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Sandoval's Gross Receipts BLT won't improve education
Governor's plan to spend more is déjà vu
(Victor Joecks of NPRI) – To pitch his plan for a modified version of the margin tax before the Nevada Legislature, Gov. Brian Sandoval invited former governors Robert List, Richard Bryan and Bob Miller to sit before the Senate and Assembly Taxation Committees, meeting jointly.
After Sandoval's prepared statement, the ex-governors, in chorus, sang support of the Gross Receipt Business License Tax. Yet the governors spent most of their time talking, not about the tax, but about how the new money was needed for additional education spending.
Unavoidably, this raises the question: If each of you cared so much about education, why didn't you fix it when you were governor?
Each of those former governors did care about education when in office. What they didn't mention, however, was that they attempted to improve education the same way that Sandoval is attempting now — by spending more.
In 1983, when Gov. Bryan took office, Nevada's inflation-adjusted per-pupil education spending was $4,859, according to Nevada's non-partisan Legislative Counsel Bureau. When he left office, it was $5,737.
In his 1987 State of the State speech, he boasted, "Since 1984, Nevada has increased the money dedicated to our public schools by nearly 50 percent, more than any other state."
When Gov. Miller took over in 1989, inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending was $5,964. When he left office in 1998, it had grown to $7,239.
In one of his State of State addresses he declared: "Over 61 percent of all new revenues in my budget go to education … I propose increasing education funding by $96 million."
None of the governors — unfortunately — acknowledged that their successful efforts to raise spending had failed to improve Nevada education. None acknowledged that tens of thousands of Nevada children suffered because of the mistaken belief that shoveling ever more dollars into the control of the public-education establishment would improve education.
Instead, they urged lawmakers to follow their own failed examples and spend even more — despite Nevada's inflation-adjusted, per-pupil spending having now grown to $8,781 in 2011, according to the latest data available.
To finance this spending spree, Sandoval wants his aforementioned Gross Receipts BLT.
Recognizing the inherent problems with gross receipts taxation — including how destructive it is to industries with high volume and low margins — Sandoval's scheme prescribes different rates for different industries, while excluding some forms of revenue.
Those changes mitigate some of the problems with gross receipt taxes, but serious problems are simply inherent in gross receipt taxation, including tax pyramiding and taxing the revenue of businesses already losing money.
It's for these reasons the Tax Foundation has written, "There is no sensible case for gross receipts taxation."
In Texas, from which Sandoval modeled his Gross-Receipts BLT, the 2007 imposition of the margin tax devastated small businesses. According to a 2008 survey of small businesses conducted by NFIB/Texas, the margin tax caused around 20 percent of small businesses to lay off employees and another third to delay hiring new employees. Three percent of small businesses closed entirely.
Ironically, while Sandoval is holding Texas' margin tax up as a model, Texas legislators just heard SB105, which would repeal the margin tax entirely.
These realities stand in stark contrast to the businesses that testified in support of the Gross Receipts BLT. Those businesses generally fell into two categories. First there were businesses with a large number of employees who prefer the Gross Receipts BLT to an increase in the job-killing Modified Business Tax. Second are businesses that are currently receiving or desire to receive special privileges from government. SolarCity, for instance, which got a seven-figure taxpayer subsidy to come to Nevada, testified that it was willing to pay additional taxes.
Large and small business owners — at least those who aren't receiving government subsidies — have publicly and privately stated that the Gross Receipts BLT would force them to layoff employees, close or move out of state.
Ironically, it's Sandoval who four years ago identified the core problem with Nevada K-12 education, saying he knew "that education isn't just about the money. What matters most is not how much we spend on education, but how well we spend it."
Fundamental reforms — ending collective bargaining, enacting universal school choice and ending social promotion — will enable Nevada to spend its already ample education dollars well.
And that will allow us to increase student achievement without raising taxes.
A version of this commentary was originally published in Las Vegas Review-Journal.
NPRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that produces and shares ideas and information that empowers people. For more information, please visit www.NPRI.org.
Abandoning U.S. Sugar Program would be Economic Suicide
Nevada local government employees are not underpaid, according to national scholars


