After 3 days of good to great conditions (at the end of March, GASP!), it was due time for a reality check.
$96?! Damn. The cost of half day at Canyons is as much as a full day at Snowbird! I learned, after the fact, that the local Costco sells discounted tickets to Canyons.
This pic is from winter, I swear.
We started our day with the Orange Bubble Express. This lift is pretty famous because it's the only one with heated seats and a sun/wind visor. Ballin! I guess it's kind of cool, but seriously, do you really need these things? Don't be a pansy.
This must be why my ticket cost $96!
I heard great things about Canyons while I was planning this trip, but I knew I had to lower my expectations a bit given how horrible this season has been. Then we came to Utah and was totally blown away by Snowbird so I figured we would get more of the same at Canyons. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. AT ALL.
Mid-mountain was slushy where the sun hit and icy in the shade. Stop and go, stop and go, was no fun. We tried to make the best of it, but it seemed like all runs leading back to the mid-mountain lifts were catwalks and slushy catwalks are pretty much the worst things EVAR. We hoped the top of the mountain would be better, but before we headed up, we had to re-energize with a waffle break.
The waffle was OK. I was confused because some of the sugar was still crystallized inside the waffle – that's not how it's supposed to be right? Eating chunks of sugar was strange.
After our quick break, we took the Ninety-Nine 90 lift to the top of the mountain. I didn't understand the name of the lift at first, but then I realized DUH, 9990 ft is the elevation. The top wasn't much better than mid-mountain since it was all icy. We did one run and didn't bother going back up. I'm not sure what I hate more, ice or slush.
Based on my one day experience, I'm pretty sure I won't be coming back to Canyons in the future. For a ticket price that is almost as much as Vail/Breck (and more than Mammoth!), I just don't see how Canyons is worth the money, even in good conditions. Anyone who disagrees, please let me know what I am missing!
Although Canyons was a bust, dinner at Himalayan Kitchen partly made up for it.
We ordered "medium" spicy for the curry and vindaloo and man, they were SPICY, but good spicy, not uncomfortable spicy… though… I did contemplate ordering a mango lassi after we started eating. 😉 Everything was delicious and the lamb and fish were especially tender. My only complaint, as with Mazza, is that the prices are steep. I understand the curry was made with Mahi-Mahi, but $17 for a small bowl of fish curry is a lot.
When we checked the ticket prices for Park City, the website wasn't updated so the prices were the same as Canyons. Not wanting waste another $96, we decided to ride a half day and then go back to Snowbird for our last full day in Utah.
First of all, thank you, Park City, for being reasonable and adjusting ticket prices based on conditions and late season. Having to pay only $65 was a nice surprise and guess what??? If I had paid $96 for Park City, it still would have been WAY more worth it than Canyons.
For the most part, the coverage was decent.
There were some areas, especially near the bottom of the mountain, that had limited coverage.
So yesterday was bad day at Canyons, but good dinner. Today was good day at Park City, but bad dinner.
Bayou supposedly has a great beer selection, but we didn't go there for the beer, we went for the food. Perhaps that was our mistake.
We started with two appetizers: popcorn shrimp ($5.99) and seafood balls ($6.99).
The popcorn shrimp were OK. It was interesting that they were so lightly breaded and I don't quite understand why the shrimp were placed directly over the sauce. According to the menu, the seafood balls are a mixture of salmon, crawfish and shrimp. The mix must have been 80% salmon because that's all I could taste.
Our entrees weren't much better. The etouffee had no flavor and the few crawfish in the dish were overcooked. The gumbolaya, on the other hand, was sooooooooo salty! The shrimp that we added to the gumbolaya were flavorless so it was pretty obvious that they were just thrown in right before the dish was plated. I could also tell they were frozen shrimp since they had a rubbery texture. Yuck.


Glenwood Springs was originally named "Defiance" in 1880.
During World War II, the Glenwood Hot Springs resort was used exclusively as a U.S. Naval Convalescent Hospital.
The Yampah Vapor Caves in Glenwood Springs are the only natural steam cave in North America.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is home to the country's highest elevation roller coaster.
Glenwood Springs was one of the first cities in the country to have electric lights.


Guildford, United Kingdom – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA) a leading health technology company, has announced a new partnership with the British Lung Foundation (BLF) as one of the founding members of the Living Well Alliance, enabling the 3 million BLF website users, Breathe Easy group members, and helpline callers to make informed choices in accessing specialist support to manage their lung conditions.
The Philips Sleep & Respiratory Care business develops and manufactures a wide range of solutions for patients whether for sleep disordered breathing or chronic respiratory conditions. Philips is a recognised global leader in sleep apnoea therapy (CPAP devices and masks), aerosol drug delivery (nebuliser systems), home ventilation and airway clearance (NIV and cough assist devices) and oxygen therapy (home and portable oxygen concentrators).
In addition Philips has just launched its Healthy Home Range, providing innovative solutions to support anyone that suffers from allergies, hay fever or respiratory problems, including a selection of anti-allergen vacuum cleaners. The Philips Anti-Allergen Air Purifier also forms part of the range and can be used day or night to purify the air around you. Featuring Philips innovative VitaShield IPS technology that naturally removes 99.97% of common airborne allergens effectively long term**, enabling its users to enjoy cleaner air at all times.


The thrilling sequel to Warcross, Wildcard brings us back to Emika's story - how does she plan on stopping the entire world's population falling into the control of one man? And how does she choose between what's right between two very grey choices?
The Hate U Give follows the story of Starr Carter, a sixteen year old black teenager who tries to balance two separate lives and how that balance is shattered after the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend at the hands of a police officer.
Julie C. Dao's Forest of a Thousand Lanterns is a re-imagination of The Evil Queen story in an East-Asian setting.
This review comes with spoiler warnings, which will be placed right before any spoilers are mentioned.


