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2018 Books, #6-10
6. Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit (2004)
A politics of hope. As Solnit so eloquently proposes, this doesn't mean naive optimism about the future, which allows for inaction, but rather acting with faith in the unexpected, unrecognized and surprising ways change for the better happens. Eruptions of the people taking power are never predictable, but they certainly weren't born of doomsayers and "what-abouters" (e.g, the left eating itself). Her philosophy will be important to hold onto as action in the face of climate change becomes imperative.
Provenance: A bookstore, not sure which.
Fate: On the keeper shelf.
7. King Kong Théorie by Virginie Despentes (2006)
This is a manifesto. A declaration of war. A punk text. Despentes on living in a patriarchy, on prostitution and rape, based on her experiences with all of the above. In one essay she delves deep into the psychology and psyche of surviving rape, not the rape itself. It's profound. I read several interviews with her, and she discusses how getting this book out of her body changed her life. You can feel this in the language itself, how it's a life-transforming kind of text. There were a few assertions I took issue with, and would be curious to discuss with Despentes herself. For example, her disparagement of anything feminine (with the exception of figure skating and dressage!); her defense of prostitution based on practicing it from the position of being in control of the experience, as a white, educated woman, etc. But you don't have a balanced discussion with a punk text, you let it stand on its own terms.
Provenance: A bookstore, I don't remember which one.
Fate: On my keeper shelf.
8. Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self by Manoush Zamarodi (St. Martin's Press, 2017)
I picked up this book because I was a fan of the "Note to Self" podcast it's based on. I think it suffers from a marketing problem – I wouldn't recommend it as a "how-to" on inspiring creativity, but more as a guidebook on taking control of the smart phone in your life and living with it consciously and productively. Lots of interesting summaries of research on how smart phones affect social dynamics, deep thinking and deep reading, childhood development etc.
Provenance: Bargain bookshelf at the American Book Center in The Hague.
Fate: Kicking around the apartment
9. The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter (Tor Books, 2000)
I read this at Dan's urging (I don't read a lot of science fiction) as it's a book he often thinks about and wanted discuss. The various sci-fi premises are definitely juicy: a scientist discovers a way to traverse space and time to create peepholes into any point in the past or present (the past can be viewed, but not interfered with), and, simultaneously, it emerges that a giant asteroid is on a fatal collision course with the earth, though the impact is not for several years. Oh and there's also stuff about a clone. (These aren't spoilers.) So humanity is fatalistic, nihilistic, hedonistic in the face of its likely end, while also contending with a real view of its history, and a total loss of privacy. Some of this sounds familiar, doesn't it. There are a lot of prescient points, and some daring conjectures on the real life of Christ, and the relative poverty of great performances of the past. There's also a mind-blowing passage that goes back all the way back through the history of life on the planet. I have to say I would have preferred the amazing passages in an essay form, without having to bear through clunky descriptions of characters, wooden dialogue and the slog of a plot (though I guess a lot of other people wouldn't want to read it then), which I suppose is why I avoid a lot of science fiction. It's hard for me to choke down bad writing. I can't drop the critical eye, snob!
Provenance: From Dan
10. Motherhood by Sheila Heti (Henry Holt, 2018)
I was just reading up on autofiction and came across Christian Lorentzen's take on this book in NY Magazine, so I'm presently confusing his insightful, original thinking for my own. To paraphrase his take: the central question of this book—the Sheila character's agonizing over whether or not to have a child—is a MacGuffin. It's a way in for Heti the author to explore other issues, like her relationship with her partner, her family history, her mother. Not to say that the question of motherhood isn't interesting or important (and I'd say it's more than MacGuffin-level in this novel), but it was perhaps too exclusively the focus of reviews of the book and interviews with Heti. It makes me think it was too narrowly my own focus while reading the book, as I was also ambivalent about motherhood for many years and grateful to hear Heti's thoughts about this. And then I was ultimately disappointed with how the novel resolved that ambivalence. Lorentzen also makes the important point that autofiction is deceptively simple. It makes you think you're reading a kind of journal by the author, when really there's an art and structure underneath. This book therefore merits a second reading from me, where I look at it as a novel with a structure and spanning many subjects rather than a long personal essay on ambivalence about motherhood…
Provenance: Ordered from the American Book Center in The Hague.
Fate: On the keeper shelf
2018 Books, #11-15
11. The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky, trans. from German by Tim Mohr (Europa Editions, 2011)
Bronsky, who is German by way of Russia (former USSR), pulls off that very difficult task of creating a convincing, totally unlikeable narrator, who is also compelling, often funny, and eventually even elicits sympathy from the reader. I read several reviews of this book after I finished to see what others thought, and no reviewer contends with the novel as a whole, most are focused on the first half, which is comic and fairly light. The last third or so takes a different turn in tone, and even in writing style. This book illuminated for me the problem with endings, how the right ending isn't always apparent. (And how readers are forgiving of inadequate endings if the first half makes enough of an impact. I felt this way about Han Kang's The Vegetarian, which won the Booker and got a lot of love a couple of years ago: it was powerful but incomplete. A masterpiece for me is when the ending shines a spotlight on the narrative as a whole. The ending feels absolutely right and is unforgettable.) I still haven't made up my mind about this book as a whole, the ending seems more appropriate the longer I've ruminated on it.
Provenance: I received it as part of my Kickstarter prize for helping fund the awesome Bookselling Without Borders project that promotes fiction in translation in the U.S.
Fate: Passed on to a friend.
12. La perra by Pilar Quintana (Random House, 2018)
A slim, tense little novella. I think this is the only Latin American novel I've read that's set in a poverty-stricken environment (in Colombia). Quintana handles issues of race and class subtly and deftly. Heartbreaking and difficult to read.
Provenance: Borrowed from my friend Lydia, who works at World Editions, the small press that will be publishing a version in English!
13. Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg, translated from Italian by Jenny McPhee (NYRB Classics, 2017, original in 1963)
This memoir is a slightly awkward blend of Ginzburg's affectionate memories of her eccentric family, particularly her father, and then the terrible ways fascism and World War II split everything apart in Italy, particularly in her Jewish, highly political household. Although it was grimmer, I enjoyed the second half more, where Ginzburg herself emerges a bit more (though she's trying to hide throughout it). The premise of the "family lexicon" – the songs and funny sayings that characterized her parents and siblings – are also a major translation challenge, which wasn't always met. (I wrote more about this here.)
Provenance: Van Stockum bookstore in Leiden (R.I.P.)
Fate: Can't remember. Possibly still kicking around the apartment, or maybe passed on to a friend.
14. Viviane by Julia Deck, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale (The New Press, 2014)
Another slim, tense little novella, like a pen-and-ink drawing. In another writer's hands, there could have been much more back story, but the spare approach works. Merges psychological drama with the traditional murder mystery, almost ironically, I think. It was a good read, but I have to say I didn't think much about it afterwards.
15. The Everything Wine Book: A Complete Guide to the World of Wine by David White (Everything, 2014)
I suppose this sort of book doesn't really belong on a literary-type book list, but the completist in me wants "credit" for having read it all, and also I would recommend it! (I'm not counting cookbooks, btw.) I got it because I wanted to understand those complicated French wine labels, which kept me from ever choosing a French wine as I never knew what I was getting into. This is a friendly, not-at-all snobby guide to wine regions, the history of wine, types of grapes, etc. It made me both appreciative and more adventurous with my wine choices.
Provenance: Bought at the clearance sale when the Van Stockum bookstore in Leiden closed (RIP)
Fate: On the keeper shelf!
My annual reading round-up of fiction and non-fiction, in my personal ranking, based on how much I enjoyed it, scope of impact on the life of the mind and imagination, and how likely I am to re-read and recommend it. Here's the tail-end.
16. The Pisces by Melissa Broder (Hogarth, 2018)
Broder is a fantastic, inventive poet, so I was looking forward to seeing what she would do with the novel form, language-wise. It is fantastically smutty, disgusting and really funny at times – all things I appreciated. At its core, this is a story about the despair of compulsion and sex addiction.
Provenance: American Book Center in Amsterdam
Fate: Passed on to a friend
17. Minor Robberies by Deb Olin Unferth and 18. Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape by Sarah Manguso (McSweeney's, 2007)
I'm pairing these two short collections of flash fiction together as they came in a lovely little boxed set published by McSweeney's (together with a third book of flash fiction by Dave Eggers, and no, I didn't read his!). The Manguso pieces captured small ignoble moments of childhood – lies, envy, mean deeds. The form leads her to a flat, matter-of-factness in the prose, which works some of the time. My favorites in the Olin Unferth collections were her longer stories, which made me think her style is more suited to longer forms.
Provenance: I won this box set at a poetry reading in Bushwick in 2010 on a second date with Dan.
Fate: Unsentimentally donated it to the Boekenzolder; Dan said it was OK, he prefers to be a minimalist.
19. The Godfather by Mario Puzo (1969)
I picked this up during the Kavanaugh hearings and it was a good way to disappear from this world for a while, an absorbing distraction. I would recommend this book only to serious fans of the films. It proves the hypothesis that mediocre books make great films. It's a pulpy, sometimes clumsily written book that was cut and shaped into elegant, visually rich cinema masterpiece. At its best it feels like novelized DVD extras of cut scenes. Like for example, Tom Hagen's back story. At its worst there were what I can only guess were attempts to be modern and racy through multiple descriptions of Sonny's giant schlong; gratuitous side stories of Johny Fontaine's Hollywood debauchery; and a truly weird extended description of Sonny's bereaved mistress's vaginal reduction surgery, including medical terms (the implication being that her vagina was irreparably stretched out by Sonny's giant schlong??). However, I will give Puzo due credit for putting his finger directly on what fascinates about the mob: the elaborate rituals and code of honor, the will of some men to achieve power and status despite being born to a marginalized class, coupled with the straight-up murderous violence and crime (and misogyny and racism).
Provenance: A gift from Dan to encourage me to read more fun and lighter stuff.
Fate: In the "to donate" pile
20. Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Cynthia Freeland (Oxford, 2001)
Admittedly, art theory is a really hard topic to distill into "a very short introduction," but this book didn't quite do it. The writing was labored despite attempts to simplify ideas, and I want to say it's almost outdated given its focus on art controversies of the 80s and 90s. (It was published in 2001).
Provenance: Purchased at Van Stockum bookstore in Leiden (R.I.P.)
Fate: Donated to Boekenzolder
21. The Risen by Ron Rash (HarperCollins, 2016)
I have mixed feelings about saying harsh things about living writers, but this guy seems to be doing fine, while here I toil in obscurity. So: this book was terrible. I suspect some of his other novels are better – my mom recommended him because she lives in Western North Carolina and he captures life there. (That wasn't the focus of this particular narrative.) Paper-thin characters, unearned pathos. An alcoholic protagonist – we know he's an alcoholic because he refer to the fatal clinking of ice in a glass no less than three times in the course of the novel. A fucked-up hippie girl who initiates him into sex, drugs and alcohol and ends up a dead girl. That kind of thing.
Provenance: Lent by my mom, who got it from the library
Fate: Back to the library
Books I abandoned
Vernon Subutex by Virginie Despentes: A clever cross-section of contemporary Parisian society. I think I fell off because it's rather bleak, and also includes a lot of French slang, so was slow-going as my French lexicon withered over the years as I mostly just use it for work. This is the first in a celebrated trilogy by Despentes and I hope to get back to it at some point.
Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng: I saw this book everywhere and only read good things about it, but I couldn't get into it, I only made it about 80 pages in. The 90s references were a little too on-the-nose, the teenagers didn't sound like teenagers, and there was a kind of emotional distance in the voice that didn't convince me. I saw some readers on Goodreads compare this to young adult fiction in terms of its style – something to think about (what does this mean?), and maybe that's what bothered me, the kind of psychological flattening at the expense of the narrative.
Why didn't you just stay home?
Once you were a carrier of both child and soul
But when you became a self
You bundled them up
And took them out of the city limits.
You lacked the capacity for carrying so much.
Still, you wanted to rebuild your village
Out of the pieces that shine and remind you
How safe and happy you were on its park benches
On days of no school.
Why did you leave your native country
To become a different kind of being:
A realist
Who can recognize and classify the pieces of the lost.
To be the only one!
It's true they sparkle as they vanish
And finding them lets you know you are credible,
At home in the world.
Fanny Howe, excerpt from the poem "The Question," from her book The Lyrics
An acerbic, difficult poem. Why did you leave childhood? Why did you go to the city to participate in its plunder?
"For months, Google had been experiencing an increasing number of hardware failures. The problem was that, as Google grew, its computing infrastructure also expanded. Computer hardware rarely failed, until you had enough of it—then it failed all the time. … Strange environmental factors came into play. When a supernova explodes, the blast wave creates high-energy particles that scatter in every direction; scientists believe there is a minute chance that one of the errant particles, known as a cosmic ray, can hit a computer chip on Earth, flipping a 0 to a 1. The world's most robust computer systems, at NASA, financial firms, and the like, used special hardware that could tolerate single bit-flips. But Google, which was still operating like a startup, bought cheaper computers that lacked that feature."
Wait, what? This is from a boring New Yorker article about "the friendship that made Google huge" between two programmers. But what about the cosmic rays that mess with computer chips? This point is never returned to. I want to read an article about cosmic rays! What else do they fuck with?
(The article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/the-friendship-that-made-google-huge)
Image credit: A. Chantelauze, S. Staffi, and L. Bret. From https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/21/16335164/pierre-auger-observatory-cosmic-ray-galaxies-air-shower-particles
The Use of Dreaming
Science has long understood that REM sleep—the stages of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement, in which most dreaming takes place—plays a vital role in our mental health. The human need for REM is so uncompromising that, when it is inhibited over a long period by excessive alcohol use, the pent-up backlog will release itself in a form of waking psychosis, otherwise known as delirium tremens. For a long time, the scientific establishment suspected that dreams were a superfluous by-product of the REM state. But in recent decades, thanks in large part to the advent of brain-imaging machines, scientists have been able to establish that dreams themselves are essential to the benefits of REM sleep. First, dreams knit up the ravelled sleeve of care by allowing us to process unhappy or traumatic experiences. Typically, during the REM state, the flow of an anxiety-triggering brain chemical called noradrenaline is shut off, so that we are able to revisit distressing real-life events in a neurochemically calm environment. As a result, the intensity of emotion that we feel about these events in our waking lives is reduced to manageable levels. …
Dreams also help us to master new skills; practicing a task or a language in our sleep can be as helpful as doing so when we are awake. And they appear to be crucial in honing our capacity for decoding facial expression: the dream-starved tend to slip into default paranoia, interpreting the friendliest expressions as menacing. Perhaps most alluring, dreams help us to synthesize new pieces of information with preëxisting knowledge, and to make creative lateral connections. The long list of inventions and great works said to have been generated in dreams includes the periodic table, the sewing machine, Coleridge's "Kubla Khan," Paul McCartney's "Let It Be," and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."
According to Robb, there is a means by which we can harness the visionary and problem-solving capacities of dreaming: the lucid dream. This is the kind of dream in which a person is aware of dreaming, and is able to wield some control over events—to decide to fly, say, or to visit Paris. "Those who master lucidity," Robb writes, "can dream about specific problems, seek answers or insights, stage cathartic encounters, and probe the recesses of the unconscious."
Zoe Heller, from this article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/10/why-we-sleep-and-why-we-often-cant
Queen Tina Hatshepsut
Tina Turner feeling an electric tingle of recognition at Ancient Egyptian imagery is solid supporting evidence of past lives. If anyone's an Egyptian queen reincarnated, it's most likely Tina Turner. In her own words:
Q: What book, if any, most influenced your decision to become a songwriter and musician or contributed to your artistic development?
"One day, I was walking through an airport with Ike when I spotted a book in a shop. It was a beautiful coffee table book called 'Ancient Egypt,' and for some reason I felt a spine-tingling, instant connection, especially when I saw a picture of Hatshepsut, one of the first female pharaohs. Then a psychic told me that I had been Hatshepsut in another life. The thought was so empowering! Several years later, Jeannette Obstoj, Rupert Hine and Jamie West-Oram wrote a beautiful song for me, "I Might Have Been Queen," based on my feelings about my Egyptian past."
From her "By the Book," Oct. 18, 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/books/review/tina-turner-by-the-book.html
Strange machine
"What a strange machine man is!" he said, with astonishment. "You fill him with bread, wine, fish, radishes, and out of him come sighs, laughter and dreams. Like a factory."
from Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis
Be More Like Gertrude Stein
Is my new mantra… This is from a 1934 New Yorker "Talk of the Town" piece on her:
Miss Stein gets up every morning about ten and drinks some coffee, against her will. She's always been nervous about becoming nervous and she thought coffee would make her nervous, but her doctor prescribed it. Miss Toklas, her companion, gets up at six and starts dusting and fussing around. Once she broke a fine piece of Venetian glass and cried. Miss Stein laughed and said "Hell, oh hell, hell, objects are made to be consumed like cakes, books, people." Every morning Miss Toklas bathes and combs their French poodle, Basket, and brushes its teeth. It has its own toothbrush.
Miss Stein has an outsize bathtub that was especially made for her. A staircase had to be taken out to install it. After her bath she puts on a huge wool bathrobe and writes for a while, but she prefers to write outdoors, after she gets dressed. Especially in the Ain country, because there are rocks and cows there. Miss Stein likes to look at rocks and cows in the intervals of her writing. The two ladies drive around in their Ford till they come to a good spot. Then Miss Stein gets out and sits on a campstool with pencil and pad, and Miss Toklas fearlessly switches a cow into her line of vision. If the cow doesn't seem to fit in with Miss Stein's mood, the ladies get into the car and drive on to another cow. When the great lady has an inspiration, she writes quickly, for about fifteen minutes. But often she just sits there, looking at cows and not turning a wheel.
Miss Stein always drives, and Miss Toklas rides in the back seat, squealing and jumping, for they say that Miss Stein is the worst driver in the history of automotive engineering. She takes corners fast, doesn't put out her hand, drives on the wrong side of the street, pays no more attention to traffic signals or intersections than she does to punctuation marks, and never honks. Now and then Alice will lean over from the back seat and honk. They haven't had any accidents. One writer who visited her had a fake wire sent to him from Paris calling him back, because he was afraid he'd be killed in the Ford.
Miss Stein spends much of her time quarrelling with friends—always about literature or painting. The quarrels are passionate ones, involving everybody, taking hours to get under way, lasting for years (like the one with Hemingway). Nobody remembers after a couple of months exactly what the quarrels are about. The maid at the Stein house in Paris has to be told every day who will be persona grata at tea—it all depends on the quarrel of the night before. Gertrude sits up late, talking, arguing, and laughing; she has a rich, deep, and warming laugh. Afterward she wakes up Alice, who goes to bed early, and they go over the talk of the whole day. Miss Stein has a photographic memory for conversation.
The lady wears astonishing clothes: sandals, woollen stockings fit for a football-player, a man's plush fedora hat perched high on her head, rough tweed suits over odd embroidered waistcoats and peasant tunics. She also wears extraordinary blue-and-white striped knickers for underdrawers. This came out when she lost them once at a concert given by Virgil Thomson at the Hotel Majestic. She just stepped out of them somehow and left them lying there on the floor. She thought it was very funny and laughed loudly.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1934/10/13/tender-buttons
Biomorphic streamlined forms
From Miró [Calder] took more directly a visual visual vocabulary–the biomorphic streamlined forms, at once abstract and animal, that would be the basis of his art-making for the rest of his life.
I love this description by Adam Gopnik of something that seems indescribable (Calder's sculpture shapes). They are suddenly tangible. From his essay on a recent calder biography in the 7 Dec. 2017 edition of The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/how-alexander-calder-made-art-move


