March 21, 2018 (Washington, DC) – The Creative Coalition appreciates the $152,849,000, an increase of over $2 million from last year, that Congress provided for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Bill released today. In allocating this increase of funding and rejecting the proposed elimination of the NEA by the Administration, Congress acknowledged the importance of the Right to Bear Arts for all Americans. The FY 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Bill is expected to be approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by the President before the end of the week.
In light of the fiscal challenges facing our nation, this level of funding for the NEA signals an important recognition of the value of the arts to our economy and to building strong communities. According to data released earlier this month1, the arts and cultural trade surplus has generally been widening since 2006. In 2015, the arts as an economic sector experienced a $20 billion trade surplus – welcome news when talk of trade deficits is the norm. Additionally, the arts have outpaced the 2.4 percent average growth rate of the nation's overall economy by achieving an average growth rate of 2.6 percent between 2012 and 2015. Between 2014 and 2015, the arts' growth rate was 4.9 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. The arts have been particularly impactful in growing the nation's rural communities. In 2015, arts and cultural production contributed $67.5 billion to the economies of U.S. rural states.
 The U.S. Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (1998-2015), U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis and NEA Office of Research & Analysis, March 6, 2018.


text:
Q: Cannot Access Pipeline Dictionary Entry of View Pipeline in a Component I'm trying to access custom dictionary entry (ManufacturersIterator) from inherited ViewStandardCatalog pipline in overriden component/shopping/FamilyPageCustom template by adding:
 <callParameterDefinitions name="ManufacturersIterator" type="java.util.Iterator"/>

in interface.pagevariant.content.pagelet2 (also overriden) as described in Intershop support (section 21 Recipe: Access Pipeline Dictionary Entry of View Pipeline in a Component)
 but dictionary entry (ManufacturersIterator) isn't visible in component/shopping/FamilyPageCustom template neither error has occured.

A: So far, your approach is correct. The only thing that's missing is the transition point between the pipeline and the actual page (and it's page variant). For that you have to override the call parameter interface
interface.page.standard.pagelet2-Interface residing in cartridge app_sf_responsive in file interface.page.standard.pagelet2.
Your override must contain the parameter from the original + the new parameter (ManufactursIterator)
Please note: Intershop Studio provides you with a wizard to create such an override. File -> New -> Pagelet Model and there you'll see an override existing button. If your cartridge declares correct dependencies, you're able to locate the fore mentioned call parameter interface model.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Bedroom 45 Awesome Bedroom Ceiling Fan Ideas Smart Bedroom Ceiling from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it along when searching for curtains or other redecorating components downloaded from: epignite.com.
Solar Light Kits Outdoor Elegant 30 Inspirational Outdoor Led Strip from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it with you when buying window curtains or another beautifying resources image received from: searchengineoptimization4.info.
Black Ceiling Fan Light Kit Beautiful Modern Cage Ceiling Fan – The from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Bring it together with you when shopping for window curtains or other decorating materials screenshot got from: cialismtl.com.
Ace Hardware Ceiling Fans Also Inspirational Danco Flush Valve from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it with you when buying window curtains or any other beautifying supplies downloaded from: myquickbooks.me.
Replace Ceiling Fan Light Switch Lovely Ceiling Fan Light Kit Wiring from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it along when buying drapes or any other decorating resources screenshot via from: draftpromocodefreeentry.com.
60 Inch Trevor II LED Ceiling Fan OBB from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it together with you when shopping for drapes or some other decorating supplies image downloaded from: kichler.com.
Outdoor Ceiling Fan Light Kit Beautiful Outdoor Ceiling Fans Deep from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it along with you when buying curtains or any other decorating components looks via from: dartfordtimes.com.
Ace Hardware Ceiling Fans Also Inspirational Danco Flush Valve from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Bring it along with you when shopping for curtains or any other decorating supplies image sourced from: myquickbooks.me.
52 Inch Lucian LED Ceiling Fan PN from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Bring it along with you when searching for curtains or any other decorating materials screenshot received from: kichler.com.
or accent an area or object. These bulbs known as accent bulbs. But usually, in order to save space, most lights can be multi-functional and used in all three ways mentioned above.
8 Blades White Ceiling Fans With Lights Ceiling Fans The from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it along with you when searching for window curtains or some other beautifying resources image via from: homedepot.com.
Nautical Ceiling Fan Amazon from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it along when shopping for curtains or other decorating supplies impression got from: amazon.com.
About Hunter Simple Connect Simpleconnect Wifi Account Review from What Is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit , Take it together with you when searching for curtains or another redecorating resources impression got from: maryfaber.co.
, and styles. The main thing to consider when choosing a floor light fixture is where you want to put it, the sort of light it'll provide, and the amount of space it will take up.
Related Posts of "What is A Ceiling Fan Light Kit Good Quality"


text:
Home Games Sports Read Post
Developer: First Touch Version: 2.07 Requirement: 2.3 and up Price: Free
Dream League Soccer APK 2.07
Dream League Soccer APK 2.07 has been released, it is football game for Android. You will act as team manager as well as playing the entire team in the match. Released by the developer named First Touch, this game is free with in-app purchase support. The first impression is felt from playing Dream League Soccer is the resemblance to Winning Eleven or known by the name Pro Evolution Soccer. You lovers of football game, certainly familiar titles are developed by the Konami. Since 2001 Konami always release new titles from the series each year, adjusted to the latest developments from international football team to the lineup.
The main gameplay of the Dream League Soccer is a game of football that is dynamic and require the player agility and the ability to train and develop managers in team formation. The game of football is done directly by utilizing the touch screen, the left side of the screen to move, and three buttons on the right side to pass the ball, shoot straight, and kick the stomach. Familiarize yourself first with those controls because your ability to play decisive victory-defeat of the match.
Outside of the game, you will act as manager. There are a number of features that you can manage. The main thing is the composition and formation of teams. The position of each player can be set. Formations can be replaced from the 4-4-2 that is often used to a variety of unique formations such as 5-2-1-2 or 3-4-2-1. The tendency of players can also be arranged, if the attack is full, full survive, or impartial. Each player will have statistics for each. You will start with the player who was mediocre. Collect money from winning the league as well as meet the targets are provided, so you can buy the best players in the world. Even if you prefer, you can have a Messi, Christiano Ronaldo and Suarez as well in the team, of course, if you have capital. In addition to buying, the best players can also be generated through an intense workout. In addition to setting team, the Dream League Soccer, you can set up a club. From changing the name, logo, to buy a new stadium. Everything can be done in accordance with the wishes. If unable to obtain money through the game, you can get them through in-app purchase.
Features of Dream League Soccer 2.07 APK for Android
INTELLIGENT AI, RAPID GAMEPLAY & SHARP VISUALS
COMPETE ACROSS 4 LEAGUES IN A BID TO RISE TO THE TOP!
DEVELOP YOUR PLAYERS TO REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL
MEET YOUR TARGETS
CRAMMED FULL OF ACHIEVEMENTS!
Dream League Soccer APK 2.07 Latest Version
The best soccer game ever. I'm like literally addicted to this game. My players are off the charts seriously. If you haven't dowloaded it, you can try it. But make sure your phone has enough space. It's awesome.
Download Dream League Soccer 2.07 for Android
Dream League Soccer 2.06 APK Android
Releted Apps/Games in Sports
Score! Hero APK
8 Ball Pool APK
NBA LIVE Mobile APK
PES CLUB MANAGER APK
Dream League Soccer 2017 APK

