One of the biggest challenges for online content creators is to ensure that their words reach the intended audience as effectively as possible. You can be the greatest writer of your generation, but without a surefire means of getting your words in front of human eyeballs, your talents will go to waste, and the message you've worked so hard to convey will be lost amidst the cacophony of an overcrowded internet.
The best way to hook your readers is by crafting powerful headlines. Here are four essential tips to help you create compelling headlines that act as irresistible reader magnets.
Dull, uninspiring prose is the literary equivalent of a weak, sweaty handshake: nobody wants to get to know the person behind it. Always make a strong impression, straight out of the starting gate. Consider the headline as an elevator pitch: imagine you're in an elevator with the biggest mover and shaker in your industry, and you have just ten seconds to capture his attention. Go for maximum impact, and make every syllable count.
Why do people find questions so irresistible? Is there something in human psychology which makes us feel an almost insurmountable desire to rise to the challenge of an unsolved mystery? How can you use this to your advantage in crafting your next headline?
Let your reader know the value they'll receive by reading the article. Time is precious, and busy browsers need to know that the minutes they'll be investing in your article will be time well spent. For real world examples of this approach, take a look at some of the ways successful bloggers ensure reader engagement by telling their visitors upfront what benefits they will get from reading further.
The world's greatest copywriters revere Ernest Hemingway above almost any other fiction writer. Hemingway's secret was simple: eliminate unnecessary words. Keep the pace fast and furious, and your readers will reward you with their undivided attention.
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People who like playing casino games online will find different types of casino bonuses that are designed to grab their attention. Let's take a closer look.
Most online casinos offer new players a special welcome bonus when they sign up to play with the casino. The welcome bonus can take a number of different forms and it is a good idea to take a look around for the best deal.
This special bonus gives players the chance to try out an online casino for free. The bonus is given to any gamer to use on certain games before they sign up. Normally, players who win cash during this trial period will also be allowed to withdraw their cash when they sign up with the casino.
As the name suggests, this bonus is available to players who refer one of their friends to play an online casino that they are already a member of. There are lots of types of bonuses that players could be eligible such as free spins and actual cash to use when they play they play the game of their choice. In some cases, it is even possible to withdraw the refer a friend bonus straight into your bank account, making getting connected online with your friends very profitable as well as fun.
Some casinos match the first deposit that players put into their online gaming account. The matching deposit usually matches the deposit 100%, giving you double the money to play with. However, there is usually a limit on the total value of the deposit, although this tends to vary between online casinos.
Most online casinos offer special loyalty bonuses and VIP programmes to help keep their players with them. Players often get special bonus points for every game they play, which help them get into the VIP club where there are lots of lucrative bonuses waiting.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that all people like free swag from their favourite shops or businesses. Think about your frequent flyer miles or the coffee stamps you get when you go to your regular café, all because you want to get that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The idea of rewarding your loyal customers is not an alien one in the big casinos in Las Vegas, so why should it be any different in online casinos – especially when their patrons are spending big bucks on a regular basis?
Quite a number of online casinos offer VIP programs to those big spenders who make use of their websites and play consistently. While this is, of course, advantageous to the casino, it also makes sense for the players taking part in these programs. There are many reasons why you would want to become a VIP member of your favourite online casino.
Casinos monitor the people playing on their websites and will approach the players who are playing consistently and making big deposits to their accounts. However, some gaming sites will also offer players the possibility of signing up to their VIP programs themselves. Programs offer their players points alongside the actual monetary prizes they win when playing, and these points can be exchanged for bonuses or other types of prizes, sometimes even luxurious holidays.
When signing up for an online VIP program, or accepting to become a member, it is important to read the terms and conditions. Online casinos scout members for their VIP programs based on their deposits, so if you are not ready to make big deposits or play consistently for those big bonuses, think twice before signing up, as many casino VIP programs often have tough withdrawal conditions in place.
Many new websites often fall at the first hurdle. Without catchy headings and titles, visitors aren't going to stay long enough to read any content. If visitors aren't staying long then algorithms in search engines will assume that the site is not providing relevant information and will drop lower in page searches, making it less visible to other newcomers. There are ways to change this, and it all comes down to the way headlines and titles are written. The following article will outline some ways to market your site in a better way and make it more appealing to those new to the site.
First, the title needs to be simple and to the point. Long-winded titles explaining half the article won't interest people enough to click. They will feel like they already have the information. This being said, you should bear in mind that the title should state what benefit the reader will gain if they take the time to click on the article. One way of doing this is simply to announce the news. People are inherently curious and will click the link just to see what the fuss is about.
Another great way to get attention is by starting with a "How to". So many people have needs and desires in multiple different areas, and easy how to articles are always popular, though again, the title should highlight the end results. You can also write a provocative question as a title which helps to pique the reader's interest, and prompt them to find out what you have to say. Again, this is all about marketing yourself and your business so it is important to put forward what skills you have and why you are better than another site when it comes to providing vital information.
Google's AdSense is a rather straightforward program to use and because of that, it is one of the most popular advertisement services online. Users should note that whilst it is provided by Google it is not actually related to the search engine. As well as increasing traffic to a website, it can also generate revenue for the site as well if the website owner allows third party ads to be placed on their own site. This latter feature has many options available in order to enable the user to get the best out of their own site.
There are also different AdSense variants, AdSense for Feeds and AdSense for Domains. The former will put ads into feeds for the specific website while the latter will allow ads on domains that do not have a website with content on it. This will not work though if the website is not popular. It is better to use AdSense on a site that has current keywords and a decent amount of traffic already. The excellent part about this is that it is free.
It is a simple process to sign up. All the user needs to do is fill out the details required and of course read the AdSense policy. Once the signup is complete the user will be sent an email to confirm the account and full instructions on all the ins and outs of the AdSense software. Logging in to the AdSense panel will generate a code which can then be included on the website and everything is ready to go.