text:
KU History
Building Community through Shared History - A KU Memorial Union Program
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Kansas Union
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For "The Girls Who Must Travel Up-hill"
As a 14-year-old girl, Elizabeth Josephine Miller briefly attended the preparatory school at the University of Kansas during the 1874-75 academic year. Unfortunately, hard times for her father's medical practice prevented her from completing her secondary education or pursuing a college degree. Decades later, as the childless widow of wealthy Lawrence businessman Jabez B. Watkins, this formative experience was never far from her mind.
She and her late husband, a savvy entrepreneur and financier who turned a few hundred dollars into a sizeable fortune by the time he died in 1921, had been providing financial assistance to individual KU students on an ad-hoc basis for years.
But in 1925, she decided to formalize the couple's philanthropic predilections with a major contribution that would fully fund a unique project of her own conception. On July 1 of that year, the Kansas Board of Regents officially accepted her donation of $75,000 to build a women's scholarship hall at KU that would give young women an opportunity she herself had never received.
Called Watkins Hall in honor of her deceased husband, the stately yellow pressed-brick, colonial style structure with four main entrance pillars opened across the street from "old" Fraser Hall in 1926. Mrs. Watkins also donated the land for this residence, a small parcel on Lilac Lane just a stone's throw from her own mansion known as "The Outlook" – the present-day KU Chancellor's home.
Watkins Hall offered a low-cost cooperative living environment that stressed high academic standards for needy but exceedingly motivated women who might not otherwise have been able to afford a university education. Over the years, Watkins Hall became a model for KU's distinctive system of scholarship halls built by private funds and maintained through endowed trusts that provide undergraduates with an economical alternative to traditional dormitories and off-campus rental housing.
"My sympathy has always been with the girls who must travel up-hill," Mrs. Watkins once said, recalling her own girlhood struggles to better herself through schooling and her inability to remain enrolled at KU. "My husband and I had intended to do something that would really be beneficial to them. It has been my dream to aid self-supporting girls to get an education."
From the start, Watkins herself was intimately involved with every aspect of the project. This was hardly surprising considering her own well-regarded business sense, honed while helping her husband – himself a onetime self-supporting student at the University of Michigan – amass the family fortune. After being widowed, as the Lawrence Journal-World would later note, "she lived a somewhat cloistered life [but] expressed herself in gifts."
As she once said somewhat modestly of her benefactions, "I am simply carrying out the wishes and plans of my late husband, whose genius and industry accumulated this estate." And all evidence indicates that Watkins Hall was the gift closest to her heart.
"I have never done anything into which I have put more of myself," Mrs. Watkins once said. "The color scheme of every room, the furniture, draperies and furnishings, are results of many months of planning. It is my dream come true." Surely it was a dream come true, too, for the young recipients of the one-year potentially renewable Watkins Hall Scholarships, which quickly became a highly prized form of financial aid.
Being selected for residence in Watkins Hall was decided by an extensive procedure, ultimately the province of the University Committee on Scholarships. The committee required applicants to produce letters and evidence attesting to their "high character, good scholarship, integrity, steadfastness or purpose, initiative and capacity for cooperation."
Additionally, proof of financial need and good health were also mandated. Once accepted, these exceptional young women became "Watkins girls," living together and sharing all domestic responsibilities, including cooking and cleaning. Indeed, perhaps the most apt description of what these young women received is what the University Daily Kansan once called a "triple education," combining "housework, schoolwork, and play."
Watkins residents often have characterized their living experience at KU as being part of a large family. But inside the residence, the familial unit breaks down into even smaller elements centered on one of seven kitchens and dining rooms.
As the April 1937 edition of Graduate Magazine explained it, "Five or six girls occupy one kitchen. Each group manages its own buying and ordering and paying of bills, just as a family of five or six might do." In subsequent years, seven women per kitchen became the norm at Watkins, and a total of 49 women lived in the hall, as is the case today.
"The housemother taught us etiquette, the officers taught us cleaning," remembered Gayle Barry Matchett, a "Watkins girl" from 1955-57. "But the memories were made in the small kitchens of Watkins Hall, learning to cook together. This cemented our friendships far more than any social life."
The communal kitchen and dining arrangements were in keeping with Mrs. Watkins' aim of not only fostering camaraderie, but also imparting important domestic skills she believed young women would need upon entering married life. "It is surprising," noted the Graduate Magazine in July 1937, "how soon those who have done no more than make an occasional pan of fudge before they came to the Hall learn to wield a frying pan and a roaster. Most of the girls by the end of a year in the Hall are able to prepare meals that are real culinary triumphs." They were also ready for an unexpected guest, typically setting an extra place for Mrs. Watkins just in case she dropped in, which she did from time to time.
This cooperative living environment meant that expenses were radically reduced, initially allowing 39 women to live in the scholarship hall for a mere $27 a year per person. Food costs were extra, but a remarkable system was set up to keep these down, too.
Each month, according to the February 24, 1935, edition of the Kansas City Star, "the seven heads of the seven kitchens get together and make a list of all the flour, sugar, coffee, tea, canned goods, eggs, bread, vegetables, meats and other foods needed for the month." Then, local wholesalers would "come and sit together around a table and bid against each other to furnish those supplies in bulk." Upon delivery, the goods were divided up between the house's seven kitchens, in which every woman was required to prepare weekly one lunch and one dinner, and one large Sunday dinner every six weeks. (These days, with hectic schedules and countless extracurricular activities, such regularized mealtime schedules have become increasingly rare. Each seven-member kitchen, though, still works closely together to plan special occasions, even if most of the time residents are eating on the run.)
This arrangement extended to the housework as well, the entirety of which was the responsibility of the residents. With one woman serving as the "proctor," tasked with waking up everyone else and seeing that all assigned cleaning duties are performed, each resident checks the "duty roster" and begins sweeping, dusting, making beds or doing whatever particular job she has been assigned that week. As the Kansan observed, "If they are not done correctly, the woman responsible is reprimanded and she has to do her job again to the complete satisfaction of the inspector."
Saturday was reserved as "clean-up day" for the kitchens, a chore that required total group involvement. And while, over the years, the seemingly strict regimentation associated with housecleaning has diminished a bit, it is still wholly a group effort. Indeed, to ensure proper upkeep, the position of proctor endures, as does the practice of assigning weekly duties and censuring those who fail to perform them adequately.
To calm parents' potential fears about a lack of proper supervision, Mrs. Watkins personally selected and paid the salary of Mrs. R.C. Morrow, the live-in "social director" or "matron" of Watkins Hall. Mrs. Watkins would continue picking housemothers and covering their salaries until her death. Under her formal agreement with KU, whenever there was an opening for this position, Mrs. Watkins would provide a list of nominees from which the University would select its preferred candidate.
(Mrs. Watkins kept her finger in the pot in other ways as well. She secured the ability, "during her lifetime, to designate and appoint two student holders of scholarships." And just to ensure KU kept its commitment to the undertaking, she maintained the right to take back the property if "at any time [it was] diverted to uses other than those [originally] specified.")
Watkins Hall gained further structure through annual elections at the beginning of each school year in which residents would choose officers and govern themselves under written constitutions, in effect (though modified and expanded) to this day. In addition to outlining the responsibilities of president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer, and explaining the cooperative living arrangement in minute detail, today's hall constitutions define the duties, for instance, of the house chairwomen of Student Health, Sports and Hall Beautification. (Another modern touch is the Environmental chair, tasked with overseeing, among other things, the hall's recycling efforts.)
Self-sufficiency and independence were indeed the watchwords for residents of Watkins, all of whom were "partially or entirely self-supporting," holding part-time jobs in town or on campus. But since education was of principal importance, each resident was required to be enrolled in no less than 12 credit hours and limit her work outside the house to not more than four hours a day. And should students' grades suffer, the scholarships could be rescinded – rules that endure to this day.
(According to the KU Department of Student Housing, present-day residents wishing to remain in Watkins "must complete at least 28 credit hours during the academic year and achieve a minimum 2.5 GPA." One major change, though, is that no longer are Watkins and Miller scholarships based principally on financial need, nor are residents required to be partially or wholly self-supporting. Like any University scholarship, need is certainly considered, but so too are the traditional merit-based criteria such as grades and test scores.)
Schoolwork and housework may have been the most time-intensive activities, but an important third part of the women's "triple education" was the social aspect. A number of contemporary sources describe how, three times a year, the rugs and furniture were cleared out of the main living room so the halls could host formal dances, and then one hour-long dance every two weeks. Indeed, as one informational pamphlet put it, "A social program is included in the low-cost budget of each hall." (Indeed, present-day Watkins residents are consciously preserving their links to the past, holding annual holiday dances and hosting spring teas for visiting alumni.)
By the mid-1930s, Watkins Hall was something of a phenomenon in the collegiate residence life world. On February 24, 1935, an article in the Kansas City Star headlined "Lawrence's Most Distinguished Citizen is Giving Away Her Fortune," gave evidence of this status. Referring to Watkins Hall, the Star reported that "Delegations from all over this country come to study it, and they say there is nothing like it in connection with any other school."
In part because interest in becoming a "Watkins girl" was growing so rapidly, there was soon something very much like it at KU. In 1936, Mrs. Watkins donated another $75,000 to build a virtually identical twin of the original right next door. Called Miller Hall, the duplicate residence, often referred to as a "sister house," was named in honor of Mrs. Watkins' brother, Frank C. Miller, who briefly attended KU in the 1880s and who, upon his death in 1919, had bequeathed some $50,000 to the University's student loan fund.
His namesake building opened in 1937 ready to house and care for another 39 young women (later increased to 49 as well). Once again, it appears Mrs. Watkins put the same care into its interior layout and décor as she had with her first scholarship hall, even going so far as to personally select the chinaware pattern.
Not surprisingly, the overall design of Watkins and Miller Halls are models of economy and organization as well. The ground floor, or basement, houses the seven 8-by-15-foot combination kitchen and dining rooms, a bathroom, laundry and general utility areas, and a spacious fruit and vegetable storage pantry shared by all the kitchens.
On the first floor are the matron's living, dining and bathroom facilities, plus a communal living room, fireplace, sun parlor, reception hall, a single guest room, even a house post office. Additionally, attached to the building's rear are two large enclosed sleeping porches (one on the first floor, another on the third), a feature once common to KU's scholarship halls, but now unique to Watkins and Miller. Here all the women sleep in double-decked single beds.
The top two floors contain 18 double occupancy study rooms, nine on the second and nine on the third. Each of these floors also includes bathing and toilet facilities, plus storage and closet space. Residents are required to bring only their own bed covers and towels; the halls provide table linens, sheets, pillowcases and blankets, as has been the case from the beginning.
Watkins and Miller halls are only two of the major gifts Mrs. Watkins bestowed on KU during her lifetime. She also contributed the funds to construct and furnish Watkins Memorial Hospital (present-day Twente Hall) and the Watkins Nurses Home (location of the Hall Center for the Humanities through January 2005).
Following her death on June 1, 1939, at age 78, the woman KU and Lawrence had come to call "Lady Bountiful" bequeathed a final collection of parting gifts to the University. Among these were her mansion, 26,000 acres of southwestern Kansas farm land, a $175,000 trust to support Watkins Memorial Hospital, and a $250,000 fund to ensure that her beloved scholarship halls would remain and be maintained on Mount Oread for decades to come.
This visionary funding helped KU preserve Watkins and Miller as one of the University's unique and most innovative features. The KU Department of Student Housing touts them as "one of the nation's best bargains for on-campus living" and notes that KU is "one of only a few American universities with scholarship halls."
Indeed, a December 2003 search of the words "scholarship hall" on Google.com returned some astonishing results: 17 out of the first 20 web sites were KU or KU-related pages. The prestigious Fiske Guide to Colleges apparently concurs, having named Watkins and Miller Halls the best college living arrangement in the entire country.
