text:
Intentionally, and with Precision
Cada Guaraguao Tiene Su Pitirre
Is Not a Language
Bernard Hopkins: Alien
Book Review: 'Heart of the Order,' Edited by Gabriel Fried
Book Review: 'Ropes,' by Derrick Harriell
Issue 1 : Winter 2014
Issue 2 : Spring/Summer 2014
Issue 3: Fall 2014
"...but in joy create for others the house, the poem, the game of athletic beauty" — Dudley Randall
by sarah kennedy
Illustration by Nicholas Rosal
The pastime that Americans call stone skipping, or rock skipping, is known by many names across the world. In Denmark, it's called smutting. In the UK, ducks and drakes. In many languages, the term translates to something involving frogs—little frogs, frog jumps, letting the frogs out, etc. Whatever it's called, it is a thing that's long been done wherever there are stones and water. But is it a sport? By most criteria that call golf a sport—it involves the body, it can be competitive, it relies on skill—it's hard to see what would disqualify stone skipping from the same designation. Still, for most people who have stood barefoot along a lake shore, a beer in one hand, skimming a stone or two while waiting for the charcoal on the grill to heat up, the term "sport" sounds like a stretch, not to mention "state championship," "nationals," and "world record." Then again, this is a world of hot dog eating championships, of blue ribbons awarded to the largest squash, of cockroach racing and thumb wrestling. Where there is a chance to win, people will compete.
The Rock in River Festival is held every year in Franklin, Pennsylvania, eighty miles north of Pittsburgh. It's one of a handful of elite stone skipping championships in the country, and my boyfriend Mike and I attended in the summer of 2013 because his friend Eric would be competing for the third time. Mike didn't want to miss the chance to support him. I was happy to go along. I wanted to know: Is stone skipping more like rock-paper-scissors or golf? Is it a skill and a craft, undertaken with reverence and honed with dedication, or is it a little bit of a joke? What does it mean to the people who partake? As I often do, I assumed this somewhat enigmatic enterprise was hiding some wisdom about the meaning of life.
Mike, our dog and I drove to Franklin the morning of the competition, and we arrived over an hour late. Google told us it would take almost six hours to get there from Philadelphia, but somehow we didn't believe it. It's hard to remember that Pennsylvania is so big when I can't think of more than three or four landmarks between Philly and Pittsburgh—as if my knowledge of a place should be proportional to its real size. In fact, the state is vast, comprising 46,000 square miles, 2562 municipalities, and thirteen million people. If I met five hundred new Pennsylvanians every day of my life, I would be well over a hundred before I met them all. That morning, we hurried past all of it, sure that what mattered was waiting in Franklin.
When we finally pulled into town, my eyes were locked on the printout of turn-by-turn directions, so I failed to notice the large hand-written sign for the Rock in River Festival. Mike's head swiveled in the direction of its large arrow.
"Oh, it's right there. See it? That must be it right there."
And there it was, a grassy riverside expanse next to a playground and a small parking lot. I expected that parking would be a problem for late arrivals, but I was wrong. It's not that the place was empty. There were probably fifty or sixty cars parked along the lawn, a handful with out-of-state plates. But I've seen bigger crowds at the annual rutabaga-curling competition in Ithaca, New York, in which peeled rutabaga are hurled toward a target along the wooden floor of a Farmer's Market pavilion.
"Are you sure this isn't a handicapped spot? Can we really park this close?"
We could.
Walking from the car toward a cluster of pop-up tents, we passed an old minivan with open doors. A teenager standing beside the van talked to a man in the passenger seat, rattling off a list of the things he had spent money on so far—five dollars for a plate of chicken, three dollars for ice cream, a dollar for some water. Two women stood next to the van wearing little black bonnets and long plaid cotton dresses. They looked Amish. The contents of the open hatch—a pile of purple and yellow balloon animals and two cases of Pepsi—seemed incongruous with the women's clothing, but I realized that I had no idea whether the Amish drank soda. Perhaps it made perfect sense.
We had missed the entire amateur division, but I wasn't too concerned. The pros had yet to begin, and there would be some big names participating: world record holder Russ "Rock Bottom" Byars; former world record holder Kurt "Mountain Man" Steiner, who won the previous two years; and our friend Eric Henne, the young guy from Ithaca who appeared out of nowhere at the Franklin championship in 2011 and nearly beat Steiner in 2011 and 2012.
"The question I began by asking myself—is this a serious thing or is it a joke—was the wrong question to ask. The question itself presumed that it couldn't be both, that you can't have a sense of humor about a thing you work hard at, that silliness and dedication can't coexist. "
Eric is tall and lanky, with a long protruding chin and light blue eyes that gleam beneath dark bushy eyebrows. When he laughs, his square shoulders bounce up and down and his mouth opens into a shape that looks like it could have been drawn by a child—upper and lower lips curving into parallel semicircles that recede into deep creases on the sides. He looks a little like Gumby, if Gumby sported a five o'clock shadow and a Marlboro. He dropped out of college after a couple years and moved back home to Ithaca, where he worked as a waiter and bartender and now managed one of our favorite bars. Sometimes he talked about getting out of Ithaca, but it's the kind of town that sucks you in. I lived in Ithaca for nine years before moving to Philadelphia, and now, in the humid cloak of city summers, I long for the cool of its lakes and waterfalls. It's easy not to leave, even when you know it's time for a change.
Four or five years ago, Mike told me that Eric is serious about rock skipping.
"What do you mean by 'serious'?"
It seemed to me that the serious pursuit of rock skipping must come hand in hand with a deep current of ironic humor, like a young Brooklynite's serious pursuit of growing a mustache. But Eric is not an ironic guy. His humor is straightforward and earnest.
"Like, does he train?"
"Oh yeah. He's incredibly good. He could potentially set a world record."
In 2011, Eric appeared at the Franklin championship for the first time. As an unknown, he competed first in the amateur division. Any amateur who skips twenty-five times is automatically qualified forever to compete as a pro. Eric did so easily, scoring a 33 and winning the division by five skips. Later in the afternoon, he threw stones as a "professional," while his then-girlfriend stood on the grassy hill, the words "Eric Henne makes my heart skip" emblazoned across her white T-shirt in black Sharpie marker.
The pros that day in 2011 included "Rock Bottom" Byars and "Mountain Man" Steiner. Byars, the current Guinness World Records holder with fifty-one skips, is a big guy with a broad barrel chest and skinny legs. Whenever he competes, he wears a t-shirt that says "Skips Rocks for Fudge." His thick blond hair always looks like it's at an awkward stage of growing out a crew cut—the top spraying up in various directions like a water fountain on the fritz. He looks like an overgrown child, friendly and lacking hard edges.
Steiner, who held the record before Byars, is four or five inches shorter and of a much slighter build. He has a frizzy gray beard and wears his hair in a low ponytail. He's not old—pictures from ten years ago show him with a full head of dark brown hair that's slowly grayed over the last decade of stone skipping competitions and world record battles. He's probably in his early fifties, same as Byars, but he looks craggy and weathered next to Byars' doughy blond curves.
Elite stone-skipping seems to be a small club, with a couple dozen guys who travel to a few major contests and trade championship titles back and forth. New faces are rare. Eric came out of nowhere when he threw his final stone on that August afternoon in 2011, and so perhaps the judges couldn't accurately process the unexpected event transpiring before their eyes. It's not a straightforward business counting skips that recede into the distance with pitty-pats that come fast and close, the stone looking more like it's gliding across the water than making individual points of contact that can be counted. Beyond twenty-five skips or so, you can no longer definitively count the individual skips without filming, so the numbers at a competition like this, judged by the naked eyes of three guys in Hawaiian shirts, can sometimes feel like they're being pulled out of thin air. It's usually possible to determine whether one skip is better than another, based on duration and distance, but the numbers eventually start to feel arbitrary and subjective. In 2011, Eric's final throw was announced at 37, but multiple bystanders claimed that it was longer than that. People said it seemed longer than Mountain Man's 39 from the first round, but it was hard to be sure. Eric took 2nd place. Later that afternoon, walking from one Franklin bar to another, he was greeted by a drunken local who shouted across the street, "You were fucking robbed!"
In 2012, Eric returned. Each competitor threw six stones, one at a time over the course of six rounds. After all the stones were thrown, the contest was locked in a three-way tie with 40 skips each for Eric, Mountain Man, and a lesser-known named Paul Fero. To break a tie, they look to each contender's second-highest skip. For Mountain Man, it was a 39. For Eric, a 37. Once more, Mountain Man took first place and Eric took second.
It wasn't hard to locate Eric. He was flanked by his girlfriend, Karen, and friends Micah and Matt, who had driven the five hours from Ithaca with him that morning and would serve as both his supporters and competitors this year. If the name "Mountain Man" wasn't already taken as a stone-skipping moniker, Micah could have snatched it for himself. His cherubic face was buried behind a frizzy orange beard and thick yellow hair the color of straw that stood in place when he ran his hands through it, which he often did while spouting philosophy or quoting the Greeks. He was a loud know-it-all with a twinkle in his eye, and while he knew that he was unlikely to reach Eric's level of mastery with a stone, he hoped he could make a decent showing. Matt, a short stocky guy with olive skin and a shaved head, was the forty-year old uncle of another of their friends. He relished his dual identity as a high school English teacher and a father who partied with his daughters and nieces and nephews. At a party, he was as likely to be found playing beer pong as holding court in a lawn chair, reciting a soliloquy from King Lear. For stone-skipping, he wore a Bob Marley t-shirt and long cargo shorts. After failing to make it out of the amateurs in 2012, that morning Matt redeemed himself with a high skip of 32 and would be competing alongside Micah and Eric in the afternoon.
They were about to walk into town for a beer in the hour before the pro division began. Wanting to make sure I experienced as much of the festival as possible, I hesitated. If we left now, I would miss my chance to see any of the rock painting competition, to guess the weight of "Skippy the Rock," or to pet the animals in the small petting zoo, and I wondered if I would fail to decipher the je ne sais quoi of a stone-skipping festival. But the chance for a beer with friends trumped other motives, so I went with the five of them and drank a quick pint on the back lawn of a bar enclosed by a white picket fence. The guys threw back a shot of liquor—Jagermeister for Eric and well gin for Micah—to fortify themselves before the competition. Then we walked back to the park along the main street of Franklin, its large brick buildings and ornate street lamps reminiscent of the town's 19th century oil boom heyday. Back at the festival, I took my seat among spectators—a couple hundred, tops—along a small grassy hillside overlooking the confluence of the Alleghany River and French Creek, where the water was still and the skipping was fine.
Photo by Owen Hunter
The question I began by asking myself—is this a serious thing or is it a joke—was the wrong question to ask. The question itself presumed that it couldn't be both, that you can't have a sense of humor about a thing you work hard at, that silliness and dedication can't coexist. This is a sport with official terminology including the words pitty-pat, skronker, plink, and plonk and a world record holder who started competing in pursuit of the block of fudge given as a prize. The festivals are overseen by an appointee called the High Commissioner of Stone Skipping. Of course it's a little silly. And yet to send a stone skittering across the water thirty or forty or fifty times, eventually fading into flitting bounces more like an insect than a rock? That is very, very hard, and very few people can do it. It requires strength, precision, and technique. Maybe it's other sports that have it all wrong. Maybe stone skippers are rare in their ability to accurately grasp their sport's real significance and insignificance. A thing can be meaningful because it is fun. A person can be serious about a thing without believing that the nation will rise and fall around the tides of his individual successes or failures.
The competition consisted of eighteen men and two women. One woman had driven from Boston because she was looking to up the ante after twice winning a less elite contest in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. She wore a spaghetti strap tank top that revealed most of the tattoo on her right shoulder blade. It was an homage to stone skipping, with several sets of concentric circles decreasing in diameter as they arched up toward her shoulder, like the ripples that radiate from each plink of the stone as it skips into the distance. She wound up like a softball pitcher's windmill, delivering the speed she needed for an impressive twenty-five skips on her final throw. The other woman, an older Franklinite with white hair, wasted no time with the pre-throw chit-chat, theatrics, or centering breaths that delayed most guys' throws by ten or fifteen seconds. She just walked to the water's edge, chucked a couple of stones that skipped fifteen or eighteen times, turned around and walked back to her seat. The announcer, struck by her efficiency and anxious to provide a narrative, commented multiple times that she must have something cooking on the stove, something she needed to return to in the kitchen.
This announcer, Eric Steiner (no known relation to Kurt the Mountain Man), was a thick guy from Michigan who had found his little niche of fame as The Voice of stone skipping competitions, most notably the Mackinac Island, Michigan championship he organizes each summer. Despite an alleged inability to skip a stone himself, he has become the public face of the sport, interviewed by newspapers nationwide as well as for a short human interest piece on National Public Radio. He wore a pale yellow polo from Mackinac Island, which spread tight around his large belly and tucked into khaki shorts. His stream of commentary went uninterrupted for nearly an hour, but for the silences he occasionally afforded skippers about to launch their stones. If his performance was any indication of the culture of the sport, it would seem that trash-talk is the main mode of dialogue between skippers. After a poor throw, The Voice took no mercy.
"Man, I have never seen someone throw a rock like that—it was a kerplop and a zero . . . And that's why you're not a professional . . . Oooh, man, that was ugly."
It seemed likely that the man with the microphone was irritating more people than he was entertaining. He was the only one heckling the skippers, and most folks near me sat quietly. The participants themselves ranged in reactions to bad throws. The old pros, with nicknames like "Rockbottom" and "Stone Whisperer" and "Airtight Alibi," usually grinned and threw up their hands. Their reputations were untouchable and they could afford to laugh off any gaffes. There were a few unknowns with similar attitudes, perhaps the locals who wandered over on a whim. And then there were the folks who struggled to hide their frustration when they choked. A little grimace and a shake of the head as they walked back to the places they were sitting.
After Micah failed to hit twenty on any of his skips, he sat down in front of Mike on the grass, leaning back on his elbows. When the nine-year-old wunderkind who followed him hit 35 on his final throw, Mike leaned forward toward Micah.
"Dude, that kid kicked your ass."
Micah did not respond, so Mike repeated himself. Micah turned his head slightly to the left, enough to peer at us through the far corner of his peripheral vision.
"I heard you," Micah said.
"The stone took a long time to hit the water on its first skip and when it did, it sprang back off the surface and then traced a slow sweeping arc to the left. The stone seemed to slowly lift itself with the air on each ascent and then plunge downward to ping the water and then release, creating a bouncing path by which the stone threaded sky into water."
Eric's first skip was a disappointment—only a 14—but it was beautiful to watch. The stone took a long time to hit the water on its first skip and when it did, it sprang back off the surface and then traced a slow sweeping arc to the left. The stone seemed to slowly lift itself with the air on each ascent and then plunge downward to ping the water and then release, creating a bouncing path by which the stone threaded sky into water. Other guys threw the stones like a line drive, but Eric's had the uncanny path of a curve ball. This one failed to go far, but it felt like watching the creation of a piece of art. As far as scores go, his next three weren't much better—19, 18, and 19 again. He kept hitting a ripple in the water that made the stone hop and lose momentum. Others were having more luck—Mountain Man got a 40 on his first skip, and Dave "Spiderman" Ohmer got a 43 on his third. The Voice took it as his duty to leave as little silence as possible. During a brief lull in the action, he mused that "somebody up above" should be thanked for the day's beautiful weather, and at one point he raised his arm with a flourish, alerting us to a majestic bald eagle flying past.
"It's an osprey," muttered Karen, a veterinary science student.
The last round brought Eric a bit of rally, but it wasn't enough. His final skip was his highest for the day, but at a 35, it wasn't even enough to secure him third place. Matt threw last (scoring a proud 32) and after his final stone, Steiner announced "Spiderman" Ohmer the "unofficial" winner. It was a strange designation as there was no video footage to review, no way to insert any evidence or argument that would determine someone else to be the victor.
Steiner thanked us for coming, and invited us to Mackinac next summer. "Will somebody take that thing away from him," Micah called through the corner of his mouth before Steiner finally let the microphone fall to his side.
In the middle of the competition, Mike went to buy us lunch from one of the vendors and returned with two platters of barbecued chicken, baked beans, and coleslaw. Our dog sat wide-eyed by our feet as we tore pieces of meat off bones and licked our fingers. Two small blond boys approached from behind us and crouched down. "Can we pet your dog?" one asked, and proceeded to cup his palm and pat her back lightly, barely touching her. An even smaller girl, maybe three years old, wearing a bathing suit with a small pink ruffle around the waist, rolled like a log down the small hill beside us, shrieking with laughter. Behind us, the small crowd was rapt. In the moment when a stone was thrown, they grew hushed, as if watching tennis. I turned to my left toward Karen and Eric and snapped a picture. Eric is looking at the camera and grinning, as if he's got everything he needs.
After the trophy ceremony, we went out for another beer on the back patio of a neighborhood bar. Eric, Micah, Matt and Karen had the long drive back to Ithaca ahead, and Mike and I were heading to the Alleghany National Forest to camp for the night. We were all vaguely aware of the drives and the destinations ahead, but it was hard to leave. I figured that Eric's mediocre performance would disappoint him, but he seemed happy and relaxed. Nobody talked about stone-skipping anymore. The event, only an hour in the past, seemed ultimately inconsequential—not that it didn't have meaning, but that it didn't change anything. Even if Eric had won, he would be blessed with a distinction that would mean nothing to all but a handful of folks in the world. In a way, it all started to feel almost spiritual—the striving for a thing that changes no one but yourself. I came hoping to understand this stone-skipping endeavor as if I could distill it into something with meaning for others. But perhaps this misses the point. That morning, as we approached the exit off Route 80 that would take us toward Franklin, we passed a blue two-tiered sign along the highway, the kind where they list the restaurants and gas stations at the next exit. It was completely blank but for the word "attractions" at the top. "There are things to do here," I imagined it to say, "but you can find them for yourself. You decide where meaning lies."
Since the filing of this piece, Guinness World Records has certified a new world record for Most Skips of a Skimming Stone: Maxwell Steiner skipped a stone sixty-five times in Franklin, PA, in August 2014, surpassing Byars' 2007 record by fourteen skips. Byars witnessed and filmed the event.
SARAH KENNEDY currently lives in Philadelphia and teaches at Rutgers University Camden. She previously worked as a lexicographer, a travel writer, a waitress, a bartender, and an amusement park ride operator. She holds a BA from Harvard and an MFA from Rutgers-Camden. She has essays forthcoming in Chautauqua Magazine and Under the Sun.
Copyright © 2014 Some Call It Ballin'
Cover images by Owl's Flight and Sean Winters


