text:
The Rule of 90%
by Tony Gentilcore | 10/31/06
When I was a pre-teen, I used to read a lot those Choose Your Own Adventure books.
Each story was written from a second person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the main character. After an introduction to the story, the reader was given choices about how the story should progress. For instance:
If you decide to sweep the leg, turn to page 47.
If you decide to use some stupid crane kick that you learned from Pat Morita that would NEVER work in a real fight, turn to page 49.
Depending on the reader's choice, the plot would unfold in different ways and eventually lead to many different possible endings. Unfortunately, I never came across a book where the ending resulted in me either becoming an honorary member of the A-Team or getting to ride shotgun in Airwolf.
I can't help but feel that there are many people reading this article who are taking part in a real life Choose Your Own Adventure with their training. On the one hand, we have those who continue to utilize sub-maximal loads (3 x 10, 5 x 5, etc.) for every movement, and are still benching the same weight now as they did two years ago.
On the other hand, we have those who consistently incorporate lifts at or above 90% of their 1RM into their training, and understand how crucial they are in terms of getting bigger, stronger, and enhancing athletic performance.
That being said:
If you're happy with the fact that you've been training for over five years and can only deadlift 275 pounds, this article isn't for you. Stop reading now and find a new hobby. Coin collecting perhaps?
If you wish to learn how and why incorporating The Rule of 90% will lead to increased strength gains, increased lean body mass, improved athletic performance, and make girls want to hang out with you, then keep reading.
The CNS: Cliffs Notes Version
When a motor neuron fires, all the fibers it serves are simultaneously activated and develop force. A motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it innervates are referred to as a motor unit, the basic functional entity of muscular activity.
Motor units can span a range of muscle fiber sizes (Type I and Type IIa/b), which also allow different force productions. Motor units are recruited in the order of their size, from smallest (Type I) to largest (Type Iib) depending on the force they must produce.
For example, when you do light load resistance training, you're recruiting predominantly Type I (slow twitch) motor units. When the load is increased, the Type Iia (fast twitch oxidative and glycolytic fibers) will be recruited with the help of the Type I fibers. When high intensity loads are utilized (90%+), the Type IIb muscle fibers (along with Type I and Type IIa) are recruited in order to produce enough force to complete the lift.
Very simply put, getting stronger is really about making the CNS more efficient at stimulating high(er) threshold motor units, maximizing the number of motor units activated, and improving the discharge frequency of those motor units. Typically, to get to a high-threshold motor unit, all the motor units below it are sequentially recruited.
Thus, with heavy resistance training, all the muscle fibers get bigger, because they're all recruited to produce more and more force with heavier weights. (This is assuming, of course, that you're getting sufficient volume in your training.)
In short, like Ron Burgundy, the CNS is kind of a big deal. As a matter of fact, during the early phases (two to eight weeks) of resistance training, a trainee's strength gains can be solely attributed to improved CNS development (not muscle growth). This is due to:
Increased inhibition of antagonistic muscle
Improved co-contraction and increased activation of synergistic muscles
Inhibition of neural protective mechanisms (Golgi tendon body, muscle spindle complex)
Increased motor neuron excitability
That's not to say there isn't any lean body mass gain during the initial stages of resistance training, but it's definitely not as profound as you may think.
Okay, How Can I Get Stronger?
In his book, Science and Practice of Strength Training, Vladmir Zatsiorsky states that there are essentially four methods to developing strength:
Lifting a maximal load (exercising against maximal resistance): the maximal effort method.
Lifting a non-maximal load to failure, with the muscles developing the maximum force possible in a fatigued state during the final repetitions: the repeated effort method.
Lifting (or throwing) a non-maximal load with the highest attainable speed: the dynamic effort method.
By not being an asshat who perform squats on a BOSU ball.
For the sake of this article, I'm going to focus mainly on the maximal effort method (loads at 90% or above your 1RM), because I feel that this is the one area many people tend to neglect.
But First...
Repeated Effort Method (a.k.a. What most people perform): While it's well known that muscles with a large physiological cross-sectional area produce higher forces than similar muscles with a smaller cross-section, this doesn't necessarily equate to improved strength. How can this be?
Well, for starters, you can only go so far with three sets of ten (repeated effort method). I consider it a natural progression for trainee's to start with something like three sets of ten because it establishes a foundation. It allows for initial neural adaptations (as alluded to above), strengthens connective tissue (tendons and ligaments), and also builds some lean muscle mass to boot.
More often than not, this leads to what's called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which is characterized by the growth of sarcoplasm and non-contractile proteins that don't directly contribute to production of force.
From there, most trainees will gravitate toward a 5 x 5 or possibly an 8 x 3 program (still the repeated effort method, albeit a bit more strength-training based). Again, this would be a natural progression. During this time, you're drastically improving your CNS efficiency (remember, heavier loads target higher threshold motor units), as well as improving myofibrillar hypertrophy. This form of hypertrophy is characterized by growth of the actual contractile proteins, actin and myosin.
The key point to take home is that while the repeated effort method is valuable in the grand scheme of things, it's also limited. Only the final lifts, in which a maximal number of motor units are recruited, are actually useful (from a strength standpoint).
And as my elaborate drawings above demonstrate (don't ask me how long it took to draw these), just because someone is big doesn't necessarily mean that they're strong. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Quarter-Squat, bodybuilder guy.
Why You Should Lift Heavy Things
I can't stress this enough: the CNS is the key to strength gains. Muscular strength is not only determined by the quantity of muscle mass (cross-sectional area), but also by the extent to which you can improve intramuscular coordination.
Intramuscular coordination is the extent to which individual muscle fibers are voluntarily activated to produce muscle force production. There are essentially three ways to do this:
Recruitment: As I alluded to above, the order in which motor units are recruited is controlled by the size of the motor neurons (the so-called size principle). Sorry fellas, this is one instance where size does matter.
Small motor neurons, those with the lowest firing threshold, are recruited first. Motor units with the largest motor neurons and highest threshold are recruited last. Full fast twitch MU recruitment is rather hard to achieve in untrained individuals. Incorporating lifts above 90% can improve this drastically because more force is required (hence more MU recruitment) to complete the lift.
Rate Coding: This is another method for improving the degree of muscle force. In simple terms, rate coding just refers to the frequency that MU's fire. Generally speaking, the firing rate rises with increased force and power production. Force is increased significantly by high(er) intensity resistance training between 80% and 100%.
Synchronization: Under normal circumstances, MU's work asynchronously. However, there's some evidence that MU's are activated synchronously (together) during maximal voluntary efforts (90%+).
Why You Should Lift Heavy Things (Part II)
Additionally, for those only interested in aesthetics and thinking, "Tony, I only want to be jacked; I could care less about strength," consider the following:
Say your current 1RM in the bench press is 225 pounds. If you're only interested in aesthetics, you'll typically train in the 70% to 80% 1RM range, which would mean you'd be using anywhere from 160 to 180 pounds for 8-12 reps.
For the next three months, you decide to get generally stronger (incorporating lifts above 90%) and happen to increase your 1RM to 275. What used to be 80% of your 1RM (180 pounds), is now 65%. When you inevitably decide to return back to a hypertrophy based program, 70%-80% of your 1RM is now 190-220 pounds! It stands to reason you'll pack on a significant amount of muscle.
Moreover, in boys and younger men with two or more years of training experience, it's been shown that utilizing heavy resistance training (85% to 95% of 1RM) seems to be one of the key factors that influences acute serum Testosterone concentrations following exercise. I don't recall hearing many reasons why increasing your Testosterone levels would be a bad thing, unless of course you're a woman who happens to have an unwanted penis.
In a nutshell, lifting maximal weight (90%+) has a number of effects:
Maximum number of MU's are recruited
Fastest MU's are activated
The discharge frequency (rate coding) is increased
Activity is synchronous
Improved coordination between synergistic muscles
Potential for future hypertrophy gains
Increased serum Testosterone levels
What About Athletic Performance?
You've probably noticed me using the words "power" and "force" quite a bit, and with good reason. Both play crucial roles in developing strength and athletic performance. Power simply refers to the ability to apply a lot of force in a minimum amount of time (Power = Force x Velocity). In order to improve power, you need to increase force and/or velocity.
Interesting to note, from a velocity standpoint, it's been shown that power output increases as the weight lifted decreases from 100% of 1RM to 90% of 1RM. In fact, for the back squat and deadlift, power output for a load at 90% 1RM may be twice as high as the 1RM load due to the large decrease in the time required to complete the exercise with the lighter load (1).
This obviously shows how velocity plays an important role and why using the dynamic effort method is a great way to improve strength. Optimal speed and power can only be maintained for approximately six seconds. Anything more and lactic acid accumulates and the additional hydrogen ions interfere with the contraction of the fast twitch muscle fibers.
In his book, The Vertical Jump Development Bible, Kelly Baggett talks about how the vertical jump is one of the best predictors of athletic performance. Essentially, how much force you can generate in a short amount of time (0.2 seconds for the vertical jump) is going to separate a superb athlete from an average athlete.
Because I'm more of a visual learner, I'm going to share an example from Kelly's book:
Athlete A (175 lbs) Athlete B (175 lbs)
Maximum force or strength without time constraint (squat) 400 lbs 300 lbs
Max force put out in the vertical jump (0.2 sec) 200 lbs 225 lbs
As you can see, athlete A can squat more than athlete B, but athlete B is going to have a better vertical jump because he can generate more force, rapidly. However, Kelly makes a point in stating that, "Although being able to apply force rapidly is a very useful characteristic, you still need to have enough potential force to tap into for anything to happen. Basically, a strong athlete will beat a weak athlete any day of the week."
Maximum strength is the foundation for everything (power, strength endurance, force development, etc.). You can't have strength endurance (being able to lift a sub-maximal weight repeatedly) or generate maximum force without first having strength.
Here's another example from Kelly's book to help illustrate this point:
Weak Athlete (200 lbs) Ideal Athlete (175 lbs)
Maximum Force (Strength) in the Squat 100 lbs 95 lbs
Max Force in the Vertical Jump 400 lbs 325 lbs
The weak athlete is able to utilize 95% of his potential force and has a good rate of force development; however, he's only able to squat 100 pounds. He has very little to "tap into" and is only able to generate 95 pounds of force off the ground. Needless to say, he's going to be that guy who's lowering his adjustable rim in his driveway to eight feet so he can dunk a basketball.
The "ideal" athlete is only utilizing 75% of his potential force (20% less than the weak athlete), but is generating 325 pounds of force off the ground because he's strong. Again, strength is the foundation for everything. More specifically, relative strength trumps absolute strength from an athletic standpoint.
How to Apply the Rule of 90%
For my own peace of mind, I provided the following list of exercises that would be acceptable to use, questionable to use, and well, just plain dumb to use. This certainly isn't an all encompassing list, but I think you get the general idea:
Acceptable Exercises
Squat Variations (back, front, Anderson, box)
Deadlift Variations (conventional, sumo, against chains)
Bench Variations (standard, floor, board, chains)
Questionable Exercises (probably not the best choice, but "doable")
Good Mornings (cambered bar, chain suspended, etc.)
Romanian Deadlifts
Overhead Pressing
You deserve to be drop-kicked for even thinking about performing these with 90%
Biceps Curls
Leg Curls
Calf Raises
Weighted Sit-Ups
It's no surprise the best movements to use are the basic "money" exercises (squat, bench, deadlift). Also, be cognizant that "more is not better." Like many trainers and strength coaches, I like to set up programming where volume/intensity is fluctuated each week to coincide with CNS fatigue and/or to stave off overtraining. Lifts above 90% are very CNS intensive and are not something where you're going to need (or want) to do a lot of volume with each and every week.
That being said, you should limit your training sessions at 90%+ to seven to nine PER MONTH. Beginner and intermediate lifters could probably get away with more sessions per week above 90%, but as one gets more "advanced" twice per week is plenty. The following is sample three day split. Please note that I purposely left out specific sets/reps for all the accessory movements because everything would all depend on the weaknesses or imbalances of each individual.
Training Session 1
Exercise Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4
A Squat Variation 5 @ 90%+ 4 @ 90%+
A Deadlift Variation 7 @ 90%+ 3 @ 90%+ or Reps
B1 Vertical Push
B2 Lower Body Unilateral
C1 Horizontal Row
C2 Tricep Movement
D Rotator Cuff/Core Work
A Horizontal Press (DB)
B1 Horizontal Row
C1 Vertical Pull
C2 Lower Body Iso-Metric Hold
A Bench Variation 5 @ 90%+ 4 @ 90%+ 7 @ 90%+ 3 @ 90%+ or Reps
B1 Horizontal Push
C1 Lower Body Unilateral
C2 Bicep
There are many reasons to incorporate lifts above 90% into your training. I think many lifters are experiencing their own Choose Your Own Adventure when it comes to their training, and they're getting less than stellar results.
You can either choose to keep doing what you're doing and not make any progress, or you can choose to embark on a new adventure and take your body to places it's never been before. The choice is yours.
Baechle, T., Earle, R., and Wathen, D. Resistance Training.. In: Essentials of Strength and Conditioning (2nd Ed.) Baechle, T.R., Earle, R.W.., ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2000.
Tony Gentilcore
Tony Gentilcore is a well-sought after strength coach, writer, and presenter. He works out of his own studio in Boston called CORE.
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text:
Home/Religion/You May Want to Save Your Pocket Change Next Time You See a Jingle Dude
You May Want to Save Your Pocket Change Next Time You See a Jingle Dude
Natalie Send an email December 2, 2011
63 130 2 minutes read
It'd be my guess that given the overlap between the skepticism and atheism camps, a lot of our readers are already going to have a few reservations about the Salvation Army, and whether or not they should throw them a little change, or if perhaps their money could be better used elsewhere.
But contrary to certain stereotypes, we are not, as a community, a bunch of heartless meanies with no standard of morality who don't have any interest in charity. I find, as a general thing, that skeptics are an enormously compassionate bunch who are consistently willing to give of their time, money, energy and resources to worthy causes and things that benefit the greater good. As such, maybe we could overlook the Christian ethos of the SA and focus on how their good outweighs their problematic beliefs, and find it in our hearts to spare a little extra this year. But does the good they do outweigh the problematic beliefs?
There's been a fair bit of hub-bub (I love that word) brewing out in Facebook and the blogosphere lately about the Salvation Army's anti-LGBT practices. A Facebook page has been started recommending a widespread boycott. It's been covered on MSNBC, in the Chicagoist, on the Bilerico Project, and many other places.
The stories generally concern the fact that the Salvation Army has a wide and noticeable history of financing and supporting anti-LGBT legislation, such as opposing marriage equality. Is that where you want your pocket money going… to defense of marriage lobbyists? They also have overtly discriminatory hiring practices, refusing to allow LGBT individuals to become "soldiers". I thought DADT had been repealed? And although they claim their charity work and services are available to anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. I even read one story about a homeless gay couple who were turned away unless they agreed to break up. Can you imagine the mentality of that? "Unless these two individuals publicly renounce their love for one another, in front of me, I'm going to force them to sleep out on the cold streets."
Their own claims pay lip service to being supportive of LGBT individuals, but their actions are directly contradictory. What counts is not saying "I love gay, lesbian, bi and trans people!", what counts is treating us in a fair and respectful way.
There are numerous other large, successful charity organizations that do not have any history of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. The Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Habitat For Humanity, Goodwill and so on. Perhaps consider giving elsewhere this year?
But if you're absolutely dead set on giving to the those who "do the most good", the guys with the not in the slightest bit annoying jingle bells and red buckets, how about offering them one of these.
Natalie Reed now writes at http://www.freethoughtblogs.com/nataliereed
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Erin W says:
Thanks for the printout at the last link. I was thinking of making my own little cards with a similar message, and may still do, but it gives me inspiration.
I've been passing these out to jinglers for years but I haven't printed mine out this year yet. Thanks for the reminder Natalie!
I don't tend to get into many of these boycotts or campaigns, mostly becuase I found I'd been misled by the organizers in the past. But I think I'll join this one.
BlackCat says:
That's a really cool idea, that 3 dollar bill. I always felt kinda guilty, having to walk by these people, with the goddamn incessant jingling in my ears, which I swear they amp up when I pass by and try to ignore them.
As for charity, I give my money to the local no-kill animal shelter, where I got my kitties.
JHGRedekop says:
As I was walking back from lunch about an hour ago, I passed a corner where a homeless man, selling copies of Outreach (a local newspaper which raises funds for the homeless) was being berated by a Salvation Army "Santa" who was shaking his jingle bells rather viciously a couple of inches from the guy's face. Not my idea of Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Men…
vintage63 says:
The Salvation Army doesn't really have that good of a reputation in NZ either.
The SA collect money on the streets here for 1 week a year while the rape crisis appeal lasts a single day yet the sallies refused to stop collecting so the rape crisis could have a fair go at raising some funds.
Good priorities they have there.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4973829/Sallies-collect-despite-plea-by-Rape-Crisis
theia says:
I give to United Way through work. They let you choose which programmes you support. I am hopefully avoiding godly places. Half goes to after school programmes at a community centres in my area and half to a low income day care centre.
I also give to UNICEF which I am pretty sure isn't godly… I hope.
Also, it's hard to find things to support that you know are actually using the money you send for the cause. It would stink if your money was instead going to pay the admin costs of the charity.
AstroCJ says:
