15 Nov 2013 14:03 U541??57 Ras Fund Paying Received Payment 22.5 USD from account U5088172 to account U1825364. Batch: 40949787. Memo: API Payment. Withdraw to from rasfund.com.
1 Apr 2013 14:50 U779??01 Elite Capital Club instant payment ! Date: 4/1/2013 11:27 AM Batch: 138211446 From Account: U2195615 (Elite Capital Club) Amount: $7.50 Thank you.
20 Mar 2013 13:42 U779??01 One Hourly Invest Paid quickly! Date : 2013-03-20 11:32:54 From/To Account : U4356844 (One Hourly Invest) Amount : 1500.00 Currency : usd Batch : 136511697 Memo : Withdraw to from One Hourly InvestThanks Admin!
6 Mar 2013 14:19 U779??01 Perfect Forex PAYING! Date: 3/6/2013 3:51 AM Batch: 134384313 From Account: U2975565 (Perfect Forex) Amount: $10.50 Memo: Withdraw to from Perfect Forex - Your Perfect Partner Thank you Admin.
20 Jan 2013 12:30 U779??01 Invest 4 Success Today has been paid again. Here very good. Admin good. Thank you very much.
21 Jan 2012 10:24 U883??24 Providentinv Great payment,Very good program, good site for invest.
15 Jan 2012 14:17 U883??24 Money Hysteria This is good site, paid never stop! thank you admin.
3 Jan 2012 9:04 U883??24 ArchiesFunds Paying program without problem I strongly recommend this program to invest.
17 Nov 2011 7:26 U883??24 Unlimited-Investment Paid on time,very nice,hope the site can be hotter and hotter.
14 Nov 2011 12:18 U883??24 Oil and Gold Received payment. Very good investment program, excellent management and good cash flow.
4 Oct 2011 6:53 U883??24 After 60 Days I love this site.on time payment.And I got paid again today.Thank you admin.
30 Sep 2011 11:45 U883??24 Esplino Group Excellent job done!i got my requested amount still no problem,this one is the best!
30 Sep 2011 7:33 U883??24 Quick Profits Works fine, regularly receive my payouts from the site.thank admin!
28 Sep 2011 8:37 U883??24 Quick Profits Excellent program and admin! Fast payouts,never any delays or problems.
26 Sep 2011 8:17 U883??24 After 60 Days Paid on time without any problem, perfect program,honest admin!
24 Sep 2011 8:25 U883??24 RichesBank You have received a payment to your account Date: 2011-23-09 23:34:39 Batch: 71417326 From Account: U1601011 Amount: $10.00 Memo: Withdraw to from RichesBank Thank you.
22 Sep 2011 10:42 U883??24 After 60 Days Always Got the payment on time,thanks admin,Hope can keep on the good jobs.
20 Sep 2011 9:22 U883??24 RichesBank Just verify this program, payment received again! very good site with stable plan!
20 Sep 2011 8:49 U883??24 After 60 Days Paid to me still no problem and it is regular!Thanks Admin.
18 Sep 2011 16:14 U883??24 Fire Earnings Great job admin!Thanks very much for paying me on time.
18 Sep 2011 6:13 U883??24 After 60 Days It is a good hyip program, thanks for admin work hard.
16 Sep 2011 15:09 U883??24 Fire Earnings Paid on time,very nice,hope the site can be hotter and hotter.
16 Sep 2011 9:23 U883??24 After 60 Days Paid to me some referral commission and daily profit just now really good program.I was paid as usual.
14 Sep 2011 8:56 U883??24 WorldWideProfit I have received money from this program! thank you admin.
14 Sep 2011 8:12 U883??24 Get Profits Easly Received payment again Thank you very much,admin.
12 Sep 2011 8:21 U883??24 Green Revolutions This program and Admin are very impressive honest payouts get paid today fast as promised.
5 Sep 2011 16:08 U883??24 Hourly Live I received payment again today very fast....excellent program.
1 Sep 2011 7:53 U883??24 After 60 Days I have received money from this program! thank you admin.
28 Aug 2011 7:44 U883??24 After 60 Days Paid program. Really profitable,Thanks admin for a great job.
26 Aug 2011 11:17 U883??24 After 60 Days Thank you admin, I received my payment today.I'm glad to work with you.
12 Aug 2011 10:37 U883??24 Endangered Animal Very pleased with Admin and program, I was paid and reinvested today!
9 Aug 2011 11:52 U883??24 Stash Money Received payment today, thank admin for good job.
5 Aug 2011 14:03 U883??24 Hourly Instant I received payment again today very fast....excellent program.
12 Jul 2011 11:43 U883??24 PetroProffit Got paid,thank admin. 07:32 12.07.11 Receive 5790127 U2140019 13.39 Received Payment 13.39 USD from account U2140019. Memo: Shopping Cart Payment. Withdraw from www.petroproffit.com.
12 Jul 2011 5:23 U883??24 Endangered Animal Very love this program! They pay me money again as normal!
9 Jul 2011 13:49 U883??24 PetroProffit Paid today! Really paying program !Excellent admin!
9 Jul 2011 9:52 U883??24 Invest In Gas I have received money from this best project today! thanks for paying to me.
6 Jul 2011 18:17 U883??24 Invest In Gas Withdraw my profit without problem. Thanks admin.
6 Jul 2011 16:02 U883??24 Sure Programs Inc I got payment without any delay, really good program, thank you admin!
11 Jun 2011 8:53 U883??24 Pinvest Paid to me still no problem and it is regular!Thanks Admin.
10 Jun 2011 11:56 U883??24 Pinvest Date: 2011-10-06 10:46:44 Batch: 63031795 From Account: U5516704 Amount: $6.00 Memo: Withdraw from Pinvest Looks like a great site!
10 Jun 2011 11:45 U883??24 Possible Money Making Date: 6/10/2011 11:15 AM Batch: 63033736 From Account: U4308366 (Possible Money Making) Amount: $13.00 Memo: PMM Payment Thank you.
9 Jun 2011 14:50 U883??24 Inplado Finance The amount of 10 USD has been withdrawn from your Perfect Money account. Date: 15:33 09.06.11. Batch: 5595229.
6 Jun 2011 15:17 U883??24 Inplado Finance New payment received like clockwork, great program, thanks!
20 May 2011 7:28 U883??24 MDT Amazing hyip!!! Thanks! Got PAYMENT again! best HYIP program,thank you admin.
16 May 2011 15:11 U883??24 MDT Still paying well to me!i think it is nice site.seem no other program like this one.
15 May 2011 12:59 U883??24 MDT I have received money from this best project today! thanks for paying to me.
14 May 2011 8:21 U883??24 MDT I received another payment today,admin paid me very fast ,thank you!
4 May 2011 12:56 U883??24 Vinkotrade This is one of the best program that i know.paid to me no problem,invest your money here is right choose.
24 Apr 2011 12:32 U883??24 MDT Thank you admin, I received my payment today.I'm glad to work with you.
16 Apr 2011 8:30 U883??24 EarnoSphere The best INVESTMENT project! STABLE and always pays really on time.
12 Apr 2011 15:43 U883??24 EarnoSphere The program is paying as normal I mean i have been paid all the time.thanks admin for doing good work.
29 Mar 2011 15:07 U883??24 Bank of Panama Until now,the site paid to me still no problem and it is regular. Keep up this one.
29 Mar 2011 12:55 U883??24 Dubai Invest I am really happy with this program, I have already made my investment back and have reinvested, thanks.
28 Mar 2011 15:15 U883??24 Bank of Panama Very good project and real investment program.100% good place to get your profit!
23 Mar 2011 17:22 U883??24 Best Profitable Paid me today,really nice program!admin doing good job!
13 Mar 2011 5:21 U883??24 Mahshid I got payment without any delay, really good program, thank you admin!
24 Feb 2011 18:56 U883??24 Car-Investment Site send payment right on time to me. Paid me today,Really nice program!
24 Jan 2011 10:55 U779??01 Real Invest Profit One of the really successful program! I never regret joining this one.
21 Jan 2011 19:33 U779??01 Instant Life Very good project and real investment program, perfect!!!!no problem!!!
12 Jan 2011 14:41 U779??01 Instant Life It paid still on time and i think the site is excellent.
31 Dec 2010 17:55 U883??24 2011 Invest Hot program, they paid me after the investing. thanks admin.
29 Dec 2010 15:50 U779??01 2011 HYIP wow,i got pay,i love the honest admin,thx!
27 Dec 2010 16:26 U883??24 Earn Groups I have received money from this program! thank you admin.
16 Sep 2010 15:23 U883??24 MAX Forex Profit Great job admin!Thanks very much for paying me on time.
16 Sep 2010 14:37 U883??24 Best World Invest I got payment without any delay, really good program, thank you admin!
27 Feb 2010 8:47 U729??62 Bruclin House Investing 2/27/2010 05:38 30918827 U5034753 (Bruclin House Investing Inc.) + $3.15 Thanks admin.


text:
namespace Gu.Wpf.Validation.Demo.Converters
{
    using System;
    using System.Globalization;
    using System.Windows.Data;

    using Gu.Wpf.Validation.Internals;

    public class TypeToPrettyNameConverter : IValueConverter
    {
        public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
        {
            var type = value as Type;
            if (type == null)
            {
                return "null";
            }
            return type.PrettyName();
        }

        public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
My Turn: Science is a fact, not an opinion
By ALEXANDER SLOCUM - 12/24/16
I wonder if people who claim global warming is a hoax or claim that it is still being debated by scientists realize that the same basic science...
My Turn: Marshall-style plan needed on carbon
By RACHEL COURTNEY - 12/24/16
Dear Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen.-Elect Maggie Hassan, Congresswoman Ann Kuster, and Congresswoman-elect Carol Shea-Porter: The 2016 Paris Climate...
My Turn: Keep up the fight for climate-smart policies
By BECKY WHITLEY - 12/1/16
Climate change is an urgent threat. That fact doesn't change with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House. Unfortunately, action to fight...