text:
Home>Collection>Hippocrates [reverse]
Milanese 16th Century
Hippocrates [reverse], c. 1552
overall (diameter): 4.9 cm (1 15/16 in.)
gross weight: 49.3 gr (0.109 lb.)
axis: 6:00
Samuel H. Kress Collection
1957.14.1018.b
Milanese 16th Century (artist)
around circumference in Greek: the gift of the Hellas which he saved
Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his heirs; purchased with the entire Dreyfus collection 9 July 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 31 January 1944 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1957 to NGA.
[1] The Duveen Brothers Records document the firm's sixteen year pursuit and eventual acquisition of the Dreyfus collection, which included paintings, sculptures, small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. Bequeathed as part of his estate to Dreyfus' widow and five children (a son and four daughters), who had differing opinions about its disposition, the collection was not sold until after his widow's death in April 1929. Duveen did not wish to separate Dreyfus' collection of small bronzes, medals, and plaquettes, and it was sold intact to the Kress Foundation for a price that was met by installment payments every three months. (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 301, box 446, folders 3 and 4; reel 302, box 447, folders 1-6; reel 303, box 448, folders 1 and 2; reel 330, box 475, folder 4.) See also George Francis Hill's discussion "A Note on Pedigrees" in his catalogue, The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Medals, Oxford, 1931: xii, which was commissioned by Duveen Brothers.
Dreyfus, Gustave
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Pollard, John Graham. Renaissance Medals. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. 2 vols. Washington, 2007: 1:no. 487, repro.
Associated Records
Gianfrancesco Martignoni, Milanese Physician [obverse]
1957.14.1018.a

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Santa's Live Reindeer Cam – Watch the Reindeer Live!
This is one of the best Christmas Freebies!
The Holiday's are almost here. Check out this great Christmas freebie, sure to warm your kiddo's hearts. Check out Santa's Live Reindeer Cam and watch Santa feed his reindeer each day at 11:00 am, 6 pm, and 9 pm est.