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Home/Opinion 174
The Chief Magistrate of a county in which the Child Abuse Protocol Committee established pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 19-15-2 is in the process of updating its child abuse protocol has the task of setting out in writing the role the county Magistrate Court will assume in the protocol. He notes that the Child Abuse Protocol Committee is required to have a representative designated by the Magistrate Court O.C.G.A. § 19-15-2(C)(i)(e) and further notes that said Committee conducts investigations into child fatalities pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 19-15-3.
Under these circumstances, an opinion is requested concerning the extent, if any, to which a magistrate can or should participate in the child fatality investigations in light of Canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct. A second request seeks advice concerning the Magistrate Court designating a representative to serve on the Committee who is not a magistrate Court Judge.
Insofar as the questions posed involve construction of the applicable statutes, they are questions for the courts and beyond the jurisdiction of the Commission. Insofar as they might involve the judicial canons, the questions are answered as follows:
Rule 3.7(A)(2) provides in pertinent part:
Judges may serve as members, officers or directors of any organization or governmental agency devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system, or the administration of justice . . . .
Commentary [1] to Rule 3.7 goes further, noting:
To the extent that time permits, and judicial independence and impartiality are not compromised, judges are encouraged to engage in appropriate law-related activities. As a judicial officer and person specially learned in the law, a judge is in a unique position to contribute to the improvement of the law, the legal system, and the administration of justice, including revision of substantive and procedural law and improvement of criminal and juvenile justice, either independently or through a bar association, judicial conference, or other organization dedicated to such improvements.
The establishment of the Child Abuse Protocol Committee, and the composition thereof, are both mandated by statute. Its essential purpose is the discovery and prevention of child abuse. The Committee is thus clearly "an organization or governmental agency devoted to the improvement of the law, the legal system, or the administration of justice." For all these reasons, and provided such service does not interfere with the proper performance of his duties, it is the opinion of this Commission that the Magistrate may appropriately set out in writing the role which the county Magistrate Court will assume in the protocol, without violating any of the provisions of Canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
However, because participation by the Magistrate in child fatality investigations could conceivably cast doubt on his capacity to impartially decide issues which may well come before him and thus violate Canon 3, and because such participation could also result in frequent disqualifications and recusals by reason of Rule 2.11(A), the Commission is of the opinion that the Magistrate should not personally participate in child fatality investigations.
Because the designation of a non-magistrate to serve on the Committee would likely eliminate the above-described problems, the second question is answered in the affirmative.
[Pertinent Code of Judicial Conduct provisions: Canon 1, Rules 1.2(B), 2.4(B), 2.8, 2.11(A), 3.7(A)(1), 3.7(A)(2), 3.1(A). Cross reference to other relevant opinions for review: #34, #70, #101, #137, #151, #152, #162, #172, #178, #179, #194, #201, #202.]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Exploring the Vaudois Alps on foot, escaping the stifling heat of the cities and gazing at a cloudless sky is a definite option in the summer! So head to the Vaudois Alps and feast your eyes on the views.
Just put on some sturdy shoes, grab your backpack and a bottle of water and off you go! The Vaudois Alps have some of the most stunning scenery in Switzerland. For experienced hikers or beginners, families, couples or friends, the Vaudois Alps are a walkers' paradise, with mountain peaks, glaciers, mountain lakes and rivers, waterfalls, mountain chalets and more. So many treasures just waiting to be discovered in the calm and serenity of the mountain landscape and its stunning scenery.


