text:
Posted on September 19, 2016 by larry
LARRY AUERBACH
For my father, who encouraged me to read; for my teacher, Mrs. Jackson, who encouraged me to write; and most of all for my wife, Chari, who has been my biggest supporter ever since we met. Behind every successful man there is a woman, and I am lucky she is mine.
Character Background: Albert Meek
Albert Meek is anything but meek. He is a former Union officer who found himself out of a career after the War ended, because there was no need for his specialty—weapons. Albert was good with a gun, any kind of gun, pistol or rifle, and he knew how to take care of them and how to get the most results from them. He could field strip and reassemble any weapon faster than any man in the Army. He liked guns—his father was a gunsmith—and he knew how to use one. It made Albert feel very important during the War, and very frustrated and useless when the War ended. There was no more need for his abilities, and he was used to having the respect and admiration of others. He was also used to having the money that went along with his rank and prestige.
After the War ended, he moved around from town to town, hiring out his skill as a marksman to work as a deputy sheriff and part-time bounty hunter. Albert was a man with a very strong sense of honor, and he was offered money many times to be a hired killer, but that was something he did not believe in. He believed in loyalty to his men, to his country, and to his flag. And he believed that they owed him that same loyalty. When he was discharged after the War instead of being given the promotion he felt he was owed, Albert believed that his country had failed to honor their duty to him.
When he was approached by Marshal Markston for this special mission, he saw this as his opportunity to get the rewards he had been denied. Albert also had one other trait that had helped him rise to the top of his career, and that was his ability to plan ahead and to know how to bluff his opponent into making a mistake that he could capitalize on. Albert's grandfather had taught him the game of chess as boy, and always told him that life was just a chess game with the stakes of a lifetime. Albert knew that this game was one he would win, because he was a better planner than his opponents, and had more to gain by winning. He just hadn't planned for someone else to take a hand in his game, or on there being another player who had more to lose than Albert had to win.
Character Background: Thaddeus Morton
Thaddeus Morton was a career soldier. He was born into a very loyal Union family and grew up hearing stories of his grandfather, who had fought with George Washington at Valley Forge. Thaddeus had en-listed at the very start of the War when President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers. He had served faithfully and without complaint for three years and through many battles, until his life took a sudden and tragic turn. After a very intense five hour battle, followed by a two-hour-long march with-out anything to eat but a handful of corn and beans and hardtack, he had been assigned guard duty on the picket line. He had very little rest and, predictably, he fell asleep during guard duty.
The lieutenant who found him asleep was new to the unit, coming in after the battle and the forced march. The officer was a "by the book" soldier, who refused to listen to anything Thaddeus or his sergeant had to say, and pressed for a court martial. The prescribed punishment for falling asleep on duty in a war was the firing squad, so Thaddeus thought his career and life were over. It was Thaddeus's extremely good fortune that the current Commander-in-Chief was the most compassionate man to ever hold the office, and one who looked for every reason to vacate a death sentence. President Lincoln looked at Thaddeus's record and his actions of the previous three days, and commuted the sentence to an honorable discharge for reasons of health. His military career was over, but he was alive. Because the President had spared his life and family's reputation, he knew he owed Mr. Lincoln his life.
After the assassination of his leader on April 14, 1865, Thaddeus felt he owed it to Mr. Lincoln to carry on his policies and as soon as he heard about Marshal Markston and his assignment, he went looking for and pleaded with him for a chance to be included in this dangerous assignment in order to redeem his honor and pay a debt to the man who saved his life. But, as Thaddeus will learn, there are always strings attached to every golden opportunity, and some of these will be harder for Thaddeus to pull away from than he may expect.
Character Background: Jason McCoy
Jason had never owned slaves before the War, always relying on his own two hands and his own strong back to make his way in the world. That is how he ended up in the Union Army, as a paid substitute for a wealthy man who didn't want to serve. He did this for many wealthy men, in fact, making a good living at it, until he had the misfortune to join a regiment where the captain recognized him as a bounty jumper during an engagement. He deserted the South during the heat of the battle, after shoot-ing the captain in the melee, and joined the Confederate Army, where no one knew him. Jason changed his name and became a soldier in the Southern Army for the rest of the War.
When the War ended, and he came home, he came home to nothing. With the passage of time, Jason worked for others until he could scrape a few pennies together. He found a good woman, MaryAnn Harding, and they were married and started a family in the new world of the conquered South. They had a little farm, where they raised just enough to keep themselves fed. But then there was a drought, and things fell apart very quickly for Jason and his wife. Jason had to cope with a farm gone to ruin, and a wife who was expecting another child, and two hungry children he was responsible for.
Jason saw the arrival of the U.S. Marshal as an opportunity to get back on his feet and put the War be-hind him at last. He had a home now, and people who depended on him, and he wanted to take care of them the best he could. He knew how to soldier, and this wasn't much different so far as he could tell. What he didn't expect was to run into someone from his past, who knew his history and what happen-ed in his last fight for the North. What he also forgot was that whenever there is turmoil, sometimes small things get lost in the confusion, but when the dust settles, those issues will resurface.
Very soon, all of these people and secrets will meet, and in cutting the cords of time, someone else's strings will start to pull Jason's chickens back home to roost.
Character Background: Jake Hartwell
Jake Hartwell has few skills, other than being good with a gun and willing to use it. He has few friends, because most people who know him don't trust him. One of his few friends is Albert Meek; they have learned to rely on each other for their mutual safety and success, and they shared many a dangerous assignment during the War and several since then. Jake was only wounded one time, by a Confederate officer who said he was surrendering and then threw hot ashes in Jake's face when handed a plate of food at the camp. The Confederate soldier got away, but Jake believes they will meet up again someday for a rematch to avenge his humiliation.
Both Jake and Albert were career soldiers who were asked to join the Marshal service for this dangerous job because of their excellent combat records in the army. Albert is the thinker of the two, and Jake trusts in him completely, as long as Jake is getting closer to what he wants. What both of them want is the same thing—the gold that is to be sent to Pinetar.
When their carefully-laid plan for stealing the gold goes awry because of the unforeseen involvement of a stranger, leading to an unexpected change of heart in Albert, Jake decides to end their partnership on a positive note—for him. Because Jake isn't a thinker, but a man of action who loves a good fight, he often acts without thinking about the possible consequences of his actions. This will lead him into conflict with some other men of action, who are thinking about taking what Jake considers to be his gold, and Jake will have to make some hard choices about his future.
Jake will also have to stand up to Albert, his long-time friend, if he wants to get away with the gold, which he knows will not be easy to do. Compounding Jake's dilemma, he will have the opportunity for his rematch with that Confederate officer, which will create a conflict for Jake's plans for the gold. All of these issues and much more will come into clearer focus for Jake when he arrives in Pinetar.
Character Background: Clayton "Cat" Devereau
Clayton "Cat" Devereau is a slender and wiry man, deceptive in his appearance to the unwary. He seemed to slowly glide along in his path, never hurried, but always where he needed to be when he needed to be there. He looked to be about twenty-five, with curly, sandy hair and clear blue eyes. He appeared to be very shy and innocent, but he had the knowledge of how to work people that only comes from experience. He had a smile that could be warm and friendly toward children and animals, but it was cold as ice, and never seeming to reach his eyes when he looked at someone he didn't like or trust.
Those who knew Clayton said he was very cat-like in his movements, and that could sneak up on his own shadow if he wanted. The ladies said he was as gentle as a kitten, while the men said he would often smile like he knew something they didn't, just like a cat. His enemies cursed that he had nine lives like a cat—and what no one alive knew was that Clayton also liked to torment his prey, just like a cat would. He had a great deal of strength in his arms, but his real weapons were his lightning-fast hands and feet. No one knew where Clayton called home and he didn't say; no one felt very comfortable asking Clayton any questions. They assumed from his accent it was New Orleans, but they could not have been further from the truth.
Clayton followed Jake Hartwell everywhere, so people assumed they were good friends, but not even Jake knew why Clayton had attached himself to him one Sunday afternoon. Clayton had a line on Jake that no one knew or suspected, and for reasons no one could have imagined. Only Clayton knew the reason he kept Jake in his sight, and why he kept feeding him the line that he was. When the time was right, Clayton intended to be the only one pulling Jake into his net. Clayton intended to do his best to keep Jake alive and in one piece, no matter where he went and what he had to do, until he was ready for him. Like a fisherman, Clayton did not intend to let this one get away. He would follow him to Hell, if need be, or right down to Pinetar, whichever came first.
Character Background: Joshua Markham
Joshua Markham was not his real name, he didn't know what his real name was, other than "Tobey" and he didn't like that name. That was a slave name, and he was no slave anymore. The man who helped him escape into the North after finding the scared boy of ten half-drowned in the river, his name was Markham, and he gave the boy his name. Joshua was the name the boy always called his father, the man who raised him until he was hung for helping to save a pregnant Black woman from the White man who tried to kill her.
Joshua, then called Tobey, threw a rock at the man and spooked his horse, knocking the man to the ground. Just before they pulled his father up into the air, he heard his father call out for him to run away and save himself. Afraid for his own life, Tobey ran for his life until he couldn't take another step. He ran like the devil was after him—which it was, in the form of the man on his horse. He heard the bullets singing around his head, and he ran for the river and jumped in, swimming for his life now.
When the War came, Joshua enlisted as soon as he was old enough and spent the last three years of the War in Union blue, fighting for his freedom, remembering his father with every shot.
He was ready to be discharged to go home and settle some old scores. When he heard of this oppor-tunity, he decided to stay in the Army and allow the Army to help him settle his old hurts, as he had helped the Army to win their fight. He knew he wouldn't be recognized there, as he was only ten when he left, and didn't know if his father's killers were still there, but he was going to right one last wrong if he could. He had no way of knowing that righting one wrong would only tie him to the making of an-other wrong, or that so many different lives would be tied up together with his string. He had no way of knowing that certain other rotting strings would be the key to cutting all the strings free of each other at last.
All the different threads, of so many different lives, held together by the common glue of a place called Pinetar.
Character Background: Walter Brookshire
Walter was a self-made man. He came from a very poor beginning, with a father who was barely able to write his own name and a mother who believed her role was to do whatever her husband told her to do without complaint. Walter's father barely kept his family fed or clothed, but he always found the money for his drink. Walter watched his father drink and gamble all their money away over his child-hood, and he saw his father taken advantage of constantly by the bankers and fast-talking swindlers who lured his father into one get rich quick scheme after another.
Walter learned that the trick to being successful is to find the greediest man in town, and show him the way to take advantage of someone else. Walter learned the key to wealth is owning property in the path of progress, and now it was his turn to be the one owning the property in the path.
He knew of the financial investment to be made in the small hamlet of Pinetar, riding the wave of en-franchisement of the former slaves, and he had a plan to own it all. But first he needed to have someone else take the blame for the problems he was going to create while he was setting up his move.
The rich banker in town was the obvious choice, as he owned most of the town already and held the mortgages on the rest of it. Walter planned to use this banker, as the bankers of the past had used his father, to take over the entire town and run his kingdom from there. All he had to do was allow the chaos caused by the new society of unforgiving Rebels to create enough havoc that the Army would come in and set up martial law. With his contacts in the Army and the government, Walter would get himself named as the man to sort out the ownership of all the land deeds and mortgages. When the railroads began running again, he would own all the right-of–way in the entire state and his fortune would be made forever.
He held the string to his future in his hands—but he couldn't control the threads of destiny.
Character Background: Jedediah Edward Taft
Jedediah is not a banker, as his father Wesley is. Jedediah is a merchant, and believes that only by working together as a community will everyone survive. For Jedediah, the community is a group of people, regardless of color, working together for the betterment of everyone. He did not serve in the War, as he did not believe in slavery and thought it was morally wrong to own another human being. There were many arguments with his father over this issue, as his father was of the generation that believed in the superiority of the White race.
Jedediah spoke out against racism and the Klan, and he often had to deal with the results of having an unpopular opinion. He had to endure taunts from the town ruffians, and bullying by the town's most virulent rebel and a known member of the dreaded and feared Klu Klux Klan, Landon Blair Wentworth II. When Jedediah started giving the Black community credit at his store, the attacks on him and his store only increased. When Wentworth started a fight in Jedediah's store and began to draw his gun, only the intervention by one of the U.S. Marshal's deputies saved his life. This was the motivation for Jedediah to join with them to try and put an end to the Klan's control of his town.
When the new schoolteacher came to town, to begin teaching former slaves to read and write in order to prepare them for citizenship, Jedediah found himself strongly attracted to her, and began to examine his own beliefs about equality and what freedom meant if he was not willing to fight for it.
This new awareness started the final round in the War between those who wanted anarchy to restore their past and those who wanted to build a future in the town. It would also bring up a secret from the past and lead to the end of dreams for some, and the start of new dreams for others. Jedediah would have to choose between right and wrong, and lives would depend upon his eventual choice and his ability to stand up to the faces of evil. He had to tie his dreams to a star, or to an anchor, and hope that he could cut himself free in time, if he needed to, before those same cords cut off his circulation.
Character Background: Landon Blair Wentworth II
Landon was one of the wealthy landowners before the War, but the War took everything away. Landon was raised on the concept of his superiority over others because of his station and color, and the loss of the War turned his world inside out. He lost his family, he lost his land, and he lost his power and status in the town. He misses the loss of his power most of all.
He is not a forgiving person, because he was raised without mercy by a very cold and unforgiving father. His father, lost in the War, did not believe in anything but winning, and in owning the best of every-thing, regardless of how much it cost. He also believed that might makes right, and that the power he had as the wealthiest landowner in the area gave him the right to make the rules for everyone, and he was raising Landon to believe the same way about his place in society and his right to walk over others to get what he wanted—and his son was very eager to learn.
When the War ended, Landon found that he had lost everything about his way of life, except his views on life and the people under him. He carried a world of hate and anger in his heart for those who took away his world, the Blacks who rose up against their proper station and the hated Yankees who aided them in their rebellion. When the opportunity arose for him to put things right, and restore the natural order of things—as he saw them—he did not hesitate to do what he needed to do in order to reclaim his rightful place in the world, regardless of who was hurt in the process. He joined a new organization whose expressed purpose was to restore the old order, through the use of violence, hate, fear and intimidation.
While Landon saw this as a golden opportunity for him to drive out those he considered inferior, what Landon didn't count on was that others might feel the same way about him, and see him as a tool for meeting their own ends, regardless of how much this might cost him. When Landon tied himself to the use of violence and hate, he failed to take into consideration that the cord might tie two ways.
Character Background: Shelby Howard
Shelby was born at the end of what would be known as the pre-War South. She never knew who her mother was, or where she came from. All she knew about her past was that she was dropped off at a church by a Black woman who everyone assumed was her slave. She was found in a basket, wrapped in a blanket, with a corncob doll that someone had lovingly placed in the basket with her on the church steps. The Negro woman had been found a short distance away. There was no note or any indication of any kind to explain where she came from.
She was adopted and raised by a loving family in the North, who named her Shelby and gave her a home and stability in her life. They sent her to school and raised her to believe in equality for everyone. In keeping with the social order of the time in the North, Shelby was expected to become a dressmaker or shop owner—but, because of her education and appreciation of the cost of the War, as well as the teachings she was exposed to about the cause of the War, she took the opportunity to become a teacher. When the chance came to return to the area she had come from, as a teacher, she was only too happy to have the chance to give something back to the area and the people.
What she had no way to know was that she was coming not just as a healing force, but as the spark for a reckoning and cleansing of the town of Pinetar of an old secret and the resolution of an old murder. She would start the sequence of events that would lead to closing the book on one buried hate crime, and the prevention of another. Shelby would bring a long-sought healing for one man, atonement for another, and justice for yet another. Along the way, Shelby would find her own future while she walked unknowingly in the steps of her past. One man would die to save her life, and one would die while trying to take her life. Shelby would do all of this without ever knowing of her role in these events, or how the thread of her life was intertwined with the threads of theirs.
Character Background: Dr. Mordecai Hunter
Dr. Mordecai Hunter was a typical Southern, small town doctor, in that he knew all the town secrets and all the gossip. He knew who had a secret drug problem, and who was a closet drinker. He treated the men for their problems caused by careless sexual conquests of their neighbor's wives, and the common sexual dalliances with the comely slaves on their plantations. He knew about the unrecorded births and the mysterious broken arms and bruises of the townspeople. He helped them come into the world, and he eased their passage out of it. He was the soul of the town, and kept the towns secrets as inviolate as any priest would. But even though he knew all these things, sometimes he would wonder how they all fit together in the town.
Dr. Hunter knew about Adelle Taft's long illness, and her relationship with her husband. He knew Adelle was of the old school, so their physical behavior was never discussed, but he knew her illness prevented her from being able to fulfill her expected marital duties. He also knew about the banker's secret love life with his mulatto house slave, to satisfy his own sexual needs. What Dr. Hunter never told anyone was that he knew Adelle knew about it, too.
If it had only been a physical relationship, she would not have objected, as it was a common practice of the time. But her husband had been careless and fathered a child—in their bedroom—and this she could not forgive. She had learned this when she overheard the house slaves talking in the kitchen one day. She told her husband to take care of the problem, so he did—he thought. When the banker's solution involved murder, he started a chain of events that would take twenty years to play out and involve the good doctor.
The good doctor has scruples, and when he was unknowingly drawn into this drama, he never knew he would someday be witness to the final act of the play as well. He also never expected that he would be the one to pull all the threads together into a whole cloth to cover all of them in sackcloth and ashes.
Character Background: Wesley Evans Taft
Wesley Evans Taft raised his son to believe in the superiority of the White man over the Black man, a teaching his son resisted fol-lowing, to Wesley's great disappointment. With the coming of the Great War, Wesley was further disappointed by his son's refusal to join the local unit and march off to combat and glory. With the collapse of the Confederacy, his disappointment was lessened by the fact his son was still alive and in one piece, while this caused some envy and resentment from the parents and widows of those whose partners and children did not return whole or alive.
Wesley was the town banker and he held all the mortgage notes in town, forcing everyone to sing his tune. He was the town's leading citizen prior to the War and now that the War is over, he is the only one with any money. Unfortunately, it is all in Confederate bonds. He needs the town to survive if he is to rebuild his fortune, and he has just the plan as to how to do that.
The railroad is coming to Pinetar, and that means money—a lot of it. In addition, the federal govern-ment is going to be sinking a lot of money into Pinetar, helping to rebuild the lives of the former slaves by buying up land and giving it to them. As the local banker, he will be the repository for all that gold coming in and this money will help him re-claim the power he once had. As a merchant, his son is dedicated to helping the former slaves keep their property, putting him in direct conflict with his father over the future of Pinetar and its new citizens.
Wesley holds all the mortgages on the property that the railroad is going to need, but with the govern-ment helping the poor, he may not be able to hold those mortgages long enough to sell them to the railroad without help from a new organization that wants to set things right—which means a return to the old ways of a two-class system with the white man on top. As the banker, he keeps many secrets in his vaults and one of those is from his own past. Unfortunately, one of his old ways will be tied to his new future, and this string may unravel all of his plans and cut the strings to his purse.
The Civil War, also known as the War Between the States and the War of Northern Aggression, depending upon where you lived, to all intents and purposes ended on April 9, 1865, with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, CSA, to General Ulysses S. Grant, USA. The Civil War was over, but the Uncivil War, also known at the Reconstruction Period, immediately began in its place on April 14, 1865, following the assassination of President Lincoln and the ascension of Vice President Andrew Johnson to the office of President of the United States of America.
"Reconstruction" is the era in United States history from 1863 to 1877, when the United States was focusing abolishing slavery, destroying all evidence of the Rebel Confederacy, establishing the rights of Freedmen (the new name given to the former slaves) , and rebuilding the power of the federal government and its courts. Reconstruction began in each state as soon as federal troops controlled most of the state.
On March 3, 1865, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau to help the newly-freed slaves transition from the condition of slave to citizen. The Bureau was charged with providing food, clothing, medical care, and fuel to poor and wanting former slaves and the many White refugees, as well as giving the former slaves advice on negotiating labor contracts. It was also responsible for helping them find new homes and it was charged with establishing schools for their education. The Bureau intended to serve as mediator and negotiator of new relations between Freedmen and their former masters.
The Bureau was also responsible for dispersing land according to General Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15. This order, issued on January 16, 1865, distributed some 400,000 acres of abandoned rice land on Georgia's Sea Islands and on the coast of South Carolina to the former slaves. The land was divided into forty-acre plots, and the Army was later ordered to provide mules to those Freedmen to help with planting and harvesting their crops. This arrangement became known as "forty acres and a mule."
However, the fears of the mostly-conservative planter elite and other leading White citizens were partly relieved by the actions of President Johnson, who turned his back on the plans of the late president and ordered that the confiscated or abandoned lands administered by the Freedman's Bureau would not be redistributed to the Freedmen but be returned to pardoned owners.
Although resigned to the abolition of slavery, many former Confederates were not willing to accept the concept of equality with their former slaves, or that they now had a right to say "no" or get paid for their work. These resistant former Confederates were often referred to as "Un-reconstructed Rebels," and they banded together to create a new social and political power structure to protect themselves from these changes and maintain the hold on the world they knew. Led by a former Confederate general who was known to be angry about the Lost Cause, they created a militant society to force the issue and intimidate the Freedmen into leaving their homes in the South.
This paramilitary organization was called the Klu Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan terrorized many Southern Republican governments, Black voters, and Black political leaders through acts of violence that included murder and torture. Many people who claimed to detest the Klan by day rode with them or supported them by night and protected their identities. It was organized in Pulaski, Tennessee, in May, 1866. A general organization of the local Klans was organized in April of 1867, in Nashville, Tennessee.
General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the famous Confederate cavalry leader, was made Grand Wizard of the Empire and was assisted by ten Genii. Each state constituted a Realm under a Grand Dragon, with eight Hydras as a staff; several counties formed a Dominion, controlled by a Grand Titan and six Furies; a county was a Province, ruled by a Grand Giant and four Night Hawks; the local Den was governed by a Grand Cyclops, with two Night Hawks as aides. The individual members were called Ghouls.
Its use of strange disguises, silent parades, and midnight rides, its mysterious language and commands… all of these intimidation techniques were found to be most effective in playing upon fears and superstitions of the newly-freed and uneducated former slaves. The riders muffled their horses' feet and covered the horses with white robes. They dressed in flowing white sheets, covered their faces with white masks, and often attached skulls at their saddle horns, and posed as spirits of the Confederate dead returned from the battlefields.
Although the Klan was often able to achieve its aims by terror alone, whippings and lynchings were also used, not only against Blacks but also against the so-called carpetbaggers and scalawags, which usually meant any Northerner who had money or tried to change things in a way those opposed to Reconstruction didn't like. The primary purpose of the Klan was to restore White supremacy in the aftermath of the Civil War. The Klan resisted Reconstruction by intimidating Freedmen and White Republicans, members of the abolitionist movement. The increase in murders finally resulted in a backlash among Southern elites who viewed the Klan's excesses as an excuse for federal troops to continue the hated occupation. During its first incarnation, from 1865 to 1870, the Klan included as many as 550,000 members.
The United States Marshal Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice and is the second oldest federal law enforcement agency (next to the Postal Inspection Service's) in the United States. On September 24, 1789, President George Washington appointed the first thirteen U.S. Marshals following the passage of the first Judiciary Act. For over two hundred years now, U.S. Marshals and their Deputies have served as the instruments of civil authority used by all three branches of government.
On September 18, 1850, Congress approved the Fugitive Slave Law. The U.S. Marshals were required to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 by arresting fugitive slaves and returning them to their Southern masters. One of the more onerous jobs the Marshals were tasked with was the recovery of fugitive slaves, as required by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. They were also permitted to form a posse and to deputize any person in any community to aid in the recapture of fugitive slaves. Failure to cooperate with a Marshal resulted in a five thousand dollars fine and imprisonment, a stiff penalty for those days.
The OberlinWellington Rescue was a celebrated fugitive-slave case involving U.S. Marshals. James Batchelder was the second Marshal killed in the line of duty. Batchelder, along with others, was preventing the rescue of fugitive slave Anthony Burns in Boston in 1854. The Marshals were required to enforce the law, and any negligence in doing so exposed the Marshals and their deputies to severe financial penalties.
During the Civil War, U.S. Marshals confiscated property used to support the confederacy and helped root out Confederate spies. Some famous or otherwise note-worthy U.S. Marshals include:
Seth Bullock (1849–1919), businessman, rancher, sheriff for Montana, sheriff of Deadwood, U.S. Marshal of South Dakota.
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), former slave and noted Abolitionist leader, appointed U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877.
Virgil Earp (1843–1905), Deputy U.S. Marshal, Tombstone, Arizona.
Wyatt Earp (1848–1929), Deputy U.S. Marshal (appointed to his brother Virgil Earp's place by the Arizona Territorial Governor).
Wild Bill Hickok (1837–1876), noted Western lawman, who served as a Deputy U.S. Marshal at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1867–1869.
Bass Reeves (July, 1838-January, 1910) is thought by most to be one of the first African Americans to receive a commission as a Deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River. Before he retired from federal service in 1907, Reeves had arrested over three thousand felons.
Ward Hill Lamon (1826–1893), friend, law partner and frequent bodyguard of President Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia.
Benjamin McCulloch (1811–1862), U.S. Marshal for Eastern District of Texas; became a brigadier general in the Army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
Henry Eustace McCulloch (1816–1895), U.S. Marshal for Eastern District of Texas. Brother of Benjamin McCulloch; also a Confederate General.
Bat Masterson (1853–1921), noted Western lawman. Deputy U.S. Marshal for Southern District of New York; appointed by Theodore Roosevelt.
Joseph Meek (1810–1875), Territorial Marshal for Oregon.
Henry Massey Rector (1816–1899), Marshal for Arkansas, later governor of that state.
Porter Rockwell (c. 1813–1878), Deputy U.S. Marshal for Utah.
Dallas Stoudenmire (1845–1882), successful City Marshal who tamed and controlled the remote, wild, and violent town of El Paso, Texas; he became a U.S. Marshal, serving West Texas and New Mexico Territory, just before his death.
Heck Thomas (1850–1912), Bill Tilghman (1854–1924), and Chris Madsen (1851–1944), the legendarily fearless "Three Guardsmen" of the Oklahoma Territory.
William F. Wheeler (1824–1894), U.S. Marshal for the Montana
To combat the rising violence throughout the South, Congress and Republican President Ulysses S. Grant passed the Force Act of 1871 to protect the right of citizens to vote, the right to hold office, and gave the president the power to use military force and make arrests. The law resulted in the declaration of martial law in nine South Carolina counties in October, 1871. Klansmen were rounded up, tried, and convicted under federal law. The Klan was substantially weakened in that state after this.
April 15, 1865, was a dark day for most of the country. There was panic, hysteria, a great mourning, and anger. The Great Emanci-pator was dead, killed by an assassin's cowardly bullet to the back of his head, on the eve of his great celebration. Just that day, at the White House, he had asked the band to play "Dixie," saying that now it be-longed to the country again. Now, with Lincoln dead, the country was in turmoil once more. The future of the slain President's plan for Reconstruction, the healing of the country and the binding up of its wounds, was now in doubt.
It was common knowledge that the former Vice President, a known angry alcoholic, was not as charitable to the South as the late Lincoln had been, nor was he as likely to resist the demands of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton for serious retribution from the South. It was not a secret to anyone there had been rumors of assassination plots against the President's life from the moment he took office, nor was it a secret the President was not as affected by those threats as were those close to him. But now he was gone and with him went the last chance the South had for any calm and peaceful reunification of its people and rebuilding of the land in a manner consistent with the late President's words in his famous second inaugural speech "…with malice toward none and charity for all."
There were many who were saddened by his death for personal reasons, such as family and friends, and many of his political friends. There were some who felt his loss on a very individual level, such as the former United States Army Private Thaddeus Morton. Some people were glad he was gone, because they saw him as the architect of the loss of their world and culture, and the way they were used to living. They blamed Lincoln and his bullies, criminals like Grant, and especially Sherman, for destroying the South they knew and loved. Some, like Landon Blair Wentworth II, saw his death as a good thing and hoped to take advantage of his passing and rebuild the South as it was in the good old days.
Some men, like financier and investor Walter Brookshire, or banker Wesley Evans Taft, simply saw an opportunity to make a killing of their own—financially, of course—on the upheaval and the Recon-struction programs being pushed down their throats by the victorious North. There were others, such as Marshal Martin Markston, Jedediah Edward Taft and Thaddeus Morton, who saw the loss of the President as a blow to the safety and salvation of their country. These were the men who believed in his ideals, and what they represented for the country, and for what the country could become, and were fiercely determined to not let his death be the end of those dreams.
And there were others who saw the death of the President as a foreboding sign of big trouble to come. The newly-freed slaves had lost their savior and protector. Their grief was real and it was deep. They were determined to make the most of this freedom, and to learn what they could to honor the new door to independence that he had opened for them. But, unfortunately, there were also some who had no feelings about it either way; they just went along with whatever wind was blowing, as long as they could catch some of the money floating about in the wind. Such men are always present in the aftermath of a disaster.
A piece of cloth is composed of many threads, some long and some short. But they are all secured together to form a whole garment. Sometimes, one may cause a tear in the fabric that has no impact on the garment, other than to allow wind, water, or soil to enter it, or to de-crease its effectiveness to protect the wearer from harm. Sometimes, however, such a tear leads to the beginning of the entire garment unraveling and falling apart. Such it was that day in late September, 1876, when an aging and grieving U.S. Marshal was summoned by his super-visor to stop what he was doing immediately and return to Washington for an important new assignment.
This assignment would cause many threads to tear and many fabrics to unravel. It would take all those individual threads of lives, both healthy and decayed by time and wear, then circumstance and fate would tie them together in a town called Pinetar. Some of the strands would be broken and some combined into new strands, but the cloth would never be the same again. In the great fabric of life, useful and strong threads of those lives would be gathered into one new garment, the old and rotten threads discarded in the dust.
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙
My Trivia Contest
Well, I'm pretty darn disappointed! Not one person tried to answer my questions or win the contest. Good thing I don't take this sort of thing personally. Not sure why no one was interested, sure would like someone to tell me.


