You may remember that in June of 1963 our movement to Japan was cut short when Cliff Judkins and Don Tooker 's planes exploded during in-flight refueling. Subsequently the squadron was flown to Atsugi on GVs (USMC C-130s). Our planes were to be transported by ship after they determined what caused the explosions.
A B-26. I flew as a co-pilot in this plane on a Tuesday.
So, here we are in Japan, a combat-ready Fighter Squadron with no airplanes. About two days after arrival the Skipper called me into his office and the following conversation ensued between us. He asked me if I knew anyone in Wing H.Q. who I may have crossed before. No Sir I replied. You have a third MOS (Military Occupation Specialty), tell me about it. I told him that when I completed Basic School the USMC, in its infinite wisdom, instituted a policy that all Regular Officers must serve a tour in the Fleet before applying for Flight School. I was sent to Artillery School and subsequently to the 12th Marine Regiment on Okinawa as a Field Artillery Officer, MOS 0802. For the next 18 months we deployed to such "Garden Spots" as Japan, Taiwan, Borneo, Philippines, Korea. We also sailed off the coast of Thailand for 40 days expecting to go into Laos. Nothing happened and we sailed back to Okinawa.
carrying dispatches to various places and I expected that the clearance had lapsed when I returned stateside. He told me that once a background check had been completed it was permanent, modified by "Need To Know".
How much time do you have in the T-28? Approximately 150 hours with 10 carrier landings I said. He said that the T-28 may be the plane I would be flying where I was going. He asked what my qualifications regarding side-arms was. I listed .38 and .45 cal. Pistols; M-1,M-14, Rifles; Thompson Sub; and BAR.
Skipper said "Congratulations you just received orders for 6 weeks of Temporary Duty to South-East Asia for On-The-Job Training; Good Luck; Turn in your .38 to the Armory. They will supply your needs when you arrive. They have a battery of shots for you at Sick Bay. Do not take your Log Book because even though you are there, officially you are not there. CIA runs the show. Two days later I was on a plane to Clark AFB where I stopped long enough to get several more shots then to Da Nang in Viet Nam.
I learned what the definition of ADVISOR was. Stay alive any way you can, trusting no one but yourself and the Army Special Forces. I have highest regard for the "Snake Eaters". They know how, when, and where to complete the mission. Also, I was told that when up on a mission with Vietnamese pilots, never fly in front, but stay behind them. CIA figured that they were 20% infiltrated by VC. Six weeks later, I was back in Japan with a lot of "On The Job" training behind me. When I was ready to leave Da Nang, this CIA man called me into his office and told me that basically everything I had seen or done was classified TOP SECRET and I had to sign a statement that I would tell no one what I had seen or done and to render no opinions to anyone. If I did not want to sign, I could not leave. Guess What? I eagerly signed it.
When I returned to Atsugi, the Group C.O., His Intelligence Officer, and my C.O. called me in and wanted a report on my time in Viet Nam. I told them that I could not do it and Why I could not do it. All three were enraged and called Wing HQ. My C.O. showed me the response which was short. "leave Captain Clark alone he is following orders and you do not have the NEED TO KNOW.


turkey and piglet to prepare the core dishes Gozinaki (Georgian candy with nuts and honey), Satsivi (turkey in walnuts sauce) and roasted pork for the occasional table. But the preparation for the most wonderful time of the year can be observed at best at Georgian households were most of the housewives are busy doing household chores and preparing a big assortment of dishes.
In western Georgia on New Year's Eve, the head of the family would go out with Chichilaki and a festive tray full of fruits and Georgian sweets. Bread with honey was later replaced by Gozinaki, the delicious candy made of walnut and honey, an absolute necessity of the New Year.
In Guria, the New Year's herald will go to the domestic store of wine called Marani as well and pray for the fertility of vine. The institute of Mekvle is firmly preserved here too. This person, who is often a small boy, is believed to bring joy, success, happiness and prosperity.
Chichilaki, Georgian alternative to Christmas tree was crafted by hand from wood and decorated with sweets, fruits and nuts, as a symbol of fertility and fruitfulness. Even at present chichilaki is thought to be an essential part of New Year decoration that must be present in every family and must definitely be burnt down at the end of New Year celebrations. Every year a new chichilaki must be purchased and subsequently thousands of these curly white trees are made and sold annually.
In Eastern Georgia, the New Year was also always met with joy. A Georgian version of gingerbread named basila used to be baked. The cake was called basila after the saint Basil who used to live in the fourth century. At present this tradition has been almost faded away.
New Year was considered a family celebration, so in many cases family members used to stay at home, but on the very second day the feast shifted to the city streets. The city architecture also played its role in making it easier to celebrate different occasions in an urban environment. At that time the houses in Tbilisi had flat roofs that often served as perfect locations for gatherings and feasts.
The tradition of Mekvle was another curious and interesting Christmas custom that is still common in every household. Mekvle is a person who first crosses the threshold of the house after midnight, when the New Year officially begins. It is thought that some Mekvles can bring happiness, prosperity and fertility but others can bring unhappiness and bad luck. That is why, even nowadays, people are very careful when selecting a person to invite into their houses in advance, and making sure nobody crosses the threshold before the selected Mekvle shows up.
Another interesting practice during New Year was when the head of each family went out and made one or more shots in the air with his gun. Hence, the New Year's Eve was so noisy that people often joked that if you had not known that it was New Year then you would have probably thought that there was a war. Today shots have been replaced with fireworks that create amazing scenery in the city.


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Last week has been very hectic with a lot of work and travel. I am very happy to note that many of my readers also share a great interest in the art of Decoupaging. I have been constantly getting e-mails requesting some more simple ideas to converting boring spaces into interesting and decorative spaces using decoupaging. Here are a few of them...Please take a look.
These are lovely Vasudha! You should put up a decoupage tutorial sometime. I love them!
animal print is so out of trend, and cartoons is good for children room. As designers we should focus on eco-friendly designs. Just a request, can you come up with a post on green designing, more to do with global warming!
Is the fevicol mix that you use as the sealant waterproof? what are the other options available in India for this purpose? Also if I wish to use some fabric for the decoupage how should I seal it? Can one use varnish on top of fabric?