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Shhh! Don't Tell the Fed these Wall Street Banks Have Tanked 34 to 48 Percent Year-to-Date. (The Fed Thinks They're a "Source of Strength")
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 24, 2020 ~
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's oft repeated mantra this year – that the behemoth Wall Street banks "are a source of strength" in this economic crisis – is melting away faster than a snow cone in July, along with the share prices of these banks. So whom should Americans believe: The composite wisdom of the market or the opinion of a federal regulator whose supervision of these banks has been far from stellar.
The market would seem to have spoken clearly on just how "strong" these banks are. Since the first trading day of the year, January 2, to yesterday's closing price, here's the factual reality of just how much common equity capital these banks have bled: Citigroup is down a stunning 48 percent, losing almost half of its common equity capital; Bank of America has lost 35 percent; while JPMorgan Chase, the bank that has perpetually bragged about its "fortress balance sheet," is down 34 percent year-to-date. And the U.S. is only seven months into what could become a prolonged economic downturn.
The reason Powell has to tippy toe around the Wall Street mega banks' condition is because, as of June 30 according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Citigroup is sitting on $1.2 trillion of deposits, of which half are foreign and might take flight; Bank of America is sitting on $1.8 trillion in deposits, of which 94 percent are U.S. based; and JPMorgan Chase holds $2 trillion in deposits, of which $1.7 trillion or 85 percent are U.S. based.
As of September 10, the FDIC reports that the U.S. had 5,059 federally insured institutions including banks and savings associations. The three banks named above are holding 30 percent of all deposits held by all 5,059 federally insured financial institutions in the U.S. while representing just 0.059 percent of the number of federally insured institutions.
The 5,059 banks we have today is less than half of the 10,220 banks and savings associations that were federally insured at the end of 1999 – the year that the Bill Clinton administration passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had protected the U.S. financial system brilliantly for 66 years, meant that Wall Street's casino investment banks were now unleashed to gobble up federally insured banks. And gobble them up is exactly what they did.
By the end of 2005, six years after the Clinton administration had repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, the U.S. was down to 8,832 federally insured banking institutions. By 2010, the number of U.S. banking institutions had dropped to 7,657 with 197 institutions absorbed that year through mergers. In years 2015, 2016 and 2017, there were a total of 786 federally insured banking institutions absorbed through mergers.
And exactly who was it that was allowing all of these bank mergers to occur and dangerously concentrate banking in the United States into the hands of a few dangerous mega banks with wild trading operations? It was – wait for it – Jerome Powell's own Federal Reserve.
In conjunction with a December 4 hearing by the House Financial Services Committee, it issued a Memorandum outlining some of its key concerns. One eyepopping paragraph in the Memorandum revealed that for more than a decade the Federal Reserve had not rejected even one bank merger application. It noted this:
"Concerns have been raised about federal financial regulators rubber stamping prior merger and acquisition applications. For example, based on data provided by the Federal Reserve, from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2017, over 3,800 merger applications were submitted to the agency. During this eleven-year period, however, the Federal Reserve did not reject any merger application. On November 20, the Federal Reserve and FDIC granted approval of the merger between BB&T and SunTrust, creating the sixth-largest bank in the United States."
The safety and soundness of the U.S. financial system requires that banks that are sitting on more than $1 trillion in deposits not be highly-interconnected; not have tens of trillions of dollars in dangerous derivatives; not be holding trillions of dollars off their balance sheet; not be engaging in criminal activity; and are broken up when they show a serial pattern of wrongdoing. Jerome Powell's Fed has failed to enforce every single one of those common sense rules when it comes to JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.
JPMorgan Chase has pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts since 2014. Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that the bank may pay close to $1 billion to resolve charges by federal regulators that "traders on JPMorgan's precious metals and treasuries desks rigged markets." The article also delicately mentions in the sixth paragraph that "It is anticipated that JPMorgan will admit to wrongdoing." Seriously? Where are the criminal charges?
This is a three-count admitted felon that is, apparently, now messing with the debt issued by the United States government, i.e., U.S. Treasury securities.
On top of that, the U.S. Department of Justice had already criminally charged three of JPMorgan's precious metals traders under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO. According to the Justice Department, the traders engaged in a pattern of rigging the gold, silver and other precious metals markets from approximately May 2008 to August 2016. One of the traders, Michael Nowak, was actually a Managing Director at the bank and the head of its Global Precious Metals Desk. The other two traders are Gregg Smith and Christopher Jordan.
RICO is typically used to indict members of organized crime syndicates. Which brings to mind that in their 2016 book, JPMadoff: The Unholy Alliance Between America's Biggest Bank and America's Biggest Crook, veteran trial lawyers Helen Davis Chaitman and Lance Gotthoffer actually recommended that JPMorgan Chase be charged under the RICO statute. They wrote:
"If Jamie Dimon is running a criminal institution, he should be prosecuted for it. And law enforcement has the perfect tool for such a prosecution: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ACT (RICO).
"Congress enacted RICO in 1970 in order to give law enforcement the statutory tools it needed to prosecute the people who committed crimes upon orders from mob leaders and the mob leaders themselves. RICO targets organizations called 'racketeering enterprises' that engage in a 'pattern' of criminal activity, as well as the individuals who derive profits from such enterprises. For example, under RICO, a mob leader who passed down an order for an underling to commit a serious crime could be held liable for being part of a racketeering enterprise. He would be subject to imprisonment for up to twenty years per racketeering count and to disgorgement of the profits he realized from the enterprise and any interest he acquired in any business gained through a pattern of 'racketeering activity.' "
Is there a "pattern" to charge the bank itself under RICO? Consider this small sampling of charges brought against JPMorgan Chase while Jamie Dimon has sat at the helm:
In 2014 the U.S. Department of Justice charged the bank with two felony counts for its role in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. The bank put in writing to U.K. regulators that it suspected Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme but failed to report it to U.S. regulators. The bank allowed tens of millions of dollars to be laundered through the Madoff business bank account it maintained for decades. The bank pleaded guilty to the two felony counts but no individual was charged at the bank. The bank was given a three-year probation and handed a deferred prosecution agreement.
In 2015, the bank was charged with another felony for its role in rigging foreign currency trading. It also admitted to that felony charge and was given a deferred prosecution agreement. Its probation period for the foreign currency charge just ended in January of this year and now we hear that the Justice Department is ready to settle new charges that certainly sound like they are of a criminal nature.
Here's more of the pattern:
In October 2012, JPMorgan Chase paid $1.2 billion to settle claims that it, along with other banks, conspired to set the price of credit and debit card interchange fees.
In September 2013, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $80 million in fines and $309 million in refunds to customers whom the Bank billed for credit monitoring services that the Bank never provided.
On November 15, 2013, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had agreed to pay $4.5 billion to settle claims that it defrauded investors in mortgage-backed securities in the time period between 2005—2008.
On December 13, 2013, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay 79.9 million Euros to settle claims of the European Commission relating to illegal rigging of benchmark interest rates.
In July 2013, JPMorgan Chase paid $410 million to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to settle claims of bidding manipulation of California and Midwest electricity markets.
On November 19, 2013, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $13 billion to settle claims by the Department of Justice, the FDIC, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the States of California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, and to consumers, relating to fraudulent practices with respect to mortgage-backed securities.
If you want to stop the pillaging of the United States, call your Senators and House Reps today and demand that they restore the Glass-Steagall Act and break up these dangerous banks.
3-Count Felon, JPMorgan Chase, Caught Laundering More Dirty Money
It's Official: JPMorgan Chase Is the Riskiest Big Bank in the U.S.


