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12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
Fantastic, it's everything you expect from Peterson and more. Billed as a "self-help" style book, it beautifully interweaves history, religion, science, and philosophy into a highly pragmatic book on how to be a fulfilled, successful, better human being.
But the story of the golden calf also reminds us that without rules we quickly become slaves to our passions—and there's nothing freeing about that.
Not long after the Soviet Union fell, and most of the world breathed a sigh of relief, Peterson began purchasing this propaganda for a song online. Paintings lionizing the Soviet revolutionary spirit completely filled every single wall, the ceilings, even the bathrooms. The paintings were not there because Jordan had any totalitarian sympathies, but because he wanted to remind himself of something he knew he and everyone would rather forget: that over a hundred million people were murdered in the name of utopia.
These paintings provided a visitor with the first window onto the full extent of Jordan's concern about our human capacity for evil in the name of good, and the psychological mystery of self-deception (how can a person deceive himself and get away with it?)—an interest we share.
Ideologies are simple ideas, disguised as science or philosophy, that purport to explain the complexity of the world and offer remedies that will perfect it.
Ideologues are people who pretend they know how to "make the world a better place" before they've taken care of their own chaos within.
He observed that the virtues always aim for balance and avoid the extremes of the vices. Aristotle studied the virtues and the vices in his Nicomachean Ethics. It was a book based on experience and observation, not conjecture, about the kind of happiness that was possible for human beings. Cultivating judgment about the difference between virtue and vice is the beginning of wisdom, something that can never be out of date. By contrast, our modern relativism begins by asserting that making judgments about how to live is impossible, because there is no real good, and no true virtue (as these too are relative). Thus relativism's closest approximation to "virtue" is "tolerance." Only tolerance will provide social cohesion between different groups, and save us from harming each other. On Facebook and other forms of social media, therefore, you signal your so-called virtue, telling everyone how tolerant, open and compassionate you are, and wait for likes to accumulate. (Leave aside that telling people you're virtuous isn't a virtue, it's self-promotion. Virtue signalling is not virtue. Virtue signalling is, quite possibly, our commonest vice.)
Instead of despairing about these differences in moral codes, Aristotle argued that though specific rules, laws and customs differed from place to place, what does not differ is that in all places human beings, by their nature, have a proclivity to make rules, laws and customs. To put this in modern terms, it seems that all human beings are, by some kind of biological endowment, so ineradicably concerned with morality that we create a structure of laws and rules wherever we are. The idea that human life can be free of moral concerns is a fantasy.
Scccccratccch the most clever postmodern-relativist professor's Mercedes with a key, and you will see how fast the mask of relativism (with its pretense that there can be neither right nor wrong) and the cloak of radical tolerance come off.
Order is where the people around you act according to well-understood social norms, and remain predictable and cooperative. It's the world of social structure, explored territory, and familiarity. The state of Order is typically portrayed, symbolically—imaginatively—as masculine. It's the Wise King and the Tyrant, forever bound together, as society is simultaneously structure and oppression.
Chaos, by contrast, is where—or when—something unexpected happens. Chaos emerges, in trivial form, when you tell a joke at a party with people you think you know and a silent and embarrassing chill falls over the gathering. Chaos is what emerges more catastrophically when you suddenly find yourself without employment, or are betrayed by a lover.
Order and chaos are the yang and yin of the famous Taoist symbol: two serpents, head to tail. Order is the white, masculine serpent; Chaos, its black, feminine counterpart. The black dot in the white—and the white in the black—indicate the possibility of transformation: just when things seem secure, the unknown can loom, unexpectedly and large. Conversely, just when everything seems lost, new order can emerge from catastrophe and chaos. For the Taoists, meaning is to be found on the border between the ever-entwined pair. To walk that border is to stay on the path of life, the divine Way. And that's much better than happiness.
It is possible to transcend slavish adherence to the group and its doctrines and, simultaneously, to avoid the pitfalls of its opposite extreme, nihilism. It is possible, instead, to find sufficient meaning in individual consciousness and experience. How could the world be freed from the terrible dilemma of conflict, on the one hand, and psychological and social dissolution, on the other? The answer was this: through the elevation and development of the individual, and through the willingness of everyone to shoulder the burden of Being and to take the heroic path.
I hope that these rules and their accompanying essays will help people understand what they already know: thatthe soul of the individual eternally hungers for the heroism of genuine Being, and that the willingness to take on that responsibility is identical to the decision to live a meaningful life.
Rule 1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back
The poor and stressed always die first, and in greater numbers. They are also much more susceptible to non-infectious diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. When the aristocracy catches a cold, as it is said, the working class dies of pneumonia.
Conflict, in turn, produces another problem: how to win or lose without the disagreeing parties incurring too great a cost.
A lobster with high levels of serotonin and low levels of octopamine is a cocky, strutting sort of shellfish, much less likely to back down when challenged.
High serotonin/low octopamine characterizes the victor. The opposite neurochemical configuration, a high ratio of octopamine to serotonin, produces a defeated-looking, scrunched-up, inhibited, drooping, skulking sort of lobster, very likely to hang around street corners, and to vanish at the first hint of trouble.
Sometimes it is known as the Matthew Principle (Matthew 25:29), derived from what might be the harshest statement ever attributed to Christ: "to those who have everything, more will be given; from those who have nothing, everything will be taken."
Even the most brutal chimp despot can be taken down, after all, by two opponents, each three-quarters as mean. In consequence, males who stay on top longer are those who form reciprocal coalitions with their lower-status compatriots, and who pay careful attention to the troupe's females and their infants. The political ploy of baby-kissing is literally millions of years old.
The dominant male, with his upright and confident posture, not only gets the prime real estate and easiest access to the best hunting grounds. He also gets all the girls. It is exponentially more worthwhile to be successful, if you are a lobster, and male.
We (the sovereign we, the we that has been around since the beginning of life) have lived in a dominance hierarchy for a long, long time. We were struggling for position before we had skin, or hands, or lungs, or bones. There is little more natural than culture. Dominance hierarchies are older than trees.
The part of our brain that keeps track of our position in the dominance hierarchy is therefore exceptionally ancient and fundamental. It is a master control system, modulating our perceptions, values, emotions, thoughts and actions. It powerfully affects every aspect of our Being, conscious and unconscious alike. This is why, when we are defeated, we act very much like lobsters who have lost a fight.
Erratic habits of sleeping and eating can interfere with its function. Uncertainty can throw it for a loop. The body, with its various parts, needs to function like a well-rehearsed orchestra. Every system must play its role properly, and at exactly the right time, or noise and chaos ensue. It is for this reason that routine is so necessary. The acts of life we repeat every day need to be automatized. They must be turned into stable and reliable habits, so they lose their complexity and gain predictability and simplicity. This can be perceived most clearly in the case of small children, who are delightful and comical and playful when their sleeping and eating schedules are stable, and horrible and whiny and nasty when they are not.
Do they wake up in the morning at approximately the time the typical person wakes up, and at the same time every day? If the answer is no, fixing that is the first thing I recommend. It doesn't matter so much if they go to bed at the same time each evening, but waking up at a consistent hour is a necessity.
The next thing I ask about is breakfast. I counsel my clients to eat a fat and protein-heavy breakfast as soon as possible after they awaken (no simple carbohydrates, no sugars, as they are digested too rapidly, and produce a blood-sugar spike and rapid dip).
I have had many clients whose anxiety was reduced to subclinical levels merely because they started to sleep on a predictable schedule and eat breakfast.
There are many systems of interaction between brain, body and social world that can get caught in positive feedback loops. Depressed people, for example, can start feeling useless and burdensome, as well as grief-stricken and pained. This makes them withdraw from contact with friends and family. Then the withdrawal makes them more lonesome and isolated, and more likely to feel useless and burdensome. Then they withdraw more. In this manner, depression spirals and amplifies.
People, like lobsters, size each other up, partly in consequence of stance.If you present yourself as defeated, then people will react to you as if you are losing. If you start to straighten up, then people will look at and treat you differently.
To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order. It means adopting the burden of self-conscious vulnerability, and accepting the end of the unconscious paradise of childhood, where finitude and mortality are only dimly comprehended. It means willingly undertaking the sacrifices necessary to generate a productive and meaningful reality (it means acting to please God, in the ancient language).
So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around.Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them—at least the same right as others.Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.
Rule 2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping
People are better at filling and properly administering prescription medication to their pets than to themselves.
In any case, that which we subjectively experience can be likened much more to a novel or a movie than to a scientific description of physical reality. It is the drama of lived experience—the unique, tragic, personal death of your father, compared to the objective death listed in the hospital records; the pain of your first love; the despair of dashed hopes; the joy attendant upon a child's success.
the world of experience has primal constituents, as well. These are the necessary elements whose interactions define drama and fiction. One of these is chaos. Another is order. The third (as there are three) is the process that mediates between the two, which appears identical to what modern people call consciousness. It is our eternal subjugation to the first two that makes us doubt the validity of existence—that makes us throw up our hands in despair, and fail to care for ourselves properly. It is proper understanding of the third that allows us the only real way out.
When the ice you're skating on is solid, that's order. When the bottom drops out, and things fall apart, and you plunge through the ice, that's chaos.
Our categories are far older than our species. Our most basic category—as old, in some sense, as the sexual act itself—appears to be that of sex, male and female. We appear to have taken that primordial knowledge of structured, creative opposition and begun to interpret everything through its
Most men do not meet female human standards. It is for this reason that women on dating sites rate 85 percent of men as below average in attractiveness.
the very hemispheric structure of the cortex reflects the fundamental division between novelty (the unknown, or chaos) and routinization (the known)
We eternally inhabit order, surrounded by chaos. We eternally occupy known territory, surrounded by the unknown. We experience meaningful engagement when we mediate appropriately between them.
When life suddenly reveals itself as intense, gripping and meaningful; when time passes and you're so engrossed in what you're doing you don't notice—it is there and then that you are located precisely on the border between order and chaos.
The worst of all possible snakes is the eternal human proclivity for evil. The worst of all possible snakes is psychological, spiritual, personal, internal.
This is the great Freudian Oedipal nightmare. It is far better to render Beings in your care competent than to protect them.
How could the nature of man ever reach its full potential without challenge and danger? How dull and contemptible would we become if there was no longer reason to pay attention?
Dr. Lynn Isbell, professor of anthropology and animal behaviour at the University of California, has suggested that the stunningly acute vision almost uniquely possessed by human beings was an adaptation forced on us tens of millions of years ago by the necessity of detecting and avoiding the terrible danger of snakes, with whom our ancestors…
Unlike us, predators have no comprehension of their fundamental weakness, their fundamental vulnerability, their own subjugation to pain and death. But we know exactly how and where we can be hurt, and why. That is as good a definition as any of self-consciousness. We are aware of our own defencelessness, finitude and mortality. We can feel pain, and self-disgust, and shame, and horror, and we know it. We know what makes us suffer. We know how dread and pain can be inflicted on us—and that means we know exactly how to inflict it on others. We know how we are naked, and how that nakedness can be exploited—and that means we know how others are naked, and how they can be exploited.
And no one understands the darkness of the individual better than the individual himself. Who, then, when ill, is going to be fully committed to his own care?
If we wish to take care of ourselves properly, we would have to respect ourselves—but we don't, because we are—not least in our own eyes—fallen creatures. If we lived in Truth; if we spoke the Truth—then we could walk with God once again, and respect ourselves, and others, and the world. Then we might treat ourselves like people we cared for. We might strive to set the world straight. We might orient it toward Heaven, where we would want people we cared for to dwell, instead of Hell, where our resentment and hatred would eternally sentence everyone.
There are so many ways that things can fall apart, or fail to work altogether, and it is always wounded people who are holding it together.
To treat yourself as if you were someone you are responsible for helping is, instead, to consider what would be truly good for you. This is not "what you want." It is also not "what would make you happy."
You need to consider the future and think, "What might my life look like if I were caring for myself properly?"
You could help direct the world, on its careening trajectory, a bit more toward Heaven and a bit more away from Hell. Once having understood Hell, researched it, so to speak—particularly your own individual Hell—you could decide against going there or creating that. You could aim elsewhere. You could, in fact, devote your life to this.
Rule 3: Make Friends with People Who Want the Best For You
The same thing happens when well-meaning counsellors place a delinquent teen among comparatively civilized peers. The delinquency spreads, not the stability.Down is a lot easier than up.
Assume first that you are doing the easiest thing, and not the most difficult.
Besides, if you buy the story that everything terrible just happened on its own, with no personal responsibility on the part of the victim, you deny that person all agency in the past (and, by implication, in the present and future, as well). In this manner, you strip him or her of all power.
Rogers believed it was impossible to convince someone to change for the better. The desire to improve was, instead, the precondition for progress. I've had court-mandated psychotherapy clients. They did not want my help. They were forced to seek it. It did not work. It was a travesty.
Here's something to consider: If you have a friend whose friendship you wouldn't recommend to your sister, or your father, or your son, why would you have such a friend for yourself?
You should choose people who want things to be better, not worse. It's a good thing, not a selfish thing, to choose people who are good for you. It's appropriate and praiseworthy to associate with people whose lives would be improved if they saw your life improve.
When you dare aspire upward, you reveal the inadequacy of the present and the promise of the future.