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Congress protests against BJP, blames state govt for IAS officer's resignation
Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sasikant Senthil resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) earlier on Friday.
news Politics Friday, September 06, 2019 - 18:13
The shock resignation of Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sasikant Senthil from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on Friday prompted protests by Congress workers against the BJP outside the DC office.
The protesters, armed with party flags and shouting slogans, blamed the ruling party in the state and Centre, even though Sasikanth stated that the decision to resign was a "purely personal one". He also mentioned that this decision had nothing to do with his work as the DC of Dakshina Kannada. Sources, however, have told TNM that the decision was more to do with the workings of the Centre rather than the new BJP regime in the state.
Read: 'Building blocks of democracy compromised': Dakshina Kannada DC quits IAS
The Congress leaders alleged that Sasikanth resigned due to pressure from the BJP-led Karnataka government. "At a time when the BJP is in power in Karnataka, they are putting pressure on district officials to do anti-social work. It is due to this pressure that the DC has submitted his resignation today," Congress MLC Ivan D'Souza said, addressing the protesters.
"If this government continues, more IAS, IPS officers will resign due to pressure," MLA and district party president Harish Kumar told TNM, echoing his colleague's comments.
Sasikant had been serving as the DC of the coastal district since December 2017. In his previous postings, he has served as the Assistant Commissioner in Ballari, Chief Executive Officer of the Shivamogga Zilla Panchayat and Deputy Commissioner of Chitradurga and Raichur districts. Before his posting in Dakshina Kannada, he was the Director of Mines and Geology Department. He had topped the 2009 UPSC exams and secured the ninth position at the national level after leaving his job as an engineer.
Sasikanth is the second IAS officer to resign in recent weeks. Kannan Gopinathan, a Malayali IAS officer from the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, submitted his resignation from the service in August over the clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370. He quit service stating that he wanted his freedom of expression back.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Gainesville Sun - January 16, 1991
Last call at Dub's: the end of an era
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun - Wednesday, January 16, 1991
After nearly three decades as Gainesville's one seemingly indestructible rock 'n' roll nightclub, Dub's has passed into history.
The square cinderblock building on NW 13th Street, which drew record crowds for 26 years under one man's astute management, is on the auction block.
"I tried to hang in there as long as I could with it," says Christy Thomas, who took over the business a year ago following the death of her father, James "Dub" Thomas, longtime patriarch of the bar. "But there's no sense in trying to ride a dead horse."
Taxes, she says, sunk the good ship Dub.
Read more: Gainesville Sun - January 16, 1991
The Creightonian - January 25, 1991
Traveling Wilbury's twisting
By Pat Angello
The Traveling Wilburys' have released their second album called Volume III.
Confusion. Volume III is dedicated to the late Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison) and features historic recording artists Spike Wilbury (George Harrison), Muddy Wilbury (Tom Petty), Clayton Wilbury (Jeff Lynne) and Boo Wilbury (Bob Dylan).
This up-beat, mostly acoustic album, was produced by ex-Beatle George Harrison and former Electric Light Orchestra pilot Jeff Lynne. It brings about a very ELO-ish sound. Volume III is very diverse and quite enjoyable.
Read more: The Creightonian - January 25, 1991
Gainesville Sun - March 15, 1991
Social news: Congratulations to Gainesville boy Benmont Tench of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, who married actress Courtney Taylor Sunday in Los Angeles. Tench met Taylor a year and a half ago in her native Toronto. "She's beautiful, we're wildly in love and now we're married," says the giddy groom.
Palo Verde Valley Times - May 3, 1991
Muddy, Boo, Clayton, and Spike Wilbury (pseudonyms assumed by Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison), released their second collection of folksy tunes in 1990. Simply titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, this latest record is quite consistent with the styles established by the Wilburys "brothers" in previous Wilbury recordings. The Wilbury style blends country, folk, and rock in surprisingly unique ways. Typically, Wilbury themes deal with love, broken hearts, and social concerns such as environmental abuse and commercial excess.
Although the artists have created stage names complete with personal histories and personalities, the authenticity and timelessness of these legends shines through. Each artist has placed his trademark stamp on the Wilbury records. Harrison's unmistakable singing slide guitar and fluid harmonies, Jeff Lynne's E.L.O-like orchestrated vocal backgrounds, and Dylan's off-key, moaning style of vocalization are all easily recognized by the trained listener.
The Wilburys are simple folks, and so are their tunes -- at first glance, that is. These guys have managed to talk simple folk and country song patterns and have added new twists and bridges, creating a unique sound. Of course, bringing in a former Beatle and a 60's folk scene legend will give any recording project a sense of uniqueness.
Read more: Palo Verde Valley Times - May 3, 1991
Lawrence Journal-World - June 2, 1991
Petty returns to studio
LOS ANGELES -- Having infected much of the nation with "Full Moon Fever" in 1989, rocker Tom Petty is scheduled to return to the recording and touring fold next month with an MCA Records album titled "Into the Great Wide Open."
Petty's "Full Moon Fever," his first solo album away from his band the Heartbreakers, was his much enthusiastically received album ever, selling a surprising 3 million copies. "Into the Great Wide Open," however, reunites him with the Heartbreakers. The album is slated for a June 25 release.
Produced by Jeff Lynne -- who also produced "Full Moon Fever" -- the album will kick off with the release of the single "Learning to Fly," which is due in stores Tuesday. Other songs on the album include "Wide Open," "King's Highway," "Too Good to Be True,," and "Two Gunslingers."
But the new album isn't all fans can expect from Petty June 25. MCA Records will release digitally remastered versions of Petty and the Heartbreakers' first two albums "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" and "You're Gonna Get It," both of which have been long out of print.
The two CDs will be the first releases on Petty's own MCA-distributed Gone Gator Records label.
Houston Chronicle - June 30, 1991
Mediocrity from Tom Petty
By Marty Racine
Houston Chronicle - Sunday, June 30, 1991
Obscure lyrics, tame music make for disappointing new album
Into the Great Wide Open | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | MCA
If Tom Petty were indeed bolting into the great wide open on this much-anticipated follow-up to "Full Moon Fever", we might have a clearer understanding of what he's trying to say.
Petty always was about mystery. But as it is, "Into the Great Wide Open" is full of hazy references, half-baked concepts, unresolved tales, cliched metaphors and strained poetic meaning.
Things about the "dark of the sun," flying without wings, a king's highway, rainbows on the smog, something (it's not explained) that's too good to be true.
Read more: Houston Chronicle - June 30, 1991
The Los Angeles Times - June 30, 1991
Summer Album Roundup: A Wilbury's Further Travels
By Richard Cromelin
★★★ | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Into the Great Wide Open | MCA
Wilburied alive.
Will that be the epitaph for Tom Petty the Rocker? In his first album with his longtime band since 1987, Petty seems to be shaking his Traveling Wilburys slumber. But those who miss the forceful rock he played before that teaming with Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne will find only sporadic solace.
With Lynne co-producing (with Petty and Heartbreaker Mike Campbell) and co-writing eight of the songs, with Petty singing a little like Lynne here, a little like Dylan there, with the relaxed beats, chunky strum and liquid, Harrisonian guitar breaks, the Wilbury vibe prevails. Reflective in tone and smooth in texture, the album has the formal beauty and lack of immediacy typical of Lynne's aerated sound.
Read more: The Los Angeles Times - June 30, 1991
The Milwaukee Journal - June 30, 1991
New Recordings: Petty, Heartbreakers' latest isn't their best, but it's still good
Review by Thor Christensen
The Milwaukee Journal - Sunday, June 30, 1991
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | "Into the Great Wide Open" | MCA
No surprise about it: Tom Petty's first album since his 1989 solo LP, "Full Moon Fever," sounds a lot like its triple-platinum predecessor. That's not altogether good news. Jeff Lynne's formulaic production dominates the show, leaving Petty and the Heartbreakers precious little room to explore new turf.
Read more: The Milwaukee Journal - June 30, 1991
The Spokesman-Review - June 30, 1991
Music: Pure Petty
By Tom Sinclair
The Spokesman-Review -- June 30, 1991
The new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album isn't 'Full Moon Fever,' but it doesn't disappoint
Into The Great Wide Open | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (MCA)
Tom Petty seems the type of songwriter who could roll over in his sleep, grab a guitar and compose an instant classic.
Skeptics might carp that early Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers songs like "I Need to Know," "Listen to Her Heart" and "Refugee" bordered on pastiche. But few would dispute the fact that Petty has a knack for crafting simple, memorable singles, steeped in the spirit of mid-60s rock.
While Petty has never had trouble scoring hits, he wasn't able to full an entire album with exceptional songs until his 1989 solo effort, "Full Moon Fever."
Read more: The Spokesman-Review - June 30, 1991
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FDIC Told Of Community Banks Under FinTech Pressure
Posted on July 25, 2016 July 25, 2016 6:49 am
Large corporate banks have the resources to collaborate with — or even acquire — FinTech disruptors or to develop their own innovations in-house. Community banks, meanwhile, may struggle to compete, while the speed of innovation continues to accelerate.
Late last week, a group of community bankers told the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that they're feeling the heat from their financial technology peers.
The FDIC held a meeting of its Advisory Committee on Community Banking, where executives from several community banks explained how they're operating in a more competitive market.
"I think these nonbanks, FinTech-type opportunities, are going to be the biggest threat to, especially, community banks going forward," said David Seleski, president of Florida-based Stonegate Bank.
Seleski, whose bank was in the news last month for being the first U.S. card issuer to launch cards that work in Cuba, told the FDIC that FinTech disruptors are "looking for that opportunity where they see there's a particular aspect of a banking process that they can try to disrupt."
"There are so many services we offer our clients, but there's also a threat from nonbanks eating into our traditional profit area," he continued.
Derek Williams, president and CEO of Century Bank & Trust, based in Georgia, also weighed in, highlighting the mobile P2P money transfer service Venmo as one that is particularly competitive.
"How can my customer get money to someone that quickly who is not a customer of the bank?" the executive said, also pointing to alternative and online lenders as another threatening area. "Those are the hurdles we're trying to get by."
The commentary was given as part of the FDIC's efforts to examine the FinTech space to oversee banks, consumer protection, compliance and more.
"It's basically to gain an understanding and assess — monitor, if you will — FinTech activities, developments and trends, understand in greater detail what is occurring in the market [and] evaluate the impact to our organization and stakeholders," explained FDIC Senior Deputy Director for Risk Management James Watkins during the committee.
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Tree Pipits are now a regular spring and autumn migrant to all the islands. It has probably been overlooked in recent years but regular records are received from all the major islands the Bailiwick. The numbers passing through in spring and autumn have probably declined over the last century - in 1920 it was described as a common migrant in Alderney (Dobson). In Britain, its range has contracted markedly in the intervening period (Gibbons et al. 1994) and the number of migrants recorded in the islands could be expected to drop.
As with many migrants, the number of birds recorded is lower in spring than autumn. In spring, the birds start moving through the islands in the second week of April and passage continues through to the third week in May. In autumn, the first birds are recorded in the third week in August but the majority of records occur during September. Between 1993 and 1999, there were a scattering of records in October but there are older records of birds in November (Dobson).
Most birds are seen on coastal headlands on the west coast, especially Pleinmont. In recent years, records have come from a wider variety of areas showing that this species is more widespread than previously thought. Birds have been recorded in inland areas such as the Reservoir and the Talbot Valley, in agricultural land around Le Coudr� and also the south coast. The majority of records are fly-overs identified by call and are of single birds or pairs.