The students of High School East are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to explore their creative sides and express themselves visually throughout the remarkable art programs offered. The extensive variety of art courses and clubs provided here at HSE is one of the most amazing parts of our school. National Art Honor Society, more commonly known as NAHS, enables students to enhance their artistic experiences. Out of all of the honor societies in our school, NAHS has the most members nationally by far. National Art Honor Society is such a popular organization in our school because it is a nationwide program that recognizes kids for their skills in varying art programs. As a member of NAHS, I enjoy getting involved in such a welcoming, fun program. Our school's art honor society is run by Mrs. Uttendorfer and Mrs. Nelkin.
Other upcoming events for NAHS include a fundraiser at Moe's and a fundraiser at Mixology. The club is also in the process of organizing a Soul Cycle ride! A big event that NAHS loves to get involved with is Safe Halloween, where members of Art Honor Society work diligently together to create and construct the infamous HSE Haunted House in the Lecture Hall. Overall, everyone involved in National Art Honor Society is looking forward to a year filled with involvement, creativity, and fun.


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Well Groomed
Well Groomed is a documentary that explores the exuberant world of competitive dog grooming and follows the lives of dog owners who are challenging the definition of art.
The film offers a rare look into the lives of dog owners who are dedicated to transforming their poodles into living sculptures. It delves deep into an all-consuming subculture of America where the motivation to win drives them into devoting their lives to the competition.
The documentary follows a group of determined dog groomers who are driven to succeed while facing a series of challenges in each of their personal and professional lives over the course of a year. It will also offer a peek into their limited-time outside the ring, where they groom other people's dogs, care for own pets and test out new designs on their show dogs.
Well Groomed is from Cattle Rat Productions in association with Spacestation; directed and written by Rebecca Stern; produced by Rebecca Stern, Justin Levy and Matthew C. Mills, executive produced by Chris Vivion, Annie Roney, Sue Turley; co-executive produced by Meryl Goldsmith; cinematography, Alexander W. Lewis; edited by Katharina Stroh; original music by Dan Deacon. For HBO, executive producers, Bill Simmons and Peter Nelson.
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
Momentum Generation


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The lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) is a medium-sized bushland antelope, found in East Africa. It is placed in the genus Tragelaphus and family Bovidae. It was first scientifically described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1869. The head-and-body length is typically . Males reach about  at the shoulder, while females reach . Males typically weigh  and females . The females and juveniles have a reddish-brown coat, while the males become yellowish grey or darker after the age of 2 years. Horns are present only on males. The spiral horns are  long, and have two to two-and-a-half twists.

A pure browser, the lesser kudu feeds on foliage from bushes and trees (shoots, twigs) and herbs. Despite seasonal and local variations, foliage from trees and shrubs constitute 60–80% of the diet throughout the year. The lesser kudu is mainly active at night and during the dawn, and seeks shelter in dense thickets just after the sunrise. The lesser kudu exhibits no territorial behaviour, and fights are rare. While females are gregarious, adult males prefer being solitary. No fixed breeding season is seen; births may occur at any time of the year. The lesser kudu inhabits dry bushland regions.

The lesser kudu is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, but it is possibly extirpated from Djibouti. It may have been present in Saudi Arabia and Yemen as recently as 1967, though its presence in the Arabian Peninsula is still controversial. The total population of the lesser kudu has been estimated to be nearly 118,000, with a decreasing trend in populations. One-third of the populations survive in protected areas. Presently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature  rates the lesser kudu as "near threatened".

Taxonomy and genetics

The scientific name of the lesser kudu is Tragelaphus imberbis. The animal is classified under the genus Tragelaphus in family Bovidae. It was first described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1869. The generic name, Tragelaphus, derives from Greek word tragos, meaning a male goat, and elaphos, which means a deer, while the specific name imberbis comes from the Latin term meaning unbearded, referring to this kudu's lack of mane. The vernacular name kudu (or koodoo) may have originated from the Khoikhoi kudu, or via the Afrikaans koedoe. The term "lesser" denotes the smaller size of this antelope as compared to the greater kudu.

In 1912, the genus Ammelaphus was established for just the lesser kudu by American zoologist Edmund Heller, the type species being A. strepsiceros. The lesser kudu is now typically placed in Tragelaphus. However, a 2011 publication by Colin Groves and Peter Grubb argues for the lesser kudu's renewed placement in the genus Ammelaphus on the grounds that this species is part of the earliest-diverging lineage of its tribe, having split from the main lineage before it separated into Tragelaphus and Taurotragus.

In 2005, Sandi Willows-Munro (of the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and colleagues carried out a mitochondrial analysis of the nine Tragelaphus species. mtDNA and nDNA data were compared. The results showed that the tribe Tragelaphini is monophyletic with the lesser kudu basal in the phylogeny, followed by the nyala (T. angasii). On the basis of mitochondrial data,  the lesser kudu separated from its sister clade around 13.7 million years ago. However, the nuclear data show that lesser kudu and nyala form a clade, and collectively separated from the sister clade 13.8 million years ago.

The lesser kudu has 38 diploid chromosomes. However, unlike others in the subfamily Tragelaphinae, the X chromosome and Y chromosome are compound and each is fused with one of two identical autosomes.

Physical description

The lesser kudu is a spiral-horned antelope. The head-and-body length is typically between . Males reach about  at the shoulder, while females reach . Males typically weigh  and females . The bushy tail is  long, white underneath and with a black tip at the end.

Distinct signs of sexual dimorphism are seen in the antelope. The male is considerably larger than the female. The females, as well as juveniles, have a rufous coat, whereas the males become yellowish grey or darker after the age of 2 years. The male has a prominent black crest of hair on the neck, but this feature is not well-developed in the female. One long white stripe runs along the back, with 11–14 white stripes branching towards the sides. The chest has a central black stripe, and  no throat beard is present. A black stripe runs from each eye to the nose and a white one from each eye to the centre of the dark face. A chevron is present between the eyes. The area around the lips is white, the throat has white patches, and two white spots appear on each side of the lower jaw. The underparts are completely white, while the slender legs are tawny and have black and white patches. The lesser kudu is characterised by large, rounded ears. Its tracks are similar to the greater kudu's. Females have four teats. The average lifespan is 10 years in the wild, and 15 years in captivity.

Horns are present only on males. The spiral horns are  long, and have two to two-and-a-half twists. The base circumference is . The slender horns are dark brown and tipped with white. Male young begin developing horns after 6-8 months, which reach full length after 3 years.

Ecology and behaviour

The lesser kudu is mainly active at night and during the dawn, and seeks shelter in dense thickets just after the sunrise. It can camouflage so well in such dense vegetation that only its ears and tail can indicate its presence. The midday is spent in rest and rumination in shaded areas. The animal spends about equal time foraging, standing and lying, and roaming. As a thin tragelaphine, the lesser kudu can move readily through dense vegetation with ease. The lesser kudu is a shy and wary animal. When alarmed, the animal stands motionless. If it senses any approaching predator, it gives out a short sharp bark, similar to the bushbuck's,  then makes multiple leaps up to  high with an upraised tail. If captured by the predator, the victim gives a loud bleat.

Lesser kudus are gregarious in nature, especially females. No distinct leader or any hierarchy is noted in the social structure; with no territorial behavior, fights are uncommon. While fighting, the lesser kudus interlock horns and try pushing one another. Mutual grooming is hardly observed. Unlike most tragelaphines, females can be closely associated for several years. One to three females, along with their offspring, may form a group. Juvenile males leave their mothers when aged a year and a half, and may form pairs. However, at the age of 4-5 years, males prefer a solitary lifestyle and avoid one another, though four or five bulls may share the same home range. Lesser kudu do not usually associate with other animals, except when they feed in the same area.

Diet

A pure browser, the lesser kudu feeds on foliage from bushes and trees (shoots, twigs) and herbs. It also eats flowers and fruits if available, and takes small proportions of grasses, usually in the wet season. Despite seasonal and local variations, foliage from trees and shrubs constitutes 60-80% of the diet throughout the year. Foliage from creepers and vines (such as Thunbergia guerkeana and some species of Cucurbitaceae and Convulvulaceae) forms 15-25% of the diet in the wet season. Fruits are consumed mainly in the dry season. Olfactory searching, much in the same posture as grazing, is used to find fallen fruits (such as Melia volkensii and Acacia tortilis), while small fruits (such as  Commiphora species) are directly plucked from trees. The size and structure of its stomach also suggests its primary dependence on browse.

The lesser kudu browses primarily at dusk or dawn, or nocturnally,  and is sometimes associated with gerenuk and the impala. The lesser kudu and the gerenuk might compete for evergreen species in the dry season. However, unlike the gerenuk, the lesser kudu rarely prefers Acacia species and does not stand on its hindlegs while feeding. The lesser kudu does not have a great requirement for water, and can browse in arid environments. It eats succulent plants, such as the wild sisal, Sansevieria, and Euphorbia species in the dry season, and drinks water when sources are available.

