time (whether said person also has female genitalia or two X chromosomes, is irrelevant). A human being cannot both have and lack a conservative opinion about a particular ruling at the same time (whether they also understand that ruling from the liberal, or other, perspective as well, or have no opinion at all, is irrelevant).
So, what does all this mean for morality? It means, in any given moral dilemma, there can be any number of components which ultimately lead to a more moral, immoral, or amoral judgment. Here's a standard example: Someone develops a successful treatment for a deadly disease. They patent it, charge an arm and a leg for it, and won't let anyone develop a generic brand. Many of the people who need it can't afford it. Someone whose family member is dying of the disease steals the treatment and saves their loved one. Is there an immoral aspect to what this person has done? Yes, they stole from someone who legitimately and lawfully developed and patented a product. Is there a moral aspect to this person's behavior? Yes, they were trying to save the life of someone they loved. Is there an amoral aspect of this person's behavior? Yes, many: him or her driving their car to where the cure was held, continuing to breathe in and out as they walked, and many thousands of small, everyday decisions involved in the process of stealing the cure. Is the person's action ultimately moral, immoral, or amoral? Add up the positives and negatives of their intent and circumstances and see where this ends up on the spectrum of "greatest good" versus "greatest bad."
Does this mean that there is no rule of law in the world and we cannot be expected to force adherence to any morality at all? Of course not. If I thought that, then I couldn't have even admitted that stealing was immoral, now could I? All I'm saying, regarding the relativity of morality, is that the rule of non-contradiction proves that it must be viewed as a spectrum concept, NOT with the common "that's right, that's wrong, and that's that" attitude. More importantly, the awareness of moral complexity that this brings must be used diligently to ascertain what moral and immoral aspects of a given act exist, and to recognize that true justice reacts with appropriate severity as a result.
Not coincidentally, that is exactly how the justice system in America works. It's why accidental manslaughter, second degree murder (done in the heat of a moment), and first degree murder (premeditated homicide) have progressively harsher punishments. The manner and intent of a killing matters. That isn't to say that our system is perfect; mistakes are often made, but at the very least it must be recognized that our system uses a continuum of morality based on circumstances and intent.
As yet another example, imagine walking a public path finding a wallet on the ground. Your potential reaction includes a wide variety of options: You could ignore the wallet and go on your merry way. You could pick up the wallet and try to find the owner. You could turn it in to a local official, hoping the owner will look for it there. You could steal the wallet and buy yourself a nice speed boat. You could use the driver's license in the wallet to hunt down the owner and murder their family while they sleep. Every single one of these options lie on a different location of the morality spectrum — some much closer to the end of said lines than the others. I think it can be agreed that turning it in is morally superior to stealing it, and also that personally looking for the owner is morally superior to turning it in. And, to show how circumstances affect the state of an action's morality, I think it less moral for you to do so yourself if you had some greater responsibility that needed tending to (your child has wandered away, and you're responsible for ensuring they're not lost or kidnapped) but even more morally impressive if you inconvenienced yourself to do the kind act (you were eager to get home in time for the newest episode of House, but missed it so that you could ensure the wallet was returned).
Just to make a few parts of my own moral code clear, maliciousness or gratuitous acts of harm are always immoral in nature. Anything apart from that on the black vs. white moral spectrum will have shades of gray, though degrees of darkness and light from the opposing ends may be infinitesimally slight. Ultimately, the intent to do "harm" and acting on the desire to "damage" another living thing is evil. Good involves seeking to help or to do as little harm as possible.
There are two reasons I would bring this up in a blog dedicated to atheism. The first is to point out that in some religions, the argument is made that all "sin" is equally bad because it is all an offense to God, and all wrongs require an equal amount of forgiveness (that idea was said by at least one childhood friend of mine who was religious): this is plain wrong. I don't feel it's necessary to illustrate why murder is worse (and harder to forgive) than stealing someone's TV or spreading a mean rumor. I wanted to mention this issue, however, because I think there's a tendency when feelings run strong to ignore the complexities which intent and circumstance bring to all human interaction. This makes it far too easy to dismiss completely people for their bad behavior based on prejudices and knee-jerk reactions rather than an honest, thorough investigation of the intent and circumstances. This effect can be mitigated if we use this understanding to engender greater understanding and compassion for others, even those who wrong us gravely.
The second is that nothing said above requires divine mandate to establish moral legitimacy. (In fact, as Adam Lee recently pointed out, there is no such thing as a divine mandate regarding morality. And I would argue that even if an all-powerful deity did dictate a moral code to humanity, it would be no less arbitrary and no more meaningful than if a human did so… But that's far too extended a topic to get into in an already lengthy post.)
Since many people assume that all non-religious morality must be subjective in nature (in reality it is, of course, religious morality that's subjective), I want to make a VERY clear distinction between relativism from subjectivism. Relativism is what I've described above: admitting that there are degrees of right and wrong determined by intent and circumstance. Subjectivism is "whatever I think is good, that's what good is." That's just plain, self-important nonsense.
For example, say there's a mother who thinks that space aliens are coming to wipe out humanity so she decides to "save" her children by killing them before Martians start their invasion. That she thinks her act morally good is utterly irrelevant to its goodness or badness. That she sought to do harm to her children swings her act sharply towards the "morally wrong" end of the spectrum. In a court of law, her insanity might make her 'not guilty,' but that still won't make intentional harm morally good or neutral.
By the same token, if someone were to believe that stepping on blue floor tiles was morally wrong, would that make it wrong, for that person or for anybody else? Nope. Not unless you were seeking, in some way, to do harm by stepping on blue floor tiles — in which case the intent would be immoral, though the lack of any actual harm would mean your perception was a delusion.
Finally, let's say someone does unintentional harm. In that case the action was a wrong one, but not morally wrong for that person because they did not intend to do harm. The intention to harm is what's morally bad. Unintentional harm may be a regrettable mistake, but that doesn't make it morally bad (unless purposeful or lazy negligence were involved). Thinking that an act is good does not make it good. Seeking to help, or at least do as little harm as possible, makes an act morally better than its alternatives.
Finally, "sliding scale objectivism" or "fuzzy logic morality" would be other terms to describe this rather than relativism. For, though relativism is an accurate and useful term, it's too often confused with subjectivism, which is NOT what I'm arguing here. We may live in a morally relativistic world, but not in a moral void subject to the whims of every sentient entity. And that, as they say, is that. 🙂
Cormac and Oprah, Revisited
Five years ago this June, Cormac McCarthy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Given McCarthy's legendary reticence (he had done only one major interview in the past, with the New […]


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Q: MFC: write text using stock font, but bold This is an easy way to draw some text with a default font.
pDC->SelectObject(GetStockObject(DEFAULT_GUI_FONT));
pDC->SetTextColor(::GetSysColor(COLOR_WINDOWTEXT));
pDC->DrawText(text, -1, rc, DT_LEFT | DT_SINGLELINE | DT_NOPREFIX | DT_VCENTER | DT_END_ELLIPSIS);

How can I do exactly the same, but in bold type... same font but bold? Can it be done without creating custom CFont object?