Don't think that it is easier to surround yourself with good healthy people than with bad unhealthy people. It's not. A good, healthy person is an ideal. It requires strength and daring to stand up near such a person. Have some humility. Have some courage. Use your judgment, and protect yourself from too-uncritical compassion and pity.
Rule 4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else is Today
No matter how good you are at something, or how you rank your accomplishments,there is someone out there who makes you look incompetent.
In a million years, who's going to know the difference? The proper response to that statement is not, Well, then, everything is meaningless. It's, Any idiot can choose a frame of time within which nothing matters. Talking yourself into irrelevance is not a profound critique of Being. It's a cheap trick of the rational mind.
To begin with, there is not just one game at which to succeed or fail. There are many games and, more specifically, many good games—games that match your talents, involve you productively with other people, and sustain and even improve themselves across time.
It's also unlikely that you're playing only one game. You have a career and friends and family members and personal projects and artistic endeavors and athletic pursuits.
You might object: I should be winning at everything! But winning at everything might only mean that you're not doing anything new or difficult. You might be winning but you're not growing, and growing might be the most important form of winning. Should victory in the present always take precedence over trajectory across time?
What do you do to avoid conflict, necessary though it may be? What are you inclined to lie about, assuming that the truth might be intolerable? What do you fake?
We cannot navigate, without something to aim at and, while we are in this world, we must always
Even when satisfied, temporarily, we remain curious. We live within a framework that defines the present as eternally lacking and the future as eternally better. If we did not see things this way, we would not act at all. We wouldn't even be able to see, because to see we must focus, and to focus we must pick one thing above all else on which to focus.
The future is like the past. But there's a crucial difference. The past is fixed, but the future—it could be better. It could be better, some precise amount—the amount that can be achieved, perhaps, in a day, with some minimal engagement.
Perhaps happiness is always to be found in the journey uphill, and not in the fleeting sense of satisfaction awaiting at the next peak.
"What could I say to someone else—my friend, my brother, my boss, my assistant—that would set things a bit more right between us tomorrow? What bit of chaos might I eradicate at home, on my desk, in my kitchen, tonight, so that the stage could be set for a better play? What snakes might I banish from my closet—and my mind?"
"What could I do, that I would do, that would accomplish that, and what small thing would I like as a reward?" Then you do what you have decided to do, even if you do it badly. Then you give yourself that damn coffee, in triumph. Maybe you feel a bit stupid about it, but you do it anyway. And you do the same thing tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. And, with each day, your baseline of comparison gets a little higher, and that's magic. That's compound interest.
There is nothing magical here—or nothing more than the already-present magic of consciousness. We only see what we aim at. The rest of the world (and that's most of it) is hidden. If we start aiming at something different—something like "I want my life to be better"—our minds will start presenting us with new information, derived from the previously hidden world, to aid us in that pursuit.
Faith is not the childish belief in magic. That is ignorance or even willful blindness. It is instead the realization that the tragic irrationalities of life must be counterbalanced by an equally irrational commitment to the essential goodness of Being. It is simultaneously the will to dare set your sights at the unachievable, and to sacrifice everything, including (and most importantly) your life. You realize that you have, literally, nothing better to do. But how can you do all this?—assuming you are foolish enough to try.
Pay attention. Focus on your surroundings, physical and psychological. Notice something that bothers you, that concerns you, that will not let you be, which you could fix, that you would fix. You can find such somethings by asking yourself (as if you genuinely want to know) three questions:"What is it that is bothering me?" "Is that something I could fix?" and "Would I actually be willing to fix it?" If you find that the answer is "no," to any or all of the questions, then look elsewhere. Aim lower. Search until you find something that bothers you, that you could fix, that you would fix, and then fix it. That might be enough for the day.
"What could I do, that I would do, to make Life a little better?"
Rule 5: Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything that Makes You Dislike Them
Was it really a good thing, for example, to so dramatically liberalize the divorce laws in the 1960s? It's not clear to me that the children whose lives were destabilized by the hypothetical freedom this attempt at liberation introduced would say so. Horror and terror lurk behind the walls provided so wisely by our ancestors. We tear them down at our peril. We skate, unconsciously, on thin ice, with deep, cold waters below, where unimaginable monsters lurk.
(People often get basic psychological questions backwards. Why do people take drugs? Not a mystery. It's why they don't take them all the time that's the mystery. Why do people suffer from anxiety? That's not a mystery. How is that people can ever be calm? There's the mystery. We're breakable and mortal. A million things can go wrong, in a million ways. We should be terrified out of our skulls at every second. But we're not. The same can be said for depression, laziness and criminality.)
Two-year-olds, statistically speaking, are the most violent of people. They kick, hit and bite, and they steal the property of others. They do so to explore, to express outrage and frustration, and to gratify their impulsive desires. More importantly, for our purposes, they do so to discover the true limits of permissible behaviour. How else are they ever going to puzzle out what is acceptable? Infants are like blind people, searching for a wall. They have to push forward, and test, to see where the actual boundaries lie (and those are too-seldom where they are said to be).
Kids do this frequently. Scared parents think that a crying child is always sad or hurt. This is simply not true. Anger is one of the most common reasons for crying. Careful analysis of the musculature patterns of crying children has confirmed this. Anger-crying and fear-or-sadness crying do not look the same. They also don't sound the same, and can be distinguished with careful attention. Anger-crying is often an act of dominance, and should be dealt with as such.
"How was the kid?" his father asked me when he got home, much later that night. "Good," I said. "No problem at all. He's asleep right now." "Did he get up?" said his father. "No," I said. "He slept the whole time." Dad looked at me. He wanted to know. But he didn't ask. And I didn't tell.
You can teach virtually anyone anything with such an approach. First, figure out what you want. Then, watch the people around you like a hawk. Finally, whenever you see anything a bit more like what you want, swoop in (hawk, remember) and deliver a reward. Your daughter has been very reserved since she became a teenager. You wish she would talk more. That's the target: more communicative daughter. One morning, over breakfast, she shares an anecdote about school. That's an excellent time to pay attention. That's the reward. Stop texting and listen. Unless you don't want her to tell you anything ever again.
Skinner, however, was a realist. He noted that use of reward was very difficult: the observer had to attend patiently until the target spontaneously manifested the desired behaviour, and then reinforce. This required a lot of time, and a lot of waiting, and that's a problem.
However, children would not have such a lengthy period of natural development, prior to maturity, if their behaviour did not have to be shaped.
Given this, the fundamental moral question is not how to shelter children completely from misadventure and failure, so they never experience any fear or pain, but how to maximize their learning so that useful knowledge may be gained with minimal cost.
If a child has not been taught to behave properly by the age of four, it will forever be difficult for him or her to make friends. The research literature is quite clear on this.
So now we have two general principles of discipline. The first: limit the rules. The second: Use the least force necessary to enforce those rules.
So here are a few practical hints: time out can be an extremely effective form of punishment, particularly if the misbehaving child is welcome as soon as he controls his temper. An angry child should sit by himself until he calms down. Then he should be allowed to return to normal life. That means the child wins—instead of his anger.
If your child is the kind of determined varmint who simply runs away, laughing, when placed on the steps or in his room, physical restraint might have to be added to the time out routine. A child can be held carefully but firmly by the upper arms, until he or she stops squirming and pays attention.
Here's a fourth principle, one that is more particularly psychological: parents should understand their own capacity to be harsh, vengeful, arrogant, resentful, angry and deceitful.
People are aggressive and selfish, as well as kind and thoughtful. For this reason, no adult human being—no hierarchical, predatory ape—can truly tolerate being dominated by an upstart child. Revenge will come. Ten minutes after a pair of all-too-nice-and-patient parents have failed to prevent a public tantrum at the local supermarket, they will pay their toddler back with the cold shoulder when he runs up, excited, to show mom and dad his newest accomplishment.
Here's a fifth and final and most general principle. Parents have a duty to act as proxies for the real world—merciful proxies, caring proxies—but proxies, nonetheless. This obligation supersedes any responsibility to ensure happiness, foster creativity, or boost self-esteem. It is the primary duty of parents to make their children socially desirable.
Rule 6: Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World
Many, perhaps even most, of the adults who abuse children were abused themselves as children. However, the majority of people who were abused as children do not abuse their own children.
But success makes us complacent. We forget to pay attention. We take what we have for granted. We turn a blind eye. We fail to notice that things are changing, or that corruption is taking root. And everything falls apart. Is that the fault of reality—of God? Or do things fall apart because we have not paid sufficient attention?
A hurricane is an act of God. But failure to prepare, when the necessity for preparation is well known—that's sin. That's failure to hit the mark. And the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
Have you cleaned up your life? If the answer is no, here's something to try: Start to stop doing what you know to be wrong. Start stopping today. Don't waste time questioning how you know that what you're doing is wrong, if you are certain that it is.
Don't reorganize the state until you have ordered your own experience. Have some humility. If you cannot bring peace to your household, how dare you try to rule a city?
Rule 7: Pursue What is Meaningful (Not What is Expedient)
To share does not mean to give away something you value, and get nothing back. That is instead only what every child who refuses to share fears it means. To share means, properly, to initiate the process of trade. A child who can't share—who can't trade—can't have any friends, because having friends is a form of trade.
People watched the successful succeed and the unsuccessful fail for thousands and thousands of years. We thought it over, and drew a conclusion: The successful among us delay gratification. The successful among us bargain with the future. A great idea begins to emerge, taking ever-more-clearly-articulated form, in ever more-clearly-articulated stories: What's the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful? The successful sacrifice.
If the world you are seeing is not the world you want, therefore, it's time to examine your values. It's time to rid yourself of your current presuppositions. It's time to let go. It might even be time to sacrifice what you love best, so that you can become who you might become, instead of staying who you are.
Thus, the person who wishes to alleviate suffering—who wishes to rectify the flaws in Being; who wants to bring about the best of all possible futures; who wants to create Heaven on Earth—will make the greatest of sacrifices, of self and child, of everything that is loved, to live a life aimed at the Good. He will forego expediency. He will pursue the path of ultimate meaning. And he will in that manner bring salvation to the ever-desperate world.
"No tree can grow to Heaven," adds the ever-terrifying Carl Gustav Jung, psychoanalyst extraordinaire, "unless its roots reach down to hell."
Christ responds to the first temptation by saying, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." What does this answer mean? It means that even under conditions of extreme privation, there are more important things than food. To put it another way: Bread is of little use to the man who has betrayed his soul, even if he is currently
The society produced by Christianity was far less barbaric than the pagan—even the Roman—ones it replaced. Christian society at least recognized that feeding slaves to ravenous lions for the entertainment of the populace was wrong, even if many barbaric practices still existed. It objected to infanticide, to prostitution, and to the principle that might means right. It insisted that women were as valuable as men (even though we are still working out how to manifest that insistence politically). It demanded that even a society's enemies be regarded as human. Finally, it separated church from state, so that all-too-human emperors could no longer claim the veneration due to gods.
People stricken with poverty don't care about carbon dioxide. It's not precisely that CO2 levels are irrelevant. It's that they're irrelevant when you're working yourself to death, starving, scraping a bare living from the stony, unyielding, thorn-and-thistle-infested ground.
Even when the modern atheists opposed to Christianity belittle fundamentalists for insisting, for example, that the creation account in Genesis is objectively true, they are using their sense of truth, highly developed over the centuries of Christian culture, to engage in such argumentation.
Besides, the socialists were more intrinsically capitalist than the capitalists. They believed just as strongly in money. They just thought that if different people had the money, the problems plaguing humanity would vanish.
Each human being understands, a priori, perhaps not what is good, but certainly what is not. And if there is something that is not good, then there is something that is good. If the worst sin is the torment of others, merely for the sake of the suffering produced—then the good is whatever is diametrically opposed to that. The good is whatever stops such things from happening.
It was from this that I drew my fundamental moral conclusions. Aim up. Pay attention. Fix what you can fix. Don't be arrogant in your knowledge. Strive for humility, because totalitarian pride manifests itself in intolerance, oppression, torture and death.Become aware of your own insufficiency—your cowardice, malevolence, resentment and hatred. Consider the murderousness of your own spirit before you dare accuse others, and before you attempt to repair the fabric of the world.Maybe it's not the world that's at fault. Maybe it's you. You've failed to make the mark. You've missed the target. You've fallen short of the glory of God. You've sinned. And all of that is your contribution to the insufficiency and evil of the world. And, above all, don't lie. Don't lie about anything, ever. Lying leads to Hell.It was the great and the small lies of the Nazi and Communist states that produced the deaths of millions of people.
You may come to ask yourself, "What should I do today?" in a manner that means "How could I use my time to make things better, instead of worse?"
To have meaning in your life is better than to have what you want, because you may neither know what you want, nor what you truly need. Meaning is something that comes upon you, of its own accord. You can set up the preconditions, you can follow meaning, when it manifests itself, but you cannot simply produce it, as an act of will.
What is expedient works only for the moment. It's immediate, impulsive and limited. What is meaningful, by contrast, is the organization of what would otherwise merely be expedient into a symphony of Being.
Rule 8: Tell the Truth, or at least Don't Lie
I soon came to realize that almost everything I said was untrue. I had motives for saying these things: I wanted to win arguments and gain status and impress people and get what I wanted. I was using language to bend and twist the world into delivering what I thought was necessary. But I was a fake. Realizing this, I started to practise only saying things that the internal voice would not object to. I started to practise telling the truth—or, at least, not lying. I soon learned that such a skill came in very handy when I didn't know what to do. What should you do, when you don't know what to do? Tell the truth.