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"Dangers of privatization"
Posted by Sadie from ? (160.129.27.22) on Thursday, July 31, 2003 at 12:18PM :
Nature 424, 473 (31 July 2003)
Dangers of privatization
The Bush administration's drive to contract out services is a threat to science.
At major US archaeological centres, the buzz at this time of year is typically about some exciting discovery of America's past uncovered on a summer dig. But visitors this year to the Midwest Archaeological Centre in Lincoln, Nebraska, and to the Southeast Archaeological Centre in Tallahassee, Florida, will encounter gloom. These institutions, which for decades have provided archaeological analysis for the US National Park Service and other agencies, may be entering their final days.
The two centres have found themselves among the targets of a plan by the President George W. Bush's administration to privatize as many federal jobs as possible before the November 2004 election (see page 478). The centres serve as premier resources for federal land management, but their advocates fear that they are being privatized precisely because of their wealth of expertise: their studies may delay or halt mining, logging or road-building.
Republicans deny that there is an ideological game afoot, only moves towards more efficiency. But recent experiences invite scepticism. During the process of analysing which jobs might be privatized, a consultant told government administrators that the archaeologists shouldn't be considered for privatization, as the centres' annual budgets are largely based on competitively secured projects. In other words, this is already lean science. But the consultant was told to keep his head down and avoid talking to congressional offices. A Republican Congressman from Nebraska described this appropriately as "a bean-counter doing something senseless".
An official at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) told Nature that they have to consider archaeologists to be the same as laundry workers — not a sentiment likely to inspire confidence among Nature's readership. The OMB, after all, is the driving force behind the administration's privatization plans. Alarm bells should be sounding: the administration's zeal does not bode well for other agencies, with many scientists facing various degrees of privatization, including the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Last week, administration officials backed away from some of their harsher privatization methods in the face of congressional opposition. Congress must continue to expose the Bush administration's privatization plans to tough scrutiny.
US researchers fear job losses from privatization drive
REX DALTON
[SAN DIEGO] US scientists have reacted anxiously to a government plan to contract out federal scientific projects, citing fears that the scheme could damage research. The plan met stiff opposition in Congress earlier this month, but the Bush administration wants to implement it before the November 2004 presidential election.
The administration's plan involves contracting out about 425,000 federal jobs, which may include hundreds of researchers. Under the scheme, private firms with scientific staff might perform research that is now conducted by government scientists. Administration officials say that privatizing jobs will save money and increase efficiency.
The scheme hit problems on 17 July, when the House of Representatives voted to block plans to privatize two National Park Service regional archaeology centres, involving 100 staff. Researchers at the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the Southeast Archeological Center in Tallahassee, Florida, have been carrying out cultural studies on public and private lands for more than 30 years.
But further disputes are expected in the coming weeks, as congressional hearings for the 2004 financial-year budget discuss privatization in other agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One union official at the EPA says he fears that 150 jobs in his 1,000-member chapter could be privatized. The NIH is already studying how to outsource almost 1,000 jobs in the 2004 fiscal year.
Critics of the plan say that staff whose positions are privatized could lose their jobs if they are not re-employed by the private firm that takes over. Others add that private companies could be more willing to bow to political pressure over controversial research. "When you replace government scientists with private ones, the latter are more likely to pull their punches, and not raise or address sensitive issues," says Jeff Ruch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Washington-based pressure group that promotes government accountability.
© 2003 Nature Publishing Group
: Nature 424, 473 (31 July 2003) : Editorial: : Dangers of privatization : The Bush administration's drive to contract out services is a threat to science. : At major US archaeological centres, the buzz at this time of year is typically about some exciting discovery of America's past uncovered on a summer dig. But visitors this year to the Midwest Archaeological Centre in Lincoln, Nebraska, and to the Southeast Archaeological Centre in Tallahassee, Florida, will encounter gloom. These institutions, which for decades have provided archaeological analysis for the US National Park Service and other agencies, may be entering their final days. : The two centres have found themselves among the targets of a plan by the President George W. Bush's administration to privatize as many federal jobs as possible before the November 2004 election (see page 478). The centres serve as premier resources for federal land management, but their advocates fear that they are being privatized precisely because of their wealth of expertise: their studies may delay or halt mining, logging or road-building. : Republicans deny that there is an ideological game afoot, only moves towards more efficiency. But recent experiences invite scepticism. During the process of analysing which jobs might be privatized, a consultant told government administrators that the archaeologists shouldn't be considered for privatization, as the centres' annual budgets are largely based on competitively secured projects. In other words, this is already lean science. But the consultant was told to keep his head down and avoid talking to congressional offices. A Republican Congressman from Nebraska described this appropriately as "a bean-counter doing something senseless". : An official at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) told Nature that they have to consider archaeologists to be the same as laundry workers — not a sentiment likely to inspire confidence among Nature's readership. The OMB, after all, is the driving force behind the administration's privatization plans. Alarm bells should be sounding: the administration's zeal does not bode well for other agencies, with many scientists facing various degrees of privatization, including the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency. : Last week, administration officials backed away from some of their harsher privatization methods in the face of congressional opposition. Congress must continue to expose the Bush administration's privatization plans to tough scrutiny. : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Nature 424, 478 (31 July 2003) : News: : US researchers fear job losses from privatization drive : REX DALTON : [SAN DIEGO] US scientists have reacted anxiously to a government plan to contract out federal scientific projects, citing fears that the scheme could damage research. The plan met stiff opposition in Congress earlier this month, but the Bush administration wants to implement it before the November 2004 presidential election. : The administration's plan involves contracting out about 425,000 federal jobs, which may include hundreds of researchers. Under the scheme, private firms with scientific staff might perform research that is now conducted by government scientists. Administration officials say that privatizing jobs will save money and increase efficiency. : The scheme hit problems on 17 July, when the House of Representatives voted to block plans to privatize two National Park Service regional archaeology centres, involving 100 staff. Researchers at the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the Southeast Archeological Center in Tallahassee, Florida, have been carrying out cultural studies on public and private lands for more than 30 years. : But further disputes are expected in the coming weeks, as congressional hearings for the 2004 financial-year budget discuss privatization in other agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). One union official at the EPA says he fears that 150 jobs in his 1,000-member chapter could be privatized. The NIH is already studying how to outsource almost 1,000 jobs in the 2004 fiscal year. : Critics of the plan say that staff whose positions are privatized could lose their jobs if they are not re-employed by the private firm that takes over. Others add that private companies could be more willing to bow to political pressure over controversial research. "When you replace government scientists with private ones, the latter are more likely to pull their punches, and not raise or address sensitive issues," says Jeff Ruch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Washington-based pressure group that promotes government accountability. : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : © 2003 Nature Publishing Group


You are here: Home / Edencroft Spirit Specialists / Douglas Laing "Old Particular" New Arrivals From Edencroft!
Douglas Laing "Old Particular" New Arrivals From Edencroft!
NOSE: Lightly fruited, heavily sugared, with a pancake and syrup backdrop.
PALATE: Spices, sugars, herbs with lots of molasses all strongly show through.
FINISH: A mouth-coating, spiced finish with a warming cough drop style warmth.
NOSE: Aromatic and floral ahead of tobacco leaves, barley and soft oak.
PALATE: Overridingly dulcet, with burnt orange, cereal and dark spices.
FINISH: Carries interesting camphor ahead of intense dry spices.
BOTTLING SERIE: XOP – Xtra Old Particular.
TASTING NOTES: Opens with hints of blackcurrant with salted caramel and wood shavings. The maritime palate has sweet peat and a gentle spice, and the medium-long finish shows toasted barley with a citric twist.
BOTTLING SERIE: Brora & Rare 8 Legendary Whiskies.
"Over the years of crafting fine Scotch whiskies I've had the remarkable privilege of working with some of the rarest spirits ever to come out of Scotland," says Jim Beveridge, Master Blender for Johnnie Walker.
Today, Johnnie Walker, one of the most renowned Scotch Whiskies in the world, announced the launch of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Ghost and Rare, the first in a series of special releases crafted using irreplaceable whiskies from "ghost" distilleries that have long since closed together with other rare malt and grain whiskies. Each edition will be crafted with one incredible whisky at its heart, the first being Brora.
Jim Beveridge – Master Blender of the Year in 2015 and 2016 – has long been fascinated by how whiskies from a small number of iconic distilleries that closed many years ago can bring the extraordinary richness for which Johnnie Walker Blue Label luxury Scotch is known.
"Whiskies from these ghost distilleries are becoming increasingly rare," Jim says. "From our library of irreplaceable casks that we keep exclusively for Johnnie Walker Blue Label, I've chosen a few uniquely full-bodied expressions of these precious malts and grains to let people explore, in a new way, the extraordinary richness found in our pinnacle whisky.
"Exploring rare spirits is a lifelong passion," Jim says. "I'm lucky that we have stocks from more than 30 distilleries from every region of Scotland from which to choose the perfect casks to craft each blend. It gives us a richness of character, flavour and age that no other Scotch can match."


The partners expressed their commitment through a "LEONARDO Transfer of Innovation" project: the PAT-TEIN (Professionalizing Actors of Transfrontier Cooperation – Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network) project. The latter has made it possible to transfer to four pilot borders (Austria-Slovenia-Italy, France-Spain, Ireland-Northern Ireland and Poland-Czech Republic) two tools that have proved their worth in the Upper Rhine Region. It was an educational kit for the training of cross-border project leaders and an intercultural guide on facilitating cross-border meetings. The transfer was carried out in different stages: familiarisation of the partners with its tools, development of a border-by-border adaptation process respecting cooperation cultures but also pedagogical cultures, testing with audiences from the world of education and training, testing with actors in cross-border cooperation.
The results of this project were presented to the European Parliament as part of the Europe Cooperation Day (September 2014).