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Brian Boyle: An Oldie But a Goodie
After a year away from the NHL, Boyle's throwback style of play – if not his taste in music – is a welcome addition in the Penguins dressing room this season.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
By Shelly Anderson
Not to suggest Brian Boyle is getting up there, but Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Brian Dumoulin, the dressing room DJ, has made some accommodations for Boyle this season by adding "some older music for him and songs he knows" to the playlist.
Boyle, who turns 37 in December, readily admits his musical tastes skew differently from what many of his younger teammates listen to. "I think some of the new, trendier, 20-something music is hit or miss for me," Boyle said. "My dad had control of the music when I was in the car going to hockey and stuff. I guess you could say I was cultured that way, listening to a lot of Billy Joel and Don McLean. We'd get some Meat Loaf. When we really wanted to get jacked up, we'd get some Bonnie Tyler '(Holding Out For) A Hero.' "
Rockin' stuff.
Tunes aside, Boyle is like a kid again – albeit a big one – serving as the Penguins' fourth-line center after going without a gig last season. He accepted a professional tryout with the Pens for training camp, and to the surprise of no one who paid attention, he eventually earned a one-year, $750,000 deal with the club.
Near the end of an early-season practice, Boyle drifted out of character and did his best Sidney Crosby impersonation when he pulled a between-the-legs move to beat goalie Casey DeSmith in tight. He accepted high fives as he high-stepped toward the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex blueline.
"I'm just so thrilled to be here," Boyle said. He added that after sitting out last season and not knowing if he'd get another shot in the NHL, getting a call from the Penguins was extra enticing because, "I've been close a couple times to winning. I really, really want to have a chance to get back in the playoffs and have a chance to win."
Pittsburgh is the eighth NHL landing spot for Boyle, an L.A. Kings 2003 first-rounder who's skated more than 900 combined regular-season and playoff games. During his journey, he beat chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare cancer of the bone marrow. That fight earned him the 2018 Masterton Trophy.
Boyle brings the experience and savviness of a veteran, a player who can reliably execute a two-way game, kill penalties, take draws and create net-front havoc. He's someone who has leadership qualities – and size. As in 6-foot-6, 245 pounds and unafraid to throw it around.
The Penguins have seemed to need that kind of physical presence for years, but when then-GM Jim Rutherford brought in Ryan Reaves in June 2017, coach Mike Sullivan barely used him, and Reaves lasted less than a season before he was shipped out of town.
But Boyle isn't Reaves, and Sullivan has embraced the Pens' newest signee. "I know he was motivated to play last year, and he didn't get the opportunity," Sullivan said. "I do think that when a player goes through that type of experience, and Brian is a smart guy, he gets it, it offers that player a certain perspective. He doesn't take one day for granted. You can see the passion in his body language. He loves to play. He loves to be around the team. His influence on the rest of the group has been great in that regard."
Boyle has made sacrifices for this opportunity, primarily living away from his family during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wife Lauren, son Declan and daughter Isabella are based in his hometown of Hingham, Mass. "When they come here, they take precautions," Boyle said. "They test before they get here, they test when they're here, they test when they get home. We probably kind of go a little bit overboard with it, but I've still got to see them."
Although Boyle is Pittsburgh's elder statesman by two weeks over Jeff Carter, he tends to evoke an earlier generation. He is the only visorless Pen. He plays a heavier game, not so much the speed-based style that is de rigueur.
And he's more of a Billy Joel guy than a Billie Eilish aficionado. But he'll listen to anything if it means being back in the NHL. "There's all different kinds of music I'm into," Boyle said. "If it's at a good decibel level and the guys are in there ready to play, I get excited either way."
NHLpittsburgh penguins

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Are you about to start a large move? We all know how some objects may be bigger and bulkier than others. This is why we designed the "Multi-strap pack". The "Multi-strap pack" features three moving straps, all different lengths - 8', 12', and 16'. When used with the ShoulderDolly, you will be able to move almost any object, no matter the size.


DAILY RECORD star Mr Fixit (@mrfixittps) shares his best bets from Saturday's Scottish Cup action.
Dundee United will fancy their chances at St Mirren having signed 11 players in the transfer window. It will take time for them to settle in but there were positive signs in last week's victory against Morton.
One of United's best captures was Cammy Smith from St Mirren and he'll be keen to remind Oran Kearney what he can do.
Saints overcame a banana skin in the last round of the Scottish Cup when their 10 men came back from 2-0 down to beat Alloa. But they are back on the basement after losing at home to Motherwell in midweek and could struggle against a rejuvenated United.
Saints' last six games have all gone Over 2.5 Goals and I like same again at 17/20 with Marathon.
League One promotion chasers Raith will be out to enjoy their trip to Hibs but haven't won in seven visits to Easter Road.
Hibs will edge it but 6/5 at William Hill for both scoring looks good with managerless-Hibs leaking goals and Raith having netted in 20 games running.


text:
// C++ General Utility Library (mailto:cgul@zethes.com)
// Copyright (C) 2012-2014, Joshua Brookover and Amber Thrall
// All rights reserved.

/** @file Node.hpp
 */

#pragma once
#include <CGUL/Config.hpp>
#include "../Utility/String.hpp"
#include "../Math/Matrix.hpp"
#include "../Math/Vector3.hpp"
#include "../External/Defines.hpp"

namespace CGUL
{
    namespace Assimp
    {
        class Node
        {
            _CGUL_AINODE node;
        public:
            _CGUL_EXPORT Node(_CGUL_AINODE node);

            _CGUL_EXPORT String GetName() const;

            _CGUL_EXPORT Matrix GetTransformation() const;

            _CGUL_EXPORT Node GetParent() const;
            _CGUL_EXPORT UInt32 GetChildrenCount() const;
            _CGUL_EXPORT UInt32 GetMeshesCount() const;

            _CGUL_EXPORT Node GetChild(UInt32 index) const;
            _CGUL_EXPORT UInt32 GetMesh(UInt32 index) const;