Higher tides, more storm surges, more rain storms expected for N.H. Seacoast
By DAVID BROOKS - 11/30/16
How much will climate change cost New Hampshire's Seacoast? To start with – $310,000.That's the extra amount being paid in Rye to replace a culvert...
My Turn: Why Ayotte's stance on climate change doesn't matter
By PETER DIAMOND - 11/3/16
According to her website, "Kelly (Ayotte) believes that climate change is real, humans significantly contribute to it, and it needs to be addressed...
Our Turn: State needs a responsive, innovative energy department
By Rep. BILL BABERand RICK RUSSMAN - 10/30/16
During this election season, our fellow Granite Staters are making clear that we want strong leadership from our elected officials, including our...
My Turn: State's parents demand clean air to breathe
By SHASTA JORGENSEN - 9/24/16
As parents, we want the best for our children. We are lucky to live in a great state that year after year is ranked in the top three for "best...
Science Cafe Concord on Tuesday discusses 'Coping with Climate Change'
Let's say you're a civil engineer about to build a big, taxpayer-funded something or other. You don't want to spend more than you should, but also...
Displaying results 13-20 (of 20)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Every week on Mondays I report on sales for the prior week. Today I am sharing information about the "distress market" in our area. In the world of real estate, "distressed" properties refers to bank-owned properties and short sale properties; both types played a major role in recent years, creating what is generally known as the "housing crisis" in the United States. Lenders used very broad strokes when approving loans some ten years or so ago, leading me to wonder sometimes if only a pulse was required to get a loan approved. And as a result, as everyone knows, the market crashed in 2006. It's now improving, and our local market area of Santa Maria and Orcutt is pretty balanced at the moment.
Here is a look at our current distressed properties.
There will be more REOs and Short Sales, to be sure, but knowing that just a few years ago this category was over 70% of our market, we can all be grateful it has vastly improved, and there really is light at the end of the tunnel!
If you are in the market to buy or sell, please give me a call — I'd love to help you! (805)937-5777 or complete the Contact form below. Thanks!
Have a wonderful day and remember, I'm a phone call away when you are ready to buy or sell real estate! (805)937-5777 or complete the Contact form below.
Not only is the rain we are currently experiencing a most welcome antidote to our recent drought, but it can also help you determine the condition of your roof! Take a good look to see if any unwanted little leaks are springing up, either inside your home, or even in the garage. Checking your rain gutters to be sure they aren't clogged? Maybe the wrong time for that, but on the other hand, when the rain stops for a few minutes, go out and see if you need to spend a little time on a ladder cleaning them. Rain is wonderful and very much needed, and so is a good roof to keep you dry! Bet the local roofing contractors are going to have their hands full in the next week or so!
Call me for local real estate information, I'm always glad to help! (805)937-5777 or complete the Contact form below. Comments also welcomed, below the Contact form!
The California Association of REALTORS® most recent report on housing in our state. This is a good overview, although the fact is, real estate is local. What happens in the Santa Maria Valley real estate market is not going to match the status of the Newport Beach market, or even the Bakersfield market, to get a little closer to home. Stay tuned to my weekly reports on Mondays when you want to dial into Santa Maria and Orcutt!
Give me a call if you would like more information, or just want to buy or sell a home — that's my area of expertise, for over 28 years and counting!
Santa Maria Valley is now experiencing the highest inventory in months! This is great news for buyers, but for sellers — there is a little more competition. Sales are going along, but not at a pace that would be worthy of writing home about. It would be safe to say the new year is off to a medium to slow start, hopefully gearing up for the touted "Spring Market" that often occurs from April to June, when school lets out for the summer. June will slow down again, as it is a month laden with activities that outshine house-hunting: weddings, graduations, Father's Day, the conclusion of the school year and the start of vacations.
Here are the results for last week.
Let's take a look at the same time frame in 2013!
A considerable improvement for 2014 on several counts: market values and lack of short sales and REOs. It is a solid indication that our local real estate market is healing nicely!
For more information about our market, or to discuss buying or listing a home, please give me a call at (805)937-5777 or complete the Contact form below. Thank you!
Have you ever been curious about price ranges in Santa Maria and Orcutt? Today seems like a great day to investigate, so I have broken down the total number of homes, condos and PUDs (Planned Unit Development) currently in Active status on our MLS into price ranges by $100,000 increments. SFR = Single Family Residence. Days on Market = the time between the when the listing goes on our MLS and the time the listing goes into a pending (under contract) status, i.e. the market time.
There are 11 active listings. 5 are in Orcutt (all except one are in the Condo/PUD category); 6 are in Santa Maria (4 SFR, 2 Condo/PUD). The least expensive SFR is in Orcutt, at $149,900. The average Days on Market = 24.
Of the 29 active listings, only 3 are in Orcutt and 26 in Santa Maria. Of the 29, just 5 are Condo/PUD. The average Days on Market = 53, and the lowest price in this range is $225,000.
This is the price range with the most Actives, at 50. 26 are in Orcutt, 24 in Santa Maria, so it's pretty evenly split. Only 8 are Condo/PUD and 42 are SFR. The least expensive is $305,000, a short-sale in midtown Santa Maria. The average Days on Market = 37.
There are 18 active listings, with 10 in Orcutt and 8 in Santa Maria, and all of the listings are SFR. The lowest price in this range is $408,005 and the average Days on Market = 41.
Not so many in this price bracket: only 9 total, with 8 in Orcutt and 1 in Santa Maria. The lowest price is $508,900, and the average Days on Market = 67.
This price range produced 9 active listings, with 7 in Orcutt, 1 in Santa Maria, and 1 in Santa Maria Rural. The least pricey is $619,000 and the average Days on Market rose to 132.
Only 3 active listings, all in Orcutt. $725,000 is the lowest price of the 3, and the average Days on Market = 193, the highest so far!
There are 4 actives, all in Orcutt, with $849,000 being the lowest price and the average Days on Market = 106.
Only 1 lonely listing in this range, in Orcutt, currently on the market for 41 days and priced at $906,000.
Talk about lonely, there is only 1 active listing over a million bucks in the Valley, at $1,250,000 in the Santa Maria Rural area, and it's been on the market 163 days to date. It's unique and requires a certain type of buyer wanting acreage, as it sits on 10 acres and the home has over 4,300 square feet.
So there you go — from the least to the most, it is interesting to note that the higher price ranges remain on the market the longest time, our middle range is $300-399,000, and the majority of listings in that price range and above are in Orcutt, while the majority of listings below that price range are in Santa Maria.
Affordability is possible in North Santa Barbara County! If you don't know your budget, let me know, and I'll connect you with a great local lender. There is no point in shopping for a home without knowing your parameters, both in qualifying for a mortgage, and in your personal comfort level. Please give me a call at (805)937-5777 or complete the Contact form below, and let's get started! And tune in tomorrow, Monday February 17, for my weekly report on real estate sales in the Santa Maria Valley!
My new listing is a great combination of the charm we expect and love in older homes, and the contemporary conveniences more suited to today's lifestyle! Built in 1941 in an established area of Santa Maria, it has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a formal living and dining room, and a large comfy family room that was added onto the original home probably many years ago! Best of all, approximately 3-4 years ago, the kitchen and both baths were remodeled and updated to encompass a modern lifestyle. New cabinets, new appliances, new butcher block counter tops, and tile flooring were installed. The baths were also updated with new fixtures and lighting. At the same time, a new furnace, roof and front landscaping went in. There is a two car garage with a workshop, and a large back yard complete with a brick patio and a dog run!
Please click here to view the full listing and 24 photos! Call me for a private viewing: (805)937-5777 or complete the Contact form below.
In order to understand the direction a real estate market is going, one must study the comparison of year-to-year monthly sales. Did the number of homes sold this month beat the same month last year? The answer is an indicator of momentum, and will give insight to the likely direction of pricing.
Pricing trends generally follow sales trends. If homes sales go up, so will prices. Declining sales = declining prices. Well, you may see an exception to that generality, because we have a big lack of inventory, which is causing prices to rise faster than they would if we had more homes to sell. Eventually that will even out.
Sales are down nearly 13%, August 2012 – 2013.
Prices for active listings are up 12%, prices for sold listings are up a whopping 24%.
The number of sales are down due to lack of inventory, and I'd say prices are up for the same reason.
Time to buy before it gets worse! OR, time to sell while inventory is low and competition is too!
To buy or sell real estate in the Santa Maria Valley (and surrounding areas), please give me a call at (805)937-5777, send an email or complete the short form below and I'll get back to you right away!


White papers are organized in two ways: first by subject and then by vendors.
White Papers - Wireless LANs - 802.11b, 802.11a, etc.
Wireless LAN White Papers by Jim Geier - a well-known consultant, author and speaker - Chair of IEEE Wireless LAN implementation, are available from his site. Click here.
WiFi (802.11b and 802.11g in 2.4 GHz) and 802.11a (in 5 GHz band) WLAN - Competing or Complementary - a white paper published by Mobilian Corporation. Key point the paper emphasizes through technical discussion is complimentary nature of the two technologies, rather than competitive role of two technologies.
"Seizing the M-Commerce Opportunity" - From Mobilocity.Net - a consulting company providing high-level strategies in mobile commerce. The paper describes uniqueness of challenges and opportunities in mobile commerce.
"Mobile Financial Services" - From MobiloCity.Net - a consulting company providing high-level strategies in mobile commerce.
Localize or Perish - a white paper from Cellmania. The winning mobile commerce strategies for the future will be about building wireless Internet and Web applications that are location-centric, where location will be the key notion through which all content will be presented and promoted to the customer.
AXIO - Mobile Communications Middleware from Broadbeam - Click here for the paper.
Smart IP - Connecting Mobile Computers to Your Enterprise with Smart IP - Go to the section on Broadbeam's White Papers on this page.
Lattice's white paper on healthcare. Click here to see that.
Go to Application Development Resource Page on our site.
Symbol - a good set on this site.