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Booking login
Project forwarding
4PL Services
About FREJA
Divisions and Ownership
FREJA Group in numbers
Mission, Vision, and Concept
Values and attitudes
Departures holidays
Internet fraud
Statements of Accounts
International Hauliers
Trainee in FREJA
Get the latest news in our Christmas newsletter
Read in Danish
Welcome to the last FREJA newsletter in 2021.
As we have kicked off the last month of the year, we look back at 2021 as a year influenced by COVID-19, changed conditions for the transport industry, large deviations in transport volumes, and lack of components and raw materials. Especially, the road sector is influenced by increasing individual protectionism and changed conditions in various countries, which have had comprehensive consequences and set pressure on the supply chain in Europe and the rest of the world. Likewise, the sea and air sectors have experienced a severe lack of capacity.
In FREJA, we have also faced problems because of COVID-19 and the related challenges concerning the security of supply at the national as well as the international markets. Our competent employees have had a constant focus on readjusting and adapting to the situation. Therefore, we have been able to maintain the supply chain and service our customers in the best way possible.
In 2021, FREJA and SDK merged, and we are now in a position where all our 1300 committed employees give us the best conditions to service international and national transport and logistics markets.
In 2022, we will focus once again on environmental and climate-friendly transports. In the last edition of our FREJA newsletter, we explained how we test alternative fuels, and in this newsletter, we have an article about our unaccompanied transports and the use of rail freight in the Nordic countries.
I thank you for your cooperation and trust in FREJA during 2021 and look forward to continuing our cooperation in 2022.
On behalf of FREJA Transport & Logistics A/S, I wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Jan Sunde
Managing Director Denmark
jsu@freja.com
FREJA's Torben Mortensen (left) and BESTSELLER's Anders Frost Nygård
BESTSELLER expands the partnership with FREJA on HVO biodiesel trucks from Poland to Belgium and The Netherlands
Since the 14th of October, 2021, FREJA has been using HVO biodiesel on truck movements from Poland to Belgium and The Netherlands for the Danish family-owned clothing and accessories company, BESTSELLER. BESTSELLER employs more than 15,000 people in 38 countries working for more than 20 known fashion brands such as JACK & JONES, VERO MODA, VILA, and many more.
The decision to implement more environmentally-friendly routes is based on BESTSELLER's ambitious Fashion FWD strategy, which aims at making sustainability central to the way of doing business.
"In a market facing severe conditions like lack of drivers and high demand for external hauliers, it was a must-do to inhouse these transports in order to allow ourselves to drive with alternative fuels like biodiesel. We are very pleased about this sustainable solution with FREJA, who has been a trusted partner throughout the years. We are looking forward to further expanding the use of HVO with FREJA on daily departures to the Nordics from January 2022", says Anders Frost Nygård, E-Commerce Distribution/Carrier Manager at BESTSELLER.
What is biodiesel?
There are different types of biodiesel, but overall, they can be categorized into first- and second-generation biodiesel. B100 is first-generation biodiesel that comes from common feedstocks (primarily rapeseed crops), and it provides up to 60% CO2e reduction. HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), on the other hand, is second-generation biodiesel produced from waste products (e.g. used cooking oil), and it can provide up to a 90% reduction in CO2e. These types of biodiesels are both considered climate-neutral in the combustion phase, but the emissions that come from processing the biodegradable products into fuel cannot be completely reduced, however, they are limited.
Long-term and trusted partnership
At FREJA, we are always looking for sustainable and environmentally-friendly transport solutions, and we are very positive about expanding our collaboration with BESTSELLER. We want to develop together with our customers and try out new types of sustainable alternatives to diesel that benefit the environment, but we cannot do it alone. A green transition comes with increased costs, so it is important with partners who are willing to invest in this type of fuel.
"Our partnership with BESTSELLER is unique, and this project has become a reality because they are willing to invest in sustainable fuel. For this specific collaboration with BESTSELLER, we have chosen to use our own trucks to gain valuable knowledge on HVO biodiesel. By using our own trucks, we can measure the consumption, service intervals, etc., and we are certain that HVO is always used", says FREJA's Chairman of the board Poland and Regional Director South Denmark, Torben Mortensen.
Torben Mortensen
Chairman of the Board Poland and Regional Director South Denmark
tor@freja.com
FREJA repacks more than 1000 gift boxes for Pierre Fabre just in time for Christmas
When the French company Pierre Fabre needed to get their gift boxes ready for the 2021 Christmas shopping, FREJA was ready with a helping hand.
Pierre Fabre was founded in 1951 and is a French company that makes pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetic products, which they distribute to pharmacies, dermatologists, and hospitals. Since 2017, Pierre Fabre and FREJA have engaged in a close partnership. We carry out various logistics tasks such as repacking and re-labeling their products in Scandinavia, and we do ongoing optimizations of their logistics flows.
Most recently, Pierre Fabre asked for a repackaging task of 1320 gift boxes for the Christmas shopping in Norway, and naturally, we accepted this task. FREJA lined up with a team and got the job done in a short time, so the gift boxes could be distributed to the pharmacies in Norway and be ready to be placed under the Christmas trees in the Norwegian living rooms.
"It means a lot to us that a company of Pierre Fabre's caliber chooses to use FREJA as a logistics partner. We appreciate the close collaboration we have established with Pierre Fabre, and we are happy that we could help with this task", says FREJA's Logistics & Healthcare Director, Morten Bruun-Kristensen.
This job is one of many special tasks we perform for Pierre Fabre and other companies, and we are also ready to help your company. If you want to know more about our Pharma & Healthcare logistics services, you are always welcome to reach out to Morten Bruun-Kristensen.
Morten Bruun-Kristensen
Logistics & Healthcare Director Denmark
muk@freja.com
Environmental- and climate-friendly transport has been a focus area in FREJA for a long time
Over many years and with great success, FREJA has used unaccompanied transports for our services between Denmark-Finland and Denmark-Norway. Since 2019, it has also been a highly used tool for the route to and from Sweden. The first destination in Sweden was the route between Jutland and Skaane, where there is much inter-state trade.
Unaccompanied transports mean that a Danish truck collects a consignment from a Danish customer and brings the trailer to the harbor. At the harbor, the driver can then connect another trailer which he drives to the Danish recipient. Likewise, this is done in Sweden, where Swedish hauliers and drivers bring trailers between the ferry and the recipient or shipper. The delivery time is short because there are departures from both sides twice a day.
The advantages of this kind of transports are many. We avoid having a large number of trucks passing Funen and Zealand, which helps reduce the massive traffic on our roads. The solution also has a green profile because many highway kilometers are replaced by consolidated transports by ferry via Kattegat. An additional advantage is that a driver can handle 4-5 loads per day. Lack of drivers is a great challenge right now because many drivers choose to leave the transport industry in favor of jobs with more normal working hours.
Over the years, FREJA has added more routes to the unaccompanied traffics, and now we also have a solution where we load trailers on trains at the destination Taulov-Katrineholm. Both terminals are located strategically well. Taulov is a logistics hub in Denmark, and the terminal in Katrineholm is located in Mälardalen, where you have easy access to Ørebro, Eskilstuna, and Stockholm. This route offers three departures per week. The railway is electrified, and as an example on the route between Kolding and Ørebro, you will be able to have a Co2 reduction of up to 80% compared to traditional road transport.
The most recent offer is a combined solution to Oslo, Norway. The trailers are sent by ship from Grenaa to Halmstad. Directly at the harbor terminal, the trailers are loaded onto trains which takes them to a terminal in Oslo, where a truck then brings the trailer to the recipient. The solution is brand new, and we have great expectations to offer this green solution with constant capacity.
FREJA offers to calculate the Co2 emission for various solutions so that you can consider the emission before making your solution. You can also try our online Co2 calculator and see the Co2 emissions from your transports with FREJA.
Ole Ellehammer
Head of Department Stilling Nordic Cross Trade
oem@freja.com
FREJA Transport & Logistics A/S strengthens its position in Norway with the acquisition of Thoresen Transport AS
As of October 1st, 2021, the Danish logistics operator FREJA Transport & Logistics A/S acquired 80% of the Norwegian company Thoresen Transport AS. FREJA is part of the international group United Shipping & Trading Company (USTC), and the acquisition strengthens the group's position as one of the leading companies in the Nordic transport market.
Thoresen Transport has had a positive development for many years and is recognized for its good customer service and high quality. In the current financial year, a turnover of a minimum of 135 million NOK is expected.
"We have been looking for the right partner for a long time, and when the opportunity arose to acquire the majority stake of Thoresen Transport, it was quite an easy decision. With the acquisition, we are now ready to deliver even better service to our customers through higher quality and a broader portfolio. There is no doubt that their customer segments fit perfectly into FREJA's Norwegian business", says Ulrik Rasmussen, Group CEO of FREJA Transport & Logistics Holding A/S.
Thoresen Transport is a well-established transport and forwarding company in Larvik, which was founded in 1982 by the current owner and founder Lars Thoresen and his brother Knut Thoresen. The company currently has 25 well-qualified employees working with national and international transport, container transport, and customs/forwarding. Following the acquisition, Lars Thoresen will continue as head of Thoresen Transport, which will have its office, warehouse, and terminal facilities at the current central location at Larvik Harbor.
"Since we founded the company, it has been our ambition to create growth and expand our business areas. I am very proud and happy that Thoresen Transport from now on will be part of FREJA as we have collaborated for the past nine years in Vestfold, Buskerud, and Telemark. We have full confidence that the culture and the strong values that characterizes the company will continue, even with a new main shareholder", says Lars Thoresen, the current owner of Thoresen Transport.
Focusing on growth going forward
FREJA Transport & Logistics looks forward to the new collaboration and emphasizes that the growth ambitions have not been reached with this acquisition:
"We are constantly looking for good, well-operated companies that share the same values as us and can help us meet our long-term goals. Therefore, this acquisition is a natural step towards developing FREJA and our growth strategy", says Ulrik Rasmussen.
Lars Thoresen will continue to hold the remaining 20% of the shares in Thoresen Transport, and the company will keep the name Thoresen Transport AS.
The agreement is subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities. The transaction price will not be disclosed.
Ulrik Rasmussen
ura@freja.com
The EU Mobility Package stage two will be implemented 1st February 2022
We still await guidance from the EU
Information regarding the Chinese New Year (February 1, 2022)
In connection with the Chinese New Year, which takes place from January 31 to February 6, 2022, we bring some useful information for our customers.
SDK FREJA A/S launches strategic acquisition of Swedish IRT Logistics AB in 2022
The acquisition of IRT Logistics brings new colleagues and a strengthened business area for groupage transport between Sweden and the UK.
LET US HELP YOU TO FIND A SOLUTION THAT MEETS YOUR NEEDS.
Do you need transport for your cargo by road, sea or air, customised solutions for more demanding project forwarding cases or logistics solutions for your business? Do you have questions or comments regarding our services? Are you interested in our company or the opportunities we can offer?
Fill in the form and contact us!
Select country for contact requestPan Nordic / Pan EuropeanDenmarkSwedenNorwayFinlandPoland
By submitting the form, you agree to our privacy policy and cookies policy
FREJA Transport & Logistics A/S
Viborgvej 52
DK-7800 Skive
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information.
Fill out the form and we will contact you with an offer
Subscribe to FREJA's newsletter
We keep you updated on what's happening in a world in motion and give you the latest trends and news from the supply chain industry. We look into topics such as Business Intelligence, automation, and innovation, and provide information about our new services and latest developments to make your logistics run smoother and more effectively.


Itchin' for some cajun in your kitchen? That was a mouthful, but so is this spice. A powerful blend of paprika, cayenne, red pepper, and nutmeg will make you feel like you're in "The Big Easy."
Ingredients: Organic paprika, organic yellow mustard, organic basil, organic thyme, organic cumin, organic ancho pepper, sea salt, organic sage, organic onion, organic garlic, organic cayenne pepper, organic celery seed, organic cracked black pepper, organic nutmeg, organic smoked chili flakes.


W Hamond 18Ct White Gold Whitby Jet 0.11ct Diamond Round Cluster Ring R600.
Hand cut, set, and polished in our own workshops, this unique Whitby Jet and diamond round cluster ring is set within 18ct white gold. A halo of finest quality diamonds surround the Whitby Jet gemstone giving a total carat weight of 0.11 carats. A perfect engagement ring that features a rare British gemstone, or a fabulous and indulgent gift. Dimensions: Whitby Jet; 5mm x 5mm, Width of band; 2mm.