Fasting has been a part of almost every human culture for centuries — sometimes for spiritual reasons, other times because there wasn't enough food to feed everyone every day.
Intermittent fasting is when you restrict food every day for a period, and eat your food for the day during a shortened window of time.
Here are 8 podcast episodes to get you on the right track with intermittent fasting.
Fasting may seem like it's on trend at the moment, but it's nothing new. Fasting has been a part of almost every human culture for centuries — sometimes for spiritual reasons, other times because there wasn't enough food to feed everyone every day.
Intermittent fasting is when you restrict food every day for a period, and eat your food for the day during a shortened window of time. For example, you'll take 18 hours off of eating and take in all of your calories for the day in a 6-hour window in the afternoon to evening.
You've heard about the amazing benefits — more energy, a clearer mind, reduced disease risk, better sleep. Over the past five years, various guests, from world-class athletes to biochemists to innovative physicians have talked to Dave on the Bulletproof Radio podcast about their experience with intermittent fasting. Their reasons for getting started are as varied as their backgrounds. Ahead, learn more about why you need intermittent fasting in your life, and what you can expect from adopting the practice.
As a pre-teen, the life stage when young girls become hyper-aware of appearance, Naomi Whittel had a few autoimmune conditions that outwardly affected her skin. Like many people with chronic conditions, Whittel experienced frustration of treatment failures followed by eventual success with natural remedies.
Whittel grew up on a biodynamic farm with parents who favored natural wellness, so her life experience primed Whittel to make a career of natural wellness. She started a successful supplements company, sold it to one of the largest supplements companies in the game, and became CEO of that company. She eventually developed the Glow 15 program, an inside-out skincare program based on autophagy – giving your cells the chance to clean out waste and repair themselves for youthful, glowing skin. Much like the Bulletproof Diet, Whittel recommends intermittent fasting and protein fasting to stay youthful inside and out.
Brad Pilon did his graduate work on the effects of short-term fasting and human health. After spending years in the bodybuilding industry, where it is common practice to eat every three hours and mainline protein to prevent your muscles from shrinking, Pilon found that fasting gives you an edge no matter what your health or physique goals are. Dave and Brad discuss old ways of thinking and how research and real-world evidence shatter conventional bodybuilding myths.
In this episode of the Bulletproof Radio podcast, Dave and Mark Sisson, author of "The Primal Blueprint" and "The Keto Reset Diet" talk metabolic flexibility — the idea that you know what works for you and you do that most of the time, and you change it up every now and again. Whether you spend some amount of time in ketosis, do an extended fast a few times a year, burn fat for a while, burn glucose for a few days… each period of doing something different teaches your body how to use what's available. That leads to resilience, which is the best state your body can be in — the state where youadapt to whatever life throws your way.
Best known for plodding through the Himalayas in shorts, Wim Hof is the ultimate example of a resilient human. Using a method of breathing he developed by self-experimentation, he competes in athletic events in extreme conditions without showing the physiological changes that people typically exhibit, like drop in core temperature. He credits intermittent fasting as part of his formula that allows him to access his autonomic nervous system (the system that regulates the things you don't think about, like heart rate and body temperature) at will, which allows him to persist no matter what he's up against.
In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, Dr. Joseph Mercola, DO, explains that if you take care of your insulin resistance, it snowballs and you resolve a lot of health problems since a lot of issues stem from improper insulin signaling. He talks about intermittent fasting as part of the larger goal of improving your insulin sensitivity.
Dr. Sylvia Tara, PhD dives deep into one of the most misunderstood and demonized nutrients in the human diet, fat. She says that the key to losing weight is understanding the complexities of fat and making it work for you, not against you. Dr. Tara explains how intermittent fasting helps keep your insulin stable so that you lose weight, and she points out special considerations for the differences in the way women store and use fat.
If you want a comprehensive overview of the benefits of fasting, give this episode of Bulletproof Radio a listen. Dr. Jason Fung and author Jimmy Moore go deep into the science behind fasting, what's happening with your hormones and in your cells when you fast, and the amazing results you can experience for yourself.
In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, Dr. Amy Shah explains the snags that women often run into with intermittent fasting. Women's hormones are more sensitive than men's, so there are steps women can take to get all the benefits of intermittent fasting without the hormone fluctuations and stress on the adrenals. As a bonus, she gets into tips and tricks on how to get kids to choose healthy foods on their own.
Humans are built to fast. You get the signal to eat early in your fast, and later on, you start producing ketones for energy and you don't feel the need to eat for a while.
That point is when the magic happens. Your cells get a break from digestion and pulling energy out of food, and switch to cleaning, maintenance and repair mode. The result is youthful, healthy cells that make your whole body work more efficiently. There are different ways to do it — the key to success with fasting is to find the right way for you.


text:
An Introduction to the Principles of Physical Chem...
An Introduction to the Principles of Physical Chemistry from the Standpoint of Modern Atomistics
By Edward Wight Washburn
Reproduction Date: 2/10/2008 17:19
Title: An Introduction to the Principles of Physical Chemistry from the Standpoint of Modern Atomistics
Author: Edward Wight Washburn
Subject: Physical Chemistry, Chemistry, Technology
Publisher: The McGraw-Hill Co., Inc.
Washburn, E. W. (1921). An Introduction to the Principles of Physical Chemistry from the Standpoint of Modern Atomistics. Retrieved from http://comicbooklibrary.org/
Digitized from the holdings of the University of Michigan.
Google Books Digitalization Project; University of Michigan
Copyright © World Library Foundation. All rights reserved. eBooks from Comic eBook Library are sponsored by the World Library Foundation,


text:
package model.battlefield.army.motion.pathfinding;

import geometry.geom2d.Point2D;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import model.battlefield.map.Map;
import model.battlefield.map.MapTraversor;
import model.battlefield.map.Tile;

/**
 * a flow field is a table of vectors put on a tiled map full of obstacles. each vector is computed to give the ideal direction to a goal.
 */
public class FlowField {
	private static final double OBSTACLE_CHECK_DIST = 30;

	private Map map;
	public int[][] heatMap;
	Point2D[][] vectorMap;
	public int maxHeat = 0;
	int i = 0;
	List<Tile> toVisit = new ArrayList<Tile>();
	public Point2D destination;

	public FlowField(Map map, Point2D destination) {
		this.destination = destination;
		this.map = map;
		double start = System.currentTimeMillis();
		initHeatMap(map.xSize(), map.ySize());
		Tile goalTile = map.get(destination);
		toVisit.add(goalTile);

		visitMap();

		vectorMap = new Point2D[map.xSize()][map.ySize()];
		generateVectors(map.xSize(), map.ySize());
	}

	private void travelMapFrom(Tile t, int heat) {
		if (t == null || t.isBlocked() || heat >= getHeat(t)) {
			return;
		}
		setHeat(t, heat);

		travelMapFrom(t.n(), heat + 1);
		travelMapFrom(t.s(), heat + 1);
		travelMapFrom(t.e(), heat + 1);
		travelMapFrom(t.w(), heat + 1);
	}

	private void visitMap() {
		int heat = 0;
		while (!toVisit.isEmpty()) {
			ArrayList<Tile> toVisitThisTurn = new ArrayList<>();
			toVisitThisTurn.addAll(toVisit);
			toVisit.clear();
			for (Tile t : toVisitThisTurn) {
				iterate();
				if (t != null && !t.isBlocked() && getHeat(t) == Integer.MAX_VALUE) {
					setHeat(t, heat);
					toVisit.add(t.n());
					toVisit.add(t.s());
					toVisit.add(t.e());
					toVisit.add(t.w());
				}
			}
			heat++;
		}
		maxHeat = heat;
	}

	private void iterate() {
		i++;
	}

	private void initHeatMap(int width, int height) {
		heatMap = new int[width][height];
		for (int i = 0; i < width; i++) {
			for (int j = 0; j < height; j++) {
				heatMap[i][j] = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
			}
		}
	}

	private void setHeat(Tile t, int heat) {
		heatMap[(int) t.getCoord().x][(int) t.getCoord().y] = heat;
		if (heat > maxHeat) {
			maxHeat = heat;
		}
	}

	public int getHeat(Tile t) {
		return heatMap[(int) t.getCoord().x][(int) t.getCoord().y];
	}

	public int getHeat(int x, int y) {
		return heatMap[x][y];
	}

	public boolean hasNoHeat(int x, int y) {
		return getHeat(x, y) == Integer.MAX_VALUE;
	}