Reproduction
Both the males and females become sexually mature by the time they are a year and a half old. However, males actually mate after the age of four to five years. Males and females are most reproductive till the age of 14 and 14–18 years, respectively, with the maximum age of successful lactation in females being 13–14 years. With no fixed breeding season, births may occur at any time of the year. A study at Dvůr Králové Zoo (Czech Republic) showed that 55% of the births occurred between September and December. A rutting male tests the urine of any female he encounters, to which the female responds by urinating. Having located a female in estrus, the male follows her closely, trying to rub his cheek on her rump, head, neck, and chest. He performs gasping movements with his lips. Finally, the male mounts the female, resting his head and neck on her back, in a similar way as other tragelaphines.

The gestational period is 7-8 months, after which a single calf is born. A female about to give birth isolates herself from her group, and remains alone for some days afterward. The newborn calf weighs . Around 50% of the calves die within the first six months of birth, and only 25% can survive after three years. In a study at Basle Zoo (Switzerland), where 43% of the offspring from captive breeding died before reaching the age of six months, the major causes of high juvenile mortality were found to be the spread of white muscle disease and deficiency of vitamin E and selenium in diets. The herd size, sex, interbreeding, and season did not play any role in juvenile mortality. The mother hides her calf while she goes out to feed, and returns mainly in the evening to suckle her young. She checks the calf's identity by sniffing its rump or neck. In the first month, suckling may occur for 8 minutes. The mother and calf communicate with low bleats. She licks her offspring, particularly in the perineal region, and may consume its excreta.

Habitat and distribution
The lesser kudu inhabits dry bushland regions. It is closely associated with Acacia and Commiphora thornbush in semiarid areas of northeastern Africa. The animal avoids open areas and long grass, preferring shaded areas with short grasses instead. Found in woodlands and hilly areas, as well, the lesser kudu is generally found at altitudes below ; though they have been recorded at heights about  near Mount Kilimanjaro. While individual home ranges of these animals are  in size, those of males have an average size of  and those of females .

The lesser kudu is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, but it is extinct in Djibouti. Largely confined to the Horn of Africa today, the species historically ranged from Awash (Ethiopia) southward through southern and eastern Ethiopia, and most parts of Somalia (except the north and the northeast) and Kenya (except the southwest). It also occurred in southeastern Sudan and northeastern and eastern parts of Uganda and Tanzania. Evidence for its existence in the Arabian peninsula includes a set of horns obtained in 1967 from an individual shot in South Yemen and another in Saudi Arabia, as well as a recent analysis of  early and middle Holocene rock art sites in Jubbah and Shuwaymis, Ha'il province, Saudi Arabia.

Threats and conservation
The lesser kudu's shyness and its ability to camouflage itself in dense cover has protected it from the risks of poaching. For instance, the lesser kudu is widespread in the Ogaden region, which is rich in dense bush, despite reckless hunting by local people. However, rinderpest outbreaks, to which the lesser kudu is highly susceptible, have resulted in a steep decline of 60% in the animal's population in Tsavo National Park in Kenya. Overgrazing, human settlement, and loss of habitat are some other threats to the survival of the lesser kudu.

The total population of the lesser kudu has been estimated to be nearly 118,000, with a decreasing trend in populations. The rate of decline has increased to 20% over two decades. Presently, the IUCN rates the lesser kudu as "near threatened". Around a third of the population of the lesser kudu occurs in protected areas such as Awash, Omo and Mago National Parks (Ethiopia); Lag Badana National Park (Somalia); Tsavo National Park (Kenya); Ruaha National Park and game reserves (Tanzania), though it occurs in larger numbers outside these areas. Population density rarely exceeds 1/km2., and is generally much lower.

The handsome head of the male lesser kudu, with his elegant spiraled horns, is the symbol of the Saint Louis Zoo.

References

External links

 Information from African Wildlife Foundation

lesser kudu
Fauna of East Africa
Fauna of the Horn of Africa
Mammals of Ethiopia
Mammals of Kenya
Mammals of Somalia
Mammals of South Sudan
Mammals of Tanzania
Mammals of Uganda
lesser kudu
lesser kudu
Bovids of Africa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Do Testosterone Supplements Actually Work? (Brought to You by JYM Supplements)
Alpha JYM combines six non-proprietary ingredients into a properly-dosed testosterone booster with the research to back it up.
Written by Phil Blechman
This piece is brought to you in paid partnership with JYM Supplements. We may receive commissions on items purchased through links on this page.
Testosterone is more than just the driving force of power and masculinity that modern marketing might have you believe. While advertisements for various supplements may try and twist it, testosterone is a hormone that helps primary development, such as regulating bodily hair patterns, vocal changes, and anabolic effects, including growth during adolescence and muscle growth by stimulating protein synthesis. (1)
Maintaining sufficient testosterone levels is essential. According to the World Journal of Clinical Cases, an insufficient testosterone level can have some pretty adverse effects, such as reduced interest in sexual activity, brain fog, lethargy, and reduced muscle mass and strength. (2)
Founder of JYM Supplements, exercise physiologist Dr. Jim Stoppani, adds that when testosterone is not optimized, it can lead to "moodiness and problems with sleep…a gradual loss of muscle mass and strength, with a greater gain of body fat, despite working out."
Since less optimized testosterone is common as people age, a testosterone support product might be a viable supplement to help optimize testosterone. (3) JYM Supplements offers one called Alpha JYM. The two recommended daily servings contain the following ingredients:
Image courtesy of JYM Supplements
Editor's note: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. It's always a good idea to talk to your doctor before beginning a new fitness, nutritional, and/or supplement routine.
Do testosterone optimizer supplements actually work? To answer that question, we need to take a closer look at each ingredient's benefits and how they might impact one's testosterone level.
Alpha JYM
This non-proprietary, fully-dosed testosterone booster uses six ingredients that are all at the proper doses determined by research in the lab and in the gym. It includes 1,000 milligrams of fenugreek, ashwagandha, and damiana, 500 milligrams of diindolylmethane and quercetin, and 200 milligrams of Eurycoma longifolia.
Shop JYM Supplements 10% Discount!
Fenugreek has been shown to have positive effects on testosterone concentrations in men. Four of six studies in Advances in Nutrition involving 366 male participants ranging in age from 18 to 72 demonstrated increased testosterone concentrations. One of those studies featured 500 milligrams of daily fenugreek supplementation, which was associated with increases in testosterone compared to its respective placebo group. (3)(4)
JYM Supplements says that the suggested two daily 500-milligram servings of fenugreek "promote an increased release of luteinizing hormone." Luteinizing hormone is a glycoprotein hormone that causes the Leydig cells (receptors that stimulate cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production) to produce testosterone. (5)(6)
A 2019 study in the American Journal of Men's Health found that those who consumed 600 milligrams of ashwagandha daily had a 14.7 percent greater increase in testosterone versus their placebo counterparts after eight weeks. (7)
Furthermore, that exact dosage of ashwagandha broken up into two servings (300 milligrams each) has shown greater increases in muscle strength (in the bench press and leg press), increased size of arm and chest muscles, and greater reduction of exercise-induced muscle damage and body fat percentage. (8)
JYM Supplements says, "ashwagandha…promotes a better stress response in the body, specifically by helping to reduce cortisol (the body's main stress hormone) levels which would otherwise limit testosterone levels." The science supports that. (9)(10)
Damiana & Diindolylmethane
According to the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, damiana is a wild shrub that has been shown to significantly suppress in vitro. Aromatase helps convert androgens (read: testosterone) to estrogen. (11)(12)
Concerning DIM, JYM Supplements states that research suggests that DIM is the most stable metabolite of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a chemical found in cruciferous vegetables that may help support a healthy hormone balance.
Eurycoma longifolia is a flowering plant whose major isolated chemical constituents with metabolites have been shown to increase testosterone levels indirectly. More specifically, it increases testosterone by the "activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis" via 600-milligram supplementation for two weeks. (13)(14)(15)
Quercetin is an antioxidant flavonol found in foods like apples, berries, [cabbage, turnips, Brussels sprouts], capers, grapes, onions, shallots, tea, and tomatoes, as well as many seeds, nuts, flowers, barks, and leaves," per Nutrients. In vitro and in animal models, Quercetin has been suggested to increase testosterone glucuronidation — a metabolic process by which drugs or other substances are combined with glucuronic acid to form more water-soluble compounds, which are more readily excreted by the kidneys or in bile — pursuant to the claim that JYM Supplements states on their website. (16)(17)(18)
Passing the Test(osterone)
So do testosterone supplements actually work? The science suggests that the ingredients in Alpha JYM do.
Of course, anyone looking to take a supplement to adjust their testosterone level should consult their physician first to ensure it is the best course of action. If it is, Alpha JYM is a well-supported option that could prove beneficial for optimizing healthy hormone levels.
Nassar GN, Leslie SW. Physiology, Testosterone. [Updated 2022 Jan 4]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526128/
Jia, H., Sullivan, C. T., McCoy, S. C., Yarrow, J. F., Morrow, M., & Borst, S. E. (2015). Review of health risks of low testosterone and testosterone administration. World journal of clinical cases, 3(4), 338–344. https://doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v3.i4.338
Mansoori, A., Hosseini, S., Zilaee, M., Hormoznejad, R., & Fathi, M. (2020). Effect of fenugreek extract supplement on testosterone levels in male: A meta-analysis of clinical trials. Phytotherapy research: PTR, 34(7), 1550–1555. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.6627
Smith, S., Lopresti, A., Teo, S., & Fairchild, T. (2020). Examining the Effects of Herbs on Testosterone Concentrations in Men: A Systematic Review. Advances In Nutrition, 12(3), 744-765. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmaa134
Nedresky, D., & Singh, G. (2021). Physiology, Luteinizing Hormone. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.
Zirkin, B. R., & Papadopoulos, V. (2018). Leydig cells: formation, function, and regulation. Biology of reproduction, 99(1), 101–111. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolre/ioy059
Lopresti, A. L., Drummond, P. D., & Smith, S. J. (2019). A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study Examining the Hormonal and Vitality Effects of Ashwagandha ( Withania somnifera) in Aging, Overweight Males. American journal of men's health, 13(2), 1557988319835985. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988319835985
Wankhede, S., Langade, D., Joshi, K., Sinha, S. R., & Bhattacharyya, S. (2015). Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 12, 43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-015-0104-9
Pratte, M. A., Nanavati, K. B., Young, V., & Morley, C. P. (2014). An alternative treatment for anxiety: a systematic review of human trial results reported for the Ayurvedic herb ashwagandha (Withania somnifera). Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 20(12), 901–908. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2014.0177
Muntingh, A. D., van der Feltz-Cornelis, C. M., van Marwijk, H. W., Spinhoven, P., Penninx, B. W., & van Balkom, A. J. (2011). Is the Beck Anxiety Inventory a good tool to assess the severity of anxiety? A primary care study in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). BMC family practice, 12, 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-12-66
Zhao, J., Dasmahapatra, A. K., Khan, S. I., & Khan, I. A. (2008). Anti-aromatase activity of the constituents from damiana (Turnera diffusa). Journal of ethnopharmacology, 120(3), 387–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2008.09.016
Peters A, Tadi P. Aromatase Inhibitors. [Updated 2021 Sep 29]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557856/
Rehman SU, Choe K, Yoo HH. Review on a Traditional Herbal Medicine, Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Tongkat Ali): Its Traditional Uses, Chemistry, Evidence-Based Pharmacology and Toxicology. Molecules. 2016 Mar 10;21(3):331. doi: 10.3390/molecules21030331. PMID: 26978330; PMCID: PMC6274257.
Chan, K. Q., Stewart, C., Chester, N., Hamzah, S. H., & Yusof, A. (2021). The effect of Eurycoma Longifolia on the regulation of reproductive hormones in young males. Andrologia, 53(4), e14001. https://doi.org/10.1111/and.14001
George, A., & Henkel, R. (2014). Phytoandrogenic properties of Eurycoma longifolia as natural alternative to testosterone replacement therapy. Andrologia, 46(7), 708–721. https://doi.org/10.1111/and.12214
Li Y, Yao J, Han C, Yang J, Chaudhry MT, Wang S, Liu H, Yin Y. Quercetin, Inflammation and Immunity. Nutrients. 2016 Mar 15;8(3):167. doi: 10.3390/nu8030167. PMID: 26999194; PMCID: PMC4808895.
Mohamed, M., & Frye, R. (2010). Effects of Herbal Supplements on Drug Glucuronidation. Review of Clinical, Animal, and<i>In Vitro</i>Studies. Planta Medica, 77(04), 311-321. doi: 10.1055/s-0030-1250457
APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2022). Retrieved 16 June 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/glucuronidation