5-part series documenting a boat journey from Wroxham to Horning along the River Bure, through the heart of the Norfolk Broads.
Tina Bradshaw is an Eastern Life Coach and is a comedy character created by Bev Bishop.
This series explores the 35-mile long Wherryman's Way walk from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, which passes through Whitlingham, Surlingham, Rockland, Loddon, Reedham and Berney Arms.
Future Radio's search for the next best artist or band from the East of England is coming soon!


In 1956, the citizens of San Diego voted to gift coastal land in La Jolla to the Regents of the University of California, which ultimately became UC San Diego. Today, UCSD is San Diego's top employer and has altered the trajectory of the economy. The citizens of San Diego and its stewards are in a unique position to alter the course of San Diego's social, cultural & economic future for the benefit of the public yet again.
The primary mission of San Diego State is to provide a high quality, well-rounded education and to serve the citizens of the greater San Diego community. While the stadium and athletics are an important part of the university, they are secondary to education, research and service to the community.
SDSU is one of the largest economic, social and cultural workhorses in the region. The impact SDSU has is so profound it can't be measured in mere dollars.
For example, nearly 50 percent of the teachers in San Diego county attended SDSU.
SDSU is San Diego's public university. About 60 percent of SDSU graduates remain in San Diego to become part of the region's skilled work force. SDSU is currently the 10th largest employer in San Diego and employs nearly 10,000 San Diegans. SDSU's current annual economic impact to the region is $2.4 billion and generates $308 million in tax revenue. With the addition of 10,000 students to an expanded SDSU west campus, these figures nearly double to $4.5 billion and $587 million respectively, according to an independent study conducted by ICF International. Contrast that to what FS investors claim as a tax base of $1 billion, and it is not on the same level as an SDSU expansion.
The FS plan has some good points, but can't compare to a plan that would include an SDSU expansion at its core. It is far too dense and would suffocate an already congested Mission Valley. A university is the only entity who can command and control use of real estate in perpetuity in a fashion that maximizes value. The university would be able to control the vehicular impact on the site and have the ability to encourage the use of the trolley, bus and cycling paths to the residents.
I would like to see Major League Soccer to San Diego, but not at the expense of the public property in Mission Valley. Perhaps a model for MLS to find its way onto the SDSU west campus could be found in the AEG/LA Galaxy and CSU Dominguez Hills.
Whether SDSU pays fair unentitled market value or is gifted the land doesn't change the obvious fact that there is no better use of that public land for public benefit than a river park, recreational, affordable housing and education. Ninety-five percent of the more than 62,000 people who voted in a San Diego Union-Tribune poll agreed with the vision on the future of Mission Valley, calling for higher education expansion and protecting and preserving the San Diego River Park. I am disappointed in the leadership at both the city of San Diego and SDSU that there isn't already a plan. The city, developers and university should work together to find the best use of our public land in Mission Valley.
Where has the leadership of SDSU been for the last 2 years when it first ? Having lofty goals and coveting someone else's valuable land accomplishes nothing. The City is bleeding money on this nearly empty building and SDSU is talking about takeing 15-20 years to build it out. Where are te specifics for SDSU's vision? Where's the funding? Where's action to make it happen?
Instead of negotiating through the media, SDSU leadership should at least be talking to FS Investor.
Agree 100%. Both the city and SDSU should have already had a play ready to go. They knew this day was coming. That is a lack of leadership IMO. Just an FYI the FSI Soccer City proposal will take 15 years to complete; comparable to what an SDSU development would take.


text:
More than 50 years of experience in drive technology
Our experts support your project up to production start
Our drives have been tested successfully on Mars
Project Pegasus: Gallop like a horse.
Pegasus robot with four modules and the maxon DC RE40 motor clearly visible in the upper part of the leg module. © 2011 ETH Zürich
maxon View on DC RE40-Motor © 2011 ETH Zürich
Detailed view of the hip module with EC-4pole motor.© 2011 ETH Zürich
The maxon DC RE40 motor in the leg module takes care of the jump motion. © 2011 ETH Zürich
Section of a maxon DC motor. © 2012 maxon motor
The centerpiece of the motor is the ironless rotor. © 2012 maxon motor
The Pegasus robot, which was created by students during a research project, has strong legs that can gallop almost like those of a horse – thanks to DC motors and DC motor controllers by maxon.
As part of a research project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), the autonomous robot called Pegasus was created. With its telescopic legs, it is capable of moving across vast distances. The legs are designed for moving in a dynamic trot and can achieve top performance with low energy consumption, thanks to state-of-the-art drive technology. Pegasus has a modular design and can therefore be used for a wide range of applications. Each module consists of two robot legs. Hence he can be sent on his journey with two, four or even six legs. During the time frame of the project, a total of three modules were built.
The project was initiated at the end of 2010. The first hopping tests were started in April 2011 – initially, only one leg was used to extensively test the jumping ability. In each leg, a maxon RE40 DC motor drives the spindle that is responsible for extending and retracting the leg. Additionally an EC-4pole DC brushless motor controls the rotational degree of freedom in the hip module (connecting part between two leg modules). Thus it is the 200 DC brushless motor that makes it possible that the entire leg can turn.
Thanks to the special winding technology and the 4-pole magnets, the maxon EC-4pole drives are unbeatable when it comes to delivering the highest power per unit of volume and weight. The motors have no cogging torque, a high efficiency of more than 90 percent, and excellent control dynamics. The metal housing ensures good heat dissipation and mechanical stability. When it comes to service life, these motors also leave the competition far behind.
The controller
Two different positioning motor controllers are used to control the Pegasus robot. One of these is the EPOS 24/2 controller, which is used to control additional sensor interfaces. This position controller, like all other maxon EPOS products, was especially developed for commands and control functions in CANopen networks. Additionally this controller has been equipped with very good motion control functions. With the "Interpolated Position Mode" (PVT), the position controller is able to synchronously move along a path specified by means of setpoints. Secondly the EPOS2 70/10 controller is used. It is specially tailored to the brushed DC motors with encoder or the brushless DC motors with Hall sensors and encoders from 80 to 700 W. In the Pegasus system, the controller on the one hand is responsible for torque control (current mode) of the EC-4pole motors and for speed control (CANopen Profile Velocity Mode) of the used RE motors. In current mode, a constant torque can be controlled on the motor shaft. In "CANopen Profile Velocity Mode", the motor axis is moved with a specified set speed.
The project is being further developed in the Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) of the ETH Zurich. Since the end of last year, interns at the ASL are working on successful implementation of the project. In the mean time, the two-legged Pegasus has executed its first stable hops. The target of achieving a distance of 10 km in less than 10,000 seconds with a single battery charge is within grasp.
Oct 17, 2013 Author: Anja Schütz, © 2013 maxon motor ag


The movie theather is accessible from the exterior entrance or directly within the mall near the Food Court.
We welcome you to "walk around the centre" at Woodgrove Centre. Enjoy the comfort of walking in a safe and secure environment or enjoy the outdoor trails surrounding the shopping centre. If you are interested in knowing how far you are walking, please visit Guest Services for our indoor and outdoor routes. This is a wonderful way to stay fit and meet some new friends.


CBD pain patch - The Real CBD - CBD patches to relieve you from pain!
NEW – The CBD pain Patch to relieve you from your pain!
We love it when CBD and creativity join forces. It's the result of our hard work and finally, we can offer some truly unique pain patches!
CBD patches for pain deliver the power and pain relieving CBD (Cannabidiol) into your bloodstream. This by absorbing through multiple layers of your skin. Other delivery methods like vaping CBD or taking edibles can reduce the bioavailability (amount of CBD going into your body). As the CBD compounds need to go through the respiratory or digestive system, before reaching your bloodstream. For example, if you take an 8 mg CBD orally, you will have less of the beneficial value than if you used an 8 mg CBD transdermal patch.
Another major advantage that the patch is able to offer is you never have to remember when to take your next dosage oil. The patch goes to work automatically while you get on with your day, even if you travel a lot, works different shifts, sleeps late or is busy night and day raising a family. The ingredients are released into the skin over a timed release through absorption.
Additional benefit of using patches is that the CBD is supplied gradually and constantly, rather than in a large, single dose. Patches utilize the skin's natural barrier properties in order to achieve a constant delivery cannabidiol and achieve steadier blood levels as compared to oils, vaping or edibles.
Our skin is the largest organ we have. It covers and protects the body, regenerates when needed, and provides limited but essential penetration. The skin has three layers.
The first layer is called the epidermis. The epidermis is the skin's outermost layer. This is the layer that contains the primary barrier of the skin to the entry of foreign substances. The epidermis is the layer upon which a transdermal patch is placed.
The second layer of the skin is called the dermis. It lies beneath the epidermis and contains connective tissue that gives the skin structure and strength. The dermis also contains sweat glands and hair follicles. This layer of skin transmits the CBD from the patch into the deepest layer.
The deepest and third layer of skin is called the hypodermis. It is deeper tissue and is made of fat and more connective tissue. This layer contains blood vessels which also reach into the dermis and epidermis. These blood vessels are important in the transmission of CBD from the patch to the bloodstream.
You will get 2 sheets of 15 patches in a small handy resealable envelope. This is sufficient for 30 days of pain-relieving daily life. Each patch is 3.2 cm x 3.2 cm skin coloured and very discreet. Every 24 hours you must place the patch anywhere on the body that is hair free, non-greasy from creams and body lotions and covered by clothing. Each patch has 8mg of CBD, which is equivalent to 1 drop of or 15% CBD oil.
Why use CBD oil preventively?
CBD oil and Drug Tests The Ultimate Real CBD Product Guide!