I have seen people define their utopia and then bend their lives into knots trying to make it reality. A left-leaning student adopts a trendy, anti-authority stance and spends the next twenty years working resentfully to topple the windmills of his imagination.
However, researchers have recently discovered that new genes in the central nervous system turn themselves on when an organism is placed (or places itself) in a new situation. These genes code for new proteins. These proteins are the building blocks for new structures in the brain. This means that a lot of you is still nascent, in the most physical of senses, and will not be called forth by stasis. You have to say something, go somewhere and do things to get turned on. And, if not…you remain incomplete, and life is too hard for anyone incomplete.
Only the most cynical, hopeless philosophy insists that reality could be improved through falsification.
To accept the truth means to sacrifice—and if you have rejected the truth for a long time, then you've run up a dangerously large sacrificial debt. Forest fires burn out deadwood and return trapped elements to the soil. Sometimes, however, fires are suppressed, artificially. That does not stop the deadwood from accumulating. Sooner or later, a fire will start. When it does, it will burn so hot that everything will be destroyed—even the soil in which the forest grows.
We must make decisions, here and now, even though the best means and the best goals can never be discerned with certainty. An aim, an ambition, provides the structure necessary for action. An aim provides a destination, a point of contrast against the present, and a framework, within which all things can be evaluated. An aim defines progress and makes such progress exciting. An aim reduces anxiety, because if you have no aim everything can mean anything or nothing, and neither of those two options makes for a tranquil spirit. Thus, we have to think, and plan, and limit, and posit, in order to live at all.
You are by no means only what you already know. You are also all that which you could know, if you only would. Thus, you should never sacrifice what you could be for what you are. You should never give up the better that resides within for the security you already have—and certainly not when you have already caught a glimpse, an undeniable glimpse, of something beyond.
Everyone needs a concrete, specific goal—an ambition, and a purpose—to limit chaos and make intelligible sense of his or her life. But all such concrete goals can and should be subordinated to what might be considered a meta-goal, which is a way of approaching and formulating goals themselves. The meta-goal could be "live in truth." This means, "Act diligently towards some well-articulated, defined and temporary end. Make your criteria for failure and success timely and clear, at least for yourself (and even better if others can understand what you are doing and evaluate it with you). While doing so, however, allow the world and your spirit to unfold as they will, while you act out and articulate the truth." This is both pragmatic ambition and the most courageous of faiths.
If your life is not what it could be, try telling the truth. If you cling desperately to an ideology, or wallow in nihilism, try telling the truth. If you feel weak and rejected, and desperate, and confused, try telling the truth. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That is what makes it Paradise. Tell the truth. Or, at least, don't lie.
Rule 9: Assume that the Person You Are Listening to Might Know Something You Don't
Memory is not a description of the objective past. Memory is a tool. Memory is the past's guide to the future. If you remember that something bad happened, and you can figure out why, then you can try to avoid that bad thing happening again. That's the purpose of memory. It's not "to remember the past." It's to stop the same damn thing from happening over and over.
Carl Rogers, one of the twentieth century's great psychotherapists, knew something about listening. He wrote, "The great majority of us cannot listen; we find ourselves compelled to evaluate, because listening is too dangerous. The first requirement is courage, and we do not always have
If you listen, instead, without premature judgment, people will generally tell you everything they are thinking—and with very little deceit. People will tell you the most amazing, absurd, interesting things. Very few of your conversations will be boring. (You can in fact tell whether or not you are actually listening in this manner. If the conversation is boring, you probably aren't.)
Rule 10: Be Precise in Your Speech
When things break down, what has been ignored rushes in. When things are no longer specified, with precision, the walls crumble, and chaos makes its presence known. When we've been careless, and let things slide, what we have refused to attend to gathers itself up, adopts a serpentine form, and strikes— often at the worst possible moment. It is then that we see what focused intent, precision of aim and careful attention protects us from.
Chaos emerges in a household, bit by bit. Mutual unhappiness and resentment pile up. Everything untidy is swept under the rug, where the dragon feasts on the crumbs. But no one says anything, as the shared society and negotiated order of the household reveals itself as inadequate, or disintegrates, in the face of the unexpected and threatening. Everybody whistles in the dark, instead.
Something is out there in the woods. You know that with certainty. But often it's only a squirrel. If you refuse to look, however, then it's a dragon, and you're no knight: you're a mouse confronting a lion; a rabbit, paralyzed by the gaze of a wolf. And I am not saying that it's always a squirrel. Often it's something truly terrible. But even what is terrible in actuality often pales in significance compared to what is terrible in imagination.
Confront the chaos of Being. Take aim against a sea of troubles. Specify your destination, and chart your course. Admit to what you want. Tell those around you who you are. Narrow, and gaze attentively, and move forward, forthrightly. Be precise in your speech.
Rule 11: Do Not Bother Children when they are Skateboarding
Of course it was dangerous. Danger was the point. They wanted to triumph over danger. They would have been safer in protective equipment, but that would have ruined it. They weren't trying to be safe. They were trying to become competent—and it's competence that makes people as safe as they can truly be.
When untrammeled—and encouraged—we prefer to live on the edge. There, we can still be both confident in our experience and confronting the chaos that helps us develop. We're hard-wired, for that reason, to enjoy risk (some of us more than others). We feel invigorated and excited when we work to optimize our future performance, while playing in the present. Otherwise we lumber around, sloth-like, unconscious, unformed and careless. Overprotected, we will fail when something dangerous, unexpected and full of opportunity suddenly makes its appearance, as it inevitably will.
I believe it was Jung who developed the most surgically wicked of psychoanalytic dicta: if you cannot understand why someone did something, look at the consequences—and infer the motivation.
Girls can win by winning in their own hierarchy—by being good at what girls value, as girls. They can add to this victory by winning in the boys' hierarchy. Boys, however, can only win by winning in the male hierarchy.They will lose status, among girls and boys, by being good at what girls value. It costs them in reputation among the boys, and in attractiveness among the girls.
From 1997 to 2012, according to the Pew Research Centre,180 the number of women aged 18 to 34 who said that a successful marriage is one of the most important things in life rose from 28 to 37 percent (an increase of more than 30 percent). The number of young men who said the same thing declined 15 percent over the same period (from 35 to 29 percent).
Consider this, as well, in regard to oppression: any hierarchy creates winners and losers. The winners are, of course, more likely to justify the hierarchy and the losers to criticize it. But (1) the collective pursuit of any valued goal produces a hierarchy (as some will be better and some worse at that pursuit not matter what it is) and (2) it is the pursuit of goals that in large part lends life its sustaining meaning.
Power is a fundamental motivational force ("a," not "the"). People compete to rise to the top, and they care where they are in dominance hierarchies. But (and this is where you separate the metaphorical boys from the men, philosophically) the fact that power plays a role in human motivation does not mean that it plays the only role, or even the primary role. Likewise, the fact that we can never know everything does make all our observations and utterances dependent on taking some things into account and leaving other things out (as we discussed extensively in Rule 10). That does not justify the claim that everything is interpretation, or that categorization is just exclusion. Beware of single cause interpretations—and beware the people who purvey them.
If radical right-wingers were receiving state funding for political operations disguised as university courses, as the radical left-wingers clearly are, the uproar from progressives across North America would be deafening.
In societies that are well-functioning—not in comparison to a hypothetical utopia, but contrasted with other existing or historical cultures—competence, not power, is a prime determiner of status. Competence. Ability. Skill. Not power. This is obvious both anecdotally and factually. No one with brain cancer is equity-minded enough to refuse the service of the surgeon with the best education, the best reputation and, perhaps, the highest earnings. Furthermore, the most valid personality trait predictors of long-term success in Western countries are intelligence (as measured with cognitive ability or IQ tests) and conscientiousness (a trait characterized by industriousness and orderliness).
Gender is constructed, but an individual who desires gender re-assignment surgery is to be unarguably considered a man trapped in a woman's body (or vice versa). The fact that both of these cannot logically be true, simultaneously, is just ignored (or rationalized away with another appalling post-modern claim: that logic itself—along with the techniques of science—is merely part of the oppressive patriarchal system).
Here's the fundamental problem: group identity can be fractionated right down to the level of the individual. That sentence should be written in capital letters. Every person is unique—and not just in a trivial manner: importantly, significantly, meaningfully unique. Group membership cannot capture that variability. Period.
It's a good idea to tell the person you are confronting exactly what you would like them to do instead of what they have done or currently are doing. You might think, "if they loved me, they would know what to do." That's the voice of resentment. Assume ignorance before malevolence. No one has a direct pipeline to your wants and needs—not even you.
For a woman to become complete, such stories claim, she must form a relationship with masculine consciousness and stand up to the terrible world (which sometimes manifests itself, primarily, in the form of her too-present mother). An actual man can help her do that, to some degree, but it is better for everyone concerned when no one is too dependent.
Men enforce a code of behaviour on each other, when working together. Do your work. Pull your weight. Stay awake and pay attention. Don't whine or be touchy. Stand up for your friends. Don't suck up and don't snitch. Don't be a slave to stupid rules. Don't, in the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, be a girlie man. Don't be dependent. At all. Ever. Period. The harassment that is part of acceptance on a working crew is a test: are you tough, entertaining, competent and reliable? If not, go away. Simple as that. We don't need to feel sorry for you. We don't want to put up with your narcissism, and we don't want to do your work.
That ad is famous for a reason. It summarizes human sexual psychology in seven straightforward panels. The too-weak young man is embarrassed and self-conscious, as he should be. What good is he? He gets put down by other men and, worse, by desirable women. Instead of drowning in resentment, and skulking off to his basement to play video games in his underwear, covered with Cheetos dust, he presents himself with what Alfred Adler, Freud's most practical colleague, called a "compensatory fantasy." The goal of such a fantasy is not so much wish-fulfillment, as illumination of a genuine path forward. Mac takes serious note of his scarecrow-like build and decides that he should develop a stronger body. More importantly, he puts his plan into action.He identifies with the part of himself that could transcend his current state, and becomes the hero of his own adventure. He goes back to the beach, and punches the bully in the nose. Mac wins. So does his eventual girlfriend. So does everybody else.
If they're healthy, women don't want boys. They want men. They want someone to contend with; someone to grapple with. If they're tough, they want someone tougher. If they're smart, they want someone smarter. They desire someone who brings to the table something they can't already provide. This often makes it hard for tough, smart, attractive women to find mates: there just aren't that many men around who can outclass them enough to be considered desirable (who are higher, as one research publication put it, in "income, education, self-confidence, intelligence, dominance and social position").
become men is, therefore, no more friend to woman than it is to man. It will object, just as vociferously and self-righteously ("you can't do it, it's too dangerous") when little girls try to stand on their own two feet. It negates consciousness. It's antihuman, desirous of failure, jealous, resentful and destructive. No one truly on the side of humanity would ally him or herself with such a thing. No one aiming at moving up would allow him or herself to become possessed by such a thing. And if you think tough men are dangerous, wait until you see what weak men are capable of. Leave children alone when they are skateboarding.
Rule 12: Pet a Cat When You Encounter One on the Street
By the 1980s, Superman was suffering from terminal deus ex machina—a Latin term meaning "god from a machine." The term described the rescue of the imperilled hero in ancient Greek and Roman plays by the sudden and miraculous appearance of an all-powerful god.
Perhaps you might start by noticing this: when you love someone, it's not despite their limitations. It's because of their limitations.
Set aside some time to talk and to think about the illness or other crisis and how it should be managed every day. Do not talk or think about it otherwise. If you do not limit its effect, you will become exhausted, and everything will spiral into the ground. This is not helpful. Conserve your strength. You're in a war, not a battle, and a war is composed of many battles. You must stay functional through all of them. When worries associated with the crisis arise at other times, remind yourself that you will think them through, during the scheduled period.
And maybe when you are going for a walk and your head is spinning a cat will show up and if you pay attention to it then you will get a reminder for just fifteen seconds that the wonder of Being might make up for the ineradicable suffering that accompanies it. Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.
Perhaps it's not reasonable to ask God to break the rules of physics every time we fall by the wayside or make a serious error. Perhaps, in such times, you can't put the cart before the horse and simply wish for your problem to be solved in some magical manner. Perhaps you could ask, instead, what you might have to do right now to increase your resolve, buttress your character, and find the strength to go on. Perhaps you could instead ask to see the truth.
Alone, trying to calm down, we would each ask ourselves the same single question: What had we each done to contribute to the situation we were arguing about? However small, however distant…we had each made some error. Then we would reunite, and share the results of our questioning: Here's how I was wrong….
The next question ended the first set: What shall I do with my life? Aim for Paradise, and concentrate on today.
Consider, as well, that you may be blocked in your progress not because you lack opportunity, but because you have been too arrogant to make full use of what already lies in front of you. That's Rule 6 (Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world).
What shall I do in the next dire moment? Focus my attention on the next right move. The flood is coming.The flood is always coming. The apocalypse is always upon us. That's why the story of Noah is archetypal. Things fall apart—we stressed that in the discussion surrounding Rule 10 (Be precise in your speech)—and the centre cannot hold.When everything has become chaotic and uncertain, all that remains to guide you might be the character you constructed, previously, by aiming up and concentrating on the moment at hand. If you have failed in that, you will fail in the moment of crisis, and then God help you.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart by Gordon Livingston
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell


Shawn Mendes is a Canadian singer/songwriter that started posting videos on YouTube. Mendes became a viral sensation on the six second video app known as Vine.
Mendes Ep" was released and in just under twenty seven minutes it reached number one on the Itunes charts.
Mendes got the opportunity to open for Austin Mahone's tour alongside Fifth Harmony and The Vamps. On April 14 Mendes' first album titled 'Handwritten', reached number one as well but this time on the canadian albums (billboard), Norwegian albums (VG-lista), and US Billboard 200. He became the youngest artist since Justin Bieber to have a number one album on the Billboard 200 album chart in almost five years. Selling more over 100,000 album units in the week ending April 19. This summer he will be opening for the 1989 world tour with Taylor Swift. According to Teen Vogue, Shawn is not slowing down for a second.


True Lewis has been blogging at Notes to Myself by My True Roots since 2012. True, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, now resides in Kentucky where she's a member of the Dauphin County Historical Society, Bullock County Historical Society, and Alabama Genealogical Society. She's also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is a co-Host and Panelist on Black Pro Gen LIVE, and serves on the GeneaBloggersTRIBE leadership team.
True is researching the following surnames: Lewis, Miles, Daniel, Ivery, Sweigard, Watson, Barrick, and Heckman.


Unified communications are gaining more and more ground in the enterprise market as business needs evolve and push unified communications (UC) to the cloud. UCaaS brings more flexibility, enhanced collaboration and greater responsiveness. In this blog, we will explore five things shifting UCaaS needs for the enterprise.
The influx of millennials in the workplace and the desire for multi-channel communications is causing UCaaS to thrive. From messaging, team workspaces and screen sharing to video and voice, businesses need to keep the connected workforce more connected. As employees become more and more tech savvy, they want the same level of communication at work that they utilize at home. Enterprises need to be constantly up to date with unified communications in order to attract the right talent. Demands will only continue to grow with a new generation of workers.
Cloud-based UC solutions help enhance collaboration between employees and improve productivity within an organization. Data can be shared instantly between employees, across departments and locations. Enterprise-level businesses value consistency throughout an organization. Having the same information accessible by all employees makes it easier for everyone to be on the same page and operate more efficiently, especially when it comes to onboarding, training, product or service launches and company updates.
As each business tries to grow their footprint and reach, UCaaS allows for greater expansion through the cloud. Cloud-based UC lets businesses remain competitive and save on costs for travel and in-person meetings, increasing accessibility and productivity. On-demand access can be available across any device. Connecting through conferencing, messaging, voice and shared workspaces helps employees work in real-time and easily update other systems without business interruptions.
The growing trend of BYOD contributes to the popularity of UCaaS in the enterprise space. Smart devices have replaced traditional computers as the primary means of business communications. Mobile devices now support UC, enabling employees to stay connected anytime, from anywhere. Employees no longer need to be tied to a desk but rather can work on-the-go. Gone are the days of enterprise favoring on-premises UC. Many recognize the demands of mobility – turning your everyday phone into your work phone, having access to desktop platforms that advance productivity and retain efficiency.
Video conferencing plays a big role in how companies now conduct business and manage resources. Simple video solutions, like one touch dialing or set up, can reduce travel expenses while increasing productivity. Many enterprises find video conferencing to be an acceptable alternative to in-person meetings especially with features like multichannel capability, HD screens, advanced meeting controls and easy interoperability. Cloud-based solutions eliminate the need for complex hardware and require fewer technical components. In order to be effective, video solutions must be high quality – any lags or intermittent service disrupts productivity.
As communication needs continue to evolve, businesses will invest more into UCaaS solutions. According to Transparency Market Research Report, the global UCaaS market is expected to reach more than $37 billion by 2022. Gaining more and more ground in the enterprise market, many businesses have only scratched the surface of what's possible with UCaaS. TBI recognizes the changing workforce dynamic and is proud to add RingCentral to our UCaaS portfolio. As an industry leader, RingCentral's cloud communications platform offers our selling partners the opportunity to meet customers' conferencing and collaboration demands with best in class integration and features.