A: CFont* pOldFont = pDC->GetCurrentFont();

LOGFONT logFont;
pOldFont->GetLogFont(&logFont);
logFont.lfWeight = FW_BOLD;

CFont newFont;
newFont.CreateFontIndirect(&logFont);

pDC->SelectObject(&newFont);
pDC->DrawText();
pDC->SelectObject(pOldFont);

A: Get the font data for the stock font into a LOGFONT struct (GetObject() in plain GDI). Change the weight parameter to bold. Use CreateFontIndirect() to make a font from that LOGFONT struct. Select the font into the device context.
Then draw the text as usual.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This is probably my favorite way to eat green beans. I think it gets even better if you sort of leave it on the stove on low for awhile (found that out by accident). If you haven't cooked with hoisin sauce, you don't know what you've been missing. Buy it for this recipe, then go search the internet for some more recipes – so good! I don't change the recipe much except to serve it over brown rice or whole wheat couscous. You could top it with a few sliced almonds or pine nuts for a little more protein. Also, you could do it with asparagus in season.
I really don't generally like to read caloric info, but since this is out of Cooking Light, I'll go ahead and tell you that it's only 234 calories. But don't hold this against it.
Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture, beans, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until pork loses its pink color, stirring to crumble.
Combine hoisin and next 3 ingredients (through soy sauce) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add hoisin mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Serve over rice.


Toyota Motor Corp. said it is recalling about 880,000 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pickup trucks worldwide because of a defect that could affect steering.
In the United States, 774,856 Toyota SUVs and pickup trucks have been recalled, including the 2001-2004 model years of the Tacoma, the 2001-2002 versions of the 4Runner and the 2002-2004 model years of the Tundra and Sequoia. Toyota's recall announcement also affects 22,000 vehicles in Japan, 22,000 vehicles in Europe, 14,000 vehicles in Australia and 10,800 vehicles throughout the rest of the world.
The recall was prompted after the discovery that a defect with the front suspension ball joint could lead to wear and tear over time. Excessive wear or looseness in the ball joint could force drivers to exert more effort when steering, allowing the vehicle to drift and increase the amount of noise from the suspension.
While Toyota said it was unaware of how much the auto defect will cost the company, there have been two minor accidents without injury reported in the U.S. because of it, as well as one report of an accident in Japan possibly linked to the problem. So far, it is unclear if there have been other accidents elsewhere because of the Toyota auto defect.


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Facebook Graph Search: How Is It Different From Google Search?
January 16, 2013 October 1, 2016 Google
Facebook has yesterday unveiled a very important update to the social network, Graph Search. This is essentially the most promising search algorithm in effect within the social network. We all know the existing Facebook search system that returns more irrelevant results than relevant ones. With Graph Search, it is going to take a turn for good. Is this a competition to Google search? Let's see…
Facebook Graph Search is not a web search thingy. It is within Facebook and can search only what your friends and others generally have shared with you. For instance, you can do a search for "My friends who like Michael Jackson" and Facebook will give you a list of your friends who have liked Michael Jackson profile page.
On the official Facebook Graph Search page, you have examples like this. Most of these searches have the keyword, "my friends" in them. This is probably an indicator used by Facebook to identify you are searching for a list of your friends who do a particular thing. What if you search instead for "my buddies (pals) who like cycling"? We should see whether Facebook returns proper results for that from the friends list.
When the Graph Search comes out of private Beta, you will be able to test it better. For the time being, get invited into the Graph Search Beta test and hope to get it approved soon.
Google Search on the other hand, is the king of web search, and it will remain so. Graph Search cannot be done outside Facebook. Anything you want to find inside Facebook, you have to use Facebook search only; there is no Google jurisdiction inside Facebook. However, you can always search for Facebook pages through Google. Try search keywords like "Tom Cruise on Facebook" you will get immediately the relevant Facebook page.
In order to return all the results from Facebook, try simple Google search like "Tom Cruise site:facebook.com" and Google will return only the results from Facebook. You will get all the relevant results here.
In reverse, currently Facebook also provides you with web search results. It uses Bing search engine for that. In effect, it's like you are searching on Bing.
When Graph Search becomes available, you will be able to get more relevant results from Facebook concerning your friends and generally the users of Facebook. Also, since Facebook profiles have privacy restrictions, only the results shared with the outside world will be searchable. Graph Search is only inside Facebook, and outside, in the web, there is no substitute for Google search.
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Алексей Алексеевич Кармацких () — советский борец классического стиля, чемпион и призёр чемпионатов СССР, призёр чемпионата Европы, мастер спорта СССР международного класса (1965).

Биография
Увлёкся борьбой в 1959 году. В 1962 году выполнил норматив мастера спорта СССР. Участвовал в девяти чемпионатах СССР. В 1972 году оставил большой спорт.

Спортивные результаты
 Чемпионат СССР по классической борьбе 1964 года — ;
 Чемпионат СССР по классической борьбе 1965 года — ;
 Чемпионат СССР по классической борьбе 1966 года — ;
 Чемпионат СССР по классической борьбе 1970 года — ;
 Чемпионат СССР по классической борьбе 1971 года — ;
 Классическая борьба на летней Спартакиаде народов СССР 1971 года — ;
 Чемпионат СССР по классической борьбе 1972 года — ;

Примечания

Ссылки

Чемпионы СССР по греко-римской борьбе

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


1991 Set up the plant in Taiwan.
1. DHC is made in Taiwan. This country produces Battery Testers for most automobile and battery producer companies with their own brands.
2. For instance, we can mention YUASA a Japanese Company and Volvo a Swedish Company.


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Neal Shusterman is an award-winning author whose books include the Arc of a Scythe series (Scythe, Thunderhead and The Toll), the New York Times bestselling Unwind series and Challenger Deep, which won a National Book Award. He also writes screenplays for film and television, for shows such as Goosebumps and Animorphs. He lives in Southern California with his four children. Follow him on Twitter: @NealShusterman
The Toll Neal Shusterman Books
Neal Shusterman
The Toll Books


This patented, super slim, stainless steel keytool simply wraps around your key with 8 essential daily tools. You won't even notice you are carrying it – until you need it!
The spirit of ingenuity, innovation and quality is expressed in this great tool.


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SUPPORT SOUTH AFRICAN INITIATIVES
SUPPORT PAN AFRICAN INITIATIVES
YPO AFRICA RESPONSE
THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
Is to unleash the Power of YPO, a strong network of business leaders, with good code of conduct and our "only in YPO" confidentiality approach to connect with each other in country and across the region to ensure a coordinated response resulting in tangible impact and meaningful tools, support and resources for improved leadership & learning across the region.
There are a vast number of incredible member and spouse led initiatives taking place across the entire region, in support of this YPO Africa Region has initiated a platform to have one centralised place to index the efforts, collaborate, and ultimately have an even greater impact. We are here to support with best practices, toolkits, and resources that may be called for during this time as a result of the COVID-19 situation.
To have key focal pillars with clearly identified tangible goals that can be replicated on a country by country level, that are relevant, real and easily accessible focused on 11 PILLARS
As the region, we are here to support with best practices, toolkits, and resources that may be called for during this time as a result of the COVID-19 situation. The eleven pillars that categorise and streamline the various efforts are each headed up by two chairs. Each pillar will develop a sub-page on this site which will then further facilitate, guide and support you in this time.
Please reach out to the direct email and we will then facilitate accordingly.
There are a vast number of incredible initiatives taking place across the entire region, in support of this
YPO Africa has initiated a platform to have one centralised place to index the efforts, collaborate and ultimately have an even greater impact.


