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BPR statement on George Floyd's death, police violence:
George Floyd's life mattered. Like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and too many others whose names we don't know, Floyd was stolen from friends and family members who loved him and cared about him. His murder cannot be undone, and it is our most recent reminder of the fact that white supremacy, police violence, and racism are dangerously prevalent forces in America today… Read Full Statement
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Let the People Pick the President – BPR Interviews: Jesse Wegman
Sam Kolitch Sam Kolitch | December 7, 2020
Image Credit: Bill Waldman
Jesse Wegman is a member of The New York Times editorial board, where he writes editorials on the Supreme Court and legal affairs. He previously worked as a senior editor at the Daily Beast and Newsweek, a legal editor at Reuters, and the managing editor of The New York Observer. He is the author of Let the People Pick the President, in which he outlines the case for abolishing the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote.
Sam Kolitch: When did you come to the conclusion that the Electoral College should be abolished?
Jesse Wegman: After the 2000 election, I think most Americans realized just how screwy our system for electing the president is. No one in 2000 had been alive the last time the Electoral College had gone against the popular vote, which happened in 1888, so I was shocked that the candidate who won more votes could lose the election. What happened in Florida, where hundreds of votes could decide the allocation of the state's electors, was unfair. George Bush got all twenty-five of Florida's electors at the time while Al Gore got none, despite each candidate receiving nearly three million votes. From that moment on, I knew that this system was so fundamentally unrepresentative of the people.
In 2016, it was also upsetting when the Electoral College once again went against the popular vote. In some sense, Donald Trump was the Framers' worst nightmare because they had instituted the Electoral College to prevent someone like him from winning the presidency. He was a fundamentally unfit person who had no interest in governing or being a leader for the entire country. He didn't care about "blue states" because he was never going to win them and he also ignored all the Republicans who lived in these blue states because of the states' winner-take-all electoral rules. That's what is so harmful about the Electoral College.
SK: What are "winner-take-all" rules?
JW: The Constitution grants states total authority as to how to decide to award their electoral votes to the candidates. All but two states, Maine and Nebraska, have chosen to award their electors by winner-take-all rules, which means that states give all their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote in their states. While winner-take-all rules are not in the Constitution, the Constitution grants states the power to independently choose the manner in which they award electors.
SK: What is so harmful about that?
JW: Winner-take-all rules are distorting because they erase all of the people in a state who didn't vote for the person that wins the popular vote in their state. For example, there are fifty-five electoral votes in California and nearly six million people voted for Trump—which is more than most states' populations. But all of those votes are treated as invisible because California will cast all fifty-five of its electoral votes for Joe Biden. So winner-take-all rules are detrimental in that they create this false dichotomy between red and blue states.
SK: Do you think the way we portray presidential elections in the form of political maps contributes to that false dichotomy? For me, at least, it felt as if all I was staring at during the week of the election was a binary map of red and blue.
JW: It messes with your mind, right? When you look at a map that has no correction for population and that illustrates winner-take-all rules, you have these red and blue blocks in the shape of states that give you a very inaccurate and distorted image of what American politics are really like. California is "blue," which makes it look like only Democrats live in California. California has forty million residents and a lot of them are Republicans. It's the same phenomenon for Democrats in Texas, Republicans in New Jersey, and Democrats in South Carolina. The binary red and blue maps might suggest that most people live in the heartland, which is not the case. The country is a giant mess of Republicans and Democrats living everywhere. These types of maps are a clear illustrator of the harms caused by the Electoral College.
SK: You write in your book that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson explicitly disliked the Electoral College. You even detail a letter Jefferson wrote in which he says the Constitution should be amended in order to abolish it. So why was the Electoral College included in the Constitution in the first place if the most famous and revered Framers clearly thought it was a bad, even antidemocratic, idea?
JW: For one, it was a compromise. Some groups threatened to walk out of the convention if they didn't get their way. Also, it was a hot and complicated summer and the Framers were fatigued and rushing to finish the document they had been working on for months.
The Framers debated how to choose the president on twenty-one different days over the course of the summer. They held more than thirty votes on the question. Some Framers wanted Congress to choose the president. This was strongly opposed by many of the top Framers because of the concern the president would basically be a puppet of Congress. There were several top Framers at the convention who actually supported a popular vote for president. This idea lost out because they never won a majority of support for it.
It wasn't until the final days in early September of 1787 that a few delegates got together in a side room and basically cobbled together the system that we know today as the Electoral College. I don't think they thought very deeply about it because they knew that George Washington was going to be the President no matter what system they adopted, so the stakes were not that high to them.
SK: There had to be some specific reason in favor of the Electoral College at the Convention, though, right?
JW: Yes, the Framers thought that having an intermediary body of electors, a smaller number of people than the actual number of eligible voters, would account for the realities of the time. There was no public transportation or interstate highway network. There were no national media conglomerates. People didn't know much about the candidates beyond their local areas. So some of the Framers were concerned that a lack of knowledge would make it harder for voters to make a smart decision about who should lead the country. Having a body of men—only white, property-owning men, of course—who knew more about the national candidates would help obviate this problem.
SK: You mentioned earlier that the Electoral College was a compromise. Were you alluding to the issue of slavery?
JW: The protection of the interests of slaveholding states is at the heart of every major compromise that was struck at the Convention. James Madison himself, the "Father of the Constitution," was very explicit about this on the floor of the convention hall in the middle of the summer. He said that a direct popular vote for president would be the best way to elect him since it would produce the fittest leader. But the Southern, slave-owning states did not support a popular vote, "On the score of the Negroes."
In the end, I think it was clear to the Framers that a national popular vote was never going to work, so they adopted the Electoral College in part to protect the interest of slave states. And the reason that the Electoral College protects those interests is because of the three-fifths clause.
SK: How so?
JW: The three-fifths clause gave slave states disproportionately more power in Congress because their non-voting slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person. This power was transported into the system of choosing the president since the Electoral College is based on representation in Congress.
Madison understood, which meant that every Framer understood, that the slave states would not go for a national popular vote because of their slaves. When you don't let half of your population vote, you're going to have less influence in the election. It is indisputable that the Electoral College benefited slave states' interests for the first eighty years of the country, a period in which slave-holding states produced more presidents, more Supreme Court justices, and more speakers of the House than non slave-holding states. This is what is referred to as the "Slave Power," and it is this power that shaped the development of the country, including the Electoral College.
SK: One of the main points of your book is that if we look at the history of America, we can see that we have become increasingly inclusive when it comes to who can participate in our democracy. You write that the Reconstruction Amendments, the 19th Amendment, and the 26th Amendment are all examples of this progression. So why hasn't the Electoral College already been abolished, if it really is a part of that trajectory?
JW: The reasons why the Electoral College still survives 230 years past its creation are many and complicated. First off, the most obvious insult of the college is that it can put the popular vote loser in the White House. But this has happened only twice in the lives of anyone alive today. The three other times happened before the 20th century. When it doesn't happen often, people tend to not worry about it. A lot of people think that we have this weird, antiquated system for choosing our president. "It's cute. The people go to their state capitals and they cast their special electoral ballots." But one of the biggest points in my book is that the Electoral college harms the nation even in the situation that the Electoral college winner is also the popular vote winner. And the reason why is because of the winner-take-all rules, which create a hierarchy of states.
SK: How does the Electoral College, specifically, create that hierarchy?
JW: Most states are "safe states," meaning that candidates know they are going to either win or lose them. Presidents themselves don't care about them because there is nothing they can do to change the outcome of the vote in that state. "Battleground states," which are just arbitrary states that happen to have evenly-divided politics, are the only states that matter. This creates a distortion in a representative government since presidents are supposed to represent all Americans, but they end up focusing on a small sliver of the country that is needed to win the election. This makes sense to candidates from an electoral perspective, since they are doing what they need to do to win, but it is crazy for a representative democracy to say that most people's concerns don't matter.
SK: A major portion of your book is dedicated to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which circumvents the Constitution to implement a national popular vote. How does it work?
JW: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is based on the fact that states can award their electors to whomever they like. The way the compact works is that it's a contract among the states in which states join it and agree to award all of their electors to the winner of the most votes in the entire country, not to the winner of the most votes in their state. Once states representing 270 or more electoral votes join this compact, it automatically takes effect and awards 270 or more electors to the candidate who wins the popular vote in the country, thereby implementing a national popular vote and eliminating winner-take-all rules.
SK: What do you see as the biggest challenge to the compact?
JW: Every state that has joined the compact so far has Democratic leadership. No Republican state has passed the compact, which is for an obvious reason: they want to protect the system that helps them now. This is the story of politics from the beginning of time. People want to preserve the systems that work to their benefit and they want to reform the system that hurts them.
Democrats have been burned twice by the Electoral College in the last 20 years. Republicans have benefited from it twice. So on the surface, it looks like a partisan issue. But take, for instance, a place like Texas, where Republicans count on 38 electoral votes every four years. That's more than ten percent of the electoral votes you need to become president. If Texas turns Democratic in the near future, which the trends suggest it will, Republicans will have no Electoral College path to the White House. So the biggest challenge is getting both parties to understand how the Electoral College hurts them.
SK: What do you say to people who believe that the Electoral College protects smaller and more rural states?
JW: Half of the smallest states are Democratic. Half of the smallest states are Republican. They have never benefited under the Electoral College winner-take-all system we have today. And they recognize this, which is why they do not defend it. Small states, like Wyoming, which has three electoral votes, have no power. No candidates care about small states' votes, so they basically disappear when they are campaigning in the general election. The big swing states are the only beneficiaries.
SK: What is your response to someone who says that big cities, like New York or Los Angeles, would dominate a national popular vote?
JW: New York is the biggest city in the country, with about eight million residents. But the country has 330 million people in it. New York alone couldn't possibly sway the outcome of a national election. People just have a mathematical misunderstanding of how big our largest cities are. I also think that the arguments against cities having too much power has often had a racial tone to it. For a lot of people, cities tend to stand for Black and Brown people.
One other point I would make is that, in a presidential election, it shouldn't matter where you live. You're electing the one office in the country that covers everybody equally. Yes, millions of people live in the cities. Millions of people live in the suburbs. Millions of people live in rural areas. All those votes should be counted equally in the election of the presidency.
SK: On a separate note, you recently wrote an article in which you brand the GOP as the greatest threat to democracy. As a member of the media, is there a fine line that you have to tread when engaging in this type of criticism? Is there a way to discredit the GOP without unilaterally discrediting all of its supporters?
JW: It depends on how you draw the line. My criticism in that piece was aimed directly at Republican leadership and not aimed at all of its supporters. However, polls show that more than seventy percent of Republican voters do not believe that Joe Biden is a legitimately elected president—which is just contrary to the facts. They're behaving like flat-earthers. I don't know what to say to them, other than they're wrong. My responsibility as an opinion writer is to state the truth and be as clear-eyed and accurate as possible. If the truth is that one party is behaving like an authoritarian cult and the other party, for all of its many flaws, is fundamentally acting like a governing party in a representative democracy, I'm going to call it that way. And if it upsets people, well, look in the mirror.
SK: When you read the news, do you get disheartened? If so, how do you find the optimism to advocate for the causes—like abolishing the Electoral College—you believe in?
JW: When I look at the news of the day, I get very disheartened. When I look at the larger arc of American history, I feel much more hopeful. People have faced even more egregious inequities than those that exist today. You could imagine that people living in the era of slavery, either slaves themselves or those who saw the injustice of it, might've thought, "How will we ever break free of this?" And yet, we did eliminate slavery. We moved closer to our founding ideals of universal human equality. And every other major change in our democracy has been in that direction.
So I do have hope that we can keep moving toward a more inclusive, more equal, and more fair democracy in which all people are treated the same. But I'm in no way naive about how dangerous this current moment is. There are so many structural obstacles that stand in the way of us achieving the level of equality and fairness that the founders put in the Constitution as our guiding lights.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Zach Stern Zach Stern | January 8, 2021
Anatomy of an Essential Industry – BPR Interviews: Josh Levin '02
Tucker Wilke Tucker Wilke | January 1, 2021