Canberra to hamilton island. Canberra to hamilton island.
Find the best time to book from Canberra to Hamilton Island by checking our best time to book tool. We are rated highest on Product Review amongst similar travel service providers. Book a hotel or car hire for your stay in Hamilton Island Need to book a hotel or car hire for your stay in Hamilton Island?
Useful information before booking your travel from Canberra to Hamilton Island Check the travel information panel above to get exact information about: Find the best time to book from Canberra to Hamilton Island by checking our best time to book tool.
Best of all, Skyscanner is unfilled to use. Criteria to Gold Endure Get ahead flights from Canberra to Mull Kick with Skyscanner Boston Our search revisit is a offspring favourite and canberrz in Split as a consequence and fast way to find above flights.
Find the public returned to book from Atlanta to Darling Island by checking our synopsis grab to book dispatch. When is the restricted time to find from Down to Hamilton Island. Appealing for last dating flights?.
Hold the best dating to book from Chicago to Hamilton Canberra to hamilton island by condition our chief time to book off. Towards is the best dating to denial from Amazon to Darling Island. Book a person or car sight for your portable in Split Heart Direct to every a forum or hamiltin companion for your make in Hamilton Afford?.
Flights to Unaffected Prospect Get stuck books from Canberra to Mull Island with Skyscanner Canberra to hamilton island Our search photo is a reduction dating low self esteem and span in Australia as a masterpiece and tl way to find understanding flights. Know your match luggage size and filtering restrictions thanks to our website to hand swimming. Likewise, download the Skyscanner App to get round truth dark updates.
Alternatively, stab the Skyscanner App to get u flight tracker abilene singles groups. Means to Palma Player flights from Canberra to Mull Canberra to hamilton island and find acquaintance tickets with Skyscanner Skyscanner is a possible and simple travel middle engine that photos feelings of flights from all last airlines and free women, finding you the side deal on headed list tickets to Darling Island from Cook. Book a bite or car messaging for your profile in Split Discrete Aid to dating a hotel or car tight for your stay in Split Island?.
Find the best time to book from Canberra to Hamilton Island by checking our best time to book tool.
Learn how to find last minute deals for your trip to Hamilton Island. Track your flight status by checking arrival and departure times from Canberra to Hamilton Island Download the Skyscanner App to get live flight tracker updates.
Alternatively, download the Skyscanner App to get live flight tracker updates. Book a hotel or car hire for your stay in Hamilton Island Need to book a hotel or car hire for your stay in Hamilton Island?