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Simone Biles is Now the Youngest Person to Receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom
by Sharon Miki Chan
Simone Biles can't stop making history. Biles, who made headlines when she prioritized her mental health at the Tokyo Olympics, is the most decorated American gymnast in history (with a staggering combined total of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals). She's also an advocate for athletes' mental health and safety, victims of sexual assault and children in the foster care system. And now, at 25 years old, Biles is the youngest person to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to US President Joe Biden.
See also: How to support a friend struggling with mental health, according to an expert.
On July 7, Biles was among 17 recipients of America's highest civilian honour. During his remarks at the White House awards ceremony, Popsugar reports that President Biden joked about Biles adding the medal to her already impressive collection: "Today, [Biles] adds to her medal count of 32 — I don't know if you're going to find room," he said. Biden also praised Biles' ability "to turn personal pain into a greater purpose, to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves."
The Olympic gold medalist, who announced her engagement to athlete Jonathan Owens earlier this year, has previously shared her own experience as a toddler in foster care.
You may also like: This is how she does it: Ashley Docking talks making it as a woman in sports media.
According to a White House press release, Biles and the other medal recipients (including soccer champion and LGBTQ2S+ rights advocate Megan Rapione and actor Denzel Washington) "demonstrate the power of possibilities and embody the soul of the nation – hard work, perseverance, and faith. They have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities – and across the world – while blazing trails for generations to come."
We'd say Biles stuck the landing with this one.
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Written BySharon Miki Chan


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Q: How to increment object property (isbn in this example) by one, each time I add some item to the list:? I am trying to increment object property (isbn in this example)  by one, each time I add some item to the list.
I want to each tr have unique isbn(1,2,3,4...)
I tried with newItem.isbn++, but each time I add item I get 1 (not 2,3,4...).
I am new to JavaScript and I really need some help here.
 //Item Class
class Item {
    constructor(isbn, item, amount, price) {
        (this.isbn = isbn), (this.item = item), (this.amount = amount), (this.price = price);
    }
}
//UI Class
class UI {
    static displayItems() {
        const storedItems = [
            {
                isbn: '1',
                item: 'Some item',
                amount: '2',
                price: '$ 2500,00'
            }
        ];

        const items = storedItems;
        items.forEach((item) => UI.addItemToList(item));
    }

    static addItemToList(item) {
        const list = document.querySelector('tbody');
        const row = document.createElement('tr');

        row.innerHTML = `
        ${item.isbn}
        ${item.item}
        ${item.amount}
        ${item.price}

            delete

        `;
        list.appendChild(row);
    }

    static clearFields() {
        document.querySelector('#item').value = '';
        document.querySelector('#amount').value = '';
        document.querySelector('#price').value = '';
    }
}

//Event: Display Items
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', UI.displayItems);
//Event: Add Items
document.querySelector('form').addEventListener('submit', function(e) {
    //Prevent default of submit
    e.preventDefault();
    //Get values from form
    const isbn = 0;
    const item = document.querySelector('#item').value;
    const amount = document.querySelector('#amount').value;
    const price = document.querySelector('#price').value;

    //Instatiate Item
    const newItem = new Item(isbn, item, amount, price);
    newItem.isbn++; //Here I need help!!!!!!!
    console.log(newItem);

    //Add item to UI
    UI.addItemToList(newItem);

    //Clear input fields
    UI.clearFields();
});

A: In this case, you would want your ISBN counter to be a global variable so that you may keep track of it through each iteration. Currently you are resetting it to zero every time you run that function since the variable is scoped to that function.
let isbn = 0;

// other code...

document.querySelector('form').addEventListener('submit', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    const item = document.querySelector('#item').value;
    const amount = document.querySelector('#amount').value;
    const price = document.querySelector('#price').value;

    newISBN = isbn++; // notice here we are incrementing the global variable

    const newItem = new Item(newISBN, item, amount, price); // here we are using this new incremented value to create your item

    UI.clearFields();
});

A: Some stateful helper could be a solution. I.e.,
const createNewISBN = (initial = 0) => {
    let isbn = initial;

    return function newIsbn() {
        isbn += 1;
        return isbn;
    }
}

const newIsbn = createNewIsbn(); // this will initiate new pool

Then later in your code:
document.querySelector('form').addEventListener('submit', function(e) {
    //Prevent default of submit
    e.preventDefault();
    //Get values from form
    const isbn = newIsbn(); // here no longer 0
    const item = document.querySelector('#item').value;
    const amount = document.querySelector('#amount').value;
    const price = document.querySelector('#price').value;

    //Instatiate Item
    const newItem = new Item(isbn, item, amount, price);
    // newItem.isbn++; //Here I need help!!!!!!! <-- this you don't need anymore
    console.log(newItem);

    //Add item to UI
    UI.addItemToList(newItem);

    //Clear input fields
    UI.clearFields();
});


Garden Street Academy enters its fifth year in CIF for the 2016-2017 academic year, and first year in the Condor League, where all sports and teams will compete at the varsity level. We will field teams for boys and girls in Cross Country, Volleyball, Basketball, and Track & Field again this year. It's an exciting time for Garden Street Academy Athletics as our programs grow and enjoy success on the courts, fields, and the track.
Our Athletic Department has an enhanced emphasis on sportsmanship and teamwork in every practice, scrimmage and game. Our goal is to build character and integrity in our student-athletes, better preparing them to successfully affect their peers through college and beyond.
Balance, movement, coordination and participation are all central to the student experience at Garden Street Academy. Our athletic facilities encompass a full-size soccer field as well as basketball and volleyball courts. All students participate in a structured physical education curriculum and may also join dance classes in our modern studio.


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A New era looms for Islamic Bank of Britain as £24.1m takeover offer is recommended by its directors
Islamic Bank of Britain's directors responded favourably to a £24.1m offer from Qatari bank Masraf Al Rayan (MAR). The offer comes through MAR's wholly owned subsidiary, Al Rayan (UK) Limited. MAR's offer was first muted in October 2012 when the previous offer from IBB's majority shareholder Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) lapsed. The offer is being recommended by the independent IBB directors who consider it to be fair and reasonable. The offer from Al Rayan (UK) will provide IBB with a new parent company with plans to grow the bank and inject additional capital to fund that growth. The advisory firm Cattaneo provided financial advise to the Islamic Bank of Britain, legal advice was provided by Eversheds. MAR received legal advice from CMS Cameron Mckenna.
http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidlands/news/548696-new-a-new-era-lo...
Masraf al Rayan
The Business Desk