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CITV is looking for Children to star in a brand new spy show
Need children between 12-16 to apply.
CITV is looking for children to star in a brand new game show which is an action adventure programme called Spy School, with filming set to begin in November and December.
The show is for contestants to complete many physical and mental challenges, such as an assault course and code breaking, to obtain clues that send a presenter on a secret mission around London.
To complete the fun mission, contestants and the presenter meet at one of London's landmarks where they need to work together to complete one last final challenge.
Each episode is based on different missions, with all contestants working together in pairs.
Any children can apply, as long as they are aged between 12 and 16.
Auditions are going to be at the beginning of October all across the UK.
To apply, children must, with their parent's permission, contact the producers at [email protected] for an application form.
Planning the festive season? look no further have a look at our Essex Pantomimes guide Here
Publish date: 18/09/2017 12:00 AM Sue Macdonald

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


1. Stephen GATES: born 17 Jul 1665 in Lancaster, Worcester, MA; died 4 Nov 1732 in Preston, New London, CT.
2. Stephen GATES: born abt 1634 in of Hingham, Norfolk, Eng.; married abt 1664 in Stow, Middlesex, MA; died 9 Jul 1707 in Stow, Middlesex, MA.
3. Sarah WOODWARD: born 3 Feb 1642–43 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA; died aft 15 Sep 1707 in Stow, Middlesex, MA.
4. Stephen GATES: christened 26 Dec 1597 in Coney Weston, Suffolk, Eng.; married 5 May 1628 in Hingham, Norfolk, Eng.; died inv. 29 Sep 1662 in Cambridge, Middlesex, MA.
5. Ann NEAVE: christened 16 Jun 1611 in Hingham, Norfolk, Eng.; died 5 Feb 1682–83 in Stow, Middlesex, MA.
6. George WOODWARD: born abt 1619 in , , Eng.; married abt 1640; died 31 May 1676 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA.
7. Mary : born abt 1620 in , , Eng.; died bef 17 Aug 1659 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA.
8. Eustace GATES: born abt 1565 in , , Eng.; married 4 Mar 1592–93 in Coney Weston, Suffolk, Eng.; buried 26 Apr 1626 in Coney Weston, Suffolk, Eng..
9. Rose WRIGHT: christened 25 Feb 1566–67 in Coney Weston, Suffolk, Eng.; buried 25 Jul 1635 in Hingham, Norfolk, Eng..
10. Thomas NEAVE: born abt 1575 in , , Eng..
12. Richard WOODWARD (parents unknown): born abt 1589 in , , Eng.; died 16 Feb 1664–65 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA.
13. Rose : born abt 1584 in , , Eng.; died 6 Oct 1662 in Watertown, Middlesex, MA.
18. Martin WRIGHT: born abt 1535 in , , Eng.; buried 10 Apr 1592 in Coney Weston, Suffolk, Eng..
19. Elizabeth : born abt 1540 in , , Eng.; buried 29 Mar 1598 in Coney Weston, Suffolk, Eng..


text:
La ermita de San Julián de Boada es una iglesia mozárabe situada en Palau-sator. Es una de las más antiguas de toda la región, atestiguada por un documento de 934. En un documento de 1362 se nombra a esta iglesia como San Juan de Buadela y el historiador Manuel Gómez-Moreno la nombra Sant Julià de Buada. El edificio no constituye un ejemplo como obra de arte pero tiene un gran mérito histórico y como estudio del desarrollo de la arquitectura rural de esta época.

Historia
Es una de las iglesias más antiguas de toda la región, atestiguada por un documento de 934.
A pesar de que la construcción sea más antigua, los primeros documentos históricos conservados en que se hable directamente de ella fechan del 1131, cuando Ramón Berenguer III dejó la iglesia en testamento en disposición eclesiástica de Gerona. En un documento de 1362 se nombra a esta iglesia como San Juan de Buadela y el historiador Manuel Gómez-Moreno la llama San Julián de Buada. El edificio no constituye un ejemplo como obra de arte pero tiene un gran mérito histórico y como estudio del desarrollo de la arquitectura rural de esta época.

En el año 1931 fue declarada Monumento Histórico Artístico y Bien de Interés Cultural Nacional. Poco después fue adquirida y restaurada por la Diputación de Gerona.

Descripción del edificio
En origen (posiblemente visigodo) constaba de una sola nave separada del ábside por el arco triunfal de 36 dovelas de piedra que van a puntos diversos, con poca regularidad. Las impostas se adornan con relieves como de dientes de lobo, siendo este un modelo casi único en Cataluña y algo insólito entre los monumentos conocidos que pueden corresponder a la misma época. Una segunda reconstrucción ya mozárabe del siglo X añadió el otro tramo separado por el arco mozárabe, eliminando la puerta primitiva. Se hizo entonces un reforzamiento de muros y pilastras. En toda esta segunda obra se ve la mano de un maestro formado al gusto islámico del momento.

La iglesia está construida con materiales pobres. Su planta es irregular, así como el espesor de sus muros y consta de tres tramos diferentes. La nave está cubierta por bóveda de medio cañón, ligeramente sobrepasada en el ábside. Puede verse aún la señal de las cerchas de las cañas que se usaron.

El arco más antiguo es el triunfal del ábside, sobrepasado en un tercio, que puede ser visigodo, la curvatura del cual armoniza con la de la vuelta. Las juntas de las dovelas están orientadas de manera confusa. Tanto la capilla como su arco muestran vestigios de pinturas al fresco de santos en que dominaban los colores rojo y amarillo. Gómez-Moreno cree que pudieran datar del periodo románico.