Have you seen givewell.org? They rank charities on transparency, scaleability and effectiveness.
marilove says:
And a good chunk of that money you give to United Way doesn't go to any charity organization.
It's so, so much better to just give to local non-profits, charities, and causes, in my opinion. And, with the internet, you can easily give directly to organizations in other parts of the country or world.
It doesn't? I though UW was one of the good ones? Damn, I just committed for 2012.
UW is convenient, for sure, but I am greatly displeased with their overhead. It's better to give directly to your particular charities of choice than to add another layer of administration for it to trickle through. If the options are giving through UW or not giving at all, though, giving through UW is the way to go.
A lot of Christians got very snippy with me over UNICEF when I was out fundraising for them, so I'm pretty sure they aren't quietly furthering a religious agenda with all their education, community development, and maternal health care programs.
Madfishmonger says:
One of the issues that I have now is that there is a Salvation Army thrift store just down the street from me. I am still recovering from an ankle injury and I don't have a car, let alone any money. This store has some fantastic deals, they sell clothing and household items really really cheap. I need cheap. I also need accessible. I don't want to give them money, but they have some things I need at the only price I can afford (extremely cheap, though free would help). This is a low-income area overall, and many people in the neighbourhood shop there out of necessity. I don't want to support their homophobia, because that really bothers me, but I don't know where else I can go for some of this stuff that is both the same very low price (they also have 50% off days every couple months) and is accessible to me. I'm pretty conflicted.
Oh, I have the exact same problem — pretty much every damn thrift store in Stockholm is run, overtly or covertly, by a religious organisation. Definitely all the "big" ones that everyone know of and which therefore have the best stuff. I shop at the SA thrift store closest to me simply because the only other shop close to me is run by an even crazier org…
All the best thrift stores in the city are Salvation Army-run, I had no idea they were homophobic, and I feel awful for all the money I've given them over the years, but Winnipeg doesn't give me a lot of choice. Value Village is the other non-religious option, but their prices are insanely high for a thrift store (7.99$ for a faded, worn t-shirt? Seriously?) and they're farther away from me (requiring a bus ride).
Being moral and being poor are often conflicting and it sucks.
If I remember correctly, Value Village is also not a charity. They're a for-profit company.
You're right. I had no idea. I always assumed that since the one I shopped at in college made a point of hiring developmentally disabled adults that they were more invested in community support than they apparently are, according to the internet. I can't think of any secular alternative thrift shops that are run as charities. Do they exist?
Mark Hall says:
Somewhat tangentially related to Madfish and Felicia… does anyone know the affiliation of Goodwill? I shop there occasionally (usually for chairs to replace my latest broken one), because they're not the Salvation Army, but I couldn't find any information about their affiliations.
I actually used to work for Goodwill, once upon a time.
They don't have any overt Christian connections, no. The main nature of their charity work is that they provide an opportunity for work to people with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses, people who have been unemployed for a very long time and require on-job experience to get back on their feet, seniors, etc.
Most Goodwill employees are just regular employees, hired through the same processes as anyone else. But there are the volunteers, described above, who work with the regular employees and have that as a way of gaining experience, building a resume, feeling like they're more of value to the community and a part of it, etc.
I do, however, have reservations about Goodwill in that it seems like although they're a non-profit, the vast majority of their financial earnings go into maintaining and promoting the corporate structure, not the actual charity stuff.
They don't have any overt religious ties, though, or, to the best of my knowledge, support any religious or discriminatory initiatives. Their hiring practices are no more or less discriminatory than the laws of wherever they happen to set up shop.
Of course, given the number of Christian books I stocked and sold, I don't feel like my hands will ever be clean again.
One time we got a donation that contained a "pray away the gay" book. I chucked it straight in the pulper. Absolutely NO WAY was I going to put it on the shelves.
I also made a point during my last week there to covertly organize an LGBT section on the shelves.
Dreaded Wren says:
There is a Goodwill by my house and I've become friendly with most of the employees- several of whom are gay and lasbian. Once a religious organization donated about 200 t-shirts that depicted a little dress person + little pantsy person= shiny ring! These poor folks had to sell them for weeks!
Christianne says:
The Goodwill store in the Castro in San Francisco is entirely staffed by transgender employees. This says all I need to know about Goodwill's willingness to hire a diverse workforce.
victoriaed90 says:
I feel like I heard that they had recently (like within the last year or so) lost their status as a non profit because they made too much money although I most certainly could be wrong about that.
Zinnia Jones says:
It's so nice to see this story getting some attention. I started the boycott page last year, and I'm glad it's finally gaining some traction this season. I don't think it should be too hard for people to find alternative charities. It's really not a lot to ask.
Oh, hello! Thanks for bringing attention to this issue and starting up the Facebook page. I think it's really important that people know what their money is being used to support.
I'm going to be a guest on the Godless Bitches podcast this week. When Beth Presswood announced they'd be having a transgender guest, one of her friends was all "I hope it's Zinnia Jones!" and I was all "awww, I'm going to let this person down. I wish I were, but I'm no Zinnia Jones." ;)
Give it time.
Aw, shucks :) You flatter me. I'm sure you'll be great. And I certainly wouldn't mind being on their podcast if they wanted!
Cabbageman says:
They are going on the naughty list this year!
I also found some good lists of secular charities:
http://www.thinkatheist.com/notes/Secular_charities
http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Secular_charities
And a very important charity: Love 146
http://love146.org
"Is Love146 a faith-based organization?
No. Though the co-founders of Love146 are inspired by Christian faith, a system of faith is not required to work at Love146 and we value the diverse perspectives of our staff and supporters. We readily embrace all those who unite in our common vision of the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation. While some Love146 programs and partners may incorporate faith foundations, we evaluate programs based on their effectiveness and impact in protecting, defending, restoring, and empowering children.
Love146 is an international human rights organization, serving people regardless of religion, political preference, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, or gender. Love146 believes partnerships across religious, political, social, and cultural boundaries are vital in working towards the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation."
I have chosen to support Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty. I have also supported IHEU. There are plenty of options available if you want to avoid funding bigotry and fundies.
As my family have been actively involved with the Salvation Army, I have been asked a few times to help collecting money in December. I have refused loudly every time :)
lansellion says:
I feel like handing out those fake dollar bills might be perceived as rude and manipulative. If we want to fight bigotry I think we shouldn't be passive aggressive and drop a fake bill. Instead if we feel the need to protest we should have the strength to speak to the person's face and tell them that we do not believe in their cause and why.
I agree, it might make us feel better to drop those messages in the tip jar but I feel like it will do more harm than good. Likely the person who will filter out the tip is so far down the chain that they will not have decision making responsibility. Additionally, the person receiving it is likely going to feel like they were tricked (because they were) and will likely resent receiving that fake bill. I feel that its better to directly address someone (thus giving them a chance to respond and engage with you)than it is to sneakily deliver a message while getting their hopes up.
Here is a perfect example of how this technique looks from the other side: http://consumerist.com/2011/11/this-10-tip-is-not-the-best-way-to-show-your-gratitude-to-your-server.html
axegrrl says:
you wrote: "I feel like handing out those fake dollar bills might be perceived as rude and manipulative. If we want to fight bigotry I think we shouldn't be passive aggressive and drop a fake bill. Instead if we feel the need to protest we should have the strength to speak to the person's face and tell them that we do not believe in their cause and why.
I completely agree :) And imo, the most important reason to forgo dropping in fake bills……neither they (or anyone else) will know WHY you did it.
If/when I encounter a Salvation Army 'rep' this season, I will tell them precisely WHY I'll be putting my money elsewhere.
p.s. *waving to Natalie* :) As I said, I'm really looking forward to your appearance on the next Godless Bitches!:)
The bills explicitly state that the reason a legit donation was not offered was because of SA's bigoted ideology. I think that communicates effectively why.
You are right, the ringy ding folks *are* really far down the chain of command…probably a lot of them aren't necessarily religious, but poor, needing temp holiday work. I think engaging with them might not only fall short of reaching the decision-makers, but also probably make them feel cruddy for being too broke to getr a job they can feel good about.
I'm also not sure that fakey god-money is a fair analogy to make. That tip was just that…a tip. It was left for the server to compensate them for thier below-minimum wage labor. When you leave a dollar for a ringy ding person, that money is not for them to keep, so I'm not sure they have enough of an emotional investment in thier collection to hold a grudge about it unless they are a volunteer because they emotionally invest in Salvation Army's ideologies.
Otoki says:
AGREED. It would be more effective to write a letter to the org's complaints department (or whatever) rather than drop a fake bill (thus looking like you support them to anyone not aware of the bill), and then hoping that the existence of the bills are even mentioned to anyone higher up. It's a cute idea at first, but to me, having received enough Jesus dollars that I thought were real tips, it stinks of being too self-righteous to let things be while simultaneously being too cowardly to say what you think to the people with whom you take issue. The more effective tactic would be to write the SA, tell them you won't be donating, why, and who you will be donating to instead.
Point being, since we are being neither annoyingly self-righteous or cowardly in taking a stand, let's take a stand in a way that will be effective. I love Zinnia's boycott page because it's proactive,clear, and helps people express in LARGE NUMBERS how much and why they disapprove of SA's homophobic (and other problematic) policies.
As a side note, I would especially not want to leave these bills, because seeing YOU put "money" into the bucket may encourage others around you to do so.
mrmisconception says:
I give to The Damnation Navy myself.
BonnieBeth says:
….or the Salvation Navy?
andiis says:
When you queue up at the Salvo's soup kitchen, they don't ask if you're gay or lesbian. In winter when they hand out blankets I never got asked if I was gay. When you go in to get a food parcel, they don't ask if you're gay or a junkie. When I was on my feet again and wanted to help in the kitchen I was not asked if I was gay.
The good overwhelmingly outweighs the bad. Just like Greenpeace or the Occupy movement.
As always, just because you have been lucky enough to not experience discrimination doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
Also, please remember that not every LGBT individual or "junkie" / IV drug-user is able to control when that information is disclosed. Not every LGBT individual or IV drug-user is able to "pass" as otherwise. Not everyone needs to be asked.
Whether or not you feel the good outweighs the bad is your own decision, of course. I simply would like to raise awareness about these issues so people can make a more informed choice.
So where are all these non-religious soup kitchens and winter-blanket appeals you speak of. Where are their vans late late at night when the under-the-bridge crew are burning cartons to keep warm.
I don't give a fuck what they're selling at that moment, Seventh Day, Salvos, Mormons, whatever. In 30 yrs on and off the streets I've never once seen an LGBT van or a Transgender blankie… but I've met heaps of LGBT's in the line and serving the meals.
Hit the streets, people. We all got our problems. This is just my personal experience. There is no god.
I think that the LGBTQ communities that do poverty outreach might not be as visible as religious outreach for a few reasons. 1)We are oppressed communities, and as such, do not have as much collective disposable income available in order to to do massive and visible charity work in the ways that very rich religious organizations do. Probably a lot of the giving we do are small, episodic donations, given to help each other get by. 2) Unfortunately a huge portion of the mainstreamed and wealthy members of LGBTQ communities are often wrapped up in wealthy-person struggles for equality. For example, getting equal marriage status in order to share insurance benifits, adopt children, and to have the uncontested ability to leave real estate to our partners upon our passing.
One thing you said did ring true for me. I have also spent time on the streets. In fact, I depend on a Christian food bank every week (and have never been turned away, like you. I don't even "pass.")We don't have the option to be too choosy about the resources we depend on to eat. Echoing Natalie though, just because we've never been turned away or interrogated or outed, simply doesn't mean that these are not the traumatic experiences of others.
I think that's part of the larger point, though: That we need more options. A lot of people just aren't aware of that, though, because faith dominates our society.
If you need help, get it, in any way you can — none of us are going to judge you, I promise.
Speaking out against the discriminatory practices of these organizations is important. Just because they do good things does not mean we should ignore the very real, and very common bad things.
Also, in my community, I know of several non faith-based organizations that help out the poor and homeless LGBQT youth, for instance. I've worked with them, so I know they exist. :)
And someone else in these comments left a few links that help you find non faith-based charities, though I haven't had a chance to go through those links myself.
I agree. I've always felt like those who shame others for patronizing corrupt buisnesses because that is the best concievable option for them (for example, Walmart's $4 perscriptions, are not examining the privilege that affords them to be able to be moral purists. You can be a consumer, and demand that there are better choices made available at the same time.
p.s. I don't think those "better options" can or should be demanded from the less-visible/oppressed communities who offer support. It would be like victim-blaming to say "Hey LGBTQ communities doing poverty outreach- you needa be bigger and better!"
I don't know about your community, but in my own there are many programs and non-profits designed to reach out to and assist LGBTQ people, and even more that make an explicit point of adopting non-discrimination policies and putting forth an effort to be as sensitive as possible to such identities. I even volunteer and work with some trans-oriented programs.
P.S. My point is not that people in need should not access their services (if able). My point relates to which charitable organizations people wish to support.
Unfortunately in South Florida, that "wealthy gay community" abounds. The outreach that is done here is very often not directed towards the impoverished, Disable, or People of Color… it is directed primarily toward older, retired, (usually white, male, Cis) Gay populations who want to leave thier summer home to thier partners.
Oh Natalie, of course I know what you mean :)
scribe999 says:
Just like the Catholic Church or Chick-Fil-A, institutional bigotry doesn't have to manifest in day-to-day operations or point of sale interactions. But that doesn't mean buying a chicken sandwich isn't contributing to political fundraising against topics like marriage equality…a topic also unlikely to come up in a soup kitchen line.
I'll still try and help the less fortunate this holiday season, but I don't think it's necessary that my funds go to a helpful organization that's also bigoted when there are plenty of helpful organizations that aren't.
aiabx says:
My mother was an SA member. When she was on her deathbed, an SA officer came to visit her and spent her entire time complaining to my aunt about how difficult it was nowadays to get parade permits.
My Christmas charity extends to not punching them when I see them. That's as far as I'll go.
BeardofPants says:
I have a long standing policy to ignore those mofos. I'm already donating to the charities that I'm comfortable donating to. I have no interest in propping up yet another religulous organization.
Rei Malebario says:
I never give money to paramilitary organizations.
I just came in to say something similar, in that I never give money to mainstream Christian organizations. They are almost always going to be discriminatory.
lesterballard says:
The fucking bell is why I don't give to them. I don't need another reason.
papahans says:
Their GLBT hatred is not the only reason to boycott them; they also have extreme religious bigotry. Years ago I worked in an inpatient CD treatment center that really was the center of last resort/last chance. The men we worked with had burned, and blown up, every bridge in their lives. Most had nowhere to live, no chance at a job. The salvation army demanded that everyone utilizing their services submit to both church services and a minimum of an hour a day of bible classes, from very right-wing evangelical perspective. This was required of catholics as well as muslims and atheists. If you didn't agree, you received no services. If you agreed, then didn't follow through, you were booted out. Don't give them a goddamn penny.
digger says:
Hmmm….a lot of crying but no solutions. Anybody have an alternative charitable organization to recommend? List a website and creds. so that everyone can check to see if they're legit.
??? @Madfishmonger suggested two such websites early on in the comment thread, as well as others offered multiple suggestions like Doctor's Without Borders, Love146, IHEU, Amnesty..
Um… post itself contained a few suggestions, the links contained many, and the comments contained a few more.
Donnae says:
@Digger- The New York Times has, in the past, listed a handful of the most worthy organizations. I am happy to see my personal favorite, Doctors Without Borders, always at the top of those lists.
As for the Salvation Army, I've never trusted any group that works via such severe aural abuse. And now I feel vindicated. {Thanks, Natalie!}
Horror Monkey says:
I was not aware of the Salvation Army's discrimination against LGBTQ community. (How did I miss this?) Thank you for this article, and I will happily join your boycott.
Ranson says:
My kids set aside a percentage of allowance money all year for charitable giving. In the past, when they were little, we'd just let them cram it into a jingle-bucket. It's a thrill for a kid to do something like that. This year, my mother-in-law has been seriously pushing for it to go into her church collection plate. That was a big no. Also, my views on the SA had pretty much shifted into the lines found here, despite some personal family history and volunteer work.
So, this year, it all went to Child's Play. Secular, low overhead, and it's easy to see exactly what your money will do. Oh, and one of the founders is an "out" atheist. We'll be doing that again.
Another suggestion for giving, year round!
Check with your local school district re homeless children. My school district, for example, has about 800+ homeless kids, kg-12.
They need all sorts of things, from winter coats (Wisconsin!) to USB flash drives to field trip bus money.