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2022 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Schedule Released
The schedule boasts 14 total events during the upcoming season.
Salem, Indiana (December 10, 2021): Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS have officially released the 2022 schedule for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance. The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour 2022 schedule will consist of 14 races, 12 of those are point events, and two non-point special events. 2022 will be the 12th season of competition for the crate late model touring series sanctioned by Champion Racing Association.
"We are really excited about the 2022 schedule with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour," remarked Glenn Luckett, Managing Partner of CRA. "We have a great mix of events on the schedule, with some great high-profile events that will challenge our drivers throughout the season and provide some great racing for our fans!"
The 2022 racing season kicks off with the traditional non-points opener for both the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS and the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour with SpeedFest 2022 at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Georgia on Saturday, January 29th. The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour race will be a 100 lap four tire event. This event has traditionally attracted the best Pro Late Model drivers from all around the country.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour will kick off its 2022-point season on Sunday, April 24th with a visit to Southern Indiana's Salem Speedway, which has hosted several series events over the years and was added back to the series traditional schedule last season. The ARCA/CRA Super Series will also be in action with that event.
The series will then head to Michigan for the first of three events that were previously announced at Birch Run Speedway in Birch Run, Michigan on Saturday, April 30th. The Birch Run Triple Crown Series will crown a 2022 Champion.
The series will go South to the famed Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee for the first of three events at that historic facility in 2022 on Saturday, May 7th. The ARCA/CRA Super Series will also be in action that weekend in Nashville.
The series has a to be announced event for June.
The series will then stay in Michigan for the second Birch Run Speedway Triple Crown Series event on Saturday, July 2nd as the track has a huge July 4th Weekend celebration planned.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour schedule is then highlighted by a return visit to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville for the famed CRA Masters of the Pro's 150 on Saturday, July 9th.
The series has a to be announced event on Friday, July 22nd.
The series will then go to Anderson Speedway, in Anderson, Indiana on Saturday, August 6th. The track was added back to the series schedule in 2019 after racing there from 2011 through the 2016 season.
The Labor Day tradition is up next as the series will head to the legendary 1/2-mile-high banks of Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana on Labor Day Weekend, the first weekend in September and the series' first of two visits in 2022. That event will be the first race of the series 2022 Chase for the Championship.
The series will then head back to Birch Run Speedway for the Birch Run Triple Crown Series Championship event on Saturday, September 10th. That event will be the second event in the series 2022 Chase.
The series will then be the featured event at the previously announced Fall Brawl 2022 event at Jennerstown Speedway located in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. The series competed at Jennerstown Speedway in 2020, whereCody Coughlin came away with the win. That event will be the third event in the series 2022 Chase.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour will crown their 2022 Tour Champion at Winchester Speedway as part of the 50th Annual Winchester 400 Weekend on Friday, October 14th in its second visit of the season to Winchester Speedway.
The series will make its third stop of 2022 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway to close out the 2022 season with a special 100 lap non-points event as part of the famed All American 400 Weekend on Sunday, October 30th.
For more information about all five touring series' within Champion Racing Association, please go to the series website at: www.cra-racing.com. You can also follow CRA on Facebook at: www.facebook.com and search for "Champion Racing Association" as well as Twitter at: www.twitter.com/CRAracing.
2022 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Schedule
DATE TRACK LAPS
Saturday, April 30 - Birch Run Speedway - 100
Sunday, June - TBA - 125
Saturday, July 2 - Birch Run Speedway - 100
Saturday, July 9 - Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway - 150
Friday, July 22 - TBA - 100
Saturday, August 6 - Anderson Speedway - 100
Saturday, September 3 - Winchester Speedway - 100
Saturday, September 10 - Birch Run Speedway - 100
Saturday, October 1 - Jennerstown Speedway - 100
Friday, October 14 - Winchester Speedway - 100
Sunday, October 30 - Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway - 100


Choosing a GYN surgical specialist for endometriosis treatment can create a better environment in your womb. improving your chances of conceiving and carrying a child to term.
Thinking about how a baby develops, it's important for the womb to be the best possible environment. Several GYN conditions can alter the chemistry or the structure of the womb, and affect an embryos' ability to attach or to develop to term.
Endometriosis can affect fertility in multiple ways. The body responds to endometriosis by releasing excess inflammatory cells. This can cause pain, or create pelvic adhesions which can prevent conception. In addition, the inflammatory cells can potentially affect sperm function or impair the function of the fallopian tubes. Endometriomas, fluid filled cysts on the ovaries that result from endometriosis can alter ovarian function.
Endometriosis treatment is either managed medically, surgically, or a combination of both. Since endometriosis can vary widely from patient to patient, treatment must be tailored to each individual, depending on her specific conditions and goals. Choosing a GYN surgical specialist will ensure that you are getting the most knowledgeable care, and highest level of skill.
While surgery can help to control the pain and improve chances of conceiving a child, there is no cure. Forty to 80 percent of women will have a recurrence of pain within two years of surgery. Following conservative surgery with medical management can help extend the length of pain control.
Resection of endometriosis refers to the excision of the endometrial implants, and is considered conservative surgery designed to improve pain (80 percent of women reported improvement in their symptoms six months after surgery). This type of surgery preserves the uterus, tubes and ovaries as much as possible. Surgery is focused on removing endometriosis and improving symptoms.
Pelvic adhesions can be completely asymptomatic and not cause any problems. However, when scar tissue causes infertility, pain or gastrointestinal problems, such as bloating and constipation, surgical resection needs to be considered.
Resection of pelvic adhesions require advanced GYN surgical expertise. Because pelvic adhesions can be tricky to treat – there is always the chance that surgery can exacerbate the problem or cause new adhesions to form – it is important to leave your treatment in the hands of an experienced specialist.
An ovarian endometrioma is a benign, estrogen-dependent cyst found in women of reproductive age. It can be a cause of infertility.
Approximately 17 percent of subfertile women have endometriomas. Removing the endometrioma prior to IVF treatments can improve success rates of conceiving and carrying to term.
Endometriomas need to be completely removed rather than drained. If it is not removed, there is an high chance it will return. Medical management of endometriomas larger than one cm has not shown to be effective.
The surgeons at The Center for Innovative GYN Care have developed a technique called DualPortGYN, a remarkable advancement in minimally invasive GYN surgery. The CIGC specialists in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia are the only surgeons nationally and internationally using this approach to surgery. DualPortGYN has been applied successfully to thousands of cases for hysterectomy, cancer, endometriosis, pelvic masses, ovarian cysts and prolapse procedures.
We want to make resolving the condition that is causing your infertility a priority so that you can get back to planning for your future. Book a consultation today with Dr. Paul MacKoul, MD or Dr. Natalya Danilyants, MD.
Join Dr. Paul J. MacKoul, Dr. Natalya Danilyants and iHeartRadio hosts Danni Starr from Hot 99.5 and Jenni Chase from WASH-FM on July 20, 2015 from 5:30pm to 7:00pm for a live, in-person infosession about Fibroids, Myomectomy & Fertility.
After the presentation, Dr. MacKoul and Dr. Danilyants will be on hand to talk to attendees and answer questions. Questions can be submitted ahead of time or asked during Q&A.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Women (couples, family members, or friends are also welcome!) who are facing fibroid surgery or surgery for other conditions that are causing infertility who want to learn about alternatives to open or robotic procedures.


