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literary critique, literature, nonfiction, original fiction, thought piece

[posting] Theologizing Landscapes: the Rural and the Urban

For the past eight and a half years of my life, I have been living abroad in an Asian city of about nine million people. Upon returning home, I did not experience the usual reverse culture shock, except in regards to the breadth of the Canadian sky. There is something about the Ottawa summer sky that is so clear, so blue, and so wonderfully vast, that even with the presence of the usually puffy clouds, I felt overwhelmed. It was as if the heavens themselves were pressing down on me. After all, for almost nine years, my view of the sky had been mainly limited to the narrow gaps of periwinkle seen between and reflected by towering skyscrapers of a Chinese city.

Asia, overcrowded with massive populations totaling at least one-fifth of the entire globe’s population (if not more), hoards people within an increasingly vertical cityscape – an urban sprawl completely devoid of personally owned lots or homes… And I didn’t mind it so much, feeling that I was, after all, very much a city girl. However, not everyone benefits from a city lifestyle, and the movement from rural to urban which continues to this day around the world may challenge us and our notions of the good life and what role nature plays in human experience. Our commonly held narrative of the progress of mankind (from simple culture to complex civilization) with and through the attendant development(s) of/within technology, urbanization, and industrialization are often mediated through and identified with the binary spaces of rural and urban. However, I would argue that these spaces, when critiqued and theologized must be approached carefully in order to offer alternative interpretations of the human experience with the Divine as well as the characterization of the Divine itself. By looking at the movements of humanity from rural to urban and back, we can trace a path of understanding regarding what it means to be human and what the goal of humankind may entail.

The first stage, which I will call the Medieval Stage, encapsulates the history of humanity up to and including the medieval times (and the Renaissance, to a certain extent, as well) – up to the 1600s, at the latest. Moving from foraging and pastoral lifestyles to agricultural forms of living complete with villages, towns, and cities, mankind built fortifications as protection against the as yet unconquered environment. During this time, political and social upheaval around the globe as well as natural disasters encouraged mankind to fortify himself against very physical, yet personal danger. City schemas at this time incorporated protection for the rich and powerful in particular with some space set aside for protecting the lower masses. However, these protections were limited; much of the poor were marginalized to the outer limits of the city or outer limits of the lord’s fiefdom – placed in the fields to work. Gates within cities were porous at times, which allowed for some limited rich-poor interaction, yet for the most part, the poor were left to handle Nature’s whimsical dictates while the rich huddled in their houses and castles. Nature at this point in time was seen as untamed and wild and so barriers were raised to protect mankind against the wilderness of nature.

We can see examples of this very segregated view in early literature such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where the mead hall or Camelot respectively are seen as bastions of human community and social/cultural development while the outside world is filled with monsters (Grendel) or the Unknown (the Green Knight).

The poet of Beowulf describes the hall:

“It burned in his spirit
To urge his folk to found a great building,
A mead-hall grander than men of the era
He is eager to build a great hall in which he may feast his retainers
Ever had heard of, and in it to share
With young and old all of the blessings
The Lord had allowed him, save life and retainers.
Then the work I find afar was assigned
To many races in middle-earth’s regions,
To adorn the great folk-hall. In due time it happened
Early ’mong men, that ’twas finished entirely,
The greatest of hall-buildings; Heorot he named it
The hall is completed, and is called Heort, or Heorot.
Who wide-reaching word-sway wielded ’mong earlmen.
His promise he brake not, rings he lavished,
Treasure at banquet. Towered the hall up
High and horn-crested, huge between antlers:
It battle-waves bided, the blasting fire-demon;
Ere long then from hottest hatred must sword-wrath
Arise for a woman’s husband and father” (l. 15-32)

However, despite being a monument to human ingenuity and culture, this hall is invaded by an evil spirit – Grendel.

“this horrible stranger2
Was Grendel entitled, the march-stepper famous
Who3 dwelt in the moor-fens, the marsh and the fastness;
The wan-mooded being abode for a season
In the land of the giants, when the Lord and Creator
Had banned him and branded. For that bitter murder,
The killing of Abel, all-ruling Father
Cain is referred to as a progenitor of Grendel, and of monsters in general.
The kindred of Cain crushed with His vengeance;
In the feud He rejoiced not, but far away drove him
From kindred and kind, that crime to atone for,
Meter of Justice.”