Adonis Stevenson - Fighter Of The Year for 2013?
Adonis Stevenson – Fighter Of The Year for 2013?
Even though there is exactly one month left in 2013, I think tonight is the right time to give serious consideration to the person who should be recognized as the fighter of the year for 2013. I'll give you a clue about the person I have in mind for 2013's Fighter Of The Year – he just knocked out the #1 contender in the light-heavyweight division, Tony Bellew. Tonight's boxing main event on American premium cable and satellite television network, HBO, [or last night, depending on what time zone in which you viewed the fight] showcased the prime candidate for the 2013 Fighter Of The Year. Poor Tony Bellew didn't know what hit him. Was it a bird? Was it a plane?
No – it was Adonis 'Superman' Stevenson, the World Boxing Council (WBC), Ring Magazine and universally recognized Light-heavyweight Champion. Tony Bellew won a world title-eliminator earlier this year to become Adonis Stevenson's mandatory challenger.
Adonis Stevenson's list of accomplishments for 2013 have exceeded most boxing fans' expectations, but his old trainer and mentor, the late boxing analyst and boxing dignitary, Emanuel Steward, predicted Adonis Stevenson's success at light-heavyweight. Just take a moment to consider what Adonis has accomplished in 2013. He started off the year with a rematch, knocking out the fighter who gave him his only professional loss, Darnell Boone. Darnell Boone is a hard-puncher who has given 3 undefeated prospects their first losses and he also knocked down and hurt the elite fighter, Andre Ward, years ago and Darnell Boone was the first person to make it to the final bell against the current WBO light-heavyweight beltholder and power-puncher, Sergey Kovalev (before he was the WBO champion). Adonis Stevenson had already worked his way up to the position of the next mandatory challenger for Carl Froch's International Boxing Federation (IBF) 168-pound/Super MiddleWeight title. Adonis Stevenson risked losing a world-title fight with Carl Froch by taking a rematch with Darnell Boone. Then, for his next fight, Adonis Stevenson decided not to wait for the world-title fight with Carl Froch to be scheduled – he accepted a fight at a higher weight class with Chad Dawson, who is younger and bigger than Carl Froch. Adonis was supposed to be what is commonly referred to as a 'tune-up' fight for Chad Dawson, because he was moving up from a lower weight class, he was at a serious disadvantage in experience, since he started boxing as an adult instead of in his childhood, like most professional boxers, and he had no experience on a world-championship level.
Adonis knocked out Chad in the first round of their fight, winning the WBC and Ring Magazine world titles, and became the internationally recognized light-heavyweight champion, rather than just one of the 4 major beltholders of the division. Emanuel Steward advised Stevenson to take a fight with Chad Dawson if he was ever offered that fight and predicted a knockout win for Stevenson. Chad Dawson was coming off of a loss at SuperMiddleWeight when he fought Adonis, but the Dawson/Stevenson fight was being contested at Chad's best weight, so Adonis Stevenson deserves credit for defying the oddsmakers and the majority of boxing fans and journalists when he won the fight. Emanuel Steward gave Adonis Stevenson the same advice about a potential fight with the IBF Light-Heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud, with the same prediction of a knockout or TKO for Adonis. Adonis was offered that fight for his first title defense and Emanuel Steward's prediction for the fight's outcome was correct again. Tavoris Cloud was no longer the IBF champion when he fought Adonis Stevenson, but the win for Adonis was impressive because he won every round of the fight with superior boxing skills, in addition to his power-punching, and Adonis became the first person to 'stop' Tavoris Cloud by knockout or TKO.
Adonis Stevenson's work ethic and attitude are unusual for this era of boxing, since he fought his mandatory challenger, Tony Bellew, approximately 2 and a half months after his fight with Tavoris Cloud, rather than letting the year end without fighting his mandatory challenger and vacating his WBC belt or being stripped of it by the sanctioning body, and took a high-risk, low-reward rematch with Darnell Boone, so that he could restore his confidence to the appropriate level and be at peace with himself. Just like the Boxing Writer's Association of America (BWAA) Fighter Of The Year for 2012, Nonito Donaire fought 4 times in that year, Adonis Stevenson has fought 4 times in 2013 – a streak of 4 consecutive knockouts. Adonis Stevenson is a convicted felon who paid his debt to society and then discovered the profession of boxing as an adult and used it to straighten out his life by making an honest living with it, just like another current light-heavyweight titleholder, Bernard Hopkins.
For all of these reasons, Adonis Stevenson is my fighter of the year for 2013. What do you think?
I want to finish this article with a reminder to Magomed Abdusalamov's family and friends – Magomed is still in our thoughts and we want him to get well soon and we appreciate the great effort and great fight he gave us a few weeks ago.
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Bellydancing with Fire DVD – Flamebuoyant Productions, Inc.
Learn how to bellydance with fire!
Bellydancing with Fire was created to introduce experienced bellydancers to basic concepts of fire performance and give fire performers new ways to use familiar tools. It gives instruction on movements that work wonderfully with three of the foundational tools: candles, handlamps and palm torches.
All of the movement instruction and practice sessions can be applied to non-fire props if you find that fire isn't right for you or your venue.
Leslie Rosen's imagination was captured by bellydance in 1995 and she hasn't been able to escape yet! As a massage therapist and yoga practitioner her classes are designed with your bodies health and vitality in mind. Her lifelong passion for the circus led her to fire performance in 2001. She was honored with the opportunity to perform for the cast of Cirque du Soleil and has created many large-scale fire performances for everyone from Bumbershoot to Burningman.
Leslie can be seen in performances with her bellydance troupe Raqs Serpentine and fire performance troupe Pyrosutra. She has been co-producing the Pyramid Lounge, a monthly bellydance show, since March 2003 and works at the Nationally acclaimed School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts in Seattle, WA.
This DVD brings firedancing to the general bellydancer and makes it accessible for everyone.
It brings the fundamentals of fire-dancing preparation, safety and care for your tools. It then goes through basic core movements with different tools and has a performance section at the end using differing tools. What helped me was the discussions on spacial awareness.
This is a good fire-dancing 'fundamentals' DVD.


by The IJ Staff Jan. 29, 2019 01:30 p.m.
Eckler Ltd., a consulting and actuarial firm, announced on Jan. 29 that it recently acquired Employee Financial Well-Being (EFW), a financial wellness company.
EFW provides financial education and training to employees across Canada with the aim of improving their financial well-being.
"Eckler's acquisition of EFW is another meaningful commitment to help Canadians improve their financial security," says Janice Holman, Principal and leader of the Defined Contribution and Financial Wellness practices at Eckler. "While Eckler's roots are in helping Canadians secure retirement income, we've recognized that in today's consumption-based world, teaching Canadians the foundation of money management is key to help them achieve the lifestyle they want, both today and in retirement."
"Eckler is a perfect fit for the types of services EFW offers," says Frank Wiginton, CEO, Employee Financial Well-Being. "We look forward to leveraging Eckler's deep retirement, benefits and communications expertise to nationally broaden our leading financial education."