pod pokroviteljstvom ISRM u Omišu, 12.04.2019.
The ability to describe and characterize the rock mass has been greatly advanced through the years, as is the case of modelling rock slopes and tunnels. With this in mind, this paper is to consider the use of 3D investigation methods such as terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry. This is done first with two case studies on the investigations performed to gain insights into the understanding of the instabilities occurred at a marble quarry face and during ecavation of a drill and blast tunnel in granite. Then, the case history of a high rock slope in limestone is considered. The interest is to show how 3D mapping of the rock mass with terrestrial laser scanning and optical images was used to obtain a digital elevation model which formed the basis for the numerical modelling performed to analyze the stability conditions.


Anantnag, May 6: One day programme was held in south Kashmir's Anantnag district under the banner of EJAC under the leadership of Syed Gulam Rasool Geelani and Ab Ahad Bandroo.
Hundreds of temporary and permanent employees participated in the programme and discussed their long pending issues.
While addressing the employees Syed Gulam Rasool Geelani and Ab Ahad Bandroo urged upon the government to resolve all the pending demands of temporary workers and government employees especially immediate regularisation of temporary workers under SRO 520 and immediate release of their pending wages.
Geelani and Bandroo also urged the state collation government to remove all the pay-anomalies of various cadres particularly clerical cadres.
They urged the government to de-link the SSA salary with state budget for regular disbursement of their salaries.
They appealed state government and higher authorities to make necessary amendments in the recruitment rules of Floriculture department for release of promotionary benefits of highly qualified employees and in other departments also because the promotion policy of non gazetted cadres have been kept in abeyance since decades.
EJAC appealed the employees to be United for a just cause…EJAC leadership condemned the civilian killings in Kashmir and urged India and Pakistan to initiate structural dialogue to provide PEACE a chance.