text:
Photo: Tahiti Tourism
12 things you didn't know about The Islands of Tahiti
Culture Guides Trip Planning French Polynesia
Becca Blond
in paid partnership with
THE NAME "TAHITI" likely evokes images of palm trees, white-sand beaches, and turquoise lagoons — which is totally accurate. But the postcard version of a place is never anywhere near the whole story. Here are 12 things you might not know about these legendary South Pacific islands and atolls.
Photo: Shi Devotion
1. It's home to the world's most unique vineyard.
Yes, it's possible to establish a vineyard on a coral atoll. And The Islands of Tahiti are the only place in the world to have one. Check out Vin de Tahiti in Rangiroa for white wines and rosés produced in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
2. Overwater bungalows were invented here.
Photo: Martin Valigursky/Shutterstock
The Islands of Tahiti are the birthplace of the overwater bungalow. The first were built on Raiatea at the Bali Hai Hotel in 1967, and soon after they appeared on nearby Moorea as well. Today, they're synonymous with luxury escapes and are found on most tropical islands because…well, just look at them.
3. "Tahiti" is way more than just one island.
The Islands of Tahiti cover a vast area in the South Pacific — about the same size as Western Europe, in fact — and encompass 118 islands and atolls across five different archipelagos. There is so much to explore.
4. And all of them are closer than you think.
Tahiti and all those surrounding islands sit about midway between California and Australia — you can get here on an eight-hour flight from Los Angeles. The islands are on the same side of the International Date Line as North America (so no head scratching when you're looking at airline itineraries), and they're actually in the same time zone as Hawaii, making jet lag minimal.
5. The tiare is more than just a pretty flower.
The fragrant white tiare flower is the symbol of The Islands of Tahiti and is worn by both men and women as a necklace, head ornament, or behind the ear. Which ear the flower is placed behind is determined by whether one is single or taken: Place the flower on your left ear if you're attached, or you can always ask a Tahitian where you should wear it if you're ready to mingle.
6. This is one of the most newly inhabited places on Earth.
The Islands of Tahiti were among the last places on the planet to be settled by humans. No one really knows why early peoples migrated here or even where they originated from, but the first evidence of humans is dated about a thousand years later than anywhere else in the world. The islands were also among the last to be colonized by Europeans.
7. Tahiti was home to food trucks way before they were cool.
Long before the food truck became a staple in the hippest cities around the world, The Islands of Tahiti were ahead of the game with the roulotte. These food trucks can still be found almost everywhere around the main island of Tahiti, especially on the Papeete waterfront, and they serve everything from crepes to waffles, Chinese to burgers and fries.
8. You can experience a "spa-within-a-spa."
Photo: Tahiti Tourisme
Peaceful lagoon waters, air scented with vanilla and tropical flowers…The Islands of Tahiti are the ultimate in tranquility. In fact, relaxing here can feel a bit like being in a spa. So when you go to one of the islands' spas — you've got it — you're basically in a "spa-within-a-spa." There are over a dozen across The Islands of Tahiti, and they all make the most of the islands' natural bounty; local treatments utilize Polynesian oils, fresh flowers, vanilla body washes, banana leaf body wraps, and deep ocean water treatments.
9. The word "tattoo" originated here.
In Polynesian culture, tattoos have long been considered signs of beauty, and in earlier times they were ceremoniously applied when an individual reached adolescence. Even today, about 60% of French Polynesians have a tattoo. The word originated here with the god of tattoo, Tohu, who legend has it passed down instructions for painting all the oceans' fish in beautiful colors and patterns.
10. The Tahitian alphabet contains only 13 letters.
It's made up of the vowels "a," "e," "i," "o," and "u," and the consonants "f," "h," "m," "n," "p," "r," "t," and "v." There's no "b" in the Tahitian alphabet, which is why locals pronounce Bora Bora "Pora Pora." The meaning of the island's name? "First born."
11. Paul Gauguin spent his final years here.
The famous French painter spent his twilight years on The Islands of Tahiti and is buried in the Marquesas on the island of Hiva Oa. You can visit the Japanese-styled Gauguin Museum (it will re-open after renovations in June 2016) in Harrison Smith Botanical Gardens to learn more about the post-Impressionist and see many of his original sketches, engravings, photos, documents, and prints.
12. Tahiti's biggest export is way more interesting than oil or gas.
A country's biggest exports tend to be practical resources like fossil fuels or minerals. But The Islands of Tahiti harvest something way more beautiful and unique: Tahitian cultured pearls. They grow almost exclusively in French Polynesia's warm lagoons, and you can learn all about judging their value according to color, shape, and size at the Robert Wan Pearl Museum in Papeete. Then go ahead and choose your own at the black pearl farms in Manihi, Rangiroa, Raiatea, and Huahine.
This post is proudly produced in partnership with Tahiti Tourisme.
Culture Guides Trip Planning French Polynesia Tahiti: More Than an Island


text:
La simetría CPT es un principio fundamental de invariancia o simetría de las leyes físicas que establece que bajo transformaciones simultáneas que involucren la inversión de la carga eléctrica, la paridad y el sentido del tiempo las ecuaciones de evolución temporal de un proceso físico y las de un proceso análogo en que:

 Conjugación de carga (C).Todas las partículas se sustituyen por sus correspondientes antipartículas.
 Inversión de paridad (P). Se invierte la paridad espacial de proceso (esto tiene que ver con el intercambio de derecha e izquierda, y con el cambio en el espin de las partículas).
 Inversión temporal (T). Se invierte el sentido del tiempo.

son invariantes y vienen descritos por las mismas ecuaciones y arrojan los mismos resultados. Este último resultado se conoce como teorema CPT que afirma que toda teoría cuántica de campos local que presente covariancia de Lorentz y venga definida por un Hamiltoniano hermítico, es invariante bajo una transformación CPT.

Historia
Las investigaciones a fin de los años 1950 revelaron la violación de la simetría P por algunos fenómenos que implican campos de la fuerza nuclear débil, y hay violaciones bien conocidas de la simetría C y T también. Por un tiempo corto, la  simetría combinada CP se creyó preservada por todos los fenómenos físicos, pero se encontró, más adelante, que también era violada. Hay un teorema que deriva la preservación de la simetría CPT para todos los fenómenos físicos si se asume la corrección de las leyes de la mecánica cuántica. Esta simetría se reconoce como una propiedad fundamental de las leyes físicas.

Referencias

Física nuclear y de partículas
Simetría en física
Ciencia de 1954

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, Japan, 1931–1941, Volume I
[618] Memorandum by the Secretary of State
[ Washington ,] January 12, 1939.
611.9431/170
[619] Extract from Address Delivered by the Under Secretary of State on "Some Aspects of Our Foreign Relations" at New York on January 27, 1939
New York, January 27, 1939
[620] Memorandum by the American Ambassador in Japan (Grew) of a Conversation With the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (Arita)
[ Tokyo ,] February 17, 1939.
793.94/14859
[621] The American Ambassador in Japan ( Grew ) to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Arita )
Tokyo , March 11, 1939.
[622] The Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Arita ) to the American Ambassador in Japan ( Grew )
[ Tokyo ,] April 13, 1939.
[623] The Counselor of Embassy in China ( Lockhart ) to the Secretary of State
Peiping , April 18, 1939—2 p.m.
[Received 6:44 p.m.]
893.77/3211: Telegram
[624] Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State
[ Washington ,] April 20, 1939.
[625] The Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in Japan
893.102S/1823
[626] Memorandum by the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
[ Tokyo ,] May 13, 1939.
[627] The American Embassy in Japan to the Japanese Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Tokyo , May 17, 1939.
[628] Oral Statement by the Counselor of Embassy in Japan (Dooman), Accompanying Aide-mémoire of May 17, 1939
[629] Press Release Issued by the Department of State on May 17, 1939
[630] Extract From the Report of the American Embassy in Japan for May 1939
894.00 P. R./138
[631] The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Japan ( Dooman )
Washington , June 2, 1939—7 p.m.
893.102/77: Telegram
[633] The American Chargé in Japan ( Dooman ) to the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Arita )
Tokyo , June 12, 1939.
Tokyo , August 17, 1939.
893.51 Con-Ob/46
[ Washington ,] August 26, 1939.
[636] The Japanese Ambassador ( Horinouchi ) to the Secretary of State
[637] The Department of State to the Japanese Embassy
[ Washington , September 5, 1939.]
[638] Press Release Issued by the Department of State on October 18, 1939
[639] Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton)
[ Washington ,] November 14, 1939.
711.94/1354
Japan, 1931–1941
Occupation of Manchuria by Japan and statement of policy by the United States (Documents 1-117)
Military action by Japan at Shanghai, 1932 (Documents 118-163)
Further Japanese political and economic penetration into China, 1934–1936 (Documents 164-179)
Abandonment by Japan of cooperation with other powers in efforts for limitation of naval armaments: (Documents 180-227)
Japan's undeclared war in China and further Japanese penetration by armed force or threat of force: (Documents 228-332)
Bombings of civilians by the Japanese and other acts endangering the life and welfare of American citizens in China: (Documents 333-544)
Representations to the Japanese Government with respect to the integrity of the Chinese Maritime Customs and Salt Revenue Administration (Documents 545-577)
Acts of Japan in occupied China interfering with American treaty rights and equality of commercial opportunity: (Documents 578-676)
1939 (Documents 618-639)
Statements by the Secretary of State of the policy of the United States to relinquish by agreement extraterritorial rights in China (Documents 677-679)
Abbreviations & Terms