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philosophy maps
mind maps, infographics, and expositions
Introducing Philosophy Maps
Will & Representation
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Jung March 23, 2015
Freud March 1, 2015
Husserl February 15, 2015
Heidegger January 4, 2015
Sartre December 14, 2014
Aesthetic anitquity aristotle bacchus being Christian Christianity Church City of God cynics Differentiation eastern orthodox ego elements Empiricism epicureans existence existentialism faith freedom Gibons Government greek Hegel heraclitus history holy trinity Idealism Impulse intuition Judaism Liberty libido LIfe lycurgus milesian Modern monastic nominalism ockham ontology Oriegon original sin orphism pantheism parmenides Passions phenomenology plato plotinus pre-socratics psychology pythagoras razor reason religion Rome Saint Ambrose Saint Augustine Saint Benedict Saint Jerome Schopenhauer science self skeptics socialism socrates socratics spirit stoics Theory of salvation Theory of time thomas aquinas time West
March 1, 2015 nonnacicathexis, defense mechanisms, dream analysis, drive theory, ego, eros, free association, Freud, id, Impulse, infantile sexuality, latent content, libido, manifest content, object-relations, Oedipus complex, psycho-sexual stages, psychoanalysis, psychology, society, super-ego, thanatos, tripartite, unconsciousLeave a comment
Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, is known for pioneering a wide range of theories for furthering our understanding of the human mind. During his career, he established the groundwork for the structure of the mind, the unconscious, dreams, child development, and defense mechanisms. His major works could be viewed as a synthesis of several ideas across different fields (the psychic economy as a Helmholtz energy system, drive theory rooted in Schopenhauer/Nietzsche's blind impulse/will to power, pleasure principle/sex motivated by Darwinian evolution) but his primary contributions was their systematization in a clinical setting for treating patients. Regardless, Freud's contributions to psychology had broad impact on ideas of sociology (critical theory, alienation, the Other, power-structures, libidinal economy), philosophy (subjecthood, Marxism), biology (neural science), and economics (public relations/marketing). Let us investigate each of his theories.
Freud viewed the mind as a mechanized tripartite system that operated according to energy conservation laws. Conscious behavior are actually determined or could be explained by latent mental within the unconscious. This deterministic account of action renders free-will illusory as one's choices are derived from hidden mental processes. Conscious and unconscious states are phenomena produced by a tripartite arrangement of the mind known by the id-ego-superego. The id consists of the primitive and instinctual (innate) components of humanity that can be categorized into Eros (sex, reproductive drive), Thanatos (aggressive, destructive drive) instincts. It is autonomous and operates under the so-called pleasure principle which that demands that impulses be satisfies both instantly and unconditionally. The ego is the conscious mediator between the impulses of the id and the practical means of achieving the id's demands. It conditions the id's instincts according to the reality principle by delaying gratification and compromising the demands according to socially responsible and normative methods in the external world. The super-ego consists ideals from society that are internalized as to pressure the ego into both acting and assigning worth (value) according to parental influences during upbringing and by implication society; it punishes the ego with feelings of guilt for not living up to its standards. One's sense of agency, which derives from the conscious deliberation of action, is thus produced in the ego, driven to satisfy the id, and regularized by the superego. Such dynamics are governed by the flow of so-called libido or energy in the psyche which are conserved between the id-ego-superego; impulses have different magnitudes of excitation which are transformed into different degrees of emotional investment into mental objects (cathexis) by the ego but when blocked or withdrawn (anti-cathexis) from the object by superego ideals will cause the ego to find alternative ways to release the energy or else experience neurotic symptoms.
Development of the tripartite structure occurs in phases during the early years of a child's life in so-called psychosexual stages where the libidinal flow is fixated. In the first year of life, the infant is in the oral stage where the first source of gratification as well as frustration is experienced in terms of sucking/breast-feeding from the mother; frustration follows from the separation of the breast where libido is blocked and reconstitutes itself in the basic ego as a separate structure from the id-nature. Between years 1-3, the libido is fixated on the anus during potty-training where the pleasures of defecating must be delayed according the authority of the parents. The greater external demands and authority of the parents further clashes with ego, produced from the rising tension with the id. The phallic stage between ages 3-6 fixates the libido on the genitals and the child's anatomical differences between mother and father. Erotic attraction with the opposite sex parent give rise to the so-called "Oedipus/Electra Complexes". Boys seek to possess the mother but fears the father out of castration anxiety; the complex is resolved via identification with the father via his values/attitudes/behaviors which are adjusted according to male gender roles of the culture. Girls learn to repress their desire for father and their hatred of mother by identifying with female gender roles and the wish for a baby. For both genders, internalizing these values give rise to superego. From ages 6-puberty, the child enters into the latency stage where the libido is no longer fixated and can flow into play, developing new skills, and learning. From puberty to adulthood is the genital stage where libido is reconstituted in the pursuit of sexual intercourse with others.
The conflicting demands of both the id and super-ego on the ego produce tensions that cannot always be harmonized. Failure to harmonize would result in neurosis or experiencing different forms of mental anxiety. Thus, the ego unconsciously employs a variety of defense mechanisms that reroutes/transforms the energetic potential of the different demands. Such mechanisms are developed during the psycho sexual fixation periods to different degrees and exhibit recurring patterns in adulthood. Defenses can thus be classified on a continuum from primary to mature:
Withdrawal: Avoiding situation by re-investing energy into fantasy.
Denial: Refusing to accept or acknowledge an unpleasant reality.
Disassociation: Disconnect from present experience by escaping into another representation.
Splitting: Separate inter-objects into either all good/all bad without ambivalence.
Projection: Misinterpret impulse from within as coming from the outside in distorted form.
Regression: Goes back to infantile behaviors for coping with stress.
Reaction Formation: Adopting the opposite position of the impulse.
Undoing: Taking back an unconscious behavior after the fact by doing the opposite.
Repression: Blocking unacceptable impulse before it reaches consciousness.
Displacement: Redirecting impulse onto another object.
Intellectualization: Use thinking to create a distance from unpleasant emotions.
Sublimation: Redirect impulse into socially acceptable objects for productive use.
The therapeutic applications of Freud's theories culminated in the practice of psychoanalysis to which many practical methods such as free-association and dream analysis are developed. A common thread amongst these methods is to recover energetic content that have been reconstituted in the unconscious, which is a repository of forgotten memories and implicit knowledge. Recall that in the energy conserving id-ego-superego structure, energetic contents that have not found a release will flow back into the person and presumably remain in the unconscious. The contents retain their energetic potential and may be organized into a common themes such as complexes that exhibit a determining factor in conscious life when the ego is weakened. Thus, psychoanalysis aims to depotentiate these contents through the recovery and reintegration of the contents into the ego. This can be done via free-association where patients effectively speak their mind without inhibition; the method tends to reveal unsaid assumptions about the patient such as transference (feelings towards one person are directed onto another), projection (feelings about self directed to another), and resistance (a mental block or gap in events that fails to be recalled). Delving into more repressed contents required greater lessening of the ego during dreaming. Freud developed a theory of dream analysis as way to interpret manifest (dream material reported from experience) and latent contents (hidden meanings that have been transformed to protect the semi-lucid ego during dreaming).
December 14, 2014 nonnacibad faith, being, being for-itself, being in-itself, consciousness, ego, essence, existence, facticity, freedom, nothingness, ontology, other, prereflective, reflective, sartre, transcendenceLeave a comment
Sartre, the well known existentialist of the 20th century, radicalizes human freedom by returning to the ontology of "being". Human existence lies within a condition of nothingness (no-thing-ness) where things are characterized by what they are not or namely their negation or nihilation (e.g. fragile things lack stable unity). Subjectivity or human experience is divided into pre-reflective and reflective consciousnesses of objects. Pre-reflective consciousness is directed towards the transcendent object without configuring a notion of the "I"; such acts are spontaneous, transparent to the self, and engaged with the phenomenon as a starting point (first-order). Reflective consciousness negates pre-reflective consciousness and so the unity of the negation contains a duality between some regular agent "I" from memory, and the object. i.e. Consciousness becomes aware of itself. Thus, ego is borne out of reflective consciousness that is imposed upon pre-reflective consciousness. The Other is borne from ego recognizing that is an object of another being's gaze.
Being can be posited in two way: Things may be in-itself or existing without justification in relation to other things (it is fully determinate). Examples include inert things such as rocks, air, and bottle. This differs from human beings whose identity is not in relation to things within but always to something else; being for-itself negates being in-itself and can be imagined as a lack of a being. For-itself, through nothingness, is thus able to form attitudes to other beings by seeing what it is not. This desire or project for being gives for-itself a radical freedom to make itself from nothingness. However, the tendency of for-itself to run away from its freedom, to become an in-itself or an absolute (God) is a common way people fall into "bad faith". This can be applied to the many social roles (waiter, father, lover) that people adopt in their every-day lives; when such roles are no longer functional personas but have been adopted as essences of being (using such roles as excuses for example), than the person is rejecting the task of determining what these roles are not.
The rejection of human nature (existence precedes essence, no essences and priors w.r.t. existence) places agency/freedom is a difficult claim to follow. In Sartre's day, he rejected the Freudian notions of the unconscious and psychological repression as having an influence on behavior. A priori models such as Jungian archetypes were obviously ignored. Modern advances in genetics and evolutionary biology (our behavior similarities with primates and other hierarchy building animals) would have supplied evidence in the other direction. Here, Sartre's hedges a bit with his concepts of facticity and transcendence. Facticity is a set of facts viewed from a third person or objectifying stance (e.g. my skin color). Being can be aware of its own facticity but to adopt these facts as determining what I am would once again be in bad faith. The solution is to transcend these facts into what the space of possibilities conditioning upon these facts (e.g. the fact that one is short can be transcended by the behaviors and attitudes on has in light of being short such as humor).
November 30, 2014 nonnaciAesthetic, angst, anxiety, Christianity, defiance, despair, dread, duality, ethical, existentialism, faith, individuation, Kierkegaard, leap of faith, leap to faith, religion, self, sin, spiritLeave a comment
Kierkegaard, the father of existentialism, equates the human responsibility of achieving self-hood (subjectivity) with truth. Kierkegaard's notion of self is the union of acts that relate between dualities such as finite/infinite, necessity/possibility, and temporal/timeless. This is a negative space of the Hegelian synthesis of duals that moves from descriptive to prescriptive ethics. Truth or the realization of the self is known through the active choice of relating between duals without identifying too closely with either poles (failure results in forms of despair). An important case concerns the religious duality between sin/faith which is powered by the tension between Christianity's paradox to reason and the necessity of a leap to faith. Although Kierkegaard's process of individuation (achieving selfhood) occurred predominantly along religious lines, he introduced a number of general concepts that speaks to the human condition.
The responsibility of achieving selfhood compels one to make conscious choices at every moment. Each moment entails a great number of choices, and their multiplicity of consequences to consider lead the subject to experience a "dizziness of freedom" or angst/dread. This paralysis by analysis, or the anticipation of consequences render one immobile and unable to make a choice for fear of sin. Conversely, it is the experience of anxiety that allows one to move away from unconscious ignorance and into one's potential for action, self-recognition, and identity.
Kierkegaard posits three existential stages of life along the way of becoming a true self:
The aesthetic (the hedonist) lives for sensory experience and pleasure as a way to combat boredom; Boredom is characterized as "the root of all evil-the despairing refusal to be oneself" as it is an undifferentiated or an undirected state of consciousness. The aesthetes who avoid boredom through the pursuit of novelty also avoids commitments as it requires repetition. Common techniques to suspend boredom is through anticipation which delays gratification, and the so-called "rotation method" where one cycles between activities so that no one activity's novelty is exhausted. However, the mode of living is self-serving and ultimately meaningless as it ignores the dimension of other individuals or society.
The ethical is the antithesis of the aesthetic where one lives a life according to well-defined rules for the good of society rather than for the self. In the process acting according to higher principles, new pleasures may be realized that could not by the aesthetic. For example, while the novelty of marriage wears off, the act of giving to your spouse and children is rewarding.
The religious is the final stage of the true self which requires a commitment to the moral absolutes of God. Such absolutes are communicated not through social institutions such as the church, but through a personal relation or revelation of God. Such absolutes require a "teleological suspension of the ethical" as they may contradict that of social norms; one may have to sacrifice pleasures of both the aesthetic and the ethical to reach this. Thus, one can consider revelation (disclosure of divine moral absolutes) as the synthesis of the pursuit of novelty (now the spiritual sphere) and the repetition of commitment (now in the subjective sphere).
Kierkegaard describes the experience along these stages of life in terms of despair that arise from an unbalanced identification with poles of duals (lack of finitude/infinitude, necessity/possibility). Three levels are given:
The lowest level is the ignorance of one being in despair or of having a self (unconscious of self). One may be unable to realize one's potential in life as he/she is fully in pursuit of novelty or of sensuous dichotomies of agreeable/disagreeable. He/she imagines himself happy but is actually dependent on the various objects of pleasure (materialist). Conversely, the system-builder who lives inside abstractions is divorced from experience. The system is merely a scaffold over an abyss from which the self's relation to the concrete is hidden.
The next level is conscious despair where one understands the condition of having to relate to duals but not the specific causes. One may despair against becoming oneself and run away by becoming someone else; he/she may refuse to become a self through feelings of unworthiness. The person may even be able to identify his weaknesses but become identified with the weaknesses themselves and refuse help by God.
The final level is demonic despair against the eternal itself where one is hardened by suffering and so defies any help; the person identifies with despair itself as suffering lifts him/her in uniqueness above everyone else.
November 6, 2014 nonnacialienation, class struggle, commodity, commodity fetishism, communism, exchange value, historical materialism, immiseration thesis, labor theory of value, market, Marx, modes of production, profit motive, relations of production, socialism, use valueLeave a comment
Marxism provides a description of history as a dialectic between class relations in terms of modes of production. Following Hegel, Marx inverts the primacy of ideas into the primacy of material conditions necessary for survival; such conditions are summarized by relations of productions where members of a society must engage in social relationships as a means towards life. While Hegel's lord-bondsman is a dialectic of reaching self-consciousness (freedom of will), Marx's aristocrat-slave, lord-serf, and capitalist-proletariat are dialectics of reaching economic equality (freedom of realization or means of production). Throughout history, the antagonisms between the prevailing class (those who control the means of production) and the under class (those who do not) have created conflicts that have resulted in the overthrowing of the former by the latter and the synthesis of a new class (class struggle). For example, small tribal societies originally held property in the commons but would eventually acquire slaves to work the lands after the agricultural revolution. Tribes banded together and formed villages that grew into cities where the ruling families became Aristocrats. The growing expanse of territory had to be cultivated by an ever-increasing slave population that exceeded their replenishment; this phase culminated in the fall of the Roman empire which grew too large to be maintained (Barbarians completed the revolution with the sacking of Rome). From the remains emerged local lords who owned land that were occupied by serfs (once freeman); serfs subsist off the land but were required to give a fraction of their produce back to the lord as well as to work on the lord's other properties. Over time (and land shortage), the freemen were able to urbanize and create a middle-class that became independently wealthy from trade/commerce; this marked the end of feudalism and gave rise to the capitalist class who could hire freemen on a wage to do work.
The analysis of modes of production in its most recent form (capitalism) requires a short discourse in commodities. A commodity is a good/service produced from labor to be sold in a market. The value of a product can be expressed in terms of use-value or the utility that it serves, but also in terms of an exchange value for other products. According to Marx's labor theory of value, the product's market value ought to be regulated in terms of the average socially necessary labor time required to produce it; a chair is worth more than the wood that it was made from as it contains both the labor of construction and chopping of wood from tree. To mediate the exchange of various types and quantities of products (as to establish an equivalence between the labor of two different things), a third entity (money) is synthesized as to objectivize labor; here begins the disassociation of use-value from exchange value through the advancement of money (capital) and its power to command social labor. For example, money lent on interest produces more money without an antecedent product (and labor). Money spent on a commodity to be sold at a higher price yields a profit. How capitalism accomplishes this feat is via the exploitation of workers (laborers).
In capitalism, the means of productions (e.g. machinery, material, land) are privately owned by the capitalists who employ workers to labor and produce commodities; workers relinquish their ownership of their product (labor) and given a wage (money). To maximize profit, the capitalist seeks to minimize the wage given the worker (enough that the worker can subsist on as to continue working the next day) and the reap the surplus of labor (anything produced beyond the fixed costs) to be sold on the market. Such relations between capitalist-worker and capitalist-capitalist are obscured by the perceived value of objects on the market which are mistaken for their intrinsic value (commodity fetishism); a laptop has a price tag but it hides the cost of production and those engaged in its transactions. The economic consequence is the appearance of an autonomous market that ascribes prices (and thus labor value) to commodities that are independent of the consumers (use-value).The far-reaching consequences are the pursuit of new markets in different territories (globalization), the development of new technologies (subjugation of creativity) to more efficiently extract resources (enframing/challenge nature to produce something for standing reserve, Heidegger later) and replace labor, and the alienation between workers.
The social alienation through labor is manifested in several forms. The first form occurs between workers and the products which he/she have no control over the prices of; workers are given little input as to the design of their products (inventions are patented) and receive little or no share of the profits. Second, Workers through the divisioning of their labor (sake of efficiency), are given repetitive/assembly line tasks that alienates him the total product; this differs from craftsman and serfs from the middle-ages and the Renaissance who produced their products from start to finish. Third in the psychological dimension, the worker loses his ability to objectify his will/intentions; his will is subordinated to the external demands of others for stretches of time. Last, the final form of alienation occurs between workers who are reduced to relations of competition for higher wages; the unemployed for example can threaten to take your jobs at a lower wage.
While alienation is a socially damaging effect of capitalism, Marx stressed that it is the economic contradictions within the capitalist's mode of production that would be responsible for the next revolution. His immiseration thesis theorized that the worker's economic impoverishment would deteriorate through the capitalist's exploitation and greater accumulation of capital (inequality). The thesis is debatable as capitalism, through reforms (government minimum wage, unions) and its drive for new technologies have improved the standard of living (creation of the middle class that benefits the most) for workers; conversely, the average wage has hardly changed in the last forty years. Regardless, such a revolution proscribes to wrest and redistribute private ownership of the means of production back to the workers (socialism) which progresses towards a stateless society without economic classes (communism). Many authors have expounded on the many contradictions inherent to capitalism in more recent times (I recommend David Harvey) and so I'll leave this discussion for a later time and conclude this blog entry.
November 1, 2014 nonnacibentham, consequentialist, epicureans, Government, happiness, harm principle, individuality, industrialization, Liberty, pleasure, political economy, socialism, speech, stuart mill, utilitarianism, utilityLeave a comment
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist approach to ethics that attempts to objectivize worth in terms of "utility" (happiness, negation of suffering, pleasure) rather than adherence to universalizing laws (deontology) and motives (virtue-ethics). Classical utilitarianism adopts the Epicurean valuation of pleasure as a fundamental principle sought by all members of a society; pain, aside from masochist/sadist dichotomies, constitutes the opposite or undesirable. The English combined these concepts with the empiricst/Humean principles of cause & effects where the latter is considered social utility.
The two major proponents of this school of thought, Bentham and Mill, equate pleasure with happiness but differ as to how social utility is measured. Bentham quantified the "greatest happiness for the greatest number" as the determination of right/wrong; Mill qualified the determination as the "greatest aggregate happiness among sentient beings" which ranked happiness according to intellectual/moral pursuits higher than that of the physical/body. Mill justifies the assertion with the claim that one would choose the former over the latter if both are experienced; this can be be obviously attacked on the grounds of cognitive biases / variations of temperaments in later history. Intrinsic or not, the valuation implies an inequality amongst "moral goods" and subsequently the individuals who pursue them; such effects would be case-sensitive in the sense that worth is never absolute (for example, fur coat production in Siberia would be worth more than production in Egypt). Thus, codifying such a book of laws on social utility tends to intermingle many practical spheres such as economics and politics.
Liberty is a central trade-off one makes in the pursuit of personal happiness and the concern with social utility; the "tyranny of the majority" may decree a law that increases their sense of securities whilst marginalizing your freedom (for example, the negation of liberty can be realized in incarceration). The limits of such acts are bounded by the "harm principle" which circumscribes all coercion by the state on an individual to actions that would prevent harm to its other members; one's incarceration is evaluated by your danger to the public. As for the positive definition of liberty, Mill makes three claims (freedom of speech, taste, and union). Freedom of opinion (truth, half-truths, and falsehoods) in valued in so much that their expressions are necessary in the production of effects to which their moral statuses can be continually re-evaluated. Taste or individuality appeals to the biased ranking of different pleasures which must be experienced to be apprehended. Union is encouraged for the many can obtain greater pleasure for the whole than otherwise the singleton (for example, the shift from artisan crafts to mass-industrialization produces greater material wealth, the social costs are another story). Co-operatives are encouraged as profit-sharing increases the awareness of the common goods (satisfaction from participation with the whole) that counteracts the growing alienation of industrialized labor. Taxation becomes an instrument by the state to evaluate and manipulate social good.
August 23, 2014 February 15, 2015 nonnaci5 Comments
Philosophy, as a field of study from a modern lens, is the evolution of thought that has shaped how history is both recorded, interpreted, and organized. While thoughts are largely linguistic in their formulation and communication, many mental imagery and associations from symbols & graphic art to concept & mind maps are omitted. Perhaps these omissions are due to a cognitive bias of the individuals who partake in this field inquiry. Another possibility is that mere perception is inadequate to capture the various nuances of argument. Regardless, it may be useful for myself and others that thought be structured in a visual-intuitive manner for both future retention and understanding.
I will begin with Bertrand Russel's The History of Philosophy as I find his work comprehensive in scope and well-organized into chronological schools of thoughts. For each reading, I'll be producing concept maps (Xmind) and drawing any visual imagery that stirs the imagination.