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VERIFY: Answering your questions about Inauguration Day history
Grand jury clears Columbus police officer in shooting death of Tyre King
King was shot and killed last fall after police said he ran from officers investigating a reported armed robbery.
Published: 5:47 PM EDT May 19, 2017
The Franklin County Grand Jury has decided not to bring charges against a Columbus police officer involved in the shooting death of Tyre King.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said the grand jury found the shooting to be justified.
Police said they had received a call of an armed robbery on the city's east side just before 8 p.m. on September 14. A victim told police that a gun was shown by one of the suspects.
Officers noticed three males matching the description of the suspects. When approached, the suspects ran according to police.
While trying to take the suspects into custody, police said King pulled what officers believed to be a gun from his waistband.
That is when Officer Bryan Mason, a nine-year veteran, fired at King. It was later determined the weapon was a BB gun that looked like a real firearm.
The autopsy from the Franklin County Coroner's Office revealed King's death was caused by gunshot wounds to the head and torso.
Statement from Columbus City Council:
Today's grand jury decision is a sad and unfortunate reminder that a child has died in our community. While we are grateful for the grand jury's service and for the community's patience awaiting these results, the Council is also deeply reflective on how we must aggressively strive to end violence in our community and continue to improve the relationship between the people of Columbus and the criminal justice system.
Increased openness and transparency is an important first step. That's why, whenever possible, police investigations and grand jury proceedings must be available to the public.
Anytime a child dies it is a tragic event, and this time is no different. The Columbus City Council members pray for all those who are involved and, as always, will work hard to do our parts to support and create initiatives that build trust with our police and reduces violence in Columbus.
Complete coverage: 10tv.com/TyreKing

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Boy has this been the busiest week of my life. With my move-in date for college, and the countdown to my last day of work, quickly approaching (August 29,) my days have been completely packed from beginning to end. The biggest downside of being so busy was that I got too busy to be able to post about how busy I've been!