FPS Controls. 1 Health, 1 Level, 1 Upgrade per rebuild. Upgrades persist. Refine your prototype, and escape the arena.
I had a lot of trouble with this theme, so you ended up with a misc shooter. My vision was far too ambitious for a 48-hour comp, so the level is underdeveloped, and most features weren't implemented. Apologies.
I love the use of the theme. One hp, a lot of retry and I finally left the castle ;) It's fun to boost the speed and jump. Also, the music was perfect for the game!
That's alright. It's a prototype, the vast majority of games are, especially 3D games. And the games that do get polished tend to be very simple games in their mechanics. I'm not saying that as going against those games, but the difference has to be acknowledged.
Not a bad attempt, but definitely feels unpolished (not that that's a bad thing - you only had 48 hours, after all). Man, these diamond-things are unfair - they get these crazy lasers and you only have this little...whatever your gun is. I think this isn't a bad concept, it just needs a lot more work - as you said, a bit overambitious.
So I finally beat your game. It was a little frustrating at the beginning when the turrets kill you before you can kill them. I ended up just dying a lot and pumping my top speed and then just ran for the exit.
I think if I had a better way of telling how damaged a turret was it might be helpful so you dont get frustrated as fast.
All in all though, good game!
The levelling/upgrade system looked pretty nice. Sensitivity for the mouse is a little high though.
The upgrade system was very nice. I really liked the difficulty curve and overall idea. I really liked the use of the theme throughout. Would absolutely love to see this fleshed out more!
Thanks for the positive feedback guys. I'm going to have to pull the soundtrack, since there's a loop in there that wasn't created during the 48 hours. During the rush at the end, I threw together the audio, and forgot I couldn't use those loops. I will turn down the mouse sensitivity while I'm at it, since I think that qualified as a bug.
It turned out quite a bit more fun than I expected. Glad you are enjoying it.
Interesting concept, I just upgraded my jumping to three and was able to jump to freedom :P With more time for level design it could be really cool.
Love this. Is like a futuristic paintball game or something, feels like I should be able to do backflips over walls etc. Very cool.
I didn't have much luck attacking enemies so I just ran through the level after grinding a few upgrades. Would be nice if combat and stealth were also practical options. Overall it's a promising game and it'd be interesting to see what it becomes if it gets developed further.
Like it great idea, good fun, the single level could have had more walls and sentinels outside of the corner area. Maybe an autofire would help. As it got tiring having to shoot each sentinel five times fast, ended up just hopping my way out.
Ok, your game was ambitious, but you managed to do something playable in 48h.
The concept is good, you should spend 2 or 3 more days on this, it can came out an addictive game.
By far the worst game I've played today, you just get killed by those weird looking diamond things off of spawn. They don't die, the movement is REALLY sloppy. Awful.
These octahedron guys are creepy as hell when they 'look' at you. Could be a great horror game; perhaps one with some actual gameplay as opposed to our current selection of scary games.
A difficult game but once you get the hang of it I actually enjoyed it a lot. Use of cover is very important!
Wow. That moment when you know that one stray of laser is coming for you. Nicely done!
A cool idea. With the idea of when you die and you get to choose an upgrade, the player will gradually learn the game too. Went well with the theme, good job!
Cool sound and theme. Enjoyed playing. Finally finished by upgrading reload each time.
Whew! Very difficult but I had a lot of fun all the same. The mouse sensitivity was a touch high, but it had excellent graphics, and the music fit very well.
Chill #ss music. Funny concept, I had to play for a while to get the concept though.
I tried to go the rambo route and just max attack rate, way too hard like that. Upgrading acceleration and top speed a bit made it easy to make a mad dash to freedom. Cool concept, hope you get time to flesh it out more.
Definitely a mega ambitious idea! But still... you did well to get something working and playable.
Ambitious, but very good for 48 hours. Had fun playing around with this.
Wow, this got me thinking.
"Do I kill them all, or run away as fast as I can?"
It's a cool game :) Nice one!
Your game is the one I play the longest. Amazing idea!
Don't apologize, you gave your best :) You had a nice idea going on. I like that your game supports multiple play styles: you can gun down every turret in sight, or you can run around and dodge bullets like a ninja.
I liked it. Wish there was more!
A very cool fps. I liked experimenting with the upgrades. After upgrading the reload rate a bunch I could kill them before they started shooting haha. Good job!
Put all my points into top speed and eventually I just ran past everything. Nice job making it so that you could go into almost any upgrade to win.
The mood was awesome. Great concept. I can imagine some pretty crazy levels. Given more time, this game has lots of potential.
This game is hard. It has a really interesting atmosphere mostly because of how the music and sound compliments one another in quality. I really like the crystal models and the way they are shaded.
A nice use of the theme, I guess in some ways it's just a big grind, but I played long enough to get through. Nice music.
really tough, suits the theme!
The enemies start off with an advantage, but were tuned to allow you to surpass them after a moderate number of upgrades. I tried to keep the upgrade paths broad, so people could find their own way to succeed. The lack of content really gutted the depth of the upgrade features, but I'm glad that most everyone caught of glimpse of what it could be.
The crystals can be killed. The blue/purple ones take 5 hits. It sounds like some sort of health indicator was very much needed. Also, auto-fire. Good call on both of those suggestions.
You may have noticed the soundtrack has returned. I asked around the IRC channel; since the synth loops were part of a sound font, and the actual music is built from them, it falls under the guideline of sampled instruments. Yay music.
Also, I've turned down the mouse sensitivity. Unity3D mouse settings are a bit weird, even with my custom mouselook script, and it's difficult to find a setting that'll play nice with both a standard optical mouse as well as an advanced gaming mouse. I should probably default to including a mouse sensitivity adjustment in every game from now on.
The graphics are all default primitives from within Unity3D, using the stock shaders, and simple textures; the exception being the crystal enemy, which was a rather rudimentary custom mesh.
I'm seeing a lot of comments suggesting interest in continued development. That can be arranged if you guys are actually interested, and not just caught up in the enthusiasm of the event. Is there something here you'd want to play if it were built out more?
Those pesky, pesky cyclopean-bot-things! This was fun, I loved it.
Tremendously frustrating, but engaging enough to keep me from quitting. Love the use of theme and upgrade mechanics (which took me a while to realize lol)!
Pretty interesting and cool game. Love the use of theme in this one. And creating a 3D in this time is also awesome!
Only thing that bothered me were the controls. Very hard to explain why, but it just felt off and not a very good control system fps wise.
Great use of theme! The choice you provide the player was quite compelling as well, though i couldn't imagine having to shoot down that many evil tetrahedrons!
That was hard. I like the idea very much especially that it gets easier over time, but I would like to have it more tactical. I haven't found a way to reliable kill robots which are directly behind a wall.
Niche soundtrack, good idea, good realization.
Well done, it was very interesting and a good level of progression. Very well done.
20 minutes in the same lelvel without win.. but its awsome!
Like you said this was somewhat too ambitious... but feel there could be a start of something nice here.
I really like the upgrade system. It made me want to keep playing.
1/1/1 is all you get. Fair enough.
I love the diversion in the tactics player could utilize to win. I personally liked to max fire rate and destroy enemies and hide before they could even see me!
A bit difficult. Controls and accelerations need minor tweaking imho. Nice idea with the upgrades!
It's very difficult! But sounds and graphics are cool!
This game is awsome, it inspired me to make a game with this type of theme. keep making amazing games!


On this week's show we're going to take a look at the EU's new data protection laws. We're also gearing up for Alexander Gerst's launch to the ISS.
Some of you may have heard that there's a certain 'European of German descent' floating above your head right now, but many of you won't really know how the heck Alexander Gerst got there.
Will the UK win the space race and become the first European country with its own spaceport on European soil? Host Jessie Wingard meets an amateur radio operator connecting Earth with the International Space Station.