text:
package org.apache.geode.cache.query.internal.parse;

import antlr.Token;

import org.apache.geode.cache.query.internal.QCompiler;
import org.apache.geode.cache.query.internal.Support;

public class ASTUnary extends GemFireAST {
  private static final long serialVersionUID = -3906821390970046083L;

  public ASTUnary(Token t) {
    super(t);
  }

  public ASTUnary() {}

  @Override
  public void compile(QCompiler compiler) {
    if (getType() == OQLLexerTokenTypes.TOK_MINUS) {
      GemFireAST child = (GemFireAST) getFirstChild();
      int tokenType = child.getType();
      if (tokenType == OQLLexerTokenTypes.NUM_INT || tokenType == OQLLexerTokenTypes.NUM_LONG
          || tokenType == OQLLexerTokenTypes.NUM_FLOAT
          || tokenType == OQLLexerTokenTypes.NUM_DOUBLE) {
        Support.Assert(child.getNextSibling() == null);
        child.setText('-' + child.getText());
        child.compile(compiler);
      } else {
        super.compile(compiler);
        compiler.unaryMinus();
      }
    } else {
      super.compile(compiler);
      compiler.not();
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Alongside the new FDR-AX1 4K camcorder, Sony has released the PXW-Z100 4K XDCAM professional camcorder priced at $6500.
The Sony PXW-Z100 captures 4K video at 50p or 60p using Sony's XAVC format at max bit rates of 500Mbps or 600Mbps, respectively. Footage is captured onto dual XQD card slots. MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression is used for HD (1920×1080), QFHD (3840×2016) and 4K (4096×2160) content. Image sampling is 4:2:2 10-bit, with an intra-frame system that compresses each frame individually.
The sensor is a 1/2.3″ Exmor R CMOS back-illuminated sensor. The 20x Sony G lens offers a wide angle of 30mm at 4K or 31.5mm at UltraHD (3840 x 2160) and a 20x zoom range.
The HDMI interface on the PXW-Z100 camcorder can output 4K as a 50fps/60fps signal. When the PXW-Z100 is connected to a Sony PVM-X300 4K professional monitor or a 4K-compatible BRAVIA TV, the recorded 4K image can be displayed in 4K 50fps/60fps quality. A future firmware upgrade is planned to provide compatibility with the new HDMI standard (referred to as HDMI 2.0) and enable 4K 50fps/60fps output to a wider range of devices. Other features include a 3G HD-SDI interface that supports output to an SDI of up to HD 60p. It also supports HD output during 4K recording.
The Sony PXW-Z100 should be available by the end of the year for $6500.
1/2.3″ sensor seems awfully small for a $6500 camera!
Half inch chip. Which is better than 1/3 inch.
Re-read the first sentence of the second paragraph: 4K 50P/60P frame rates. What's good is that it is recording full 4K on the XAVC codec 4:2:2 10 bit.
I think the most important fact is that both the FDR-AX1 and the PXW-Z100 are both fine 1080P/2K cameras that can be used for broadcast, or production right now, with the added bonus of migration to 4K on a budget. This means that they are semi future proofed for the next little bit.
The same goes for the Sony FS700. It is a great little 1080P camera. But, the FS700 with the addition of the AXS-R5 recorder + HXR-IF5 interface lets you shoot full 4K RAW up to 60P. Pretty cool.
1/2.3″ is a tiny sensor for such a high sources camera. My phone has a bigger sensor! A full frame camera has a session with 31 times the surface area.
What I don't understand, and it's the difference between me serious contemplating this camera or not even looking at it twice is the 1080p frame rate. Given it can process 4096×2160 @60fps which is over half a billions pixels per second then it would be capable of 1920×1080 @256fps, so why no full HD at 240fps mode?


The nerd show about nothing.
The pod is back and stronger than ever! This episode the crew are talking to the artists of Richmond over drinks at the illustrious Black Iris Social Club! We're joined by Silly Genius, Jay Bordeaux, the Kaiju Brothers and Marvel Comics Colorist Jason Keith, talking about Richmond's art scene past, present and future, nerdy inspirations, comics and of course our trademark brand of ludicrousness!
This episode's Theme Song is by: Young Sums Feat. Melodic- Soul Trips from the Black Friday Album.


Many days and weeks passed and though I could not tell, I was growing. My origins when asked were always hazy, or swayed off truths, of course I could not tell the truth, I couldn't ever tell the expressions on my parent�s faces and just as I had been given a name each four of my parents had names too.
Each parent was different and unique, if parent is really the right word, I know I was born that day but I do not know the process of birth, certain times there are questions and I find I must talk to a specific parent on a specific topic, I never really understood this too well. For instance the conversation of battle is often welcomed by Caspa, whose voice is very overpowering, and Baltuzar also enjoys any conversation entailing a battle but his comments are words for precaution perhaps defense?
Merkyor, has a comment on any thing and every thing, who often would enter a conversation mid way through to correct a mistake entailed by myself or one of my other parents, if problem solving is wisdom then Merkyor would be wise too.
And then there is the most confusing of all my parents, Sema, though all my parents voices are in whispers of the mind the words and conversations I have with Sema would lead me to believe that of all my parents Sema would be my mother, never temperamental and very much like Merkyor but so different as well, Sema seems to be the most concerned of the four.
The events which took place were of a schedule which I learnt after many cycles was that my parents would every now and then go out for a search, I know they are searching for some thing because they do not talk about their task only they merely wonder, and a wonderer whom always wonders back to home is merely an explorer.
There is a great deal of time between these explorations, and to fill in this time there are many training sessions for myself, it is like a family event, each parent teaching me different but equally important things, I am taught to fight with Caspa and Baltuzar who make very good sparing partners, one the better at attacking and the other better at defenses and counters.
Merkyor teaches me that there is an art to every thing, be it fighting, hunting or even learning, we often just sit down and talk, I will never forget the words he first told me.
"Hebroti, Teachers are wonderful, to praise, to love, but teachers are taught how to teach, and teach what they were taught, but what they never do is teach how to learn, and that is why many will teach themselves how to learn and when they come across a teacher they will never have learnt to listen"
Sema being the caring type she is merely enjoys my company on any thing she does I never understood why, she seemed so focused on the moment of our times together to even appreciate them but she out of all of them answered me the most, and the best for that matter.
After my parents had agreed that I had grown quite enough they set out one time, not their normal times and decided that they should this time watch me with their floating eyes, it is one thing to be cared for while your parents are out, but to be watched on four different angles on every move you make is some thing different.
I never figured out why, but I never enjoyed the eye's company, each one so emotionless they only blinked and watched, naturally when being young, ones curiosity can some times get the better of you, so I began to wonder how the eye's maintained their floating ability, normally when I move towards one of the eye's with the intention to do some thing they would move, usually straight up out of my reach, but often when I am doing some thing like exploring my surroundings the eyes will keep a particular watch over me, as if watching to make sure I don�t find some thing.
So, I devised my plan, after ten minutes of exploring the walls I decided it was time to make my move, I turned around suddenly and looked at the eye directly behind me, when I envision it now I guess the eye's wide-eyed expression was quite funny but what happened next really caught the poor eye off guard, I lunged, and landed right on top of the eye, the way I saw it the eye would either carry me too or land softly enough for me any way and so the eye like a flying cushion floated for a while with me nonchalantly sitting up on it, determined as I was to sink the eye I started bouncing and the eye did not take to this too well it began to move around the room, were it not going so slowly I would have sworn it to be trying to get me off it's, back?
After some time of floating around the room laughing to the point of almost falling off I decided to make things more interesting by covering pupil of the giant eye with as much of my hands as I could, it must have worked because after very little time the eye flew right into a stone pillar.
My fun was ended by the eye floating down to the ground again and me getting the hint so I jumped off, then I felt the familiar chill across my back as I turned around to greet my parents "hi" I said with no reaction from the four, after a silence "Hebroti why were you on the floating eye?" said Merkyor, "I was curious as to how they can float" I said, "Floating eye's are enchanted beasts they are mystical and have the magic ability to float" said Merkyor once more, with a great deal of confusion in my voice and face I asked "Merkyor when can I learn some magic?" the four some what taken aback by my enthusiasm said in an eerie unison "that is what we had planned for tomorrow".
Tomorrow must have come after my sleep because as soon as I awoke I heard voices arguing, "But where should he start? How do we know he is even ready?" said one hushed voice, "that is the purpose of today" said another sounding like Sema.
After getting up and stretching I joined in on the conversation at hand, "I think we should test him to see where he stands, and good morning while I am at it" I said.
"Hebroti magic is a very serious matter, in the right hands it can do miracles, heal wounds revive the dead, in the wrong hands it can do the exact opposite" said Baltuzar, "It is his decision to do with magic as he sees fit" said Merkyor in my defense "besides we wont have to teach him what we don�t want"
Most of the time after that discussion was preparation of which spells I should learn first, many names were called to each other in an ancient tongue I am not even sure my throat could handle and they turned to me and said with excitement in their voices, today we will teach you the electric bolt.
"He already knows that one" said Sema, with the other three looking at her "I thought I should teach him some thing in our times together" she finished "well did you teach him any of the other spells?" asked Caspa curiously "No just the electric bolt" was Sema's reply "Then we still have some work to do" said Caspa "I think he will do well today" was the finishing sentence for Sema.
"Congratulations Hebroti I now pronounce you an adequate user in all fourth level and lower spells, you have had a big day though and you have learnt much more then even we planned, but you have made us proud, tomorrow we will begin on your harder tasks" was the last thing I remember Baltuzar telling me before I dozed off in my bed.
I often don�t remember my dreams but some times there are dreams that you just cant get rid of, some thing, calling me, some thing deep, down pulling me down asking for me.. Something.... "Waking up time, come on big day ahead of us" I slowly started to rise from my dream, being pulled away from some thing I was so sure I was getting closer to.
"We going to get right into my fifth level of magic?" I asked the four.
"No Hebroti we have decided there is some thing much more important then your training of magic to do" said Merkyor, I frowned "I understand what ever it is I am sure it must be done" I replied, "don�t worry this is some thing you will like" said Sema, suddenly my curiosity caught my suspicions, "what is it?" I asked poking around.
"This Hebroti is a favor from an old friend whom we helped find his lab, and in return he gave us some materials to help you" said Baltuzar "materials for what, where did he go to get them?" I asked "today instead of teaching you magic we decided we are going to let you make some armor and a weapon so you can hunt and get stronger" said Caspa "oh, that will be great, like your staffs, are your staffs made from the same material?" I asked my voice inquisitive "no our staffs are made from the roots of a very special tree in the elven fore..." Sema was cut off by Caspa.
"Elven fore....ST? There is a forest of elves?" I was excited and I wasn't afraid to let it show. Caspa looked at his three companions and said "Hebroti the elven forest was destroyed by the orcs, and if the orcs haven't destroyed it then the humans did afterwards, We see elves from time to time around these dungeons but each day they look less and less like elves and more like their round eared counterparts".
My excitement now dying I shrugged and decided to move on from the news.
"What materials are you talking about?" I re-asked, "Well, all of this" said Baltuzar and with a wave of his staff numerous piles of stuff, objects.. material just started piling on the floor.
"Where should I start?" I wondered to myself "Well if you were to ask me I would say the easiest thing should be the first one" came a whisper in my head "thanks Sema I will listen to you on that one" I said inside my head and with her nod I continued to study the leaves, shortly after comparing different leaves I came to my choice, my first item will be a bracer!
"I am not certain for sure but does the thing Hebroti made look more like a bracer or a boot to you Caspa" said Caspa chuckling to himself "Depends have you ever seen a bracer before?" was Baltuzar's defensive reply.
"Please you two, as long as he is happy with it then it will be a bracer" said Merkyor trying to calm the other two down from possibly getting into an argument "all I am saying Baltuzar is that after five tries I would have thought him to be an expert bracer maker" though I could hear the conversation ensuring behind me I still worked on the finishing touches to my latest attempt at making a bracer with Sema constantly looking between the leaf and my work giving bits and pieces of advice where she saw it fit.
"There... now let me try it on again" I said as I fitted my hand in the bracer "It is much more comfortable then the other four and this one is a perfect fit and lighter too" I said in approval, "That�s because you used less bark this time" said Sema rather gleeful now.
"He worked so hard look at him sleeping" said a faint voice "He has almost finished making all his armor his weapon will be the hardest" said another "Do you think we should get a surprise for him tomorrow?" I heard a third voice say trying to get softer and softer as it spoke, after some time of silence "I have just the one!" said the last voice I heard before I drifted off to sleep.
"Ahh, look he is stirring" I heard Caspa say, "good morning Caspa.. Merkyor, Sema and Baltuzar" I said groggily as I attempted to focus better. "Hebroti today you make your bow, this is a great day indeed for an elf, their first bow is usually their most cherished" said Caspa once more "Well I do not know about other elves but I certainly would cherish a weapon to hunt with" I said in confusion to the attention I was receiving "you should begin working on it right away" said Merkyor rushing me along, now I was thoroughly suspecting some thing as Merkyor was always the one to sit back in any situation. "alright alright, I will start making it right away" I said attempting to throw my pursuers off long enough to drift back to sleep.
"AHHH IT'S COLD!!" I said jumping up from my bed as I watched the remnants of a small frozen cloud spell wither away.
Merkyor thoroughly enjoying himself decided I was awake enough to begin working on my bow and left me alone to start my bow crafting.
"That was not nice" I mumbled to myself as I walked over to the pile of materials sitting in the far corner of the room.
After eight hours and four bows my fingers were beginning to hurt from the twining needed to make an elven bow, so much twining so much bending and holding... "This would have to be my last attempt at making an elven bow for the day" I said to myself as I made the finishing touches, I picked up my testing arrow and fired it at a stone pillar, "great half way.. that�s almost double the distance of the last one" I said as I threw the bow into my discarded pile of mis-makes.
"For a wise elf you are having a lot of trouble making that bow, it is an elven bow too" I heard Caspa say "Sure I am wise but these instructions show things I am certain no elf can do, my hands are neither thin or strong enough to do these things" I said in retort, "Well, you have done a wonderful job of trying and we have decided for that we will reward you" said Baltuzar "We want you to have this, we found it on one of our journeys through the dungeon" said Sema and with a wave of Merkyor's staff a bow appeared, "wow" was all I could say, "it isn't an elven bow as you can tell, it is a cross-bow much better then an elven one" said Caspa with a matter of fact tone, "I don�t know what to say, apart from thanks, but why didn't you give it to me right away?" I asked, "Because we wanted you to work for it, and it was fun to see you working for some thing" said Caspa, I walked over to the bow and felt it's wonderful design, it's weight, it's strength, it truly was a wonderful bow.
"Well aren't you going to try it out?" said Sema happy to see me so exited, "Sure" I said as I put my test arrow in then aimed it at the stone pillar, "here goes I said as I pulled on it's trigger and a split second later the arrow had hit the pillar and left its mark "wow it actually works" I said amazed while I admired the bow more.
"We also brought some other things here" I heard Baltuzar say, "some proper arrows" and with a wave of his staff many piles of arrows appeared, "This is too good to be true" I said as I picked up one of the silver arrows and placed it into my crossbow, "now let me see" I said to myself as I scanned the room, "THAT ONE" I said to myself as I smiled and fired my bow at an unsuspecting eye, then with an awful screech I heard Caspa and the eye leave the room with a cloud of smoke in their former place.
Great story so far man. What exacly is this elf's purpose? Is there going to be more?