The residents themselves surely seem to agree and many have taken great pains to ensure that Mrs. Watkins' legacy is preserved. In 1985, for example, four former residents from the 1930s toured Watkins Hall and found it in what they considered a state of disrepair. "Former residents say Watkins is rundown," ran a headline in the April 22, 1985, edition of the University Daily Kansan. "It just didn't look as nice and shiny and pretty as we thought it should have been," said Harriet Wilson. The story added that, "Residents [themselves] have complained for several years about cracked plaster, leaking ceilings and peeling paint."
At this time, the Watkins trust fund, used for upkeep of the halls, had grown to more than $1.7 million, and the former residents thought the money should be used for its intended purpose and not simply sit in a bank account collecting interest. These women admitted they were viewing Watkins with "sentimental eyes," and though University officials might have agreed with this assessment, a year later KU did undertake a major rehabilitation of both Watkins and Miller.
Despite the contentiousness, it seems likely that the fond memories of this unique campus living environment will always be a hallmark experience for the women of Watkins and Miller halls. "We Miller girls used to look at Mrs. Watkins' portrait," said 1956-58 resident Carolyn Ely Neuringer, simply and sincerely, "and we were always very grateful to her for providing all this for us."
John H. McCool
Source notes: By far the most abundant source for materials on Watkins and Miller Scholarship Halls are the Watkins Scholarship Hall for Women and the Miller Scholarship Hall for Women Building Files housed at University Archives, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas. Admittedly not a voluminous collection, they are nonetheless the largest single source of documents on these particular structures. Among the problems associated with many of the documents contained in the various file folders is that several are either undated or the date is obscured because of poor photocopying or simply the passage of, in many cases, decades of time.For those desiring as near a complete list of sources as possible pertaining to each building, see the Index folder for each. It not only gives a brief summary of the buildings' histories but also lists dozens of meticulously noted sources, from building scrapbooks, various editions of the alumni magazines, yearbooks, and articles appearing in numerous student newspapers, all pertaining to some aspect of their decades on campus. The sources most heavily relied upon, in general order of use, are the following:Biographical information on the life and philanthropic career of Mrs. Elizabeth Miller Watkins can be found in the Elizabeth Watkins Morgue File at University Archives. Of particular interest are: University Daily Kansan, September 14, 1926, p. 4; June 1, 1939, p. 1; June 4, 1939, p. 1, and March 18, 1998. Kansas City Star, February 24, 1935, p. 1. Graduate Magazine (June 1939), pp. 11-12; Lawrence Journal-World, June 1, 1939, p. 1; "The Watkins Story: Wise Philanthropy," Alumni Magazine (November 1951), pp. 6-7, 10. "The Benefactions of Mrs. Elizabeth M. Watkins at the University of Kansas," remarks of Irvin E. Youngberg, Douglas County Historical Society, November 11, 1971. Also helpful are Clifford Griffin, The University of Kansas: A History, (Lawrence, Kan.: University of Kansas Press, 1974), pp. 421-422, 441-443, and Robert Taft, The Years on Mount Oread, (Lawrence, Kan.: University of Kansas Press, 1955), pp. 142-143, 149-151, 207-208. For information on the business career of her husband, Jabez B. Watkins, see Allan G. Bogue, Money at Interest: The Farm Mortgage on the Middle Border, (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1969), Part 2, passim, and 193-194, 204, 266-267. See also this author's kuhistory.dept.ku.edu article on Mrs. Watkins, accessible at the following URL: http://www.kuhistory.dept.ku.edu/proto/story.asp?id=135For the formal resolution passed by the Kansas State Board of Regents honoring Mrs. Watkins generally and thanking her for the deed to Miller Hall, see the November 4, 1937, edition of the Lawrence Journal-World, which reported the Board's October 30 statement.A comprehensive and most helpful series of articles about the history of various campus living arrangements and dormitory life at KU can be found in the January 1959 edition of Kansas Alumni. Pages 10-13 deal with "The Age of Dormitories"; pages 14-15 and 34, "K.U.'s Original Recipe: One Part Scholarship, One Part Work," chart the unique history of the scholarship hall system; pages 16-17 and 36, the "Shock Troops of Housing," deal with funding issues; and page 18 recounts "How Gifts," particularly those from Mrs. Watkins, "Helped That Cause." Laura Lockwood's and Alberta Corbin's leadership roles are discussed on pp.16 & 34, as are KU's various efforts to raise private funds for women's dormitories. (For more information on Corbin's suffragette activities, see Martha B. Caldwell, "The Woman Suffrage Campaign of 1912," Kansas Historical Quarterly 12:3 (August 1943), pp. 300-326; or online at: http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1943/43_3_caldwell.htm) For Griffin's remarks on Prof. Corbin, see The University of Kansas: A History, pp. 323, 425.An interesting web site about KU's scholarship hall system, which contains a number of quotes from Mrs. Watkins and some history about Miller and Watkins Halls (and others, too), can be found at the following URL: http://www.digitaljayhawk.org/Projects/DJProjects/ScholarshipHalls/histo... the construction and history of Watkins Hall, a good place to start is the September 1926 edition of the Graduate Magazine, in a short article titled "New Hall of Residence for Women." Also helpful is "The Watkins Story: Wise Philanthropy." An excellent source for information on both women's scholarship halls is a 1947 pamphlet (in the 1947 folders of both Building Files) called "Residence Scholarships for Women at the University of Kansas: Watkins Hall, Miller Hall." It tells the complete story of each, from how scholarships are applied for and granted, to living conditions and accommodations, expense and duties of residents. Another helpful piece is from the April 1937 edition of the Graduate Magazine titled "Watkins Dormitory Has Duplicate," on the occasion of the Miller Hall Opening. And for the quote about representatives from other colleges and universities traveling to KU to visit Watkins and Miller Halls, see the February 25, 1935, edition of the Kansas City Star.The quote from the Department of Student Housing about the uniqueness of KU's scholarship hall system can be found on its web site: http://www.ku.edu/~dshweb/scholhalls.htmlThe Fiske Guide honor is reported by the Committee for the Preservation of Watkins and Miller Scholarship Halls; see: http://www.millerwatkins.org/index.html
For the stories about the returning Watkins and Miller women being unsatisfied with the condition of the halls, see April 12 and April 23, 1985, editions of the Kansan.
The legal struggle between former Watkins and Miller residents and the University and Bank of America is chronicled in great detail by the Committee for the Preservation of Watkins and Miller Scholarship Halls on its web site. It contained dozens of links to news stories, mainly from the Journal-World and the Kansan (although a number are dead links). Among the most helpful links to stories, covering the major developments, are: Lawrence Journal-World, March 8, 2001, "Lawsuit targets Watkins trust," http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/45030; KU Office of University Relations, April 30, 2001, "Statement re: Watkins trust hearing," http://www.ur.ku.edu/News/01N/AprNews/Apr30/watkins.html; KU Office of University Relations, September 8, 2003, "Judge dismisses all charges in Watkins trust case," http://www.ur.ku.edu/News/03N/SeptNews/Sept8/watkins.html; and Kansan, September 3, 2003, "Miller, Watkins Halls to drop suit," http://www.kansan.com/getstory.aspx?id=8da5de89-beda-4e2a-9d0b-1e827f81c911. For the conclusion of the legal struggle, see http://www.ur.ku.edu/News/04N/MarNews/Mar2/watkins.html
The final quote from Carolyn Neuringer is from, presumably, a Jayhawker yearbook page (there is no date or other attribution, but can be found in the Watkins and Miller Building Files) It gives a brief history of Watkins and Miller Halls and describes in detail their architecture.
The author wishes to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mr. Fred McElhenie of the Department of Student Housing for his help in preparing this article.
Search KU History
Been There. As a 14-year-old girl, Elizabeth Josephine Miller briefly attended the preparatory school at the University of Kansas during the 1874-75 academic year. Unfortunately, hard times for her father's medical practice prevented her from completing her secondary education or pursuing a college degree. Decades later, as the widow of wealthy Lawrence businessman Jabez B. Watkins, this formative experience was never far from her mind. On July 1, 1925, the Kansas Board of Regents officially accepted her donation of $75,000 to build a women's scholarship hall at KU that would give young women an opportunity she herself had never received.
[caption]Image: University Archives[/caption]
Double Exposure. Watkins Hall and Miller Hall, built in 1926 and 1937 respectively, were KU's first privately funded women's scholarship halls. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller Watkins, a generous and longtime KU benefactor, donated the sister yellow pressed-brick structures to the University to provide needy but deserving young women with the chance to attend college at substantially reduced living costs. These two halls have become models for KU's unique scholarship hall system.
A Gift House. Elizabeth Watkins had briefly attended the preparatory school at the University of Kansas during the 1874-75, but family financial problems prevented her from receiving a college education. By 1926, she was ready to make a large contribution to the University she loved but was never able to attend. She set her sights upon being a benefactress to those less fortunate female students, who reminded her so much of herself in her younger years, and gave $75,000 to KU to build and maintain a women's scholarship hall. Residence was decided by an extensive application procedure, and once accepted, "Watkins girls," lived together in a cooperative environment, sharing all domestic responsibilities, including cooking and cleaning. Watkins Scholarship Hall retains many of its original characteristics to this day.
Climb Every Mountain. "My sympathy has always been with the girls who must travel up-hill," Watkins once said, recalling her own girlhood struggles to better herself through schooling and her inability to remain enrolled at KU. "It has been my dream to aid self-supporting girls to get an education."
Attention To Detail. From the start, Watkins herself was intimately involved with every aspect of the project. "I have never done anything into which I have put more of myself," she once said. "The color scheme of every room, the furniture, draperies and furnishings, are results of many months of planning. It is my dream come true." Mrs. Watkins was also a stickler for details going forward. She personally selected and paid the salary of Mrs. R.C. Morrow, the first live-in "social director" or "matron" of Watkins Hall, and would continue picking housemothers and covering their salaries until her death. Under her formal agreement with the University, Mrs. Watkins also secured the ability, "during her lifetime, to designate and appoint two student holders of scholarships." And just to ensure KU kept its commitment to the undertaking, she maintained the right to take back the property if "at any time [it was] diverted to uses other than those [originally] specified.")
With the opening of Watkins Hall in 1926, Elizabeth Watkins had crafted a model that KU would replicate in the ensuing decades. The result was the basis of KU's unique system of scholarship halls built by private funds and maintained through endowed trusts that enable students to obtain a college education at low cost.
Referring to Watkins Hall, a Kansas City Star article in 1935 reported that "Delegations from all over this country come to study it, and they say there is nothing like it in connection with any other school."
Déjà Vu All Over Again. In 1937, Watkins gave another $75,000 to build another women's scholarship Hall, this one called Miller Hall in honor of her brother. Upon accepting the deed, the Board of Regents said: "This donation and her previous prominent gifts place the entire state of Kansas under obligation to Mrs. Watkins. [It] will be a memorial to her through all the coming years."
Perpetual Care. Mrs. Watkins passed away in 1939 at the age of 78. But as part of her final gift to the University, and to the Watkins and Miller residents in particular, she endowed a $250,000 fund to ensure that her beloved scholarship halls would remain and be maintained on Mount Oread for decades to come. By 2001, this fund at the KU Endowment Association totaled more than $3 million.
Triple Play. On March 5, 1939, the University Daily Kansan published a glowing article about Watkins and Miller Halls, noting that the young women who lived there obtained a "triple education," combining "housework, schoolwork, and play."
A Little Night Music. Schoolwork and housework may have been the most time-intensive activities, but an important third part of the women's "triple education" was the social aspect. A number of contemporary sources describe how, three times a year, the rugs and furniture were cleared out of the main living room so the halls could host formal dances, and then one hour-long dance every two weeks. Indeed, as one informational pamphlet put it, "A social program is included in the low-cost budget of each hall."
Fondly recalling her years in Watkins, Gayle Barry Matchett, a resident from 1955-57, once said: "The housemother taught us etiquette. The officers taught us cleaning. But the memories were made in the small kitchens of Watkins Hall, learning to cook together. This cemented our friendships far more than any social life."
Lasting Legacy. Former residents of Miller and Watkins continue to hold the woman who made it possible in the highest regard. "We Miller girls used to look at Mrs. Watkins' portrait," recalled resident 1956-58 Carolyn Ely Neuringer, "and we were always very grateful to her for providing all this for us."
Buy The Book. If you're enjoying this article about KU student housing history, you'll want to read Making Do & Getting Through, a book containing hundreds of reminiscences about the KU residence life experience from the 1930s through the 1960s. Compiled by Fred McElhenie, former associate director of the KU Department of Student Housing, Making Do & Getting Through is a major contribution to the social history of the University of Kansas. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each copy of the book will benefit the Fred McElhenie Scholarship Fund that recognizes students who are active in community involvement, and the Historic Mount Oread Friends organization.
[caption]Image: Historic Mount Oread Friends[/caption]
Contact KU History
kuhistory@ku.edu
Routes 10 11 29 30 36 38 43
1301 Jayhawk Blvd.
The University of Kansas Non-Discrimination Statement
Information regarding non-discrimination and equal opportunity at the University of Kansas may be found by clicking here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