3G is generating a lot of excitement in the telecommunications, Information Technology (IT) and Internet industries. This powerful new infrastructure will allow ubiquitous, always-on, high-speed access to voice, data, and multimedia services.
Managing risk, protecting privacy and securing trust in the wireless revolution.
How mobile e-business will influence future approaches to customer relationship management.
This paper describes how pervasive networking is transforming white goods into intelligent devices, providing their manufacturers with an opportunity to enhance their customer relationships, services and revenue streams.
Describes how the use of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) wireless significantly enhances supply chain process and delivers customer service improvements.
Wireless payments - money out of thin air?
Wireless payment, the ability to initiate and/or confirm a payment transaction from a wireless device, is the key element of wireless commerce.
Today's banking and trading institutions realize they must move and move quickly to capitalize on new business opportunities in wireless banking and trading. Resistance to the implementation of wireless banking can lead to major losses at the business and market share levels.
"This article explains how to write an application to push a message to a variety of pervasive devices by specifying different address types. It also discusses issues of security and scalability, and lists the supported network types."
To date, great interest and momentum in wireless technology have been seen in the Business to Consumer (B2C) applications, however many of the business benefits are expected to be realized in the Business to Employee (B2E) environment.
Forward-thinking enterprises have already started shifting their e-businesses in a wireless direction. Experience with these early adopters shows nine recurring themes.
Technology has become an educational necessity - a necessity that can finally be accessible by many school districts throughout the country.
WebSphere Everyplace Suite is an environment for building services and applications for pervasive computing devices.
Innovative organizations looking to gain competitive advantage through mobile computing choose solutions based on the Palm OS®.
Handhelds provide instant access from any location to the corporation's backbone of customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications.
The world agrees on one thing: The Internet is the platform on which enterprises of all kinds can re-invent themselves.
This document is intended to assist organizations considering the automation of part or all of their route sales processes.
The emergence of information appliances and new types of connectivity is spurring a new form of networking: unmanaged, dynamic networks of devices, especially mobile devices, that spontaneously and unpredictably join and leave the network.
The IBM Application Framework for e-business is designed to enable businesses, large and small, to build and deploy Web-based applications quickly and easily.
Customers starting on the path to handheld device connectivity will be confronted by the issues of device security, network security, user authentication and data encryption.
The emergence of information appliances and new types of connectivity is spurring a new form of networking: unmanaged, dynamic networks of consumer devices that spontaneously and unpredictably join and leave the network.
Only recently has the convergence of new internet and mobile technologies made it practical to extend some applications to the mobile user.
Oracle White Papers - Oracle has ventured into mobile computing from a number of perspectives - offering Oracle Mobile Agent application gateway for wireless applications, Oracle lite as a DBMS platform for mobile devices including PDAs and WinCE compatible devices, data replication/synchronization software and more recently (1999 circa) offering a mobile portal called Project Panama.
Click here for a white paper describing Oracle's Project Panama - a mobile portal. Project Panama delivers dynamic Web content to users of mobile devices, including GSM smart-phones, Windows CE devices and Palm Pilots. Go to white paper section of Oracle's website.
Sybase iAnywhere - click here for iAnywhere's mobile solution & technology white papers.
Broadbeam Corporation (formerly Nettech - a wireless middleware and optimized wireless API supplier) has a number of white papers. Click on the appropriate white papers. MobileInfo.Com recommends these white papers for background reading of basic concepts in application development considerations in wireless networks.
Mobile Middleware: The Next Frontier in Enterprise Application Integration - Go here to download a 162 KB PDF file.
Cingular (formerly BellSouth) has some technical white papers on Mobitex technology and BellSouth network. Click here for these articles.
Ericsson has a number of white papers on its website, including a glossy publication (an advertising feature) on third generation wireless networks. "It is a good reading on Ericsson's view of third generation wireless networks, especially w-CDMA. Please note that Ericsson has acquired certain intellectual property from Qualcomm in an agreement signed in 1999". - Editor. Click here to access Ericsson's site for white papers.
Note: Vendors and independent professionals may submit white papers for review by MOBILEINFO and inclusion on this site. Our guidelines state that only those white papers that enunciate concepts, use product examples to illustrate these concepts and are not heavily marketing oriented will be published by MobileInfo. Acknowledgements will be provided for these type of white papers. Vendors may include their own product-specific white papers for fee on their own home pages and elsewhere on our website. See examples of vendor-sponsored white papers on Synchrologic's home page on our website.


Easily report bullying and safety concerns, 24/7.
New Mobile AppStay Safe. Speak Up!
Allows students and parents to report safety concerns directly to school officials via their smartphones.
Whether it's bullying, discrimination, suicidal thoughts or dangerous peer behavior, students face a variety of threats. Stay Safe. Speak Up! is an easy, effective way to report any concern, at any time.
Speak to a live attendant 24/7 or choose to leave a voicemail.
Send details about an issue or concern right from a mobile device.
Using a link on the district or school's website, fill out an online form.
School officials are immediately emailed when a report is submitted. An immediate threat to safety activates our urgent phone tree, and officials are contacted until someone is reached.
Students are on the frontlines at school and can help prevent small issues from becoming large problems. Equip students with the tools they need to report safety concerns.
Stay Safe. Speak Up! in your school community.
The Stay Safe. Speak Up! Student Safety Reporting System is powered by PublicSchoolWORKS — the leading provider of safety and compliance solutions for K-12 school districts.
Districts must partner with PublicSchoolWORKS to make Stay Safe. Speak Up! available in their schools. Contact us to learn how to bring Stay Safe. Speak Up! to your school community.
© WORKS International, Inc. All rights reserved.


Schaduw is één van onze specialiteiten. Wij verkiezen het woord lichtfiltering.
We zijn sterk in het filteren van de slechte en het behouden van de goede eigenschappen van licht.
The right parasol tree is more than a replacement for the traditional sun umbrella. Your parasol tree determines the atmosphere on your terrace. We provide several options, each with their own specific light incidence. This light incidence is determined by the type, the manner of cultivation and the state of the structural branches.
We pay a lot of attention to the stem height and the light transmittance of the foliage.
A tree is deemed suitable as a parasol tree if it meets certain criteria. Here is an overview of some of the criteria.
We still offer traditional parasol trees but our new generation of parasol trees and natural shade options offer more opportunities. They can be implemented a lot better in any type of garden and provide a good balance between atmosphere and function.
Are you looking for a stylish, atmospheric and low-maintenance parasol tree or natural roof for your terrace?
Look no more, you have come to the right place.
Or are you looking for another natural sun protection solution? Discover the possibilities and please contact us.
Determining the best type of natural shade to go with a design or environment is part of our daily business.
The plane tree as a parasol tree.
The height of the parasol is your choice, it won't change because of the growth of the tree. We grow this tree for all purposes and also in all possible stem heights.
The width of the parasol upon purchase will vary between 200 to 350cm. With wide trees, the last branches are flexible for transport. Recommended planting distance of the parasol plane tree: between 300 and 600cm. We also offer this tree asymmetrically.
Our planes are completely sustainably grown.
The result is a less severe growth and delayed metabolism. No yellow leaves and minimal fluff formation by the selection of plant material and the position of the branches. The branches that form the parasol grow with the stem so there is little difference in thickness between the trunk and branches.
This variety shows a somewhat more compact growth.
Lovely plane tree with reddish leaves. In autumn the leaves turn a reddish orange colour rather than a yellowish orange.
Italian selection, strong selection met deeply incised leaves.
Together with the 'Bloodgood' these are the most interesting and resistant selections.
These represent the largest part of our assortment.
We specialize in cultivating the parasol mulberry.
For our cultivation we select the least fruit-bearing mulberry trees.
Mulberry trees bearing edible fruits are available upon request.
We start shaping these trees from an early age. A high-quality parasol mulberry is always shaped using natural materials seeing as a mulberry can bleed if damaged or grow into the bark and trunk. Using metal fittings will cause this tree problems in the long run.
The parasol mulberry and the plane tree are traditional parasol trees. It is very suitable for dry places. Salty sea air does not pose a problem, yet it is preferable the tree is not placed downwind. The stunning, round-shaped leaves are deeply incised at the base at the end of the branches. The attractive foliage that is visited by very few organisms makes the parasol mulberry a very pleasant tree to spend time under, as it has been done for centuries.
The mulberry already grows naturally parasol shaped. The branches can softly start to hang over. A stem height that is too low gives a very covered feeling.
Annual pruning. Very low maintenance.
At the first severe frost the leaves fall off in one night.
Some synonyms under which these trees are sold.
The parasol Pin Oak is available in several heights. The height of your pin oak is not affected by the growth of the tree.
The parasol pin oak has branches that can bear quite a bit of weight. This allows you, if desired, to create a broad parasol/ area of shade despite having a limited basis.
We offer the pin oak in several parasol types. These are custom-grown to suit your specific needs.
The trunk of the Quercus palustris is smooth at a young age and becomes nicely grooved as it gets older. The trunk is quite decorative, strong and has a grayish hue. The root collar is attractive and is given plenty of attention here at the nursery.
Half permeable to sunlight thanks to the fine tips of the leaves which have deep green playful nuances. Atmospheric fresh shade, a parasol with branches that may hang slightly towards the end. The parasol pin oak showcases beautiful shades of red during autumn.
Annual pruning. Same benefits of a parasol plane if properly maintained.
We also grow this particular oak tree as a natural screen.
We work with an extensive selection without grafting trees.
The parasol pin oak is a durable parasol. Good pruning and long weight-bearing branches that move nicely and are very wind resistant.
Quercus palustris is one of our nursery's specialties. Please contact us to find out if this tree fits into your design.
The special leaves of the parasol ginkgo produce a nice delicate shade of filtered light. The foliage is free of organisms.
We grow these trees in several stem heights and ages to suit everyone's budget.
The oldest gingko trees that we personally grew from sapling to parasol, had an age of 27 years old.
Very low maintenance. Right click on the photo for the autumnal colours of the ginkgo.