El arco fajón del centro de la nave tiene estructura y características mozárabes. Está sobrepasado en un medio y las 30 dovelas que lo conforman convergen hacia el centro de la línea de impostas.

En el ábside se abre una ventana axial en ojo de cerradura que recuerda a las que se ven dentro de las iglesias mozárabes de Galicia.

Bibliografía
 Fontaine, Jacques. El mozárabe (De la sèrie La España románica). Madrid:Encuentro, 1978.
 Gómez-Moreno, Manuel. Iglesias mozárabes: Arte español de los siglos IX a X. Editorial Universidad de Granada (edició facsímil), ISBN 84-338-2496-1

Enlaces externos

Informació a art medieval

Véase también
 Bienes de interés cultural de la comarca del Bajo Ampurdán
 Bienes de interés cultural de la provincia de Gerona

Referencias

Bienes culturales de interés nacional de la provincia de Gerona
Monumentos histórico-artísticos de España declarados en 1931
Ermitas de Cataluña
Arquitectura en Cataluña en el siglo X
Arte mozárabe

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


For years, I was able to pay off my credit card balance in full each month and since I could, that was what I did, but then I started hearing people say that it was better for my credit if I left a little balance each month. I knew I had fairly good credit for someone my age but I wondered if I was hurting myself in the long run. "This couldn't be further from the truth," said finance professional Erica Holland of ModMoney, "but unfortunately, so many people believe it and pay thousands of dollars in interest expense as a result."
Holland went on to explain that the myth stems from the credit utilization factor on your credit score. "Potential lenders like to see that you can responsibly use and manage your credit lines without overextending yourself," she said, "The typical guidance is to keep your utilization below 20-30 percent. That means wisely using your credit cards throughout the month and paying off the full balance at the end." She continued on to explain that many people will misconstrue that to mean they should carry a balance of 20 percent of their credit limit.
I have a few credit cards, but lately I found myself feeling like it was time to pay one of them off and close it out. Truthfully, it can be so tempting to put a purchase on that card because I know it has the credit, but meanwhile, the question becomes if I can really afford what I'm wanting to buy or if it just feels like I can because I can put it on this card?
As I started to ask around, I started hearing rumors flying that closing out a credit card is going to hurt my credit score so I got a bit shy and have continued putting purchases on it throughout the month. Meanwhile, financial research analyst at MyBankTracker, Simon Zhen, was ready to put this idea into perspective.
"Generally, it is sound advice to maintain an old credit card account because it helps your credit score," he said. "However, if it carries high annual fees and encourages you to get into debt, you're better off closing the credit card account." He went on to add that closing the credit line may temporarily hurt your credit score but as long as you continue to use credit responsibly, it should recover just fine.
I recently turned 30 and have found myself toying with the idea of buying a house in the potentially very near future. As a single female, it may be a bit out of the ordinary but I'm feeling empowered and ready to plant some roots and build more personal equity, whether or not a man is in the picture.
With that said, I found Holland's opinion on the situation quite interesting and definitely worth mentioning. She started by saying that this idea that we can afford something simply because the monthly payment is low can often manifest itself in the form of a mortgage, car payment, or any other payment plan. "Consumers tend to hone in on the monthly payment amount, disregarding the term of the loan and the down payment," she said. "In reality, just because a car payment is only $179 per month doesn't automatically mean you can afford it. It's important to consider the required down payment and the lease/loan term, which can be very high and very long."
I've been saving up for my down payment, but I definitely appreciated the reminder and opportunity to think deeper into my situation knowing that there is another layer that we often overlook.
When I graduated college, my parents gave me Dave Ramsey's The Money Answer Book and while at the time, we kind of laughed it off, I also knew they gave it to me for a reason. As previously mentioned, I considered myself pretty good with my money for years, but I also knew there was still a lot that I needed to learn and keep straight, and this book would provide a nice little resource when I found myself needing some guidance.
My biggest takeaway from that book and what often pops into my mind when I consider using my savings to pay off debt, is the need to have an emergency fund available. This point was also brought up by Zhen. "It makes sense financially to skip saving and put all income toward a 22 percent APR credit card or six percent student loan when savings rates are around one percent APY," he said. "However, there can be emergencies that set you back even more, if you didn't have an emergency fund to cover a surprise expense."
After a recent trip to the mechanic ended in needing new brakes and a replacement wheel bearing, you better believe I was happy to have that little stock pile set aside.
This may make me rather ignorant, but the truth is that I had never given a second thought to credit scores not being the same until Zhen mentioned it, though once he did it started to make sense. He explained that there are many different credit scoring models out there. "A different credit scoring model can have different score ranges and they'll surely have a unique algorithm for generating that score," he said. "With various tools and websites offering free credit scores, they may not be getting the actual score that lenders use to approve new loan applications."
While there may be several scoring models, the most widely used comes from Fair Isaac Company, also known as your FICO score, and it is recommended to order a free copy of your credit report each year so you have an opportunity to check for errors and know your standing of getting approved for a loan, apartment, etc.
I must admit that for years I believed this to be true. I found myself frustrated with the income I was earning and never feeling like I could get ahead until my job gave me a raise or I found a new job with better pay. I recently started reading Unshakeable by Tony Robbins and even though I have yet to finish the book, if there is one thing I've already learned, it is that my salary has very little to do with my ability to get ahead.
If you've ever heard the saying, "It's not what you earn, it's what you save," then this likely comes as no surprise. "The single biggest determinant to how much wealth you will have is not your salary or how much your investments earn, it's how much you save," said certified financial planner, Ed Snyder of Oaktree Financial Advisors.
This idea reminds me of all of the celebrities who have made millions of dollars and then went on to file bankruptcy, like pop singer, Toni Braxton; it isn't about what you make, it's about living within your means and saving.
When you're feeling lost in the sea of debt or that you don't make enough money, it can be easy to fall into the trap of "when I have $X, then I'll be happy." Years ago when I was fresh out of college and working multiple jobs to pay my bills, I remember dreaming of the day when I made at least $30,000 a year. That felt like a lot of money in those days and I was sure if I made that amount, then I could pay my bills with ease and take myself out shopping when I pleased.
Fast forward nearly ten years later and while I may make more than $30,000 a year, the happiness and freedom I once expected at that salary didn't play out as anticipated. As Snyder said, "If you go spend it on things, those things may make you happy in the short-term, but that quickly fades. Then you don't have the money or the happiness."
This is where the idea of retail therapy really rears its ugly head, in my mind. If we're looking for comfort or a little extra happiness, we hit the mall or if you're anything like me, the local Target. I find something I like, buy it for myself, and get that instant little jolt of happiness, only to come off that shopping high a couple hours later and start questioning if that was the right way to spend that money. Personally, I think this is why the idea of living a more minimalist lifestyle is becoming so popular as we realize that our happiness doesn't lie in physical items or the money to buy such things, but rather within ourselves.
Continuing on from the idea that money will buy you happiness, there is a strong misconception that money can also buy love. If you have ever heard of The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman, then you likely understand that we all show and receive love in different ways, which include words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. While money may allow you to buy a gift for someone you love, it's my conclusion that unless that is their specific love language, it likely won't get you very far.
Relationship expert, April Masini, compared this idea of buying love to the relationship between parents and children after a divorce. "Divorced single parents tend to spend lots of money on their kids because they feel guilty about the divorce," she said. "It's important to teach children that bumps in the road come, and they're opportunities to rebound."
She went on to explain that money doesn't heal loss and when parents try to use it to do so, children come to resent the absence of attention to their hurt feelings and instead manipulate money to their advantage. It's best for everyone if we remember to keep the two — money and love — separate.
I once dated this guy who after going through a divorce, found himself in a very poor financial situation. To say he was stressed would be a major understatement. Truthfully, at the time we were together, I wasn't in the best place myself financially, but what I found was that the more time we spent together, the more stressed I got about my situation, and his too for that matter. I was looking for a second job and trying to put together the pieces needed to get myself back on track; I often noticed that if he was freaking out about money that day, suddenly I was too, it was like this mentality of there never being enough money was contagious!
Little did I realize at the time, I may have been on to something. "It's important when dating and forming relationships to have self knowledge about money, as well as an understanding that money compatibility in relationships is important," said Masini. "In fact, it's so important, it's a deal breaker." Sure enough, that relationship didn't last very long.
Masini went on to explain that our own relationship with money is just as important as our partner's relationship with money, and while love is a beautiful thing, there are some instances where it just is not enough. "Compatibility is often more important," she said, "and financial compatibility is crucial."
In his book, Financial Peace Revisted, Dave Ramsey says, "You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you."
While I still may be no expert on the subject, remembering that money is a neutral resource in my life and that there are people who are able to help break down all of the confusion and explain how to manage my retirement options, has been a tremendous help in allowing me to navigate my personal situation and set myself up not only for a comfortable situation now, but also a prosperous and abundant future. Hopefully you also feel empowered now that you're armed with this knowledge to go out and taken control of your finances.