The following publications endeavor to further the understanding of contemporary issues in the Americas, create international dialogue on policy, and generate research on a range of topics that are both country and theme specific.
Copyright © 2019 Mauricio Font's Publications. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Sovereignism Part 8: Everywhere and Nowhere
A 12-part essay series exploring the disruption of the nation-state and the subsequent amplification of individual sovereignty during the Digital Age.
This series is loosely based on the 1997 masterwork: The Sovereign Individual.
"Exodus believes in empowering the individual to control their wealth and financial destiny and has provided financial support for the research and writing of this series. Exodus has no editorial control over the content of these writings."
In Part 7, we explored how property and money interface with the mind, and how each is a mutually influential pattern on the other according to Material Engagement Theory. For this reason, the corruption of money, and violations of property more generally, are proposed to be catalysts of mass-psychoses. We also looked at why there is good reason to be hopeful despite the global fiat fiasco and attendant mass-psychosis in which we find ourselves embroiled today. Thankfully, socioeconomic systems based on freedom tend to outcompete those premised on fiat. Here in Part 8, we will take a look at totalitarianism—the largest and most catastrophic mass-psychosis of all—and its relationship with the "everywhere and nowhere" nature of market dynamics: manifestations of humanity's collective mind. Markets are "minds of minds" and, as we will see, sovereignists are those who choose to free their minds and take full ownership of themselves by migrating to coercion-proof money.
The Market: A Universal Process
"In my philosophy there is no difference between the physical and the spiritual; these are absolutely out of date categories. It is all process; it isn't stuff on one hand and form on the other… it is pattern, life is pattern—it is a dance of energy."—Alan Watts
All phenomena in the universe exist in flux; in a "stateless state" of continuous change—an endless dance of energy. Sometimes, certain events can appear to be static—a mountainous landscape, for instance—but viewed through the "God's Eye" view of geologic time, even mountains are just waves of energy coursing through terrestrial features. Like waves on the ocean, mountains are engaged in a constant exchange of energy with their surroundings, albeit on a much longer time scale. Within the sphere of human action, this universal process of ceaseless exchange is instantiated in the marketplace. Humans not only trade goods and services, and the ideas on which they are based, but they also imitate one another's actions in waves of mimetic exchange—imitative patterns of action directly responsible for the development and propagation of ritual, culture, and social institutions. Indeed, this human capacity for cultural replication and exchange is one of our defining characteristics:
Mimesis—the etymological root of mimicry—allows humans to accumulate procedural learnings from generation to generation, steadily enriching the treasury of knowledge and letting us civilize ourselves beyond conditions of depravity. The problem with this unique human capacity for mimetic exchange and imitation is that when coercion or violence is initiated, it can echo onward virtually without end. Herein lies the problem with fiat: under a (more or less) veiled threat of force, fiat involves spurring human action "because an authority said so." When action is induced in this way, the fundamentally free nature of individuality is violated, and those moved by fiat inevitably devise ways to resist, undermine, or obtain retribution against their fiat-tongued authorities. Mimetic exchange ensues, causing blood feuds and waves of reciprocal vengeance.
Declaration by fiat is the essence of statism. As covered previously in this series, political statism is a mass-psychosis premised on the profitability of property violation. This psychotic mode of human organization—a watered-down version of outright slavery—is dependent on a general ignorance and passivity among people. Since property violation is the prime enterprise of statism, it runs counter to the voluntarily established channels of free exchange comprising the organic macrovasculature of the marketplace. All declarations by fiat result in a reciprocal breakdown of cognitive integrity, both individually and collectively, or between minds and markets. All attempts to reduce the infinite dynamism of markets to a static, statist formula is inevitably destructive to value. As Robert Pirsig poeticizes the reality of free markets:
"A free market is a Dynamic institution. What people buy and what people sell, in other words what people VALUE, can never be contained by any intellectual formula. What makes the marketplace work is Dynamic Quality. The market is always changing and the direction of that change can never be predetermined."
When intervention by fiat is imposed on markets and market actors, the dynamic discovery processes necessary for healthy (distributed) cognition are disturbed and the mental fortitude of both minds and markets is damaged. As we will see, fiat causes a cognitive schism in the minds of individuals and ensembles alike. When an assertion from a self-proclaimed authority is put forth as an override on freely discovered truth, the rottenness of deceit infects the intersubjective fabrics of human interrelations. The essence of fiat is the following unjust and absurd fallacy: that some authority has an ownership claim on you superior to your own self-ownership. Fiat is a contradiction of human nature, and its promulgation is a socioeconomic pathology. This is why the state has always desperately needed the support of intellectuals as "opinion-molders" of society, to justify its rake, and serve as a "psychological bandage" to cover up its deceit.
However, in the long-run, the parasitic pursuits of statism have repeatedly proven to be self-defeating. Hence the recurrent "boom and bust" cycles of rising and falling civilization across history. As any Bitcoiner can surely infer: "Break the money, break the world." When property rights are sufficiently violated, the parasitic state kills its productive free market host, thus killing itself in the process of interrupting market processes. A quick study of history proves that each state that has ever existed ultimately saws off the branch on which it rests—the wealth-generating free market. As Mises defines the market in Human Action:
"The market is not a place, a thing, or a collective entity. The market is a process, actuated by the interplay of the actions of the various individuals cooperating under the division of labor. The forces determining the—continually changing—state of the market are the value judgements of these individuals and their actions as directed by these value judgements. The state of the market at any instant is the price structure, i.e., the totality of the exchange ratios as established by the interaction of those eager to buy and those eager to sell."
A processual forum of free exchange, the market exists "everywhere and nowhere." Even when states intervene into free market processes, they cannot eliminate them, but can only cause temporary (albeit destructive) distortions. Often going unnoticed in good times, these distortions eventually culminate into catastrophe, as it is impossible to avoid the externalities created by the business model of statism. The specializations of statism—coercion, compulsion, and violence—are forceful phenomena that scar the psyches of its many victims. The seed of initial violence thus sown, it eventually germinates, and spreads via mimesis, becoming normalized and embedded in the sociocultural fabric of the state. To protect themselves from any potential backlash, statists strive to monopolize critical infrastructure and propagandize to win approval from their unwitting victims. As Frank Chodorov writes in The Rise and Fall of Society:
"Amidst the flux of expansion or contraction, the State always makes sure that it seizes and retains certain crucial "command posts" of the economy and society. Among these command posts are a monopoly of violence, monopoly of the ultimate judicial power, the channels of communication and transportation (post office, roads, rivers, air routes), irrigated water in Oriental despotisms, and education—to mold the opinions of its future citizens. In the modern economy, money is the critical command post."
From these "command posts," fiat is imposed, and false divisions called "national borders" are drawn upon the face of the Earth. All fiat is an expression of fear: an attempt to dictate the action patterns of another in accordance with the self-interest of the decreer. As states can only grow by expanding the enterprise of coercion, mass-psychosis is intensified with each wave of mimetic violence energized by fiat. As coercion and violence swells, fear and protectionism rise as well, leading to temporary breakdown in the "everywhere and nowhere" market process, which strangles wealth creation and exacerbates economic scarcity, leading to the utter destruction of life, liberty, and property—as evidenced by the 169M murdered during the waves of democide in the 20th century. Fear leads to the carving up of the world into discrete entities, and these state borders become battle lines. Walls built to "protect" citizens ultimately become economic prisons. The end result for every state across history is mass-suffering, collapse, or defeat in war. Statism has always been a self-defeating enterprise, because it is based on the falsehood of fiat. This economic and psychological perspective on statism by fiat equips us to understand the madness being magnified throughout the world today. Unfortunately, we are likely far from the darkest days of the current mass-psychosis. History offers many examples, but nowhere is this pattern more evident and severe than during the statist atrocities of the 20th century executed under totalitarianism—the most catastrophic form of mass-psychosis yet known.
A mass-cerebral aneurysm, totalitarianism is the inevitable end game of statism. The reason is fairly straightforward: the initial act of coercion, no matter where it originates, must mimetically propagate and become magnified in the market process. This pathology persists so long as violence remains profitable for its perpetrators. In this way, the original rift between "perpetrator" and "victim" embeds a division in the collective mind of humanity. In economic parlance, perpetrators are those who, on a net basis, benefit from the proceeds stolen through taxation (which includes inflation), and the victims are those who, also on net, are plundered through taxation. This asymmetry is a deep psychological gash on the whole of humanity: a wound that inevitably festers into the mass-psychosis of totalitarianism.
The Mass-Psychosis of Totalitarianism
"For the same reasons the failing Soviet Union tried in vain to suppress access to personal computers and Xerox machines, Western governments will seek to suppress the digital economy through totalitarian means."—The Sovereign Individual
Axiomatically, taxation always splits people into two distinct cohorts: the ruled (the taxpayers) and the rulers (the tax-receivers). This division in society causes a psychological regression in both groups: the ruled taxpayers become infantilized, and the tax-receiving rulers become megalomaniacal. Mimetic exchange ensues, causing self-reinforcing feedback loops on each side of the mass-cognitive schism, until a Girardian "victimage mechanism" is reached, and new social institutions are born. A psychotic attempt to refute the truth of individual self-ownership, statism succeeds only in turning "sound minds into sick minds." Coercive efforts to rectify this self-induced harm only make matters worse: typically this involves the printing of money in an attempt to "paper over" the socioeconomic disasters that result from coercion. Inflation only worsens this mutualized sickness of minds and markets. This outcome is unsurprising when considered through the lens of MET: as we showed in Part 7, soft money softens the mind by disintegrating relationships between agents and arenas, loosening their grip on socioeconomic reality. In this way, inflation—the most insidious and invisible form of taxation—contributes to social dissolution. As Paul A. Cantor describes this destructive phenomenon in Hyperinflation and Hyperreality:
"Money is one of the primary measures of value in any society, perhaps the primary one, the principal repository of value. As such, money is a central source of stability, continuity, and coherence in any community. Hence to tamper with the basic money supply is to tamper with a community's sense of value. By making money worthless, inflation threatens to undermine and dissolve all sense of value in a society."
More general than the corruption of money, repeated violations of property can be enough to drive people psychotic. As Michael Saylor puts it: "If you want to drive people insane, just keep changing the rules." Life, liberty, and property are the most basic rules of civilization—each is derived from the principle of freedom. Property is the fruit of one's past freedom: an extension of individual self-ownership infused into the world. In a stark movement against reality, states break Natural Law by preying on property via taxation.
"The past was erased, the erasure forgotten, and the lie became the truth."—George Orwell, 1984
By enforcing the untruth of non-self-ownership, statists delude individuals into a daze of resignation and passivity, thus making them "ripe for the harvest" of continual psychological manipulation and taxation. This general resignation to state rule is echoed in the idiom "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." As a coercion-based business strategy, statism strives to grow tax revenues until there is total submission to state power. In its final form, statism becomes the de facto super-dominant social institution, giving way to the most dangerous mass-psychosis of all—totalitarianism.
"Totalitarianism: the modern phenomenon of total centralized state power coupled with the obliteration of individual human rights. In the totalized state, there are those in power, and there are the objectified masses, the victims."—Arthur Versluis
Totalitarianism is accomplished by manipulating minds with targeted propaganda campaigns, which are (perversely) funded by widespread violations of property, further undermining mass-psychological stability. This psychological "pincer-maneuver" is the tried and true statist tactic for perpetrating menticide on the masses. Totalitarianism is a static pattern of mimesis usurping the "everywhere and nowhere" nature of the dynamic free market: a tyrannizing deception attempting to overrule the truth-discovery functionality of freedom itself. As Joost Meerloo writes, menticide—the "killing of the mind"—is the incremental sequence of acts prerequisite to the establishment of totalitarian control. Attacking property is essential to menticide and the destruction of "human rights," for as Ayn Rand wrote:
As explored previously in this series, money is a psychotechnological extension of the mind, and its "killing" through legalized central bank counterfeiting causes a commensurate decay in the minds of its users, as we saw in the events leading up to the Salem Witch Trials (a relatively small-scale mass-psychosis). Fiat currency streamlines menticide, enabling it to scale into a systemic psychological perversion mechanism that makes totalitarian control not only possible, but often even demanded by the mentally murdered masses. Fiat currency is self-deception—and ultimately, self-destruction—executed at a totalizing scale on the psyche of humanity.