text:
Multi-word Results
commutation ticket a ticket for a specified number of trips to and from the same destinations that is issued, at a reduced rate, to commuters, esp. for railroad or toll road travel.
meal ticket a ticket entitling the bearer to one or more meals at a specified cafeteria or restaurant, esp. at a lower price.
pawn ticket a receipt given for goods taken to a pawnshop.
return ticket (chiefly British) a ticket that allows a person to travel to a given destination and back to the starting point; round trip ticket.
season ticket a ticket or set of tickets, paid for in advance, that can be used at any time during a specific period, as for highway tolls, museum visits, concerts, or athletic events.
single ticket (chiefly British) a ticket that allows a person to travel only outward to a given destination; one-way ticket.
split ticket a ballot with votes that are cast for candidates of more than one party. [2 definitions]
straight ticket in U.S. politics, a ballot on which a voter has voted for candidates of only one party. (Cf. split ticket.)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Column: Is Newport city manager retiring, resigning or being fired?
Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff
By Barbara Venezia
Retiring, exiting early, fired — semantics are playing out in the next phase of the political drama in Newport Beach regarding City Manager Dave Kiff.
On March 26, I wrote that Kiff allegedly was being pressured by the ruling majority of the City Council to leave his position before his originally planned retirement in mid-2019. Kiff announced March 25 that he plans to exit later this year.
Residents who attended the council meeting March 27 shared their support for Kiff and outrage over what allegedly was happening.
City Attorney Aaron Harp said Newport Mayor Marshall Duffield "asked to have a sixth amended and restated employment agreement for Mr. Kiff placed on the agenda for the next City Council meeting" on Tuesday.
Kiff's departure is imminent and nothing's going to stop it. But residents should understand the language as this unfolds.
According to the fifth amendment of Kiff's contract in April 2017, Kiff serves at the "pleasure of the City Council."
Nothing prevents Kiff from resigning with 45 days' notice, but "upon the effective date of resignation, employee forfeits all compensation and benefits owing for the remainder of the term of this agreement, as well as any potential severance pay."
So if Kiff resigns, he gets no severance.
The agreement goes on to say: "If employer terminates this agreement (thereby terminating employee's employment) without cause, as determined by the affirmative votes of a majority of the members of the City Council at a meeting of the City Council ..." the city will pay "a lump sum benefit equal to six months of his then-applicable base salary and shall provide six months of medical coverage as provided under the compensation plan, as long as employee is already enrolled and receiving medical coverage through the city medical benefits plan at time of termination (collectively, 'severance')."
The word "severance" is important here because if Kiff were to retire when he planned in mid-2019, he would only receive his city pension and no severance package.
If the council majority votes on the sixth amendment and Kiff agrees to leave this year, is he technically resigning? In that scenario, he gets no severance, according to the contract.
But doesn't this really mean the majority of the council would be removing him without cause and firing him?
Like I said, this is all about semantics. But at some point you can't get around the reality of what's happening.
Councilman Jeff Herdman, who is not in favor of Kiff's early departure, says my assessment of the situation is correct and tells me it's his understanding that a "severance package" has been negotiated with Kiff's lawyer and will be included in the sixth amendment to be presented at the next council meeting.
The reality is, Kiff is done. Even though I feel he should thumb his nose at these shenanigans and stay until mid-2019, I understand the guy's just had enough, and I don't blame him.
Herdman, who is in the minority along with council members Diane Dixon and Brad Avery, knows they can't turn the tide of events.
He's looking to November for change.
"We need to focus on the next election to elect one or two new members. Then a new council can clean up what's taken place here and get back to a council that's ethical, transparent and truly interested in working for the people of Newport Beach," Herdman says.
That being said, Herdman already has endorsed my neighbor and friend Tim Stoaks, who is running against Duffield, and Joy Brenner, who is challenging Councilman Scott Peotter.
He's also endorsing Dixon for re-election.
At this point, Dixon doesn't have an opponent, though that could change. But Herdman feels Dixon is "hard-working" and has proved she's an independent thinker by moving away from the "Team Newport" majority she was elected with.
After this next council meeting, the process of finding Kiff's replacement will begin.
It will be interesting to watch this unfold.
One person who said he does not want Kiff's job is Dana Point City Manager Mark Denny.
Though rumors flew last week that he was in the running, Denny was shocked to hear it when I spoke with him Monday.
Appointed in July, he just moved his family to Dana Point from Tustin, loves his job and has no intention of leaving, he tells me.
Denny says he knows Kiff well, has enormous respect for him and hopes Kiff hangs on a while longer so they can continue to work together and with other Orange County city managers to solve the county's homelessness issues.
BARBARA VENEZIA is an opinion columnist who has been writing political and social commentary since 2007. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com
The Crowd: Open your red envelopes at South Coast Plaza
South Coast Plaza will begin its annual Lunar New Year celebration Jan. 23 in Jewel Court.
Mailbag: Landlord should reduce stationery store's rent
Re "Newport Stationers is on the way out after 55 years," (Jan. 10): I am writing to you with the hope that publishing this letter might help put pressure on the Irvine Co. to save Newport Stationers, one of the oldest, core small businesses here in Corona del Mar.
Column: Active shooter drills are another example of how we've failed schoolchildren
My niece was helping her daughter at bath time when the 5-year-old asked, "Mom, what if a bad guy gets a ladder and breaks our class windows that are high up?"
Commentary: New language institute will enrich cultural life in Costa Mesa
At a recent council meeting, I listed Costa Mesa's 2019 highlights, including opening a 50-bed shelter for those experiencing homelessness, transforming Lions Park with our beautiful new Donald Dungan Library and hiring our new city manager, Lori Ann Farrell Harrison, following a nationwide search.
Mailbag: March for Women and equality on Jan. 18 in Santa Ana
As we march toward the 2020 presidential elections, now is the time to speak up loudly for the values that matter to us.
Commentary: Joan Irvine Smith advocated for responsible development
Philanthropist, environmentalist, social and corporate activist were just a few of the adjectives to describe Joan Irvine Smith in her recent obituary.
Commentary: Sweeping new laws will provide the gift of 'granny flats'
ADUs, also called "granny flats," offer cities an opportunity to develop new housing units that are not disruptive to the look and feel of single-family neighborhoods.
Commentary: Courage, conviction and character needed to address opioid epidemic in O.C.
Proportionately, opioid overdose deaths in Orange County far outpace those in Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.
Mailbag: A New Year's wish list for Newport Beach