Almost all parts of the Ginkgo can be used for medicinal purposes.
We also offer these parsol ginkgo trees to create an atmosphere of privacy. Klik hier.
The parasol Black cherry plum looks very striking with its black branches and red leaves.
Available in different parasol heights and as young and old trees.
The height of your umbrella is not altered by the growth of the tree.
The parasol Black cherry plum is cultivated in Spain as a parasol tree. There, it provides an atmospheric red light on squares and terraces during the summer months. The tree is resistant to drought and very suitable as a pot plant. The parasol Black cherry plum is fully hardy.
This red parasol tree comes to life in early spring when its branches are overloaded with pinkish flowers.
We also grow this tree for lounge applications.
Annual pruning, sometimes thinning is required in the summer.
Small red shoots may appear on the trunk, this is quite lovely. You may remove these immediately or after a while.
Parasol Liquidambar or parasol sweetgum is a lovely atmospheric parasol tree and colourful umbrella. This tree offers a sophisticated shade as a parasol tree. The leaves of this tree aren't as large as other well-known parasol trees. Yet parasol liquidambar fits in most gardens in any kind of style, whether it be a small or large garden.
The trunk of the sweet gum is covered with corky fissures. This gives an extra ornamental value to your parasol tree.
Moreover, the trunk is very pleasant to touch.
Growing Liquidambar is one of our specialties. We offer this parasol tree in several models.
We offer this natural shadow in various stem thicknesses and in several parasol heights.
Over the years we have gained lots of experience with the cultivation of these trees. Feel free to contact us if you are interested in this tree.
We also use a selection of liquidambar for privacy purposes.
Wisteria from the Wisteria sinensis, Wisteria floribunda and Brachybotrys selections.
Enjoy an atmospheric shade under a canopy of flowers.
Durable and grown with care in a unique manner designed to use as a parasol or a natural sunscreen. We don't use metal fittings in the cultivation of our wisteria.
We grow various selections in multiple colors and shapes that will surprise you every time. It is worth noting that our wisteria are slow-growing and easy to maintain.
Available in several types and models. Some models are offered as a project.
Also in 5 different stem heights.
The most common parasol height with wisteria are 250cm and 275cm. Since these trees have downward growing flowers (we offer flower lengths up to 120cm!), it may be advisable to opt for even higher stem levels.
All our wisteria parasols are available in young and older trees.
Below a few types from our range of 22 varieties.
Growing and gathering Wisteria is our passion. At the nursery you will discover very unique specimens.
The parasol-shaped hornbeam is cultivated for specific types of gardens.
Light green leaves in the spring provide an attractive and fresh feeling.
Summer leaves provide a cooling shade.
The parasol Hornbeam has an added decorative value due to its beautifully muscular stems.
Becouse of this, we escpecially grow the parasol hornbeam in multi-stemmed parasol shapes.
Autumnal colour ranges from red-orange to golden yellow. Important for parasol shaped hornbeam is that these trees don't keep their leaves in winter so that the tree lets sunshine through.
Growing miltistemmed hornbeam in roof-shaped form is one of our nursery's specializations. I believe this is why we are able to grow the most beautiful and elegant specimens.


text:
Francis: "Great Majority" of Marriages today are Invalid because People don't realize it's indissoluble — but "Fidelity" in Cohabitation = Real Marriage!
[UPDATE 17-JUN-2016 18:01 UTC: Vatican edits official transcript, changes Francis' actual words "a great majority of" into "part of". In either case, however, the fundamental problem remains: Francis believes sacramental marriages are invalid if people do not know or understand that marriage is permanent for life — how many such cases there actually are, is insignificant; the point is that Francis admits the principle! And he furthermore believes that fornication with only one and the same partner equals a real marriage!] Francis simply cannot keep his jaws together. This is actually a grace for all who seek the truth, because the more he speaks, the more evident it becomes that there is not a single Catholic bone in this man's body. On Thursday, June 16, the "Holy Father" answered impromptu questions from the audience after a pastoral congress in the diocese of Rome. One question centered on the crisis in holy matrimony, to which Francis gave an explosive answer. Catholic News Agency has the story:
A layman asked about the "crisis of marriage" and how Catholics can help educate youth in love, help them learn about sacramental marriage, and help them overcome "their resistance, delusions and fears." The Pope answered from his own experience. "I heard a bishop say some months ago that he met a boy that had finished his university studies, and said 'I want to become a priest, but only for 10 years.' It's the culture of the provisional. And this happens everywhere, also in priestly life, in religious life," he said. "It's provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say 'yes, for the rest of my life!' but they don't know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don't know." … Pope Francis attributed the marriage crisis to people who "don't know what the sacrament is" and don't know "the beauty of the sacrament." "They don't know that it's indissoluble, they don't know that it's for your entire life. It's hard," the Pope said. He added that a majority of couples attending marriage prep courses in Argentina typically cohabitated. "They prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. Not to ask 'why don't you marry?' No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature." ... "It's a superstition, because marriage frightens the husband. It's a superstition we have to overcome," the Pope said. "I've seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity, but there are local superstitions, etc." "Marriage is the most difficult area of pastoral work," he said. ("Most marriages today are invalid, Pope Francis suggests", Catholic News Agency, June 16, 2016; underlining added.)
Wow! This is so bad, it's hard to know where to begin. Let's start with a quick note on the headline used by Catholic News Agency, which is misleading: "Most marriages today are invalid, Pope Francis suggests". No, Francis didn't suggest that most marriages today are invalid, he said it outright. But perhaps this harsh truth was a bit too much to take even for the Novus Ordo reporters at the news agency and so they tried to tone it down. In any case, Francis declares that the "great majority" of sacramental marriages are invalid. What's a great majority? Seventy percent, maybe eighty? That's a lot of marriages. We're not talking about pseudo-marriages, where one or both would-be spouses are already married to someone else whom they "divorced" — we're talking about marriages where husband and wife were actually eligible to marry in the first place and freely joined this holy union. Francis states nonchalantly that most of them are invalid. Precisely how does he know that? He doesn't, of course — he made it up. And by him asserting it to be so, he has just ensured that tens of thousands of additional requests for annulments will be submitted in the months to come, to tear apart even more families under the guise of "mercy". Francis' own attempt at a justification for his outrageous and gratuitous assertion that "most" marriages today are invalid, is that even though people pledge "until death do us part" in their solemn wedding vows, they don't mean it. They don't mean it because they "don't know" — even though they are saying the words, in their very own vernacular language, in what is probably the most solemn moment in their entire life. You have got to be kidding. This is a really curious new principle Francis is underhandedly introducing here: We can no longer assume that people mean what they say, even in something so solemn as the very marriage vow on their wedding day! The reason why is simple for him: culture! There, that's it. In today's "culture", words don't mean what they mean. It's all so provisional, you see, nothing is permanent anymore — heck, even the "Pope" resigns when he feels like it! But there is more to be found here than a mere absurdity: Francis is undermining a fundamental principle of sacramental theology, which is that of the presumption of validity, a legal presumption that the necessary internal intention to confect the sacrament (to "do what the Church does") is present in the minister when the matter and form of the sacramental rite have been properly applied — unless there is externally manifested evidence to the contrary:
A person who has correctly and seriously used the requisite matter and form to effect and confer a sacrament is presumed for that very reason to have intended to do what the Church does. (Pope Leo XIII, Bull Apostolicae Curae, n. 33) Provided the minister seriously performs all the sacramental rites, there is no need for being doubtful about the validity of the sacraments, for it is presumed that the minister has the requisite intention, unless he externally manifests the contrary. (Rev. Raphael De Salvo, The Dogmatic Theology on the Intention of the Minister in the Confection of the Sacraments [Washington, D.C.: CUA Press, 1949], p. 105)
In Holy Matrimony, the ministers of the sacrament are the two spouses, who confer the sacrament on each other. The matter is, remotely, the right over the other's body for the purpose of procreation and, proximately, the transfer of that right by signs and words. The form of the sacrament is the consent to that right, expressed in the marriage vow, which ends in "until death do us part" (see Rev. Henry Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology, vol. 4 [New York, NY: Sheed & Ward, 1935], p. 62). The sacrament of Holy Matrimony is indissoluble by its very nature and necessarily lasts until the death of one of the spouses. But what about Francis' casual claim that people "don't know" what they're saying while exchanging matrimonial consent? Believe it or not, the Catholic Church had already considered that scenario before Jorge Bergoglio ever came on the scene. The following excerpt from the great canon law professor Fr. Henry Ayrinhac deals a devastating and fatal blow to the latest Bergoglian poppycock:
190. § 1. In order that matrimonial consent be possible it is necessary that the contracting parties at least be not lacking in the knowledge that marriage is the permanent union of man and woman for the procreation of children. § 2. Such ignorance is not presumed in those who have attained the age of puberty. 1. We can not consent to what we do not know; the marriage consent is not possible without some, at least confused, knowledge of what constitutes the essential object of the marriage contract; and this is the mutual right and obligation to the conjugal act: ... Hence a person who would marry without having any idea of that right and obligation would not marry validly. Clear and explicit knowledge is not necessary. If one, knowing that the purpose of marriage is the procreation of children, would enter the contract with that in view and would consent to all it implies, although having no distinct idea of what is required for generation, there would be confused knowledge of, and consent to, what constitutes the essential object of the contract, and the marriage would be valid; even if the party was so disposed that if he knew what the act of generation really is, he would not give his consent. But at least that confused knowledge of the substantial object of the contract is necessary. 191. 2. Ignorance of the primary purpose of marriage is easily admitted in children. In the ancient legislation it was always presumed before the age of puberty; after that age, on the contrary, knowledge is presumed. The presumption admits of proofs to the contrary, but it would require strong evidence to obtain the annulment of a marriage on the ground of ignorance in a person of age to marry…. … 198. A simple error as to the unity, indissolubility, or sacramental character of marriage, even if it be cause of the contract, does not vitiate the consent. Error as to the essential object of the contract vitiates the consent, like ignorance. Error as to the essential properties does not, as long as it remains simply an error of the mind, whether antecedent or concomitant. Thus, a man who intends to form a real contract of marriage, although he does not believe in its indissolubility or sacredness, will be married validly, provided he does not exclude those properties by a positive act of the will, even though he would exclude them if he thought of it. His consent is directed expressly to the marriage contract and by way of consequence to the properties which are inseparable from it. His prevailing intention is to contract marriage; his views on the properties of marriage are errors in the mind which do not affect the primary object of the will. If, however, he would exclude those properties and make that exclusion the primary object of his will, this then would prevail over his intention of marrying and the consent would be vitiated, because one can not will marriage without willing an indissoluble union. But this requires more than a theoretical error; it supposes a positive act of the will, placing a condition, making consent depend on something else than the substantial element of the contract. That positive act is a fact which must be proved and is not presumed. Hence the difficulty of annulling a marriage on the ground of error as to quality… … [200.] 1. When a contracting party utters externally and seriously words expressing consent, he is supposed [=understood] to consent internally. His consent is supposed to be absolute if it is expressed absolutely. "Nobody is to be considered as having said what was not on his mind." This, however, is only a presumption, and if in reality the internal consent was wanting, no matter what the external words might have been, the contract would be null in itself and before God. (Rev. H. A. Ayrinhac, Marriage Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law [New York, NY: Benziger Brothers, 1919], pp. 191-192; 196-197; 199; underlining added.)