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Sports Edit post
Lucas: Boston College Quick Reactions
By Adam Lucas
1. Pro win for Carolina, doing what it had to do to overcome Boston College, 72-64.
two. Armando Bacot's double-double – which he accumulated before halftime – ties the school record. Bacot's 60th double-double ties him with Billy Cunningham, a record that stands for 60 years. He is also just a few rebounds away from passing Tyler Hansbrough as the school's all-time leading hitter, a mark that is expected to drop in coming games. He finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds.
3. Carolina continues to juggle the staff. Tuesday marked the return of Pete Nance from a back injury and announced his return hitting a pair of three-pointers in the first four minutes. But the Tar Heels played without Jalen Washington, which was limited by an ankle injury sustained during the shootout earlier in the day. Nance had six points and five rebounds on the comeback.
4. This was an old battle for office between Bacot and Boston College's Quentin Post. Post eventually failed, but not before he and Bacot exchanged several shoves and shoves. Post had 17 points but just five rebounds.
5. That was a fitting game for an Eagles team that plays more offense from within the three-point arc than any opponent Carolina has seen this season. In keeping with the pattern throughout the season, BC made just two three-point shots in the first 20 minutes (Carolina hoisted 14). The Eagles make more two-point jumps than perhaps any other team in college basketball, but they seem to be very well coached by Earl Grant (the move to a zone late in the second half briefly confused the Tar Heels). Boston College did not hit three-pointers in the game, finishing 0-of-6. According to Bryan Ives, it was the first time since November 1990 – a span of 1,149 games – that the Tar Heels did not allow a three-pointer.
6. Nance helped on the posts, especially on the offensive end. Bacot did his usual heavy lifting on the offensive glass, picking up five, but Nance supplemented with three. This helped Carolina maintain an impressive 19-3 lead in second chance points.
7. Quite true that Caleb's love didn't have his best game as a Tar Heel. It's also true that he made two huge shots as Boston College pulled it back to a one-point game with less than six minutes to go, hitting a three-pointer and scoring a loose ball. That hustle quickly pushed him into a six-point lead. He hasn't been shooting well, but he's still the guy who wants to take all the important shots. He also finished with 16 points.
8. On a night when three-pointers were hard to come by for either side, RJ Davis it was a lifesaver. The junior guard hit four of them on his way to 18 points. Both entire teams combined, except Davis, hit six three-pointers.
9. Funny moment in the arena during the second half, when the video panel showed highlights of Luke Maye and then Maye himself, who was in town on a brief break from his overseas career. The caption read: "Luke Maye/Brother of Drake Maye". The camera then panned down the hallway… where it found Drake Maye, who was shown with the caption "Drake Maye / Luke Maye's brother".
10. The game also marked the debut of a light show in the arena at the media time limit below 4:00. The Smith Center crowd at first seemed a little confused, but overall they seemed to enjoy the lights going out and a high-energy timeout before the final minutes of the game.
11. Carolina has won 15 of the last 16 matches against Boston College. It also concludes the softest part of the ACC schedule. A very tough stretch begins Saturday against NC State in what should have been a lively atmosphere at the Smith Center.
12. Don't think we've mentioned this in this space before – remember that whenever it's your first time attending a game at the Smith Center, go to Guest Services outside section 126 to get your certificate. Two young Tar Heels had their autographs signed by Armando Bacot on Tuesday night, which is a great souvenir in an age when paper tickets are hard to come by. I can't guarantee the Bacot signature unfortunately, but the certificate alone makes a fun keepsake.
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Several years ago, I acquired the "Time Life Picture Cookbook" -- a gigantic coffee table-style book published in 1958. Aside from its cool pictures of men barbecuing in suits and ties, and children eating their lunches in kitchens with atomic symbols on the curtains, the cookbook gave me a window into a world long past. There are pictures of waiters in Paris taking apart pressed ducks tableside, of unctuous servers standing before carts on which crepes suzette are about to be made, and of turbaned waiters at Chicago's Pump Room delivering flaming shish kebabs to delighted diners.
Just as you don't see waiters in turbans much anymore, tableside service and flambeeing anything (at least on purpose) is pretty much a thing of the past, a victim of the evolution of the service industry. Fifty years ago, when waitering was still a career, and restaurant dining was a special occasion, you could depend on the ability of at least some of the guys (and they were all men) working the front of the house to be able to flame an order of steak au poivre, or assemble bananas foster or cherries jubilee. Today, it's pretty much a lost art, found in only a handful of places, and then confined primarily to dessert. And more often than not it's the chef or pastry chef who comes out of the kitchen to put the torch to your dessert.
The vogue for all things brulee of late seemed to augur a return to the age of fire in the kitchen -- home cooks flocked to the cooking stores to buy sleek, expensive blowtorches to melt sugar atop their custards and fresh fruit. But that didn't seem to translate into a return to the flashier side of cooking. So, I decided that it was about time to revive some old standbys, bringing fire to breakfast, dinner, and dessert. Alas, a flaming cocktail that didn't require the assembling talent of a brain surgeon was beyond me.
Before we begin, my wife -- who insists that this sort of thing probably isn't covered by our home owners' policy -- wants me to say a few words about how to flambe safely. First, make sure you have the proper safety equipment. Even if it's not right next to you, make sure that a fire extinguisher is handy whenever you are playing with fire. Whatever pan you happen to be cooking should have a tight fitting lid that you can slap down on top of it if things start to get out of hand (this won't just save your house, it might also save your dinner or dessert). Flambeing in a lightweight pan is a sure invitation to burned food or a flash fire, so make sure you are using a heavy, uncoated sautee pan.
A final word on firing things up: if you do decide to follow these recipes, I strongly encourage you to use a wooden kitchen match rather than a long-stemmed click lighter to start the fire. As remote as the possibility is, with a click lighter you are holding a handful of lighter fluid. With a match you've got a tiny piece of wood.
So, you still want to set your breakfast, dinner, or dessert on fire? Good. There are several factors you will need to take into consideration in order to do it right every time. First, the booze that you use has to be at least 80 proof (that is, 40 percent alcohol). In order to get a dish to catch fire, both the liquor and the sauce on which it floats need to be boiling hot -- it's the vapor coming off the liquor that ignite, not the liquid itself. Next, you must have all of your ingredients at hand, and you must have your matches in easy reach. Pouring the rum or cognac into the pan and then walking away for five minutes to find a match is not going to serve you well. Depending on how hot the sauce is, it might burst into uncontrolled flames while you are on the other side of the room -- a guarantee that your significant other will never let you try this at home again.
In order to flambe successfully, you also need to rein in your startle reflex. Accept that flames are going to happen. Don't get flustered, and keep your pot lid handy just in case. Your emergency sequence should be as follows: lid on, pan off of the heat source, turn off the heat source. You might want to run through this as a dry run a couple of times before you break out the liquor and matches.
All of the recipes here (with the exception of the French toast under the bananas, which is my own excuse for setting breakfast on fire) are old-school tableside service standards, but I only know of two places in our area where you can still find even a glimmer of the past: Warfield's in Clifton Springs, where they do cherries jubilee and bananas foster tableside, and Red Osier in Stafford, where diners can watch bananas foster being made for them. My wife was very disappointed to find out that there really wasn't any alternative to allowing me to start fires in our kitchen.
1/2 tbsp olive, canola, or peanut oil.
1. In a shallow dish, beat together egg, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar. Slide the bread into the mixture and poke it several times with a fork to make sure that the egg mixture soaks in. Turn the bread once, carefully. Most of the egg mixture should soak into the bread, giving it the consistency of a very wet (and very fragile) sponge.
2. Melt butter and olive oil over medium heat, keeping a careful eye on the pan to make sure that the butter does not burn (the olive oil will help to temper the butter's finicky nature).
3. Using a spatula, transfer the custard-soaked bread to the waiting frying pan, being careful not to crowd the pan, and cook until the underside of the each slice is golden (a good indication of this is that the edges of the bread will start to darken). Flip the slices, cook until golden, and then transfer the finished French toast to plates (as rich as this dish is, one slice is more than adequate for a hearty breakfast).
4. While cooking the French toast, in a separate pan melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add sliced bananas and cook until the fruit begins to darken and smell sweet. Heat the rum in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for 30 seconds.
5. Add brown sugar, lemon zest, and cinnamon to the pan and swish about liberally, making sure this mixture coats the bananas. Increase heat to medium high, bringing contents to a fast boil.
6. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the rum. Return the pan to high heat allowing it to come to a furious boil.
7. Ignite the sauce with a wooden match. When flames subside, spoon the the bananas and sauce over the French toast and serve immediately.
1. Trim steaks of any exterior fat and gristle. Break larger steaks down into uniformly sized pieces about 1"-1 ½" thick and no larger than about one-third of one pound to ensure even cooking.
2. Season the steaks with salt, and press the coarsely ground peppercorns into the flesh, coating both sides of each steak evenly. Combine beef stock, lemon juice, Worcestershire, and mustard in a small bowl, and set aside. In a glass measuring cup, heat two ounces of liquor for 30 seconds in the microwave.
3. Place a heavy, non-Teflon-coated, pan over high heat, add olive oil. When there is a faint shimmer across the surface of the oil, add the steaks, cooking them to what Irma and Marion Rombauer call the "desired degree of rareness." Give the steaks about two to three minutes per side depending on how rare you like them. It is, however, a crime to cook a good steak more than medium (or even medium rare). You may want to cook the steaks slightly less than you otherwise might: the flaming alcohol and the sauce at the end of this recipe will add some heat to the meat.
4. Remove the steaks to a side platter. Give the alcohol in the microwave another 30 seconds of heat. Lower the heat under the pan, and spoon or pour off all but the smallest amount of the accumulated fat. Add butter, shallots and lemon zest to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high, sauteeing until fragrant. Add beef stock mixture to the pan, scraping up any browned bits that have accumulated in the course of cooking. Increase heat to high and bring the sauce to a rapid boil. Return the steaks to the pan.
5. Remove the booze from the microwave, grab a wooden match. Make an excuse to call your friends and family into the kitchen. (Note, you could do this tableside with an electric hotplate, but doing it in the kitchen at least allows you to pretend that you aren't just showing off).
6. Add the cognac, brandy, or whiskey, bring it to a boil, and light the match. As long as the sauce continues to boil and you keep the pan over the heat source, the flames will continue until the easily available alcohol in the sauce is burned off.
7. Remove the steaks to a platter, and either pour the finished sauce over them (which makes a classic steak au poivre), or whisk the cream into the sauce and then pour half of the sauce over the steaks (serving the rest on the side) to make the more contemporary and familiar version of the dish.
1. Preheat oven to 325°. Select and have ready either one 2.5 quart casserole or souffle pan, or six 8 oz. ramekins (heavy coffee cups or mugs will work in a pinch). In a small sauce pan combine water and sugar, and place over medium-high heat. Swirl the pan occasionally until the syrup clears. Cover and cook for two minutes. Uncover the pan, increase heat slightly, and continue swirling until the liquid begins to darken. Be careful not to burn the sugar, once it begins to change color, the syrup will darken very quickly and it will continue to darken even once you take it off the heat.
2. Pour the syrup into either the casserole or the ramekins. Swirl the syrup up the sides of the container(s). Set aside to cool.
3 cups of milk, cream, half-and-half or some combination of the same.
1. Over medium to medium-low heat, warm the milk or cream until it is steaming. Do not allow it to boil.
2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, and salt; whisk to combine.
3. Slowly add the milk or cream to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. If the eggs begin to curdle, you will have to start over with cooler milk. Whisk until the custard is smooth, and add vanilla.
4. Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl or measuring cup (it will need to be at least a two quart measure), and then either pour the mixture into the casserole, or divide it among the smaller containers.
5. Place the individual cups or the casserole into a heavy roasting pan or a large cake pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven. Pour very hot tap water into the roasting pan until the water level is about halfway up the side of whatever container(s) you are using.
6. Bake the custard for one hour, longer for a single, large portion. The custard is done when the top is firm to the touch. If the skin is too thin or fractures easily, you may want to give the custard a few more minutes.
7. Cool, cover, and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
To remove the flan from its cooking container, run a knife around the edge of the dish, place a heatproof plate or a platter over the top of the container (note that the plate's rim should be high enough to capture the sauce that's going to come out on top of the flan), and invert the dish. If you've done everything correctly, the flan should drop onto the plate surrounded by a pool of liquified syrup. Even if you decide to stop at this point, you have a killer dessert. For those of you out there who are dedicated firebugs, now comes the fun part.
1. Heat 1/2 to 1 oz. of rum per portion of flan in the microwave. You want the rum steaming hot or it will not flame at the critical moment.
2. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add brown sugar and lemon zest, and heat this "sauce" until it comes to a rolling boil. Lower heat, and prepare for action.
3. Just before you plan to serve the flan, pour the boiling brown sugar and butter mixture directly over the top of the custard. Immediately pour the rum over the surface of the flan, strike a wooden match, and light it up. The flame will last a surprisingly long time, and is likely best done at the table to give guests the maximum enjoyment of the experience.
4. You can also buy yourself some flambe insurance: soak a spiral of orange peel or lemon peel in rum and sugar for an hour or so before service. Pop it on top of the flan just before you touch the match to it. Even if the flambe fizzles, the citrus will provide the requisite pyrotechnics to wow your guests -- and the dispersing orange oil will impart the dish with the tiniest amount of burnt orange flavor.
[ INTERVIEW ] Unlike sports or politics, gastronomy is one of the few topics about which people get passionate but not violent.
[ ROUND-UP ] Sometimes, when the demands of the world leave you feeling pressed and wafer thin, packed between obligations and carelessly speared by some pick with a garish plastic frill, you might reach for consolation in a comforting bowl of hot soup.