Pay quickly and securely for your purchases everywhere you want to be. Simply tap and pay up to £30 with Visa contactless, or more for some mobile purchases.
With more and more places in the UK where you can make contactless payments, tap and pay is the easy way to make your daily purchases1.
Just add your Visa card, then tap and pay with any NFC-enabled or iOS 6 or later smartphone. And for mobile payments, you can even make purchases over £30, depending on approval from the retailer and your bank.
Make contactless payments with a variety of devices – whether it's a wearable smart watch, wristband, fob or sticker. Pay effortlessly with all using the power of Visa contactless.
You can use your Visa card to make purchases using your Apple Watch, iPad or iPhone (6 or later)2.
Google Pay is now the name for all the Google payment products including Android Pay. Google Pay allows you to pay with your Visa card from participating issuers, using popular devices, whether you're making in-store, in-app or in-app purchases.
Samsung Pay is a simple and secure way to make mobile payments, accepted almost everywhere† you can tap a contactless bankcard.
What can you buy with Visa contactless?
For those moments when you find just what you wanted, but it's over £30, you can still make a contactless payment on your mobile phone, subject to approval from your bank and the retailer. For contactless card payments, the limit remains £30. To guarantee your security, all purchases above £30 require authentication, either through using a password-protected mobile phone, or through entering your PIN.
More than 400,000 locations in the UK welcome Visa contactless payments. Wherever you see the contactless symbol, you can just tap and pay and you're on your way. No more wrestling with shopping bags, no need to enter your PIN. It's everywhere you want to be.
As contactless payments become the standard method of payment for purchases under £30, your bank will usually issue you with a contactless card automatically when your existing one expires. Otherwise, you can apply for a new contactless card from your bank in the same way you would apply for any other Visa card. Check with your bank for an update on what Visa contactless cards are available.
You can also download the Visa app onto your smartphone from Google Play or Apple App Store to make mobile phone payments.
How do I use my Visa contactless card?
There are more than one million places where you can use your Visa contactless card, mobile phone or wearable in Europe, 400,000 of which are in the UK. So it's everywhere you want to be, including retailers like M&S, McDonald's, Starbucks, WHSmiths, Post Office, EAT, Pret A Manger and The Co-operative Food, as well as many pubs and bars, independent stores, and across all of the Transport for London travel network including London Underground and London buses.
While the contactless card limit is £30, you can now make payments over £30 using your mobile phone, providing your bank and the merchant in question authorises them. It's safer than carrying cash, and quicker than Chip and PIN.
If your card does fall into the wrong hands, the maximum amount per transaction is £30, and after repeated payments, the person will be asked for a PIN. For payments over £30, authorisation is required, so nobody can make purchases without your PIN or mobile phone passcode.
For payments over £30, the person would first need passcode access to your mobile phone. Even then, PIN validation would usually be required, especially if your bank noticed unusual spending patterns or locations.
Has card fraud increased since the introduction of Visa contactless cards?
No. Visa contactless cards are very safe indeed. In fact, fraud levels for contactless cards are lower than for non-contactless cards. Thanks to the chip and PIN technology, contactless payments are very unattractive to fraudsters.
No. You can only pay once for any transaction. The terminal will not accept two payments for one purchase – just like if you were using Chip and PIN.
No. The Visa contactless technology has 'anti-collision' features; this means that if two cards are held to a terminal only one payment will be processed. Or, in some cases, the entire payment may be cancelled. If you do have more than one contactless card, it's always best to present the one you want to pay with to the terminal – and leave the other in your purse or wallet.
2Apple Pay is available on your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac or Mac Book pro. You can find a full list of Apple Pay compatible devices here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/KM207105.
Apple, the Apple logo Apple Pay, Touch ID, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, iTunes, iSight and Passbook are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
†Samsung Pay is available with participating banks and merchants on selected devices. Samsung and Samsung Pay are trademarks or registered trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.


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E3 2013: Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III PC Version Hinted by Tetsuya Nomura
RumorsXbox OnePS4PC
Giuseppe Nelva
June 11, 2013 6:18 PM EST
Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III Director Tetsuya Nomura just dropped a bomb at the end of his interview on the Square Enix Presents E3 livestream.
When asked by the interviewer for a confirmation on the release of the two games on PS4 and Xbox One, he was quick to point out:
Yes, Correct, but again DirectX 11 is the tool that we're using and whichever hardware which has a compatibility with that tool, we can keep it consideration.
That's a pretty obvious hint to the possibility of a PC release for the two upcoming Square Enix flagship titles, especially considering that PC is the only remaining platform capable of supporting DirectX 11. It's also interesting that Nomura-san wasn't directly asked about other platforms by the interviewer, but touched the topic on its own initiative.
PC gamers might not be getting Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, but there might be better things coming their way sometimes in the future.
Shuhei Yoshida Explains the PS4's "Epic Fail" at Tokyo Game Show and Crash at E3
Japanese Developers Takes on E3 Continue to Trickle In
E3 2013 Preview: Can Thief Steal Back the Stealth Genre?
E3 2013 Preview: Sixth Time is the Charm with Obsidian Entertainment's South Park: The Stick of Truth
E3 2013 Preview: Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion and its Laborious Nostalgia
ShockCast Episode 135 – "The Post-E3 Show (Featuring Giuseppe Not Hating Everything)"
E3 2013 Preview: The Super-Powers and Super-Insanity of Saints Row IV
E3 2013 Armored Core: Verdict Day Impressions: Can It Be A Jack of All Trades, Master of One?