This is the debut volume of the Matsui Fuyuko in 2002. Seemingly since this work title is used for the subtitle of this exhibition, this work is a work with intensity strong also for her. The art museum assigned one booth for exhibition of this work. The art museum built the space into which this work goes entirely. So, the appreciation person can confront each other from a work and the front in a booth. I was actually able to face to this work alone in the inside in the state where it was made leisurely. I received the strong impression in the size of this work, and the force of the detail closely drawn with fine workmanship then. I describe this later.
This is the Matsui winter child's feature which I consider first. She constitutes a work like Western modern pictures, and draws by the technique of a Japanese painting. The painter of a classic Japanese painting values the blank which nothing draws. He gives a spatial spread to pictures by utilizing this blank. Matsui hardly makes a blank with a characteristic Japanese painting in this work. She draws countless Fuji's flower instead of being blank. Fuji's flower which she drew has filled 90 percent of the area of this work. What those who look at this work are reminded of from this is the dense closed space characteristic of Western pictures. However, you will find out the feature which is not in Western pictures in this work, when you look at this work. You will be overwhelmed by the force of a picture at a glance, if you look at matiere oil painting which drew and was crowded with the same concentration in the same size as this work. It is force to the extent that he cannot breathe, either. You will be overwhelmed by the force of the work if you look at the great work of a baroque term like Rubens's religious painting. However, when you look at a mural painting thoroughly, you should notice that it is so rough that the details of the work are unexpected. In the usual case, you do not notice the roughness of the details Rubens's great work. That is because you will be overwhelmed by the force of a great work and will not look at it in details to details.
You will appreciate a work thoroughly to details at the same time you feel force for the size of a work, when you look at this work of Matsui unlike such Rubens's religion work. The two reason exists. One of the reasons is paints which she is using for the work. She is using the paints of the Japanese painting. It seems that there is no materiality which the paints of the Japanese painting resemble the watercolors of Western pictures, and accumulates paints on canvas, and it dyes paper by a color. Therefore, if a painter uses the paints of a Japanese painting, paper will be permeated or it will flow. Therefore, it does not carry out the painter of a Japanese painting building a concept beforehand and drawing just like that. Because, even if it tries to draw a picture as he is a concept, the paints to be used do not function on up to their expectations. Therefore, the painter of a Japanese painting draws a picture improvisatorially using paints permeating or flowing. Therefore, those who look at such a Japanese painting do not think the construction nature of the whole work as important. They find whether the painter did skillful use of the portion he paints permeated or flowed, and it made the beautiful work. The paints of the Japanese painting are used with this work of Matsui.
The second of reasons is the light color of paints. Since the paints of a Japanese painting become a solid like an oil-painting implement and do not become hard, they become color light. When you look at this work, you find neither primary color glaringly vivid brightness nor the tense relations of colors.
For the above two reasons, when seeing this work, the なた can see a work thoroughly to details, even if overwhelmed by the size and force of a work. However, I do not want to tell this work that force is insufficient. It is one of the features of this work. When you look at this work, you can also feel force like Rubens's Daisaku, and you can also be simultaneously impressed by them, being able to see the details of this work thoroughly.
According to Matsui's history, she began to study oil painting and changed into the study of the Japanese painting behind. The feature of her work explained here may originate in her history.
When you look at this work by Matsui, even if overwhelmed by the size and force of a work, a work can be thoroughly seen to details. I said that this is the feature of this work by Matsui. It is intentional that Matsui gave this feature to this work. Matsui had a reason which should do so. Matsui wanted people to look at the details of this work thoroughly. Where were the details in which Matsui wanted what people see thoroughly? The details which Matsui wanted to show to people are the flower and something that are obstinately drawn on a background finely in a work and that were crowded. When you often look at a screen, it turns out that Fuji's flower is drawn. However, you notice light purple becoming blackish as you turn the look to the lower one. You will think that the black may be a shadow. Then, you will notice black having an outline clear one by one as a thing, if eyes are elaborated. The black was signs that the bee of hundreds of animals and thousands of animals had extorted from the flower closely. You will think it uncanny that he notices that at last.
By the way, those who look at this picture will not regard the portion of the background of this picture as a background, supposing Matsui draws this work by oil painting. The bee extorted from such much Fuji's that canvas is filled flower and flower is drawn minute, and the portion has too strong presence for using the background of a picture. You will find many bees first, supposing you look at this work drawn by oil painting. Then, you do not feel eeriness for which it presses gradually. When you look at this original work, you should notice the background of this work becoming blackish from light purple first. Then, you will think that you are strange and will gaze at a portion like the black mist under a background. And when you stare at this work, you notice that black mist is many bees gradually. You feel uncanny fear just because you discover the group of a strange bee through such a process.
On the other hand, she will do whether a background is omitted by drawing some Fuji's flowers and bees symbolically except it like light purple mist, supposing Matsui draws this work in a classic Japanese painting. In a classic Japanese painting, a painter does not draw a background obstinately like this work. When you look at this work drawn as a classic Japanese painting, you do not feel the concrete eeriness that there are thousands of bees.
Matsui uses properly and united the feature of oil painting, and the feature of the classic Japanese painting in this work. As a result, this work gained uncanny force and grotesqueness by that.
I adhere to the background in this work. Matsui drew the flower of Fuji, and the group of the bee on the background without the crevice in this work. As a result, she hid the background of this work like curtain, and has lost unfilled space. This means that depth was omitted in this work. You have a field of view restricted and will feel a cooped-up feeling, when you look at this work.
By the way, the title of this work says, "Becoming Friends with All the Children in the World", and you will hear this title and will imagine a spread. You can also hold the image to which the child in the world and the link of a friend develop all over the world from the title of this work. If you look at this work with such image, you not only cannot feel a spread for a work, but will feel a cooped-up feeling. Because you see the depth of a work hidden.
Depiction has betrayed the image of which it is reminded from the language of a title. Those whom that looks at are made to stir up sense of incongruity. The effect of giving a shock of sense of incongruity is a kind of dissimilation. The technique of stirring up dissimilation was utilized by the pictures technique of surrealisme. The artist of surrealisme started the alienation effect from the chain of the image of language by the technique of automatisme, and made the work. For example, Rene Magritte who is one of the typical painters of surrealisme gives some shocks of being strange to those who look at a work by showing what shifted common sense one step partially. People's common sense formed by means of language is the requisite for the shock. People do not have doubt at all to the common sense that this is such things originally. When you look at Magritte's picture, you interpret the contents drawn on the picture by means of language, and compare with your own common sense. As a result, you are met by sense of incongruity. Magritte made full use of a technique in order to change into such a state those who look at a picture. For example, he did not try to draw the work filled by force which causes an excessive pictorial image. Instead, the pictures which are easy to interpret by means of language were made. The pictures which are easy to interpret by means of language are the solid pictures which consisted of required images. Therefore, the pictures which Magritte drew have neither thickness like the design of an illustration, nor presence.
Matsui's work is the same as this. Therefore, Matsui chose the form of the Japanese painting which does not push forward presence. Furthermore, Matsui obtained the result of not making existence assert strongly by choosing light color in this work.
A module is a concept on industrial engineering. For example, when Japanese automakers produce a car, these produce many kinds of vehicle types simultaneously in one factory line. They will make a chassis and parts in common, in order to perform this efficiently. And they make the difference in a vehicle type bring forth by distinguishing only a body design and some parts. They have carried out the difference in how to construct parts to the difference in a vehicle type. Then, they have made hard for them to also have lessened the kind of parts and to have reduced cost, when a car produced however, to make the product which individuality projected by having adopted such a system. And the automaker of Newly Industrializing Economies can imitate a Japanese automaker easily by adopting this system. Then, the automaker of Newly Industrializing Economies caught up with the Japanese automaker violently.
Now, this work of Matsui is superficial like the illustration of a design. At a certain point, this resembles Magritte's pictures. Matsui has standardized like a platform each part article currently drawn in this work. She is not neglectful. It is the opposite thing. Intentionally, in the background of this work, she does not draw each flower and bee of Fuji so that it may be filled independently to presence. If she does such a thing, this work will overflow with Fuji's flowers and bees. If you actually look at this work of Matsui, you will notice each Fuji's flower and bee carefully drawn in this work. In this work, each Fuji's flower and the presence of the bee are thin. If you see this work by a distant view, you will not notice each Fuji's flower, or a bee existence. However, you approach a work, and if it often looks at, you will notice existence Fuji's flower and a majority of bees, and will be surprised. At the time, you imagine the first writer's to draw each fine bee and Fuji's flower vindictive figure, and receive strange impact. The character of the impact which you receive is not the external touch that is seen and is understood immediately but a thing which becomes clear gradually. As a result, you have a deep impression which you do not forget till the future in this work.


text:
Dauphin County Children & Youth Services director: 'Serious mistakes' were made
Updated: Jun. 05, 2015, 1:58 a.m. |
Published: Jun. 05, 2015, 12:58 a.m.
Joe Dougher.JPG
Joe Dougher, interim director of Dauphin County's Children & Youth Services agency, addressed reporters after Dauphin County District Ed Marsico outlined grand jury recommendations to better protect children.
HARRISBURG- Many of the recommendations by a Dauphin County grand jury convened after the maltreatment death of a 9-year-old boy are already in place at the Children & Youth Services agency, the interim director said Thursday.
Joe Dougher, who came back from retirement to head the agency, addressed reporters Thursday immediately after District Attorney Ed Marsico released the grand jury's findings, which excoriated recent changes inside the agency and its lack of training, supervision and management.
Dougher acknowledged that "serious mistakes and errors in judgment were made in the past. This is something everyone" deeply regrets, he said.
Dougher said a gag order and ongoing investigation prevented him from speaking specifically about the death of Jarrod Tutko, Jr., who starved to death last year, alone in his feces-covered room that was locked from the outside. Deputy District Attorney Sean McCormack called it a "dungeon."
Although he couldn't talk about the Tutko case, Dougher said he wanted to talk about changes and corrective measures made by the agency that "we are continuing to implement."
Dougher took over the agency in March as a part-time job after Director Peter Vriens quietly retired. Vriens previously declined to comment about his departure. County officials would not speculate behind the reasons for his retirement.
Marsico said Thursday that Vriens oversaw the restructuring of the agency, including the dismantling of the specialized children's unit, a move the grand jury criticized.
Dougher, who worked in Children & Youth Services for years before retiring in 2012, said one of the biggest problems highlighted in the grand jury report was training.
He said all children and youth managers and caseworkers had since gone through a "thorough home safety assessment course" at Harrisburg Area Community College.
"Additional training covering all aspects of child protection and case investigation is ongoing," he said.
Much of the "improved training," Dougher said emphasizes methods to determine if immediate action is needed.
The grand jury determined workers didn't know what they were looking at, even when faced with a 9-year old boy who weighed less than 17 pounds. McCormack cited another case where a caseworker held a child with numerous broken bones and did not know about the injuries.
Even prior to Tutko's death, the agency had started a team approach to serious cases, Dougher said. The agency now has two teams that oversee child abuse cases, he said.
"These teams are made up of individuals hand-picked for this role," he said. "They provide a plan of action for caseworkers to follow."
Dougher noted the team supervisor now checks progress with a caseworker within 24 hours. The agency also now conducts daily reviews of serious cases and is restarting a quality assurance team to randomly review selected cases.
Another change outlined by Dougher directly addresses a complaint about the Tutko case: that caseworkers didn't visit the third floor of the home where Jarrod Jr. was kept in filthy conditions.
Caseworkers will now perform inspections that involve checking entire homes, Dougher said. The agency also formed a "special team" which will respond to the most extreme cases.
One difficulty facing caseworkers, Dougher said, was that they struggled at times to identify abuse when children suffered from medical conditions. Jarrod Jr., for example, had Fragile X syndrome.
To address this deficiency, Dougher said the agency is working with local hospitals to develop child development training.
Dougher said the agency has also taken steps to better communicate with other child services agencies regarding families that move in and out of various jurisdictions. In the Tutko case, the family had been under scrutiny in Schuylkill County, then New Jersey and in Dauphin County, but important information wasn't always passed along.
While detailing the changes, Dougher reiterated that the agency's goal is still to keep families together "when possible."
Dougher said Tutko's death was not in vain, because the changes being made "will make all Dauphin County's children safer."


You are welcome to call us at anytime at 727-525-9900. Our phone is always answered by a member of our staff who will be happy to answer any questions you may have or schedule a consultation. If you don't need an immediate answer, we have provided a handy e-mail form below that will send us a quick message and we will get back to you in a very timely manner.


Do you find yourself using foundation to cover any facial blemishes, brown spots or broken capillaries, chances are we can clear your skin and free you from make-up and concealer.
If you are looking for that "blank canvas" please visit Glo and our friendly therapist will be more than happy to discuss your skins requirements.
Contact us today for your personalized "Consultation & Assessment".
Our first concern is result and how we can get that perceived result for you.