The 1917 Code of Canon Law underscores the firmness of the presumption of validity in a sacramental marriage: "Marriage enjoys the favor of the law; therefore, in case of doubt, its validity ought to be maintained until the contrary be proved…" (Canon 1014). Notice it says "proved", not, "until Francis decides otherwise." Fr. Ayrinhac reminds us how serious this matter is:
It is a general principle that when an act has been performed it ought to be considered valid until it is proved to be null. This applies in a special manner to marriage, which is a sacrament and indissoluble by divine law. To pronounce a marriage null without sufficient evidence is to run the risk of "setting asunder what God has put together." (Ayrinhac, Marriage Legislation, p. 25)
Francis is finished. By the way, how is it that Francis can "lament" now with a straight face the fact that people are clueless about the nature and beauty of holy matrimony when it is precisely his beloved Modernist Vatican II Sect that has been educating the "Catholic" masses in the last five decades? Haven't we been hearing, ad nauseam, something about "Great Renewal" and "New Springtime" since Vatican II? What happened?! In any case, we have seen that the true Catholic teaching is that even if people do not know about or believe in the indissolubility of marriage, as long as they intend to enter the matrimonial union, their marriage is valid, unless they make a positive act of the will not to enter into a union that is indissoluble — and even that positive will, if not externally manifested, would have to be proved, not presumed, before a valid annulment could be issued. But notice how devious the Argentinian impostor pope is: He is carrying out his subversion of holy matrimony and of the presumption of sacramental validity under the guise of lamenting a crisis in marriage, when the truth is that by these remarks, Bergoglio is exacerbating the crisis by colossal proportions. Here we might add that it was Francis himself who, in September 2015, opened the bogus "annulment" floodgates even further, when he overhauled and "streamlined" Novus Ordo marriage annulments, which were already being given out like popcorn:
Motu Inapproprio: Francis overhauls Marriage "Annulments"
In his two motu proprio documents, Francis not only made receiving a declaration of nullity easier, faster, and free, he also added unheard-of new grounds for considering a marriage null and void, such as "brief conjugal cohabitation", "defect of faith", and "abortion procured to avoid procreation"! But not enough, for we can now add a new one to the list: "not meaning the marriage vow when you say it"! And this man wants people to think he is bewailing how many invalid marriages there are? Whom is he kidding?!
They think they're married! But not to worry: Francis' annulment factory is waiting in the wings in case it doesn't "work out"… (Photo Credit: Realy Easy Star/Alamy Live News)
But alas, we are not done yet, for the monster Jesuit from Argentina knows how to add insult to injury. Right after shedding crocodile tears over the terrible matrimonial ignorance which afflicts "the great majority" of people who think they're validly married, Francis launches his next attack on truth and decency by claiming that cohabitating fornicators in marriage prep courses ought not to be told the truth about marriage: "They prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. Not to ask 'why don't you marry?' No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature." So there we have it: This is precisely the reason — one of them, that is — why so many people in Francis' religion are clueless about marriage: because they are never told by those who ought to tell them. And Francis is going to do all in his power to ensure that it will stay this way! He is the kind of man who first creates a problem, then bewails that the problem exists, and then offers more of the problem as the solution. Instead of telling cohabitators in marriage preparation that they must separate and refrain from all sexual relations until they are married as a precondition to be even allowed to get married — how's that for helping someone understand the beauty and uniqueness and exalted state of holy matrimony! — Francis proposes his cure-all of pastoral "accompaniment", a term left, of course, conveniently undefined. But it gets better: Francis claims that the cohabitating fornicators possess "fidelity" (!) which needs but "mature"! There goes the Novus Ordo doctrine of "elements" again: We now have "elements of marital fidelity" in two people who are habitually engaging in mortal sin against the Sixth Commandment, all in the spirit of Amoris Laetitia! At least we now finally know what Bergoglio meant in his 2010 book On Heaven and Earth, which he co-authored with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, when he said that "co-habitation certainly does not have the fullness, or the greatness of marriage" (p. 116). It sure doesn't. But it won't matter, because… accompaniment! But we're still not done — Francis tops himself yet again: "I've seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity…" This is blasphemy! Francis says here openly and without shame that in some cases of fornication — namely, when the two partners are particularly attached to each other in this mortal sin — God blesses them for their sin and rewards them with the "grace of a real marriage"! This is foul and disgusting beyond words! "Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Is 5:20)! Words fail at the sight of such brazen and direct identification of evil with good! At the same time, this frightful utterance is but Francis' re-application of the same blasphemy once spoken by "Pope" John Paul II, who claimed that it is God Himself who is responsible for the firmness with which non-Christians adhere to their false religions: "...the firm belief of the followers of the non-Christian religions [is] a belief that is also an effect of the Spirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical Body…" (Antipope John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, n. 6). Francis simply took the essence of John Paul II's thesis and applied it to fornication. Voilà! Different scenario, same blasphemy — brought to you by the same Novus Ordo religion. Of course, fornicators cannot practice fidelity because fidelity ("faithfulness") refers to the marriage vow — you know, that little bit of text you said on your wedding day when you promised fidelity to your spouse "until death do us part". If you meant it, that is. As we explained in our in-depth podcast covering Amoris Laetitia, for Francis there is no essential difference between holy matrimony and fornication, between vice and virtue, between holiness and sin, between truth and error, between God and the devil. When a man and a woman sin long enough exclusively with one other, this constitutes a "real marriage" for Jorge Bergoglio. This is where we're at. Let this sink in for a minute. As we said in a recent post, Francis has completely done away with black and white — everything is now fifty shades of grey! The Novus Ordo Church is a sect straight from the pit of hell. Francis really couldn't make it any clearer. And to answer right up front the question Jimmy Akin's next blog post will ask in its title: Yes, Jimmy, he did. Image sources: photopin.com (Catholic Church of England and Wales) / Alamy Licenses: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / rights-managed
Francis says Most Marriages invalid because of Ignorance about Indissolubility
Chaos Frank opened his trap again…
[UPDATE 17-JUN-2016 18:01 UTC: Vatican edits official transcript, changes Francis' actual words "a great majority of" into "part of". In either case, however, the fundamental problem remains: Francis believes sacramental marriages are invalid if people do not know or understand that marriage is permanent for life — how many such cases there actually are, is insignificant; the point is that Francis admits the principle! And he furthermore believes that fornication with only one and the same partner equals a real marriage!]
Francis simply cannot keep his jaws together. This is actually a grace for all who seek the truth, because the more he speaks, the more evident it becomes that there is not a single Catholic bone in this man's body.
On Thursday, June 16, the "Holy Father" answered impromptu questions from the audience after a pastoral congress in the diocese of Rome. One question centered on the crisis in holy matrimony, to which Francis gave an explosive answer. Catholic News Agency has the story:
A layman asked about the "crisis of marriage" and how Catholics can help educate youth in love, help them learn about sacramental marriage, and help them overcome "their resistance, delusions and fears."
The Pope answered from his own experience.
"I heard a bishop say some months ago that he met a boy that had finished his university studies, and said 'I want to become a priest, but only for 10 years.' It's the culture of the provisional. And this happens everywhere, also in priestly life, in religious life," he said.
"It's provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say 'yes, for the rest of my life!' but they don't know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don't know."
Pope Francis attributed the marriage crisis to people who "don't know what the sacrament is" and don't know "the beauty of the sacrament."
"They don't know that it's indissoluble, they don't know that it's for your entire life. It's hard," the Pope said.
He added that a majority of couples attending marriage prep courses in Argentina typically cohabitated.
"They prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. Not to ask 'why don't you marry?' No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature."
"It's a superstition, because marriage frightens the husband. It's a superstition we have to overcome," the Pope said. "I've seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity, but there are local superstitions, etc."
"Marriage is the most difficult area of pastoral work," he said.
("Most marriages today are invalid, Pope Francis suggests", Catholic News Agency, June 16, 2016; underlining added.)
Wow! This is so bad, it's hard to know where to begin.
Let's start with a quick note on the headline used by Catholic News Agency, which is misleading: "Most marriages today are invalid, Pope Francis suggests". No, Francis didn't suggest that most marriages today are invalid, he said it outright. But perhaps this harsh truth was a bit too much to take even for the Novus Ordo reporters at the news agency and so they tried to tone it down.
In any case, Francis declares that the "great majority" of sacramental marriages are invalid. What's a great majority? Seventy percent, maybe eighty? That's a lot of marriages. We're not talking about pseudo-marriages, where one or both would-be spouses are already married to someone else whom they "divorced" — we're talking about marriages where husband and wife were actually eligible to marry in the first place and freely joined this holy union. Francis states nonchalantly that most of them are invalid. Precisely how does he know that? He doesn't, of course — he made it up. And by him asserting it to be so, he has just ensured that tens of thousands of additional requests for annulments will be submitted in the months to come, to tear apart even more families under the guise of "mercy".