The Child patrolled the water as she clapped and sang.
She paused, looked down at the water to view the ocean floor.
"Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.
That Octavio needed time to go to the bottom of the ocean and come back seemed terribly long.
She sat upright on Lily Pad perpendicular to the ocean floor. The water, calm, she only had to look down; the sea beneath her. A tinge of blue came in sight and squibs landed on Lily Pad.
"Know so. Your happiness lies in your aspiration and determination to achieve your purpose, Child.
Did you hear about the octopus that escaped from its aquarium? He squished into a drain and no one expects to retrieve him. Maybe he'll meet Octavio someday . . .
Yes, I did hear about that incident. Octopi are very intelligent.
Some purposes are so simple and so necessary!
"Pat-a-Cake" brings back so many memories--of being a child and of playing with children. So very sweet.
This was one of my favorite nursery rhymes. And it always comes back to me.
Lovely! Octopi are so intelligent; it's amazing to me they only live two years at most, or so I've heard.
Yes, they are intelligent. Many people don't recognize that. And you can send me some of that lovely weather you're having.
Cute, Patricia. Employing the gifts we've been given, after first recognizing them and believing we can carry it out and that to not share our gifts with others is selfish. Regarding the food, in my life it seems that the role of Italians is to feed me. It doesn't always occur to me when I have guests that I might feed them. When I am a guest of an Italian, he or she always feeds me. You'd think I would've learned that lesson by now.
That's one of the traditions I love about Italy and Italians. They feed you whether you're hungry or not. So, I've learned not to eat anything before I visit an Italian family because I know they will feed me.
Thank you Liz for coming by and I am going to find your O post tonight.
Loved the regal picture, title, and the sweet story of the child and Prophet. Well done.
Thank you very much, Sheila. I am enjoying your blog so much too.
We always want to be what we are not.
Isn't that true, and once we become what we thought we wanted to become, we find out it is not so grand and want to be someone else.
Singing a song about pancakes when waiting for food would make my hunger worse too. Lovely scene!
Thank you. Sometimes the best way to overcome a difficult spot in your life is to sing a song.