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CHASING APHRODITE
The Hunt for Looted Antiquities in the World's Museums
Cast: The Dealers
Cast: The Getty
Goddess Returned
The Getty Villa
The Objects
Tag Archives: Walters Museum of Art
Artifacts and Fictions in Baltimore: Roger Atwood on the Walters' Pre-Colombian Collection
Today we're publishing a guest post from Roger Atwood, author of "Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers and the Looting of the Ancient World." We reached out to Roger for his thoughts when we heard about an exhibition of suspect pre-Colombian material at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Atwood has written extensively about looting in Latin America, and took a recent trip to the Walters to see the collection. Here is what he found.
The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has mounted a show of ancient artifacts from Latin America that belong, or once belonged, to the collector John Bourne. According to the show's catalogue, Bourne has already given some of the pieces to the museum while others have been promised, a long, gradual donation that maximizes the donor's tax deduction. Aside from a few likely fakes, whose presence the Walters candidly admits, the objects all date from before the arrival of Europeans in 1492.
Collector John Bourne, circa 1947
The collection has a long and checkered history. Bourne originally intended to give it, or at least part of it, to the Museum of New Mexico's Palace of the Governors unit in Santa Fe, which, in fact, displayed it for several years after 1997. The collection brought the Palace of the Governors some problems, to put it mildly. Four objects in the collection were seized by the FBI in 1998 and held for nearly two years, pending probes into allegations that the pieces were looted and smuggled out of Peru. The investigation ultimately fizzled, leading to no charges and the return of the pieces. But the Museum of New Mexico got some nasty publicity from that case, and one can only assume the Walters and its lawyers were fully cognizant of the risks of a repeat of it before accepting this dubious gift. I tell the story of the Bourne case in detail in my 2004 book Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World, based on interviews and documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act.
A couple of weeks ago I took a train to the handsome city of Baltimore and saw the Bourne collection in its new home. It's a revealing show with some lovely artifacts, including some I don't remember seeing in Santa Fe. The painted Nasca stirrup bottles (right), masterpieces of design and economy dating from about 500 CE, alone were worth the trip.
Yet I came away thinking that, perhaps without realizing it, the organizers have given an object lesson in the dangers of collecting antiquities that have no record of archaeological excavation. What I wrote in Stealing History – that "not a single piece on display" in the Bourne collection "gives a specific provenance, archaeological history or other sign it emerged from any place but a looter's pit" – remains true but needs some amending.
First, there are the fakes. To its credit, the Walters is completely up front about the fact that some pieces in the Bourne collection are probably not what they claim to be. "[T]he atypical imagery of these objects calls into question their authenticity," says the wall label next to a pair of Maya eccentric flints. It adds, helpfully, that tests are inconclusive "because modern replicas are made using the same kinds of tools and techniques as well as the same sources of flint" as the real ones. So, in this case, we're learning more about technique for making fakes than about Maya flints.
Another sculpture looks like a bad pastiche of old and new, or, as the wall panel says, a "modern assembly of a variety of ancient parts." Meant to look Moche, the piece shows a wooden, crouching warrior of ungainly proportions, with a clamshell perched on its head like a fez and a backflap on its lower back that seems to have been made for a much smaller object. "Together, the C-14 [radiocarbon dating] and iconographic data suggest that the piece – in its current state – postdates Moche culture by at least 700 years," says the show's catalogue. The operative phrase there is "at least," for the piece has a funny, cinematic kind of look, like a prop from "The Curse of the Andes".
What do fakes have to do with the problem of looting? Fakes and unprovenanced, authentic antiquities often turn up together in collections because neither was found through the transparent process of archaeological excavation. They flock together. Collectors might think their connoisseurship protects them from fakes, but they get hoodwinked all the time. This is not a sign of denseness or gullibility, necessarily; it just comes with the territory if you're in the business of acquiring undocumented antiquities. If the Getty, with all its experts and budget, could buy a dubious piece like the Kouros, then what hope is there for a single collector such as John Bourne, no matter what the credentials of the people advising him?
The Walters is more coy on the implications of all this. Has the collector gained a tax benefit for the donation of what are quite possibly, if the Walters' analysis is correct, worthless fakes? Why is it even showing them? The show constantly refers to authentication and laboratory analysis on the pieces; indeed, it's one of the main themes of the exhibit. One piece, a Zapotec pottery figure actually has a copy of its thermoluminescence analysis report right on the wall, indicating the piece dates from 450 to 800 CE. Wall texts and the catalogue go on about CT scans and minute studies of chemical compositions.
I spoke on the phone with the director of the Walters, Gary Vikan, who said that the museum decided to go ahead and show what its conservators believed to be fakes because "there is a value in being candid and open about our own research." He added, "our business is to gather and share knowledge, not to vindicate" a collector's decisions. Two conservators worked full-time for two-and-a-half years analyzing the pieces, he said.
To the viewer, all this research could signal that the Walters has doubts about the larger integrity of the collection. But it also suggests the museum is trying to compensate for the lack of any archaeological information about the pieces by running them through gauntlets of laboratory tests. It's as if the museum is trying to scratch its way to some information – any information – about pieces that are so patently lacking any hard archaeological data.
And that leads me to the second problem associated with undocumented artifacts that this exhibit so richly demonstrates: the lack of information. For all the museum's months of laboratory work, we know strikingly little about where these pieces came from, in what context they were found, and what function or meaning they had. This is because they were, presumably, all purchased from the cast of looters, dealers and assorted hoodlums that make up the supply end of the Latin American antiquities market. Whatever information those sellers claim to have on the origin of the artifacts they sell is usually conjecture or lies.
An earthenware crocodile effigy claimed to be from Costa Rica is said to date from 500 to 1350 CE, an absurdly wide spread that stratigraphic data or radiocarbon materials found in proper excavation could narrow down to decades. A Mayan jadeite pendant (left) dates from "250 to 450 CE" and could come from Guatemala, Belize, Mexico or Honduras, says the catalogue. In other words, from two centuries and any one of hundreds of sites over four countries. It's a nice piece, but how helpful is that? True, it is difficult for a private collector to buy archaeologically excavated material, since it rarely comes on the market. But a museum of the Walters' caliber could certainly arrange loans of properly excavated pieces if wants to show pre-Columbian antiquities.
The show takes pains to stress that Bourne purchased many artifacts on trips to Latin American hinterlands starting in the 1940s, before most current rules on removing and selling cultural property were in effect. The catalogue describes Hiram Bingham-style adventures, Bourne cutting through forest to reach the lost city of Bonampak and finding artifacts in situ. These accounts are entertaining and I don't doubt their authenticity, but other facts make you wonder if he had other sources. Bourne himself told the FBI in 1998 that he bought merchandise from the late Ben Johnson, a notorious Los Angeles dealer in high-end pillage whose dealings were exposed in the Sipán trial of 1989.
What little information we're given on the origin of the Bourne pieces amounts to a roll call of the most pitilessly looted parts of Latin America: the north coast of Peru, the Petén lowlands of Guatemala, rural Veracruz. Commercial looters erased incalculable amounts of archaeological data and a valuable economic resource to gather prizes for middlemen and collectors. It's a story of exploitation and greed that is still rarely acknowledged by big collecting museums.
A clear example of that destructive cycle – collectors buy loot, looters destroy sites to get more loot to sell, over and over – was the pillage at Sipán in northern Peru in 1987. Before the Getty's Aphrodite, before the Marion True trial, the case of Sipán showed everyone the power of the antiquities trade to consume heritage. That case led to the 1990 emergency ban on the import of a long list of types of Peruvian antiquities, arguably the most important step by the federal government to tackle the illicit trade up to that time, and, later, a bilateral agreement between Peru and the United States imposing broad import restrictions that remains in effect today. (By way of disclosure, I should say that I spoke in favor of a five-year renewal of that agreement before the State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee in 2007.)
The Bourne collection (now the Walters collection) includes a piece widely attributed to Sipán, a golden belt rattle (left) [Note: An earlier version of this post had an incorrect image. The mistake was ours, not Atwood's.] It wasn't on display when I visited Baltimore but it appears in the catalogue, which calls the piece "Moche style, North Coast, Peru." The Sipán tomb was looted by the Bernal brothers in February 1987. Its fabulous artifacts spread quickly through the elite antiquities racket before police fenced off the site and allowed archaeologists to excavate it. They found two more, undisturbed tombs that have enriched our understanding of pre-Columbian society.
The word "style" after Moche is a wink-wink that the Walters is not sure of the piece's authenticity, as Vikan pointed out to me. I spoke with one of the museum's conservators, Jessica Arista, who said the surface of the belt rattle showed marks from metal tools that did not exist in ancient Peru. "There are a lot of modern polishing marks," she said. Also, said Arista, the metal itself looked too fresh to be ancient and a corrosive pigment seems to have been applied to it, possibly with the intention of making it look older. A sample from the piece was detached and sent to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for analysis, she said. The piece was found to be 72 percent gold, 13 percent silver and 10 percent copper, figures similar to those found in authentic pieces, she said. (The catalogue gave slightly different numbers: 86.6 percent gold, five percent silver and 8.4 percent copper.) But the interior of the metal lacked the leaching and compositional variation that you would expect from a truly ancient piece, she said. Also, the microscopically thin gilding that you would see on the surface seems to be missing.
Still, the information is not conclusive, said Arista. The museum would need detailed comparisons with authentic Sipán pieces to give a more definitive answer on the piece's authenticity. The Walters has not made contact with the Sipán museum in Lambayeque, Peru to arrange such a comparison, she said.
I mentioned to her that many Sipán pieces, including the backflap seized by the FBI in Philadelphia in 1997, had been soaked and scrubbed with Brillo pads while in the hands of looters and smugglers. This, I suggested, could account for the modern tool marks and the metal's shiny appearance (which I'd also noticed in Santa Fe.) Perhaps, she said, but the metal's inner composition, not just the surface, raises red flags about the piece's authenticity.
The belt rattle was one of four from the Bourne collection seized by the FBI in 1998. (Another, a golden monkey head looted from a nearby site called La Mina around 1988, was restituted to Peru last year, with the cooperation of the Palace of the Governors. A pair of Moche earflares, seen at right, also seized by the FBI remain on display at the Walters. ) While the artifacts were held by the FBI, the Peruvian archaeologist who excavated Sipán, Walter Alva, went to Santa Fe and examined the belt ornament. If he had any doubts about its authenticity, he never raised them with me or the FBI. Alva doubted the authenticity of other Peruvian pieces in the Bourne group, but not that one. In Stealing History, I quote Christopher Donnan of UCLA, an expert on Moche iconography, as saying he also believed it an ancient Sipán artifact. I've never heard an authority on Moche archaeology say anything different.
So if the Sipán belt rattle turns out to be a fake – well, there are some very good forgers out there, and kudos to the Walters' conservation team for exposing it.
But if it's not, then the Walters will have some explaining to do. Its presence at the Walters would make a mockery of the museum's policy (stated by Vikan here at minute 18) of not acquiring pieces that do not have a clear chain of ownership from before the UNESCO agreement of 1970. Vikan says in the catalogue that the museum will "promptly and openly respond to any claims for repatriation … from possible source countries." Indeed, in a sign of transparency, the Walters has posted the collection – including the now-suspect Sipán belt rattle – on the American Association of Museum Directors' Object Registry of antiquities acquired since 2008 that lack clear provenance dating back to 1970.
But why wait until source countries make repatriation claims? You wonder what other controversies over title might lurk behind the Bourne collection. This would be a good opportunity for a major American museum to recognize proactively a source country's title to dubious objects, rather than make Peru or Guatemala jump through hoops — or wait for the storm as the Met did with the Euphronios krater, today recognized as property of the government of Italy. Museums badly need to get the provenance problem past them and institute policies they can live by, permanently and consistently. At its heart, the question is about more than ownership. It's about accountability, a subject on which the Walters exhibit demonstrates how far museums have come. It also shows how far they have to go.
ROGER ATWOOD investigated the illicit antiquities trade in 2002-03 with a fellowship from the Alicia Patterson Foundation. His website is http://rogeratwood.com/
Tagged American Association of Museum Directors, Bourne Collection, Christopher Donnan, fakes, FBI, forgeries, Gary Vikan, J. Paul Getty Museum, John Bourne, Kouros, looted antiquities, Maya, Moche, Nasca, Object Registry, Palace of the Governors, Pre-Colombian, Roger Atwood, Sipan, Stealing History, Walters Museum of Art
The Harvard List: Turkey wants Dumbarton Oaks to Return the Sion Treasure
Among the dozens of objects that the government of Turkey is asking American museums to return are 40 Byzantine relics at Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Museum.
(We've previously reported on Turkey's requests in the LA Times and detailed the objects being sought from the Met, the Getty, and the Cleveland.)
The silver and gold liturgical objects known as the Sion Treasure consist of plates, candlesticks, crosses and plaques. Some 40 pieces of the treasure are at Dumbarton Oaks, while another 10 or so are at the Antalya Museum in Turkey, with a few more said to be in private collections.
There does not appear to be much doubt that the treasure was looted and smuggled out of Turkey in 1963 — decades after the nation's patrimony law made such acts illegal. Dumbarton Oaks' own publication of the Sion Treasure suggests as much repeatedly.
In 1986, Dumbarton Oaks organized a symposium about the treasure at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, which resulted in a 1992 book, "Ecclesiastical silver plate in 6th Century Byzantium," edited by the museum's Byzantium curator Susan A. Boyd. That publication includes this photograph of the looter's hole where the treasure is believed to have been found.
The treasure's precise findspot is later detailed at length: "Late in the summer of 1963, the Sion Treasure was found in the field called Buyuk Asar (big ruin) north of the hamlet Haciveliler (2km west of Kumluca, a modern town in southeastern Lycia,)" wrote German Byzantinist Hansgerd Hellenkemper. A marking on a nearby wall identified it as the ancient Lycian polis of Korydalla. The treasure was found some 30 meters from the ruins of an early Byzantine church, Hellenkemper added, suggesting it may have been buried by church leaders in the 7th Century to hide it from invading Arabs. She goes on to note that illegal excavations have made it difficult to know more about such treasures. "In the Eastern Mediterranean, a large number of Early Byzantine church treasures have been found, but an exact of nearly exact findspot is known for very few of them."