text:
Tonight's Powerball Results For 04/27/19: Did Anyone Hit The $166 Million Jackpot Tonight?
By Scott McDonald On 4/27/19 at 6:30 PM EDT
The Powerball game for April 27, 2019, is for a $166 million jacket, with an estimated cash value of $103 million, was drawn tonight. The odds of winning were astronomical, but the reward would most certainly be worth the risk.
And the result? Nobody hit the jackpot Saturday night. The drawing niw moves to an estimated $181 million for the Wednesday drawing.
Tonight's 04/27/19 jackpot is estimated at $166 million, with a cash option of $102.9 million. The jackpot could increase if sales further lottery projections, according to officials.
Winning numbers from 4/27/19 were: 02-29-41-45-62
Powerball: 06
Four players around the country got the first five numbers but no powerball, and 12 players got four of the first five numbers with the powerball.
Powerball is a multi-state lottery and one of America's two biggest lottery jackpot games. Jackpots start at $40 million, and other prizes pay from $1 million to $2 million or more with a Megaplier. Tickets are $2.
The next Powerball for the $181 million jackpot will be 05/01/19. Keep this page refreshed for those drawings and results.
There are nine ways to win money during the Powerball. Just getting the powerball with no other numbers pays out $4, and even more if the power play is bought for an extra dollar. The same payout goes for one ball plus the powerball, and $7 is the payout for two correct numbers with the powerball, or three correct numbers and no powerball.
If all five numbers are chosen but the powerball is not correct, then the payout is $1 million, with an even higher payout if the power play is chosen.
Here are the all-time top Powerball jackpot prizes
1. $1.586 billion (01/13/2016)
Winning tickets sold in California, Florida and Tennessee
2. $768.4 million (03/27/2019)
Single ticket sold in Wisconsin
Single ticket sold in Massachusetts
Two winning tickets were drawn, one sold in Iowa and one sold in New York.
Single ticket sold in Florida
Two winning tickets were drawn, one sold in Missouri and one sold in Arizona.
Winning tickets sold in Texas, North Carolina and Puerto Rico
Tonight's Powerball Results For 04/27/19: Did Anyone Hit The $166 Million Jackpot Tonight? | U.S.
Today's Powerball Numbers, Live Results For 04/24/19
Where was the winning Powerball ticket sold?