	private void generateVectors(int width, int height) {
		for (int x = 0; x < width; x++) {
			for (int y = 0; y < height; y++) {
				if (hasNoHeat(x, y)) {
					vectorMap[x][y] = Point2D.ORIGIN;
				} else {
					Point2D tileCenter = new Point2D(x + 0.5, y + 0.5);
					// First we check if there is a strait way to the destination whithout obstacle
					if (tileCenter.getDistance(destination) < OBSTACLE_CHECK_DIST && !MapTraversor.meetObstacle(map, tileCenter, destination)) {
						vectorMap[x][y] = null;
					} else {
						int north;
						if (y == height - 1 || hasNoHeat(x, y + 1)) {
							north = getHeat(x, y);
						} else {
							north = getHeat(x, y + 1);
						}

						int south;
						if (y == 0 || hasNoHeat(x, y - 1)) {
							south = getHeat(x, y);
						} else {
							south = getHeat(x, y - 1);
						}

						int west;
						if (x == 0 || hasNoHeat(x - 1, y)) {
							west = getHeat(x, y);
						} else {
							west = getHeat(x - 1, y);
						}

						int east;
						if (x == width - 1 || hasNoHeat(x + 1, y)) {
							east = getHeat(x, y);
						} else {
							east = getHeat(x + 1, y);
						}

						int vx;
						int vy;
						vx = west - east;
						vy = south - north;
						vectorMap[x][y] = new Point2D(vx, vy).getNormalized();
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}

	public Point2D getVector(Tile t) {
		return vectorMap[(int) t.getCoord().x][(int) t.getCoord().y];
	}

	public Point2D getVector(Point2D p) {
		Tile t = map.get(p);
		if (getVector(t) != null) {
			return getVector(t);
		}
		return destination.getSubtraction(p).getNormalized();
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


You may want to hold off a few days. I am working on a video on cutting the joints to fit easily and tight with no special tools, just a cutting wheel on a grinder. I'm having trouble with my editing software so I had to order new. It's a few days out but as soon as the new software arrives the video will be up.
I haven't been able to spend any time in the garage with my surgery and now my wife is at home just having surgery. You can find other videos on it though. look at The Fabricator on youtube, he has some good videos with tubing but the figures apply to any size.


text:
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Transactions;
using DBAdapter.DataContext;

namespace DBAdapter.Helper
{
	public class UnitOfWork : IUnitOfWork
	{
		private TransactionScope _transaction;
		private DbContext _dbContext;

		public UnitOfWork()
		{
			_dbContext = new ApplicationDBContext();
			_dbContext.Configuration.ProxyCreationEnabled = false;
			_dbContext.Configuration.LazyLoadingEnabled = false;
		}

		public void Dispose()
		{
		}

		public void StartTransaction()
		{
			_transaction = new TransactionScope();
		}

		public void Commit()
		{
			_dbContext.SaveChanges();
			_transaction.Complete();
		}

		public DbContext DbContext
		{
			get { return _dbContext; }
			set { _dbContext = value ;}
		}
	}
}


The Frye® Melissa shoulder bag showcases appealing distressed leather that improves with age.
Elegantly handcrafted from the finest distressed leather, the Melissa shoulder bag will only get better with time. Accented with signature Frye buttons, this carryall will complement virtually any outfit. Features a magnetic closure, interior lining, two slip pockets, and a zip pocket. Leather cleaner. Imported.
12" x 13". 9½" shoulder drop.


It is really starting to feel like fall around here, which makes me think of Christmas cards! I decided to make a Christmas-themed creation for this week's sketch from Jen Mitchell.
I used my Delightful Decorations set - an oldie, but a goody! :) I paired it with the Be of Good Cheer designer paper and I added that adorable mini jingle bell for a touch of whimsy.
I hope you enjoy today's card. Stop by the Freshly Made Sketches blog to see the other fabulous creations from the rest of the design team and share your project, as well. Have a super day!
Hi Jen! Beautiful Christmas card! I got that ornament recently but haven't used it yet. I'm gonna have to break it out! I think it's time to get busy on my holiday projects! Have a great day!
Simple, but effective! I think I might CASE this for my Christmas Stampers' Dozen! Thanks for sharing it!
I love how you made the ornament 3D!
Beautiful Christmas card Jen! That stamp set is a favourite Christmas set of mine.
Terrific Christmas card - I love the bell!
Seems like your card is a favorite of us all. Don't be surprised to see it CASED - yours is perfect!Love the dimension you gave your ornament and the jingle bell is the perfect embellishment! TFS!
Beautiful card Jen! I love that ornament! Such a great choice! Love the paper and the colours! Totally gets me in the Christmas spirit!!!
This is so pretty. The DSP gives this a lovely, vintage feel.
Love the paper piercing details! I really need to do that more often. It adds so much to your card.
Absolutely gorgeous, Jen! I love the 3D ornament!
This is simply perfect Jen ... I love that ornament, thank you for the reminder to bring it out again ...and thanks for the inspiration!
I love everything about your card, Jen! The 3-D ornament, the colors and papers and the sentiment are all so wonderful together. TFS!
FMS #58: When all else fails, eat a cupcake!


Since 1987, David B. Andrews has been Director of Music at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Wallingford, Connecticut. Holding a Masters Degree in Music, David is most well known for skills in improvisation, on both piano and organ.
In addition to parish work, David is on the editorial staff of the Record-Journal newspaper in Meriden, Connecticut, and writes editorials and columns on a wide variety of topics and interests.
Among the hymn texts that he has written, �In This Church� is featured in the new Saint Augustine Hymnal, and was written in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the dedication of Our Lady of Fatima parish.
Sister Miriam Barker, CDS, was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. At the age of 17, she entered the Congregation of the Divine Spirit in Erie, PA. Sister not only had the talent for writing poetry, she also was an artist and an accomplished musician. During Sister�s 47 years in Religious Life, she taught music in the schools and was a nursing assistant in our nursing home in Canton, OH.
David Dziena is the Parish Acquisitions Editor for Our Sunday Visitor in Huntington, IN. He previously was Editorial Manager for nine years at Silver Burdett Ginn Religion, followed by RCL Benziger. He also worked for St. Joseph�s Parish in Croton Falls, NY for a total of ten years--first as Director of Religious Education and then Coordinator of Youth Ministries. For the past 16 years, he has led Confirmation workshops and retreats, catechist formation classes, and human sexuality presentations for teens.
David graduated from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy with a minor in Fine Arts and Religious Studies. He also graduated from St. Joseph�s College in Standish, ME with a Masters in Pastoral Theology.
With 35 years in educational, trade, and scholarly publishing, Bruce founded St. Augustine�s Press in 1996. The Press is a non-profit scholarly publisher specializing in philosophy, theology, and cultural history with a decidedly Catholic bent. Among the many authors published by the St. Augustine�s Press are Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, Plato, Aristotle, Josef Pieper, C.S. Lewis, Peter Kreeft, Gabriel Marcel, Jacques Maritain, Charles Cardinal Journey, Dietrich von Hildebrand, James Schall, and Charles E. Rice, and Ralph McInerny. St. Augustine�s Press is a publisher of Saint Augustine Hymnal, with Custom Hymnal, Inc. and International Liturgy Publications. In addition to his accomplishments in publishing, Bruce is a writer of theologically rich texts, which can be found in the songs �Late Have I Loved The,� and �Mourner�s Prayer� published by International Liturgy Publications.
Steve Givens, the writer of �By Your Side: A Way of the Cross for Teenagers,� is a widely published author, composer and musician who lives in Chesterfield, MO. He is the author of a series of booklets for Catholic kids and families and the author of �Building Family Prayer & Traditions� and �Getting Confirmed: A Journey of Questions and Answers.� He is contributes to �Faith for the Future: An Illustrated Catechism of the Catholic Church,� �Living Faith� daily devotions and the St. Louis Review.
As a composer and performer, he has produced and recorded seven collections of music. His music is featured on two Emmy Award-winning documentaries broadcast nationally on PBS.
Steve Harmon is well known in North Dakota and surrounding states as a composer, recording artist, assembly song leader, cantor, performer, and workshop presenter. Steve has served parishes in the diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota for many years as a soloist, youth minister, youth choir director, religious education coordinator, contemporary music group director, and parish liturgy and environment coordinator. Steve served as an ordained deacon for 10 years. He has also performed concerts, directed retreats, and presented workshops.
Currently Steve and his wife do music ministry at St. Mary�s Church in Bismarck.
Father Andrew is a Dominican friar of the U.S. Eastern Province of St. Joseph. He enjoys writing hymn lyrics, which he has done since his novitiate. He was ordained a priest in 2002 and received his Licentiate of Sacred Theology in 2003. After teaching at Tangaza College of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, he began his doctoral studies at Notre Dame, specializing in the Fathers of the Church.
Born Patrick Joseph (PJ) Martin on 10/3/1951 In Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath, Ireland.
At an early age, PJ began singing and playing the harmonica. He moved to County Offaly in 1995 to become a member of the very active Tullamore Folk Choir. In 2003, PJ joined the Tullamore Gospel Choir, which has the distinction of being the biggest Gospel Choir in Ireland with 100 members, and a waiting list of over 50 people. PJ performs with the choir at many of the charity and concert events.
A scholar, author and poet, Max Pauli spent most of his ordained years teaching in the Redemptorist Seminary in Suffield, Connecticut. A brilliant theologian and sculptor of word, he penned the texts to �Song of Love� and �Song of Trust.� Both songs were set to music by Steven Wolpert and orchestrated by Keith Sammut, and are featured in the collection, �Lord, Send Out Your Spirit� with Ruben Galabeas as soloist. Max�s text, �Jesus, God of Comfort� is a timeless message of hope for Funeral Liturgies set to music by Rev. Kevin O�Neill, C.Ss.R. and Vince Ambrosetti. With profound sadness, Fr. Kevin and Vince sang Fr. Max�s text at Fr. Max�s own funeral in 1990. His texts continue to bring hope and comfort to many.
Martin was born and raised in Waterford, Ireland. He began writing poetry at an early age, which progressed into writing lyrics. The focus of his writings are based on scripture, however, his song, �Peace� was a finalist in the 2007 and 2008 Tipperary International Song For Peace contest. He is a member of the Waterford Cathedral Choir and his poems are distributed locally as a form of meditative reflection.
Ralph Wright was born in Nottinghamshire, England, about 200 yards from Sherwood Forest on October 13, 1938.
After completing his BA in Greats (Classics, Ancient History & Philosophy) at Oxford and his STL in Theology at Fribourg (Switzerland) he was ordained priest at Ampleforth Abbey on July 5 1970. A month later he left England, at the abbot�s invitation, to join the St Louis Priory � the community�s foundation in the United States. When the monastery became independent in July 1973, he opted to become a permanent member of the newly independent house. Shortly thereafter, he became an american citizen. Fr. Ralph initially taught Latin, Greek, English and Religion in the St. Louis Priory School.
In 1978, Fr. Ralph�s first book of poems, Ripples of Stillness, was published. Since then, over 50 of his hymns, some originals and some translations from Latin, have been published.