2-6 in. (Zone 4) Low growing semi-evergreen foliage with blue flower spikes in May through early summer. Prefers partial shade. Does well in sunny area if soil is kept from drying out. Foliage is green, creamy white and pink tricolor.
8 in. (Zone 4) Deep blue flowers appear several weeks earlier that C.c. 'Blue Clips' with slightly smaller leaves.
5-7 in. (Zone 4) Low spreader for rock gardens and front of border plantings. Clumps of dark green foliage topped in summer by clusters of bright bluish purple flowers. Very compact hybrid. Similar to Campanula Blue Clips.
2 ft. (Zone 4) Low, spreading shrub with arching branches. Glossy green leaves turn bright red in fall. Tiny pink flowers in spring and red berries in late summer. Very tolerant of soil and light conditions. Great for bank plantings.
24-30 in. (Zone 5) Also known as Royal Beauty Cotoneaster. Low-growing variety with white flowers in May, followed by coral-colored berries in late summer through early winter. Grows in sun or partial shade. Semi-evergreen.
6-12 in (Zone 5) Often used as a ground cover. An abundance of scarlet-red berries provide sharp contrast against glossy semi-evergreen foliage. Dense, low-growing growth habit. Does well in sun or partial shade.
12-15 in. (Zone 4) A small-leafed, graceful groundcover shrub that offers white flowers. Rich green foliage turns deep burgundy in fall.
6-8 in. (Zone 5) Smaller leaved and lower growing than H. helix. Evergreen foliage is a rich, glossy dark green. Grows well in sun or shade. Popular and very hardy.
8-10 in. (Zone 5) Flowers from July through September with 2" yellow blooms. Foliage is semi-evergreen in protected locations or with adequate snow coverage. Does well in most any location.
4 in. (Zone 3) Dense, compact silvery-blue foliage on this ground-hugging plant. Very interesting addition to any landscape.
6-8 in. (Zone 4) Very low, ground-hugging evergreen. Striking golden-yellow foliage makes this a real eye-catcher. Tolerant of many soils except wet areas. Plant in full sun. Taken as a sport from Blue Rug Juniper.
10-15 in. (Zone 4) One of the best compact and full-centered, low-growing Junipers.
12 in. (Zone 5) A low, spreading evergreen with light green foliage. Very compact, becoming a thick green mat in time. Prefers full to part sun in well-drained soil.
4-6 in. (Zone 5) Even lower growing than J.p.nana. Its growth is compact, tufted and greener in color. Very dense foliage gives a cushion effect.
8-12 in. (Zone 3) A very dense form of J.s. 'Broadmoor.' Crisp, bright green foliage for a more refined appearance. Very similar to Broadmoor and Tam's Juniper.
6-8 in. (Zone 3-8) Blend of chartreuse, silver, medium-green and mint-green leaves. Mauve flowers. Spreads by underground stolons. Makes a good weed-smothering groundcover or mask for dying bulb foliage..
1-3 ft. (Zone 3) Celtic Pride's green foliage turns russet color in winter, very cold-hardy plant with better shade tolerance than junipers, good in sun or shade. Highly disease resistant, not plagued with tip die-back as other Russian cypress.
1 ft. (Zone 3) Extremely hardy low growing evergreen similar in appearance to some low growing Junipers. Lacy green foliage is green turning burgundy for winter and is shade and drought tolerant. Excellent ground cover for sun or shade.
8-10 in. (Zone 4) Popular evergreen ground cover for shady areas. Leaves are glossy green. White flowers in May.
6 in. (Zone 3) Bright flowers in early spring. Very low growing mat forming growth habit with bright green, dense, needle-like evergreen foliage is very attractive. We normally carry pink, blue, white, and red.
6 in. (Zone 3) Large ice-blue to gray succulent leaves on reddish stems. Bright rosy pink flowers in late summer and fall. Used in low masses, as an edger, or in rock gardens. Prefers sun to part sun in well-drained soil.
4-6 in. (Zone 4) Vigorous, mat forming, evergreen sedum with red stems and bronze-red leaves. Rose red flowers.
2-4 in. (Zone 4) Dark pink flowers in June cover dark green foliage. Evergreen in most areas.
4-8 in. (Zone 4) Trailing evergreen groundcover for sun or shade. Oval, glossy green foliage with lavender-blue flowers in May. ADVANCED ORDERS ONLY!
4 in. (Zone 4) Extremely low growing evergreen ground cover, a little more compact than W. fragrarioides. Strawberry-like foliage with yellow flowers in late spring and early summer. Very hardy and produces no fruit. Does well in sun or shade.