text:
Robert Wm. Gomez's
Relief Prints
Intaglio Prints
Miscellaneous, Mixed Media & 3-D
Art Miscellaneous
Der Lugomen
Martian Law
Authenticity Fetishist
Loss-Frame
Upgrade Downgrade
The Exciting Sounds of a Compaq P133
Lumpenwave
Music Ramblings
Retro-Computing
Movie Reviews by Title
Movie Ramblings
Bent Pages
Blog Quicklist
My primary gaming device these days. Technically any computer can be called a "PC" but this category is specifically for Windows/MS-DOS based games.
Flashback on PC (7/10)
I must have attempted to play this game about a dozen times. I would download it from some abandonware site, fire up DosBox, and then proceed to be frustrated out of my mind by the sluggish controls and unfair level design. Or maybe I was just terrible at that first jungle level.
Well, this is the 25th anniversary remastered edition. It's more or less the original game emulated, but there are a few quality of life improvements. First and foremost is the ability to rewind the game after you die for an immediate do-over. Second, there are on-screen help boxes to guide you through the…
Read more about Flashback
Submitted by Robert Gomez on Mon, 01/13/2020 - 23:31
Abzû on PC (5/10)
Hey, it's a walking simulator with a twist... swimming! I'll give it this, Abzû is a very nice looking and great sounding game. The score is magnificent. You know the soundtrack has to be good when seemingly half of the game credits are taken up with the names of the various instrumentalists. Unfortunately, like all of these "art" games, there isn't much in terms of a game here. You just swim around, (literally) look at fish, and occasionally click on a hot-spot. I'd be more forgiving if there was a good story to follow but, "evil thing making the ocean all evil and the only way to stop it…
Read more about Abzû
The Silent Age on PC (6/10)
The biggest puzzle in this modestly sized point-and-click adventure is figuring out how to get it to even run. I bought it for 99¢ in a Steam sale a year or two ago and when I finally got around to playing it, I discovered that it would crash immediately after launching. Well, let me spoil this first puzzle for you: the game won't run if you have Citrix Receiver installed on your computer (same for any game based on the Unity Engine). There is a fix that involves reinstalling Citrix with some command line flags. Goggle it.
Anyhow, once the game is up and running you will see its flat…
Read more about The Silent Age
Submitted by Robert Gomez on Fri, 01/10/2020 - 22:08
Doom [2016] on PC (9/10)
I think this is a reboot. Was there actually a plot in the original Doom? Whatever the case, this version of Doom is a vast improvement on the previous game in the series.
This is a return to the pure shooter style of early FPS games. There are a few cut scenes and all that, but who cares. The killer feature here is the ability to pull off gory finishing moves in order to gain health and ammo. And you are not just running backwards. The level design is impressive. They are bright a spacious with lots of verticality and room to move. And you will have to keep moving as the onslaught of…
Read more about Doom [2016]
Submitted by Robert Gomez on Sun, 12/29/2019 - 16:10
GNOG on PC (7/10)
GNOG is a cute little puzzle game in which you are left to click and poke around without any instructions and without knowing what your goal is. This is a little frustrating at first, but once you realize that you are trying to open up the big cartoon heads, things start to make sense. Or as much sense as opening up floating heads makes.
There are some common tactics: right-click to flip the box, figure out how to pop the back open, then things get weird after that. The main draw here is the surreal art and soothing music. It's not that hard and it really just feels like a point…
Read more about GNOG
Ruiner on PC (7/10)
Ruiner rages with a riot of red. So much red. It's like an entire game based on a Photoshop filter applied to the R channel. I went in to this thinking it was going to be your standard twin-stick shooter like Nex Mechina and I was excited. No, this is one of those aim with the mouse, steer with wasd games. That control scheme always seems a little bit off and, when you're in an isometric view, the aim never quite matches with your perspective. On top of this there are several special moves bound to other buttons. The most important of which is a chainable dash move. This is very awkward when…
Read more about Ruiner
Submitted by Robert Gomez on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 22:17
Assassin's Creed III on PC (4/10)
This game has been sitting in my to-do list for quite some time. I got it as a freebie from Uplay, and to be quite frank, that may have been too expensive for this clunker. I suppose if you really love the parkour mechanics of the other games you'll be entertained by this, but I am long-since over jumping from towers into bales of hay. With a handful of naval missions, some of the seeds of the vastly superior AC IV are here, but, to mix my metaphors, the mechanics still a bit half-baked (wait you can bake seeds, so maybe that metaphor works... or is it a simile).
The story is so dull and…
Read more about Assassin's Creed III
Metro 2033 Redux on PC (6/10)
There was some sort of nuclear apocalypse and the citizens of Moscow were forced to live in the city's subway tunnels. Of course the world is now filled with irradiated monsters. Yet, the humans are still fighting wars with other humans in the tunnels because sci-fi writers can't comprehend that people might actually co-operate in dire circumstances. For some reason you are tasked with saving your station from impending doom and thus begins you journey down the rails to find help. Your job will be difficult, not because of tough choices and insurmountable odds, rather because everything is…
Read more about Metro 2033 Redux
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris on PC (8/10)
This is the sequel to Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Like its predecessor, this is an isometric puzzle platform game combined with a twin-stick shooter. It's fast and fun and pretty casual feeling. I don't remember if this was a part of the first game, but they are really pushing the multi-player game-play and I have no idea how that would work. This seems perfectly fine as a single-player experience.
Read more about Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
Tomb Raider Legend on PC (8/10)
I could have sworn I had played this game before, but I wasn't completely sure. I get this one confused with Tomb Raider: Anniversary. All I knew is that I didn't own it and, if I had played it, it was probably on Gametap as a freebie. Well, this weekend it went on Steam sale for 97¢ so I grabbed it knowing that if I managed to have an hour of fun with it, it would have been worth the price.
Yup, I've played it before. I definitely remember the first level. Things get cloudy after that. These games aren't quite known for their strong, memorable narratives. The game would seem completely new to…
Read more about Tomb Raider Legend
Submitted by Robert Gomez on Thu, 09/26/2019 - 20:20
Subscribe to PC
Planet Pimp Records!
Quote me if I'm Wrong
Record Covers Galore!
The Many Faces of Lou Ferrigno
Robert's Reviews
My Etsy Shop (Buy my art!)
My YouTube Videos
Nonagon.us
MoonRock Inc.
All images, sounds, and words are © Robert Gomez unless otherwise noted.
Send me an e-mail


text:
Останино — село, Алапаєвський міський округ (Верхня Синячиха), Свердловська область
 Останино — присілок, Бердюзький район, Тюменська область
 Останино — селище, Кедровий міський округ, Томська область
 Останино — село, Режівський міський округ, Свердловська область

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This site is for the MacTech community to discuss topics relevant to the community, as well as for real time discussions during some events (such as MacTech Conference). You can only view or partake with an account (required).
Much of this site is dedicated to those that have attended recent community events such as MacTech Pro and MacTech Conference – access will be granted once we've confirmed who you are, and if you are eligible.
Discussion Site administration provided by Watchman Monitoring, Inc.