Dumbarton Oaks' acquisition history says the treasure was purchased in 1963 in Switzerland from the antiquities dealer George Zakos by Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, a private collector who donated it to the museum the same year. Zakos has been repeatedly tied to the illicit antiquities trade — among other things as a major supplier to Robert Hecht and the source of the Metropolitan Museum's looted Lydian Hoard, which was returned to Turkey in 1993 after a bitter six-year legal battle.
Turkey has been seeking to reunite the Dumbarton Oaks material with the rest of the Sion Treasure for decades. Nizeh Firatli of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum first noted the missing treasure at a 1964 meeting in Athens, and soon after Turkey first requested that Dumbarton Oaks return the treasure. Several subsequent requests have been sent over the ensuing years, and Turkey's request was recently revived.
Dumbarton Oaks director Jan Ziolkowski
Dumbarton Oaks did not respond to repeated requests for comments on Turkey's request — a curious position for an institution that serves as a research library. We eventually contacted Harvard University's press office, which released the following statement on behalf of director Jan M. Ziolkowski: "Dumbarton Oaks has made the Sion Treasure available for exhibition, research and study for nearly a half-century. We are confident that we have proper title to these antiquities and, while representatives from Turkey have inquired about them on occasion over the years, they haven't responded to requests for any documentation that might raise questions about the provenance of this important part of the collection."
We asked both Ziolkowski and Harvard for additional information about why they believe the museum has proper legal title to the treasure. Given the suspect source of the treasure and Dumbarton Oaks' own publication of details of its looting in 1963, what further "documentation" is Harvard waiting for? So far, our follow-up questions have been met with silence.
Tagged Antalya Museum, Byzantine, Dumbarton Oaks, George Zakos, Getty Museum, Hansgerd Hellenkemper, Harvard University, Jan Ziolkowski, looted antiquities, looting, Lydian Hoard, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sion Treasure, Susan A. Boyd, Turkey, Walters Museum of Art
Chasing Aphrodite in Washington DC: 1/23 @ Steptoe, 1/24 at National Press Club
We're off to Washington DC for two great events. If you're in the area, please join us for back-to-back evenings of lively discussion about the state of American museums and the black market in looted art.
Reminder: Both events require an RSVP via the links below.
January 23: 6:30 pm at Steptoe and Johnson
The Society for the Preservation of Greek Heritage and the American Friends of the Acropolis Museum will host Jason for an evening lecture and book signing at the lawfirm Steptoe and Johnson.
Details: 6:30 pm at 1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC. RSVP by sending an email to: classic.heritage@verizon.net
January 24th: The National Press Club.
Jason (in person) and Ralph (via phone) will speak about Chasing Aphrodite, the press and transparency at American museums with former Getty antiquities curator Arthur Houghton and Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Museum of Art. Our moderator will be James Grimaldi, investigative reporter at the Washington Post. Q&A and book signing to follow. (We'll be done in time for you to watch POTUS give the State of the Union address at 9pm.)
Details: 6pm at The National Press Club. 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor. Open to the public, $5 dollars for non-members. Tickets and details available here.
Los Angeles Readers: In you're in Los Angeles on Monday, Jan 23, be sure to check out Getty CEO Jim Cuno's talk at the Petersen Automotive Museum. He'll be defending museums against those who say they are the trophy cases of imperialism and promoting his new book, Museums Matter: In Praise of the Encyclopedic Museum. Details here.
Tagged American Friends of the Acropolis Museum, antiquities, archaeology, Arthur Houghton, Gary Vikan, J. Paul Getty Trust, James Cuno, james grimaldi, museums, National Press Club, Society for the Preservation of Greek Heritage, Steptoe and Johnson, Walters Museum of Art, Washington DC, Washington Post
Fall Book Tour wraps up after 14 events in 15 days. VIDEO: Chasing Aphrodite at UPenn.
Posted on November 3, 2011 | Leave a comment
We've just wrapped up our fall book tour — 14 events in about 15 days.
Thanks to everyone who came out to learn about museums and the illicit antiquities trade. And our sincere gratitude to our hosts at Rutgers, Princeton, UPenn Museum, UPenn Law School, Villanova Law School, NYU, The National Arts Club, The Harvard Club of NYC, Cardozo Law School, AIA, SAFE, The Walters Museum of Art, Chapman University and Central Michigan University.
Keep an eye on our events page for more events coming soon. If you're interested in hosting an event near you, please contact us at ChasingAphrodite@gmail.com.
For those who missed us, here's a video of our presentation at the UPenn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, where we were introduced by Dr. Richard Leventhal:
Posted in Events, Media
Tagged AIA, antiquities, Central Michigan University, Chapman University, Gary Vikan, Getty Museum, Harvard Club, illicit antiquities, looting, NYU, Penn Law, Penn Museum, Princeton University, Rutgers, SAFE, UPenn, Villanova Law, Walters Art Museum, Walters Museum of Art
Fall Book Tour: Chasing Aphrodite across the East Coast
Posted on October 16, 2011 | 1 comment
Here's the line up for this week in New York City and beyond. Hope to see you there. To suggest an event near you, please contact us at ChasingAphrodite@gmail.com
October 26th: The National Arts Club in New York City hosts Jason for 6:30pm lecture and book signing. 15 Gramercy Park South. (Members and guests only.)
October 26th: Archaeological Institute of America The Institute's New York Society will host Ralph for an evening talk about Chasing Aphrodite. Details here.
October 27: Harvard Club of NYC will be hosting us for a lecture, book signing and dinner. (Members only.)
October 28: Beacon Award Dinner. SAFE will host a dinner honoring Jason and Ralph for "their dedication to uncovering the truth" about the role of museums in the illicit antiquities trade. Details here.
October 29: Walters Museum of Art in Baltimore. Museum Director Gary Vikan will be moderating a public talk with Ralph, Jason and Arthur Houghton, the former interim Getty antiquities curator and a staunch advocate of collector's rights. Discussion at 2pm, followed by book signing. Details here.
Tagged AIA, antiquities, Chapman University, Events, Getty Museum, Getty Villa, Harvard Club, looting, National Arts Club, NYU, Penn Law, Penn Museum, Princeton University, Rutgers, SAFE, villanova, Walters Museum of Art
A Call from Robert Hecht: I'm Not a Squealer
Robert Hecht
Robert Hecht called the other day to say he'd received the copy of Chasing Aphrodite that we sent to his home on Boulevard La Tour Maubourg in Paris.
This chart showing the key players in the illicit antiquities trade was seized by Italian police in the 1990s.
Hecht is the American antiquities dealer who has dominated the trade for more than 50 years. Italian authorities believe he was also a mastermind of the international blackmarket in looted art — his name appeared at the top of an organization chart of looters, middlemen and dealers that Italian police found in the early 1990s. When Getty antiquities curator Marion True was indicted in 2005, Hecht was named as her co-defendant. His criminal trial in Rome on charges of trafficking in looted art continues today.
Here's how we describe "the preeminent middleman of the classical antiquities trade" on page 30:
"Since the 1950s, Hecht had sold some of the finest pieces of classical art to emerge on the market. […] His network of loyal suppliers reached deep into the tombs and ruins of Greece, Turkey, and Italy. […] His clients included dozens of American and European museums, universities, and private collectors, including J. Paul Getty, whom Hecht had once persuaded to buy an intricately carved Roman bust. For decades, Hecht single-handedly dominated the antiquities market with his brilliance, brutality, and panache. He cited Virgil as readily as the lyrics of Gilbert and Sullivan, and he was known to break into operatic arias. He often drank to excess and was known to gamble his money away in all-night backgammon games. He tamed competitors with an unpredictable temper and eliminated rivals with anonymous calls to the police. Even those who sold directly to museums gave Hecht a cut of the deal, earning him the nickname 'Mr. Percentage.'"
Robert Hecht poses in front of the famous looted Greek vase he sold the museum in 1972 for $1 million.
That's the first of nearly thirty references to Hecht in Chasing Aphrodite. Even so, we felt it was short shrift for a man whose role in the art market is truly legendary. During our interviews and meetings with Hecht over the years, he was always a pleasure to deal with. He is an engaging dinner companion, often charming and talkative while being coy about the key details we were scratching for. Today, at 92 years old, he suffers from some health problems but retains the sharp wit he's long been known for.
So, what did Hecht think of the book? "It was a well written book except for one lie, which I hope was not your invention," he said.
Hecht was not disturbed by the allegations that he virtually ran the illicit antiquities trade for 50 years. He wasn't upset about being called a gambler and an abusive alcoholic, or a participant in a massive tax fraud scheme, or the man largely responsible for the destruction of thousands of archaeological sites. The offending passage was the reference to Hecht "eliminating rivals with an anonymous call to the police." We based it on conversations with Italian law enforcement sources. Hecht assures us it is not true.
"The accusation of being a squealer is very serious," Hecht said. "That is not in my blood." Hecht said such accusations could be bad for business, which has been slow lately: "A customer might say, oh my god, you're a spy for the police." Hecht's wife Elizabeth got on the phone next to explain that the charge had troubled her husband: "A lot of people we know did do that, but Bob never did. He's not a rat, and does not wish to be known as such."
Cult Statue of a Goddess (Aphrodite)
Many in the trade recall how Hecht threatened to expose his rivals in a memoir he was writing. He never followed through on those threats — the unpublished memoir was seized by Italian authorities and is now among the most compelling evidence against him at trial.
But dropping a dime to the police is different. Going back over our notes, there is only one specific case Italian authorities cited in suspecting Hecht of being "a squealer." It involved the Getty's 1988 acquisition of the statue of Aphrodite from Hecht's rival, London dealer Robin Symes.
Shortly after the whopping $18 million acquisition — a record at the time –Interpol Paris received an anonymous tip claiming the Aphrodite had been looted from Morgantina, Sicily. The tipster named the looters and middlemen in the transaction with detail that later proved remarkably accurate. Italian authorities have long suspected the source was Hecht, who lived in Paris at the time and may have been jealous of his rival Symes. But the Italians have no proof of their hunch, and Hecht flatly denies being the tipster.
Given his clear denial, and absent further supporting evidence from our Italian sources, we agreed to correct the record. Robert Hecht is many things, but to the best of our knowledge, he is not a squealer.
We've invited Hecht to join us later this month in his hometown of Baltimore, where we'll be speaking at the Walters Museum on October 29th. He will be in the States that week and did not rule out the possibility of joining us.
Tagged antiquities, Aphrodite, Euphronios krater, Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty, looting, Marion True, Metropolitan Museum of Art, museums, Robert Hecht, Walters Museum of Art
Chasing Aphrodite events in October: NYC, Philly, Princeton, Rutgers, Baltimore and more
Next month we'll be heading East for several lectures and book events. Please help us spread the word:
October 17th: Rutgers University. The university's program in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies (CHAPS) will host us for a talk about Chasing Aphrodite. Open to the public. Details here.
October 19th: Princeton University. The Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, will host us for a discussion. Open to the public. Details here.
October 20th: University of Pennsylvania will host us for a 12:30 pm lecture at the Penn Museum's Cultural Heritage Center.
That evening at 6pm, Penn Law and the Museum will host us for a discussion on the illicit trade with Robert Wittman, former head of the FBI's art squad and author of "Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures." Open to the public. Details here and here.
October 24th: New York University.
NYU's Department of Classics will be hosting us for an evening chat. Details TBA.
October 25: The National Art Club in New York City hosts us for a lecture and book signing. Details here.
October 26th: Archaeological Institute of America The Institute's New York Society will host us for an evening talk about Chasing Aphrodite. Details here.
October 28: Beacon Award Dinner. SAFE will host a dinner honoring Jason and Ralph for "their dedication to uncovering the truth" about the role of museums and the illicit antiquities trade. Details here.
We also have some exciting events in Southern California lined up for November:
November 2: Chapman University. The Department of Art and Chapman Law School will host Jason for an evening lecture and book signing. Details TBA.
November 12: An Insiders Tour of the Getty Villa. Jason will lead a tour of the Getty Villa, discussing the Getty's origins, the highlights of its controversial antiquities collection and its recent collaboration with Italy. Organized by SAFE Tours. Details TBA.
November 18th: Jonathan Club in LA. (Private event.)
Hope to see you at one of these. To suggest an event near you, please contact us: ChasingAphrodite@gmail.com
Tagged AIA, antiquities, Chapman University, Events, Getty Museum, Getty Villa, Harvard Club, looting, National Arts Club, NYU, Penn Law, Penn Museum, Princeton University, Rutgers, SAFE, Walters Museum of Art
Follow the Chase
UPDATED > USA vs One Ancient Mosaic: A Looted Syrian Masterpiece in Los Angeles May 26, 2018
The Sidon Bull's Head: Court Record Documents a Journey Through the Illicit Antiquities Trade September 24, 2017
Hobby Lobby's Legal Expert Speaks: "I can't rule out…they used my advice to evade the law." July 10, 2017
UPDATED > Help Wanted: We're Tracking Down Objects Sold By Nancy and Doris Wiener January 5, 2017
UPDATED > Manhattan Dealer Nancy Wiener Arrested: Criminal Complaint Alleges Sweeping Conspiracy to Sell Stolen Asian Art Through Major Auction Houses December 21, 2016
UPDATED > Inside the ISIS Looting Operation: U.S. Lawsuit Reveals Terror Group's Brutal Bureaucracy of Plunder December 15, 2016
The End of the Beginning: NGA Returns Kushan Buddha and Two Kapoor Objects September 18, 2016
The Missing Link: Subhash Kapoor's Suppliers in India Are (Finally) Getting Rolled Up July 3, 2016
The Lessons of Palmyra: Iconoclasm in the era of Clickbait April 7, 2016
UPDATED > Asia Week Arrest: Japanese Dealer Convicted Of Selling Stolen Art March 19, 2016
Asia Week Raids: New Details on the Christie's Seizures March 18, 2016
Busted: Asia Week Raids Reveal Scope of Illicit Trade in Asian Art March 17, 2016
The Crennan Report: The NGA's Ex Post Facto Due Diligence Finds 22 "Questionable" Asian Antiquities February 17, 2016
Operation Antiquity: Prison for Antiquities Dealer Behind Looting and Tax Fraud Scheme December 15, 2015
Ball State's Kapoor Return Reveals New False Provenance November 17, 2015
The Seated Buddha Goes Home: Nancy Wiener and National Gallery of Australia Will Return Sculpture to India March 5, 2015
The Kushan Buddhas: Nancy Wiener, Douglas Latchford and New Questions about Ancient Buddhas February 1, 2015
Danti's Inference: The Known Unknowns Of ISIS and Antiquities Looting November 18, 2014
Hecht's Footprints: Haverford College Opens Up About Source of Their Greek Vases November 4, 2014
Shiva Goes Home: Australia's Prime Minister Returns Looted Kapoor Idols to India September 4, 2014
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US Coineys Moaning Again
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Psychics, Bowie knives, fake Alamo artifacts: New Book out today on how Texas can't shake the Alamo
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ICE ICE Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Investigations
The Getty The website of the J. Paul Getty Trust
The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Greek and Roman Galleries of the Met
Boston MFA Art of the Ancient World at the Boston MFA