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GALECA's 10 Best Movies About the Oscars
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has revealed its picks for the 10 best pics about the Oscars. Keep reading for the full list by John Griffiths for GALECA:
Boyd does he wanna win! (Image via Embassy Pictures)
(1) The Oscar (1966)
Poor sociopath Frank Fane (Stephen Boyd, 1931-1977) wants that Best Actor trophy so bad, he'll almost kill for it — literally — in this temples-bulging melodrama with all the Tinseltown trimmings. Where to begin? Fane's disillusioned lover: Elke Sommer (b. 1940)! Disillusioned pal: Tony Bennett (b. 1926)! Agent Kappy Kapstetter (Kappy Kapstetter?!): Milton Berle (1908-2002)? Gossip queen Hedda Hopper (1885-1966), famed costumer Edith Head (1897-1981) and Nancy Sinatra (b. 1940) play themselves, adding a bit of glam reality, but the king of Academy Awards pics is to be enjoyed for its campy dialogue and deliciously over-the-top emotions (Harlan Eillison, who died last year at 84, co-wrote).
Gr8erDays asked Nancy Sinatra for any The Oscar memories (Image via Twitter)
The final scene — our palm-sweaty hero sits on the edge of his velvet seat, waiting for Oscar host Bob Hope (1903-2003( to shut up and just get to what he expects will be his magical moment — is stunning. Fun fact: Sanctioned by the AMPAS itself, The Oscar was nominated for two statuettes itself — and lost.
Wanting ... needing ... waiting ... (Image via Warner Independent)
(2) For Your Consideration (2006)
A near-perfect poke at Hollywood puffery, written by (and featuring) satire gods Christopher Guest (b. 1948) and Eugene Levy (b. 1946). Catherine O'Hara (b. 1954) plays the appropriately named Marilyn Hack, the second-rate star of a decidedly random flick — Home for Purim, a highly emoted drama about a Jewish family in the 1940s South — that generates Oscar buzz. Watching the vain actress and her co-stars [played, sublimely, by the likes of Parker Posey (b. 1968), Harry Shearer (b. 1943) and John Michael Higgins (b. 1963)] act humble while jockeying for various nominations is painfully funny. As are Hack's suddenly giant, collagenated lips. Fun fact: Parker's ingenue character gets lots of praise for her bold performance in Purim as a lesbian who comes out to her dying mom pre-kreplach.
There's just no let-up ... (GIF via GIPHY)
(3) A Star is Born (1954)
Yes, Janet Gaynor (1906-1984) and Fredric March (1897-1975) were touching in the 1937 version, which was, yes, based on the early talkie What Price Hollywood? (1932). But no one beats Judy Garland (1922-1969) as sweet, loving Vicki Lester, the actress who rises from dork (real name: Esther Blodgett) to elegant, humble name-above-title. And no one trumps James Mason (1909-1984) as her self-pitying husband Norman Maine, a suicidal alcoholic who sees his own acting career sink like a Klieg light. When Esther, er Vicki, glides to the stage for her Best Actress trophy, and a blitzed Norman ruins the moment for all to see, it's sad indeed [and much more realistic than Gaga's (b. 1986) Grammy acceptance speech alongside a soiling-himself Bradley Cooper (b. 1975) in the latest remake]. Fun fact: Esther's Oscar debacle was included on several of the movie's posters.
And the winner for best sham marriage is ... (Image via Columbia)
(4) California Suite (1978)
In Neil Simon's (1927-2018) '70s-chic comedy about various histrionic guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Maggie Smith (b. 1934) steals the limelight as Diana, a British actress up for her first Academy Award. Her jitters are exacerbated by worries that her closeted husband and best friend [Michael Caine (b. 1933)] is about to leave her. Fun fact: the cast and crew were granted access to the actual Oscars, so when Diana and her man walk the red carpet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, that's the real deal. Oh, and Smith won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role. Sweet!
Stiller, waters (GIF via Paramount)
(5) Tropic Thunder (2008)
The premise is thunderously funny: four pampered stars of a Vietnam War flick [played by Ben Stiller (b. 1965), Robert Downey Jr. (b. 1965), Brandon T. Jackson (b. 1984) and Jack Black (b. 1969)] are thrown into the jungle for a big scene, guerilla-style, and think the real-life, deadly drug gang they encounter are just actors! Stiller, as Tugg Speedman, a faded action star à la Bruce Willis (b. 1955), chews up the scenery, almost literally, in this clever skewering of showbiz entitlement and grandiosity. Yet there's wish fulfillment, too: Naturally, the men's daring exploits are captured on film, leading to a monster hit and Tugg's first Oscar! Un-fun fact: Tugg's costar Kirk (Downey Jr.), an insufferable, Academy Award-laden method actor, dies his skin to play an African-American for his part, Tropic's dicey jab at tokenism that many moviegoers found painful instead of painfully funny. Downey Jr., nonetheless, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his spin as a white guy daring to play a black guy in a weird bid to win an Oscar. What a meta-go-round!
Got a Magnum on ya? (Image via Paramount)
(6) In & Out (1997)
It could happen this Sunday night! Thrilled over his Oscar win for playing a gay soldier, hipster movie star Cameron Drake [Matt Dillon (b. 1964] gives thanks to his gay acting coach from his high school days. Trouble is, said teacher Howard Brackett [Kevin Kline (b. 1947)] is in the closet with an unwitting fiance [Joan Cusack (b. 1962)]! Groundbreaking for its long, man-on-man kissing scene [Howard sparks the interest of a showbiz reporter played by Tom Selleck (b. 1945)], Out actually rings funnier and braver nearly 20 years after its debut. And not just because homophobia deserves tweaking more than ever — the showbiz humor shines, too. Actor Cameron's fellow noms, revealed by presenter Glenn Close (b. 1947) with perfectly wan smarm, include Paul Newman (1925-2008) "for Coot" : Fun fact: screenwriter Paul Rudnick's (b. 1957) inspiration for Out came from an actual Oscar moment. In 1994, when Tom Hanks (b. 1956) accepted his Best Actor award for his role as a man with AIDS in 1993's Philadelphia, he thanked his own high school drama coach and flagged him as gay — only in that case with the teacher's approval.
Most Actress of the Year (Image via Paramount)
(7) Mommie Dearest (1981)
Intense Faye Dunaway (b. 1941) as intense Joan Crawford (circa 1905-1977) accepting her Oscar for her comeback flick Mildred Pierce (1945) while sick in bed, with reporters and radio mics surrounding her? As tasty as cherry pie! Fun fact: The scene wasn't a case of "creative license" — Crawford milked the moment pretty much as depicted!
So sad! And yes, I would've been bidding. (Image via 20th Century Fox)
(8) The Star (1952)
Crawford's silver-screen rival, Bette Davis (1908-1989) is admirably self-aware in this cautionary showbiz tale as Margaret, an aging movie queen desperate to regain her fame (and youth). The woman is so frustrated she can't land great parts, she gets trashed, grabs the Oscar she won in her salad days, and takes her tiny friend on a wild joyride in her car. Maggie got a D.U.I., while Davis herself landed an Oscar nomination.
Just plane satisfying (GIF via GIPHY)
(9) The Bodyguard (1992)
If Oscar were truly anthropomorphous, he'd be running for cover in the final scene of this chunk of cheese starring the late Whitney Houston (1963-2012) in her singing and acting prime. Thanks to smitten bodyguard Frank [Kevin Costner (b. 1955)], superstar Rachel Marron (Houston) is able to evade a psycho stalker through most of this romantic thriller. Somehow, the would-be assassin breaks into the Academy Awards pre-show, hides a gun in a TV camera, and starts shooting at Rachel just as she's about to accept her Oscar for Best Actress, live! Hmmm, wonder if the show enjoyed a ratings bump the following year?
Prepare for take-off ... (GIF via GIPHY)
(10) Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)
Turns out 2017's infamous Oscars show — the one with the La La Land-wrongly-named-best-pic debacle — coulda been worse. In the last of the pratfall-filled The Naked Gun movies, accident-prone Los Angeles lawman Frank Drebin [Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)] tries to stop some mobsters from blowing up the Academy Awards [the moll's played by Anna Nicole Smith (1967-2007)]. One funny bit: Florence Henderson (1934-2016) is in the running for one of the gold statuettes! And, in the comedy's climax, Frank interrupts presenter Raquel Welch (b. 1940) during the live telecast in the slapstickiest of ways. How this flick ever made it past AMPAS's team of ultra-protective brand hawks is a mystery.
What's Cookin' Doc? (1944)
"Who, who, will win the Oscar?" intones the narrator in this fun, respectful spoof of awards races starring . . . Bugs Bunny! Filmdom's most animated rabbit one-ups the aforementioned Frank Fane of The Oscar as he begs for the prize even after losing to — spoiler alert — James Cagney (1899-1986). This snarky cartoon short is mixed with clips of L.A.'s then-hopping nightlife, with stops at the Trocadero, Hollywood Bowl, Coconut Grove and Chinese Theater. Don't miss the epilogue, in which Bugs winds up winning a special something in an moment that's genuinely, surprisingly gay. Now that's a fun fact!
Dishonorable Mention
Somehow, it wasn't nominated for Best Makeup & Hairstyling. (Image via Universal)
The Lonely Lady (1983)
Oh, Lonely Lady, why do you taunt us? Jerilee Randall, played by notorious Golden Globe winner Pia Zadora (b. 1953), is no Frank Fane. This scheming seducer — a screenwriter despite her Barbarella-remake-worthy looks — actually scores the little gleaming guy, who here isn't called Oscar, but rather some sort of mumbled "Major Award." An award that just happens to look like the Oscar and Emmy had a one-night fling after a crazy night at L'Orangerie. And Jerilee is not a graceful winner. "I suppose I'm not the first woman here who had to [bleep] her way to the top!" she tells the quasi-Oscar audience. And then she pulls a Marlon Brando (1924-2004) and rejects the prize ... something none of the characters in the above cinematic treats would ever do.
'40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, Lists


Having cash on hand makes issues straightforward, but you'll be able to still renovate your house if you happen to're quick on money. If you are attempting to find a lender domestically you'll be able to look in your cellphone books telephone book below keywords, like loan or home enchancment. We have a card to handle each of your needs and each credit card in our ensemble has special services and advantages. The house enchancment grants are there for low-earnings households that need to make important repairs. I'll discuss the positives and negatives related to dwelling equity loans, dwelling equity traces of credit, and private home enchancment loans, in addition to ideas to bear in mind if you're searching for funding. The traditional dwelling enchancment mortgage states that the borrower ought to have a substantial equity of 20 % or more in the home.
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This entry was posted in Home Improvement Loans and tagged improvement, interest, rates. Bookmark the permalink.


Do you have a store or showroom in my city?
We are a completely online store and do not have any physical store anywhere in the world. Our office is based in Gurgaon, India but we are unable to invite you to view a sample before buying. In case you are worried about its quality or condition, please be assured that you will get exactly what you see in our website. Each item is photographed separately and what you get is the item whose photograph has been shown. Sizes have been mentioned along side each item in our website to help you estimate its size. In case you are worried about the item not meeting your expectations or it being different from what is shown in our website, please refer to our returns policy to find out how you can return the item for a refund. Please also be assured that we have been selling online since 2002 and have a robust shipping policy which takes care of the buyer by specifying that if a shipped item does not reach the buyer within a predefined number of days, we would issue a full refund to the buyer.