text:
All About Shias
Discovering Islam
The Five Schools of Islamic Thought
Lantern of The Path
The Treatise On Rights
How To Perform Ghusl
How to Perform Wudhu and Tayammum
How to Perform the Daily Prayers
The Ahlulbayt
Imamat
Imāmate
Biographies of the 14 Infallibles
Major Misconceptions
Events after the Death of Rasool Allah(SA.W.W) to Karbala
A Critical Analysis of Early Caliphate in Islam
The Mahdi (A.J.F)
Women In Islam Versus Women In The Judaeo-Christian Tradition
Ashura – Misrepresentations and Distortions
Lectures on the Quran
Tafsir Of Quran
Al Tafsir
Tafsir of Quran by Allama Sayyid Muhammad Husayn at-Tabataba'i
Taqlid of Maraji
History and Evolution of Taqlid of Maraji
Maraji
Islamic Laws
Sayed Ammar Nakhshawani
Sayed Hossein al Qazwini
Sayed Muhammad Baqer al Qazwini
Sayed Saleh al Qazwini
Sheikh Muhammad Abbas Panju
Supplications and Ziyaraat
Ziyaraat
Online Book Resources
Islamic Mobility
Hujjat Book Shop
Al Murtaza Islamic Foundation
Poetry Of Islam
Shia Of The 12
Development and Relief Foundation
Iraqi Orphan Foundation
The Lady Zainab Trust
The Lady Fatemah Charitable Trust
The Zahra Trust
2nd Chance Books
Home How To Perform Ghusl
Ghusl is a major ablution as opposed to wudhu which is a minor ablution. In Islamic laws, ghusl is considered an act of worship; it is an act of purifying oneself from the ritual impurity (najasat) caused by sexual intercourse, discharge of semen or blood, and by touching the dead body. The ritual bath given to a dead Muslim before burial is also known as ghusl.
The ghusl for each of these causes has different names: Purification from the impurity caused by sexual intercourse or discharge of semen is known as ghusl janabat. Purification from the impurity caused by menstruation is known as ghusl hayd. Purification from the impurity caused by irregular bleeding is known as ghusl istihadah. Purification from the impurity caused by post-natal bleeding is known as ghusl nifas.
In Islamic laws, death is also considered a cause of ritual impurity of a Muslim's body. Therefore, a dead Muslim has to be washed ritually before the burial ceremony. Such a ritualistic bath for a dead Muslim is known as ghusl mayyit. Touching a dead body, before the ritualistic bath, also makes one impure (najis). Purification from this impurity is known as ghusl mass mayyit.
In this chapter we shall explain the method and the general rules of ghusl.
Manner of performing Ghusl
Before explaining the rules of performing the ghusl it is necessary to mention that all the ghusls are performed in the same manner; the difference is only in the niyyat of each ghusl. For example, for purifying oneself from the ritual impurity of sexual intercourse, one has to make the niyyat that `he is doing ghusl janabat'.
Ghusl is a ritual bath; it involves washing of the whole body. There are two methods of performing ghusl. One is known as ghusl tartibi, and the other is known as ghusl irtimasi.
1. Ghusl Tartibi:
"Ghusl tartibi" means an ordinal bath, performed in three stages.
After washing away the najasat (e.g., semen or blood) from the body and after niyyat, the body has to be washed in three stages: First, head down to the neck; then the right side of the body from the shoulder down to the foot; and lastly, the left side of the body.
Each part should be washed thoroughly in such a way that the water reaches the skin. Special care should be taken while washing the head; the hair should be combed (e.g., with your fingers) so that water reached the hair roots. While washing the right side of the body, some part of the left side must be washed too, and also, while washing the left side of the body, some part of the right side must be washed.
2. Ghusl Irtimasi:
"Ghusl irtimasi" means a bath involving immersion of the whole body in the water. It is needless to say that such a ghusl can only be done in a body of water, e.g., a pool, river, lake or sea.
After washing away the semen or blood from the body and after niyyat, the whole body should be completely immersed in the water all at once, not gradually. One has to make sure that the water reaches all parts of the body, including hair and the skin under it.
However, ghusl tartibi is preferred to ghusl irtimasi.
Recommendable acts of Ghusl
What has been mentioned above are the wajib acts of ghusl; here we shall explain the things which are recommendable (mustahab, sunnat) during the ghusl. These recommendable acts are five:
1. Washing both hands up to the elbows three times before the ghusl.
2. Gargling three times.
3. Wiping the hands on the whole body to ensure that every part has been thoroughly washed.
4. Combing the hair with the fingers to ensure that the water reaches the hair-roots..
5. (For men only) Doing istibra' before ghusl janabat. Istibra', in the present context, means "urinating." The benefit of istibra': If a liquid comes out of one's penis after completing the ghusl, and he doubts whether it is semen or urine, then should he repeat the ghusl or not? If he had done istibra' before the ghusl, then he can assume that the liquid is urine -he will not have to repeat the ghusl; he just has to do wudu for his salat. But, on the other hand, if he had not done istibra' before the ghusl, then he has to assume that it is the remnant of semen-he will have to do the ghusl again.
A summary of Ghusl
This is a summary of ghusl. The recommendable acts of ghusl are in italics type-face.
1. Remove the najasat (semen, blood) from the body.
2. Niyyat.
3. Wash the hands up to the elbows three time.
4. Gargle three times.
5. Wash the head down to the neck; wipe your hand on the face and neck, and comb the hair with your fingers.
6. Wash the right side of your body from the shoulders down to the feet; include some part of the left side also. While washing, wipe the body with your hand.
7. Wash the left side of your body from the shoulders down to the feet; include some part of the right side also. While washing, wipe the body with your hand.
The conditions for the validity of Ghusl
The validity of ghusl depends on certain conditions which are known as "the conditions for the validity of ghusl". These conditions are ten in number: three conditions are related to the water, four are related to the person and three to the act of ghusl itself.
i. The Water:
1. The water must be mutlaq (unmixed, pure).
2. The water must be tahir (ritually clean).
3. The water must be mubah (lawful). The details of these conditions are same as the conditions of the water of wudhu.
ii. The Person:
5. All parts of the body must be clean from the impurity (e.g., semen, blood) before starting the ghusl.
6. Use of water should not be harmful to the person who wants to perform ghusl.
7. The ghusl must be performed by the person himself.
iii. The Ghusl
8. The place where ghusl is being performed must be mubah (lawful).
9. The ghusl should be performed either in tartibi manner or in irtimasi manner.
10. All parts of the body must be washed thoroughly as explained above.
Some general rules
1. If more than one ghusl become wajib on a person, e.g., janabat, mass mayyit, etc., then one ghusl with the niyyat of all of them will suffice.
2. All the ghusls, except the ghusl for "medium istihazah," suffices the performer from wudhu-provided none of the nawaqiz of wudhu' have taken place after the ghusl. So a person who has done ghusl janabat, for example, can pray without doing wudhu'.
3. If one of the nawaqiz of wudhu' (e.g., passing of urine) takes place during ghusl janabat, then one must perform the ghusl again, and in such a case he is also recommended to do wudhu' after the ghusl. If one of the nawaqiz of wudhu' takes place during the second ghusl, then the ghusl will not be affected; but one has to do wudhu after it for salat..
4. If one of the causes which makes ghusl wajib takes place during a ghusl, then there are two possibilities: (a) either the cause is similar to the cause which necessitated the present ghusl, then one has to perform the ghusl again; (b) or cause is dissimilar to the cause of the present ghusl, then he should complete the ghusl and then do another ghusl.
5. Before washing the right side of the body, if one doubts whether or not he has washed the head and the neck, then he should start again from the beginning. But if he doubts after commencing to wash the right side, then he should disregard his doubt. While washing the left side of the body if one doubts whether or not he has washed the right side, then he should wash the right side and then wash the left.
6. Ghusl ' Jabirah: If one has a bandage on his body, then how should he or she do ghusl? Such a person will do ghusl ' jabirah. Ghusl jabirah can be done by observing the rules mentioned in wudhu' jabirah: either one lifts the bandage and washes the wound normally, or he washes only around the wound or over the bandage, etc.
The aim is to resolve the misconceptions about Shia school of thought by references from the Quran and Sunni literature. The idea is to create a complete source of knowledge in order to dispel misconceptions about Shias and help strengthen the faith.
© 2019 All About Shias. All Rights Reserved.