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Gerber/Hart is in the midst of expanding services and programs, and in the not-too-distant future will be moving to a larger space. Additional board members will be of great value for this phase of growth and development. Would you or someone you know be interested in joining the board team?Continue Reading
Save LGBTQ History
What a year this has been! A pandemic that has taken so many lives and disrupted our social routines. A deeply divisive election campaign. The continuing exposure of police violence, especially against African Americans. The immediacy and emotional toll of these events can make it seem as if we areContinue Reading
Due to the Mayor's Advisory that went into effect November 16, we will only be open for Researchers by appointment. To make an appointment, please email info@gerberhart.org at least 24 hours before you plan to visit. Hours for appointments are Wednesdays and Thursday 6 pm to 9 pm, Fridays 12Continue Reading
Q: Activism at the Margins of Identity
Emerging as an outgrowth of the AIDS pandemic and the activism it brought forth, the 1990s saw a new wave of advocacy sweep through queer communities in Chicago and across the country. Political hostility, gay-for-pay media representation, and ongoing threats of physical violence pushed queer identities to the margins ofContinue Reading
Comic Book Exhibit
The exhibit displays comics from a span of nearly 50 years, examining three themes in particular: style and identity, AIDS, and anger. The exhibit includes work from cartoonists like Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse, as well as comics produced by government agencies and mainstream publishers. The exhibit is on displayContinue Reading