text:
Who Created Dinesh D'Souza?*
Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism: Principles for a Multiracial Society (New York: The Free Press, 1995), 700 pp., notes, index.
Reviewed by W. B. Allen
The question posed in this review comes not from one of those hardy skeptics who aim to deny to God his glory. It more resembles the post-World War II inquiry, "Who Lost China?" For D'Souza's massive compendium on the contemporary discourse regarding relations between black people and white people in the United States seems to justify the conclusion that somewhere along the line he strayed dramatically from the only legitimate reason for revisiting that discourse. That legitimate reason remains as it has been to assay prospects of community within the polity shaped by the Declaration of Independence. D'Souza has pursued a different task, though certainly equipped to take up the important work. It is important to ask, therefore, and for reasons I will subsequently elaborate, what influences led him astray. Why in so long a book did he not once speak compellingly of "American community?"
American blacks, says D'Souza, will become the "truest and noblest exemplars of Western civilization," once liberated from dependence. Those are his final words, which echo all too strongly his first words, and all those in-between, which do not merely describe but ratify the existence of separate worlds, black and white. While he briefly acknowledges in his final chapter (if only tacitly) that there is no "black culture" apart from the American culture of the West, D'Souza accepts wholly and uncritically the claim of a distinct black culture in the United States,[1] up to and including the elevation of a mere argot, "black english," into a distinctive language which purportedly prevails among American blacks.
While D'Souza rightly longs for an end to the formal recognition of race in the United States, therefore, he makes clear that his wish is rather contingent (on black performance) than something which has already taken noetic existence within his own soul. He does not espouse color-blindness (as casual critics mistakenly argue), although he recognizes such a regime as superior to the perverse form of color consciousness that now prevails. Indeed, he fully expects consciousness of color to survive into the indefinite future. What he longs for is only the end of regime-plaguing obsessions with color consciousness as a taboo. Thus, his proposal for repeal of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (in preference to enforcing it consistent with its original, color-blind principles) aims to liberate public life from what he regards as the inevitable coin of our private lives. This proposal is not unique or radical. Richard Epstein and I have both made the same proposal in earlier writings, but with exceptions (and differences between the two of us) which D'Souza does not seem to understand.[2] The great difference is the impossibility of isolating private decisions completely from public authority. Thus, it is necessary to say, as a matter of policy, whether marriage licenses will be granted to all comers, without regard to race, despite the fact that the choice of a marriage partner is, and ought to be, a discriminating choice. So, too, is it the case that a contract for the sale of a home or performance of a job is sufficiently considered private, until, that is, it must be enforced by a court of law, upon which event certain kinds of contracts will well conflict with a public policy of non-discrimination.
Such considerations make clear that it is necessary to break cleanly with our tendencies toward group-regardingness, if we genuinely aim to resurrect the language of the Declaration of Independence as fundamental for American prosperity. Deferential nods to African-Americanism, ill-articulated ideas of black culture, and credulous acceptance of "black English" serve no constructive purpose in this regard. By considering some particular characteristics of The End of Racism I shall make this truth painfully clear.
Clearly, the first proposition that we must investigate is D'Souza's claim that contemporary liberalism is the source of our current obsession with racism. Though it is sometimes unclear in the text, D'Souza seems to blame liberalism both for the systematic racism introduced by racial preferences (affirmative action) and for the obsessive recurrences to racism by blacks and whites in explanation and exculpation of the failures of some American blacks. In short, he presents the current state of the "dialog" as a debate about the effects of racism in determining the fates and life-chances of blacks both historically and contemporarily. His position in this debate, paradoxically, is that liberals, as the authors of the regime of race preferences, are to that extent responsible for the racism intrinsic to that regime, while the fates and life-chances of blacks do not necessarily result from racism. Indeed, the real burden of this book is to demonstrate that it is "black culture" or "black civilizational" level which most meaningfully determines the fates and life-chances of American blacks. Thus, he defends the society against the charge of racism, insofar as it affects the lives of blacks, but condemns the society of racism, insofar as it sustains policies of racial preferences. This difference derives only partially from the consideration that the racism is targeted against whites (who are in principle all non-black persons, including Asian Indians, such as D'Souza), and therefore makes the argument symmetrical and non-paradoxical. It derives mainly from the consideration that the ascriptive effect of a regime of racial preferences makes the reflex of race consciousness intrinsic to our social existence and therefore forces American whites to look upon American blacks as distinctive and inferior (needing help).
D'Souza has not spelled out the implications of this analysis in these terms, for that would be inconsistent with the oppositions with which he works. In the actual debate, the term employed by combatants would be "white racism." The charge of "white racism" would refer not to the effect of policies designed to combat "white racism" but to the imputed existence, individually and institutionally, of a continuing practice of racial oppression descending from the era of slavery into the present. Though acknowledging the existence of "white racism," D'Souza seeks to demonstrate that it has been de-fanged through the changes wrought by the civil rights revolution. The elimination of "white racism" was accomplished by liberalism, which, however, put in place a structure of racial preferences that constitute a new racism, not against but nominally in favor of blacks. The new structure is also a form of racism, in the double sense of depending on allegations of continuing "white racism" for its justification and also affecting the fates and life-chances of American blacks and American whites (males, anyway) on the basis of invidious racial distinctions. Now, since the new racism is no less the work of whites than the old racism, and since its effects are not less pernicious than those of the former, it confuses the analysis to attempt to distinguish "white racism" and "liberal racism" very energetically. Nevertheless, D'Souza's entire project depends on that distinction, and one may judge him successful insofar as he succeeds at that and a failure otherwise.
To understand The End of Racism it helps to take a look at it as a whole. While seeking mainly to re-tell the story of blacks in America, it does so with the clear purpose of seeking to inform the current debate regarding the status of blacks in America, what D'Souza calls "the black problem." In that sense it is a throwback, to an era in which Americans had persuaded themselves that the problem of vexed social relations in the country somehow inhered specifically in American blacks rather than in the country as a whole (a view radically inconsistent with the views of those American founders who anticipated the travail, as I and others have often written). By such lights the "problem" is more a problem of black performance than a problem of social organization, and such a view has always led ineluctably to the question, "What are we to do about the blacks?" By recreating that frame of reference D'Souza recreates the illusion that adroit policy maneuvers can establish peace where turmoil prevails. In that sense the theme proposed is not the end of racism but the end of the saliency of "black issues" in the United States.
The goal is not unworthy, even if different than advertised. Moreover, the tacit goal is worthier than the putative goal, inasmuch as it frames a question much more directly susceptible to fruitful inquiry. The fact is, racism is far less the complex and sophisticated philosophical story of Boasian or cultural relativism that D'Souza tells than it is the persistent reflex of group remedies which long antedate the philosophical change. The idea that government requires a policy to deal with the group is the very soul of racism and its attendant dysfunctions in the United States. For some reason, however, D'Souza missed this story, which has been clearly told the past twenty years, and enlisted himself in the "blacks are a special case tradition," which has rendered the problem so intractable.
Why D'Souza made this error remains inexplicable after a careful reading of his book. His long and too frequently repetitious account of the history (often erroneous) from the discovery of the new world to the present day fails to inform the reader why he made the choices he did. Partially, the problem is a lack of understanding of the terms and events involved. For example, while rightly reviewing the tendentiousness of liberal attacks on the notion of discovery in the new world, and the emergence of a theory of the rights of native peoples, he nonetheless fails to comprehend the legal and ethical bearing of the North Americans' insistence on discovery, which was bottomed not on a notion of Western superiority but on a claim of political independence from the metropolis. Moreover, even Victoria's ethical defense of the natives significantly relied on the principle of discovery! Discovery was the antithesis of conquest, which entailed complete subordination to the metropolis. Thus, the theory said nothing about the character or nature of the natives.
Let this example of an historical misreading suffice for all such throughout the book. They are not material to the enterprise, for the history contributes little to the reading of current practices of "liberal antiracism" which are the principal target of D'Souza's analysis. Indeed, this long book is really two books promiscuously mixed. The one book had been better not written—the history—while the other addresses a question that no one ought to ignore, namely, the contemporary obsession with race.[3]
The obsession with race remains inexplicable apart from the existence of public policies and practices that codify race as the principal determinant of life chances for blacks. This is clear of whites—and not only liberal antiracists. More significantly, it is also true of American blacks in a way that offers a more powerful explanation than the "civilizational deficiencies" on which D'Souza prefers to rely in the in the second case. He would have seen this had he inquired more closely and with less resort to stereotypes as to why ordinary American blacks today are obsessed with race and whether they are obsessed in the same way their predecessors were or might have been.
W. E. B. DuBois to the contrary notwithstanding, blacks of an earlier generation placed their concern with race in the context of a hoped for assimilation to American political and social principles as enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. That is, equality for them meant being at one with America. This remained true into the 1950s, when even Langston Hughes, as Paul Laurence Dunbar before him, still celebrated Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom as an ethical model (another historical event which D'Souza misunderstands and relates erroneously).[4]