            _CGUL_EXPORT Node FindNode(String name);
        };
    }
}

#include "../External/Undefines.hpp"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
"Who Do You Think You Are?" - Reba McEntire
I am obviously way behind on my schedule this week! Too many things to do prevented me from writing this sooner. But I did see the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? with Reba McEntire. I was looking forward to it, as I am a big country music fan and enjoy her songs very much. But the program was disappointing in several ways.
The opening overview described McEntire as the queen of country and the best-selling country artist of all time. Her husband is Narvel Blackstock, and she has a son named Shelby. Her family background is Oklahoma cowboys, and she credits growing up in the man's world of ranching and rodeo for preparing her for running her own businesses. When she wrote her autobiography she learned about her father's side of the family, but not her mother's. McEntire said she wanted to go as far back as possible and learn about the first person who came to North America. Then she said something that came out very oddly: In some parts of Europe, such as Ireland and Scotland, she felt "at home", but in England she felt "on guard." It sounded like really bad scripting, but I guess that could have been her honest sentiment. Considering how WDYTYA drops hints like sledgehammers, this pretty much meant that she was going to go to England.
McEntire began her journey by going to visit her parents' ranch in Stringtown, Oklahoma. Her father did not appear in the program and was not mentioned at all in the present tense. This seemed odd, considering how much he seemed to have been a part of McEntire's life, but nothing was said about him having passed away or her parents being divorced. McEntire spoke of her maternal grandmother, Reba Estelle Brassfield Smith, and how she was doing the research for her mother, who had moved to Nashville to support her desire to pursue a career in country music.
Jackie, McEntire's mother, showed some photos. One was of McEntire's father, Clark, who was a work champion steer roper. Another showed Reba Brassfield Smith holding Reba McEntire when she was a baby. Then she showed a photo of her grandparents, B. W. and Susie Brassfield, with their children, including Reba. Jackie mentioned that B. W. had died of tuberculosis. She said the family had had a store because B. W. had not been able to do physical work. I'd like to know who was doing all the lifting and stocking, because running a store was definitely physical! Jackie also mentioned that they had been in Monroe County, Mississippi.
McEntire brought out a laptop computer and told her mother she was going to look online with a "little thing called Ancestry.com", which sounded incredibly hokey. She found Reba Brassfield in Monroe County in 1910 as a 6-year-old girl with her widowed mother, Susie. Even though a year had not been stated for the photo of the Brassville family, McEntire said that B. W. had died not long after the photo had been taken. She then tried looking for B. W. in the 1900 census (at least that was logical). She didn't find him, but I found an index entry for the marriage of B. W. Brassfield and Susan Raper using her same search. You'd think that would be worth mentioning? Apparently not, because McEntire said, "He's not here," and her mother replied, "You'll just have to go down there and look." McEntire said in a voice-over that she had hit a "bit of a dead end in our online search." Say what? You can't find something on your first attempt, so it's already a dead end? Geez, it took me less than five minutes to find him in the 1900 census (the B apparently was for Barney).
So off McEntire went to the Evans Memorial Library in Aberdeen, Mississippi (which is in Monroe County, even though they didn't say so) to meet with a genealogist. While she was waiting she paged through a book of early 1900's obituaries but didn't find B. W. She said again she was at a dead end; that's right, one lack of results and it's a dead end again. But I guess it is a dead end if you don't actually try.
Then the genealogist, Josh Taylor, walked up. Last season, while he was still with the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, he researched Ashley Judd's family. He was credited as D. Joshua Taylor and wore a suit for that segment; he was decidedly less formal-looking in this episode. I don't know if this episode was filmed before Taylor started working for BrightSolid, a competitor with Ancestry.com for commercial presentation of censuses online. He told McEntire that it had taken a little work to find her relatives, and then laughed and said it had actually taken a lot of work. Instead of showing or even discussing any of the that work, however, he merely unrolled a scroll (which was the same style as the one he had for Judd) which showed McEntire's family going back to her fourth great-grandfather George Brasfield. Poof! It's magic! Ask for your family tree and it shall appear. Documentation? Don't be silly.
Taylor told McEntire that her great-grandfather B. W. Brasfield had died September 12, 1906, that he had been a farmer (but nothing was said of the fact that this disagreed with the family information about a store), and that he did not have an obituary. There was a little bit of discussion on the different spelling of the family name, but it didn't address the fact that spelling consistently simply wasn't expected. George was apparently born about 1765 in Wake County, North Carolina. Passing mention was made of the fact that he was born before the American Revolution and would have grown up during the war, but nothing else was said about that. McEntire asked if Taylor hadn't been able to pinpoint the town Brasfield was from. Taylor said that interesting things had happened in Wake County and maybe she ought to visit. Along with the poor scripting, the segment seemed very stilted and forced.
But off McEntire went to Raleigh, North Carolina, which is in Wake County. She met with Phil Otterness, a North Carolina historian and a professor at Warren Wilson College. He showed her a plan for the city of Raleigh with George Brasfield listed on lot #15. Land records from 1846-1849 indicated George had died and dealt with the Brasfield old tavern lot. Then, in property tax lists from 1781-1860, George Brasfield was listed in 1810 as owning more than 1,600 acress and 10 black slaves. This startled McEntire, who wanted to know if Brasfield had treated his slaves well. Otterness told her more records about slaves were available at the Granville County courthouse and she could find more information there.
On her way to the courthouse McEntire talked about how finding out that her ancestor had been a slave owner was giving her a different perspective on that time in history. At the courthouse she met with another North Carolina historian, Harry Watson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They looked on the computer (on GenealogyBank.com, though the company name was not shown; don't want to advertise for competitors) and found a newspaper notice from 1820 about a runaway slave named Willie Trip (see the clipping on the left). (They couldn't have found it by searching for George Brassfield, because his name is Geo. in the article.) Brasfield tried to stop him from escaping. Watson then told McEntire "it turns out we have some records" and showed bills of sale and deeds for several individuals, including a 20-year-old girl with her child, a 3-year-old, and a 14-month-old girl. McEntire acknowledged that her ancestor had been a slave trader and that slavery was a part of many people's pasts. She said she wanted a time machine so she could go back in time to talk with Brassfield, but then said she had found out all she could about him. It seemed rather an abrupt cut-off, making me wonder if additional information had been even less pleasant.