TURMERIC, MELON SEEDS & BASIL NO KNEAD BREAD.
The sliced surfaces to show the thin crust, open crumb and the melon seeds.
After the Purple Sweet potato, the Red Beetroot and the Blue Butterfly pea, here's the Yellow Turmeric bread! A No Knead version containing melon seeds, dried basil and of course turmeric powder.Lovely oven rise, thin crust and open crumb. Able to taste the turmeric and the nutty melon seeds. A hint of basil. Quite like it!
The night before baking, mix the water, turmeric powder and yeast. Let this stand for a few minutes. Combine the dry ingredients in a glass bowl, and then add the water mixture to the flour mixture, and stir to mix the dough until it's even.
The dough at the start of proofing overnight.
After 12 hours overnight proofing.
Proofing in a Banneton basket.
For those who are familiar with the No Knead method of baking bread, just follow the same procedures. Final proof took 1 hour 45 minutes. Bake at 235˚C in a hot Dutch Oven for 30 minutes, and then with the DO cover off, another 15 minutes at 210˚C to brown the crust.
Hot out of the Dutch Oven. Cooling on a metal rack.
Sliced to show the thin crust and the open crumb. Soft chewy and aromatic, with nutty flavours!
*If you have two pennies, spend one on a loaf and one on a flower. The bread will give you life, and the flower a reason for living." - Chinese Proverb.
BUTTERFLY PEA BREAD 2ND ATTEMPT. MODIFIED RECIPE.
The loaf sliced into half to show the crust and crumb.
I was quite disappointed at the results of my first attempt baking the blue Butterfly pea bread, and after receiving suggestions from the Bread Baking group in FaceBook; and doing more research in the Internet, I concocted a more promising recipe which does work! The crumb in my first attempt was no where close to having a blue colour. So having a small packet of the dried flowers of the Butterfly pea on my table, I decided to give it a second attempt using my "new " recipe.
2 tsp fresh lime juice.
Boil water and pour the hot boiling water into a glass vessel containing the dried Butterfly Pea flowers. Let this seep through ( some say, preferably overnight) for a few hours. The blue dye will be released by the hot water. Strain the water into a container, squeezing out the soaked flowers to maximise the amount of dye.
For the first attempt I used only a tablespoon of the dried Butterfly pea flower. There wasn't sufficient dye to render the crumb blue. This time, I used 9 gm of the dried flowers. Note the intensity of the deep blue dye!
Extracting the dye with hot water.
Measure 400gm unbleached bread flour into a KitchenAid mixing bowl. If possible use white flour if you want an intense blue effect. I didn't have white flour then!
Add in the dry yeast to the flour. Mix thoroughly. The pour in the cooled blue water extract of the Butterfly Pea flower, and mix the dough for between 10 to 15 minutes on the stand mixer until the dough is smooth and silky. If necessary, add in by the tablespoon, additional flour to obtain this consistency. Lastly add in the sea salt, butter and fresh lemon juice towards the final stage of mixing.
Transfer the dough to a floured mat and fold a few times before forming the dough into a ball. Proof the dough covered with a damp tea towel for 30 minutes.
First Proofing on a mat. This time a blue boule.
After this time, fold the dough again and form into a ball. Proof for 30 minutes again. At the end of this time, fold again and do a final shaping of the dough and transfer this to a floured baking paper. Proof for 30 to 45 minutes, while you heat up the Dutch Oven to 235˚C. When ready, transfer the boule by holding the edges of the baking paper and gently lowering the boule into the hot DO. Bake for 30 minutes with the DO cover on, and then a further 15 minutes with the cover off. Transfer the baked loaf on to a metal rack to cool before slicing.
Hot out of the Dutch Oven. Cooling on a metal rack before cutting.
Showing the thin crust, nice open crumb, which is soft and spongy!
A close-up of the crumb.
Recently, I've been interested in baking bread with coloured crumbs and it all started with the Purple Sweet Potato bread. There is a lot of health benefits eating Purple Sweet potatoes, so it made sense to me to have bread made with this, and consume the potato this way. I then tried the Butterfly Pea coloured bread which is supposed to colour the crumb a lovely blue. However, in my first attempt, I underestimated the amount of dried Butterfly pea flowers to use and the result was a faint purplish crumb. I now find that I should have used three times the amount that I used in my first attempt, and so the second attempt will be happening very soon!!
A fairly tight crumb, a crust that's not that thin but still crispy.
Meantime, I moved on to using beetroot, and this was quite successful, except I didn't fancy the earthy taste of the bread, even though I added walnuts for that added crunchy texture and flavour. Below is the recipe that I used having made adjustments to adapt to the different flour I used.
I used organic beetroot and unbleached flour.
Beetroot puree with the flour mixture.
1 Beetroot (about 300g.) I used organic.
Boil the beetroot (intact with skin) in water for 40 to 45 minutes till cooked.
Cool the beetroot and then slice the beetroot with the skin, into small pieces and puree in a blender.
Add in 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to make the paste of deep red beetroot.
In a KitchenAid bowl, add in the 500g flour, 21/2 teaspoon dried yeast and about 2/3rd of the measured amount of water. Reserve the rest of the water to add into the dough mix teaspoon by teaspoon. to obtain a smooth silky dough during the mixing and where the dough comes off the sides of the bowl. Before the final stages of mixing the dough, add in the sea salt and the chopped walnuts. When you are happy with the consistency of the dough, transfer this onto a floured silicone mat and fold a few times before forming a boule and letting this proof for an hour. After an hour, fold the dough a few times and after shaping into a ball, proof further another 30 minutes. When the dough doubled it's size, I divided the dough into two portions, and did a final fold and shape into boules. Proof them on floured baking paper for the last 30 minutes before baking in a preheated Dutch Oven at 230˚C. for 30 minutes. Remove the cover of the DO after 30 minutes and bake uncovered for another 10 to 15 minutes at 210˚C till the loaves are lightly brownish red and sounds hollow when you knock them.
The first boule after machine kneading about 15 minutes, folding and shaping. Proof one hour.
The dough was divided into two and these are the baked loaves.
Remove from the DO and cool on a metal rack.
A loaf cut to show the crust and the crumb.
SOURDOUGH BUTTERFLY PEA & ROSEMARY BREAD.
Clitoria ternatea, commonly known as Asian pigeonwings, bluebellvine, blue pea, butterfly pea, cordofan pea and Darwin pea, is a plant species belonging to the Fabaceae family. Wikipedia. Like green tea, the Butterfly Pea Flower tea is full of potent antioxidants, and has been studied for its ability to help protect the skin against premature aging (it fights against glycation, which is protein damage caused by an influx of sugar molecules).
Bread made using Butterfly pea extract. Hot out of the oven.
Having made Purple Sweet Potato bread, with all it's healthy properties, I had the idea of carrying on with this by using the Butterfly Pea, which also is high in antioxidants. I read from Dr Mercola's website that studies have highlighted the potential benefits of the butterfly pea extract, which may be passed on to the tea. So I used the liquid extract of the pea, instead of just plain water, for making the bread.
1. Boil water and pour1 1/3 cups of the hot water into a glass container containing a tablespoon of the dried Butterfly flowers and let this steep to extract the bluish purple dye. Leave this to cool.
2. In a KitchenAid bowl, mix in all the flours.
3. Add the cooled tea extract into a well made in the bowl of flour and cover this with flour from the sides of the bowl to autolysis the flour for 30 minutes.
4. To the rest of the cooled tea extract, add in the dried yeast and sugar and 100gm of the sourdough starter. Leave this to form active bubbles. The colouration becomes grey!
5. After about 30 minutes, I added the yeast/sourdough mixture to the bowl of flour and ran the mixer with a dough hook for 10 to 15 minutes till the dough became silky smooth and had a satin sheen. Add in the sea salt, the chopped Rosemary leaves and virgin coconut oil midway through the mixing.
6. When ready, transfer the dough to a floured surface and fold a few times before forming a boule.
7. Let this proof for an hour, and then fold a few times before forming a batard, which I placed on a floured baking paper to proof further for an hour.
8. During this time start up your oven and set the temperature to 240˚C. After the hour is up, score the surface of the batard and bake this in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes till brown, before removing the loaf to cool on a metal rack.
From left: My sourdough starter; dried Butterfly pea flowers; the tea extract; virgin coconut oil.
Proofing after the first folding and stretching, and formed into a boule.
Final proofing after folding and forming into a batard.
Sliced to show the crumb and the thin crust.
The crumb in detail. Soft, spongy and aromatic .
There's been a suggestion on how to keep the crumb blue by adding food grade Ascorbic Acid to the water. I have not tried this yet.
SD RUM-SOAKED RAISIN & CRANBERRY FRENCH T110 FLOUR.
Hot out of the oven, the crust nicely browned and 'singing'!
My Sister-in-law gifted me a 1kg packet of this French Type 110 flour( see picture below). It is a "Farine de blé complète" or in English, a complete wheat flour. From the symbols on the package, it's organic as well. Since my sourdough starter needed feeding, I thought I'd bake a bread using this flour.
250g King Arthur organic bread flour.
I already soaked the raisins and cranberries in rum, (preferably overnight). Cover the bowl with cling wrap. Shake up the bowl occasionally to mix the ingredients with rum.
In a Kitchen Aid bowl, mix the two flours with 150g of the filtered water and then let this autolysis for 20 to 40 minutes.
Mixing in the KA bowl.
Mixture comes off the sides.
In a glass container with the remaining 50g of filtered water, add in 100g of the Sourdough starter and mix in the honey and dried yeast, ( and nutmeg powder -optional). Let this stand at room temperature till bubbly.
At the end of this time, mix in the SD starter mixture with the flour in the KA bowl, and knead at low speed for 10 to 13 minutes or till the dough is smooth and silky. Halfway through, add in the salt, 2 tsp coconut oil; and when you're about to stop, add in the cranberries and raisins.
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and fold the dough a few times, finally shaping it into a ball. Proof this at room temperature for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, fold the dough again and shape into a ball, and proof again for 30 minutes. Then repeat this a third time, and proof for another 30 minutes.
Proofing after the first folding and stretching.
The shaped boule proofing on baking paper.
At the end of this time, transfer the dough by gently lowering this into the hot DO and cover the DO with the lid. Return the DO back to the main oven and bake at 240˚C for 30 minutes. Then remove the DO cover and bake further to brown and dry the crust of the loaf for another 10 minutes at 220˚C. The final internal temperature I got in this loaf was 94.3˚C.
Baked in the Dutch Oven for 30 minutes covered, and 10 to 15 minutes uncovered.
Boule, from the French for "ball", is a traditional shape of French bread, resembling a squashed ball. It is a rustic loaf shape that can be made of any type of flour. A boule can be leavened with commercial yeast, chemical leavening, or even wild yeast sourdough. The name of this bread is the reason a bread baker is referred to as a "boulanger" in French, and a bread bakery a "boulangerie."
Sliced after cooling, to show the thin crust and the even crumb which is soft and spongy. Remove hot loaves from the DO immediately after baking and cool them on a rack to prevent the bottom crust from becoming moist and soggy. Never slice a hot loaf of bread as the crumb would be sticky and slushy. Also to keep the crust crispy, store the cut loaf in a paper bag and not in a plastic bag. This allows the loaf to 'breathe' as it were, prevents moisture condensation, and keeps it firm.
The Boule cooling on a metal rack.
I noticed that the French Type 110 flour imparted a very nice deep brown colouration to the crust of the loaf, and further baking experiments using this flour gave the same deep colouration if this flour was incorporated into the recipe. All I did was to add about 30 to 40 gms to a 400gm bread-recipe.
"If you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger." – Kahlil Gibran.
PURPLE SWEET POTATO SOURDOUGH BREAD.
Purple sweet potato sourdough bread in just little over three hours.
A few days ago, while speaking with an old friend over the phone, he related that he and his wife now eat plenty of purple sweet potatoes. He said that this potato has one of the highest amount of anti oxidants, in addition to many vitamins and minerals. This got me curious and I wondered if I could use this in my breads. I searched the internet and found a few recipes of breads using purple sweet potatoes. The one that caught my attention was entitled 'The Blushing Boule'! But the recipe was so detailed down to the temperature of the dough and the proofing environment; and to produce this loaf, the writer suggests that it would take 19 to 20 hours, ie. overnight.
Determined not to be discouraged, I started formulating my own recipe based on the ingredients and modifying some of this. The recipe I came up with takes slightly over three hours to produce the bread that you see here. I took pains to make this recipe as simple as possible so as to encourage more bakers to try out this bread and benefit from it's rich, natural source of anti oxidants, vitamins and minerals. Conditions can vary greatly with water content of your flour, the humidity of the room or kitchen, the temperature etc. So you need to adjust to find the optimal set of conditions to suite your situation. I hope many will try out the recipe.
Weigh a small tuber of the purple sweet potato that's about 170g. More or less makes small difference. Wash the potato using your fingers under running water and then immerse this in a pot of boiling water and boil to cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Do not remove the skin. When you can poke a fork easily into the tuber, it's cooked. Remove the potato, mash it with the skin into pulp and let cool. The skin contains lots of minerals and vitamins.
In a KitchenAid bowl, measure in 400g unbleached bread flour. Add in about 1/2 portion of the water into a hole in the dough, and shift the dough over the water to start autolysis.
To the rest of the water, add in the organic cane sugar and 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast and 50 g of sourdough starter. Let this ferment for about 20 minutes as well.
At the ending of 20 or 25 minutes, when the yeast water mixture is very active, transfer this to the KA bowl with the flour, and using a dough hook, mix at medium speed for 10 to 15 minutes. Half way through, add in the mashed purple sweet potato and sea salt.
When the dough is silky smooth and comes off the sides of the bowl, transfer it to a floured mat and fold a few times before forming a ball. Proof covered for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, fold several times again, and proof another 30 minutes. Repeat this at the end of the 30 minutes, and do a final shaping of the dough. Transfer to a floured banneton and proof again covered for 30 to 45 minutes.
During this time, heat up the Dutch Oven (without the lid,) inside your oven, to 245˚C.
At the end of the proofing time when the dough has risen considerably, flip the dough onto a baking sheet, and then spray water over it before scoring the dough. Place the dough by lifting it with the edges of the baking paper, and gently lower this into the hot DO. Cover the DO and place this back in the oven. Reduce the temperature to 240˚C and bake for 30 minutes.
At the end of 30 minutes, remove the DO lid, and bake further at 220˚C for 10 minutes. I prefer to remove the loaf and place this directly on my hot baking stone in the oven.
When brown, remove the hot loaf. Check the internal temperature if you wish. Mine was 98.1˚C, and then let it cool on a metal rack before slicing!.
400g Bread flour undergoing autolysis.
Water, yeast, cane sugar and SD starter mixture.
Final folding & the banneton.
Dough with the seam side up.
After proofing about 40 minutes.
Dough inverted on to baking paper.
30 minutes after baking, remove the DO lid to bake 10 more minutes to brown crust.
Boule sliced into half, showing crumb.
Bubbles tend to form nearer the top end of the boule during proofing. The lower end of the boule tends to be denser as a result. So by inverting the boule, the lower denser portion of the dough is now on the top and the bubbles below can push the dough above upwards during the oven rise for that added lift and height!
A close-up of the cut surface of the crumb and crust.
The bread sliced the following morning for breakfast! The crumb is aromatic and very soft.
There are many recipes for onion breads in the internet, but I have developed my own method and I find the results very satisfying. Onion bread is one of my favourite breads. I like it lightly toasted and buttered, eaten for breakfast with black coffee!
First chop into small pieces the two average size red onions. Then sauté this in 1 1/2 tbs coconut oil, and add 1 1/2 tsp organic cane sugar. Sautè till dark brown, and then let this cool down.
In a KitchenAid bowl, measure in 400g unbleached KA bread flour. Make a depression or hole in the flour, and add into this depression in the flour, about half of the 260g filtered water. Flip the sides of the flour over the water in the depression to cover the water, and let this autolysis for 20 to 30 minutes.
To the rest of the water, add in the cane sugar and the dry yeast and let this develop till foamy. It should also take about 20 minutes. Refer to Blog posted 9/16/2018 : Avoine-French Seed & Grain Mixture Bread.
The shaped ball of dough on floured baking paper just before spritzing water and scoring.
After the autolysis period, add 2 tbs coconut oil to the flour and water mixture, and pour in the foamy yeast mixture. Mix these ingredients for 10 mins till the dough is silky smooth and stretchy. You may have to add in more water or flour, by the teaspoons, to get the consistency that you want. When the dough is almost done, add in 11/2 tsp sea salt, mix again then add in the cooled caramelised onions.
Repeat folding twice at 30 minutes intervals. At the end of 1 1/2 hours, fire up the oven with the Dutch Oven (DO) inside, without the cover. Do a third fold, and then shape and transfer dough on to a lightly floured baking paper and proof further for 30 minutes.
Spritz some water on the dough and score it, and then gently transfer the dough to the hot DO and place on the cover. Bake at 240˚C for 30 minutes covered; and subsequently 5 to 10 minutes at 220˚C with the lid off to brown the crust. When done, transfer to a metal rack to cool.
Gently lowered into the hot DO.
After baking 30 mins. the cover is taken off.
The final product, a crispy crust, soft light crumb and incredibly aromatic, tasty bread.
SF SOURDOUGH STARTER RYE,SEMOLINA &CARAWAY SEED BREAD.
The loaf cooling on a metal rack. the crust crackling as it cools.
I acquired a packet of this SF sourdough starter sometime in 2012 or 2013, and kept it in my freezer all these 5-6 years. Four days ago, I decided to reconstitute the starter, and after feeding it a couple of times, baked this boule of organic bread flour with some semolina and rye flour in a Dutch Oven.
In about 1 week it was already very bubbly and active.
Freeze-dried San Francisco Sourdough starter.
<--On the left, the very active bubbly starter.
The boule after 1st folding. Leave for 20 mins.
The boule after 2nd folding. Again proof 20 mins.
In a Kitchen Aid bowl, measure and add in the three different flours totalling 400g. Mix this thoroughly and then making a depression in the flour, add in about half of the 250g water. Use the other half of this water to dilute 100g of the sourdough starter, the coconut syrup and the yeast. Cover the flour in the KA bowl by flipping the flour edges over the water surface and allow for autolysis the flour for about 20 minutes. Let both the flour and starter mixture stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. At the end of this time, add the starter mixture into the bowl with the flours and then using the KA mixer, knead the dough at speed 1-2 for 10- to 12 minutes till the dough is silky and smooth and comes off the sides of the bowl. Around the mid point of this period, I add in the sea salt, adjust before the kneading stops add in the caraway seeds.
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold the dough several times and shape into a boule. Proof for 20 minutes, and then fold again a second time and shape into a ball to proof for a further 20 minutes. At the end of this time, gently fold the dough then third time, and do a final shaping into a boule. Let this stand to proof again for 20 to 30 minutes on a baking sheet. Meantime heat up the oven to 250˚C with the Dutch oven inside.
When the dough is ready to be placed into the Dutch oven, spray some water on the surface of the dough, dust with rice powder, and then score the dough with a sharp knife. Gently holding the edges of the baking paper, lower the dough into the hot dutch oven and bake with the cover on for 30 minutes at 240˚C.At the end of this time, remove the DO cover and bake further at 220˚C for 10 to 15 minutes till the loaf is nicely dark brown. Remove and cool on a metal rack. The internal temperature I got was 98.1C.
After the 3rd folding, final shaping into boule.
Boule scored with a sharp knife.
After 30 mins baking in the Dutch oven, the lid is removed.
Beautifully round and nicely browned. Crispy crust and soft crumb.
The oven rise was very nice, the crust singing after the loaf was taken out of the hot oven. The internal bread temperature was 98.1˚C at this time. The crumb seems lose enough, soft and chewy without being filled with large air pockets! Great with butter and home-made marmalade!
When heating the DO in the oven I don't place the cover on. Only after the dough is gently transferred into the very hot DO do I place the cold cover on and bake with the cover for 30 minutes. Before I place the cold cover over the hot DO, I spray a little water under the cover to generate more steam.
Steam helps keep the crust soft during the first 5 or 10 minutes so the loaf can get that final expansion. It also helps dissolve sugars on the surface of the dough that caramelise during baking and give you a glossy, crisp crust. In the last 10 to 15 minutes baking with the cover off to brown the loaf, I leave the oven door slightly open for 5 minutes to dry the crust so it becomes crispy.
'Housekeeping In Old Virginia' Marion Cabell Tyree ed. (1878).
AVOINE -FRENCH SEED & GRAIN MIXTURE BREAD.
A mildly flavoured, soft chewy bread with lots of healthy grains and seeds.
I just received from my sister-in-law, another 250g packet of Avoine, a French mixture containing oats, sunflower and squash seeds. Together in this is mixed five cereals, that of rye, oats, barley, rice and wheat. I still have 1 1/2 packets in my freezer so I thought I had better use some up.
I baked this loaf of bread which is simple to make and takes just over two and a half hours from start to finish. I've experimented with this recipe several times, and there's now consistency in the results.
3 tbs Avoine grain and cereal mixture.
Autolysis of the flour. 20 mins. No yeast.
Water, yeast and coconut sugar mixture.
Into a Kitchen Aid bowl, place the semolina and unbleached bread flour and add in about 150g of the water. Gently shift the flour over the water to cover it, and allow autolysis of the flour for 20 minutes.
In the meantime with the rest of the water, add in the yeast and coconut sugar and stir vigorously to dissolve the yeast and let this stand for about 15 minutes.
After 15 mins. the bubbly active yeast water.
Knead till the dough comes off the sides.
At the end of 20 minutes of the autolysis add the yeast sugar mixture to the flour in the Kitchen Aid bowl. Add in the butter and coconut oil, and mix at a slow speed for a few minutes before increasing the mixer speed to 'beat' up the flour for a total of 10 minutes. Add in the sea salt when you're half way through. Mix till the dough is smooth and it comes off the sides of the KA bowl. Then add in the grain mixture and mix further.
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and fold a few times before shaping into a ball. Proof this for 20 minutes in a oiled plastic bowl.
Folded and shaped, 1st of the 20 mins proofing.
The boule at the end of the 1st 20 mins. proofing.
At the end of the first 20 minutes, transfer the dough to the table and fold again a few times, and then do a final shaping into a boule. Let this proof on a baking sheet for the second 20 minutes.
At the end of the 2nd of 20 mins.proofing.
At the end of the 3rd of 20 mins. proofing.
At the end of this 20 minutes, fire up your oven to 225˚C and wait another 20 minutes before spraying water lightly on the boule and scoring the loaf.
Spray with water lightly over the boule, and score the loaf.
Bake till golden brown and the internal temperature is over 92˚C.
The loaf cut to show the thin crust, lose crumb, and scattered grains.
There you have it. A simple to make, healthy, grainy bread. Soft and mildly fragrant, going so well with butter and jam.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever. - Chinese Proverb.