How can I use WiFi that requires login with username and password?
How can I use WiFi if it asks for username and password and i don't have it?
Login into someone else wireless is considered Theft of Services, and is illegal.
That Comment Should Make Darwin Proud.
Did this in Spain. Carlos next door gave me username & password. Works a treat.AND doesn't cost him any extra!!!
If the wi-fi belongs to someone else and it is password protected and you don't have the password, then you are clearly not allowed to use it! That is the whole point of password-protecting something! A lot of people restrict access to their wi-fi to stop others from benefiting from it.
If it is your own wi-fi connection, then you will need to get in touch with your internet service provider and ask them for the login details. Or if you get the wi-fi from your apartment landlord as part of the rental agreement, ask them for the details.
what kind of WiFi is this? Is it your own or a public WiFi?


At Concordia, we want all our students to be successful in their learning where success is measured by continual improvement and achieving personal goals.
We celebrate with students who receive outstanding academic results when measured against external standards and with those who strive to improve their learning to the best of their ability in a range of subjects and disciplines.
We want every student to know that each forward step in learning, no matter how big or small, opens up new possibilities of learning for life.
Concordia College congratulates the Class of 2018 on outstanding results in both the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme and the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).
Average ATAR score for the 2018 cohort of 80.9 and median score of 84.5.
28.8% of Concordia students who are eligible for an ATAR gained an ATAR of 90 or greater, placing them in the top 10% of students nationally, with 60.3% achieving scores above 80.
Four students achieved scores of 99 and above.
Merit Certificates are awarded to students who achieve a perfect score in a particular subject. A total of 27 Merit Certificates were shared between 18 students.
Average ATAR score for the 2018 SACE cohort of 78.8 and median score of 81.8.
21.8% of Concordia SACE students gained an ATAR of 90 or above.
Top SACE student achieved an ATAR of 99.5 as well as subject Merits for Biology, Chemistry and General Mathematics.
A total of 11 SACE Merits were shared between nine students.
Average ATAR score for the 2018 IBDP cohort of 90.3 and median score of 90.7.
Three students were awarded IB Diploma Distinctions for achieving an overall Diploma score of 40 or more (maximum score 45).
Top IB student achieved an ATAR of 99.7 and five subject Merits.
A total of 16 IBDP Merits were shared among nine students.
We congratulate the students on these fantastic results and wish the Class of 2018 well in their future endeavours as they journey into life beyond school.