Recently a friend and I were discussing what WDYTYA? would do when research discovered that a celebrity's ancestor had owned slaves. I think the program dealt with it well. There was no attempt to sugarcoat it, not even the fact that Brassfield had obviously bought and sold slaves. It would have been very easy not to show those records, and the entire subject could have been bypassed.
McEntire again mused about finding her earliest ancestor who had come to North America. She went to Tappahannock, Virginia to meet with Warren Hofstra, a Virginia historian at Shenandoah University, who had extended her family back another two generations. Her sixth great-grandfather George Brassfield was a party in a land deed from May 16, 1721, in which he paid Richard Carver 1,500 pounds of tobacco for 300 acres of land. McEntire wanted to know if the family had been wealthy, but Hofstra told her he had worked for it. He then showed her a book of court orders of Essex County from 1695-1699 in which her ancestor appeared as an indentured servant at 9 years old, bound to Bernard Gaines. Watson explained that the indenture was a contract to pay for the expenses of bringing young Brassfield to Virginia from England. Indentured servitude is considered by some to be the first type of American slavery. Indentured servants often worked with black slaves in the fields and were bound to their "employers" until the age of 21, when they could earn their freedom. Gaines farmed tobacco, so Brassfield would have helped in the fields and it would have been hard work. Hofstra said that less than half of indentured servants survived their contracts.
McEntire then wanted to know where Brassfield had come from. A search in Google Books found a George "Brasfeild" in List of Emigrants to America from Liverpool, 1697-1707 (I wonder how long it took the research team to find that entry). Brasfield arrived in 1698 and was listed as being "Eleaven" years old, so it looked as though his indenture might have shaved a year or so off his age to keep him a servant longer. Several other children were on the ship with Brasfield, and McEntire wondered where their parents were. No hometown was listed for Brasfield, but many of the other children were from Cheshire County, England, so Hofstra suggested looking there for him.
McEntire headed off to Chester, England. She wondered if George Brassfield's origins explained why she felt so weird when she went to England. She met at the Cheshire Archive with Brett Langston. He showed her a computerized index of Cheshire parish records, in which they found Georgius Brasfield (and three additional Brasfields, whom they did not discuss! what happened to whole family research?!). Brasfield was baptized June 17, 1688; the birth date was not recorded but probably was within a couple of months before that. His father was listed as Thomas Bracefield of Maccalsfield. Thomas' marriage to Abigail (no maiden name!) was shown, and then Thomas' burial on June 30, 1720, many years after George's trip in 1698. The last record produced showed that Thomas' wife Abigail had been buried in 1696. McEntire wondered how Thomas could have sent his son so far away when he was so young and whether there had been no money to take care of him.
From Chester McEntire went to St. Michael's Church in Macclesfield, also in Cheshire. (I noticed that although she had driven herself around to the various research spots in the U.S., she was a passenger in the vehicle going to Macclesfield.) At the church she met James Horn of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a historian specializing in indentured servitude. He explained that apprenticeships were expensive and that George would not have had many opportunities or much of a future at home in Macclesfield. His father would have arranged the indentured servitude to give him a chance at a better fate. George had done well; he would never have had a chance to own 300 acres of land in England. Horn mentioned that as far as research had shown, all Brassfields in the U.S. were descended from George.
McEntire wanted to know where Thomas and Abigail were buried. Horn walked with her to the courtyard, where large flagstones had many names on them. These were rich people, and the flagstones were effectively their tombstones. Poor people were buried in the grassy area in the center of the courtyard. They might have had wood markers which had disintegrated over time, or perhaps no marker at all, and there was nothing to indicate their exact burial places, meaning there was no way to really know whether Thomas or Abigail was buried there. McEntire suddenly had a change of heart and felt sympathy for Thomas Bracefield. She did a complete turn-around and called him a "strong man" who had lost his wife but been brave enough to send his son away for a better opportunity. (What about the other three children that appeared in the baptismal register?!) She asked forgiveness for being mad at him and decided she had a good feeling now in England, that she felt loved and protected.
McEntire returned to the ranch in Oklahoma to tell her mother what she had learned about the family. Jackie was very calm and had almost no reaction to anything McEntire said. It looked as though she had already been told everything ahead of time, since I don't think she didn't care. It was a pretty anticlimactic ending.
So my predictions are still at 100% percent! Though McEntire did go to England, the episode discussed her family in context of several historical times in the U.S. -- indentured servitude, the Revolutionary War, and slavery.
Something odd at the end of the program was the teaser for next week's episode. For some reason the celebrity was not named. Maybe they're trying to decide who would be more timely?
Posted by Janice M. Sellers at 6:34 PM
Labels: England, Reba McEntire, slavery, WDYTYA
SchafhausenHansen March 9, 2012 at 11:30 PM
I really enjoy reading your articles on "Who do you think you are" each week. You always answer the questions about the show that I am curious about. As my family historian, I am always searching for new ways to find information. So thanks for always commenting. I'm sure there are more people than me, always looking forward to read your reviews. - Julie
Janice M. Sellers March 10, 2012 at 6:00 AM
Thank you so much, Julie. It is great to hear that you enjoy my posts and that they are helpful to you.
Living in Wake County, near an area known has "Brassfield", I was surprised nothing was mentioned or shown of this area they did not even visit the cemetery.
I have been doing my family research for 30 years and nothing is as easy as they show. I am still looking for one grandfathers birthplace. My husbands family has been easier since they have been in US since 1700's. but the repetive use of first names can be a challenge.
Janice M. Sellers May 22, 2012 at 10:49 PM
It's possible that the cemetery was part of the research that didn't make it past the edits to get on air. They shoot lots more footage than can be squeezed into the approximately 42 minutes or so actually alloted to the program--the rest being taken up by commercials--especially since they repeat scenes going into and out of commercials. Unfortunately, they don't really put a lot of "extras" online, so we'll probably never know. Maybe you could write to McEntire and ask her.