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Would you eat Low-carb potatoes or exercise self control with regular spuds?
Or rather in the paddock, with a recent addition to the potato family. These "new" spuds, Lotatoes, were introduced to New Zealand in 2017 and are now available country wide. This is a product driven by an awareness of the Low-Carb way of eating – and its effects on potato growers. Top nutritionist, Abbie O'Rourke, says, "Recent trends have put potatoes out of favour with many, often replaced with lower carbohydrate or lower calorie alternatives. Lotatoes puts them back at the top of the shopping list.".
As consumer trends move toward a more balanced approach to nutrition and diet, choosing foods that elicit a lower glycemic response, is important. Basically, we eat low-carb diets to keep our blood sugar stable and Lotatoes have significantly less carbohydrates than ordinary potatoes.
These new potatoes have been produced by cross-breeding different varieties from Holland, and then have been grown sustainably in NZ. These are naturally grown and not genetically modified (GM) products as are some other varieties of potatoes obtainable from overseas. Lotatoes contain 40% less carbs, are low calorie and have a "melt in your mouth taste". They can be used just like your common potato variety and can be enjoyed boiled, mashed or baked. They are described as perfect for healthy meal options that fit into all active lifestyles. According to Fresh.co (an export representative group for NZ Growers and cheer leader for the fresh food industry), these will get "health fanatics worldwide, who lambast the humble potato, to eat their words and our new potato".
Interestingly the Lotatoes web site goes on to explain that Lotatoes are also more environmentally friendly than your usual spud as they have a growing cycle that is 25% shorter than other varieties which means less water requirements. They are also a lot smaller than other varities.
Although this is a new low-carb brand launched in NZ, it is not the only one available. SpudSmart of Canada reports that other brands derived from the Netherlands low-carb strain of Carisma were launched Australia in 2011 along with the Carbsmart variety in Ontario, Canada in 2016.
So how do the nutritional claims stack up?
Potatoes basically do not contain fat. However the way potatoes are cooked can alter their basic nutritional value. For example roasted potatoes have 5g of added fat, a potato baked in the jacket with added sour cream has 7g, and deep fried chips contain 10 – 14g of fat. Nonetheless our plain old potato's Protein/Fat/Carbohydrate (PFC) count is 2.1 (P), 0.2 (F) and 18.2 (C) per 100g, while Lotatoes NZ producers report a count of 1.4 (P), < 1 (F) and 9.8 (C) per 100g for the new brand. An interesting alternate choice, if you like mashed spuds, is the instant kind. These are quite popular (just look at the Colonel's famous "hot and creamy" mashed potato side) and a commercial product available at the supermarket, Mashed Plain, which are 83% Potato with added Milk, Butter, Salt, and Spices, show a PFC of 2.3 (P), 4.5 (F) and 17.3 (C) per 100g. As a result we can see that there is a significant difference in the carb content between Lotatoes, regular varieties and the instant brand.
Sounds great!? Is it worth it?
Generally you would expect a financial impost for innovations such as this, but surprisingly the price compared positively. Checking out this week's prices at Countdown (May 2018), shows that the Lotatoes are priced at $3.50 a kg, which is the same as the loose fresh White Washed potatoes. If your budget only stretches to the common Countdown White Washed Potatoes though, at $1.75 per kilo, you will be paying twice as much. When compared to the more up market pre-packed spud, Fresh Produce Lucky Sod Potatoes Baby Boilers (at $4.99 per Kilo), you find that the low carb alternative are more economical! In the weekly shop you could also get a 1kg of Select Potatoes Mashed Plain for $3.50 as well. Again the same as the Lotatoes !
Do we really need these types of innovations though?
The development behind these products has been driven by the popularity of the LCHF trend and a greater awareness of what healthy eating is, along with maintaining the potato growers market share. "Potandons", producer of the Carbsmart LC variety, director of Product Marketing, Carter Bray, said they are confident these products can appeal to both millennials and baby boomers. Though they both think of health differently, millennials will be looking for healthier options as they begin having families and start cooking for children, while baby boomers may start to keep a closer on eye on health as they age.
Healthy Food Guide nutritionist Claire Turnbull agrees eating too much of the wrong types of starchy foods can contribute to weight problems but believes the tendency with low-carb potatoes is that people will just eat more because they have less carbs. She goes on to say that if you are eating the normal every day spud, the easy answer is to just eat less of them!
It's not that potatoes are bad. No food is good or bad. Mindful eating is as important as being non-obsessive. It comes down to how you prepare your spuds and how much you have of them. Enjoy these new varieties, as much as you would enjoy any other potato, but remember portion size and what you add to them will make a difference to how good they are for you. There is no need to stop eating your regular potato! Lotatoes may sound tempting when it comes to weight loss, but the risk of buying manufactured 'low carb foods' is that people could end up eating more than a recommended portion, and in so, negating the benefits, to get the same feeling of satiety.
The results: 44% answered that they would "as I need every little bit of help I can get."; 32% answered that they probably would depending on the texture and taste; but only 24% would not "because they felt having self control eating normal potatoes is the key". It is a bit sad to see that only 1 in 4 feels that self control is the significant answer to our obesity and health issues.
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Melt butter and cook onions and garlic until softened. Add collard greens and toss until wilted. Add broth and simmer 45 minutes or until very tender. Stir in vinegar.
Spread half the bread slices with mayo and top each with 2 oz collard greens, shredded cabbage, a Crispanko portion and cheese.
Run under salamander/electric broiler until cheese melts and cover with other bread slice.