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Q: Android Certifications Recognized I am working as an Android developer for already more than 1 year and I was wondering, if there exists any Android certifications well-known as those from Oracle,Microsoft or Cisco ?

A: Google just released the  Associate Android Developer Certification
on the event I/O 2016 released. There are some links below where you can get more info about it.
Certification specs
https://www.udacity.com/google-certifications
Announcement on Google I/O 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2oGere_Mc&index=13&list=PLWz5rJ2EKKc8jQTUYvIfqA9lMvSGQWtte
On the other hand, I've created a repo where I'm sharing everything I'm learning about the certification https://github.com/Amejia481/Associate-Android-Developer-Certification

A: If he can code and make apps that is the best certification and there is no substitute for it, as for as I know there are no such certification. Remember Oracle, Microsoft and Cisco have nothing to do with android (Oracle only does java).

A: Yeah, it's too late but Google announced Android certification exam on 18th july I guess. I am preparing for it but I  am unable to find any discussion,forum or any kind of reviews for it. So I am unable to judge what the content of their exam will be which leads me to think twice before appearing for this certification exam.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Corel launches Painter Essential Cafe Web site
By Peter Cohen
Corel on Monday announced the launch of Painter Essentials Cafe, a new Web site for users of Corel's Painter Essentials software.
Painter Essentials 4 — available for both Mac OS X and Windows — is "home art studio" software. You can use it to sketch, paint and turn photos into paintings. It is to Painter what Photoshop Elements is to Photoshop.
Painter Essentials Cafe is designed as a community Web site for Painter Essentials users to share ideas with each other, get tips and access resources, tutorials and added content. You can also use the site to showcase your own work in the "Show Your Creations" area.
If you're not familiar with Painter Essentials, a demo version is available online.


Would you like to get more involved? If you are a parent and want to receive newsletters, texts, and updates about what's going on in our student ministry or you would like to get involved and serve our students please click the link below!
Need to update your student's Medical Release form?


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Q: Perform HTTP POST with libcurl - digest authentication, using curl_easy_send\ curl_easy_recv I'm trying to write a simple program which uses libcurl to perform HTTP POST using digest authentication.
It works fine when I'm setting the XML buffer that I want to send using appropriate curlopt_easy_setopt calls with CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS and CURLOPT_POSTFIELDSIZE and then calling curl_easy_perform.
However, when I try to connect after setting CURLOPT_CONNECT_ONLY to 1, and then using curl_easy_send - the return code (for the send call) is CURLE_UNSUPPORTED_PROTOCOL.
(Of course, the username, password and digest authentication scheme are set successfully before).
Using a sniffer, it is obvious to see that the digest negotiation is not performed at all.
How can I still use curl_easy_send\ curl_easy_recv with CURLOPT_CONNECT_ONLY, but let libcurl to perform the digest negotiation?
Thanks in advance.

A: Well, this is impossible after all.
curl_easy_send and curl_easy_recv are intended for implementing custom protocols.
Thus, what I think is happening is that the normal HTTP protocol handling that libcurl would be doing for curl_easy_perform is not being done at all, so there is no digest\ NTLM\ GSS negotiation available.
Hope that it will help someone.


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"I see The Lens as providing a truly vital service which would otherwise go unfulfilled if not for what you do, and so I made a donation." - Alan Maclachlan
Alan Maclachlan
The Lens (https://thelensnola.org/2014/01/29/live-chat-lens-st-louis-public-radio-reporters-discuss-controversy-over-lethal-injection-drugs/)
Live chat: Lens, St. Louis Public Radio reporters discuss controversy over lethal injection drugs
By Steve Myers | January 29, 2014
Next week, the state of Louisiana plans to execute convicted child killer Christopher Sepulvado — unless his lawyers convince a judge or the U.S. Supreme Court that it should be delayed due to questions about the state's lethal injection method.
Tuesday night in Missouri, the scheduled execution of Herbert Smulls, convicted of killing a jeweler, was postponed so the U.S. Supreme Court could review the case. Part of the appeal relates to questions about the quality and source of the lethal injection drug.
Both states' execution plans call for a single drug, pentobarbital. That drug is hard to come by after the manufacturer outlawed its use in executions. Some states have turned to compounding pharmacies, which mix drugs for special cases.
Due to problems procuring pentobarbital, this week the Louisiana Department of Corrections changed its rules to allow for a two-drug mix used for the first time in Ohio in January. In that case, inmate Dennis McGuire "appeared to gasp several times and took more than 15 minutes to die."
Thursday at 1 p.m. CT, you can discuss these cases with the Lens and St. Louis Public Radio reporters who have followed these cases:
Della Hasselle, a freelance reporter who has covered this issue extensively for The Lens
Chris McDaniel, who has reported on the Missouri case for St. Louis Public Radio
They'll talk about states' recent difficulties in finding execution drugs, questions about new drug mixes and the secrecy surrounding states' execution protocols. Submit your comments and questions; I'll moderate and post them.
Before the chat starts you can pose your questions in the comments section below.
Executions on hold for at least a year as Louisiana sorts out death penalty method
By Della Hasselle | June 23, 2015
The ruling delays a child-killer's execution, as well as four others on death row.


Deluxe two CD + DVD edition. 2016 live release. On January 27th, 2016, Joan Baez celebrated her 75th birthday with a historic performance at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The special event honored her legendary 50-plus years in music in an intimate, career-spanning live performance. Baez performed alongside fellow artists and friends, including: David Bromberg, Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Judy Collins, David Crosby, Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Damien Rice, Paul Simon, Mavis Staples, Nano Stern and Richard Thompson.
People who buy joan baez CDS may also enjoy, in order of descending probability, the works of Judy Collins, Peter Paul And Mary, Bob Dylan.


Our Health Advocates Ministry at St. Paul's is founded in the belief that God has given us many gifts, among them the precious blessings of mind, body, and spirit. We respond to the Lord's giving by being good stewards of these gifts. The Health Advocates, as an extension of the pastoral term, partner with parishioners in celebrating health and support others during times of illness. Our health advocate ministry is a link between the health care system and the congregation, supporting the journey to wholeness with mutual respect and dignity.
Offers presence and prayer during times of crisis and celebration. Encourages individuals toward healthy living through exercise, good nutrition, and spiritual disciplines. Assists the pastoral staff with home, hospital and nursing home visitation, as requested as an active member of the pastoral care team. Acts as a liaison for various community resources and programs. Offers support to individuals who are grieving. Coordinates presentations such as stress management, advance directives, various health screenings Our Health Advocates do not attempt to duplicate services already in existence in the community. They do not provide "Hands-on" care or administer medications. They do not provide transportation though they may direct you to a source for such service. Our Health Advocates are committed to the healing mission of the church. They serve as health educators, assisting individuals to both gain new insights about the many causes of illness and foster responsibility for their own health.
Periodically you are encouraged to update your FILE OF LIFE information. If you need a File of Life emergency packet for your refrigerator, contact the Health Advocates.
Educational articles from the Health Advocates – click here.
The Health Advocates of St. Paul's through Sunday morning bake sales, a bake sale hosted at the Upper Perkiomen Child Care Center and individuals contributions raised $1,020. 00 to purchased mosquito nets for Vicar Jack Ambuka's village and neighboring villages in Kenya. Vicar Jack Ambuka served his internship residency at St. Paul"s from August 2009 to August 2010.