A political sea change occurred since then and ultimately affected Martin Luther King as well, wedding black hopes to a leftist politics which spurned America as it was founded. In effect, in our era American blacks in large measure reversed Frederick Douglass' journey from his 1748 "What Country have I?" query to his 1854 embrace of "our fathers." This reversal, as it happens, took place not only for American blacks (Remember Ronald Reagan's blasts against the "blame America" crowd?) but also for the inner core of leftist politics, with which black leadership had cast its lot since the election of Roosevelt and which finally captured ordinary black citizens after the election of John F. Kennedy. The story of the deracination of American blacks in our time, while supported by cultural relativism, has far more to do with a widespread and dramatic political decline in the United States.
Oddly enough, politics has little to do with D'Souza's account despite his obvious political affiliation with conservatives. That is what gives rise to the question, "who created this version of Dinesh D'Souza?" which ignores the fact that what he regards as "black culture" has been shaped in decisive ways by white leftist culture. Indeed, remove the so-called "African American" peculiarity, remove the leftist politics—which is white culture, insofar as race is at all relevant—and what remains, but lower class shifting within a broader mixed-race society, differing but little from peasant orders in more structured European societies?
Because he abstracts from politics and too little understands the foundations of lower class Southern mores, D'Souza over-generalizes race. He does so despite having canvassed an enormous range of writings on his subject. The point of this observation is not to minimize the gravity of social deterioration in numerous American black communities throughout the United States. It is, however, to deny the relevance of the analysis of race in addressing those problems. When I say this, I am not liberal. When I say this, I am not conservative, although I am otherwise conservative. How can this be? Conservatism and liberalism (as used today) are perspectives that address our hopes for man more than our understanding of nature. Though liberal insouciance has fostered an intensive contemporary racism, neither liberalism nor conservatism founds it hopes for man on a theory of race.
D'Souza successfully identifies cultural relativism as a special partner of liberalism (though more than one version of conservatism in the world embraces the same philosophical orientation) and demonstrates that cultural relativism provides protective cover for black racism (as it also does for contemporary Asian nations in their resistance to human rights claims). But that argument misses the point. The racism spawned by liberalism is really the old-fashioned variety, namely, the adoption of a corporate relationship toward a group. This reality weighs far more heavily than the notion of racism as a "mode of thought." For, in the end, it is the existing policy that provides the nexus of racism and someone is in charge of that policy. The most significant racist is the person or body of persons in charge of the policies that entail racism as a social problem and not merely a characteristic of certain individuals.
This argument does not deny the existence of black racism. Nor does it accept the power-racism absurdity by which some apologist for social monsters exculpate black racists. It goes rather to the question D'Souza raises at the outset of his book, namely, What is the crisis of racism today? He answers: "black rage," "white back-lash," and "liberal despair." Notice, then, how his account serves to exculpate the architects and guardians of the policies that are most responsible. For him racism consists of the effects of affirmative action more than it inheres in affirmative action itself. This is tantamount to saying that white feelings of superiority and black feelings of inferiority spawned by Jim Crow were racist, while neglecting to characterize the policy. This is consistent with regarding racism as a "mode of thought" rather than as an illicit action of the state.
This turn of thought is important because it infuses the most substantial project of the book, the demonstration of black racism and its concomitant refusal to recognize deficiencies in black people. And that is precisely where D'Souza leaves the realm of salutary cautions and tries his hand at a social analysis which he completely mishandles. A few examples ought to suffice. He takes on the IQ controversy only, in the end, to make a case of no relevance to his argument (in addition to contradicting himself). The prescription of governmental indifference to race does not flow from a supposed demonstration of racially differentiated intellectual capacities. Moreover, his own reliance on the "one drop of black blood" theory makes recourse to an argument about pure genetic heritage largely irrelevant. Finally, as a scientific matter, it makes infinitely more sense to investigate what distinguishes folk who score 85 on the test than to investigate how any of an infinite number of possible groupings score. There is no doubt that Einstein, by some characteristic, belongs to a group the overwhelming number of whom scores in the imbecile range. The knowledge of that fact is of no value whatever, while the knowledge of what all the imbeciles share besides their score could be most helpful and would, by definition, be transracial.
Another case: "Desegregation permits racial separation as long as it is not compelled by government. Integration, by contrast, is a state-mandated result... The Civil Rights Act of 1964 clearly endorsed desegregation rather than integration..." Besides abstracting from the practical history of "separate but equal," and therefore erring in fact though not in principle, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the aims and assumed conditions of the civil rights movement. Reality in the South was that de-segregation meant integration, given the geographic, legal, and economic realities. Hence it was wise for legislators to discuss the matter in such terms. Moreover, the real question, from the perspective of the organization of society, was not desegregation versus integration, but rather integration—mere integration—versus mutual dependence. Mutual dependence is more than integration (which can breed familiarity in company with contempt). White integrationist never attempted mutual dependence, which helps to reveal why affirmative action grew to fill the vacuum.
One further example of poor analysis and poor judgment derives from the use of Dr. Dale Lick, former President of Florida State University, as an example of the hyperbolic use of cries of racism to deny obvious truths. According to D'Souza, for saying what was obvious, namely, "As blacks begin to get into sports, their natural abilities come through," Lick "was promptly accused of racism" and forced to withdraw as a presidential candidate at Michigan State University. This is an error both of fact and of reasoning. Lick was forced "to apologize" years earlier, when he took the position at Florida State, for he made the remark at his antepenultimate post in Maine. Further, his apology, along with a promise to institute a regime of multicultural sensitivity, secured for him the position at Florida State.
In the Michigan State University search, when the issue re-surfaced, Lick offered an explanation of little credit to a gentleman. Moreover, the original statement had been made in answer to a student's question about the absence of blacks in sports like golf and hockey (respecting which his response was entirely irrelevant). In his answer he showed no awareness whatever of the likely effect of his remarks, even against the then contemporary back-drop of the Al Campanis and Jimmy The Greek Snyder affairs (respecting each of whom I provided a specific defense in my role as a member of the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights). At MSU Lick was forced out of the search largely upon my decision to resign if he were appointed, and I did so for the sufficient reason that he brought with him baggage—and made professions—that would have made him the worst kind of multiculturalist and politically correct administrator.
D'Souza's inability to understand this story highlights the problem of his book. He assumed that an administrator who is an American black acted on the basis of what D'Souza imagined to be black culture in a situation that eventuated in denying advancement to a white male. In reference to racism and politics, however, the story is exactly the reverse of his imagination. One may think he was deceived by careless press reports. The thoroughness of his research otherwise, however, weakens that excuse and reveals the error as entirely his own, whether of disposition or procedure.
Besides, he has personal knowledge of me and surely was not innocent of my extensive writings on the subject he researched—writings which vary sharply from his own work. The error seems to me rather to proceed from casual and easy assumptions about motives on the basis of race—without sense of a need for investigation—and founded on his radically defective notion of black culture.
Let us close, then, by saying flatly that there is no such black culture as he imagines (and he is not alone in this). Indeed, apart from transient (a temporal reference) immigrant cultures and numerically insignificant Indian cultures, there is but one culture in America, and whites no less than blacks are embraced by it.
To answer our leading question, then, it would appear that prevailing views on race—including those generally referred to as "white racism"—created Dinesh D'Souza.
* Published in Crisis, January 1996, pp. 13-17.
[1] He wrote, earlier in the book, that "blacks...have nevertheless shaped, out of the debris of oppression, a distinctive ethnic identity which goes back to slavery. This [cultural] identity is distinct from a racial identity..." p. 100. More importantly, his general attitude toward the supposed "black community" reveals that he sees it as distinct and coextensive -- if not identical -- with race: the "guilt" of the black middle class for having "abandoned" their lower class peers whose "heart-wrenching sufferings" purchased middle class comforts. This view is born of the inclination to see the ritual "brother" and "sister" used among American blacks more literally than one should. It is well to remember that some folk actually have real and not merely metaphorical brothers and sisters. Nor may it be said that they have abandoned these real brothers and sisters, even when it is true that many of the latter live in the "ghetto" while the former enjoy "middle class comforts." An entire inability to conceive that any substantial number of American blacks can have had experiences -- including successes and failures -- in no way conditioned by affirmative action and the "cause" of recent years constitutes still another illustration of this blindness.
[2] D'Souza cited Epstein's Forbidden Grounds, but he does not seem to have considered the extended discussion of that book published in the San Diego Law Review (1994:31,1), and in which I wrote in, "Epstein's Challenge to the Civil Rights Regime," "In the most obvious cases justice can reach no farther than the claims of individuals, however remote or numerous, while the antidiscrimination principle abstracts from persons altogether and deals most comfortably with broad ascriptions… This conundrum leads Epstein toward an abandonment of the antidiscrimination principle. One may question, however, whether the principle were ever rightly conceived as a means to adjudicate just claims. Epstein raises the last question but fails to see that a negative response does not entail a negative response to the question of whether the antidiscrimination principle has any role to play in a free political order."
[3] This is reflected in the following passage from D'Souza: "America's real problem [] is partly a race problem and partly a black problem. The solution to the race problem is a public policy that is strictly indifferent to race. The black problem can be solved only through a program of cultural reconstruction..."
[4] D'Souza writes: "During the days of slavery... Uncle Tom accommodated himself to the system of oppression... [and] the 'bad nigger' became normative for the black community... In today's America... Uncle Toms are the true civilizational forces in the black community." Uncle Tom, whether in the novel or for a long time thereafter among American blacks, was never conceived in the terms D'Souza employs, nor was the so-called 'bad nigger' a norm whispered into the ears of babes by black mothers, until very recently.