Francis' own attempt at a justification for his outrageous and gratuitous assertion that "most" marriages today are invalid, is that even though people pledge "until death do us part" in their solemn wedding vows, they don't mean it. They don't mean it because they "don't know" — even though they are saying the words, in their very own vernacular language, in what is probably the most solemn moment in their entire life.
You have got to be kidding.
This is a really curious new principle Francis is underhandedly introducing here: We can no longer assume that people mean what they say, even in something so solemn as the very marriage vow on their wedding day! The reason why is simple for him: culture! There, that's it. In today's "culture", words don't mean what they mean. It's all so provisional, you see, nothing is permanent anymore — heck, even the "Pope" resigns when he feels like it!
But there is more to be found here than a mere absurdity: Francis is undermining a fundamental principle of sacramental theology, which is that of the presumption of validity, a legal presumption that the necessary internal intention to confect the sacrament (to "do what the Church does") is present in the minister when the matter and form of the sacramental rite have been properly applied — unless there is externally manifested evidence to the contrary:
A person who has correctly and seriously used the requisite matter and form to effect and confer a sacrament is presumed for that very reason to have intended to do what the Church does.
(Pope Leo XIII, Bull Apostolicae Curae, n. 33)
Provided the minister seriously performs all the sacramental rites, there is no need for being doubtful about the validity of the sacraments, for it is presumed that the minister has the requisite intention, unless he externally manifests the contrary.
(Rev. Raphael De Salvo, The Dogmatic Theology on the Intention of the Minister in the Confection of the Sacraments [Washington, D.C.: CUA Press, 1949], p. 105)
In Holy Matrimony, the ministers of the sacrament are the two spouses, who confer the sacrament on each other. The matter is, remotely, the right over the other's body for the purpose of procreation and, proximately, the transfer of that right by signs and words. The form of the sacrament is the consent to that right, expressed in the marriage vow, which ends in "until death do us part" (see Rev. Henry Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology, vol. 4 [New York, NY: Sheed & Ward, 1935], p. 62). The sacrament of Holy Matrimony is indissoluble by its very nature and necessarily lasts until the death of one of the spouses.
But what about Francis' casual claim that people "don't know" what they're saying while exchanging matrimonial consent? Believe it or not, the Catholic Church had already considered that scenario before Jorge Bergoglio ever came on the scene. The following excerpt from the great canon law professor Fr. Henry Ayrinhac deals a devastating and fatal blow to the latest Bergoglian poppycock:
190. § 1. In order that matrimonial consent be possible it is necessary that the contracting parties at least be not lacking in the knowledge that marriage is the permanent union of man and woman for the procreation of children.
§ 2. Such ignorance is not presumed in those who have attained the age of puberty.
1. We can not consent to what we do not know; the marriage consent is not possible without some, at least confused, knowledge of what constitutes the essential object of the marriage contract; and this is the mutual right and obligation to the conjugal act: … Hence a person who would marry without having any idea of that right and obligation would not marry validly. Clear and explicit knowledge is not necessary. If one, knowing that the purpose of marriage is the procreation of children, would enter the contract with that in view and would consent to all it implies, although having no distinct idea of what is required for generation, there would be confused knowledge of, and consent to, what constitutes the essential object of the contract, and the marriage would be valid; even if the party was so disposed that if he knew what the act of generation really is, he would not give his consent. But at least that confused knowledge of the substantial object of the contract is necessary.
191. 2. Ignorance of the primary purpose of marriage is easily admitted in children. In the ancient legislation it was always presumed before the age of puberty; after that age, on the contrary, knowledge is presumed. The presumption admits of proofs to the contrary, but it would require strong evidence to obtain the annulment of a marriage on the ground of ignorance in a person of age to marry….
198. A simple error as to the unity, indissolubility, or sacramental character of marriage, even if it be cause of the contract, does not vitiate the consent. Error as to the essential object of the contract vitiates the consent, like ignorance. Error as to the essential properties does not, as long as it remains simply an error of the mind, whether antecedent or concomitant. Thus, a man who intends to form a real contract of marriage, although he does not believe in its indissolubility or sacredness, will be married validly, provided he does not exclude those properties by a positive act of the will, even though he would exclude them if he thought of it. His consent is directed expressly to the marriage contract and by way of consequence to the properties which are inseparable from it. His prevailing intention is to contract marriage; his views on the properties of marriage are errors in the mind which do not affect the primary object of the will. If, however, he would exclude those properties and make that exclusion the primary object of his will, this then would prevail over his intention of marrying and the consent would be vitiated, because one can not will marriage without willing an indissoluble union. But this requires more than a theoretical error; it supposes a positive act of the will, placing a condition, making consent depend on something else than the substantial element of the contract. That positive act is a fact which must be proved and is not presumed. Hence the difficulty of annulling a marriage on the ground of error as to quality…
[200.] 1. When a contracting party utters externally and seriously words expressing consent, he is supposed [=understood] to consent internally. His consent is supposed to be absolute if it is expressed absolutely. "Nobody is to be considered as having said what was not on his mind." This, however, is only a presumption, and if in reality the internal consent was wanting, no matter what the external words might have been, the contract would be null in itself and before God.
(Rev. H. A. Ayrinhac, Marriage Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law [New York, NY: Benziger Brothers, 1919], pp. 191-192; 196-197; 199; underlining added.)
The 1917 Code of Canon Law underscores the firmness of the presumption of validity in a sacramental marriage: "Marriage enjoys the favor of the law; therefore, in case of doubt, its validity ought to be maintained until the contrary be proved…" (Canon 1014). Notice it says "proved", not, "until Francis decides otherwise."
Fr. Ayrinhac reminds us how serious this matter is:
It is a general principle that when an act has been performed it ought to be considered valid until it is proved to be null. This applies in a special manner to marriage, which is a sacrament and indissoluble by divine law. To pronounce a marriage null without sufficient evidence is to run the risk of "setting asunder what God has put together."
(Ayrinhac, Marriage Legislation, p. 25)
Francis is finished.
By the way, how is it that Francis can "lament" now with a straight face the fact that people are clueless about the nature and beauty of holy matrimony when it is precisely his beloved Modernist Vatican II Sect that has been educating the "Catholic" masses in the last five decades? Haven't we been hearing, ad nauseam, something about "Great Renewal" and "New Springtime" since Vatican II? What happened?!
In any case, we have seen that the true Catholic teaching is that even if people do not know about or believe in the indissolubility of marriage, as long as they intend to enter the matrimonial union, their marriage is valid, unless they make a positive act of the will not to enter into a union that is indissoluble — and even that positive will, if not externally manifested, would have to be proved, not presumed, before a valid annulment could be issued.
But notice how devious the Argentinian impostor pope is: He is carrying out his subversion of holy matrimony and of the presumption of sacramental validity under the guise of lamenting a crisis in marriage, when the truth is that by these remarks, Bergoglio is exacerbating the crisis by colossal proportions.
Here we might add that it was Francis himself who, in September 2015, opened the bogus "annulment" floodgates even further, when he overhauled and "streamlined" Novus Ordo marriage annulments, which were already being given out like popcorn:
They think they're married!
But not to worry: Francis' annulment factory is waiting in the wings in case it doesn't "work out"…
(Photo Credit: Realy Easy Star/Alamy Live News)
But alas, we are not done yet, for the monster Jesuit from Argentina knows how to add insult to injury. Right after shedding crocodile tears over the terrible matrimonial ignorance which afflicts "the great majority" of people who think they're validly married, Francis launches his next attack on truth and decency by claiming that cohabitating fornicators in marriage prep courses ought not to be told the truth about marriage: "They prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. Not to ask 'why don't you marry?' No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature."
So there we have it: This is precisely the reason — one of them, that is — why so many people in Francis' religion are clueless about marriage: because they are never told by those who ought to tell them. And Francis is going to do all in his power to ensure that it will stay this way! He is the kind of man who first creates a problem, then bewails that the problem exists, and then offers more of the problem as the solution.
Instead of telling cohabitators in marriage preparation that they must separate and refrain from all sexual relations until they are married as a precondition to be even allowed to get married — how's that for helping someone understand the beauty and uniqueness and exalted state of holy matrimony! — Francis proposes his cure-all of pastoral "accompaniment", a term left, of course, conveniently undefined.
But it gets better: Francis claims that the cohabitating fornicators possess "fidelity" (!) which needs but "mature"! There goes the Novus Ordo doctrine of "elements" again: We now have "elements of marital fidelity" in two people who are habitually engaging in mortal sin against the Sixth Commandment, all in the spirit of Amoris Laetitia! At least we now finally know what Bergoglio meant in his 2010 book On Heaven and Earth, which he co-authored with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, when he said that "co-habitation certainly does not have the fullness, or the greatness of marriage" (p. 116). It sure doesn't. But it won't matter, because… accompaniment!
But we're still not done — Francis tops himself yet again: "I've seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity…" This is blasphemy!
Francis says here openly and without shame that in some cases of fornication — namely, when the two partners are particularly attached to each other in this mortal sin — God blesses them for their sin and rewards them with the "grace of a real marriage"! This is foul and disgusting beyond words! "Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Is 5:20)!
Words fail at the sight of such brazen and direct identification of evil with good!
At the same time, this frightful utterance is but Francis' re-application of the same blasphemy once spoken by "Pope" John Paul II, who claimed that it is God Himself who is responsible for the firmness with which non-Christians adhere to their false religions: "…the firm belief of the followers of the non-Christian religions [is] a belief that is also an effect of the Spirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical Body…" (Antipope John Paul II, Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, n. 6). Francis simply took the essence of John Paul II's thesis and applied it to fornication. Voilà! Different scenario, same blasphemy — brought to you by the same Novus Ordo religion.