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Read an excerpt from the new Mike Hammer novel: Lady, Go Die!
Published on 11 May, 2012
Authored by Titan Books
Pulling the trigger had been easy. Living with it had been hard. Crazy rage got replaced with a joyless emptiness. No emotion, no feeling. I felt as dead as the one I'd shot.
I had evened the score for a friend but the cost had been high—a woman I loved was dead, and the bullet that sent the killer to hell had along the way punched a gaping hole in my soul. I tried to fill it with booze, or at least cauterize the damn thing, spending most of my evenings at Joe Mast's joint, trying not to fall off a bar stool and usually failing. But it hadn't worked. Nothing worked.
My best friend in the world, Pat Chambers, was a cop. We had been on the NYPD together, till my hot head got me assigned to a desk where I soon traded in my badge for a private license and a shingle that said, "Hammer Investigating Agency."
I couldn't stay a cop. All those rules and regulations drove me bugs. I had a more direct method for dealing with the bastards that preyed upon society—I just killed their damn asses. Killed them in a way that was nice and legal. Self-defense, it's called, and it catches in the craw of your typical self-righteous judge, but none of them and nobody else could do a damn thing about it. They couldn't even take my license away. Because I knew just how to play it.
Just the same, Pat and I stayed friends, maybe because his scientific approach meshed well with my instinctive style—he was fingerprints and test tubes where I was motives and people. I could do things he couldn't, and he had resources I didn't. Usually private eyes and police are like oil and water, but what began as a convenient way for two different kinds of cops to feed each other information turned into a real and lasting friendship.
So when he showed up on the stool next to me, training his gray-blue eyes on me like benign gun barrels, I said, "What's a nice guy like you doing in a joint like this?"
"Velda is getting worried."
Velda was my secretary, and my right arm. She had been with me since I set up shop and I hadn't made a pass at her yet. But there was something special between us that wasn't just boss and employee.
"Tell her to lay off the mother-hen routine," I said. I poured some whiskey in a glass and then down my throat.
"You need to let it go, Mike. It's ancient history."
"Not even a year, Pat."
"Would you change it? Would you go back and not pull that trigger?"
"Then it's time to move on."
I knew he was right. But I'd fallen into a goddamn self-pitying rut. Work five days a week, drink five nights a week. And on weekends, drink the whole damn time. Being numb was good. You didn't think so much. But if I kept this up, I'd have a liver that even the medics couldn't recognize as a human organ.
Still, I said, "Blow, Pat. I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."
"No," Velda said, "you can't."
I hadn't even seen the big, beautiful dark-haired doll settle her lovely fanny onto the other stool beside me. I must have been far gone.
"And we're not about to let you crawl in that bottle," she said, "and drown yourself."
I gave them a ragged laugh. Hell's bells—they had me surrounded. I pushed the glass and the whiskey away.
"Okay," I said. "Officially on the wagon. Now. What do you suggest?"
"First," Pat said, "you go home and sleep till you're sober."
"Second," Velda said, "we go off somewhere and rest. Someplace where there are no women and no bad guys."
"That sounds dull as hell."
Pat said, "It'll be good for you. You and Velda take the weekend for some R and R. Someplace out on Long Island, maybe."
Velda said, "What was that little town you and your folks used to go out to? Before the war?"
"Sidon," I said. I'd been there a couple times after the war, too. But not for a year or two. "It'll be dead out there. The season doesn't start for a couple of weeks."
"Right," Velda said. "The weather's beautiful just now, nice and sunny and warm but not hot. The beach, the ocean, it'll be like a dream."
"Instead of this nightmare," Pat said, slapping at my glass, "that you been wrapping yourself up in."
I turned to Velda. "You're going along?"
"Sure," she said easily. "Why not? I got a new two-piece bathing suit I want to try out."
"One of those bikini deals?" I said, getting interested.
"Hey, I'm game, baby, but I'll be recuperating, you know? From drink and debauchery and a general state of depression? You'll need to stay right at my bedside."
"Separate rooms, Mike," she said crisply, but she was smiling. "I'll play nursemaid and babysitter, only I require my own separate quarters."
"Might as well take you along instead," I said to Pat, "for all the fun I'll have."
He raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
Velda frowned. "No offense, Pat, but you're staying home. I'm not equipped to handle all the trouble you two could get into."
She looked equipped enough to handle anything from where I sat.
"Now," she was saying, climbing off her stool, "can you stand up, or do we have to escort you?"
I made it onto my own two feet. I may have leaned on them a little. A little more on Velda. She was softer and smelled a lot better.
Previous: Titan Publishing Group job vacancy- Sales and Purchase Ledger Assistant
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Hammer and Velda go on vacation to a small beach town on Long Island after wrapping up the Williams case …


Rush Health, the clinically integrated network that includes Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, has partnered with Carrum Health as its newest Center of Excellence. Through the Rush Health network, Carrum can offer more options for high-quality, affordable employee health benefits to self-insured employers in the Midwest. Rush Health will initially offer orthopedic and spine surgeries on the Carrum platform.
In offering bundled pricing options directly to employers, the concierge service Carrum provides eliminates the need to go through health insurance. The goals of the Center of Excellence, or COE, program are to provide better coverage, to keep employee's health costs low with a fixed rate for all medical services related to their surgery, and to offer employees more health care options. Rush Health currently offers orthopedic and spine Center of Excellence programs to other national employers who know that the health benefits they provide have a positive impact on employee well-being.
Rush Health is among a small number of clinically integrated networks across the nation that include a nationally recognized and leading academic medical center such as Rush University Medical Center. U.S. News and World Report's annual "Best Hospitals" issue consistently ranks Rush University Medical Center as having one of the nation's top programs in orthopedics, neurology-neurosurgery and other clinical areas.
By aligning provider incentives with quality performance, Carrum drives improvements in patient experience and care outcomes. Headquartered in San Francisco, Carrum Health partners with leading health care providers across the nation.
Rush Health is a network of Chicago-area physicians and hospitals working together to improve health through high quality, efficient health services covering the spectrum of patient care from wellness, prevention and health promotion to disease management and complex care management. Rush Health includes more than 1,800 physicians and advanced practice providers, and four hospitals: Riverside Medical Center, Rush Copley Medical Center, Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush University Medical Center. For more information, contact CentersofExcellence@rush.edu or visit www.rush-health.com.


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Q: Legacy collection querying before LINQ I'm looking to give a talk about LINQ, and wanted to mention how querying collections used to work. Back in .Net 1.1, I seem to remember there being a method (Find() maybe?) where you would pass the address of another method which would interrogate each item in the collection and determine whether it should be included in the filtered collection.
Am I completely misremembering this? It stuck with me, as the syntax was unusual for the time.
I thought it was something like:
public bool ContainsFoo(string term){
    if(term.contains("Foo"){
       return true;
    }
    return false;
}

And you could call it like:
 filteredCollection = collection.Find(ContainsFoo);

I seem to remember a lot of people commenting on how LINQ was so much faster to code because developers could now write functions in-line. How were we writing functions "out-line" previously?

A: Before LINQ you were just limited to all the built-in List/List<T> methods, and yes Find is one of them (still is). The difference is it expects a Predicate<T> as opposed to a Func<Boolean, T> which you can still do inline e.g.
var found = list.Find(delegate(Item item) { return item != null; });

Or as you demonstrated by using a named method.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home » Entertainment » Movies
CKY & Jackass Star Ryan Dunn Dead at 34 in High Speed Porsche Crash
TV star grew with Johnny Knoxville & Bam Margera, & recently made host of new G4 series
By Paul Richter • Mon, Jun 20th, 2011
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Ryan Dunn, the 34-year-old television personality most known for his role in the TV and movie series, Jackass, has died in a early morning car accident today. At approximately 3:30am EDT, his 2007 Porsche GT3 was discovered fully engulfed in flames, after apparently leaving the road at speeds over 110mp near Route 322, in the West Goshen Township area of Pennsylvania. A passenger of the Porsche, Zachary Hartwell, was also found dead at the scene. While drugs and/or alcohol have not been named a factor as of yet as police investigate, Dunn had posted on Twitter a picture of himself drinking what is presumed to be alcohol with Hartwell hours earlier, which has led to speculation on the cause of the accident. Police have yet to officially comment on the open investigation.
Initially, Dunn had made his career as a sidekick and self-described stuntman on the underground skateboard/prank video series, CKY (Camp Kill Yourself), which made its debut in 1999 as hosted by friend and professional skateboarder, Bam Margera. The popularity of CKY opened up the group into more mainstream outlets, such as MTV's Jackass and Viva La Bam. Dunn became the star of the short-lived 2005 MTV show, Homewrecker, and was also the main character in the 2003 independent comedy film, Haggard, which was based on a 'true' story of Dunn's promiscuous girlfriend.
This morning after news broke, MTV released the following statement: We're deeply saddened by the passing of a member of the MTV family, Ryan Dunn. Our hearts and thoughts are with his friends and family.
On June 14, 2011, Dunn debuted as the host for the variety TV show Proving Ground, hosted on the G4 Channel. The main objective of the show was to retry infamous segments of videogames and TV/film, in a real-life scenario, to see the results. More information about the show can be found here and in a clip as provided by G4 below:


The Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA) is a Science and Technology National Center for research in fundamental physics and state-of-the-art development of related technologies. It is embedded in the fertile substrate offered by the Trento Province research and technology context, and capitalizes on the collaborations already established across the past 20 years with UNITN and FBK.
technological transfer, industrial and medical applications.
TIFPA participates in several experiments co-funded by INFN in particle physics (the ATLAS experiment at CERN, which discovered the Higgs boson), space research (e.g. AMS-02 and LISA-Pathfinder), nuclear physics (AEGIS experiment at CERN on anti-hydrogen), theoretical physics (with a unique expertise in ab initio methods to solve the quantum mechanical many-body problem) and applied physics (detectors and medical physics).