To understand what causes a mass-psychosis, we must first understand madness at the individual level. A significant contributor of individual psychosis is addiction to drugs or alcohol. An otherwise psychologically stable individual can be reliably driven into psychosis through substance abuse. Behind this psychological decline is the "reciprocal narrowing" explored in my series with John Vervaeke. For instance, an alcoholic drinks to escape the problems of life, an activity which causes them to further neglect the issues underlying their pain. This, of course, only exacerbates their problems, and drives them to drink even more. This vicious cycle continues until a breaking point is reached: either the alcoholic "wakes up" from their psychotic behavior or they continue to drink themselves to the point of disease or death.
Central banking induces a similar reciprocal narrowing for market actors. Initially, an increase in the money supply is stimulative to wages, consumption, and investment. However, the false price signals inflated money propagates inevitably lead to entrepreneurial error, over-borrowing, and capital misallocation. Like blind men navigating the world with an ever-softening stick, market actors are increasingly led astray by the falsified price signals of soft money. Inevitably, there is a "crash" back to reality, similar to the hangover after a night of binge drinking. Like successive alcoholic beverages, each round of currency supply inflation by fiat is subject to the law of diminishing returns, driving the alcoholic to drink more and more in pursuit of that "original high." This vicious cycle of reciprocal narrowing through fiat currency inflation is a form of addiction that typically ends with the total meltdown of the monetary system: an economic cataclysm known as hyperinflation. Seen in the rise of Hitler from the hyperinflationary ashes of the Weimar Republic, the desperation induced by failed money causes people to beg for strong leadership, even at the risk of totalitarianism. A reversal of freedom, all forms of fiat trigger negative feedback loops of reciprocal narrowing that inevitably lead to socioeconomic disease (price distortions) or death (hyperinflations).
Psychological patterns of addiction are also leveraged by the state to gain popular support from its constituents. An especially perverse form of menticide, this is the same method a kidnapper uses to induce Stokholm syndrome in victims of abduction. By repeatedly abusing victims to the breaking point, then consoling them in their fallen state, kidnappers orchestrate a rhythm of abuse that seduces the minds of their targets into voluntary submission. Used methodically, this tactic can even inspire extreme loyalty in the victim towards the perpetrator. Statism involves the systemization of menticide to efficiently inflict it on the masses, punctuated by periods of relative peace, thereby energizing support from a downtrodden, confused citizenry. Incremental encroachment in this way is the standard approach of advancing statists. How else could the state—a social construction which has always sustained itself by violating the very property rights it is entrusted to preserve—continue to win the minds and hearts of people? Quite simply, yet sadly: humanity has been in an abusive relationship with the state throughout most of history. If enough humans awoke to this stark reality, the state would immediately be dissolved, as it is an ideological structure that depends on people's belief in it to survive.
An organized system of psychological sabotage and judicial perversion, the state is a system for imprinting the willpower of its rulers onto the ruled. It is important to understand that "rulers" and "ruled" are not two static cohorts, but rather two dynamic orbits individuals rotate into and out of according to their net income or loss from taxation over any given time frame. For instance, a government contractor may be a "ruler" in the year he lands a large taxpayer-funded contract, and be "ruled" in the year he pays a large tax bill. This blurred line between rulers and ruled further complicates the infection of our socioeconomic fabric with coercion (as explored in my series with Jimmy Song). Tacitly, ruled individuals feel the exploitation, although cognitively they may not understand it, nor do they know how to direct their anger towards resolution due to this ambiguity. Frustrated and desperate, ruled individuals turn to the pre-fabricated narratives proffered by the state-influenced media organs (aka the "mainstream media") to orient themselves in the world. Clearly, this "news" is curated to suit the interests of the rulers by "manufacturing consent" from the ruled.
Besides money, centrally controlled digital technologies like social media are among the most effective means of "manufacturing consent" ever devised. Film, television, and the internet—complete with campaigns and algorithms designed to censor the flow of dissension—constitute a technological complex the state leverages to shape public perceptions. These centralized platforms allow those in power to easily and subliminally assault the minds of the masses. Further, the addictiveness of social media causes unwitting subjects of the state to voluntarily expose themselves to its specifically curated complex of lies.
"No rest. No meditation. No reflection. No conversation. The senses are continually overloaded with stimuli. Man doesn't learn to question his world anymore; the screen offers him answers already made."—Joost Meerloo
Isolation and Insanity
Social isolation further exacerbates the human vulnerability to mass-psychosis. As Jordan Peterson has said, each of us "outsources our sanity" to those trusted few we surround ourselves with most often. Or, as Tim Ferriss said: "we each become the average of the five people we spend most of our time with." Again, according to MET, the old adage that we are each "a product of our environment" rings truer than ever. When this "social sanity check" is removed, isolated individuals slip even further out of touch with reality, and become even more susceptible to delusions implanted by state-sponsored media with its pre-fabricated narratives spinning on repeat twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Although sometimes only a few astute people are able to see through the menticidal assaults of the state, their steadfastness can be enough to bulwark the more fragile psyches of their peers when engaged in regular social contact. Therefore, by enforcing "social distancing" by fiat statists ameliorate the positive influence of those free-thinking individuals who can see through the ideological smoke-screen of statism. Like Pavlovian dogs, humans too are more easily conditioned into new patterns of action when forced into isolation:
"Isolation and the patient repetition of stimuli are required to tame wild animals… the totalitarians have followed this rule. They know that they can condition their political victims most quickly if they are kept in isolation."
Rhythmic, persistent waves of propaganda and property violations push populations ever-further into psychosis. A never-ending assault of state-sponsored menticide slowly softens the psychological integrity of citizens, and creates the opportunity for statists to take the decisive step toward totalized control. With chaos swirling around and within them, citizens increasingly crave stability by any means necessary, which the totalitarian so kindly offers them—for a price. Successfully sabotaged psychologically into the denial of their own inalienable individual self-ownership, citizens are promised that obedience and submissiveness to the totalized state is the only way to restore stability to their lives.
"The totalitarian systems of the 20th century represent a kind of collective psychosis, whether gradually or suddenly, reason and common human decency are no longer possible in such a system. There is only a pervasive atmosphere of terror and a projection of the enemy imagined to be "in our midst." Thus society turns on itself, urged by the ruling authorities."
Thankfully, this self-devouring of society is not sustainable. These strategically yet sadistically incepted statist illusions are inevitably vaporized by the inextinguishable light of truth. Totalitarianism is a pathology of human hierarchy; its integrity is premised on the profitability of violence, the violability of property, and the docility of the deceived masses. Totalitarians may act as if their knowledge overrules reality, but reality cannot be so easily suppressed, and there are energetic consequences to malevolence. As John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost: "Evil is the force that believes its knowledge is complete." The illusion of totalized knowledge is the self-deception—and ultimately the self-destruction—of all totalitarian impulses including pride, arrogance, and statism. For freedom is the waypoint to truth, and the overrider of all falsehoods. And in this world, only free markets can properly facilitate truth-discovery.
Dynamism Destroys Totalitarianism
"Information technology makes possible a dramatic extension of markets by altering the way that private property rights are created and protected."—The Sovereign Individual
Morally, totalitarianism is repugnant. Pragmatically, it fails as well. Knowledge flows in ways that make totalitarian rule unsustainable. Data throughput is simply higher on the decentralized free market, which makes it both adaptive and antifragile to the unexpected. Totalitarianism is the reverse: it is fragilized by time. As Hayek brilliantly argued in his landmark paper The Use of Knowledge in Society, knowledge of particular circumstances is in constant flux, and arises in localized pools throughout spacetime. Quite simply, Hayek proved that knowledge cannot be centrally controlled effectively:
"If we can agree that the economic problem of society is mainly one of rapid adaptation to changes in the particular circumstances of time and place, it would seem to follow that the ultimate decisions must be left to the people who are familiar with these circumstances, who know directly of the relevant changes and of the resources immediately available to meet them. We cannot expect that this problem will be solved by first communicating all this knowledge to a central board which, after integrating all knowledge, issues its orders. We must solve it by some form of decentralization."
Unavoidably, knowledge must be discovered at local and immediate scales prior to its dissemination. Following each new discovery, the usefulness of new knowledge rapidly declines as it loses relevance to the ever-shifting circumstances surrounding its emergence. Humans acting on this knowledge, each in their own individual self-interest, undermine the command-and-control hierarchies of totalitarians, who suffer from the blindness inherent to the inferior knowledge flow structures of bureaucracy. Those with access to new knowledge will always leverage it to their own advantage, which widens the divergence between "the plan" and reality. This rift between the "map and the territory" widens further until all individuated action is considered to be treason, and the totalitarian hierarchy starts to collapse under its own inefficiency. "They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work": this sarcastic slogan from Soviet Russia captures the spirit of this unavoidable unraveling of totalitarianism. Or as Solzhenitsyn put it:
Coercion always catalyzes negative externalities. Economies with high-integrity property rights allow for greater spontaneity and adaptivity among market actors, thus leading to the generation of greater aggregate wealth. With stronger property rights in vaster pools of wealth, truly capitalistic (or what I call sovereignistic) socioeconomic systems are optimized for the inarguable truths of individual self-ownership and self-responsibility. In other words, sovereignistic systems maximize the abilities of individuals to each bear the risks and reap the rewards of their own actions by letting them mediate their exchanges and savings in the inviolable property of Bitcoin. Although property is most often conceived of as the "right" to enjoy the benefits of an asset, equally important is the "responsibility" for stewardship this fruit of past freedom imparts on market actors. Property rights are equally property responsibilities, and this social construction maximizes the "ability of individuals to choose how to respond"—maximizes their response-ability—in any given situation. Unsurprisingly, societies comprised of more responsible individuals naturally outcompete lesser societies.
Taxation is a contradiction of property rights and responsibilities. Therefore, greater levels of taxation lead to less wealth and individual self-responsibility among citizens. When "fruits of labor" cannot be reliably preserved across time, the creation of value from free exchange is necessarily lessened. In this way, the state is unavoidably inhibitory to value creation, as all taxation is (by economic axiom) a constraint on productivity. This means taxation is a measure of the percentage stolen from the ruled by the rulers, which is equivalent to the societal progression from sovereignism to totalitarianism. At the individual level, the effective tax rate is the spectrum across which one moves from being a self-owned sovereignist to a slave:
Tell me your effective tax rate (including inflation), and I'll tell you what percentage of a slave you are. Tell me the state-wide effective tax rate, and I'll tell you what percentage of a totalitarian regime it is.
In totalitarian form, the state is imposing 100% taxation on its people, harvesting the entirety of their economic surplus, thereby enslaving them all in a system of totalized rulership. In this way, the spectrum of taxation quantifies both the level of slavery in the ruled and megalomania in the rulers. Taken in combination, these measures quantify the acuity of mass-psychosis gripping a society. Enslavement is the delusion that an individual can be anything less than 100% self-owned, and conversely, megalomania is the delusion that greater than 100% self-ownership is possible through the enslavement of others. Taxation incentivizes the expansion of coercion, restricts capital accumulation, raises time preferences, and is used to fund menticidal campaigns and warfare—all of which are key precursors to the onset of mass-psychosis. It is not surprising that psyches break under these circumstances, as totalitarianism suppresses even the most basic creative impulses of life. This mental mass-murder, of course, can become lethal for all involved—as genocide and revolution threaten the lives of ruled and rulers, respectively.
The ultimate cost of totalitarian rule is the disincentivization of entrepreneurship, which leads to a collapse in wealth, a corruption of price signals, and economic catastrophes up to and including shortages, mass starvation, and mass murder. All organizations—like all organisms—are growth-oriented: for states, this means an impetus to increase tax revenues, with a target of 100%, which equals the total enslavement of their constituent citizenries. In this way, the unchecked growth of statism always metastasizes into totalitarianism. The 20th century atrocities in Maoist China, Soviet Russia, and Nazi Germany are each a totalitarian testament to this inevitable, malevolent, and self-destructive endgame of all statist ideologies.
Unfortunately today, nation-states worldwide are moving along the spectrum of taxation closer toward totalitarianism. Property violations are rampant and accelerating with unprecedented fiat currency inflation, lockdowns, business closures, eviction suspensions, and mask mandates (to name just a few). More frighteningly, the specter of vaccine mandates—the ultimate violation of an individual's most personal property and bodily autonomy—looms larger and larger. Some countries, like Australia and Germany have already crossed the line of this criminality against humanity. All of these aspects of the global statist "war on individual self-ownership" are symptoms of a quickening mass-psychosis. Written in 1997, The Sovereign Individual even predicted the particular psychotic tactics that states would employ as their business conditions worsened during the nascent Digital Age (aka the Information Age):