2. Osaki Y, Tanihat a T, Ohida T, et al: Adolescent smoking behaviour and cigarette brand preference in Japan. Tob Control, 15(3), 172-80, 2006.
3. Osaki Y, Tanihata T, Ohida T, et al: Decrease in the prevalence of smoking among Japanese adolescents and its possible causes: periodic nationwide cross-sectional surveys. Environ Health Prev Med, 13(4), 219-26, 2008.
6. Osaki Y, Tanihata T, Ohida T, et al: Decrease in the prevalence of adolescent alcohol use and its possible causes in Japan: periodical nationwide cross-sectional surveys. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 33(2), 247-54, 2009.
7.Higuchi S, Matsushita S, Maesato H, et al: Japan: alcohol today. Addiction, 102(12), 1849-62, 2007.


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Segregated Witness and Lightning Network: Implications on the Future of Payment
Segregated Witness (SegWit) and Lightning Network are the key techniques that enable fast payment channel to be established between two (or more) users on the blockchain. This year, both Bitcoin and Litecoin have officially launched the Lightning Network on the mainnet, and users are able to perform near-instant transactions with minimal transaction fees, creating a vision of using cryptocurrency for micropayment. In this workshop, Dr. Wang Xinxi of the Litecoin Foundation will describe the blockchain scalability issues and the need for SegWit and Lightning Network. The workshop will cover principles of Lightning Network, how it was deployed on Litecoin, alongside with demo(s) by the instructor.
This workshop is suitable for anyone who aims to gain an in-depth understanding on performing payments on blockchain and its implications on businesses, and/or to develop own blockchain applications deploying Lightning Network.
Note: Participants are strongly encouraged to have a basic understanding of the Python programming language. For Python beginners with no programming background, a good tutorial can be found at: https://python.swaroopch.com/. For Python beginners with programming background, an introduction can be found at: http://www.techbeamers.com/python-tutorial-step-by-step. You may also find https://wiki.python.org/moin/ a useful reference.
Instructor's Profile
Dr. Wang Xinxi
Director and Founding Member, Litecoin Foundation
Dr. Xinxi Wang is the founder and CEO of Coinut.com and a co-founder of the Litecoin Foundation. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in computer science from National University of Singapore in 2015 with a focus on machine learning/recommender systems, and before that, he obtained his bachelor degree from Harbin Institute of Technology in China. Xinxi gained years of experience in automated trading in the forex markets before diving into the fascinating cryptocurrency world, combining his background in computer science and financial trading. In 2014, he founded Coinut.com, one of the most advanced cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.
In 2016, Xinxi joined the Litecoin Core development team and quickly realized that a shortage of resources was limiting Litecoin's progress. With that in mind, he co-founded the Litecoin Foundation in Singapore and has helped raise more than $1M from the Litecoin community to support Litecoin's development. Xinxi lives in Singapore and enjoys traveling around the world.
BASH, Level 3
79 Ayer Rajah Crescent S(139955)
Msg from the Instructor
10 June 2018 [22:00 hrs] --
Installation instructions: PDF
Slides: PDF
Click here for course description and agenda.


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Health x Body
4 Factors That Could Result In A False Positive Pregnancy Test
False positives are extremely rare with home pregnancy tests. Still, they can happen for bizarre and disheartening reasons. Here's what to look out for.
When you need to know the results of a pregnancy test, the last thing you want to worry about is accuracy.
Fortunately, home pregnancy tests have a pretty good track record. They're 97 percent accurate, according to Parents magazine.
Surprisingly, though, the most common cause of "false positives" isn't false at all, Lanalee Araba Sam, an OB-GYN from Fort Lauderdale, told Parents.
"Some women can get a positive pregnancy test and then three days after their period is due, they have a really heavy period," Sam said. "Really what they've had is an early miscarriage called a chemical pregnancy, and a lot of people call that a false positive. They don't recognize it as a positive pregnancy test that ultimately results in miscarriage."
The truth is, home pregnancy tests detect the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. The body releases hCG after a fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall and a placenta begins to form.
Beyond early miscarriages, there are a few factors that can cause a truly false positive reading—some of which account for the 3 percent of tests that show inaccurate results. While they're rare, they can be devastating (or anxiety inducing) for women and couples.
Here are a few possible causes of this infrequent event:
1. Prescriptions make a difference.
The medications you take can affect the outcome of a home pregnancy test, especially if you're taking any kind of fertility medication. This can be particularly frustrating because couples using fertility medications are often the ones with highest hopes for conception.
hCG trigger shots like Novarel, Pregnyl, Ovidrel, and Profasi cause the release of mature eggs, and if a test is taken too soon, you can get a false reading.
Other medications can cause incorrect results as well. Antianxiety, antipsychotic, anticonvulsant, and diuretic medications are known to affect the outcomes of home pregnancy tests.
2. Past Pregnancies
Sometimes an egg will become fertilized but does not attach to the uterine wall. As we mentioned earlier, this is called a "chemical pregnancy." A woman won't usually know she experienced a chemical pregnancy unless she takes a pregnancy test very early—for example, before a missed period.
Chemical pregnancies account for 50 to 75 percent of all miscarriages.
Healthcare professionals suggest waiting at least one week after your expected period before taking any kind of at-home test to avoid a reading that tells more about something that happened in the past than what you should prepare for in the future.
3. Pregnancies Outside the Uterus
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg attaches someplace other than the uterus, like a fallopian tube, the cervix, or an ovary. An embryo cannot survive anywhere outside the uterus, so ectopic pregnancies aren't viable. However, as long as the fertilized egg is growing, your body will continue to produce hCG, which will result in a positive pregnancy test.
An ectopic pregnancy is a serious medical emergency that can lead to severe blood loss and damage to (or even loss of) reproductive organs. Some symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy are nausea, sore breasts, light to heavy spotting or bleeding, dizziness, fainting, or pressure on your rectum.
If you think you may be experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, seek medical help immediately.
4. User Error
At-home pregnancy tests are convenient, but they aren't flawless. It's important to check the expiration date and follow all instructions exactly when using a test.
It's also important to take the test first thing in the morning. hCG is the most concentrated the first time you go to the bathroom after waking up, which will ensure more accurate test results.
Taking a test too early in your cycle or waiting too long to check the results of the test can also give you false information. If you've taken a test but still don't feel confident about the results, you can go to your doctor to have a blood test performed.
Ultimately, your doctor isn't nearly as likely to make a mistake when it comes to whether you're expecting.