And absolutely yes, nothing is as easy as they pretend it is. Anyone who has done real research knows that to be true. But the program is about entertainment, not education.
David Shepherd March 12, 2013 at 5:47 PM
as an amateur genealogist who works in Chester, Cheshire I use the Cheshire Parish Register Project database a lot. It's free and online at http://cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cprdb/
If you search on 'BRASSF' on the baptism database, there are actually 5 entries as Brassfield is misspelled on one entry. Some of these are no doubr Georges siblings - what happened to them?
Hi, David,
Thanks for the useful link! I agree, some of them probably are George's siblings, but WDYTYA doesn't generally show research of collateral lines unless it will fill in blanks in the main ancestral lines. It's possible the show's producers looked up information on the siblings and gave that information to McEntire privately.
Hello Janice, The interesting thing is that George Brassfield born in Macclesfield, England, is my 6 times great grandfather, and I have information on him and his parents since 2002 gotten through the Brassfield family website. They made it look like it was so hard to track the info on WDYTYA. But it is very easy to find information on the Brassfield line.
Janice M. Sellers December 11, 2013 at 8:52 PM
I agree, it was not difficult to find a lot of the information on the Brassfields. But it is hard if you give up so easily, as McEntire did, because she kept hitting "dead ends" immediately. :)
jazzycleveland923@gmail.com September 17, 2015 at 8:37 AM
I made an earlier post but didn't leave info. My mother died when I was a very young child(Rachel Brasfield), I was raised by her sister Clara "Anne" Brasfield-Ellis, there is a brother Dr. Jerry W. Brasfield, and another sister; Carolyn(dont know my aunts middle name)Brasfield. Their parents J.C. Brasfield/father & Pansy L. Pendergrass/mother. They lived in Friendship & Alamo(outside Nashville/Knoxville) Tennessee, and relocated north to Cleveland, Ohio. We knew of the relatives down south through stories by our grandmother. I often wondered the "roots" of the family and it's history(esp. after seeing Alex Haley's "Roots"). My gran' could only tell me so much about her family because she was orphaned(her mother died of what she said was "female cancer", and I was orphaned but still raised within the family...just gave me this fascination with them. You can imagine my shock to watch the Reba McEntire story on WDYTYA...*I felt many puzzle pieces of my deceased mother & her lineage fall into place. I can only feel more blessed. I welcome other Brasfield's to share their stories. Esp. after they said ALL of them in the U.S. came from George
Janice M. Sellers September 17, 2015 at 11:29 AM
It's always great to be able to see a lot of research on your family line that someone else has done. I guess it just adds to it when that research happens to be shown on national television. Wouldn't it be nice if there were some organized way for people whose ancestors' stories are shown on a program like this to connect with each other after it has aired?
jazzycleveland923@gmail.com That is so cool that you are related to Reba on her mother's side!
Janice M. Sellers March 6, 2018 at 10:19 AM
Now, how to wrangle an invitation to dinner? :)
Gavin Stevenson January 6, 2014 at 2:10 AM
I guess it adds to the drama of the programme if Reba can't find information. Having done family research on my family (the common surname of Campbell) in Cumbria, England, I used the Mormon website, Family Search, and then when I went to the UK in July, 2013 I confirmed most of this part of the family tree. It's a very interesting pastime.
Janice M. Sellers January 6, 2014 at 8:16 AM
Hi, Gavin,
For those of us who actually do research, not finding records also adds to the realism, I think. I envy you your reseach trip to the UK. I hope to be able to do that some day and learn more about that part of my family. It's good to hear you were able to confirm information about your family.
Reba Mcentire came across as sickeningly fake. Trying to make crocodile tears when she found out one of her rich white ancestors was a slave trader who owned at least 10 slaves and sold and traded many more. It was very freaky watching her trying to look sad while her plastic surgery stretched nightmare face kept that bizarre smile no matter what expression she was trying to make. Never been a Reba fan, but even less of one now. This show is nothing more than self serving free publicity for people with lagging careers.
Janice M. Sellers August 20, 2014 at 8:05 PM
Not everyone will enjoy every episode, certainly. I don't know that she came across that badly to me. Some of the other celebrities have been far worse. And some of the celebrities definitely have quite active careers even now.
Aunt Lolita July 30, 2015 at 12:00 AM
Reba's George and Thomas and Abigail are the same as mine. Very proud of this.
Janice M. Sellers July 30, 2015 at 12:17 AM
Very cool! How nice that you have your family researched back that far also.
Grandma September 14, 2018 at 11:27 AM
Hi! Just reading comments. Why is it that the episode of Reba McIntire cannot be viewed anywhere? Can't buy the DVD, its unavailable on Netflix, Prime Video, and TLCgo.
Anyway, my grandmother was a Brassfield. Since all Brassfields came from George, we should be related somehow.
I am trying to find the link between George Brassfield and John Brassfield (1732-1778).
I'm surprised you can't find the episode on DVD. This was an NBC episode, so the best way I can think of to find out where it might be available is to contact them.
Best of luck with your Brassfield research!
robert howard April 24, 2020 at 1:28 AM
Reba has Raper ancestors listed,. who ere partly Cherokee. Why is this not mentioned?
Janice M. Sellers April 24, 2020 at 10:34 AM
The first three possibilities that come to mind are (1) her Raper ancestors were not part Cherokee, (2) they were but the information did not fit into the narrative that was chosen for the televised program, and (3) the research team did not work on the Raper line and therefore no information was available to be presented.
robert howard November 24, 2020 at 10:37 PM
They are listed as her ancestors, and they are definately partly Cherokee. Is she embarrassed about that?
Janice M. Sellers November 24, 2020 at 11:14 PM
I don't know if she's embarrassed. If they are definitely part Charokee, then two other possibilities that I previously mentioned are that any research done on that branch of her family might not have fit into the narrative that was chosen for the episode, and the research team did not work on that line. Just because that part of her family was not mentioned on an episode does not mean she is embarrassed about them. That's a big leap.
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Discount on all activities !!
Are you a group of 5 or more people? Then you can choose the day to do the activity and get a special discount per person on all our activities.
The course for beginners, the participant becomes familiar with the material used and learns the basic techniques. Duration: 1 day in a canyon. The price includes: Guide entitled, insurance R.C. and accident, all necessary material.
Mid-level canyon with lots of rappels. Need to have previous experience.