Thursday — Scrambled eggs, toast with margarine and jelly.
Monday — Breakfast sliders, yogurt.
Tuesday — Cinnamon roll, cinnamon toast.
Sept. 20 — Chocolate French toast, yogurt.
Sept. 21 — Cheesy ham and egg casserole, toast with margarine and jelly.
Thursday — Chicken nuggets; ham and cheese sandwich; strawberry chicken salad; Italian bread, corn.
Friday — Cheese pizza; sweet and sour chicken with rice; chicken bacon ranch salad; pineapple muffin, broccoli with ranch dressing.
Monday — Spaghetti and meatballs; turkey and cheese on a bun; strawberry chicken salad; Italian bread, cheesy cauliflower popcorn.
Tuesday — Grilled cheese sandwich; barbecue pork on a bun; taco salad; cornbread, honey baked beans.
Sept. 20 — Chicken patty; hamburger steak; mandarin orange chicken salad; mashed potatoes with gravy, corn.
Sept. 21 — Cheeseburger; ham and cheese French toast sandwich with syrup; Cobb salad; potato tots with ketchup, blueberry muffin.
Thursday — Chicken nuggets; ham and cheese sub; strawberry chicken salad; Italian bread, corn.
Friday — Cheese pizza; sweet and sour chicken with rice; pineapple muffin, broccoli with ranch dressing.
Monday — Spaghetti and meatballs; turkey and cheese on a bun; Italian bread, cheesy cauliflower popcorn.
Tuesday — Three cheese grilled cheese; barbecue pork on bun; cornbread, honey baked beans.
Sept. 20 — Chicken patty; spicy chicken patty; hamburger steak; corn, mashed potatoes, hot rolls.
Sept. 21 — Cheeseburger; ham and cheese French toast sandwich with syrup; blueberry muffin, potato tots with ketchup.
Thursday — Chicken strips; ham and cheese sub; Italian bread, corn.
Friday — Sausage pizza; sweet and sour chicken with rice; pineapple muffin, broccoli with ranch dressing.
Sept. 21 — Bacon cheeseburger; ham and cheese French toast sandwich with syrup; blueberry muffin, potato tots with ketchup.


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                $("#menuTwelve").addClass("activeTab");
                $("#tabTwelve").fadeIn({easing:'easeInOutSine'}, 900);
                $("#tabOne, #tabTwo, #tabThree, #tabFour, #tabFive, #tabSix, #tabSeven, #tabEight, #tabNine, #tabTen, #tabEleven").css("display", "none");
            break;
            }
            //alert(e.target.id);
            return false;
        });

A: First, you will add classes to everything.  To all the "menu"s give class="menu" and to all the "tab"s give class="tab".  Make the ids of the a tags just the number.  So just "One" or "Two", take out the "menu" part of the id (but leave the tabs the same).  Finally, use this function (replace the switch):
var id = e.target.id;
if ( !$( "#" + id ).hasClass( "activeTab" ) ) { // don't run if active link is being clicked
    $( "a.menu" ).removeClass( "activeTab" ); // remove active from all menus
    $( "#" + id ).addClass( "activeTab" ); // make clicked menu link active
    $( ".tab" ).css( "display" , "none" ); // hide all tabs (I assume div, but not sure so I didn't include the tag name in selector)
    $( "#tab" + id ).fadeIn( { easing : 'easeInOutSine' } , 900 ); // ease in selected tab
}

edit Here is a jsFiddle.  It wasn't working with your easing (I can't say I have used any easing in the past) but you can check it out and hopefully you can use it.

A: $(".tabMenu ul > li a").click(function(e){
        $(".menu").removeClass('activeTab');
        $("#"+e.target.id).addClass('activeTab');
        $("#tab"+e.target.id.replace("menu","")).fadeIn({easing:'easeInOutSine'}, 900);
        $(".tabs").hide();
});

For this you will have to give class "tabs" to all your tabs and class "menu" to all your menu

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


and articles, they're way too dense and technical.
a general audience and that are actually fun and easy to read.
one book I recommend is by Andy Molinsky.
How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures Without Losing Yourself in the Process.
small cultural differences that nevertheless affect business outcomes.
I'll review some of them in this video.
I have no financial or other stake in recommending his book.
how to better adapt to the teams you join and to assimilate new cultural routines.
I won't go into that here.
he suggests you pay attention to.
a bit what he has to say in order to make it better conform to my own scheme.
read the original if you're really interested in the subject.
One area of variability he suggests you pay attention to is formality.
He emphasizes the amount of deference and respect you are required to exhibit.
I would include under formality, questions like these.
Or should you confine your interactions just to the business at hand?
How much personal information about yourself can you reveal?
What about asking questions of others?
such as whether they have children or is it too intrusive?
All of these are subject to cultural variation.
Another area of variability concerns speaking your mind.
Molinsky refers to this as directness.
Should you only hint at your meaning or should you come right out and say it?
as they were called then the Winnebago tribe of Native Americans from Wisconsin.
He told me about an incident from his childhood.
his parents never said a word about it.
The story was about two brothers.
Hmm, as you might guess, the two brothers in the story had been fighting.
I do remember what the man who was telling me the story said.
He said, it got him to stop and think.
Could it be that my father was talking about me and my brother?
The situation he described is one of highly indirect communication.
The hearer had to make inferences to connect the story to his own life.
But the communication was effective.
It even got the man to stop quarreling with his brother or so he claimed.
A third area of variability is expressing feelings.
Is it okay, for example, to appear enthusiastic?
Two other areas mentioned by Molinsky are self-promotion and aggressiveness.
and you can probably imagine for yourself what he means by aggressiveness.


Main Title Measurement of Endrin Following Epidemics of Poisoning.
CORP Author Food and Drug Administration, Atlanta, Ga. Atlanta Toxicology Branch.
Between 3 June and 15 July 1967, four explosive outbreaks of acute poisoning with the insecticide endrin occurred in Doha, Qatar and Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. They resulted in the hospitalization of 874 persons and the death of 26 persons. The outbreaks probably caused a lesser degree of poisoning in many others who recovered without seeking medical aid. A thorough epidemiological study revealed that flour in a lower deck of each of two ships had been contaminated by and emulsifiable concentrate of endrin carried on an upper deck of the same hold. This paper reports only chemical studies concerned with the outbreaks. It describes the method used, and summarizes the chemical evidence that endrin from contaminated flour was, in fact, the cause of illness. The paper also presents available measurements pertaining to the distribution of endrin and its rate of loss in man.


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Well, I will be departing soon for Europe, four days from now to be exact. The excitement and pressure is mounting but I'm confident everything will go over wonderfully. In case those of you who didn't know from my last post I'll be there for about 2 months with a Eurail pass so if you think you might have a place for me to stay while I'm there please email me. For those of you in the states I hope you find some time to live vicariously through me since I'll be blogging every bit of it, and yes recipes will be included in some as well. Don't forget I have a new email subscription set up so you can subscribe to that and get updates on where I am, what I'm eating, recipes, etc. and you can sign up here or sign up on the sidebar on my website.
Before I leave I wanted to put up one more recipe from my actual home and what better to celebrate the nearing of a great travel than a treat with caramel all over it. I'll be completely honest with you though I actually adapted a majority of this from my good friend Simone's new cookbook The Zenbelly Cookbook. I was at a major impasse when I had to choose between the apple cider donut holes and the rustic apple tartlets that I adapted. I find it very difficult sometimes when life makes you choose, and this was one of the moments where I had no choice but to pick only one. My deciding factor was that I knew which one would be better covered in a rich salted caramel glaze.
A few weeks ago I saw a tweet that really resonated with me that said something along the lines of "I really dislike the saying ain't no thing but a chicken wing because chicken wings are very important to me.". This is so true and it happens to be such tragedy that with live in a day and age that chicken wings "ain't no thing". I feel the same way about tartlets actually, they are often looked over yet have so much to offer. My realization of the tartlet-chicken wing dilemma came to me when I visited my girlfriends house and brought one of these tartlets with me. Her family viciously and ruthlessly stole bites from her tartlet while she wasn't looking and she wasn't too happy with that. I've never heard her mention a love for tarts but that one moment revealed the truth.
These tartlets are actually the first I've ever made in my life and I think they turned out pretty good. So yeah, I'm entirely proud of my apple layering skills. It's not perfect, not yet, but it looks good for a first time. I'm only saying this in hopes of motivating you to make this as well since it looks so intricate yet is actually quite easy. Think about how badly you want tartlets, if your answer is unsure then let me help you. The proper answer is yes, you always need tartlets in your life.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the apples, 1½ teaspoons coconut, 1½ teaspoons of the arrowroot, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Carefully stir to thoroughly combine and place to side.
In another bowl add the almond flour, remaining ½ cup of arrowroot, remaining 1½ teaspoons of coconut sugar, salt, and whisk together to combine. Cut the butter into small cubes and cut it into the dough with a pastry cutter or two knives.
Mix one of the eggs and the vanilla extract together then add into the almond flour mixture and mix well until a dough forms. Divide the dough into four equal sections and roll into a ball. On a arrowroot floured piece of parchment paper, press each ball into a disc. Dust the disks and a rolling pin with arrowroot and roll them out into circles about 5 inches across, re dusting the rolling pin when it starts to stick.
Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl and lightly brush the tops of the disks. slide the parchment and dough on a baking sheet. Arrange a snug row of apple slices in the center of each disc, leaving a space around the outside large enough to fold up.
Carefully fold up the sides of the discs around the outer edges of the apples working inch by inch. Don't try to fold an entire side up quickly all at once or else the dough will break easily as it's quite fragile. Work it inch by inch all the way around the pastry using your fingers, creasing the dough together and patting down the cracks slightly to create somewhat smooth edges.
Place the tartlets in the oven for 20 minutes. Once the tartlets have cooked for about 12 minutes, begin making the caramel glaze. Add the ¼ cup of coconut sugar, and salt to a small heavy bottomed pot and turn the heat to medium high and let the sugar melt, stirring often for 2-3 minutes being careful to avoid burning, until it turns a copper color. Remove from the heat and add the butter or ghee and stir until melted, then add the cream or coconut milk and return to the burner at medium heat and continue stirring. Cook for only another minute at the very maximum and no longer and place to the side until needed. If it is not fully incorporated or to thick keep stirring and add a little more cream or coconut milk. You may need to reheat and stir the caramel if it begins to thicken to much to brush after sitting there for a little.
Once the tartlets are finished pull the out of the oven and brush the revealed apple section generously with the caramel and brush the crust sides of the tart with the caramel as well.
Place the tartlets back in the oven for 5-10 more minutes, until the crust is firm and the apples are soft.
About the coconut sugar in the caramel: I used coconut sugar when I made this caramel but it got very close to burning and it's a little difficult to tell when it's done because it's already a somewhat dark color so if you're hesitant about that I would suggest using possibly an organic cane sugar.
These look stunning Joshua and caramel and apples are a match made in heaven!
Precisely Millie, I feel these were inspired by caramel apples.
How many tartlets does this recipe make?
It makes four tartlets. I'll update the recipe, sorry about that!
So these are amazing! And I love the salted caramel sauce! I'm about to make another batch to eat on some chocolate ice cream!
P.s. I think you left out adding the salt to the sauce in the instructions though (unless I just missed it).
Glad you tried and enjoyed them! I just fixed the salt error, it's there now, thanks for the heads up.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I will definitely give it a try soon!
I'm not certain that the dough would work frozen or not. I have not attempted it yet but if you try it let me know if it works out or not! I'm sure it would work.
I have made these twice and really wanted to make them again this morning but I don't have an apple! Tomorrow for sure! This are so good and really not difficult! Thanks!