"Those with the earnings ability and capital to meet the competitive challenges of the Information age will be able to locate anywhere and do business anywhere. With a choice of domiciles, only the most patriotic or stupid will continue to reside in high-tax countries.
For this reason, it is to be expected that one or more nation-states will undertake covert action to subvert the appeal of transience. Travel could be effectively discouraged by biological warfare, such as the outbreak of a deadly epidemic. This could not only discourage the desire to ravel, it could also give jurisdictions throughout the globe an excuse to seal their borders and limit immigration."
The writing is on many of the walls closing in all around us, just open your eyes. The fight for freedom in the 21st century is rapidly reaching a fever pitch…
Fighting for Sovereignty
"When a small group can command effective means of resisting an assault by a large group, which was the case during the Middle Ages, sovereignty tends to fragment."—The Sovereign Individual
How can totalitarianism be prevented? This is a difficult question to answer simply. Just as the menticidal assault is multi-flanked, so too must be the counterattack. Fundamental to all totalitarian rule historically is the forced monopolization of money. Clearly, this "command post" offers the greatest cost-to-benefit ratio for aspirant totalitarians, as money is the single most important tool in the day to day lives of humans everywhere. Counterfeiting money by fiat (aka inflation) is the path of least resistance for states to violate property. Further, by manipulating the rules of money, totalitarians gain the ability to twist market actor valuations, goal-orientations, and perceptions—which adds to their menticidal arsenal. In many ways, monopolized money is an effective mass-psychotechnological command line tool—a way to surreptitiously corrupt the property ledger and psychological integrity within any state. All efforts by fiat can only make totalitarianism worse.
To heal the mass-psychosis of totalitarianism, a bottom-up approach is necessary to counteract the top-down menticide. The first step is to bring order to the mind of the individual. A logical action for aspirant sovereignists in the 21st century is to embrace a money which cannot be debased or stolen by totalitarians. To this end, only physical gold and Bitcoin are viable options. Given the heightened need for discretion and concealment of wealth under the circumstances of rising taxation and totalitarianism, Bitcoin is clearly the tool of choice. Indeed, if enough of the citizenry opts to move their wealth into Bitcoin, the net outcome is to devitalize the totalitarians ability to fund the state apparatus of coercion, compulsion, and violence. Holding Bitcoin then not only restores a sound mind to sovereignists under statist assault, but it is simultaneously a counterstrike on the machinations of the state. In this way, sovereigists can empower themselves through Bitcoin to stand independent and defiant of the state, giving them the footing necessary to redeem their fellow man:
"It is not for nothing that our age cries out for the redeemer personality, for the one who can emancipate himself from the grip of the collective psychosis and save at least his own soul who lights a beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is at least one man who has succeeded in extricating himself from the fatal identity with the group psyche."—Carl Jung
As redeemers of humanity, it is incumbent on all aspiring sovereignists to spread all information which counteracts the ascent of totalitarianism as far and as wide as possible. To this end, nothing is more effective than a critical and inquisitive mind. As Rothbard said: "the greatest danger to the state is independent intellectual criticism." Only light can penetrate darkness, and only the creative principle of truth can dispel the mass-psychosis inflicted by the deceptions of a totalitarian regime. The truth is every man is individually self-owned and self-responsible—Bitcoin maps directly onto this truth by being the most difficult property to violate in human history. By virtue of being an unbreakable ruleset for money—an exception-proof property ledger—Bitcoin can help restore sanity in a psychotic world.
Bitcoin is coercion-proof money. When no one can make an exception to the ledger of property through inflation, the sovereignty of every individual is maximized. As a wealth strategy, statism is neutered when property can no longer be violated. Bitcoin makes this ancient idea of inviolable property—originally ratified by King John in the 1215 Magna Carta—something more than scribbles on government constitutional documents. Finally, the breakthrough of encryption enables the permanent inscription of this ancient principle in an immutable language of truth—open-source code. Inviolable property is unshakable civilizational bedrock, and Bitcoin—the world's only incorruptible money—is its strongest implementation.
King John signing the Magna Carta in 1215, ratifying the concept of inviolable property. An evolutionary leap beyond these scribbles, Bitcoin permanently implements inviolable property through a mix of cryptography and incentives.
Another anti-state tactic is the construction of "parallel structures": any form of organization, social institution, or technology that exist in parallel with a totalitarian society, but morally orthogonal to it. When enough inhabitants come into these parallel structures, the totalitarian state loses relevance, which can contribute to its downfall. Undoubtedly, Bitcoin is an indispensable cornerstone for all such parallel structures, as it is neutral, apolitical, universally accessible, and incorruptible.
"What else are parallel structures than an area where a different life can be lived, a life that is in harmony with its own aims and which in turn structures itself in harmony with those aims? What else are those initial attempts at social self-organization than the efforts of a certain part of society… to rid itself of the self-sustaining aspects of totalitarianism and thus to extricate itself radically from its involvement in the totalitarian system."—Václav Havel
Above all else, what is required to prevent full descent into totalitarianism is individual action. Just as totalitarians take concerted, deliberate steps toward establishing their dominion, so too must rebellion be given by sovereignists seeking to preserve their independence from and indifference to statist incursions on human liberty. To put it succinctly: to protect individual self-ownership from predation, it must be exercised to its fullest extent. When it comes to freedom, we must, as the old adage instructs: "use it or lose it." As the basis for all civilizational principles—human rights, civil liberties, and freedom of speech—individual self-ownership is the simple yet profound truth sovereignists must seek to reify through action in open resistance of all statist attempts to stamp it out. Human action begins and ends with the individual—therefore, individual praxis is the only elixir a worldwide mass-psychosis.
The Pointlessness of Politics
"Politics in the modern sense, a preoccupation with controlling and rationalizing the power of the state, is mostly a modern invention."—The Sovereign Individual
Ultimately, the market process is inescapable—it is "everywhere and nowhere" as mimetic, economic, and ideologic exchange is everywhere and endless. All men take action in accordance with their internally established hierarchies of value. The simple truth is that when coercion is profitable, men become thieving. By way of earthly analogy, incentives are the soil from which human action patterns spring.
Men making, twisting, and breaking rules create no value for the market actors that play by them. "Discovered laws"—the way of decentralized legal systems like customary law, Roman Law, or English Common Law—are superior to those legislated by fiat. Value can only be born from mutually volitional action. If a rule has to be imposed, then it inhibits value creation. All taxation, inflation, and regulation by fiat is, by definition, imposed against the will of market actors. As such, all of these statist activities are violations of the three temporal manifestations of freedom: life, liberty, and property. The temptation to cross the line of other human's person or property in pursuit of profit has lured men into games of reciprocal, mimetic vengeance across history. Ever since Cain murdered his brother Abel, humanity has been trapped in this twisted shadow of violence. Law is established in an effort to overcome this ceaseless carnage. But institutionalizing the plundering of property can only cause conflict over the policymaking apparatus instead. Perpetual violence is inevitable when the rules are mutable. But when they are fixed, men are forced to play accordingly, adapting themselves for victory in the process. In the case of Bitcoin, the core unbreakable rule is "do not steal": the core axiom of Natural Law that incentivizes proper moral action and, therefore, dissuades politicking by properly enshrining life, liberty, and property.
External power is the objective of statism. As the ultimate instrument of power, money is the means and ends of statism. As Christ instructed: "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy." Let us never forget: statism is a business model premised on theft, death, and destruction: specifically, the theft it executes through taxation and inflation; the death of warfare and conscription; and the destruction of geopolitics and the incalculable atrocities it continues to afflict upon the soul of the world.
More pragmatically, politics is a flat out waste of human energy. Let's face it: politicians spend most of their time politicking. This is not a productive form of labor. Indeed, the art politic is anti-economic. This claim is not an opinion. It is an economic axiom that taxation reduces production, and professional politicians are sustained by taxation. Also by economic axiom, production must precede consumption. Therefore, the very existence of political rulership reduces the human capacity for wealth accumulation. When a portion of the bounty is confiscated to fund "security of person and property," there is less to go around. This is especially and paradoxically true when part of the booty is used to fund further violations of person and property. So, those most insufferable few who commit their lives to politics expend their energy in an effort to position themselves nearer the fiat currency spigot to maximize their share of the stolen proceeds it sprays all about. The games involved with this political positioning involve patterns of action which reflect the nature of the business of statism—coercion, deception, and violence. Political statism is poison to the soul.
Imagine a local farmer surveying his fields on a sun-drenched morning, then planning, planting, and finally reaping his hard-earned harvest many months later. Farmers harness energy. They work, that's why evolution keeps them around. Or imagine a consumer enjoying the produce from that local farm, say, gorging on its fresh broccoli, for the purpose of transforming its sun-derived energy into the satisfaction of his tasks as a software engineer. Engineers amplify the utility of human energy by building useful tools. They work, that's why evolution keeps them around. Now imagine a politician, who is doing what exactly? Post-COVID, they are likely on a zoom call, discussing how much to "spend" (aka steal) in the upcoming infrastructure bill. If the basic tenets of Natural Law were honored—life, liberty, and property—then taxation wouldn't exist at all, nor would professional politicians.
It's really difficult to imagine a politician creating value in the world in any capacity. When I write this, I want it to be clear that I mean "in their role as a politician." This does not mean an individual which I've labeled "politician" is forever incapable of value creation, it just means that in their capacity as a politician that is the case. Political action is the opposite of labor. Work is opposite to politicking. Although they may "go to work," professional politicians do nothing to increase aggregate wealth in the world; they do nothing to solve any real problems faced by people engaged in productive activities. Politicians don't work, that's why evolution won't be keeping them around. In fact, their mere existence contributes to the precise opposite of work: a rule-twisting induced psychosis manifest as net wealth and capital destruction.
Perhaps political hierarchies were a necessary evolutionary stepping stone to the emergence of a coercion-minimized civilization. Hierarchical existence is ever-present in human affairs—like the free markets they facilitate, human hierarchies are "everywhere and nowhere." With Bitcoin functioning as an incorruptible base layer to a global, digital, non-state economy, our best hope is to construct these hierarchies in a coercion-proof fashion, thus basing the power dynamics comprising them on "competence" rather than "politics." Bitcoin is a forcing function for mutual voluntary exchange: the antithesis of taxation. In this way, Bitcoin—the ultimate apolitical, sound money—can energize sound minds and free markets to permanently inoculate humanity against the mass-psychosis of totalitarianism.
Bitcoin is an indispensable ingredient to any remedy for mass-psychosis.
To sum up Sovereignism Parts 7 and 8: MET teaches us that there is no real division between mind and matter: each is a mutually interactive pattern of the other. The global marketplace—consisting of economic, ideologic, and mimetic exchange—is the present manifestation of the humanity's collective mind. Said differently: the market is the mind of minds. Money is the "neurotransmitter" of this collective mind, and its corruption confounds cognition at all scales (aka agent-arena relationships). Statism is premised on taxation and the corruption of money: an organizational model that contradicts the inarguable reality of individual self-ownership. Attempts to build a global civilization contrary to this axiomatic truth cause mass-psychosis. Bitcoin helps cure individual and collective minds alike by purifying price signals and empowering individual self-ownership, thereby re-harmonizing agent-arena relations. By "clearing the collective mind" in this way, Bitcoin is a vital ingredient to any proposed remedy for mass-psychosis. Indeed, the configurations of matter around us we call civilization are the "seen" consequences of the "unseen" collective mind of humanity. Bitcoin unifies and detoxifies the mutualizing patterns of mind and matter by virtue of its centeredness on the core tenet of Natural Law: "do not steal." This is no joke: the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.
The punch line? I hope to help change your mind on Bitcoin, as it may prove to be the only way to cleanse our collective mind of its presently worsening mass-psychosis…
"Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all."—Robert Pirsig
(this video inspired many parts of this essay and, although its creators fail to identify the role of fiat in mass-psychosis, I implore you to watch it, and share it)
Thank you for reading Sovereignism Part 8: Everywhere and Nowhere.
Worldclass Bitcoin Financial Services with NYDIG
Automatically buy and withdraw Bitcoin ($10 in free Bitcoin here)
Join Me at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, FL (Code: BREEDLOVE)
Buy and Hold Bitcoin in a Tax-Advantaged Account
Home Delivered Organic Grass-Fed Beef (Discount Code: BREEDLOVE22)
Max Schatz
Dec 27, 2021Liked by Robert Breedlove
Gracias Robert