They were glorious tales. Farms in flames, children dragged behind horses for leagues. The trophies of that day, so long ago, cluttered the low walls of his grandfather's longhouse. Scarred skull-pates, frail-looking mandibles. Odd fragments of clothing made of some unknown material, now smoke-blackened and tattered. Small ears nailed to every wooden post that reached up to the thatched roof.
Evidence that Silver Lake was real, that it existed in truth, beyond the forest-clad mountains, down through hidden passes, a week – perhaps two – distant from the lands of the Uryd clan. The way itself was fraught, passing through territories held by the Sunyd and Rathyd clans, a journey that was itself a tale of legendary proportions. Moving silent and unseen through enemy camps, shifting the hearthstones to deliver deepest insult, eluding the hunters and trackers day and night until the borderlands were reached, then crossed – the vista ahead unknown, its riches not even yet dreamed of.
Karsa Orlong lived and breathed his grandfather's tales. They stood like a legion, defiant and fierce, before the pallid, empty legacy of Synyg – Pahlk's son and Karsa's father. Synyg, who had done nothing in his life, who tended his horses in his valley and had not once ventured into hostile lands. Synyg, who was both his father's and his son's greatest shame.
True, Synyg had more than once defended his herd of horses from raiders from other clans, and defended well, with honourable ferocity and admirable skill. But this was only to be expected from those of Uryd blood. Urugal the Woven was the clan's Face in the Rock, and Urugal was counted among the fiercest of the seven gods. The other clans had reason to fear the Uryd.
Nor had Synyg not proved masterful in training his only son in the Fighting Dances. Karsa's skill with the bloodwood blade far surpassed his years. He was counted among the finest warriors of the clan. While the Uryd disdained use of the bow, they excelled with spear and atlatl, with the toothed-disc and the black-rope, and Synyg had taught his son an impressive efficiency with these weapons as well.
Karsa would not do as his father had done. He would not do . . . nothing. No, he would walk his grandfather's path. More closely than anyone might imagine. Too much of the clan's reputation lived only in the past. The Uryd had grown complacent in their position of pre-eminence among the Teblor. Pahlk had muttered that truth more than once, the nights when his bones ached from old wounds and the shame that was his son burned deepest.
He remained on his knees in the glade, head bowed beneath the Faces in the Rock, knowing that Urugal's visage, high on the cliff-face, mirrored his own savage desire; and that those of the other gods, all with their own clans barring 'Siballe, who was the Unfound, glared down upon Karsa with envy and hate. None of their children knelt before them, after all, to voice such bold vows.
Complacency plagued all the clans of the Teblor, Karsa suspected. The world beyond the mountains dared not encroach, had not attempted to do so in decades. No visitors ventured into Teblor lands. Nor had the Teblor themselves gazed out beyond the borderlands with dark hunger, as they had often done generations past. The last man to have led a raid into foreign territory had been his grandfather. To the shores of Silver Lake, where farms squatted like rotted mushrooms and children scurried like mice. Back then, there had been two farms, a half-dozen outbuildings. Now, Karsa believed, there would be more. Three, even four farms. Even Pahlk's day of slaughter would pale to that delivered by Karsa, Delum and Bairoth.
I, Karsa Orlong, grandson of Pahlk Orlong, so swear. And, should you doubt, Urugal, know that we leave this very night. The journey begins with the descent of this very sun. And, as each day's sun births the sun of the next day, so shall it look down upon three warriors of the Uryd clan, leading their destriers through the passes, down into the unknown lands. And Silver Lake shall, after more than four centuries, once again tremble to the coming of the Teblor.
Karsa slowly lifted his head, eyes travelling up the battered cliff-face, to find the harsh, bestial face of Urugal, there, among its kin. The pitted gaze seemed fixed upon him and Karsa thought he saw avid pleasure in those dark pools. Indeed, he was certain of it, and would describe it as truth to Delum and Bairoth, and to Dayliss, so that she might voice her blessing, for he so wished her blessing, her cold words . . . I, Dayliss, yet to find a family's name, bless you, Karsa Orlong, on your dire raid. May you slay a legion of children. May their cries feed your dreams. May their blood give you thirst for more. May flames haunt the path of your life. May you return to me, a thousand deaths upon your soul, and take me as your wife.


text:
Cette page concerne des événements d'actualité qui se sont produits durant l'année 2017 dans le territoire canadien des Territoires du Nord-Ouest.

Politique
 Premier ministre :
 Commissaire :
 Législature :

Événements

Naissances

Décès

Voir aussi
 L'année 2017 dans le monde
 2017 au Canada (2017 en Alberta, 2017 en Colombie-Britannique, 2017 au Manitoba, 2017 en Nouvelle-Écosse, 2017 au Nouveau-Brunswick, 2017 au Nunavut, 2017 en Ontario, 2017 au Québec, 2017 en Saskatchewan, 2017 à Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, 2017 au Yukon)
 2017 aux États-Unis
 2017 en France (2017 à Paris, 2017 en Lorraine), 2017 en Suisse, 2017 en Italie

Notes et références

Chronologie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
2017 au Canada

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Debate over 'boyfriend loophole' takes back seat to impeachment, Iran conflict
by: Phil Prazan
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Victims of domestic violence and gun safety advocates grapple with their pet policy, the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
The executive controversy with President Donald Trump and the latest conflict with Iran could delay the process and debate over the controversial "boyfriend loophole" until much later in the year — if not entirely after the November elections.
KXAN spoke to a woman – who will remain anonymous – about the issue. She told KXAN she still fears her ex-boyfriend will see her and hurt her. She grew up in Houston and tells KXAN she was part of an abusive relationship for five years, staying with her boyfriend for far too long.
"It's very humiliating for me to admit that I did this," she said.
About a year into the relationship, he kicked her. They would go out in Houston often and the boyfriend's action became more violent, including neighbors calling police after multiple scuffles and assaults.
After the five-year relationship, she ended up leaving after watching the O.J. Simpson trial on television. She moved to Austin and began dating someone else. The ex would follow her, drop off VHS tapes on their door, and one day – according to her – the ex flashed a pistol at the couple.
She didn't press charges because she feared humiliating information the boyfriend had would go public.
"I wanted for them to be aware but I didn't really want to go to court because if I did then he would do the things he said he would do," she told KXAN.
The Violence Against Women Act expired last year. If the couple was married and the man was convicted of domestic abuse, he could not own a weapon.
During the revamping of the law, the Democratic-led U.S. House changed the law to close the "boyfriend loophole," making guns off-limits to dating partners that are convicted of stalking, abuse, or assault.
It faces a long, tough road in the Senate. Leadership in the upper chamber has opposed taking the House version without major changes.
It led to a back and forth with Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Cornyn opposed the House version of the bill because he said Texas law already would stop a convicted misdemeanor domestic abuser from getting a gun for up to five years.
This week, the U.S. Senate will have its hands full with the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, leaving victims, like the one KXAN spoke with, waiting.
"When you're not even having the conversation, they're not even things that people are thinking about," she said.
With each passing day, it looks more and more like it will re-enter the conversation after the November elections.


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Damn! Kodak Black Will Reportedly Remain In Jail Until Trial
Photo credit – Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
Kodak Black was hoping to get out of jail on bond but the request was denied.
According to Fox, federal prosecutors "successfully appealed a judge's decision to release Kodak.
The report says that the Feds were able to convince the judge that Kodak is a "'danger to the community' based on his lengthy criminal record."
The "Zeze" rapper was arrested earlier this month at a festival. Kodak also reportedly falsified information to purchase guns. He's also facing sexual misconduct charges.
As of now, Kodak will remain behind bars until his trial which could be at the end of summer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByBIxjjFfK4/?igshid=1k4v26b5p2gbh


Call for hands. Everyone in elected office who passed legislation creating 1m to 3.5m jobs over the past two years raise your hands? Come on, don't be shy, Mr. Boehner. Now, anyone who has moved on legislation to create jobs since becoming Speaker raise your hands – yes, Speaker Pelosi, we see you over there, but Mr. Boehner, again no show of hands?
That's right. John Boehner hasn't done squat for creating jobs, but now is criticizing the President for finally acknowledging that DOMA is unconstitutional – arguing that the President should be focusing on jobs.
Then again, you can't blame Boehner: He's used to GOP presidents and presidential candidates who are either too old (Reagan, McCain) or too stupid (W Bush, Palin) to walk and chew gum at the same time.
"A spokesman for Boehner's office criticized the administration change of position.
I will say that, rather than blasting gay marriage outright, Boehner is actually taking quite a careful middle of the road position – he's criticizing Obama on jobs rather than criticizing Obama for loving the homos. That's rather significant, and show how even the far-right leadership of the GOP is worried that the gay-card may no longer be playable. The religious right is not going to be happy with Boehner over this cave.
Just Weeks Into 112th Congress, House Republicans Introduced Legislation To Defund Planned Parenthood And Strip Citizenship From Babies Born To Undocumented Immigrants.