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Every single Brink towbar is the best quality and developed to serve for decades. Every Brink towbar is a product of intelligent design, is easy to fit and once mounted is ready for years of hard use, both professionally and leisurely.
A Brink towbar has a default warranty period of twelve months on materials. This also applies to the socket and wiring kit. This means that Brink Towing Systems guarantees that the supplied towbar and its components are free of defects that are the direct result of errors in the materials, manufacturing or construction for a period of twelve months.
If the towbar has been assembled by a certified Brink towbar assembly station (the Brink Assembly Partner), a warranty of five years applies to both the materials and assembly, starting from the date of assembly (instead of just one year on materials only).
Once you have found the right Brink towbar for your car, you are ready to purchase it. Here you can read more about which steps you have to take, what the costs involved are and why you should always get a wiring kit with your towbar.


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Back You are here: Home News News Politics
Illinois cities push their own legislative agenda
From ILLINOIS NEWS NETWORK
More cities across Illinois are using most, if not all, of their share of property taxes to pay for public safety pensions and the Illinois Municipal League says state mandated sweeteners don't help.
Bob Michel remembered for civility, fairness
Published on Friday, 17 February 2017 16:35
Written by Paul Gordon
Robert Michel, who during his 38 years representing the Peoria region in Congress was known to always put country ahead of party, died Friday in Arlington, Virginia. He was 93.
Trump Hits Populist Note in Inaugural Address
By Richard Tofel
Ahead of President Donald Trump's inaugural address, it seemed no...
AARP opposed to taxing retirement income
Published on Wednesday, 15 February 2017 17:08
A Chicago-based nonprofit says raising the Illinois income tax and taxing retirement income will fix the state's budget mess. The nation's largest advocacy group for retirees disagrees.
State farming community hopeful about Trump's Ag Secretary pick
Illinois' agriculture community is hopeful President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help cut back regulations and lower taxes for farmers.
Illinois Farm Bureau President Rich Guebert said...
Rauner to discuss 'grand bargain' during budget address
Gov. Bruce Rauner will use his budget address Wednesday to sound off on the so-called "grand bargain" being constructed in the state Senate.
Rauner has applauded Democratic leaders in the Senate for recognizing the need for economic reforms to grow the economy, but up to this point he's been quiet on...
Rauner won't attend inauguration, but still hopes for big things
Don't expect to see Gov. Bruce Rauner among the crowd at Friday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Rauner said he's got a lot on his mind.
Chris Kennedy announces run for Illinois governor
A big name in national politics has entered the race for Illinois governor: Kennedy.
Chris Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, announced on Wednesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for governor. He could ultimately be pitted against Republican incumbent Bruce...
The President? No thank you
pressreleasepoint.com
A new survey by Korn Ferry, the preeminent global people and organizational advisory firm, finds that the vast majority of corporate professionals would much rather take the helm of their own...
AARP campaigns to protect Medicare
AARP has...
Rauner warns striking AFSCME workers would be fired
Published on Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:15
By ILLINOIS NEWS NETWORK
State officials are warning members of the state's largest public employee union that their job, pay and benefits are at stake if they go forward with a proposed strike.
The union, AFSCME, told...
IPI: State could balance budget, pay bills without tax hike
Published on Tuesday, 31 January 2017 17:01
Illinois could balance its budget and pay off its backlog of bills without a tax increase. That's according to the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute.
While lawmakers in Springfield are negotiating a potential budget agreement...
House GOP could consider leader term limits
The state's longest-serving House speaker could find himself the only holdout on implementing term limits for legislative leaders.
There are a couple of ways to bring about term limits...
Illinois Chamber doesn't like proposed 'job tax'
The Illinois Chamber says it has a number of problems with the "grand bargain" pending in the state's senate, but one problem stands out — the tax for the "privilege of doing business in Illinois."
AARP letter to Donald Trump
In a letter to President-elect Donald J. Trump, AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins outlines AARP's priorities...
Farm Bureau urges quick action on trade deals
The Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) isn't happy with recent trade moves by President Donald Trump, and they hope there's a quick move to get new agreements in place.
One of the first executive orders Trump signed was to
A look at some of the new state laws
Published on Friday, 30 December 2016 10:37
New Illinois laws that take effect Sunday focus on crime, public safety and helping families and children.
Under consideration: A tax for doing business in Illinois
Part of the "grand bargain" to end the state's budget impasse being heard in the state Senate are some new taxes.
One such tax is called...
Youth In Five Cities Cite Fear As Major Barrier To Wellness
Published on Sunday, 27 November 2016 14:07
Youth of color represent the fastest growing segment of the U.S. youth population and...
Rauner pushes for term limits and reforms in State of State address
Illinois' governor continues his push for lawmakers to curb the power of powerful politicians through redistricting reform and legislative term limits, and he applauded leaders in the Senate for working toward a compromise package to end...
Illinois seniors say no to tax on retirement income
Published on Tuesday, 15 November 2016 12:58
With the governor and legislators back in Springfield for veto session, thousands of Illinoisans...


In order to succeed in any type of sales, it is vital to continue educating yourself about the products and services that you are selling. Some of this can be done on your own or in the field, but it's important to remember that training sessions have a tangible return on investment (ROI), and the investment is an investment in yourself.
Before any training session I lead, I always reflect on the needs of the group to which I will be presenting and keep a keen eye on the ROI that I will deliver. Following are some of the key items that make up the ROI when you participate in any product or service training session.
The most obvious goal of attending any training session is to learn more about the product or service. By educating yourself on the products you are selling, you become a more knowledgeable salesperson. This allows you to provide a consultative sale and earn the trust of potential customers, leading to more sales and happier, long-term customers.
A key takeaway from the training should be how you can better position the product you are selling and yourself as a salesperson. The result should be that you think differently about the product or service's real-world application and develop unique sales propositions to differentiate yourself. You don't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel, but certainly put your own spin on it.
At in-person training sessions, you have a unique opportunity to meet and greet with peers in your industry. Most of the year, you are insulated within your local business environment. Even if you are in the field all day long, most of your interaction is with merchants. Industry trainings are one of the best opportunities to hear the thoughts of people that do exactly what you do. Although you are all in the same business, everyone has their own expertise and their own perspective. This presents an unparalleled chance to hear what is working for others and what isn't.
In addition to being the facilitator and instructor of the program, the trainer should also be a connector. As an attendee, one of your goals should be to form a long-term ongoing relationship with the trainer. The trainer should be your "connector" for company resources, research and merchant demos.
Naturally, you should be fully capable of conducting your own product demonstrations by the end of the session; however, when you engage an enterprise level opportunity, your action plan should include "your corporate resources." Use your trainer as a key resource.
It has been my pleasure to have trained hundreds of ISOs and merchant level salespeople so far in my career. Currently, I conduct online webinars every week in addition to in-person trainings. And it is my goal to make the sessions I lead as informative as possible, as well as enjoyable.
Along the way I've learned that developing a world-class training program requires vision, and it's exciting when it begins to come to fruition. It's also important for a trainer to attend training sessions as an attendee, too. And, no matter whose training sessions you attend, the key to getting the most out of it is that you participate as fully as you can.
Joe Porco is a seasoned POS sales professional and National Sales Trainer for Harbortouch, an emerging leader in the POS industry. His strategies are tried and true representations of daily sales activities that led him to turn around territories plagued with issues, as well as earn him sales leadership recognition. Joe regularly shares his strategies as part of Harbortouch's free POS training program. If you would like to know more about this innovative program, email jporco@harbortouch.com.


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FROM ruby:2.6.2-alpine3.9
RUN apk update && apk add build-base postgresql-dev postgresql-client tzdata
ADD . /app
WORKDIR /app
RUN bundle install
EXPOSE 3000
ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/sh", "production.sh"]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Top Baby Names From 2012!
Are you preparing to have a baby? Have you been going through books upon books of "Baby Name Books", trying to find the perfect name. Well, the list of Top Baby Names for 2012 has come out and topping this year's list, for girls, is...Katniss. The name "Katniss" was popularized by the movie "The Hunger Games." Last year's top name for girls was Sophia. What a difference, huh??
As for the boys, this year's top name was "Finn!" The name "Finn" gained its popularity from the T.V. show "Glee."