text:
Place-Based Learning
Technology, PBL, and Place-Based Education
A project- and placed-based learning school learns to use cutting-edge technology in the classroom while maintaining a close relationship to its stunning natural setting.
By Hannah Orcutt
Photo Credit: Vanessa Bergmann
TVCS 3rd and 4th grade students research fossils and rock types at Grand Targhee Resort, information that they included in their GPS Tour of Teton Valley.
Teton Valley Community School (TVCS), a pre-K through sixth grade school in Victor, Idaho, has embraced project- and place-based education since its inception 13 years ago. Our valley and its people are fundamental parts in our curriculum-integrated projects. This hands-on learning prepares students for 21st century citizenship, teaching skills like communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. However, we sometimes struggle to add technology into the equation. We recognize that in this fast-paced world, students must be educated in the latest technology, but how can we do this without losing their connection to place and their appreciation for the natural world?
Last year, two classes at TVCS found a way to combine place-based projects with cutting-edge technology, proving that the two are not mutually exclusive.
The Spark: Cool GPS Technology
On an early September field trip in 2013, TVCS third through sixth grade students spent the day exploring Grand Teton National Park with a GPS device that sits on the dashboard and talks about the passing landscape. For children growing up surrounded by ecological thinking and spectacular landscapes, this field trip could have been mundane, but the GPS unit brought the experience to life. What a cool way to learn about nature! On the way home, the buzz from the students was, "We need a guide like this for Teton Valley!"
Teachers at TVCS use student-driven questions to build projects, keeping students engaged while teachers facilitate the process. Many projects have a driving question that strives to fulfill a community need, as stewardship and service learning are integral to our mission. For this project, students aimed for an end result that would impact our community and beyond:
How can we, as historians and geologists, use technology to teach visitors about our valley?
During the planning phase, it became clear that both place-based research and technological know-how would be instrumental to completing this project.
The Research: Mining Our Community
To teach visitors about our valley, first the students would need to become experts themselves. This was a challenge because Teton Valley is not small! How would the students decide what to include in their technological tour? They went out into the valley to explore favorite spots and figure out what visitors might be most excited about learning. Thinking critically and sharing special locations with each other instilled a sense of pride. They analyzed all aspects of our valley, and landed upon two topics that make Teton Valley unique: our history and the underlying geology.
After deciding on these focus areas, the classes had to determine how they would gather this knowledge. Traditionally at TVCS, projects take advantage of the people, resources, and landscape around us. With teacher guidance, students identified community experts such as geologists and historians, and local museums like the Museum of the Mountain Man and the Teton Valley Museum to do their research. After numerous meetings and visits, extensive note taking, and writing and revising, the students were finally able to share their knowledge and recorded "stories" tied to different places all over the valley.
The Partnership: Local Mobile App Company
The students wanted to use technology to share their stories so that visitors would be just as excited to learn as they had been during their initial field trip with the GPS device. During the research phase, students marked their teaching locations throughout the valley with GPS points. Using Google Earth, they learned how to connect these points with their recorded audio and the photographs they took and located online. They now had a comprehensive "tour." However, the final goal of sharing this research with the public had yet to be realized.
After some research, the teachers discovered TravelStorysGPS™, an organization based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that partners with locals to create mobile app "tours." TravelStorysGPS agreed to publish our student-written tour! Now, people from all over the world can download and listen to the stories written and recorded by TVCS third through sixth grade students.
The Product: Teton Valley Student Tour
When students saw the app for the first time, their faces brimmed with pride and excitement. Their product and their learning came to life when they realized that people everywhere could listen to the stories they told about their home. This project also forged a pioneering relationship between TVCS and TravelStorysGPS. We are now working together to create a curriculum and share our project with other schools who may be interested in a similar endeavor.
TravelStorysGPS founder and CEO, Story Clark, spoke highly of the final product and the partnership between the organizations:
I have always wanted to involve students in [our] story development because of their enthusiasm for mobile technology and its great potential for education. [Teton Valley Community School]… found my platform and incorporated its architecture into their place-based curriculum.
During this project, we learned that it's possible to use cutting-edge technology in the classroom while maintaining a close relationship to place and the natural world. We'd love to hear how other schools are integrating technology and place in their classrooms!
Project-Based Learning (PBL)


Asking for help has always been hard for me. For some reason I have often seen asking for help as a sign of weakness. I have overcome this feeling more and in my professional life, but it is still difficult for me to ask for help in my personal life. I think that I can lift things by myself that I really can't (which lead to no end of people yelling at me when I was pregnant). I assume responsibility for watching my son and cooking a meal at the same time when the G-man is actually available to help – but I don't want to ask. We have marvelous friends and neighbors that offer to baby-sit, but I don't want to ask when we need it, because I don't want to feel like I am relying on someone else. I know that this is ridiculous, but it is the way I think. I'm trying to get over it because I know that it truly takes a village to raise a child, and my child is no exception. So I'm going to try and ask for help at least once a week, even if it is just asking the G-man to watch our little guy, or asking a neighbor to listen to the baby monitor while the G-man and I go out at night. And I'm going to try and remember that asking for this help is a strength, not a weakness.
One of the reasons I'm writing about the difficulty I have asking for help is because LP is starting to refuse our help – but in a good way! As LP does more and more tasks on his own he also wants to be more and more independent. He has never been one for hand-holding (literally and figuratively) but now he wants to do more and more things by himself. He has been able to go down stairs by crawling backwards for a while, but recently he has figured out how to use the banister to get down the first few stairs in our house. But he definitely doesn't want our help doing it. He makes sure I'm standing several steps below him before he starts walking down, and he stops and shakes my hand off if I try and help him. LP also wants to be in charge of his food. Just yesterday he was enjoying some greens and caramelized onion pizza, but he did not want the G-man to cut up pieces for him. Instead he enjoyed the whole slice while walking around at his leisure.


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Dances of Death (And Other Walking Shadows) è il quarto album in studio del gruppo musicale Mekong Delta, pubblicato il 1990. La traccia conclusiva, Night on a Bare Mountain, è la rivisitazione in chiave progressive thrash del celebre classico di Modest Petrovič Musorgskij Una notte sul Monte Calvo.

Tracce

Formazione
 Doug Lee - voce
 Uwe B. - chitarra
 Björn Eklund - basso, chitarra acustica
 Gordon Perkins - batteria

Collegamenti esterni


TidalCycles is a free/open source live coding environment for music, used by thousands of people around the world, and instigated by one of our directors Alex McLean. There is a free monthly Tidal club in Sheffield organised Lucy Cheesman and Alex, often hosted in our labs, with related Eulerroom performance events live in Access Space and streamed online. Get involved!
Previous Project Hannah Directory – Sheffield Launch!


Polar King outdoor walk-in coolers are designed specifically for outdoor applications requiring refrigerated storage. Available for through the wall applications or freestanding, each Polar King unit is built with our patented fiberglass construction.
Polar King outdoor walk-in freezers are designed specifically for outdoor applications requiring refrigerated storage. Available for through the wall applications or freestanding, each Polar King unit is built with our patented fiberglass construction.
Years of experience and expertise has allowed Polar King to expand our manufacturing methods to many items outside of the standard walk-in cooler or walk-in freezer application. In fact, the number of projects for specialty use continues to expand on an annual basis. Polar King can also provide freezer and cooler storage units for hazardous (classified) locations use. Whether you need a standard explosion proof freezer unit or a customized freezer unit, we can take care of your requirements.


We all possess inner strength, fortitude, and confidence. However, all too often owning and using these traits are two very different things. Dr. Deb. Carlin is known for guiding clients, organizations, and individuals, to achieve the critical integration of their personal and professional life. This brand of self-improvement strategy requires finding your inner strength. In Build The Strength Within, you are taken through a series of eleven self-assessments, each designed to bring light to your strengths and weaknesses. After you have completed your personal evaluation, you are introduced to options for specific plans of action to utilize as you build your unique Blueprint for a Successfully Intentional and Integrated Life™.
Build The Strength Within is organized into five sections based on the video series, The Series 16: The Strength Within© where Dr. Deb. blends personal experience, theory, and data while underscoring the importance of a clear and intentional life plan. This step-by-step self-improvement process enables you to build your dream life with actionable goals to help you achieve it. Eleven self-assessments and eleven plans of action all culminate in an exercise to build your blueprint. The intent is for you to map it, build it, and renovate your self-improvement plan when appropriate.
Stop wasting time, your best life awaits you.
View a sneak peek of "Build the Strength Within"
Dr. Deb has designed a blueprint for a successfully intentional & integrated life. Read the book and fill out the blueprint, self assessment cards as you go.