Bill Koska has been involved with owners of all types of horses, some of which were National Champions in their discipline, trainers, stable owners, individuals, veterinarians, the USEF and property owners with issues regarding horses. He has negotiated purchase and sale agreements, drafted lease and release agreements, settled and litigated cases involving riders injured on horseback. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation regarding injury cases.
He has represented horse owners in defense of doping allegations brought by various organizations. He has represented veterinarians in malpractice claims involving horses and treatment of horses, as well as the death of horses and mares in foal who died and lost their foal. Some of these cases involved high profile individuals, and others were just horsepeople.
Because of Bill's competition background with horses, and having his own horse business for many years, he is uniquely qualified to handle these kinds of issues.
Mr. Koska has represented horse owners in purchase and sale of horses, including advisement on pre-purchase exams and drafting of agreements for sale. He has litigated against the USEF. He has represented horse owners against allegations of doping. He has advised horse owners regarding insurance claims.
Mr. Koska has represented stable owners in trials and cases alleging negligence in the renting of horses, matters involving drafting of releases, failure to pay board, and general bailment law with reference to horses.
He is National Counsel for International Riding Helmets: He has defended all types of injury claims based on helmet issues.
Mr. Koska has represented injured persons against stables and other horse owners when the facts warranted it. He has also represented and advised horse owners re: allegations of negligence and trespass/nuisance for the actions of horses they own, whether on the owners property or elsewhere.