Getting yourself overseas is one thing, but getting your car overseas is certainly more challenging. But with some basic information about just how millions of other people have shipped their car, you will be able to handle this task without any trouble.
1. Find a reliable shipping service – As with any major task, you need to be able to trust the shipper you choose. Be sure to follow up on references and records to be sure the company is legitimate.
2. How your car will be shipped – In most cases, shipping your car overseas will require shipping in an ocean container. This allows the car to be shipped in the container, loaded by you, as well as allow you to ship personal items in the remaining space. The container is then delivered to your new location.
3. Loading a car isn't simple – You will still want to employ the help of professional car shippers to help you load your car in a secure manner that will allow the car to remain bump and scratch free.
4. Get insurance – When you're the shipping your car and loading your car, your insurance might not cover any damage that follows, so check with your insurance agent. But if you hire professionals to load and ship your car, your insurance may cover any problems.
5. You'll need more than just the container – After the car arrives at its destination, you will need to hire a trucking company to unload it and then send it to your home.
6. Consider RO/RO – This is known as 'roll on, roll off' shipping service in which the car is rolled onto the ship at the port and then rolled off at its destination. But this is not available in every case.
7. Have your papers in order – You will need a copy of the original title for your car as well as a letter from the lien holder, if one exists. This allows the cart to be exported. You might also need a bill of sale or bills of lading, depending on where you bought the car. Check with customs or local legal agencies if you're not sure what you need.
8. Take time to shop around – When you look at various shipping companies to help you move your car, you will find that there are a range of quotes for certain services. Shopping around lets you get the best deal as well as the services you need.
9. Know your budget ahead of time – Try to have a figure in mind when you are shopping for shipping service. This will help you sort out the companies that are right for you.
10. Know what you need – Make sure that you know exactly what you need before you start looking for shipping services. This will allow you to have all of the services written into your service contract.


After an incredibly successful Temperature Maintenance of Biopharmaceuticals in Distribution event, we are excited to announce the event programme for this year's event!
Our 2017 programme provided a holistic approach to temperature controlled shipments whilst also addressing transportation obstacles and regulatory compliance. Topics included transportation, GDP compliance, qualification systems and case studies from both cold chain and ambient product perspectives.
Whether you are from a small biotech or a large pharma company this event is the perfect platform to share challenges, network with over 400 industry peers and hear informative case studies.