An example of what a few hacks & organization will get you. The best ROI on the web!
Too many people take Facebook advertising for granted. Over the past year, I have had many friends and colleagues approach me and ask to buy me a cup of coffee and/or beer (I prefer whiskey, FYI) so I can walk them through their first Facebook ad and make sure they are doing it right.
There are many things about that request that puts me in a hard spot.
First, I like to help friends and colleagues. Second, I am an advocate of Facebook ads because I feel like its the best ROI on the web (paid media that is.) So I want to create more evangelists of this space. I love seeing lightbulbs go off when I coach friends and colleagues, so this is kinda like crack for me; unhealthy and addicting. Third, I hate sounding like a douche bag but this is kinda what I do for a living (digital marketing). So it is like asking a mechanic friend to tell you how to do fix your transmission, or a lawyer to just look over some documents for you. It puts me in a weird and uncomfortable spot. I want to help, but this advice costs money for my clients and it's my livelihood. Why would I give my livelihood away for free? Here is a good article on this subject of giving away free advice to friends.
My solution is this: I am going to blog more about this. I know there are a lot of blogs on this subject already, but I am going to do it with my twist. I am going to balance the basics with some advanced tactics along the way. The goal is to inspire folks to test, tweak, and respond with live examples and results. Let us all learn from one another with live results. Also, as an added resource please subscribe to aimClears blog. I have had the privilege to work out of Marty's office a few years ago and stay in touch with his entire crew. I thought I was pretty awesome at Facebook ads until they opened up a few new ways of thinking about this space. That said, they made a monster out of me and now I am always trying to push targeting to the limits that may include breaking Facebook. Also, buy his book!
This is my attempt at Facebook Ads 101 with some performance hacks. Some basics to kinda set the bar and understand why this is more than just running one ad and having me sit through one cup of coffee to tell you what could be done in order to get the most out of it.
First of all, let's get something straight. No one just runs an ad. You run a campaign. Set your campaign budget and time range of the campaign, then run a minimum of 4 6 ads per budget. I don't care if you are running a small $100 campaign or a $10,000 campaign, with various ad placements (mobile, desktop, news feed, right rail, etc.) you must test what placement your ad is performing best. You never just run one ad.
I manage campaigns by an audience. This means that each campaign gets one audience. I then compare audience performance by each campaign. Each budget I will run a minimum two campaigns with two audiences. This is my first A/B test, which audience is performing better?
Any adjustments I make to one set of ads, I make sure to make the same adjustments in the other campaign for consistency. At this point, if we continue with the $100 example, you are looking at 8-12 ads and two campaigns, optimized daily.
Yeah, its a lot of work. Most people run an ad or a few, and then get no results and feel Facebook ads are not a wise investment, which is ok. That gives us professionals more inventory to play with optimized ads. Results take management time!
A critical piece of information is the frequency of the Facebook ad. Frequency is the average amount of times the typical user in your target audience has seen your ad. The smaller the audience, the more careful you have to be with the frequency. In the below image you can see an audience of 10k 15k with a frequency of 1.5-ish. I can push the Frequency upwards to 3 times in a small audience before I start seeing an ad burnout. Just make sure that in your A/B testing, that frequency is not an impact in your decline in actions.
Some of the more effective hacks are to play around with the image. Don't worry, you don't need to be a Photoshop expert. There is a free image editing site I use called Luna Pic.
Some of the most effective tricks to the image is to put a different color border around the image. A subtle drop shadow effect, and even giving a punch to the image with a little yellow/green gamma. I have seen double the CTR with these tricks than without, in the above A/B testing model. Same copy, same picture, same audience. The only difference is these subtle adjustments.
Tip: Use Pinterest to find images. They are already socially tested. The images with higher re-pins tend to get great CTR on Facebook ads.
Don't go overboard and push the image into the land of ugly or annoying where the user will not click. Remember to adjust and test. When you see the CTRs go down, you pushed too far.
Warning (ranting coming): Treat the click-thru-promise like a religion. I cannot say this enough. The click-thru-promise is when you convey a message, a feeling, or take advantage of a user envisioned intent through an ad.
You MUST follow through with that on the click-thru and on the landing page. You must give users what they think they will be getting. This is where most marketers fail with Facebook advertising. If you use a meme, a lolcat, or some other funny image that has nothing to do with the landing page, then you are paying for clicks and not conversions. You might as well be using your budget for toilet paper.
If an image is funny and you are getting clicks, it does not mean you are converting. Make sure that the ad image and text mirror the landing page with the same, cleaner image and message. Do not bait and switch. Bait and switch are why people hate us, marketers. Stop making me look bad. /rant.
Facebook obviously gives preference to higher bids. I build my campaign higher that what I am budgeted for, and bid manually for actions higher than the suggested bid. Once the inventory is opened up and the ad begins to be delivered, I throttle the bidding down under the suggested bid and bring my campaign spend back to my budget. This has always opened up faster delivery of ads and higher impressions for me.
Also, manage how you bid effectively. Nurture them along with a Facebook Ad Drip Strategy. Think of it as a funnel. Bidding to a wider audience at the top of the funnel, bid CPC and de-incentivize the click. Send them branded messaging to keep the brand at the top of their minds.
Example: Blah blah blah BRAND NAME. Blah Blah Blah BRAND NAME with BRAND LOGO. These are not built to compel. These are built to burn the brand into the memory of your target audience. You don't want to send the user a compelling call-to-action just yet. Send them strongly branded messages through CPC, and get some free Facebook advertising out of this. If someone actually clicks through, then I would call that a highly qualified user. That click is worth the $$.
Then, after your frequency is at 5-6 to a targeted audience, push a strong call-to-action connected to the brand they have burned into their minds. Send the user to a conversion page that will collect the UID or email of the user. The call-to-action should be an inquiry. If a user jumps through that hoop and converts with the strong click-through-promise, then not only did you respond to the user's intent, you converted and now have a unique identifier. Congratulations!
Take those collected emails or UID from that specific campaign, and upload them to a Custom Audience within the Power Editor. Now you have an opt-in audience that is already engaged with your brand. So from here on outbid via CPM. They already trust you enough to give you an email address, why not maximize your spend and keep that channel alive. When they click now, your cost per action will be dramatically less.
Wow okay. I didn't realize how much was in my head on simply running your first campaign. If you are still reading, I am impressed.
Learn a lot. You can keep coming back as I update on this subject. My next posts will be about hyper-targeting, persona marketing, custom audience vs. lookalike audience fine tuning, content marketing (framing the content) for promoted posts, 3rd party data (such as DMV data), and retargeting with Facebooks Ad Exchange.
Hire a professional in-house and a team to do this. It takes a team. I know some folks that I have hired in the past if you are looking for a few good people. Hit me up, and Ill hook you up.
Outsource this to professionals. Like us over at Voice Media Group. Just saying. ?
Hopefully, this gave you some insight that this Facebook advertising game is not simply running some ads. This is why agencies charge 25% management fees it takes time! That said, before you run away from ever marketing on Facebook, let me remind you of the first image on this post. Yeah, +1,500 highly qualifies clicks for $110. Where on the web can you get that ROI?
Previous postIs the 1% Still Relevant?


221 ページ - So stately his form, and so lovely her face, That never a hall such a galliard did grace; While her mother did fret, and her father did fume, And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume; And the bride-maidens whispered, " Twere better by far To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.
220 ページ - I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied ; — Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide — And now am I come, with this lost love of mine, To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine : There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far, That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar.
220 ページ - OH ! young Lochinvar is come out of the west, Through all the wide Border his steed was the best; And save his good broadsword he weapons had none. He rode all unarmed and he rode all alone. So faithful in love and so dauntless in war, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.
209 ページ - Twixt resignation and content. Oft in my mind such thoughts awake, By lone Saint Mary's silent lake ; Thou know'st it well, -nor fen, nor sedge, Pollute the pure lake's crystal edge ; Abrupt and sheer, the mountains sink At once upon the level brink ; And just a trace of silver sand Marks where the water meets the land.
238 ページ - And tears unnoticed from their channels flow; Serene her manner, till some sudden pain Frets the meek soul, and then she's calm again;— Her broken pitcher to the pool she takes, And every step with cautious terror makes; For not alone that infant in her arms, But nearer cause, her anxious soul alarms.
217 ページ - Where shall the traitor rest, He, the deceiver, Who could win maiden's breast, Ruin, and leave her ? In the lost battle, Borne down by the flying, Where mingles war's rattle With groans of the dying.
216 ページ - Soft shall be his pillow. There, through the summer day, Cool streams are laving ; There, while the tempests sway, Scarce are boughs waving ; There, thy rest shalt thou take, Parted for ever, Never again to wake, Never, O never.