Of course, fornicators cannot practice fidelity because fidelity ("faithfulness") refers to the marriage vow — you know, that little bit of text you said on your wedding day when you promised fidelity to your spouse "until death do us part". If you meant it, that is.
As we explained in our in-depth podcast covering Amoris Laetitia, for Francis there is no essential difference between holy matrimony and fornication, between vice and virtue, between holiness and sin, between truth and error, between God and the devil. When a man and a woman sin long enough exclusively with one other, this constitutes a "real marriage" for Jorge Bergoglio. This is where we're at. Let this sink in for a minute.
As we said in a recent post, Francis has completely done away with black and white — everything is now fifty shades of grey! The Novus Ordo Church is a sect straight from the pit of hell. Francis really couldn't make it any clearer.
And to answer right up front the question Jimmy Akin's next blog post will ask in its title: Yes, Jimmy, he did.
Image sources: photopin.com (Catholic Church of England and Wales) / Alamy
Licenses: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / rights-managed
in Novus Ordo Wire Adultery, Blasphemy, Divorce, Francis, Heresy, Synod	5
Bp. Sanborn on the Antichrist
Barnhardt dumps Francis, goes...
5 Responses to "Francis says Most Marriages invalid because of Ignorance about Indissolubility"
Aliquantillus January 2nd, 2017
I have a question about this article. It is not clear to me why the author chooses to refute Bergoglio's position by quotes from the canon lawyer Henry Ayrinhac. I mean, the refutation of Bergoglio may be completely correct, but what status or authority does a text from an individual canon lawyer have in matters of Church doctrine?
When Ayrinhac says that "in order that matrimonial consent be possible it is necessary that the contracting parties at least be not lacking in the knowledge that marriage is the permanent union of man and woman for the procreation of children", and: "such ignorance is not presumed in those who have attained the age of puberty", how can we know that this is the correct interpretation of the presumed or required knowledge in order to have a valid marriage? Are we to rely here on individual theologians and canon lawyers? Is there no magisterial document which clarifies this point?
This is something that concerns me on a number of issues. The articles I read on this website are generally very good. But often the decisive arguments are given by quotes from such classics as Bellarmine, Ayrinhac, Fenton, &c. Always very fine and to the point. My problem is, however, that I don't know what status or authority should be ascribed to such non-magisterial sources.
Novus Ordo Watch January 2nd, 2017
Citing competent authorities is the best way to ensure that one is presenting the truly Catholic position. I encourage you to read Mgr. Joseph Fenton's article, "The Teaching of the Theological Manuals", here:
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=3012
Here is a salient quote from this text that pertains to your query: "The manuals … are books actually used in the instruction of candidates for the priesthood. They are written by men who actually teach in the Church's own approved schools, under the direction of the Catholic hierarchy, and ultimately, through the activity of the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, under the direction of the Sovereign Pontiff himself. The common or morally unanimous teaching of the manuals in this field is definitely a part of Catholic doctrine."
You can rest assured that Fr. Ayrinhac, who was professor of canon law at St. Patrick's seminary in Menlo Park, California, wasn't giving some off-the-wall "opinion" he had found somewhere but explicated and applied the teaching of the Church on the matter. In addition, his books carried the required imprimatur of the bishop and nihil obstat of the diocesan censor.
I know that nowadays there is a temptation to reduce Sacred Theology to nothing more than a collection of propositions from a papal encyclical or bull, but you're just not going to find a papal document on everything from the most intricate details about the gaining of indulgences to the nature of mental reservation and the malice of contumely.
If you look at theological dissertations (written by priests who were in the process of obtaining a doctorate or similar degrees in Sacred Theology), you can see them quoting theologian after theologian. Of course they also quote the primary sources such as papal encyclicals or conciliar documents, but when it comes to the finer points, you always go to the very people the Church herself has commissioned as theologians. I have no idea if there is an encyclical or other papal document that includes detail on exactly how marital consent is expressed, what is considered necessary vs. sufficient, etc. That level of detail is just not what would be included in a papal document, unless perhaps the Pope intended to settle a dispute among theologians concerning such a point.
The important point to remember is: The common teaching of the theologians IS magisterial. It is one of the ways how the Church exercises her Magisterium.
Aliquantillus January 3rd, 2017
Thank you for the explanation. Could you perhaps clarify on a point: Is a Pope bound to this common teaching of the theologians? If so, the matter is clear. But if not, could not a Pope, in the matter at hand, modify the degree of required and presumed knowledge for contracting a valid sacramental marriage? Could he not stipulate that "in the present circumstances " — or for whatever reasons he finds to be relevant — much more knowledge of the precise nature of sacramental marriage is necessary for the validity of the wedding?
Novus Ordo Watch January 9th, 2017
I don't have the time to look it up now, but if the common teaching is UNANIMOUS, then, to my knowledge, that would meet the criteria for ordinary universal magisterium, which is infallible.
I don't think that the amount of knowledge required to make holy matrimony valid can be changed by a Pope. That would surely spell disaster.
Andrew January 3rd, 2017
Aliquantillus,
Very good question. According to the traditional theology (that teaching contained in all approved theological manuals), the authority of theologians and canonists comprise a theological source. The authority of individual theologians and canonists is proportionate to the cogency of the arguments they adduce in favor of their positions and views. But if we consider these teachings collectively as they witness to the faith in their writings, we find that their unanimous consent begets theological certitude, because these teachings express the ordinary magisterium of the Church. Nonetheless, these theologians and canonists are NOT the official interpreters of the deposit of revelation; that pertains to the teaching office of the Church alone. But if theologians and canonists unanimously teach that some doctrine is to be held by all on faith, and if the Church in some way approves of this teaching (as in theological manuals), then the truth affirmed by such consent of theologians and canonists would be infallible. The reason for this is that the Church cannot accept any teaching that contradicts the true faith. If, on the other hand, theologians and canonists unanimously teach something but without the Church's express approval or while not stopping short of declaring it to be a matter of faith, then such consent begets theological certitude. It would not, of course, be heretical to deny it, but it would generate the theological censure of rash to oppose it.


There we were right, just cruising along down Interstate 5, some girls sleeping, others watching The Blindside. We got to the part in the movie where Michael Oher is about ready to tap on the window of the car then BAM!!!! Busted tire. Swerving all over the freeway. Rubber burnin'. Sweeeeeeeeet.
Second year in a row that we have had bus problems on our way to Oregon...same driver...coincidence? I think not. (Juuust kidding, Elijah is great).
But anyway, what was supposed to be a 4-5 hour roadtrip turned into a 7 hour trip. You could tell by about the 6th hour that we had spent a lot of time together on the bus, haha, but we made it to the Charter's Family household all in one piece, so I am very thankful for that.
When we got there we were luckily fed right away, which eased the tension of some cranky 20 something-year-old girls, and we chatted a little bit with the 'producers' of All-American infielder extraordinaire Ashley Charters. So thanks to them for delicious pulled pork and an athletic daughter.
We then continued our journey by bus to Eugene and we made it in to our hotel about 11pm and I'm sure a bunch of us went right to sleep. We were all pretty tuckered out.
I should have actually stayed up just 59 minutes longer because Jerrin (Jar Jar Binks) Faasua turned 19 the next day, and I am a horrible roommate and didn't remember until someone came and knocked on our door and told Jar Jar 'HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYY'. I felt so bad.
Well anyway, for Binks' birthday we were able to break a close game open to ensure a 9-2 win. A nice treat for Jerrin.
Saturday we lost. It was a bummer. Whatever.
So we took our frustrations on a walk to Dairy Queen (shhhh...) and it was a realllllly fun walk! Taylor the Shakr Smith and I literally stopped at every photo opportunity and took pictures. It took 45 minutes to walk 1.2 miles. But we made some great memories. First of all, everywhere we went people put there hands together to make big O's, second of all we saw a bale of hay...makes sense right? And third of all, we revealed Jerrin's cartoon character to her. Brian Fleischman came up with it...she is the Grimace. Thanks Jerrin for accepting your character, since it is really cute!
Sunday was Black out for Cancer day (where Oregon wore all black uniforms with a little bit of pink on them) and we wore pink jerseys in honor to bring awareness to those who have fought breast cancer. Joanna Gail (she played at Oregon a few years ago)'s mom threw out the first pitch and she is such an amazing lady and I don't even know her! She has been battling this dreadful disease for 14 years! What a strong and inspiring individual. It's tough to see people struck by such a vicious disease but it is wonderful to see them fight through it and overcome it triumphantly! Shout out to cancer survivors! Whoop whoop!! I know a few of those :).
By the way: we won. 1-0 on an error and a passed ball. But the coolest part about the game was that we were hitting the ball well, just right at people. So we had to find a different way to get it done! Manufacturing runs is fun!
We got back to Seattle without a glitch, a series win and the weather in Seattle was beautiful to boot!
'The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender' -Vince Lombardi (Geez, does this man have some great advice or what?!) I don't think you can find a team of 18 girls willing to work harder than the ones you have here. I can mention a handful of names who do the little things every single day in order to take this team to where we want to go...and that's Oklahoma City baby!!
Side note: we had this really cool event for the 'diva dawgs' of the athletic apartment where we had the opportunity to be 'taught' the proper attire for interviews (not lululemon groove pants and a Washington sweater...which a majority of the female athletes wear on a daily basis), the appropriate make up so it doesn't look like we came from the club and how to do our hair differently than just a simple pony tail. There were coupons and makeovers and all sorts of cool things for us 'divas'.
We also played Cal today. Long game, but thank goodness we came out on the winning side. We went 10 innings with the Bears, something we don't really like to see happen very often, but I love how we kept finding ways to get people on base. All we need to do is score them. Easy enough...sike, it was a really weird game where people would get on, then another person would get on and then the next hitter would hit a hard line drive and the girl at second would get picked off. Nice rally killer right there right? We had 9 hits today...and we won one to nothing.