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text:
En taxonomía de plantas, se denomina Ginger-families o Ginger group (grupo de familias zinguiberoides, o jengibroides) o Core Zingiberales (Núcleo de los Zingiberales) a un grupo monofilético del orden Zingiberales (:Monocotyledoneae) que consta de 4 familias: Zingiberaceae (la familia del jengibre, que le da el nombre al grupo), Costaceae, Marantaceae y Cannaceae. Poseen la sinapomorfía de una única antera fértil y 4 o 5 estaminodios altamente modificados., además sus hojas no se desgarran con facilidad entre las venas secundarias. Constituyen un grupo morfológico que se distingue del asemblaje parafilético llamado de las banana-families (grupo de familias musoides).

Véase también
 Jengibre
 Grupo de familias musoides
 Zingiberales
 Monocotyledoneae

Bibliografía

Zingiberales

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Trevor Story and Matt Kemp get a chance to continue their early-season slugfest Sunday afternoon, as the Rockies host the Padres with a pair of right-handers in search of their first win on the mound.
Story, Colorado's rookie shortstop, has homered six times in his first five career games. Meanwhile, Kemp has already gone deep three times this series for the Padres -- averaging 443 feet on those blasts.
San Diego's James Shields gets the ball a day earlier than expected after Tyson Ross was placed on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation Saturday. (Thanks to Thursday's off-day, Shields will be pitching on normal rest.) Shields was mostly sharp over six quality innings against the Dodgers on Tuesday, but was done in by a three-run fourth.
Meanwhile, right-hander Chad Bettis starts for Colorado after surrendering five runs over 5 1/3 against Arizona. He'll be looking to limit the walks after handing out three free passes on Tuesday.
• With a home run Sunday, Story would become the first player in MLB history to homer seven times in the first six games of a season. Willie Mays (1964), Mike Schmidt ('76) and Larry Walker ('97) share the current record with Story with six homers in the first six games.
• Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado has had great success against Shields in 21 career plate appearances. Arenado is 10-for-20 with three homers and a walk against the veteran right-hander.
• In six appearances (three starts) against the Padres, Bettis has posted a 2.04 ERA and a 0.962 WHIP.


If you haven't heard the famous Spanish song by José José, 40 and 20, it is high time to have a good listen. Even though the track sounds mesmerizing, it has always been controversial for its meaning. This song is still a reference for those couples who love each other despite the age difference. However, if only José José had known about the heroes of today's story, he would have named the song a bit differently, particularly 53 and 20.
Isabella Sainz was 20 years old when she got engaged to Joseph Conner, a man three decades older than her. Despite the criticism and astonished people who assumed he is her father, this girl hasn't stopped loving her future 53-year-old husband.
READ ALSO: Married Couple With 53-Year Age Difference: Is It Ok For A Teenager To Marry A Woman In Her 70s?
Nowadays, Isabella and Joseph have two children, and their love story is very touching. She fell in love with this retired policeman when they worked together in a lacrosse club. They had only been dating for a month when Isabella got pregnant.
The Miami couple is currently planning their wedding. They started dating in December 2016. A month later, Isabella learned she was pregnant, and five months after giving birth in August 2017, Isabella became pregnant again.
Now, they are raising two beautiful daughters: Autumn, 15 months, and Wynter, 6 weeks.
Joseph, who is now a lacrosse coach at a high school, is also the father of four other children from his previous relationships: José, 34, Jason, 24, Justin, 21, and daughter Jacqueline, 23.
The pace with which the couple has been developing things may seem a bit hasty for some, but this didn't stop Joseph from proposing to Isabella shortly after welcoming their second child. The 53-year-old man presented Isabella a diamond ring during a walk on the beach.
Isabella admitted that her friends and family members didn't immediately support her relationship with a man 33 years her senior, but her boyfriend insisted that, for him, age wasn't a problem in his feelings.
We definitely get looks when we are out in public together. Strangers will say to Joseph: 'Are you her dad?' Sometimes we correct them, and they go quiet, other times we'll joke it off and pretend that I am his daughter. Everyone has their own opinions; you must do what makes you happy, life is very short. Everybody has their own opinions but life is extremely short, and you should do what makes you happy.
In short, there should be no obstacles when it comes to true feelings in honest relationships. Nobody should be afraid of the age standards established by society. In fact, Isabella and Joseph's story is a great example for this, similar to the story of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, who also have a big age difference but still enjoy each other as in a fairy tale.
What about you? Do you think it is fine to date a man who looks like your father? Share your thoughts in the comments.


The Beatles 50 Years Ago Today: December 16, 1967. Beatles Radio: The Beatles, Solos, Covers, Birthdays, News The Fab 4 and More!
December 16, 1967 - John & Cynthia in Paris attending a Beach Boys concert benefiting UNICEF.
Cynthia and Pattie seated between their husbands at the Palais de Chailloy in Paris attending the UNICEF benefit featuring the Beach Boys.