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Artist RightsStudios
Titmouse New York Becomes First Studio To Join The Animation Guild Outside LA
By Alex Dudok de Wit | 01/11/2022 8:06 am | Be the First to Comment!
The Animation Guild (TAG) has unionized a studio outside Los Angeles County for the first time in its 70-year history.
More than 90% of animation workers at Titmouse New York have voted to join IATSE Local 839. There were 113 workers at the studio who were eligible to be unionized. The studio, whose credits include Harriet the Spy, Big Mouth, Goldie and Bear, Team Hot Wheels, Fairfax, T.O.T.S., and Superjail!, voluntarily recognized the union, and an arbitrator certified it on January 7. The workers are the first animation industry workers in New York City to vote to join a union in over three decades.
They will soon start negotiating their first union contract with their employer. Key issues include "defining job roles and classifying workers accurately, addressing unrealistic schedules, paying overtime appropriately, improving health benefits, and establishing wage minimums to ensure a livable salary," according to the union.
The company has so far reacted positively to the workers' intentions to unionize, though the two sides must now work to figure out the terms of the deal. Titmouse co-founder Chris Prynoski released the following statement on social media:
We are proud of the Titmouse artists in NY and support them as we move into the future together! Following our voluntary recognition of the unit, we look forward to the opportunity to work with IATSE as we explore the first agreement for our NY-based employees
— chris prynoski (@chrisprynoski) January 10, 2022
Cartoon Brew was the first publication to report on poor labor conditions at Titmouse New York, back in 2012. We noted a large gap — almost $700 per week — between the starting wages for artists working on the same show in the company's L.A. and New York studios. While conditions have since improved, true parity between the two can only be achieved now that the New York branch has joined TAG.
Animation unions have existed in New York in the past. The city had representation from the 1940s until the 1980s, when the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists (IATSE Local 841) merged with the International Photographers of the Motion Picture Industry (Local 644). But Titmouse is the first New York animation studio to be organized in more than three decades.
Importantly, TAG has indicated that their organization of Titmouse New York represents a new era in the organization, as it aims to expand representation to animation workers throughout the United States. TAG business representative Steve Kaplan said in a statement: "This historic moment is a cause for celebration as we begin a nationwide effort to ensure all animation workers are treated with respect and are afforded the same benefits and protections as those who are working in Southern California."
Meanwhile, Canada's animation industry is beginning to organize. The animation team at Oasis Animation in Montreal became the country's first-ever accredited animation union in 2020 and reached a deal with the studio last June, while Titmouse Vancouver workers voted to join The Canadian Animation Union (IATSE Local 938) — TAG's sister union — in 2020. They ratified the union's first animation agreement in September 2021.
Late last year, TAG sat down to negotiate a new master agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents employers. The groups failed to reach an agreement by the deadline. Bargaining will resume on February 14.
Image at top: "Harriet the Spy"
Read More: Chris Prynoski Steve Kaplan The Animation Guild Titmouse Union
Alex Dudok de Wit More Articles
Alex Dudok de Wit is Associate Editor of Cartoon Brew.
More in Artist Rights:
Why The Anime Industry Lacks Unions And How That Could Change: A Veteran Producer Speaks
Riot Games To Pay $100 Million In Class-Action Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
Tangent Animation Ordered To Pay Workers Who Were Abruptly Laid Off
Animation Guild And AMPTP Can't Reach Agreement, Negotiations To Continue In 2022


Jaime Williams of La Plata and Thomas Abell Jr. of Mechanicsville were married on Saturday, May 22, 2010 in To be Announced. The bride is the daughter of David and Beverly Williams. The groom is the son of Thomas and Rita Abell.


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Lake Te Anau 'Cave of the swirling water'
I'm a local who is proud to call Te Anau my home but now that I think about it I don't really know a whole lot about the beautiful Lake right across the road..
It's rich history and interesting facts may surprise you whether you are a local wanting to know more or planning a trip from afar.
Let's go back to the beginning some 20,000 years ago when Fiordland's glaciers moved east forming long ridges and eventually melting to create lakes, one of these being Lake Te Anau. Many believe it is named after a Maori chieftainess or it could possibly have been shortened from Te Ana-au which means "Cave of the swirling water" (A reference to the caves on the West side of the lake).
Lake Te Anau is the biggest lake by surface area in the South Island and second biggest in New Zealand only to Lake Taupo. Looking down the lake from Te Anau township can be very misleading as it twists and turns its way north covering about 65km in length with 3 long arms contributing to its enormous size.
On the lakes East side, civilization has made its mark with the township of Te Anau which really started to develop after the opening of the homer tunnel in 1953. By comparison the west side is almost untouched with the exception of the Kepler track, the Glow worm caves and at the northern point you will find the start of the Milford track. Walking through the beautiful beech forest with low hanging tree ferns almost feels prehistoric and will have you leaving the big city life behind. The Kepler track welcomes around 8000 trampers each year so it is extremely important everyone is aware of the impact they have on the environment and should make every effort to make sure that impact is as small as possible so that future hikers can enjoy mother nature just as they have.
There is a wealth of wildlife surrounding Lake Te Anau. Some birds include the Tui, Wood Pigeons, Takahe and at higher altitude the cheeky Kea.
Animals such as deer, possums and hares live in abundance in Fiordland National park. If you're a keen fisherman, the lake is home to trout and salmon and is a popular fishing spot for anyone wanting to trawl its depths.
Last time I swam in the lake it was a hot day. I had been exercising and I was desperate to cool down. Well, cool down I did! Mountain lakes don't get much warmer during summer, but they do say, swimming in cold water is good for your health, so I'll claim that. There is a popular swimming spot down by the boat marina that has a platform to swim out to as well as a few spots around the lake at Doc Bay and Brod Bay.
So, there we have it. A small insight on the beautiful place I call home and a lake I intend to help maintain for future generations. For anyone heading this way, Welcome. I'm sure you will fall in love with our little piece of paradise. It's hard not to!
Back to Local Insights Page


I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello to all as i'm new to UKSB.
I'm Jasper, a director of our company in Chester and I'm looking forward to contributing where I can.
Hello Jasper, fancy bumping into you here.
Looks like it's the place to be so thought i'd join!
Welcome to the boards Jasper, good to have you here and thank you for taking the time to load your picture. Makes all the difference to your posts and the site on the whole.
Did you find us via the web or signapp?
Thanks Rob, yeah I just came across it on good ol google!
well download Signapp and never miss another post.
Yeh probaby only 20 mins from wrexham.


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« Taoist College New Course (on YouTube) | Main | MFA Dinner &Dance 2010 »
Singapore Med
As President Obama tries to push his health reform bill through Congress, there is some interest in the Singapore healthcare system. The article below in the Washington Post wrote about our system in glowing terms. Our system is by no means perfect but it avoids many of the problems healthcare systems in other countries face.
What we can learn from Singapore's health-care model
By Matt Miller
Wednesday, March 3, 2010; 10:45 AM
We interrupt Washington's feud over the president's "way forward" for a brief word on a path not
taken, courtesy of the only rich nation that boasts universal coverage with health outcomes better
than ours while spending one-fifth as much per person on health care. Introducing (drum roll
please): Singapore.
Yes, it's an island city-state of just 5 million people. Yes, it's more or less a benevolent
dictatorship. And, yes, until recently, bringing chewing gum into Singapore could land you in jail.
But Singapore, a poor country a few decades ago, now boasts a higher per capita income (when
adjusted for local purchasing power) than the United States. And here's the astonishing fact:
Singapore spends less than 4 percent of its GDP on health care. We spend 17 percent (and
Singapore's somewhat younger population doesn't begin to explain the difference). Matching
Singapore's performance in our $15 trillion economy would free up $2 trillion a year for other
public and private purposes.
Do I have I your attention?
Today we can't find cash to recruit a new generation of great teachers, rebuild our roads and
bridges, pay down the national debt, or invest in better airports, high-speed rail, a clean energy
revolution or any of a hundred other things sensible patriots know we should do to renew the
country. We can't do these things in large part because the Medical Industrial Complex vacuums
up every spare dollar in sight. It's only slightly melodramatic to assert that if we could run our
health-care system as efficiently as Singapore's, we could solve most of our other problems.
So how does Singapore do it?
In health circles it's always conservatives who bring up Singapore, because of the primacy it
places on personal responsibility. According to Phua Kai Hong of the National University of
Singapore, roughly one-third of health spending in Singapore is paid directly by individuals (who
typically buy catastrophic coverage as well); in the United States, by contrast, nearly 90 percent
is picked up by third-party insurers, employers and governments. Singaporeans make these
payments out of earnings as well as from health savings accounts. The system is chock-full of
incentives for thrift. If you want a private hospital room, for example, you pay through the nose;
most people choose less expensive wards.
Conservatives are right: Singaporeans have the kind of "skin in the game" that promotes
prudence.
But that's only half the story. There's also a massive public role. For starters, adequate savings
for retirement and health expenses are mandated by government (employees must sock away 20
percent of earnings each year, to which employers add 13 percent). Public hospitals provide 80
percent of the acute care, setting affordable pricing benchmarks with which private providers
compete. Supply-side rules that favor training new family doctors over pricey specialists are
more extensive than similar notions Hillary Clinton pushed in the '90s. And in Singapore, if a
child is obese, they don't get Rose Garden exhortations from the first lady. They get no lunch and
mandatory exercise periods during school.
There's more (including an ample safety net for the poor), but you get the gist: Singapore
achieves world-class results thanks to a bold, unconventional synthesis of liberal and
conservative approaches. It's further to the left and further to the right than what President
Obama or his foes now seek. The island's real ideology is pragmatic problem-solving. It works
thanks to cultural traditions that let this eclectic blend flourish. The system is nurtured by
talented, highly paid officials who have the luxury of governing for the long-term without being
buffeted much by politics.
We obviously can't transplant Singapore's approach wholesale to the United States. But the
reason we can't emulate even some of Singapore's success has to do with that iron law of health-
care politics: Every dollar of health-care "waste" is somebody's dollar of income. As a stable
advanced democracy, we're so overrun by groups with stakes in today's waste that real efficiency
gains are perennially blocked.
Any hope for something better starts with tallying the price of today's paralysis. Think about that
$2 trillion the next time you see states, citing budget woes, shut the door to college on tens of
thousands of poor American students. Or when the next firm moves jobs overseas because health
costs here are soaring. Or when the next bridge collapses. Thanks, Medical Industrial Complex!
We return now to our regularly scheduled political battle, which (no matter the outcome,
according to some projections) will leave health costs headed to more than 20 percent of GDP by
Matt Miller, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and co-host of public radio's
"Left, Right & Center," writes a weekly column for The Post. He can be reached at
mattino2@gmail.com.
Posted at 09:05 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink


WASHINGTON, June 15 (UPI) -- Five Pakistanis have been arrested by their country's spy agency for providing information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said.
The five, including an army major, reportedly worked with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency prior to the May 2 killing of the al-Qaida leader during a raid on his compound by U.S. Navy SEALs in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, northeast of Islamabad, the officials told The New York Times.
Pakistan denied the report, saying no army personnel had been detained and the report was "totally baseless," Xinhua reported.
The reported arrests were seen by some in Washington as further evidence of the strained bilateral relations at a time when the two countries are supposed to be allies in the fight against al-Qaida, the Times said.
The officials told the newspaper instead of going after the support network that permitted bin Laden to live comfortably for years in his compound, Pakistani authorities were arresting those who assisted in the elimination of the world's most wanted terrorist.
Deputy CIA Director Michael Morrel, during a closed briefing last week in the Senate Intelligence Committee, rated Pakistan's cooperation three on a 1-to-10-scale, the report said, quoting officials familiar with the exchange.
CIA Director Leon Panetta brought up the informants' arrests during his recent Pakistan trip, the report said. He also reportedly offered evidence of collusion between Pakistani security officials and the militants staging attacks in Afghanistan.
For the record, CIA spokeswoman Marie Hard told the Times the United States has a "strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and (we) work through issues when they arise."


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THE WALKING DEAD - A NARRATIVE ANALYSIS
As the granddaddy of all apocalypses, 'The Walking Dead' charts the course of Lee Everett (protagonist/player), Clementine and their ragtag group of survivors in a zombie apocalyptic setting. The game opens with Lee in custody for undisclosed reasons being driven off to prison by an overly chatty sheriff. In a typical television styled opening scene, the narrative begins by posing an instant dramatic question - 'Why has Lee been convicted?' However, the scene is not constructed to take this question too seriously, leaving sufficient room to doubt Lee's guilt and prevent early antagonization of the protagonist. The scene pokes and teases the question however, by mentioning Lee's wife amidst a torrent of seemingly tertiary information being spouted by the sheriff. All the while, a larger dramatic question is looming in the background and emerges slowly through gameplay cues and environmental details such as the radio. The scene ends abruptly with the car crashing into a humanoid creature that appears only fleetingly, but just long enough to be recognized as not entirely human.
The rest of the narrative pans out in much the same way as the game's masterfully constructed opening scene; by couching character and narrative progression in the context of the horror of the world. Lee narrowly survives the crash and is instantly confronted by a zombie revealing the terrible fate that has descended on the world. Lee manages to escape the approaching zombies by retreating into a house where he meets the second most important character in the narrative; a nine year old girl named Clementine. The context for the foundational relationship in the game is established amidst Lee discovering the probable death of Clementine's parents through a walkie talkie. This instantly sets up Lee's relationship with Clementine as a protector and mentor for the rest of the story, forcing the player to make narrative decisions either shielding Clementine from the world or forcing her to confront reality.
The relationships between most characters are similarly focused and established very early with circumstances creating immediacy. Through a series of events, the remaining members of the core group coalesce into an uneasy gang held together only by the need to survive. The world drives circumstances that surfaces character differences and the game forces the player to make decisions that impact not only Lee and Clementine, but the group as a whole. After establishing uneasy relationships, the party gratefully receives shelter from a family who turn out to be cannibals eating human meat to sustain themselves. Returning to their makeshift motel fortress they are forced to deal with disappearing supplies. Before the culprit can be identified, an onslaught of gangsters and 'walkers' (zombies) forces the player to abandon their stronghold and flee. Charting the entirety of the narrative would be out of the scope of this essay; sufficeth to say that the core narrative element in the 'Walking Dead' is gritty survival with a focus on circumstances affecting a group, not just the protagonists; but not the entire world either.
LEE EVERRET - 'The Walking Dead' establishes consequence based on player decisions masterfully, but unlike 'Dragon Age' and 'Skyrim', the game is very much Lee Everett's story; not yours. The main protagonist's character therefore is an interesting balance between leaving personality gaps for the player to fill in, and establishing a base set of characteristics. This balance is crucial as it directly impacts the mindset of the player. The base set of characteristics needs to be wide enough to :
Establish character goals that in turn translate into gameplay goals
Justify moments where player agency is limited to narrow set of options.
However, it is also has to be narrow enough for the provision of meaningful choices where the player believes that he/she is making decisions that fit the character. The premise of The Walking Dead assists in mitigating this problem as many of the decisions to be made are morally ambiguous and under high pressure.
Lee's established character goal is to protect Clementine, and ensure she stands a fighting chance to survive in his absence. In addition, he is dependable, resourceful and is deeply empathetic towards his fellow party members. The gaps the player fills in are:
How much of a leadership position he is willing to assume.
His mode of communicating the world to Clementine - Does he shield her from the horror of everything unfolding or does he expose her to it?
Individual vs Group - How much does he value individual characters when their goals are in conflict with the goals of the group?
His past is his biggest foe (other than the walkers) and the knowledge of being a murderer gives other characters power over him. In a sense the arc of his journey is exonerating himself from guilt by protecting Clementine.
CLEMENTINE - Clementine is the single most powerful narrative device in establishing player goals, her welfare becoming the crux of many decisions. Her innocence as a nine year old goal adds to the dimension of considering her emotional growth, not just her physical wellbeing. Her journey is not so much a coming of age story. Instead it is her transition from depending on Lee, to instead him depending on her. This transition is coupled with the player's goals changing from 'How do I protect Clementine?' to instead 'How do I leverage Clementine?'
The Walking Dead ultimately rests on the creating the illusion of consequence based on player decisions. The phrase 'illusion' is not being used being used pejoratively. It is a significant design challenge as no video game with branching decision trees can truly build in consequence based on every decision made. This illusion is created by forming a basis for players to be making decisions intelligibly and providing feedback mechanisms that convey consequence. This thought process is built into the creation of the story, its characters and gameplay. Each of these elements will be discussed piecemeal:
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Each episode of 'The Walking Dead' has a clear overarching narrative objective. The first episode establishes the scale and impact of the apocalypse, the main character's personalities and their relationships. The story events are accordingly structured with Lee being established as a Clementine's protector, leadership contention between Lilly and Kenny and a survival action sequence that culminates in deciding whether to put a bitten woman out of her misery. In the process, Lee and Clementine's starts to deepen with Lee discussing his family with her. However, minutes after this poignant moment, Carly reveals Lee's identity as a murderer and their relationship receives a setback. Lee is forced to explain the intent behind his actions. The fact that the explanation is against the backdrop of chaos and death that has descended upon the world makes this moment even more interesting. Throughout the course of the game, similar events occur wherein Lee, imperfect as he is to be a guardian, is forced to transition from simply a protector to someone who is helping Clementine reconcile the world.
Episode 2 begins with the world driving conflict between characters. The opening scene demonstrates a tonal shift of character's adapting to the world, with Lee hunting down a walker in pursuit of food and supplies. The introduction of a new character adds to the rising arc of obstacles faced by the group, amplifying the shortage of resource. This also presents a story opportunity to deepen conflict between Lilly and Kenny and in turn pose decision points to the player. In this manner, the story of The Walking Dead functions as a well-oiled machine with a clear chain of causality between events.
When the set of obstacles for the current story problem cannot rise any further, a solution is presented. A couple of passers offer a trade between food and supplies, going further to offer shelter. This signals a turning point to transition environment and resolve (in part) one story problem while introducing another. The next theme in Episode 2 is demonstrating how people are forming new ways of living. Here the game unveils the story problem over time rather than presenting it directly as before. This causes a gradual reduction of the emotional high via a rising arc of suspicion (crazy lady in the forest, locked room in the barn etc.) In the manner, the game transitions seamlessly in environment, theme and plot.
One area that the game struggles with is participation and disposal of secondary characters. Once their narrative function has been served, they simply hang around without really participating or adding any real value; until they are killed off, always at the hands of a walker.
BRANCHING NARRATIVE
Decision making is the primary game mechanic in 'The Walking Dead'. In given situations, the player is presented with a maximum of four options that he must typically pick from. There are three types of branching scenarios in the game, each serving specific narrative purposes:
Timed Decisions - The most important mechanic in the entire game and what makes it uniquely different. The player is presented with options and must select one within the expiration of a countdown timer. The UI design for the timer consists of a shaded bar placed subtly underneath the options. It immediately draws the player's attention without distracting from the options and the action unfolding. Another aspect of the feature is that the scene continues with dialog as the meter is ticking down. This adds to the tension of the scene, keeps the player under pressure and makes the transition smooth once the option has been selected. On most occasions the game manages to nail the time for each decision giving the player some breathing space for important ones.
Untimed Decisions - Certain decisions outside of cut scenes are untimed and are typically utilized when the game wants you to contemplate an action. The juxtaposition of timed and untimed decisions further prompts players to consider the latter critically. The game ensures untimed decisions are placed in scenarios where Lee could realistically spend time considering his options. For instance, a pressure encounter where Lee must choose to save one character over another will NEVER be an untimed decision.
Gameplay Dialog - Conversations with characters during puzzle/click through sequences are constructed differently, wherein the player can exhaust the dialog options as opposed to select from them. These typically tend to serve as opportunities for exposition and character backstory that problematize future decisions the player will need to make.
The selection of dialog options is meaningful only when the player has a basis to predict the consequence of each option. Giving the player this basis allows him/her the ability to make brief evaluations of the different options at hand, instead of simply selecting by instinct or predisposition.
Example 1: Decisions representing distinct emotional reactions to a situation. This allows the player some authority over Lee's personality while trying to assess the best emotional response to solve the story problem at hand.
Example 2: Decisions that yield answers to different questions. This forces the player to ask himself what he wants to know about a character or situation, to solve the given story problem.
For the most part the game successfully provides a basis for selection. However certain options that deal with long term actions sometimes fail this test. For example, one question the game asks on multiple occasions is whether to stay at a motel or leave once an RV is fixed. The player doesn't really have any basis to evaluate the outcome of each. The fact that the decision also impacts Lee's relationship with Kenny and Lilly makes it even less satisfying. On the other end of the spectrum providing an incorrect basis for decision making can leave the player feeling dissatisfied. For example, I chose to save Doug over Carly when they were both confronted by walkers because Carly was holding a gun. Therefore, I thought that there was a possibility of saving them both, an option that was never on the table.
The crux of gameplay is puzzle solving either in a point and click setting or a real time setting. Typically the puzzle/gameplay challenge is couched within the current story problem at hand. Example - How do we distract the walkers to steal the key to the pharmacy? Gameplay decisions the player makes, also serve narrative purposes. For example, being tasked with rationing food to the different characters forces the player to prioritize which characters they want in good standing.
Real Time Gameplay - One seemingly insurmountable design challenge that manifests from the branching narrative system is the death of the protagonist not being a possible consequence. Naturally the game cannot proceed with a dead protagonist; something that the player is potentially aware of. This eliminates the ability for the game to present decisions that jeopardize the protagonist. However, death being such an important part of the universe, the game is forced to introduce this risk in gameplay. Gameplay includes real time elements where Lee's life is in jeopardy unless certain actions are performed on a time bound basis, failing which Lee dies and the game resets to the previous checkpoint. Example - Shoot the walkers in the right order to protect group and yourself. These sequences tend to be short and the game uses them sparingly to jolt the player into action, breaking out of potential point and click monotony.
Point and Click - In these sequences the player is typically presented an environment with a set of interactable elements. Interacting with the right elements triggers progress and furthers the narrative state. The design challenge here is ensuring the player feels like he is solving the scene instead of randomly clicking through. Generally the game ensures the player has enough information to be making informed guesses on which elements to interact with. The game conveys what the player needs instead of simply stating what is to be done. However, there are several occasions where characters simply blurt out solutions to a problem. For example, Kenny stating outright that a screwdriver is needed to unlock the door in the barn. This could just as easily have been stated as a hint, such as 'something sharp' or 'a tool'. Even less subtle clues to the player is when Lee talks to himself stating what he needs to do.
STRONGEST ELEMENT
The strongest elements in the game are sub textual hints in the narrative, through which theme is communicated. The poignant moment of the group petting a cow in the barn for the first time serves as a reminder that humanity still exists in the world. On the opposite end of the spectrum, irony is a constant sub textual element connecting story events. In Episode 3, Kenny is broken when he is forced to kill his own son to prevent him from turning to a walker. This is viscerally reminiscent of the moment he so willingly kills Lilly's father because the situation demanded it. The player's mindset to this moment is primed brilliantly through Lee's dream of Clementine turning into a walker. Another sub textual element is moral ambiguity and the consistency of human behavior. For example, in Episode 2 the group escapes the barn disgusted at the idea of resorting to cannibalism to survive. Moments later they stumble upon an empty vehicle filled with supplies and are presented with the option of taking the supplies for themselves, effectively killing the group it belongs to should they still be alive.
WEAKEST ELEMENT
Several decision points have the option of remaining silent. This option does work in certain scenarios, particularly sequences where the player does not wish to interrupt a conversation between two other characters or is waiting for more information to come forth before forming an opinion. For example, the sequence where Lilly is in meltdown mode trying to identify the culprit behind the disappearing supplies, there is legitimate value in remaining silent watching how the other characters react to assess if there is truth to Lilly's claims. Silence works when it is an equally legitimate course of action. However, for the most part the game treats it as a "none of the above" option the player can utilize when the other responses are not appealing. Generally speaking the most satisfying moments in the game are when it presents you with an option that was exactly what you intended. Therefore using silence as a last resort is mostly unsatisfying.
FOCUSED RELATIONSHIPS - The player's ability to track relationships are an important part of making informed decisions. The game presents the context of character relationships with laser sharp focus and in their very first meetings. For example, in Episode 1 the player forced to side with either Lilly or Kenny on multiple occasions. In their very first meeting in the pharmacy the two begin a power struggle that is reinforced at every possible juncture.
STREAMLINING DECISION TREE - One inevitable challenge that pops up in branching narratives is how to construct story when the plot state is dependent on the player. The game utilizes several techniques to streamline the decision tree and maintain the illusion of consequence :
Deferred Story Events - It is impossible to deliver a compelling narrative without knowing whether characters are alive or dead. However, death or the possibility of death is the biggest antagonist in the game. The game resolves this by simply delaying character death based on decisions. For example, the option of saving Carly or Doug is ultimately inconsequential as either will die at the hands of Lilly one episode later.
Manifestation of Consequence - The outcome of a decision does not have to match the exact manner in which the question was presented. For example, there comes a point where the player needs to choose between Shawn and Duck in a walker attack. Regardless of who the player picks, Shawn is killed. Instead the consequence manifests in the character's reactions to the player's choice, and their relationship with Lee being affected differently.
FAVOR EXPLICIT OVER NUANCED FEEDBACK - An interesting mechanic the game employs on occasion is explicit feedback through flashing text on the screen. Example: "Clementine will remember that". This is clearly a manifestation of a design concern of communicating to the player how their decisions are affecting game/narrative state. While the requirement is understandable, it still feels slightly lazy. In an ideal world, all consequence is communicated visually or within the narrative. Nevertheless this runs the risk of a player who hasn't fully comprehended the significance of his actions. Overall, it seems like a forgivable sin seeing that the crux of the game is giving players informed agency over the narrative.
MEANINGFUL PLAYER CHOICE - Branching narratives provide meaningful player choice only when there exists a basis to predict the consequence of each option. This is also an opportunity to allow the player to project into a character rather than roleplay. All the information being fed to the player to make decisions must be scrutinized for validity to avoid players feeling cheated based on inaccurate feedback. Example - As stated previously in the article, the decision to save Carly and Doug is affected by the former holding a gun.
MEANINGFUL POINT AND CLICK MECHANICS - Ensure that the game conveys what the player needs instead of simply stating what is to be done. This will create scenarios where player are making educated guesses on the items that needed to be clicked through.