The game of softball is so weird. But the best part is: this is something we need to get comfortable with now because it WILL happen in playoffs where we will be in a tight game and we will need to find a way, ANY WAY, to get the job done. Example. Last year in preseason we went like 14 innings with Penn State while we were in Fullerton. What happened during post season at Regionals? Oh yeah...15 innings.
I just found a bug bite on my ankle. Yeeeeouch.
Alright, I believe that is all! I am hoping to interview Hans Straub (our weight coach) the freshmen, sophomores: Niki Williams &Taylor Smith, and the Canadians: Danielle Lawrie & Jenn Salling as far as softball players go, and then I will try to move on to Sark?! Some incoming freshmen football guys?! Romar!?!? The sky is the limit.
OOOOHH YEAHHHHHHHH!! Today during the game we were delayed for like 8 minutes because a swarm of bees decided to party down the left field line. and by swarm I mean literally a massive amount of bees. it was sooo weird. But eventually they went back into their tree...such an awkward delay of game.
Stayyyy classy pups and GO TEAM PURP!


text:
Cotton and Silk Make Best Face Masks
Coronavirus General Health
If the fit is right, face masks made of a combination of high thread-count cotton and natural silk fabric or a chiffon weave can effectively filter out aerosol particles, researchers report.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear masks in public. Because N95 and surgical masks are scarce and should go to health care workers, many people are making their own coverings out of fabric.
"There is a huge interest and need for homemade cloth masks, but we found little data on how good various fabrics are as filters for masks," said senior author Supratik Guha, professor with the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and a scientist at the Argonne National Laboratory. "According to these results, it's possible to get very good filtering with commonly available fabrics, but the wearer only gets maximum protection if the fit is very close to your face."
COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly through respiratory droplets created when an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks, or breathes. Guha and his colleagues wanted to study the ability of common fabrics, alone or in combination, to filter out aerosols similar in size to respiratory droplets. So Guha—in regular times, a leading scientist in microelectronics and materials for quantum information—quickly rigged up an experimental setup with his colleagues to test combinations of fabrics that can be bought at fabric and retail stores.
Air Pollution Makes COVID-19 Worse
The experiments took place in two plexiglass boxes connected by a tube. In one chamber, the team created a cloud of particles and blew them toward the tube, which was covered by different combinations of cloth. Mike Schmoldt and Greg Moss, environmental safety experts at Argonne who specialize in respirator testing and the effects of aerosol particles, used laboratory-grade scientific instruments to measured the number and size of particles in the chambers before and after passing through the fabric.
According to their results, one layer of a tightly woven cotton sheet, combined with two layers of polyester-based chiffon—a sheer fabric often used in evening gowns—filtered out the most aerosol particles (80 percent to 99 percent, depending on particle size). Substituting the chiffon with natural silk or a polyester-cotton flannel, or simply using a cotton quilt with cotton-polyester batting, produced similar results.
Though the study does not attempt to replicate real-world conditions, the findings are a useful guide. The researchers point out that tightly woven fabrics, such as cotton, can act as a mechanical barrier to particles, whereas fabrics that hold a static charge, like certain types of chiffon and natural silk, can serve as an electrostatic barrier. The electrostatic effect serves to suck in and hold the tiniest particles, which might otherwise slip through holes in the cotton. This is key to how N95 masks are constructed.
Keep Your Food Delivery Safe
However, Guha said, even a small gap reduced the filtering efficiency of all masks by half or more, emphasizing the importance of a properly fitted mask.
Fabrics that did not do well included standard polyester and spandex with more open weave. In general, Guha said, fabric with tighter weaves—with fewer gaps between the strands of yarn—worked better.
"This is some of the first methodical data I've seen on homemade masks. It's very helpful to have some idea of how the different types of fabric perform," said Emily Landon, executive medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Chicago Medicine. "I was also pleasantly surprised by how effective some of the homemade masks can be in the right conditions."
Landon noted that the advice to wear homemade masks while out in public is intended primarily to protect others from your own respiratory droplets, and that universal adoption of this recommendation will go a long way to make everyone safer. In that case, any mask is better than none.
cloth face coveringscoronaviruscottonCOVID-19face maskssilk
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Ordering chicken in every restaurant gives you a pretty good idea of how good or bad, and detail-oriented a restaurant's chef is.
Chicken loves wine, and picking a good one is not one of life's most difficult tasks. The great thing about chicken is that there are 1,001 ways to cook it — and undoubtedly a 1,001 wines to go with it. And it must be eaten with wine.
So here's some wine for thought with some of the more familiar variations of chicken you may find, at home or faraway.
Chicken simmered in red wine, bacon, pearl onions, mushrooms and garlic cloves is wonderful with red Pinot Noir from France, California, Oregon, or any place you can find soft, silky examples of this naturally earthy-spicy red wine. But for coq au "vin blanc" (substituting white wine for red), I've found that the better match is a dry white wine with a modicum of stony earthiness, without the weighty fruitiness that is more typical of California's popular Chardonnays, without the lemony sharp edge of typical Sauvignon (or Fumé) Blancs and without the perfumey fruitiness of Riesling or Moscato.
But not to worry; these kinds of whites are not rare, especially in France. The round, smoky nuanced whites of Burgundy's Macon and Cote de Beaune regions, and the stony dry, smooth bottlings of Pinot Blanc and Pinot d'Alsace in Alsace — any of these will do.
In California, not all Chardonnays are distractingly fruity. In the cooler climates like Santa Barbara, there are some crisp styles with mineral qualities being produced (especially by Au Bon Climat), and you'll find similar, moderately scaled Chardonnays in Oregon (by Argyle, Eola Hills and King Estate) as well as in Washington (you won't have to look far for wines by Chateau Ste. Michelle).
The familial Italian chicken is cooked either with tomatoes, herbs and white wine, or braised with black olives and anchovy. Sometimes all of it. Tuscany's Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino, which are made from the red Sangiovese grape, have the natural acidity and cherry tomato-like fruitiness to strike the perfect balance with this style of chicken.
Other excellent and often cheaper Sangiovese-based red wines from Italy include Carmignano, Sangiovese di Romagna and Rosso di Montalcino. But from across the ocean, some of the new California grown Sangioveses — like those of Luna, Robert Pepi, Ferrari-Carano, Seghesio and Robert Mondavi's La Famiglia label — have more than enough zip and fruitiness to fit the bill.
Barring that, there are other red wine grapes — notably Barbera and Dolcetto — cultivated in both Italy and California (and bottled by the names of the grape in both places) that offer soft, zesty edged fruit qualities similar to Sangiovese, making as effortless a match with cacciatore chicken.
The late food writer and author Roy Andries de Groot once proclaimed his recipe for Hungarian style of chicken — browned with goose fat, then braised with onions, garlic and, a sauce pigmented by the mildly spiced paprika chile before thickened with sour cream — as one of the most glorious dishes in the world, and I can't say I disagree. I've tested it, time and time again.
For paprika-laced chicken, de Groot's classic choice was always a lovingly cellared, old French Bordeaux or California Cabernet Sauvignon — soft, yet rich enough to absorb the avalanche of sweet and spicy flavors in paprika-style chicken. The problem however, is that De Groot's idea of "cellaring" was a vintage at least 20 or 25 years old.
So in lieu of that, I recommend a soft, lushly fruited, California grown red wine made from the Merlot grape (my favorites include Voss, Swanson, de Lorimier and Echelon) or one of California's elegant yet dense, juicy "Bordeaux"-style blends of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (some examples include de Lorimier's Mosaic, Justin's Justification, the Murrieta's Well, and the powerfully rich and composed Quintessa of Napa Valley).
Luscious Merlots = luscious chicken paprikas. The simplicity of this formula is matched only by the beauty of its predictability.
The familiar Chinese-style dishes — in sweet and sour lemon sauces, or steamed with ginger and garlic — call for more exotically perfumed white wines that combine both acidity and traces of residual sugar. But this does not mean that the best choice is Gewürztraminer, which is a lychee-scented white wine that has a tendency towards low acidity and slightly bitter qualities (as commonly found in the Gewürztraminers of France's Alsace, and many of the dryer styles of California). Heavy, bitter styles of Gewürztraminer have a tendency to taste unbearably harsh with sweet and sour dishes and dishes that are sweeter and more sour than necessary.
The best white wine for strongly flavored Chinese styles of chicken is Riesling, which is lush enough to merge seamlessly with gingery spices and gently balanced enough to echo sweet and sour notes. The lightest yet most intensely scented and refined Rieslings in the world come from Germany, particularly the Kabinett quality styles from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Rheingau and Pfalz regions. In Washington, Chateau Ste. Michelle has been turning out freshly balanced, lusciously fruited Rieslings since the 70s; in the Southern Hemisphere, the Rieslings by Leeuwin Estate in Western Australia and Villa Maria in New Zealand are both wonderful, tropical-scented wines with hints of sweetness and balanced by enough zesty acidity to harmonize with sweet/spicy/gingery Asian-style chickens.
In North America, the Cajun-Creole style of casserole chicken may very well reign supreme. Versions such as Paul Prudhomme's — perfectly thickened by roux, the "holy trinity" of onions, bell peppers and celery, and a dozen or so other spices and seasonings — are both complex and mercilessly intense. For something so good, the only thing to drink with it is a great wine!
Étouffée likes wines equal to it in depth, strength and layers of spice. This would mean a good red wine, but not one with a dry, hard taste that would deaden the palate. The wine that best fits this description is California's Zinfandel, especially the velvety, jam-scented Zinfandels produced in Sonoma by the likes of Quivira, De Loach, Ravenswood, Ferrari-Carano, Ridge, or Dry Creek Vineyards.
Of those from Napa Valley, Zinfandel connoisseurs swear by Robert Biale and Turley Wine Cellars, although a lower range Blockheadia Ringnosii is just as bright and juicy. In other parts of the state, producers like Cosentino and Michael-David Vineyards (the latter with labels like "7 Deadly Sins" and "Earthquake") make outstanding all-American styles — big and unabashedly fruity — for this all-American style of chicken.