text:
What would the National Trustees body do?
The national survey of trustees conducted by the Charity Futures programme, Third Sector, and nfpSynergy indicated strong support for a new national trustees body. It follows that we should consider what such a body should actually do. It should have clear aims and a distinct role not already covered by NCVO, ACEVO, or the Association of Chairs. NCVO already has a governance department, and ACEVO ran a governance review service: there is also the Governance Hub, which produces the Code of Good Governance, which includes input from a whole host of bodies.
Many sector commentators already complain that there are too many infrastructure bodies. Only with a very defined purpose, funding structure, and place in the conversation would a trustees body enjoy wides support. It is not jumping the gun to hypothesise what role such a body should take. Fully 25% of our respondents thought that "a national body supporting trustees" would be "very useful", while another 36% thought it would be "useful".
The question did not imagine what that support might consist of. Different respondents likely interpreted it in different ways, projecting their own ideas about infrastructure support onto the question. Such a body could do any number of things, and the questions we had posed just prior to the one concerning trustees bodies probably affected what respondents were thinking: they included online training, better general training, trustee handbooks, and a trustee e-newsletter or group. There was most supports, 82% positive responses, to the generic idea of "Better training for trustees", which doesn't get us far.
How would such training be delivered? Seminars, workshops, awaydays, off-line courses? Would we have online video lecture series, mentorship programs, a grand centre delivering cutting-edge governance literature? How much extra time are trustees willing to devote to self-improvement? Would it be useful to have more governance appraisal services, provided at an affordable rate? Would funders and philanthropists have a more contributory role? Can charity boards learn from the composition and practices of the private and public sectors? If such a body did spring into being, how would it communicate with the public what it was trying to do, and assess whether it bolstered third sector leadership?
All of the ideas above feel worthwhile but uninspiring. A few hours of tuition or a quickly forgotten best practice document won't have the impact we want. We need a body that is seen, unlike the Charity Commission, as a mentor, not a monitor. Perhaps there are many more innovations to come, or perhaps a carefully crafted mixture of the options above is the best that can be done.
The weighty challenge of governance demands joined-up big thinking. Marginal improvements and small scale initiatives on their own won't be enough. They need to be set in this wider context, or small-fry thinking might become a habit. It would be a disaster if the mentality that can only justify minor interventions seeps into how foundations fund capacity. So the answer may well lie outside the sector and certainly may be about big philanthropy.
Trustee concerns reflect our sector's broader problem themes. There remains a tendency to think too narrowly, e.g. contemplating governance simply as a question of trustees and processes, failing to recognise that it is as much to do with values and cultures – about how organisations are governed. That governing covers executive and staff behaviour, not just board meetings. Governance geeks, who just focus on the minutiae of process, are not only wrong; they are dangerous. They risk driving out the passionate spirit which (alongside professionalism) should be the sector's hallmark.
These are all issues that will need to be mulled over, indeed considered in great detail, before anyone dives ahead. But this work can be really valuable if we arrive at the right answer, or even as an answer that is mostly right. If we improve whole sector governance by a small margin in back-office, unsexy ways, this would translate into an imperceptible rise in quality of our whole sector's operations. Intervening upstream to avert another Kids Company, pre-empt an Age UK or resolve a Terence Higgins Trust situation before it became an emergency: that would be a great boon to the sector. More, helping each board that had been merely muddling along, keeping their charity afloat, to really strive and explore how to deliver the very best: that is worth spending time to work out.
This is why, without any doubt, Charity Futures is now shaping up to be more than a two year journey - Woodford Investment and I are in this longer term. But perhaps our most important contribution – at least in the early years - will be to encourage others to join us in asking these questions and looking for answers. We will become clearer with time, and this gives us our best chance of delivering something meaningful.
Surveying the landscape: how do trustees feel?
For all the talk about charity leadership and governance, we actually know very little about what board volunteers think, what their training and backgrounds are, how they experience their roles. Past attempts to reinforce the quality of those guiding our sector have, in effect, been crafted half-blind. No wonder they have not always had the hoped-for impact.
That is why, with nfpSynergy and Third Sector magazine, Charity Futures has run the first comprehensive national trustees survey. We've been asking board members how confident they are in their own groups' skills, what challenges they face, what support they receive and what are the best new ideas for support they'll actually use. By using social media, Third Sector's readership and ACEVO's member list, we've achieved a good snapshot of charities large and small, wealthy and modest, old and new.
Our results – together with choice commentary from yours truly - will be out next Wednesday. The survey promises to push the charity leadership conversation forwards and help us beef up the back office.
And on 22 November, we are holding a seminar with a range of sector experts on governance to help us digest these results and look at next steps. This is all part of our efforts to discuss widely with people and organisations to get their views on what an initiative in governance might look like and how it might work (and indeed who might fund it!)
Speaking truth to power, part II
As I have blogged just recently, it is often said that one of the core duties of a charity is "to speak truth to power". It's a phrase that originated with the Quakers in the 18th century. The charge that they were given to speak was threefold:
To those who hold high places in our national life and bear the terrible responsibility of making decisions for war or peace,
To the people who are the final reservoir of power in this country and whose values and expectations set the limits for those who exercise authority,
To the idea of Power itself, and its impact on life.
There is an obvious link between the work of the Church and faith groups, and the work of charities in acting as the moral conscience of the country and a thorn in the side of the powerful on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised.
Of course this sometimes means we are both attacked by Governments and politicians who argue we have no business playing politics. Former Archbishop Williams has talked of the "illiteracy" of many politicians about our role and this is but an example of that. If Christ turfed the money changers from the Temple, would the Churches not be failing in their duty if they did not point to the gap between the wealthiest in our society and the poorest? Is that not true for charities?
It is sometimes argued that charities should "stick to the knitting". In other words we should run soup kitchens or food banks for the poor but keep our mouths shut about the causes of poverty. Fortunately neither the Church nor charities will cease from these essential roles; both delivering services to vulnerable people and the most damaged communities and holding those in power to account.
Cardinal Nichols' trenchant criticism of the effects on communities of welfare changes is a powerful example of the role Church leaders can play and one to be applauded. The work of churches of all denominations and other faiths is also a great example of community cohesion. Our Muslim communities have a strong and abiding charitable tradition that mirrors that of the Christian tradition. So the example being set by Archbishop Longley and other faith groups in Birmingham offering the Muslim community solidarity is another example of the role Churches can play in fostering stronger communities.
Historically the link between faith and charity is strong and continues to be binding. Charitable giving is one of the core duties of a Christian. From early times the Church has encouraged and supported charities. Indeed many of the earliest charities were run directly by the Church. One of ACEVO's members, the CEO of St. John's Hospital in Bath, is running an institution set up by the monks and which, as they say, "through centuries of change (…) has remained true to its purpose. Founded in the 12th century it is still providing comfort in old age for those in need." Pope Innocent III in 1215 gave a letter of authorisation for the collection of alms, writing, "with works of great mercy and for the sake of things eternal so sow on earth what we should gather in heaven, The Lord returning it with increased fruit."
Many of our great national charities have their roots deep in the founding impetus of the Church; the children's charities: Barnado's, the Children's Society and Action for Children are cases in point. One of the earliest hospices in the country, St Joseph's in Hackney, was founded by the Sisters of the Poor. The work of the great international NGOs such as Caritas, Cafod and Christian Aid is sustained by the faithful and not simply through giving but through active support for their campaigning role; to mention just one example of that, "Make Poverty History".
So, at a time when the gap between the rich and the poor remains so large, we need a renewed sense of purpose between the Churches and charities in our common goal of giving voice to the voiceless. Similarly faith groups and charities continue their work in providing care and welfare services for those in need. Our role is growing as the State draws back from provision. Often this is because of an increasing understanding of the role of citizen and community focused charities, but also because the deep funding cuts demanded by austerity have eaten significantly into the safety net of our welfare state. That role will continue to grow and with it the much greater responsibilities that entailed. And as Archbishop Longley reminded ACEVO members in his speech to us, poverty encompasses so much more than just worldly goods. As he said, "poverty includes isolation, loneliness, fear in one's environment, being deprived of opportunities and lacking a voice". So we have that common purpose in delivering basic support and care as well as speaking out.
When the translators of the King James Bible were examining the Latin texts for the famous injunction of 1 Corinthians 13.13, there was much debate on the term "caritas". Modern translations use "love" but the King James scholars stuck to charity. Just a few years before they were deliberating, there was also debate on the role of charities which led to the great 1601 Statute of Elizabeth on Charitable Uses. I like to think they eschewed the use of "love" for charity as it is in charitable actions and approaches that we demonstrate the love we must have for one another and for God.
"And there abideth faith, hope, charity; these three, but the greatest of these is charity"
Speaking truth to power - or whispering?
Our sector is supposed to pride itself on its ability to "speak truth to power" but frankly at the moment you would be hard pressed to see many examples of it.
I was proud to be part of the marvellous coalition of organisations that fought the Lobbying Act and made such a change to it. We also worked closely with our colleagues to fight the nonsense of the contract gagging clauses that still lurk around Rob Wilson's in tray. But the reality is that the real threat to the sector is our own self-censorship.
In the big debates of the moment you would need to look hard to find the charity leaders' voice. On Brexit for example we took a craven line in the referendum debate and now are failing to effectively challenge the rise of xenophobia and hate crime. There are honourable exceptions of course, and the organisations promoting the cause of migrants and refugees is a great one, but by and large we have failed to come together to promote the tolerance and inclusivity that our sector espouses. Where for example was the voice of the sector denouncing the appalling "foreigner employees" speech of Amber Rudd?
Then we come to the horrendous crisis in our health and social care system. This strikes at the heart of where our sector has traditionally been active. Many, many third sector bodies are prominent in service delivery and advocacy. What is happening with the care of the frail elderly in hospitals around the country is scandalous. I have seen this at first hand with my father who has just spent over two months in hospital, where I have seen the strains on the system.
Chris Hopson, who speaks for NHS providers, has been a great example of someone prepared to tell the truth publicly about the crisis. On Monday we had Jeremy Hunt on the radio denying there is a problem and insisting that the planned cuts – so-called efficiency savings – will go ahead. This is disastrous, and anyone who knows what is happening in A&E or in the care system realises the need for more resources.
But where are the sector leaders in the media pointing out the crisis we face? Demanding action? There is a curious silence when we need a voice. Sometimes leaders think you work behind the scenes to get action and don't use the media. This is a wrong approach.
The media is an essential ally and a great negotiating tool. The media is not a nasty thing you wheel out when all else has failed. Politicians respond when they feel there is public pressure and concern. Thinking you can make change through discussion and meetings alone can be a flawed approach. A judicious use of media to give voice to genuine concern, to articulate what beneficiaries are experiencing and to demand action, is part of the process of getting action. Hopson has brilliantly shown how this is done by exploiting media on behalf of his NHS provider members whilst engaging seriously with them on solutions. Politicians and ministers, and therefore officials, respond when there is a crisis and you are there both demanding action publicly, and there to offer a solution. But they also need to fear you. A charity leader uses media to extract change because people trust us and listen to us and that is something many politicians don't have.
But there is a second and perhaps more fundamental reason why we need the media. A charity is not there simply to deliver a service or act as an agent of the State. Our beneficiaries want someone to champion them and articulate their concerns and demand change. They want to hear that. They want to see it. We are not simply there to work behind the scenes, necessary though that is as well, but to speak truth to power in a way that reassures our beneficiaries that we are on the case.
I'm afraid Theresa May is deeply unengaged in the current crisis and will not until she starts hearing us on Today or the front page of the Mail or top of the news. The NHS didn't do the pilots in A&E two years ago simply because I presented Government with a neat paper. They did it because they feared the damage a winter crisis could do. We have failed to capitalise on that. Never fall for the trap governments set when they tell you won't get anywhere if you go to the press. That secures compliance, not action.
I'm reflecting what I am seeing in the media and also on 15 years of working with politicians and getting results. When the Blair government wanted to make a major policy impact on charities, Number 10 was able to ignore many sector leaders. Those that were consulted – myself included – were those whose public backing was vital to success, and whose public opposition in the press could have been a serious thorn in the side. A charity leader needs to be in a position where they are too dangerous to ignore, and they can provide answers to sort major problems.
Bob Kerslake, former chief of the Home Civil Service, was quoted in Civil Society last week, pointing to the power of the sector and to remember we are more powerful than politicians. He sums up my position brilliantly:
"You have to stand apart and have an independent voice, and in my experience in government they respect those who stand up and challenge even if they don't like it. The worst thing you can be seen to do is cower in front of government because, eventually, they will get you."