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School districts across eastern Idaho announce closures amid coronavirus concerns
Posted: Mar 16, 2020, 9:04 pm |
Updated: Mar 18, 2020, 4:13 pm
IDAHO FALLS — School districts all over eastern Idaho have been discussing whether to continue holding class.
After President Trump's suggestion Monday to cancel schools and avoid bars, restaurants, food courts and discretionary travel, the majority of school districts have decided to cancel classes for the immediate future.
The list below has more information as it relates to each district.
RELATED | White House advises public to avoid groups of more than 10, asks people to stay away from bars and restaurants
Click here for information on local colleges and universities.
SCHOOLS THAT ARE CLOSING OR HAVE ALTERNATIVE PLANS
Aberdeen School District 58 will close on March 19 until further notice is given. Information regarding school events will be posted on the school website at www.aberdeen58.org
Alturas International Academy: We will start with a "soft close" on March 16-17, with a full school closure from March 18-April 6. After spring break, teachers will be prepared to go online starting March 27. Additional details will be sent out.
American Heritage Charter School: From March 13-19, we will have Virtual/Online school for all students. Spring Break will begin as normal March 20. Kids are scheduled to return to class on March 30.
Bear Lake School District 33: Due to the coronavirus concerns, Bear Lake School District schools will be closed for three weeks. They are urging families to self-quarantine as much as possible to stop the spread.
Bingham Academy Charter High School: After extensive meetings Monday and watching new developments from our area, around the state, and the national stage, Bingham Academy will close through spring break Sunday, March 29. This includes all extracurricular activities. As that date approaches, we will announce plans for the week beginning on Monday, March 30 and beyond.
Blackfoot School District 55: School has been canceled March 17 through April 3. The board decided to begin spring break immediately. We will hold our regularly scheduled spring break March 23-27. The board also approved an extended for the week after, with the consideration of school reconvening on April 6.
Bonneville School District 93: Today, President Trump announced new guidelines advising people to not gather socially in groups of ten or more. In response to this announcement, we are strongly encouraging parents to keep their children home from school Tuesday. On Wednesday, schools will be closed for students. At this time, our intent is to resume school on March 30 after spring break. All extracurricular activities by the Idaho High School Activities Association are suspended until April 6.
Butte County School District 111: School is canceled tomorrow. More information will be shared after Monday night's board meeting.
Challis School District 181: As a precaution Challis Jr. and Sr. High School, Challis Elementary School and Stanley Elementary – Jr. High School will be closed the following days: Wednesday, March 18, Thursday, March 19, Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24. This will roll into our regularly planned spring break March 25 and March 26. We are continuing school Tuesday, March 17, to allow parents and guardians the opportunity to plan for their family needs.
Clark County School District 161: Clark County will release early for Spring Break effective immediately. More information will be forthcoming. Keep checking the district's website for continued updates.
College of Eastern Idaho: The college will hold all regular scheduled classes Tuesday, March 17. CEI will suspend all credit classes on Wednesday, March 18 through Friday, March 20 for an early spring break. The regular spring break is March 23 – 27.
Firth School District 59: The Firth School Board of Trustees has declared March 18 – March 29 as spring break. During the break, buildings will be deep cleaned and sanitized. School will be in session on Tuesday, March 17. As before, if parents feel it is safer to keep their students home, we will work with you to meet the attendance requirements set by the state. Students are encouraged to come to school Tuesday and collect their Chromebooks and other instructional materials should the board determine the break will be extended past March 29.
Fremont County Joint School District 215: We will have school Tuesday, March 17. Please send your students to school tomorrow unless they are sick, have a health deficiency, or live with someone who may have immune issues. We highly recommend that parents keep students home from Wednesday until further notice. Our current projected date for students return to school is April 6.
Grace School District 148: The district will be closed from Monday, March 16 to April 6. School administrators will reassess the situation on April 2.
Idaho Falls School District 91: In light of new guidance from the White House, Idaho Falls School District 91 will close schools effective Tuesday, March 17, through at least the end of Spring Break. For families who cannot find child care for their elementary-aged children on such short notice, D91's elementary schools will provide emergency child care on Tuesday during regular school hours.
Idaho Science and Technology Charter School: We have decided to temporarily close schools for the health and safety of our students. The Board of Directors met this afternoon and voted to approve a temporary school closure starting tomorrow, March 17 and ending April 6. You should hear from the school sometime in the afternoon on March 17 with more details regarding home learning materials.
Jefferson County School District 251: The Board of Trustees approved the district's recommendation to institute a "soft close" Tuesday, March 17. We highly recommend that parents keep students home. Schools will be open for students to come and get their belongings during regular hours on Tuesday only. Beginning Wednesday, March 18, schools will be closed for spring break extending until Friday, April 3rd. As the situation evolves in regards to COVID-19, we will provide further information.
Lighthouse Montessori will be closed until April 13th.
Madison School District 321: All schools will be closed from March 18-April 6. By closing on Wednesday, March 18, this will provide time for parents that work outside the home an opportunity to secure daycare or babysitter services for their young children. Spring Break will be expanded from March 30-April 6.
Monticello Montessori Charter School in Ammon will be closed Monday, March 16 to provide teachers time to plan in case of an extended closure. School will resume on a normal schedule Tuesday, March 17.
Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25: The Board of Trustees recommended to declare Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, March 20 and Monday, March 30 through Friday, April 3, 2020, emergency days of closure at all schools. Therefore, there will be no school held Tuesday March 17 through Friday April 3, 2020.
Preston School District 201: Preston School District will cancel all schools and classes for students, starting Tuesday, March 17 through at least the end of spring break. The board will re-evaluate the scenario at the end of spring break to see if additional time of closure is necessary.
Ririe School District 252: Classes will be held as scheduled March 17. Classes on March 18-20 will be canceled. Spring Break will take place as scheduled March 23-27. We have not made any decisions relating to a long term closure after spring break. The Ririe School District Management team will continue to monitor new developments and share information with the public.
Rockland School District 382 will be shifting to online learning beginning March 30 after our Spring Break next week.
Shelley School District 60: Schools will be closed until April 6.
Snake River School District 52: Beginning Wednesday, March 18th, through April 5th, Snake River School District will be closed due to the Coronavirus, COVID-19 concerns.
Soda Springs Joint School District 150: As a school district, we feel it is in the best interest of our community to close schools at this time. Starting Monday, March 23, all Soda Springs School District Schools and buildings will be closed through April 2. There will be instructional curriculum available to students. After this scheduled break we will reevaluate the situation.
Sugar-Salem School District 322: Our plan for the foreseeable future is that we will cancel school attendance until further notice. We anticipate that this will be approximately three weeks, but we will keep everyone updated via email, text and our website. We believe that we can provide a great deal of education to our children online. Please watch for emails, text messages, and monitor the website for updates and information from your children's teachers for information regarding their online and in-home schooling program.
Teton School District 401: No school for students March 16-27, March 30-April 3 (Spring break). We will evaluate future needs on April 2 and notify students, staff, parents and the community about plans for April 6 forward.
West Jefferson School District 253: The School Board voted in an emergency meeting for an early spring break for students starting Thursday, March 19th and 20th. Teachers will be required to come in on Thursday and Friday to prepare for online teaching options. The current plan is to return to school on March 30th. Grade 6-12 students will still come Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17 & 18.
Watersprings School will be closed through spring break. Students will return March 30 unless something changes.
White Pine Charter School and White Pine STEM Academy: Closed March 17-20. Then we are on spring break. School will resume Monday, March 30.
SCHOOLS REMAINING OPEN
Oneida School District 351: We will be holding school this coming week. We are asking students who have virus symptoms to stay home. In your homes, please follow similar practices that we have implemented in our schools to protect and minimize the spread of germs. Many factors go into the decision to close schools. We will continue to monitor the situation in our community and the surrounding areas. Given the current spread rate, there is a possibility there will be a school closure as early as March 30. This tentative date is being released for you to make plans and arrangements accordingly.
Marsh Valley School District 21
Taylor's Crossing Public Charter School


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Home › The Sacred Headwaters
The Sacred Headwaters
By Wade Davis
Foreword by David Suzuki
Afterword by Robert Kennedy Jr.
Hardback - $50.00 CAD Paperback / softback - $27.95 CAD Regular price $50.00
Tags: Art & Photography, David Suzuki, Nature & Environment, Robert Kennedy Jr., Wade Davis,
Published On: 4/18/2015
A visual feast and a plea to save an extraordinary region in North America for future generations, now in softcover.
In this stunning collection of photos, viewers are transported to the spectacular valley known to the First Nations as the Sacred Headwaters. Here, three of Canada's most important salmon rivers—the Stikine, the Skeena, and the Nass—are born in close proximity. Now, against the wishes of all First Nations, the British Columbia government has opened the Sacred Headwaters to industrial development.
The compelling text by Wade Davis, which describes the region's beauty, the threats to it, and the response of native groups and other inhabitants, is complemented by the voices of the Tahltan elders. The inescapable message is that no amount of methane gas can compensate for the sacrifice of a place that could be the Sacred Headwaters of all peoples of the world.
Wade Davis is Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He served as Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and is currently a member of the NGS Explorers Council. The author of 17 books, he has lived and worked in the Stikine as a park ranger and guide.
Dr. David Suzuki is an internationally renowned geneticist and environmentalist and a cofounder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Dr. Suzuki is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and holds 27 honorary degrees from universities around the world. He is the author of more than 50 books, is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, and, in 2007, was named one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment.
"No one can question that this is First Nations land. This is sacred land. If mountains are broken down and lakes turned into tailing ponds, the risks that this could lead to a broad ecological catastrophe are obvious. If the First Nations whose land this is do not wish it tampered with, there is nothing more to be said." -John Saul
"The Sacred Headwaters is the Sistine Chapel of Canadian nature: astoundingly beautiful, awe inspiring, to be revered and never defiled. This book is its hymnal." -Thomas Lovejoy
"The stunning images and our struggle come together in this powerful call to action. We are all one. We must all answer." -Sean Atleo
"The Sacred Headwaters is not only an inspiring and provocative read but also a call to action to educate ourselves about what is happening in this incredibly valuable wilderness area of northern British Columbia." -Paul Gilbert
Taming Fruit
Seaweed, An Enchanting Miscellany
Birdmania