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The Sigma 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 C DC zoom is a multi-purpose lens with a 1:3 macro ratio and a 16.6x zoom covering versatile focal lengths from wide to telephoto.
The Sigma 19mm f/2.8 DN Lens Micro Four Thirds Fit Black is an ideal lens for casual snaps, landscapes, group shots, as well as indoor photography.
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text:
Lion Rapid Response Team
Paola Bouley is on call as a first responder for lions in… more
Paola Bouley is on call as a first responder for lions in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. She is a National Geographic Big Cats Initiative grantee and the director and co-founder of Projecto Leões da Gorongosa. It's the first ever lion research project in the history of the park.
Bouley and her team work to save lions in the wilderness every day. They're documenting their recovery and doing the conservation and research necessary to lay the foundation for a strong restoration project. Bouley says, "We basically live and breathe bringing about a lion recovery in this park. Everything we do is focused on doing what we can to conserve and protect this population."
Before Mozambique's civil war, Gorongosa National Park was famous for its lions. Now the park is undergoing a remarkable recovery, but lions are not coming back as expected. The lions in the park are healthy, but wire snares primarily are limiting their recovery in the area. One in three lions in Gorongosa is either killed or maimed in poachers' snares—and that includes cubs.
It can be gruesome. A rapid response veterinary unit is ready to intervene in lion emergencies, which include wire snares around a lion's neck or a steel-jaw trap around a leg. The unit also treats wounds and infections. There are emergencies every week.
Bouley and the team actively track at least 34 lions each week. She says, "Right now the number stands at one in three. We are working really, really hard to really bring that number down. That's the goal now."
The lions aren't the main target of the snares, though. "Poachers come into these parks," Bouley says, "and they set snares to capture warthogs and impala and buffalo." The lions are accidentally walking into the snares.
"It's not that people intentionally want to kill lions. They've become incidental catch by the bush-meat trade," the illegal commercial hunting for the meat of wild animals. Snaring has become an epidemic—in Gorongosa and across the continent of Africa. It's also just one of the issues putting pressure on lion populations.
"Lions are critically threatened across the continent, and that's because of increasing human pressures, encroachment, bush-meat trading, conflict with people, and cattle," Bouley says. Even though lions live in national parks they still need protection. "It's bad news but also good news, [because] that's something we can actually do something about to really support a robust recovery of lions in the system."
GPS units on lion collars are the most important tools for the lion project. The accumulation of data over months allows Bouley and her team to track and check on lions and deploy strategic antipoaching patrols. The collars send location information every four hours. That information helps them make strategic decisions about which areas to sweep for snares and steel-jaw traps that poachers are setting. "Through the Big Cat Initiative we bring in funding to collaborate with our park's antipoaching unit … These GPS collars are our conservation anchors. We don't have to spend days and days and days tracking them. We just get to our lions as fast as we can."
Even when they know where the lions are, getting to them can be tricky. Gorongosa National Park is for the most part roadless. "Ninety percent of the time we are off-road. If we paved a highway through this park you could get across pretty fast, but there are no roads. What can take two hours in the United States to drive across is going to take something more like a day here in the park." The wilderness includes harsh terrain and vast grasslands with big holes that people can fall into.
The coming year will not be easy for Bouley and the team. There are a lot of stresses on the ecosystem, including drought and civil conflicts. "We are in the middle of a very severe drought. It's probably the most extreme drought that we've had here in about 40 years. People living around the park are running out of water, and crops are failing. It's a very intense year from a human point of view. The other is that we are actually in the middle of a civil conflict. That complicates issues for us. We are really on guard. We know we are not expecting a good year, but we are ready," Bouley explains.
The effort is paying off. When Bouley started in 2012, it was estimated that there were 30 to 50 lions in the entire park. Three years into their research there are 76 lions in just one-third of the park. "We know that there are more lions than were formerly estimated. We do sense that there is a recovery taking place. Things are heading in the right direction."
Hanging out with lions and seeing the recovery are what keep Bouley motivated. "Honestly, they are magnificent. It's a privilege to be able to work with these animals and to help save their lives" Bouley says. "Gorongosa National Park is a place where we really believe we can make a difference for lions."
Be sure to check out the rest of the Best Job Ever digital series.
PRODUCER/EDITOR: Carolyn Barnwell
VIDEO: Gorongosa Media Project
SERIES PRODUCERS: Chris Mattle and Jennifer Shoemaker
GRAPHICS: Chris Mattle and Babak Shahbodaghloo
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The opulent Great Room in Dublin's historic Shelbourne Hotel is a venue more readily associated with trade conferences and society weddings. On this crisp winter morning, though, it is standing room only for an event billed somewhat histrionically as 'the largest property auction in Irish history'. Attended by up to 1,600 people over the course of a six-hour session, the sale is a joint venture by the auction house Allsop and the Dublin property agency Space. On offer are 108 lots, from a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Co Donegal priced at only €21,000 (£17,500) to two adjacent restaurant premises in the smart Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge with a reserve of €485,000. The majority of these properties are 'distressed' – part of commercial developments in receivership or private houses 'surrendered' to banks after their owners fell into arrears.
'Now these always go well, and we know you like them,' the auctioneer, Gary Murphy, says, referring to a one-bedroom flat in a large block in the Dublin Docklands. 'You'll look back at this day and think, I could have got that – it's just so cheap,' Murphy encourages, as the bidding reaches €110,000. It sells a few minutes later for €124,000; at the height of the Irish property boom in 2007, similar flats in the same block sold for €390,000.
In many ways, the Shelbourne auction is a microcosm of Ireland's economic boom and bust. Over the famed Celtic Tiger years – a period between 1995 and 2007 when the Irish economy was growing by five to six per cent annually – average house prices mushroomed by 330 per cent (and more than 500 per cent in parts of Dublin). Ireland's property bubble was hyper-inflated by several factors. Primary among them was the over-supply of unrestricted bank and building society credit. First-time buyers were offered 100 per cent (and higher) mortgages that were up to 10 times combined salaries. Rocketing house prices also meant that canny Irish home owners could take advantage of unused equity in their properties – to improve a home or, more commonly, to buy or build another property elsewhere, often abroad.
Huge government tax breaks and incentives on new buildings, as well an extremely permissive approach to zoning and planning by local authorities, further fuelled the speculative boom. As many as 700,000 new houses were built during these years – almost one for every six of Ireland's 4.6 million citizens. By 2007 the Irish building industry accounted for 25 per cent of GDP and 20 per cent of jobs.