Squid compiles on Mac OS X. However, there are some steps required before following the general build instructions.
From Mac OS X, run the "AppStore" application.
Locate "Xcode", Apple's development environment.
Bring up the "Downloads" tab.
Under "Components" click the "Install" button for "Command Line Tools".
Launch "Terminal", usually located in the "Utilities" folder under "Applications".
Run "gcc --version". Manually verify this produces sane output.
From this point, the general build instructions should be all you need.
It is worth noting this platform doesn't support EUI. The --enable-eui ./configure will cause build errors.


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By Robinson Meyer,
They might even be greener than electric ones.
It has a sleek black pill of a body, with two rigid, white arms sprouting from its sides. It looks, in other words, like an iPad had a baby with a crop duster, or like a Volkswagen Bug from a future designed by Bjork. In the video, it sits on a small, square tarmac, surrounded by grass, then begins to purr and buzz. In a nearby hangar, a group of attractive young Germans stands and watches intently.
And then, slowly, the vibrating thing rises from the ground. Several feet of air open between its body and the tarmac. It is flying. It has neither a small plane's propeller, nor a helicopter's immense rotor, nor a drone's spidery appendages. Yet it is flying all the same.
On Thursday, the German start-up Lilium announced that it had completed its first test of that strange and buzzing vehicle, the five-seater Jet. By the middle of the next decade, Lilium claims, reserving a seat on one will be as easy as hailing an Uber.
The successful flight puts Lilium near the front of a pack of companies that hope to fill the sky with small electric aircraft. These companies see themselves as a key part of humanity's climate-friendly future: At distances of more than 40 miles, such vehicles may even be better for the environment than electric cars. In the industry, the vehicles are known as electric VTOLs, short for "vertical takeoff and landing" vehicles.
But everyone calls them by a far more romantic name: flying cars.
The video, which Lilium says was shot on May 4, near its Munich headquarters, shows the Jet's sole test so far. In the roughly 15 seconds of footage, the five-seater does not rise more than a few feet off the ground. It does not carry any passengers: A licensed pilot stood on the ground during the test and controlled the Jet remotely. And it does not fly either forward or backward—though Remo Gerber, Lilium's chief commercial officer, says its smaller test models have done so.
But the company says the test nonetheless represents a major milestone because the five-seat model will "serve as a template for mass production," according to a spokeswoman for Lilium.
Eventually, Lilium hopes to use a fleet of five-seaters to ferry customers around metropolitan areas or between cities. It claims that flights booked through its app will be price-competitive with major airlines, but require far less infrastructure investment than an airport. A Jet requires only "a heliport type of structure, plus parking spaces around it," Gerber told me. "It's nowhere near comparable to any rail or road investments."
"We are very confident that we will have it in a number of different cities by 2025," Gerber said. He envisions Jets linking New York to Boston, Philadelphia, or the Hamptons. A flight between downtown Manhattan and John F. Kennedy International Airport would cost $70 and take only six minutes, he says. The same trip today by taxi takes at least an hour, but costs about the same.
At least 16 companies are trying to build electric flying cars or taxis, according to Transport Up, a news site that follows the budding industry. And Wiredreports that a number of companies have already discreetly met to plan regulatory change. But only a handful have made successful test flights. Vahana, a start-up owned by the European aerospace conglomerate Airbus, says that it has made 50 test flights with its full-scale model, totaling more than five hours of flying time. Both the U.S. giant Boeing and the Silicon Valley–based start-up Kitty Hawk have completed test flights of smaller VTOLs.
Lilium stands out by promising a far longer range than most of its competitors. While many companies say their VTOLs will travel 60 miles on a single charge, Lilium says (but has yet to prove) that it can eke out 185 miles. "We don't have a magical battery," Gerber said, adding that the Jet's solid-body wings and dozens of small electric motors allow it to cruise while using little energy.
Greg Keoleian, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, could not comment on Lilium's specific range claim, but he agreed that VTOLs are more efficient when cruising forward than when hovering. In a paper published last month, Keoleian and his colleagues found that a fully loaded flying car could be more efficient than an electric car at a distance of more than 60 miles. Flying cars are more efficient—and emit less carbon pollution—than gasoline-burning cars when going longer than 21 miles.
While it's hard to know whether flying cars will ever become a commercial reality, they could help solve a major climate problem. Aviation, which makes up about 2 percent of global carbon emissions, will be one of the hardest parts of the economy to decarbonize. Scientists have yet to invent a cheap renewable fuel as dense with energy as the jet fuel burned by massive airliners. Although even Lilium doubts that its battery-powered taxis will ever be a substitute for long-haul air travel, they could eventually replace the short hops made by commuters and business travelers.
Keoleian told me that the results were surprising, but that they made a certain amount of sense: It is much more energy-efficient to cruise forward through air than it is to drive, but hovering is very energy-inefficient. If you cruise far enough, eventually it becomes worthwhile. Even if Lilium debuts a New York–to–JFK flight, it will still be many times as expensive as just taking the subway.
"You don't want to displace mass transit or public transit systems, which are very efficient," he told me. "And you don't want to encourage sprawl."
Flying cars were best for avoiding circuitous driving routes, he said, or to avoid congestion. There is also no traffic in the sky—at least not yet.
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This Day in Aviation
Important Dates in Aviation History
Tag Archives: YF-24B
19 November 1999, 22:30 UTC
November 19, 2021 Space FlightChina National Space Administration, CNSA, Elliptical Orbit, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Area, Long March 2F, Low Earth Orbit, Manned Space Flight, Project 921-1, Shenzhou, YF-20B, YF-24B, 国家航天局, 神舟一號, 长征二号F火箭Bryan Swopes
神舟一号飞船 (Shenzhou 1) launch, 19 November 1999. (China National Space Administration)
19 November 1999, 22:30 UTC (20 November, 6:30 a.m., CST): The China National Space Administration ( 国家航天局 ) launched 神舟一號 (Shenzhou 1), an unmanned Project 921-1 spacecraft, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Area aboard a 长征二号F火箭, (Changzheng or "Divine Arrow") two-stage rocket. Shenzhou 1 was placed into a Low Earth Orbit ranging from 195 kilometers (121 miles) to 315 kilometers (196 miles).
The vehicle completed 14 orbits. It successfully deorbited and reentered Earth's atmosphere. The Shenzhou reentry module landed in Inner Mongolia, 20 November at 19:41 UTC. The duration of the flight was 21 hours, 11 minutes.
The Shenzhou 1 spacecraft was not fully operational and it differed in several ways from the manned space vehicles that followed. The primary purpose of this flight was a test of the man-rated Long March 2F rocket.
The Shenzhou spacecraft is similar to the Russian Federation's Soyuz from which it was developed, although it is larger. Shenzhou vehicles are 9.25 meters (30 feet, 4.2 inches) long and 2.80 meters (9 feet, 2.2 inches) in diameter. The spacecraft has a mass of 7,840 kilograms (17,284 pounds). There are three modules: the orbital module, reentry module and service module. The vehicle is designed for three people for flights of up to 20 days duration.
An unidentified Shenzhou/Long March 2F launch from the Jiuquan Sateliite Launch Area. (CNSA)
The Changzheng is known as the Long March 2F in the West. It is a two-stage liquid-fueled rocket with external boosters.
The first stage is 23.7 meters (77 feet, 9.6 inches) long with a diameter of 3.35 meters (10 feet, 11.9 inches). It is powered by four YF-20B engines (clustered as a YF-21B unit) which use hypergolic fuels. The four "strap-on" boosters use the same engines. The boosters are 15.6 meters (51 feet, 2.2 inches) long and 2.25 meters (7 feet, 4.6 inches) in diameter. With all eight engines running, the total rated thrust is 1,331,140 pounds (5,921.206 kilonewtons) at Sea Level. The boosters' burn time is 2 minutes, 8 seconds, while the primary engines burn for 38 seconds longer.
The second stage is 15.52 meters (50 feet, 11 inches) long and the same diameter as the first stage. It uses one YF-24B unit, consisting of one YF-22B and four YF-23B engines. The second stage uses the same hypergolic fuel as the first stage. This stage is rated at 177,240 pounds of thrust (788,403 kilonewtons) at Sea Level and burns for 5 minutes. The Long March 2F is capable of lifting a 8,400 kilograms (18,519 pounds) payload into Low Earth Orbit.
Satellite image of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Area, Inner Mongolia, 18 December 2012. The vertical assembly building is in the lower half of the photograph, with two launch pads in the upper half. (Bloomberg/DigitalGlobe via Getty Images)
© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes
28 January 1986, 16:39:13 UTC, T+1:13.162
Francis Stanley Gabreski (28 January 1919–31 January 2002)
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Work of Hannah's Hope Fund spurs human study for rare disease cure
TU Plus // TU Plus Local & State
Clifton Park mother's work prompts NIH study of gene therapy for rare disease
Claire Hughes
1of8Hannah Sames, 10, left, and her mother, Lori Sames, at their home on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, in Clifton Park, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)Cindy SchultzShow MoreShow Less
2of8Hannah Sames, 10, at her home on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, in Clifton Park, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)Cindy SchultzShow MoreShow Less
5of8Hannah Sames, 10, center, with her mother, Lori Sames, left, and father, Matt Sames, at their home on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, in Clifton Park, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)Cindy SchultzShow MoreShow Less
7of8Hannah Sames, 10, with her dog Jake at her home on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, in Clifton Park, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)Cindy SchultzShow MoreShow Less
Lori Sames started crying Friday morning, right at the Panera Bread in town where she was using the Wi-Fi, when she saw the posting on the National Institutes of Health website.
The first-ever study in people to determine the safety of gene therapy for the rare disease her daughter suffers from had been launched. Researchers were looking for participants. It said so right there on ClinicalTrials.gov.
And it only happened because of Sames' own work over the last seven years.
"Tears were rolling down my cheek," Sames said. "Tears of joy that finally there's an experimental trial that's active for this disease."
Dr. Douglas Sproule, a Columbia University researcher engaged in an earlier study of that disease, giant axonal neuropathy, said in an email that the clinical trial was a "truly tremendous (and frankly, unbelievable) accomplishment by a middle class upstate family that demonstrates the power of passion and persistence to move mountains."
Such a study has been the dream of Sames and her husband, Matt, whose 10-year-old daughter Hannah suffers from GAN.
The rare, progressive disease is an inherited condition that results in progressive nerve death.
This causes problems with walking and sometimes with eating, breathing and other activities.
Patients typically become quadriplegics, dependent on a feeding tube and ventilator before dying in their 20s or 30s.
The Sameses learned Hannah had GAN in March 2008. The diagnosis led them to form Hannah's Hope Fund to raise money to find a cure for the disease.
As Sames saw it, they didn't have much choice. When she began teaching herself about GAN, she found just one scientist, in France, receiving funding to research a cure.
"When you have a rare disease, ultra-rare like GAN, pharmaceutical companies aren't interested in expensive drug development," she said. "The onus is left on the families."
Sames wasted no time. By August of 2008, she had organized the first-ever symposium on GAN, bringing together 22 scientists to discuss everything known about the illness.
It was the start of her own education, said Sames, who had no background in medicine.
Just two months later, Hannah's Hope Fund supported its first study, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, seeking an effective way to get a needed, functioning gene into the cells of a person with GAN.
Hannah's Hope Fund has supported one study after another ever since, through $6.5 million raised from the foundation's headquarters in the Sameses' Rexford kitchen. (Their bare-bones overhead means about 97 percent of donations go to research, Sames said.) The charity has galvanized a community of families dealing with GAN and garnered donations from the likes of Doris Buffett, sister of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, among others.
In an interview Friday afternoon, Sames said she felt a range of emotions. She called the milestone of launching a clinical trial "a miracle," then noted that even if it was successful, there'd be more work to do. "We're nearly broke again," she said.
The clinical trial is not for healthy volunteers, but only those with GAN, at least 5 years old. Participants must live for two months within 100 miles of NIH in Bethesda, Md., undergo a battery of medical tests and be monitored over 15 years. They will have a gene, packed in a modified virus, injected by spinal tap.
"Participants safety is not guaranteed," the ClinicalTrials.gov notice reads.
Researchers are seeking 20 participants. Sames thinks many families whose children have GAN will sign up.
"All the GAN families are so relieved that we're at this point, and the families that meet the inclusion of criteria for phase 1, they're excited," Sames said. "But they're also hesitant."
Hannah Sames cannot participate in the first phase of the trial, because she has a mutation that would cause her body to reject the gene being inserted, Gigaxonin, as a foreign substance.
The fifth-grader will be 11 next month. She mostly uses a wheelchair to get around, but can still walk with an adult's support on each arm, so the Sameses make sure she does that at least twice a day. She gets lots of physical therapy and occupational therapy.
Most importantly, Sames said, Hannah can still move her toes. In the way the mother-turned-rare-disease-expert now talks, Sames explained, "She still has some distal muscle-innervating fibers." Translation: The nerves farthest from Hannah's brain are still stimulating her muscles. That's critical, because the gene therapy being tested won't re-create nerves that have died, Sames said. It will only help restore function to nerves that are still firing.
Sames is nonetheless realistic about how much Hannah's GAN has progressed in seven years. The clinical trial is expected to be completed in April 2021.
"It's literally down to the wire, it couldn't be any closer to the line for Hannah time-wise," Sames said. "We're really trying to hurry."
chughes@timesunion.com • 518-454-5417 • @hughesclaire
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Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch is eyeing an Upper East Side home known for hosting the likes of Andy Warhol and Liza Minnelli.
The home, located at 101 East 63rd Street, is listed for $40 million and belonged to fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick, known only as "Halston." Artist Gunter Sachs was the most recent owner. The home was listed for $38.5 million after Sachs' death in 2011, but a buyer never materialized.
According to the New York Post, the home is known for its storied party guests, which included Andy Warhol, supermodel Pat Cleveland, Liza Minnelli and other so-called "Halstonettes," a term used to describe Halston's cadre of models and artists.