Hi there! I'm Joy, the artist behind Joy Cruz Studio - An intimate photography and invitation design studio based in Oshawa, Ontario.
I am married to my best friend and I am a full-time mom to the bubbliest and loveliest little girl. I have rekindled my love with designing and photography when my little one was born. I am inspired by stories of love, raw moments and authenticity — helping me create something unique, beautiful and personal for my clients.
My family is my TREASURE! It's such a feat to see a little piece of me.
I grew up in a historical house in the Philippines, sprouting roots for my love for vintage, timeless items and stories behind them.
Moving from one place to another, ignited my passion for culture and language.
Dancing, playing the guitar and belting out a song or two when no one is watching.
Survived an incident from shark infested waters.
Went to the first day at University without my two front teeth and a swollen-bruised chin. —> water related incident.
Stranded on an island for a week with nothing to eat but boiled "saba" bananas.
I love introducing 80's and 90's cartoons to my little one.
Titanic is my favorite movie! Watched it in theaters 4 times! With who? By myself!
Swimming in the ocean - as my uncle used to say - OMG Joy you have been swimming since 9 in the morning its already almost 7, you better live here!
I love collecting animes, mangas, novels, asian dramas and my favorite TV shows. I'll show you my collection sometime, specially SUPERNATURAL.
I'm a gamer! RPGs, builders, Otomes and Assassin's Creed!
snuggles, pants, movie night, sunsets, exploring, island hopping, motorcycle rides, antiques, pistachio lattes, nature, long drives, apple pies!
love, family, miracles, friendships, resilience of the human spirit, nature, sunsets and sunrises, starry moonlit nights, music, and a touch of magic and hint of supernatural.