My QR Code Scanner for FirefoxOS now uses WebGL to speed up image preprocessing.
I'ts running some multi-pass fragment shaders to estimate a threshold for each pixel and then applies it to the gray value. I'm using a simple quad as described in this article. When I tested my shaders on four different devices, I got a a different result on each of them. I tracked it down to the following issue. The xy-coordinate of gl_Fragcoord is handled differently on all of my devices. According to the OpenGL specs, gl_Fragcoord.xy is supposed to be (0.5, 0.5) for the lower-left pixel. However I've also observed values like (0.0, 0.0), (1.0, 1,0) or (0.0, 0.5) on my Android and FirefoxOS devices. When gl_Fragcoord is used to sample from a texture, this leads to slightly inconsistent results across devices.
// Fragment coordinate normalized to pixel centers eg: (0.5, 0.5) for bottom-left pixel.
And voila: same results on all devices.


Whether you're skiing, snowboarding, sledding, or even winter hiking, if you don't have the proper gear, you're bound to get cold and wet. Our writers have spent hundreds of hours testing gear and researching the right accessories, and we've come up with the best apparel, gear, and accessories for enjoying the snow.
After 40 hours of research, we think The North Face Winter Warm is the best pair of men's winter running tights and the Sugoi MidZero is the best women's option. Our testers favored both for their warmth, fit, and comfort.