The Original Generation Flageolet is accurately tuned, delivers an easy response, and plays with a full tone.
Improved pattern in nickel plated or lacquered brass finish, incorporating a mouthpiece of colored, hygenic plastic. Accurately tuned, easy response, and full tone. Instructions are supplied with each instrument.


Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is fishing for possible recruits to its cyber security teams with plans for a Cyber Insiders summer school aimed at computer science students.
Set to run from 6 July to 11 September, the course is aimed at first or second year university students with an interest in cyber who are skilled in at least one computer language. As an incentive, the organisation is offering to pay £2,500 and provide accommodation close to its Cheltenham centre for anyone attending the course.
A GCHQ statement said it is part of an ongoing effort to recruit computer scientists.
The course will involve working with a range of technologies, including legacy systems and mobile technology, and deal with skill sets such as cyber security, ethical hacking, penetration testing and security networks. It will culminate in a live exercise.
A spokesperson said the summer school provides an opportunity for students to enhance their skills and learn about GCHQ's work in the field.
"They'll not only enhance their cyber knowledge, but completing the programme will also look good on their CV and, if they prove their abilities, we may even offer them a job interview," the spokesperson said.


This topic contains 10 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Raymond 3 months, 1 week ago.
The additionalnotesdetail table is a mess. I have one customer with 10 notes (NoteID values of 0 through 9) but OpenSync has created 5,208 records with those same 10 NoteID numbers repeated hundreds of times each. To be clear, the problem is with all customers, not just one customer.
My guess is that the problem is due to the fact that the table doesn't have a primary key. Each customer (IDKEY) should only have one entry in the table for each NoteID value.
Perhaps if you used a composite primary key from NoteID and IDKEY fields?
Which version of OpenSync and QuickBooks are you using?
QuickBooks Enterprise 18 and OpenSync 3.0.18.
I did see that version 3.0.19 is available but it appears to be a minor upgrade with just 2 bug fixes—unrelated to my problem.
I hate to be a pest but this seems like a pretty easy fix—add a primary key to the table to avoid creating duplicate records.
This same customer has now grown to 6,308 records in the additionalnotesdetail table despite having only 10 unique Notes!
The table has nearly 60,000 records in total which exceeds the size of any other table and just keeps growing.
Is anyone looking into this problem?
Can I get an update on this problem? Thanks.
All this "Addional" tables are a mess i never used them.
If I was you I would remove it from the list of table syncs and use other fields that are more reliable.
like Memo field. seem to work well.
I have to use it because my users have notes in the QuickBooks additionalnotesdetail table that they want me to access.
We will work on that for the next version. Sorry for the trouble on this table.
Great. Looking forward to the fix.


The field of astronomy education is rapidly growing beyond merely sharing effective activities or curriculum ideas. This paper categorizes and summarizes the literature in astronomy education research and contains more than 100 references to articles, books, and Web-based materials. Research into student understanding on a variety of topics now occupies a large part of the literature. Topics include the shape of Earth and gravity, lunar phases, seasons, astrobiology, and cosmology. The effectiveness of instructional methods is now being tested systematically, taking data beyond the anecdotal with powerful research designs and statistical analyses. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed- methods approaches have found their places in the researcher's toolbox. In all cases, the connection between the research performed and its effect on classroom instruction is largely lacking.