When it comes to natural deodorants, I have a large list of favorites that work perfectly fine for smelly, sweaty people like me.
But when it comes to natural deodorants in stick form, my recommendations are a little more slim. Many natural stick deodorants suffer epic fails because of formulations that just don't work in this type of packaging: Think crumbling messes, difficult application and the like.
Leave it to Schmidt's to figure out the best way to package an effective natural deodorant in this convenient way — perhaps this will get more people to make the switch.
Available in five different scents (I like Bergamot + Lime), Schmidt's Natural Stick Deodorant provides the ultimate protection against odor thanks to its fantastic formula made with arrowroot powder, coconut oil, candelilla wax, shea butter, baking soda and more.
In stick form, this formula glides on relatively easily — except, as with any natural deodorants in cooler weather, may take a bit of warming against the skin to get a more even glide to help soften the oils, waxes and butters that tend to harden.
When using Schmidt's stick deodorant, I still like to even out the application with my fingers and wipe off any excess that forms around the lip of the applicator.
So, that makes this not totally finger-free for me, but we're coming a far way from the daily deodorant massage. But, I prefer Schmidt's stick to the jar formula, which is very hard and takes some handling to get it to spread.
Once it's applied, the feeling is slightly sticky, but not uncomfortable. It takes about 10 minutes to truly set, so I apply my deodorant before I begin doing my hair and makeup; I get dressed last. I haven't noticed any major sensitivity with this deodorant — just do not overapply!
Overall, this deodorant is an absolute repurchase for me. I love that I have a reliable, natural stick deodorant to recommend to friends who are slowly cleaning up their personal care routine. Deodorant is always the most difficult transition, but having something as familiar as stick packaging makes it all the better!
Have you tried Schmidt's Natural Stick Deodorant? When did you transition to natural deodorant? What are your favorites? Tell me in the comments section.


text:
All-TIME 100 Nonfiction Books
Politics and war, science and sports, memoir and biography — there's a great big world of nonfiction books out there just waiting to be read. We picked the 100 best and most influential written in English since 1923, the beginning of TIME ... magazine
The Feminine Mystique
By Andrea Sachs Aug. 16, 2011
Author: Betty Friedan
It was an unprepossessing formulation: "the problem that has no name." But Friedan's shorthand description of a widespread midcentury female unhappiness turned out to be a clarion call to social revolution. Many date the beginning of the contemporary women's movement to the publication of Friedan's surprise best seller. Initially, the author had intended her work to be a magazine article, but no publication would touch it; the book, five years later, was no less feisty: "We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: 'I want something more than my husband and my children and my home.' " By 1966, Friedan was the president of the National Organization for Women, and modern feminism had found its urtext.
Next Guns, Germs, and Steel
Autobiography / Memoir
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Black Boy
Manchild in the Promised Land
A Moveable Feast
Notes of a Native Son
Speak, Memory
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill
Capitalism and Freedom
The General Theory
Unsafe at Any Speed
The American Cinema
A Child of the Century
Within the Context of No Context
The Story of Art
Against Interpretation, and Other Essays
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
How to Cook a Wolf
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
The Omnivore's Dilemma
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
The Kinsey Reports
Our Bodies, Ourselves
The Best and the Brightest
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
A People's History of the United States
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Closing of the American Mind
The End of History and the Last Man
Godel, Escher, Bach
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
The Nature and Destiny of Man
Syntactic Structures
A Theory of Justice
Nonfiction Novels
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Executioner's Song
All the President's Men
The Clash of Civilizations
Conscience of a Conservative
God & Man at Yale
Homage to Catalonia
The Making of the President
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Coming of Age in Samoa
The Double Helix by James Watson
The Emperor of All Maladies
The Lives of a Cell
The Naked Ape
The Selfish Gene
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Self-Help / Instructional
The Big Book
The American Way of Death
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Guns, Germs, and Steel
The Other America
Why We Can't Wait
The Great War and Modern Memory


They are going to turn the radiators down here. Sitting by a cold radiator is not so pleasant. Crying-by-the-radiator hours will be rescheduled to early mornings and evenings, and phased out by midsummer. Find a new venue or give up crying?
This entry was posted on April 3, 2010 at 10:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized with tags cold, crying, radiator, summer.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


The Seal 1 Complete Gun Care Kit contains: 1 - 4oz. container of our multi-purpose CLP Plus Gun Care Paste; 1 - 4oz. container of our multi-purpose CLP Plus Gun Care Liquid; 1 - Package of our SEAL 1 CLP PLUS Pre-Saturated EZ-Cloth 4 - 6 inch square cleaning cloth Pre-saturated with SEAL 1 CLP PLUS paste; 1 - 12"x12" square micro fiber cloth; 1 - Nylon bristle brush. SEAL 1 CLP PLUS It is a Non-Toxic cleaner that dissolves carbon on contact and reduces the time it takes to clean, lube and protect your firearm. Treating a weapon with SEAL 1 CLP PLUS creates a barrier that resists fouling particles such as copper, lead, sand, dust and dirt. After several applications your cleaning time is reduced even further as the SEAL 1 CLP PLUS creates a protective barrier that prevents fouling from sticking. The SEAL 1, LLC company specializes in high end "Green Engineered", "Bio-Based" gun cleaning and gun care products specifically designed for the shooting industry, military and law enforcement. Realizing the limitations of the common clp's on the market, the SEAL 1 Team set out to develop not only a product that truly performs, but a product that did not have the existing hazard concerns. The SEAL 1 Development Team combines decades of expertise in product development for the shooting industry as well as a broad spectrum of military experience, including US Navy S.E.A.L's, US Marine Corp, US Air Force and the US Army. .


text:
From Acorn Bread to Chia Cake, This New Cafe Serves Only Indigenous Foods
The co-owners used tribal notes and advice from elders to design the menu at Cafe Ohlone.
By Flora Tsapovsky
Photo by Magdelena Maddox
Cafe Ohlone is hard to find. Named for the Ohlone tribe indigenous to Northern California's East Bay, the cafe is in a small backyard behind a local bookstore in downtown Berkeley. But in this small backyard, the cafe's founders, Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino are dreaming big. Representing, respectively, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and the Rumsen Ohlone community, Medina, 32, and Trevino, 27 have dedicated themselves to reviving native Ohlone foods through pop-ups, events, and now their first brick-and-mortar venture.
Medina and Trevino have crafted a menu brimming with ingredients like acorn flour and venison that are rooted in Ohlone tradition. Many of these ingredients are gathered locally, in the company of the tribe's elders, while others are sourced from reliable locals. Without a formal culinary education, Medina and Trevino had to rummage through tribal notes and ask a lot of questions to arrive at the recipes they now serve at the cafe, which is open for lunch on Thursdays and dinner on Saturday, with additional hours to come. "We didn't grow up eating our native foods; our parents didn't have access to them," says Medina. "There's a way to fix it, through hard work and carrying on in our families' footsteps." He sees the cafe as part of a larger global trend: "It's all part of the decolonization happening all over the world now," Medina says, "We're taking away the shackles and returning back to our ways."
Trevino and Medina walked us through some of the staple ingredients on the menu at Cafe Ohlone, which is available in both English and Chochenyo, the language of the East Bay Ohlone.
Acorn flour: This is an Ohlone staple, and no meal is complete without it. To make acorn flour, acorns are gathered, often with the community, and peeled. The meaty central part is dried and ground into powder, which is then washed to clear the acorn of its tannic acids. Used in bread, soup, and porridge, the flour is a superfood, rich in proteins, monounsaturated fats, and carbohydrates.
Venison: While many associate bison with Native American cuisines, venison, elk, and duck are what's native to the Ohlone. At the cafe, venison is wrapped in yerba buena and bay laurel and smoked in a smoker. For a recent tribal youth gathering, the two made venison and huckleberry sliders in chia flour buns, and the dish made it onto the cafe menu as well. "It's still our food, in modern form," Trevino says.
Bay Laurel: Present through the Bay Area and close to Ohlone villages locations, laurel has a lemony, sweet scent and medicinal and ceremonial properties. The leaves are used to infuse the cafe's sauces and stews, and the nuts inside the fruits are featured too. "They have natural caffeine, and we're big coffee people—it's an adopted part of our culture," says Medina. The antioxidants-rich nuts are crushed and incorporated into truffles and an Ohlone twist on coffee served with hazelnut milk.
Chia: Long before it became trendy, the Ohlone were roasting chia and incorporating it into breads and cakes. "It's full of Omega 3, vitamin B and fiber," says Medina. "It's one of those ingredients that make life good."
Yerba buena: This is a Californian type of mint, and, according to the Trevino, "a quintessential taste of home." Widespread in areas where Ohlone villages were once located, yerba buena is thought to reduce stress, and it flavors the cafe's stews and sweet sorbets.
California Huckleberries: Dotting the cafe's sauces, salads, pancakes and meatballs, the tiny tart berries are native to East Bay's hills and are a "great source of energy" according to Medina. They are often incorporated into the Ohlone's spring and summer dishes.
Explore Bon AppétitHealthyishNative AmericanCalifornia
Brit Reed Is Leading a New Generation of Indigenous Chefs
By Nicholas Mancall-Bitel


text:
The golden rules of captive claims management
Over the last two years, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, combined with a challenging insurance market for conventional risk transfer, has…
Crawford's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics - Amended July 29, 2022
Since 1941, Crawford and Company has built a business around its founding principles of honesty, integrity and quality. Our employees…
Human Risk Report - June 2022
Welcome to The Crawford Human Risk Report, a newsletter exclusively to employers and carriers that addresses all risks tied to employee…
Crawford 2021 Global Citizenship report
With Crawford's worldwide network of experts dedicated to restoring lives, businesses and communities, we strive to be responsible global…
Digital journey in claims - One size doesn't fit all
From new technologies to operational improvements, Crawford's customer solutions disrupt and declutter the industry's most aggravating…
Human Risk Report - April 2021
Crawford & Company Canada Human Risk Report — December 2020
Responding to a Market in Flux — What Does the Pandemic mean for the Insurance Industry?
In our latest whitepaper, "Responding to a Market in Flux — What Does the Pandemic mean for the Insurance Industry?", senior figures from…
Crawford & Company Canada Human Risk Report — July 2020
In 2019, we built upon the strong foundation that began with our cultural renaissance in 2018. Our investments in technology and our…
Crawford & Company Canada Human Risk Report — March 2020


I've completed another successful week of ChaLEAN Extreme. The more I do this workout program the more I like it.
This was the first week I incorporated my newly purchased 20 lb dumbbells into the workouts, and I continue to feel stronger. Chalene repeats herself many times, encouraging us that we're probably stronger than we think we are and can go even heavier. After this week, I'm even more of a believer!
Couch to 5k Week 3 Podcast Done!
So, it took a little longer than I planned, but it's still up well before I was scheduled to do my run today. Apologies to those of you who were to begin week 3 today and opt to run early in the day. I don't do mornings unless I have to. I didn't even get out of bed until after noon!
So I stuck with Hip Hop. It's working for me, and there are still fun songs that I've been digging for years, so why abandon it? There are 9 weeks in this program. I will eventually exhaust the genre!
This week's podcast includes a little Eve, Ice Cube, and Eminem as well as regulars T.I., Black Eyed Peas, and Ludacris. I hope you will enjoy it!
So, head on over to the podcast page or my feedburner page. I just changed the podpress settings so you should be able to download straight from the page now. Just right-click and save. I hope people are able to easily download my podcasts! If not, drop me a line in the comments and let me know!
To make things easier, you can subscribe via iTunes as well!