In the wider economy, high employment, wage increases, a low corporate tax rate of 12.5 per cent, low interest rates, substantial aid from the European Union and a variety of incentives to multinationals, especially in the hi-tech sector, meant that Ireland's young, growing, highly educated population started to enjoy unprecedented levels of income and wealth. In a 2006 survey of per capita wealth among the top eight OECD nations, Ireland ranked second only to Japan, with every man, woman and child worth €150,000. The 'Irich' were born.
The crash has been the one of the steepest and most disastrous of any developed country since the Second World War. By the time of the global financial crisis of 2008, Ireland's banks were awash with loans, mostly to property developers; the notorious 'world's worst' Anglo Irish Bank, which was later nationalised, alone held €72 billion of loans – half of Ireland's GDP. Bank guarantee schemes, an €85 billion EU/IMF bail-out (including up to £7 billion from the UK), loss of economic sovereignty and, ultimately, a change in government followed.
The construction industry has all but collapsed – there are more than 2,000 'ghost estates' – developments left unfinished with no or only a small fraction of homes occupied – around the country. To reduce the budget deficit, there have been tax increases, spending cuts, public sector wage cuts and job losses, pension levies, a property tax and harsh austerity measures. Unemployment is running at 14.5 per cent and the country is experiencing the return of something many thought had been relegated to the shameful past: forced large-scale emigration – with a significant percentage going to Britain. Ireland in 2012 is a country suffering from a recession that could last a generation and beyond.
In 2008, as the recession started to bite, Godsil took her daughter out of private school, took a lease on a two-bedroom cottage nearby (her daughters share a room), and rented out the manor house. The income she received covered half the mortgage. 'Since my last tenants left in January, I have stopped paying the mortgage altogether and the house has been empty and unmaintained,' she says.
In April, Godsil had a bright idea: she decided to market the house via an offbeat video on YouTube. 'Within a week I had a cash offer of €500,000 from an Irish banker living in Britain,' she says. But her bank refused to accept it; the house is now worth less – as little, Godsil estimates, as €430,000. With arrears, the mortgage stands at almost €1 million.
One of the properties in Portugal was sold at a €100,000 loss to pay for legal fees for the divorce; the other is unrented, and has been on the market for four years. The property consortium fared the same as the doomed Portuguese economy.
Godsil is still managing to operate her PR practice with one staff member but has taken no salary for the past couple of years. She couldn't even afford the €3,000 to legally liquidate her business. In November bailiffs acting for the Revenue Commissioners called unannounced at her office; there was nothing of value to seize. She cannot claim the dole as she is self-employed; she relies on child benefit, and maintenance from her ex-husband.
Godsil says she has no idea what the future holds. Now that she has moved out, she expects her bank to finally repossess her home. 'I have hit rock bottom, I can't go any lower,' she adds. 'The banks are supposed to be the experts, and they valued the house, but it seems they don't have to take any responsibility when the economic situation changes and property values fall. The law protects them, but not the individual. I've lost everything – my husband, my financial security, my social standing and finally my dream home, the house I put all my money into.
Towards the end of 2007, Lane says he knew the property bubble had burst; developers were suddenly stalling or insisting on a quick turnaround. 'I had lived through the recession in Britain in the early 1990s,' Lane, who is originally from Portsmouth and moved to Ireland in 1999, says. 'I thought, all I have to do now is be really efficient and manage the so-called soft landing.' That soft landing quickly became a ruinous crash. 'The developers were running the Irish property market, and as soon as they stopped speculating, my work came to a sudden and dramatic halt,' he says.
Over the next three years Lane had to make all his staff redundant. 'We were a small company and we formed close working relationships,' Lane says. 'My staff were incredibly loyal to me and I genuinely thought they would remain with me for the rest of my career. It was devastating to have to let them go one by one.' He extricated himself from a costly 20-year lease, moved to a smaller office, and finally to a bedroom at home. For the past six months he hasn't paid himself a salary and has had to call upon an early inheritance from his 78-year-old mother to meet his mortgage. The holiday cottage can't be rented as it needs improving; he may be forced to sell it, at a loss, Lane estimates, of €100,000. His €1,000 monthly payments into both his and his wife's pensions have long been frozen.
Lane says he is resilient and strategic, and he has been careful – 'it's all about survival, about coming out the other side' – but he admits he has suffered a great deal of stress over the past couple of years. 'At one point I didn't know how much longer I could cope,' he says. But in September he managed to secure two part-time teaching posts; one at the School of Architecture in Cork, the other as a senior lecturer two days a week at the University of Brighton. He has become an 'extreme commuter'. 'My income from Brighton is zero, as the cost of getting there is what I get paid, but I'm hoping that it might lead to something else.' Lane tells me he is not alone on his commute.
Tom Quinn is a senior manager in his 'mid-fifties' with extensive experience across a wide range of companies, and qualifications from the Irish Management Institute and Henley Business College. In 2008 he was offered a well-paid position as the general manager of a long-established sign manufacturing company that had expanded enormously during the Celtic Tiger years. The company, a 'barometer of the boom', was making signs, for example, for new housing estates, shopping centres, hotels and factories. 'Like many businesses in Ireland at the time, it was actually turning away work,' he says.
Quinn also borrowed €120,000 to build a two-bedroom house on an infill site he owned next to his home; it would provide rental income and, ultimately, a pension. 'The building society was not only quite happy to lend us the money; it also encouraged us to borrow more in order to buy a third property and build up a portfolio,' he says. 'Luckily enough for us, we were just a bit too conservative and we hung back. I know a lot of people who did continue to borrow and, for a time, they were sitting on quite a pile. Now they're sitting on quite a pile of debt.' The value of the two houses at the height of the property bubble was at least €1.1 million; Quinn says they are now worth half that amount.
Quinn was out of work for almost two years. 'When I went down to the social welfare to sign on, I was stood beside engineers, designers, builders, businessmen and all manner of highly educated people,' he says. 'And we were all in the same boat.' Quinn was highly disciplined about his job search, registering with websites and recruitment agencies, and applying for up to 40 jobs a week. The tiny response he got led to a handful of interviews, during which he was told he was overqualified. He was too young to retire, too skilled for the positions available. 'I'd worked all my adult life and I'd never had to deal with being unemployed,' he says. 'Initially you're OK and optimistic, but as time goes on you get more and more demotivated, you lose structure and focus, and you become depressed. I wasn't used to having all this spare time, and my wife wasn't used to having me at home. I was just in the way and a bloody nuisance.
At the end of last year Quinn joined an enterprise and entrepreneurship programme at a nearby institute of technology, the depression lifted and he refocused his skills and abilities. He was offered a job shortly afterwards, as the general manager at a not-for-profit small business enterprise centre, which also houses a childcare facility, training college – and a blueberry farm. It is a change in direction, from the 'tough, bordering on vicious' commercial world to community development and support, and green energy.