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In The Last Jedi, the Resistance Keeps Making the Same Tactical Mistake
The urge to fight one decisive battle has undone countless real-world rebellions—and those in the Star Wars universe as well.
The urge to fight one decisive battle has undone countless real-world rebellions—and those in the Star Wars universe as well.Lucasfilm
Over the course of the Star Wars franchise, we've been treated to some epic battles: dogfights between X-Wings and TIE fighters at Yavin-4, AT-ATs on the frozen wastes of Hoth, jungle warfare on Endor, and Rogue One's epic battles on the beaches of Scarif. The Last Jedi offers no shortage of skirmishes, either. Except this time, the Resistance's consistently bad military tactics finally catch up with it.
From a military perspective, one thing has always stood out: The Empire, and now the First Order, have nearly limitless ships, equipment, and manpower, while the Rebels/Resistance have scant resources. With every engagement, this band of rebel fighters grows ever smaller, while there seems to be no lack of available Stormtroopers. At least previously, though, those engagements ended with the destruction of Death Stars and a Starkiller Base, even if unsound Rebel strategic thinking got them there. Now those bad choices are playing out more realistically—and tragically—than ever.
Spoilers ahead.
Win It All
While The Last Jedi mainly focuses on the Jedi order and its fate, perhaps the most striking feature of the film is that the Resistance has finally played its last card. The Resistance—and the Rebels before them—sought the decisive battle, that one moment that would destroy the enemy's will to fight and bring about peace in the Galaxy. That seemed to be the case after Return of the Jedi, and yet somehow in the intervening 30 years the Republic squandered away all that they had won.
But history shows that decisive battles do little to further a rebel cause. During the American Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee spent years pursuing a decisive battle versus the United States Army. Yet, even after one-sided Confederate successes such as Fredericksburg in 1862 and Chancellorsville in 1863, the US Army of the Potomac remained in the field, inflicting losses that the Confederates could not afford. Lee's search for decisive battle led to his force being winnowed away to nearly nothing. The truly great generals throughout history have realized that seeking a decisive battle only puts one's force in more peril than the risk is worth.
In The Last Jedi, the Resistance lacks truly great generals. Commander Poe Dameron is a skilled fighter pilot but hardly a strategic thinker; he's a hammer who sees a world full of nails. He gambles the Resistance bomber fleet on a shot to take out a First Order dreadnought-class star destroyer. Not only that, but he does so in violation of a direct order from General Leia Organa. The mission succeeds in knocking out the enemy ship, but at the cost of the entire Resistance bomber fleet, for which Poe is reduced in rank.
Seeking that decisive battle with the First Order only resulted in dead pilots and lost resources. It solved nothing in the long term. And as the rest of The Last Jedi makes clear, for every enemy star destroyer or frigate the Resistance accounts for, the First Order can replace it without blinking an eye.
Rather than making massive sacrifices to blow up one big ship, the real strength of the Resistance rests in its ability to survive. The presumed heroics of individuals like Poe and Finn make it hard for them to do even that.
In many ways, the Resistance shares that trait with real-world rebellions throughout history. Most are worn down through the sheer lack of resources and through attrition; a decisive battle becomes their best way to make a grand statement.
In The Last Jedi, the Resistance lacks truly great generals.
The successful counterexample, and a model the Resistance would have been better served following, is the American Revolution. George Washington's genius lay less in his ability to take the fight to the British—although he excelled at that—and more in the way that he prioritized preservation of troops over seeking out a singular moment of triumph. His ability to exfiltrate units from near-disaster mattered just as much as his offensive strategies.
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But just as General Organa finally recognizes the importance of preserving her force—too late, one could argue—she enters a coma after the First Order begins its bombardment of the last Resistance Frigate. (RIP Admiral Ackbar.) Command devolves to Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, who recognizes the strategic need to protect their force, but has what proves to be a fatal flaw: She fails to communicate well.
Holdo knows that she can jettison the escape transports and they will be cloaked from the First Order, but doesn't share the plan with Poe. She instead belittles him, and leaves him eager to take action. Left out of the loop, Poe and Finn concoct a hare-brained scheme to save the last three Resistance ships from First Order bombardment, another all-or-nothing gambit that not only fails, but gets the majority of transports destroyed in the process.
Some Like It Hoth
When what remains of the Resistance lands on Crait, a planet that houses an musty old Rebel Alliance outpost, they yet again seek a decisive engagement, this time with only a handful of fighters and some infantry left. Crait is a terrible spot for a last stand. The rebellion stuffs itself into a cave, with only one entry and egress point, and little in the way of protection.
They're shielded from planetary bombardment, so the First Order lands a ground force. Now you've got massive new AT-M6 walkers facing off against the serried trenches and rusting turret guns of the Resistance.
Sound familiar? Yes, it's looking like we're about to get a repeat of The Empire Strikes Back's battle of Hoth, where resistance fighters just barely manage to escape after suffering grave losses.
Back then, Imperial armor cut through the Rebels' linear defenses, brushed past Luke Skywalker's head-on air attack with snow speeders, and blasted apart the shield generator. However, the plucky Rebel troopers had managed to buy enough time for the main force to escape off planet, under the protective fire of the ion cannon.
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Fast-forward 30 years to Crait. The Resistance, clearly, has learned nothing in the interim. Their dismounted troopers charge into World War I-like trenches, gamely looking down blaster scopes at armored vehicles they can't even hope to touch. Poe Dameron, while a wizard in the air, can't muster two tactical brain cells as he flies his sortie of incredibly ancient craft directly into the guns of the First Order's armor.
Much like Luke Skywalker in Empire, Poe doesn't seem to realize that the AT-series has no firepower on its sides or rear. Nope, it's straight up the middle for Poe, with predictable carnage for the last handful of Resistance pilots that remain. At least Poe, unlike Luke, eventually realizes it's a suicide mission, and pulls back after taking losses.
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Of course, they're not much better off back in the cave. Only the arrival of Luke Skywalker in full Jedi power mode saves the Resistance from being snuffed out in entirety. But only just barely; all that's left can fit inside the Millennium Falcon.
By consistently refusing to learn the rules of unity of command, communication across the chain of command, and the necessity of preserving their force, the Resistance has fought itself nearly out of existence. If rebellions are built on hope, then they survive through skilled withdrawals—which almost never happens in the Star Wars saga. And in The Last Jedi, that failure has brought what was once a promising rebellion to the brink.
Angry Staff Officer is an officer in the Army National Guard and a member of the Military Writers Guild. He commissioned as an engineer officer after spending time as an enlisted infantryman. Angry Staff Officer blogs at www.angrystaffofficer.com and tweets at @pptsapper.
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TopicsStar WarsStar Wars: The Last JediMilitary