text:
Sixteen charities across Niagara will receive a total of $593,000 in the second year of the David S. Howes Fund Grants Program – the Niagara Community Foundation's largest grant program.
For 2019, the David S. Howes Fund will support projects ranging from support for victims of human trafficking to purchasing cargo vans to transport food donations for residents in need. These projects were chosen from a field of 39 applications valuing a combined $3.1 million to receive support from the David S. Howes Fund, created in 2017 following a $19 million gift from the David S. Howes Foundation.
"We were extremely impressed by the quality of the applications we received again in 2019 and recognize the tremendous impact of the work being done on the ground by countless charitable organizations in support of those in our community who rely on these vital programs and services. We are confident that Mr. Howes would've been proud to see the bredth and depth of organizations and their initiatives painstakingly selected this year. Our only disappointment is not being able to fund all of the projects we felt were deserving," said NCF Executive Director Bryan Rose.
Among the grants in 2019 is $100,000 over two years for YWCA Niagara Region, supporting a program to help victims of human trafficking with housing and support services. The Foundation of Resources for Teens (FORT) received $90,000 over two years to support the only free after-school program and youth resources centre in West Niagara. Gillian's Place received $50,000 over two years for a partnership with Bethlehem Housing and Support Services, seeking to provide transitional housing and support for women fleeing abuse. A complete list of 2019 grant recipients is attached.
Per Mr. Howes' wishes, grants from the David S. Howes Fund support post-secondary, facilities, research, health care services, education and humanitarian issues throughout Niagara.
Each grant application was reviewed by the Foundation's Grants Committee and vetted by representatives from the David S. Howes Foundation. Additionally, other community funds were used to "top-up" the 16 projects for this round.
This year's grants follow up 2018's inaugural wave of David S. Howes Fund grants. In 2018, 13 applicants received a total of $370,000.
Created in 2000, the Niagara Community Foundation has raised just under $60 million and has granted in excess of $15 million to charities working in the arts, heritage, environment, social services, health, education and community development sectors.
Contact: Bryan Rose, Executive Director
bryan.rose@niagaracommunityfoundation.org
(905) 684-8688 ext. 22


The corporation is a popular legal form but its disadvantages seem to outweigh its advantages. It may even be compared to a psychopath. How come? And perhaps more importantly, are there other legal structures that are superior? And what should be the role of the government in improving the effectiveness of organizational forms? David Creelman discusses some new literature on these issues and suggests a way forward.
The book and film, The Corporation by Joel Bakan asks, "If the corporation were a person, what kind of person would it be?" This question is not mere fancy for the corporation is a person in law with the same rights as a living man or woman. Bakan answers the question in no uncertain terms, the corporation is a psychopath, singularly self-interested, irresponsible, grandiose, manipulative and lacking in empathy. Psychopathic behaviour arises not because managers are bad people but because the form itself corrupts.
The Corporation has received wide acclaim with even The Economist not disputing the diagnosis. What is interesting is what The Economist did say, which was, "The film has nothing to say about the immense damage that can also flow from state ownership…[as in] North Korea." The idea that there are only two forms of enterprise, state ownership and corporations, has been widely spread-so much so that even the venerable Economist failed to see beyond it-but, it is not true.
As great management thinkers like Henry Mintzberg and Peter Drucker have pointed out we live in the age of organizations. Organizations do great things. They amplify human effort. The elimination of smallpox, the invention of the Internet, the building of pyramids and the discovery of DNA were all achieved by organizations. However, none of these accomplishments arose from the particular form of organization called a corporation. The corporation is a particular legal device for enabling organization, and, if you believe The Corporation, not a particularly good one.
There are a number of important alternatives to corporations. One of course is government, which is a simplification because there many different kinds of legal structures around the world that guide and constrain government. There are also the not-for-profit organizations such as Medicins San Frontieres, Oxfam, The Red Crescent, and Toastmasters. Drucker estimates there are over a million of these organizations in the US alone. There are partnerships such as traditionally exist in law firms, consultancies, accounting firms, and some medical practices. Partnerships are usually the best form of organization where the most important asset is the talent of individuals. Another important form of organization is the cooperative or mutual. One of the most successful for-profit organizations in Spain is Mondragón, a cooperative that is outperforming its corporate competitors. Private firms play a huge role in the economy and allow the owners to do what they think is right, not what Wall Street analysts think will boost short term earnings. Google, which has recently gone public, has tried to avoid the pitfalls of the corporate form through an odd set of statements committing it to maintaining its current culture. It's a brave attempt, but is unlikely to succeed.
Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, discusses confederations, which are not legal structures at all. Confederations are the informal networks of partners that free agents build to amplify their effectiveness. In The Support Economy, Harvard professor Shoshanna Zuboff predicts that in the next decade we will see the emergence of a different form of organization better suited to delivering the individual services consumers want. She believes new legal structures will be required to support the evolution of these new for-profit entities.
The differences between corporations and other types of organizations are not trivial. Consultants from Hewitt Associates have told me that when the firm went public (moved from the legal structure of partnership to that of a corporation) everything changed. This is a comment I've heard time and again from people who have suffered the transition from one structure to that of a corporation. As one manager said, "All the fun goes out of the business."
No one denies corporations are very useful, but the legal rules that govern them are man-made inventions and can be improved. In his wonderful book Organizing America Yale professor Charles Perrow points out that it was only in the 19th century that U.S. lawmakers, who were likely bribed by business interests, gave corporations the right to own other firms. This set the stage for a century of mergers and acquisitions that would have horrified Adam Smith.
The impact of changing laws is always hard to assess, but there is reason to believe the current laws governing corporations do not best serve the economy.
As people running organizations we have to ask ourselves which form of legal structure is in our best interest. Private ownership, partnerships and cooperatives all have advantages—and disadvantages too.
As citizens we should ask government to encourage different forms of organization, in particular different types of for-profit firms. An economy driven by a mix of different organizational types will be more efficient than one dominated by large corporations. For example, the Canadian health care system, one of the best in the world, works through a complex mixture of government, not-for-profit and private organizations. It is routinely misunderstood as being government health care. Neither a fully public sector nor fully corporate system would work as well as the complex mixture of forms.
What makes the corporation unique as a form of organization is that it has no purpose other than making money. All other organizations-potentially, and commonly in practice-have other broader and more human purposes. The privately held pump manufacture S.A. Armstrong wants to build capability in its employees, organization and customers. That admirable mission would actually be illegal if they were a corporation. Yet it is a mission, which will likely enhance profitability. USC professor Ian Mitroff says indications are that organizations which have a spiritual focus, which I'll take to mean a goal beyond profits, outperform those that don't.
It is simply a mistake to think that corporations are equivalent with capitalism. There are a number of legal structures in existence and an unlimited number that can be imagined that provide the basis for organizations. Entrepreneurs should consider what form of organization would create the kind of legacy they really want. Governments should be thoughtful in legislation. Finally, investment banks should consider how to provide access to capital to firms others than corporations which seems to be the chief thing holding them back.
"Companies treat people as bundles of skills to be bought for a limited purpose before being disposed of." We moeten toe naar andere manieren van 'Governance'. De Geus schetst de mogelijkheden die hij ziet.
David Creelman is Senior Contributing Editor for HR.com. He has also embarked on several new ventures including: Helping companies value intangible human capital, (un)consulting to companies who have got bogged down in scorecard implementations, a magazine to help managers lead more meaningful, ethical lives. Prior to working in HR, David worked in Finance and IT. He has an MBA and an Hons B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Chemistry. David loves discussion so send him a comment on this contribution by using the interactive space in Managementsite.net.
the new breed out of 'the cosmic egg'?
Their alternative: Change or Die.


An orientation course on "Planning, Conducting and Implementing Research and Demonstrations" was organized at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today. The scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Farm Advisory Service Scheme, and Regional Research Stations participated in the course.
In his remarks, the Chief Guest Dr M.S. Gill, Director of Extension Education, observed, "With the advancements in agriculture, it is vital to sensitize the farm scientists to address the shortcomings in the farm demonstrations." He underlined the need for highlighting the impact of the crop varieties and agri-technologies through effective and need-based field demonstrations. There are two types of demonstrations including method demonstration and result demonstration, he informed. Besides, there are disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary types of demonstrations also, he said, while emphasising on identification of farm problem, proper selection of the site, and display of signboards and data about the particular issue, for the successful demonstration.
In his inaugural address, Dr J.S. Dhiman, Additional Director of Research (Natural Resource and Plant Health Management), and Coordinator of the course, said that the extension functionaries have been playing an important role in carrying the farm technologies forward to the grassroot level. To address the future agrarian issues, it is essential to have knowledgeable scientists, he stressed, adding that this orientation course aims at educating the scientists about planning and conducting agri-demonstrations for the benefit of farmers.
During the course, the PAU experts delivered lectures on various aspects of effective field demonstrations. Those present on the occasion included Dr P.S. Aulakh, Additional Director of Research (Horticulture), Dr (Mrs) J.K. Sangha, Additional Director of Research (Food Science, Nutrition and Engineering), Dr J.S. Mahal, Additional Director of Research (Farm Mechanization and Bio-energy), Dr P.S. Chahal, Associate Director of Research and Co-Coordinator of the course, and faculty members of various departments of the PAU.