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How to Start an ASMR Channel on YouTube [Real Life Case Study]
Rob Wilson in
YouTube Tips & Tricks
Is it possible to be successful with a brand new YouTube channel that uploads content around something so popular as ASMR? The answer is yes, and we show you why and how.
ASMR. It is a huge topic on YouTube, generating Billions of views, with many creators wanting to get into this space. But how do you do that? We found a channel that's growing fast, and they have the perfect strategy.
ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response or auto sensory meridian response. It's an experience characterized by static-like tingling, and it is a cultural phenomenon on YouTube. So if you are a video creator who's been thinking about doing ASMR, stop thinking and start acting. Or whispering, in this case.
How to Start an ASMR Channel on YouTube
Now, I know what you might be saying at this point. I've seen ASMR, but the competition is so fierce. There are so many channels out there, how can I start a YouTube channel today and expect to have any success in this topic on YouTube? Well, the channel we are looking at today did just that.
The creator of ASMR MAG UK started an ASMR YouTube channel just a few months ago in the middle of 2019, and after 30 videos, they already have nearly 2,000 subscribers and tens of thousands of views. We're going to look at how they achieved this. Let's have a look at some of the fundamentals as to why this channel is already successful before looking at the topic of ASMR.
ASMR Success on YouTube: Standout Custom Thumbnails
First of all, take a look at the channel thumbnails. They all have rich, vibrant colors, and the saturation is definitely being upped in each of these videos so that the colors really shine through. These are the type of thumbnails that make you stop swiping or scrolling through a feed because they just catch your attention.
And there are some subtle consistencies throughout each of these videos. I'm not talking about the logo, which could probably do with a bit of work, but the red lipstick, and the action of placing food towards those lips in an eating motion. You see that through every single thumbnail. These are the type of thumbnails that you could mix in with lots of other ASMR channels, but you would always know that these thumbnails come from ASMR Mag UK.
ASMR Success on YouTube: Best Titles & Descriptions
Another consistency that you see throughout all of the videos is the titling strategy. Look at the first two or three words of every single video. And they always start the same ASMR Eating or ASMR Eating Edible. This video creator is telling YouTube every single time exactly what their video is about, very plainly and very clearly. And that helps YouTube serve this content to the right audience time and time again. And you can see that through the views.
This channel has 1,700 subscribers, but each video is hitting that mark or a little beyond because the content is so consistent. This creator has dialed in their audience perfectly with ASMR Eating or Eating Edibles.
Now, this SEO richness is reinforced throughout the metadata - on the channel and for the videos. In the description, the creator continues to talk about ASMR Edibles, but not only that, the creator talks about what's in it for the viewer. What's in it for you, not what's in it for the creator. And a lot of people make that mistake of being a little too self-indulgent about what they want and what they want to get out of a channel, rather than the value that they're giving to their audience. In the video descriptions, it's the same type of thing. Always reinforcing the keywords they want to use.
And although tags aren't that important these days, it's clear that this creator has done their research into the ASMR keyword topic, and includes all of those words wherever they can in some of the titles, descriptions, and tags, the channel description. It's all about the consistency of content.
ASMR Success on YouTube: Consistency
What you'll also notice is there is also a very consistent video length. The creator seems to be aiming for a sweet spot between eight and twelve minutes. And generally speaking, the advice is to make longer videos and create more watch time. But obviously, you need to appreciate your audience. Through me doing this process myself I'm understanding that ASMR appeals to a more relaxed, slow-paced type of video. Hence why this video is going on longer than usual.
But for this creator, each video is almost exactly the same length. So again, the viewer knows exactly what they're getting into every time they see one of her videos and click into it.
So those are several foundations of a solid channel, which any video creator would be proud of. But for this channel, this is where the magic happens. When you start to read the video titles, and you look at the thumbnails, something doesn't add up. It makes you stop for a second and go, how on earth can you eat a Coca-Cola bottle, or spanners and tools, or a Starbucks coffee cup, an iPhone 11?
All these things the creator talks about are very nonedible somewhat impossible items to eat. So how on earth does this person achieve this? As a viewer, you have me intrigued and you've earned my click.
But the big question is, do these videos deliver the valued prize in the title and the thumbnail? Well, as you can see from the views, and the continued growth of the channel, the answer very much is yes, because this creator's unique superpower on YouTube is to create edible versions of these items. Of course, it goes without saying that people want to watch good content. But when you can provide not only good content but something completely unique, in a very popular topic, that is a winning combination.
ASMR: How to Combine With Other YouTube Trends
And then beyond all of what we've already talked about so far, the video creator is trend warping. How can you take the topic of ASMR and combine it with the most popular smartphone release of the year, the iPhone 11? Well, you make it and you eat it! That is a very unique skill, and it is being expertly executed. Now on this particular occasion, the video didn't go viral, but the creator is giving themselves the best opportunity of doing that, and potentially in the future.
They've tried to do this with the Pixel 4 and Frozen 2, as both of those big releases loom. It's only going to take one of these videos to and a huge audience is going to see this content, and the channel will grow very, very rapidly.
For a channel that is so young at this point, less than six months old, it is incredible to see the channel focus, the discipline, to create videos on one topic. And this is a niche within ASMR. Making items and then eating them, with the audience watching. And the creator is already very farsighted because they added two other ASMR channels. They want to create silos within this topic. They have a channel about eating general foods, and another one for sleep relaxation.
Now those channels are very small right now, but as I've already said, it just requires one of these channels to blow up, and then the views will circulate through all of the channels very rapidly, and very effectively. The key to this success so far is the focus, and if they continue with this channel focus, they will get big rewards very soon. The channel right now is growing at over 500 subscribers per month. A third of its size.
Don't be surprised if this time next year they have tens of thousands of subscribers. And you can do the same in any topic if you follow those fundamental strategies.
Rob started out on YouTube in 2012, building up a tech channel before joining the vidIQ team. He now educates over 450,000 subscribers on the vidIQ channel which has over 25,000,000 video views. Today he is hard at work sharing everything he has learned on the YouTube platform; educating video creators on how to grow their own channels and turn hobbies into careers - just like Rob did in 2017.
How Mastering the Art of Storytelling Can Transform Your YouTube Content
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How To Get a Custom URL For Your YouTube Channel [2021 Update]


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