The legal justification for 98% of abortions in the UK is that "the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman" (section 1 of the Abortion Act ,1967). The overwhelming majority of these are based on the "mental health" clause. That is, the overwhelming majority of abortions in this country are based on the ostensible risk of mental health to the mother.
This more recent review surveys a wider range of data from various authors, concluding that "[there] is no available evidence to suggest that abortion has therapeutic effects in reducing the mental health risks of unwanted or unintended pregnancy. There is suggestive evidence that abortion may be associated with small to moderate increases in risks of some mental health problems." Fergusson discusses two other recent reviews, one of which concluded that abortion was associated with increased risk of mental health problems, the other of which declared that there was no association either way. The theme common to all 3 reviews, Fergusson notes, is that the evidence linking abortion with better mental health is non-existent.
The implication, Fergusson rightly points out, is that these results render the practice of UK (and other) clinicians thoroughly dubious on legal grounds alone: "Given the high frequency with which mental health grounds are used in these jurisdictions to authorize abortion, it becomes important for both clinical and legislative reasons to examine the evidence on the extent to which abortion has therapeutic benefits that mitigate any mental health effects of unwanted pregnancy." Clinical practice is often based on specious evidential grounds, but surely rarely as specious as this. If we're going to put an end to human life, we'd better be sure that we have some very good grounds to do so, and that the evidence supports these grounds. But if the grounds are mental health, and the only evidence we have shows either no association or that abortion damages mental health, then the ideological motivations for clinical decisions become clear, taking precedence not only over the life of the thousands of foetuses aborted in the UK every year, but even over the mental health of those whose lives we can all agree are valuable: the thousands of young women in the UK in this situation. In any other clinical domain, we would have the evidence-based medicine proponents out in droves, lambasting the poor evidential basis for this "treatment". We would even have legitimate legal cases against doctors who advised or carried out these procedures. But when it comes to abortion, evidence is sacrificed at the altar of women's choice, and we continue to pour NHS money and effort into these procedures to preserve it.
Of course, such a solution would undermine those doctors within the NHS who want to recommend abortions for any unplanned pregnancy, as well as undermining the NHS' financial and infrastructural support for abortions. And it would make clear that abortion really has nothing to do with mental health, and everything to do with women's choice to do what they want with their children (so long as they're at the politically insignificant end of the birth canal) which, of course, sounds much less like a clinical decision about healthcare when one puts it that way.
Of course, this should not detract from the proper grounds of opposition to abortion. The danger of highlighting various secondary problems in the position and practice of pro-choicers is that they may give the impression that opposition to abortion is really based on things like mental health and taxpayers' money. Of course, these things are to some small extent relevant, but they occasionally obscure the real reason pro-lifers are against abortion: because abortion is the killing of a member of the human family (and yes, many of us are pro-life in other domains too). None of the secondary arguments are even remotely as important as this. So my point here is not to bolster the case for being pro-life; it is to expose the rampant ideological motivations at the heart of the pro-choice movement ostensibly concerned about women's mental health. It is to give just one demonstration of the extent to which this ideology has entrenched itself in our society, such that even objective evidence is contradicted in order to pretend that we have some sort of justification for the practice.
Do not be fooled, ladies and gentlemen, into thinking that the pro-choice movement is about women's health, or that it relies on honest and scientifically substantive tactics and information, or that it makes the most compelling arguments for its cause. Even within the allegedly neutral scientific community, David Fergusson had trouble publishing his results on account of their inconvenience. Fergusson himself expected the link between abortion and poorer mental health to be explained by confounding factors, but his own statistical inquiry led him to believe otherwise, that abortion was an independent risk factor. And, of course, he was asked by his country's government-appointed Abortion Supervisory Committee not to publish the results in case they were used for political purposes. No prizes for guessing which side they were concerned about using them. All of this should make pro-choicers and clinicians who have not thought about the matter wary. Most of them have simply been indoctrinated while growing up into thinking that abortion is perfectly acceptable, that it is often a clinically beneficial decision, and that there is no way this teaching is just a result of pure, evidentially vacuous ideology on the part of the pro-choice lobby. The fact that we have government committees asking for scientific results not to be published, and that scientifically untenable hypotheses are wholly and unquestioningly endorsed by the medical community (which, in the UK alone, licenses around 200,000 abortions every year), and the fact that the widespread clear-contravention of UK law in clinical practice is virtually ignored should alert us to the fact that there may be something amiss in the pro-choice misinformation thrown onto us and bullied into us as we grow up. And indeed it is.
The simple fact is this: out of nearly 200,000 abortions performed every year in the UK, 97-98% are licensed (and most of those funded) by the NHS on the grounds of risk to mental health of the mother. The only evidence we have shows no connection, or that abortion is independent risk factor for mental health problems, even when the data is corrected for plausible confounding factors. Any other practice so widespread and so contrary to the evidence would rightly be condemned as negligent at best, especially if it involved the killing of human life which, for all we know, could be valuable. But because of the political correctness and expedience of supporting the pro-choice agenda at all costs and against any intellectual, scientific or ethical integrity, the practice persists. Please speak up against it.
I would love to know how this study was carried out, but I cannot access it. It seems to me that to come to such a conclusion Dr Fergusson would need to get a large group of women who all desperately wanted abortions, and then deny abortions to half of them and look at the subsequent effects on mental health of both groups. I can't imagine this getting past an ethics committee.
Access to funding for safe and legal abortion is also an issue.
I'm not sure what you mean by that, Regina. Do you mean that abortion should be legal? Why do you think that?