text:
Q: Why is the wrong form opening when I click the doc link I created from a SSJS function? Ok, this is weird.  I created an xpage input form.  After the form is filled out, a document is created.  I then create an email to notify people that the document has been created.  I drop a doclink to the newly created document in the body of the email.  During testing, I noticed that when I click the link in the email, the wrong Notes Form is opened.  Instead of the 'TrainingRequest' form displaying the fields, the form 'Feedback' opens up instead.  Here's what I checked:
- On the xpage data section, the 'form' is set to 'TrainingRequest'.
- When I open the document via the doc link, the field 'form' has the value 'TrainingRequest', which is correct.  Yet it's displaying the 'Feedback' form.
- When I check the other field properties of the document, all the correct fields from the 'TrainingRequest' form are there and populated correctly.
- When I open the document via the view, the correct Notes form 'TrainingRequest' opens.
- There is no default form in the database design.

Has anyone seen this before?
thanks
clem

A: Doc links are always created using the default view of your application. If there is a form formula in this view then this overrides the form in the document. Remove the form formula of the default view and it works.
I almost NEVER use form formulas in my application because of the side effects.

A: Source code would be useful. But initial best guess based on what you're saying is you have two datasources on the XPage, neither have ignoreRequestParams set, so you're editing the same document with both data sources. ignoreRequestParams missing will ignore any properties you define.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I first wrote that phrase about 3 years ago when I started realizing that health really is more complicated than we have even known. It's not just about popping a pill, or eating a salad a day. It's not about running yourself ragged at the gym, or starving yourself to stay thin. REAL, long lasting health is about a total lifestyle change. It's about eating as clean as you can, eliminating toxic people from your life, changing your household products to less toxic ones, healing deep emotional traumas, and so much more. It's about accepting that true healing takes time, energy, patience, hard work, and faith.
In my journey as a practitioner, I have had to realize that not every one wants to fully heal, even though I have always wanted to do my best to heal everyone. Most people want quick solutions like they are used to (because that is all conventional medicine does for us: gives us band-aids to cover up the true issues). They want to just manage their symptoms and hope for the best. This might actually work for some people. But as time goes on, more people realize that their band-aids are falling off, and they are creating more issues in the long term. They are like a ship on water with a ton of holes that have been patched up with paper- eventually the paper gets wet, and the boat starts sinking because the band-aids are not strong enough to keep that person afloat.
Many of us have taken up the responsibility of healing in full. It is not an easy path, and again, it is not for everyone. Many of us have years, decades, and generations of damage to undo. This isn't going to happen overnight. Even though it is not usually our fault that we ended up this way, it IS our responsibility to fix it and to break this cycle, especially for our kids and the future generations to come. A phrase that is going around a lot now is "pain travels through generations until someone is ready to feel it", and this resonates with many of my clients that are in this healing journey for the long haul. They accept that we've got work to do, and many of them are willing to put the work in because it's not just about us at this point- it is about learning how to be truly healthy and imparting this knowledge on future generations to come.
Doctors in Homeopathy, herbalists, and true holistic healers have known for hundreds of years that healing is a process. We have layers to peel back, and these days our layers are thicker than our ancestors' were. In healing, we know about the phrase "healing crisis". In most literature, you will find that most of the time they claim this reaction should last at most 3 days. I think this was WAY back when things weren't nearly as bad as they are now. Because we have so many more added worries: generational trauma, generational deficiencies/toxicities, GMOs, massive amounts of vaccines, overuse of antibiotics, pharma drug use from early ages, pesticides/herbicides, EMFs, chronic infections, etc. There is more to heal, so it will take more time to heal, period.
Our plans are designed for true, long term healing. We're working on the root causes of most issues: gut, liver, mineral imbalances, etc. I wrote this post almost 2 years ago to explain this phrase in more detail because I knew that this was truly the best way to achieve long lasting results in health and wellness. Undoing years of damage just takes time, but it is an essential path to take if you are hoping to truly heal.
Mineral Balancing science states that it takes up to 2 years to fully heal all of our deficiencies. Severe burnout can take anywhere from 1-5 years to heal from (source).
Some of the top experts in Lyme these days recommend at LEAST 1-2 years of basic foundational care before even working on the underlying infections, and that can take yet another 1-2 years.
Those with emotional trauma will usually need to work on physical healing at first for a good 6 months at least before they can physically handle the emotional healing, which can include release of stored emotions and toxins.
This healing journey is often a wake up call for many people. It can help to point out places in your life that need work. It can show you that you are stretching yourself too thin, and not taking enough care of yourself. It's a sign to stop and re-evaluate things before your health gets worse. I don't say these things to discourage people, but only to say the truth. For many people, the healing journey will be easy. But for many others, it will be one of the hardest things we've ever gone through.