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« Next Issue: Jan. 8, 2007
Previous Issue: Dec. 26, 2006 »
Volume 9, Issue 1: January 2, 2007
Bipartisan Threats to Civil Liberties
Who Is Winning in Latin America?
U.S. Foreign-Policy Blunders
P. J. O'Rourke on Adam Smith's WEALTH OF NATIONS (Oakland, Calif., 2/9/06
1) Bipartisan Threats to Civil Liberties
Civil liberties defenders have lamented measures passed in recent years under the Bush administration, including not only the USA Patriot Act, but also the Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which empowers the president to summon the National Guard without authority from the states. Will the Democrats save our civil liberties?
Independent Institute Research Analyst Anthony Gregory is doubtful. In a recent op-ed, he writes, "Although the Democrats will sometimes attack an egregious Bush proposal, they have not used the power of the purse or the filibuster to do anything about it. Nor should we assume they will be so mindful of civil liberties now that they are in the Congressional majority and have their eyes set on the presidency."
Historically, Democrats have been little better than Republicans on the issue of civil liberties, Gregory argues. The Clinton administration, for example, "sought to allow the feds to peek at everyone's bank account, have a key to all private encryption and e-mail, and censor the Internet."
One test of our lawmakers' commitment to civil liberties will come after the Real ID Act takes effect in 2008. Signed into law on May 11, 2005, the law "aims to transform state drivers' licenses into uniform national identification cards with features that conform to the central government's requirements," explains Charlotte Twight in THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW. It also gives the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security full discretion to determine whether a card is valid. (Embedded memory chip containing your tax or traffic records, anyone?) Congress knew what it was doing when it passed the act, which had privacy advocates outraged. But expanding the federal government's ability to monitor ordinary citizens is a bipartisan project.
"Will the Democrats Save Our Civil Liberties?" by Anthony Gregory (12/20/06)
"¿Salvarán los demócratas nuestras libertades civiles?"
"Limited Government: Ave Atque Vale," by Charlotte Twight (THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW, Spring 2006)
http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=45&articleID=572
2) Who Is Winning in Latin America?
The political left won nine of Latin America's 12 national elections last year, but those victories were almost equally divided between the far left (Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Venezuela) and the moderate left (Chile, Haiti, Cost Rica, Peru, and Brazil). The burning political question for 2007 therefore is, who will win the fight for the soul of the left: the moderates, or the far left?
"One factor could alter this balance of power: Cuba after Fidel," explains Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director of the Independent Institute's Center on Global Prosperity, in his latest syndicated column. Chavez would likely assert his leadership over the far left, but his tense relationship with Castro's brother Raul, and other Cuban apparatchiks, could limit Chavez's influence on the direction of post-Fidel Cuba.
Vargas Llosa explains one possible consequence: "The symbolism of Cuba turning away from Venezuela would be powerful enough to do what three severe setbacks Chavez suffered in 2006 -- the Peruvian elections, the Mexican elections, and Venezuela's failure to win the Latin American seat at the U.N. Security Council -- did not quite achieve: bringing his regional projection back to modest proportions."
On the domestic front, Chavez's much-hyped social programs haven't had much measurable success -- other than to keep Chavez in power. A new study based on Venezuela's Cuban-designed "Mision Robinson" literacy program, based on household survey data provided by the Venezuelan National Institute of Statistics, separates Chavez's hype from the reality.
"Our results show no evidence of the dramatic reduction in illiteracy claimed by the Venezuelan government," writes Independent Institute Adjunct Fellow Francisco Rodriguez, a co-author of the study. After two years of the program, the number of illiterates fell from 1,107,93 to 1,014,441 -- and most of this decline is due to demographic changes in Venezuelan society (e.g., older illiterates dying), rather than to the program's effectiveness.
If Chavez's failures become more widely known, this too would likely tip the balance of power away from Latin America's far left.
"Who Is Winning in Latin America?" by Alvaro Vargas Llosa (12/29/06)
"¿Quién va ganando en América Latina?"
"Is Chávez Helping the Venezuelan Poor?" by Francisco Rodriguez (12/27/06)
"¿Está ayudando Chávez a los venezolanos pobres?"
3) U.S. Foreign-Policy Blunders
Regional conflict and political extremism gripped much of the world in 2006. According to Ivan Eland, director of the Independent Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty, U.S. foreign-policy blunders contributed to some of the most infamous examples of dangerous discord, including the crisis in Iraq, the Taliban revival in Afghanistan, the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian elections, and the rise of Islamist friends of al Qaeda in Somalia.
Although it has received relatively little press, the revival of the Taliban as a military force in Afghanistan is particularly troubling, Eland argues. "One major factor in the discredited Taliban's resurgence has been the continued presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan," he writes in his latest op-ed. "A better strategy would have been for the United States to withdraw its forces, and tell Afghans that they could choose any form of government that they wanted, but emphasize that any government sheltering anti-U.S. terrorists would again be taken out."
Eland sees little hope that U.S. foreign policy in the new year will be better conceived or executed: "The United States and the world would have been better served by the more 'humble' foreign policy that the president promised us in his first presidential campaign in 2000. In 2007, perhaps these disasters will make a stubborn president learn his lessons, but probably not."
See "The Best Friend of Instability and Islamism: George W. Bush," by Ivan Eland (12/29/06)
"El mejor amigo de la inestabilidad y el islamismo: George W. Bush"
4) P. J. O'Rourke on Adam Smith's WEALTH OF NATIONS (Oakland, Calif., 2/9/06
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=124
America's most provocative humorist, P. J. O'Rourke, has read pioneering economist Adam Smith's THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, first published in 1776, "so we don't have to" -- and the results are as entertaining as they are enlightening. Few writers could use Paris Hilton to explain Adam Smith, but in the hands of P. J. O'Rourke, Hilton, the world's most overexposed "celebutant," proves the timeless truth of Smith's principles regarding the pursuit of self-interest, free markets, and the division of labor. The World Bank, defense spending, and PBS's Bill Moyers also fall victim to P J.'s irreverent wit -- through the illuminating lens crafted by Smith.
Please join us on Friday, February 9, 2007, for what is sure to be a memorable and entertaining evening -- as P.J. O'Rourke speaks about his new book, ON THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. In a hilarious and insightful examination of Adam Smith and his ground-breaking work, P. J. will put his trademark wit to good use, and show us why Smith is still so relevant, and why what seems obvious now was once considered revolutionary. Trust us, you'll enjoy this event!
P. J. O'Rourke is America's leading political humorist and the best-selling author of 11 books, including PARLIAMENT OF WHORES, GIVE WAR A CHANCE, and ALL THE TROUBLE IN THE WORLD. After graduating from Miami University and attending the graduate program at Johns Hopkins, O'Rourke began his career of skewering both the left and the right on the ends of his razor-sharp one-liners. Among the many publications for which O'Rourke has written are NATIONAL LAMPOON, for which he was editor-in-chief, AMERICAN SPECTATOR, PLAYBOY, ESQUIRE, VANITY FAIR, and HARPER'S. He was also the Foreign Affairs Desk Chief for ROLLING STONE, a position that allowed him to expose the hypocrisies of world politics from the Persian Gulf to the Philippines. Currently he is a correspondent for THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
Reception and book signing: 6:30 p.m.
Program: 7:00 p.m.
The Independent Institute Conference Center
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
For a map and directions, see
http://www.independent.org/aboutus/map.asp
$15 per person ($10 for Independent Institute Members)
$30 Special Admission includes one copy of ON THE WEALTH OF NATIONS ($25 for Members)
Reserve tickets by calling (510) 632-1366 or ordering online at
Praise for ON THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, by P. J. O'Rourke:
"P.J. O'Rourke has been called the funniest writer in America today, and we second that. But he is also a serious and fastidious thinker. Both talents are on display in this commentary on Adam Smith's 1776 masterpiece THE WEALTH OF NATIONS."
--Christopher Buckley, ForbesLife
"The opus magnum of the Scottish philosopher who defined free-market economics, usurped by O'Rourke as a matrix for social commentary and humor... An entertaining alternative to the heavy lifting required in confronting Adam Smith firsthand."
--Kirkus Reviews
For more about this event, see


Over spending is just something that I find hard to let go. Though I never miss a month without a budget… I find it really hard to commit to my allocation. I will always have excuses and reasons why I deserve a treat, a meal or a splurge on a particular day.
Even though deep inside I know that I should be saving money instead of wasting it for no important reason and put my future first, spending just feels so good. I love grocery shopping, dining alone and over thinking on a specialty cafe until it's too late for me to realize that my saving goals are slowly deteriorating.
If you've been a SavingsPinay reader for quiet some time you know how many posts have I already published concerning making a spending plan. The Notebook System and the Envelope System were just two classic budget technique everyone must be knowledgeable of. I even came up with the Rule of 50-20-30 Budget Template and My Current Spending Plan.
I am not the best cook ever but watching quick breakfast and lunch ideas in Youtube led me to appreciate doing your own food at work or in school. You can shop once a week for the ingredients and wake up an hour earlier to prepare your breakfast and lunch. Make sure you also have some snacks on the side so that you won't spend unnecessary money on food outside.
I am very guilty in committing this financial crime. I will get hungry during the commute time that I will choose to have a quick snack in the mall before heading home. This led me to spend 100-200pesos just for a snack!!! I also feel guilty because I there are times when I don't appreciate the meal prepared at home since I am already full.
One great saving tip that you can do is to have a saving goal every month. This means that before the new year comes you'll have 12 big guilt-free purchases done because you manage to save your money. A running shoes on May, designer bag on June or a 1500pesos makeup splurge on July. Just set yourself on the goal and you'll see how amazing it would be.
Never delay acting for your financial freedom as early as now for the earlier you take saving money serious… The better chance that you will be successful in life.