Reuters reports firefighter teams arrived at Notre-Dame Cathedral in less than 10 minutes after receiving the first call on Monday evening.
A spokesman for the Paris Fire Department said there was no delay after receiving the first call.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gabriel Plus told reporters on Wednesday, "All over Paris, firefighters arrive anywhere in ten minutes, it was the case that evening.
AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO PROVIDED BY PARIS FIRE DEPT.; MANDATORY CREDIT.
Fire crews were called to a grass fire in Rugeley after people were drinking and taking drugs.
The Pittsburgh Department of Public Works is seeking approval to remodel six Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire stations.
Firefighters from four departments were able to keep flames from spreading to four other homes in the multi-plex.
George RR Martin is the creative mind behind Game of Thrones.
A firefighter helped a mother duck and her 12 chicks cross a busy road in San Jose, California, on April 21."This mamma and her ducklings decided to go on their own Easter egg hunt this..


(ABOUT 8000sq ft for this one building only!) What a Great "INVESTMENT" Opportunity to OWN A PRIME COMMERICAL PROPERTY IN ORWELL VILLAGE! -Separated- from larger combined total OF 15,145 SQ FT (but always can purchase entire piece of property) RESTAURANT SPACE/LIQUOR LICENSE INCLUDED (WILD BURRITO CURRENTLY OCCUPIES ALMOST 4000SQ FT (2 SECTIONS ON 1ST LEVEL) business not for sale/negotiate lease prefer@5yrs. UPSTAIRS of main building offers (2) updated very large 1 bedroom apartments (approx. 2540 sq ft) with walk out balcony. ATTACHED is another newly renovated 660sq ft space (can be used for office/beauty salon etc) another 713sq ft garage space with cement floor/garage door. BE A LANDLORD OR BRING YOUR BUSINESS!! RENTAL INCOME FROM RESTAURANT, 2 APARTMENTS, OFFICE SPACE AND GARAGE SPACE! PUBLIC UTILITES (WATER-SEWER), GAS HEAT/SEPERATELY METERED. PROPERTY STATES ORIGINALLY BUILT IN 1920 (EFFECTIVE YEAR IS 1980-AND ALL UNITS RECENTLY BUILT & UPDATED WITHIN THE PAST FEW YEARS. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH LIST AGENTS TO SEE THIS PROPERTY-OR DETAILS. Taxes to be determined after lot split-(Lot split to be +/- one acre) Parking Spaces to be negotiated-ENDLESS AND GREAT POSSIBILITES!!
I am interested in 513 E Main Usr 322 St, Orwell, OH 44076.


Cleland Gunsmithing and Engineering offer a full range of gunsmithing services using modern gunsmithing equipment, expertise and know how to deliver the best quality service and workmanship gauranteed.
Full gunsmithing & engineering service.
Custom built rifles to order for Hunting, Varmint, Target shooting.
Full Range of Target and Hunting Optics.
Rebarelling a speciality with quality MAB, Shilen and Douglas barrels.
Wide range of chamber reamers.
Making and fitting Muzzle Breaks.
Making hard to get old parts.


Wisdom teeth removal is a common dental procedure. Though, the cost can vary depending on the complexity of the procedure. This can make it difficult to provide an accurate estimate without understanding your specific situation.
The following information will give you a better idea of what to expect, however please keep in mind this is only a general guide and it is recommended that you visit your dentist for a detailed invoice based on your circumstances.
What Factors Impact the Complexity of the Extraction?
Who Will Complete the Wisdom Tooth Removal Procedure?
Typically, a surgeon that specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery will complete the procedure. This is especially true if the removal is expected to be a complex process. Though, these are not the only qualified individuals.
The person that performs your wisdom teeth removal will also play a role in the final cost of your procedure. For example, if you get treatment from an oral surgeon, you might pay up to 35% more than you would with a general dentist.
How Does the Wisdom Tooth Removal Procedure Work?
The first step in a wisdom tooth removal is an initial consultation. A general dentist can help determine what course of action is best, in relation to the factors discussed. They will also perform x-rays and/or OPG and examine your dental and medical history.
The x-ray will help give a closer look at the position of your wisdom teeth and whether they have erupted or are impacted.
If surgery is required, your dentist will make recommendations. From there, you will schedule the procedure, either with your general dentist or with a specialist. After the removal of your wisdom teeth, your treatment is not over. A post-operative follow-up may be required to help with pain management and to ensure you haven't developed any infections at the site of the surgery.
It should be mentioned that there are also details that may impact the cost of your surgery. This includes the use of a general anesthetic. Also, you need to consider whether your insurance will cover all or some of the costs.
Now that you have a better idea of what goes into the cost of wisdom tooth removal, here are a few estimates.
Keep in mind that these are just estimates and that the actual cost will vary depending on the issues discussed. You need to consider the complexity of the surgery, the specialist performing the procedure, and the amount covered by your private health insurance.
If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment at any of our dental clinics please call us today.


Sometimes I have to pinch myself just to be sure that this isn't just a dream.
Sometimes I'm overwhelmed that after all the years of just dreaming, we really are here. This is us. This is our place. We're here.
Right now, I'm sitting with my keyboard on my lap, looking out through the window of my writing room and the view is breathtaking.
As I write, the sky is grey with rain filled clouds waiting to burst, a gentle breeze is ruffling the leaves of the trees beyond my garden, and the hill across the valley is shrouded in fine mist. Even as I type, I hear the beginnings of the gentle patter of raindrops on the roof and I'm immediately taken back to the first day we came here, a little over a year ago.
We didn't mean to buy. Really. We'd just come out for the drive, 'dreaming' as we called it, getting a feel for the countryside and the market. This place had looked pretty in the photographs and was in a desirable location – one that we were sure that we couldn't afford. We were just browsing.
It was just Matt and me, and we were determined to enjoy a bit of time together. The rain set in as we headed down the highway, leaving the city behind for a quiet afternoon in the country.
We'd been out this way before, when we first moved up from Melbourne years ago, so we knew where we were going. We'd looked at land in the area then, but it was too expensive for right at that moment – Matt had been heading back to studies and I was new to the workforce after taking time to look after our first two children after we'd finished Uni. Our plan then had been to wait a couple of years, get established, and 'go bush' when we had a bit more behind us.
Life has a way of getting in the way of plans. Suffice to say that a few more years had passed under the bridge than we had foreseen. But the dream was still there, just under the surface, sometimes dormant, sometimes demanding attention.
We turned off the highway onto a road that I remembered as being dirt but had obviously been sealed for quite some time. Okay. I like sealed roads.
We were only ten minutes out of the suburbs, but already deep into farming country, with broad paddocks and grazing sheep on either side of the road. As our windscreen wipers swished back and forth, the view of the countryside changed again, with the land divided into smaller acreage with newer houses, mostly in federation style with sweeping verandas and pretty gardens. Rural lifestyle blocks were dotted amongst the 'real farms'. Apart from a few cattle, the predominant grazing animals were now horses and alpacas. We came over a crest to a stunning view of a valley spreading out below us, the hills beyond tipped with cloud. Something magical was unfolding.
Soon we had driven across the valley and were making our way through a tree studded pass amongst those clouds, down into another narrow valley where the road was winding between small farms, and disappearing and reappearing ahead of us as it went up hill and down dale. We crossed a rushing creek several times, bumping over picturesque bridges amidst towering poplars resplendent in summer green.
Somewhere along the way the sealed road gave way to dirt, a slippery clay surface riddled with tiny pebbles.
Farms gave way to 'bush' – mostly black wattles and white-barked eucalypts, and a few exotics, remnants of a time when the whole valley was given over to farming – and there it was, a lonely blue sign pointing the way to the 'open-house'.
The driveway seemed to go forever, and by now I was certain that we were too far out of town, too far down the dirt road, surrounded by too many trees, up too steep a hill. Good thing we were only looking.
…the house could have been the one that we had planned to build all those years ago, and the garden was so pretty.
"Well, we're here now," Matt said, and at that moment the agent came out the front door, waving us in with a big welcoming smile.
As we got out of the car, the only sound we could hear was the wind in the trees and the rain on the ground. There was a tangy aroma of eucalyptus and that gorgeous damp earth smell that comes with the rain. Around us were trees, trees and more trees.
We ran across the granite driveway and in through the big glass front door to a slate tiled family room and kitchen under high, timber-lined cathedral ceilings with exposed beams and a view out the back to… take your breath away.
"We're just looking…" we explained, but I don't think we sounded very convincing.


How Did You Celebrate the Holiday?
No, not the 4th of July – friday was National Fried Chicken Day! There was a segment about it on the Today show therefore it's a totally legit holiday! It was the perfect excuse to defrost the loads of chicken in the freezer and fry it up. In my opinion, everyone should know how to fry chicken. It's a classic dish that even the healthiest of people will indulge in every once in a while.
I have several family recipes that I've tweaked over the years and I've come up with a few "secrets" of my own. For starters, I believe in the double dip – dip your chicken in the egg wash, seasoned flour and repeat. My other requirements are seasoning/flavoring the egg wash and for added crispness, I add some panko bread crumbs to my flour mix.
Since I'm one week strong into bootcamp and trying to improve my eating habits (as well as my family's), I balanced out all the golden fried goodness with the warm quinoa salad over spinach. It was perfection and so easy to make! I've just recently started buying quinoa and so far we're all really liking it!
cast iron skillet – my favorite way to fry!
paired with a warm quinoa salad. baby spinach topped with quinoa and sauteed corn, tomatos & mushrooms. Light and tasty!


Doctor Victoria Savitskaya made recommendations on how not to give yourself to fall into a drowsy state during the working day.
Reduced performance and sleepiness – typical companions of the winter working days. This time of year, the body suffers from lack of light, vitamin D and hormones of good mood that can deprive the mood and tone at the wrong time. How to regain activity and to cheer up? Doctor Victoria Savitskaya told what to replace coffee.
Juices from citrus fruits. These juices have been great to Wake up without caffeine.
"Natural orange juice filled with vitamin C, which fills the body with energy, and the smell of orange, lime and lemon stimulates brain activity," said Savitskaya.
Water. One of the main causes of sleepiness is dehydration. During the day must-drink water – at least for a few SIPS. Put on your desktop a glass of water, somehow will him to drink, at the same time producing a useful habit.
Berries. Berries is a natural stimulant of brain activity is associated with a high content of substances-antioxidants. Especially good for gaining courage and fight the drowsiness, dark berries – blueberry, currant, cherry. They are quite capable to replace in this regard, the caffeine.
Apples. Their use invigorates and gives strength like a Cup of coffee, although the apples do not have caffeine. The effect of increasing efficiency is in part due to the effect of fructose in part, with a crisp structure of Apple and the noise of their chewing. Awakening effect is peculiar to the aroma of apples.


This is a 1,600 sq ft (interior), two-story strawbale home that we helped to build in Solana Beach in 2016/2017. It was an Owner/Builder project and was designed by Hubbell & Hubbell Architects. We were hired to install the straw bales, lath, and plaster as well as install a clay floor. This is one of the first straw bale homes built at the coast here in San Diego and it attracted a lot of attention. We placed signage to help people learn about what they were seeing and held an Open House-in-Process which was very well attended.