So, not only does Grendel get linked to Cain, he is also an abandoned, socially marginalized person/monster whose domain is that of the outside world – within the dark version of Nature.

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Arthur and the Round Table are celebrating in their hall.

“These were worthily served on the daïs, and at the lower tables sat many valiant knights. Then they bare the first course with the blast of trumpets and waving of banners, with the sound of drums and pipes, of song and lute, that many a heart was uplifted at the melody. Many were the dainties, and rare the meats, so great was the plenty they might scarce find room on the board to set on the dishes. Each helped himself as he liked best, and to each two were twelve dishes, with great plenty of beer and wine.” [Translation, original below in Original Works, Section 1]

And then the Green Knight enters and challenges them.

“As the sound of the music ceased, and the first course had been fitly served, there came in at the hall door one terrible to behold, of stature greater than any on earth; from neck to loin so strong and thickly made, and with limbs so long and so great that he seemed even as a giant. And yet he was but a man, only the mightiest that might mount a steed; broad of chest and shoulders and slender of waist, and all his features of like fashion; but men marvelled much at his colour, for he rode even as a knight, yet was green all over.” [Translation, original below in Original Works, Section 2]

Both of these classic examples show the tempestuous relationship between man and Nature, how civilization and culture were part of the process of man’s dominion over land, and how, from without, a threat lies to challenge man’s development. These medieval perceptions of nature, we must understand, stem from the fact that Europe was heavily wooded for great periods of time leading up to the 1400s. These great forests posed a threat to villagers and travelers alike. According to my medieval professor, the Vikings metaphorized the unknown quality of life before birth and after death as being similar to that of a swallow flying into and out of a longhouse or barn. Darkness and uncertainty lie at either end; all that we can know is the bright lit areas that are our lives.

This correlation of darkness and the Unknown Outside to the forces of nature continued in other forms of literature classics which revisited Medieval Models of Man-Nature Relationships. Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia in the Hall of Meduseld, the city of Gondor, Helms Deep, Cair Paravel, Miraz’s Castle, and Tashbaan, show medieval archetypes of man’s civilization and authority versus the uncertainty of the wildernesses that surround them. Even in children’s literature, such as The Secret Garden and The Enchanted Castle, explore wonderfully complex medieval schemas of man-made and natural spaces. I would argue that Tolkien, Lewis, Burnett, and Nesbitt all complicate notions of Nature as unknown and dangerous within medieval settings because they, as products of the Industrial Revolution, were coming to grips with the dangers of absolute human control over the environment.

The second stage, which I will call the Modern Stage, encapsulates the Industrial (and Scientific) Revolution up to and including the 40s, maybe as late as the 50s. Moving from simple agricultural forms of living complete with villages, towns, and cities to industrial and service based economies with increasingly great metropolises, mankind removed most physical fortifications due to increasing control over the environment. During this time, political and social upheaval continued (arguably increased) as danger became a purview of semi-controllable, long-distance, impersonal attacks – planes, bombs, etc. Natural disasters continued, but science and technology appeared to be able to allow for better and more efficacious response times. City schemas at this time revolved around highly developed “downtowns”, where commerce and the market flourished. The outer rim of the city was (seemingly naturally) segregated into sections dividing the classes (upper, middle, and lower) with a humanist, progressivist aim to end poverty, increase life expectancy, and aid humanity in general. However, although factories and business did bring people of a variety of class and races together, porous interactions within the urban led to opportunism (from both sides), crime, and an investment in materialist principles. Nature, in the process of being fully conquered through scientific understanding and technological advancement, was seen as a resource which should be harnessed. Europe, now mostly denuded of its forest, was particularly seen as advanced versus other colonies around the world (the Americas, parts of Asia, Africa, and Australia), which were seen as the last vestiges of Nature’s hold. As a result, nature, now domesticated, became a sacralized space similar to Eden; while the city became the new source of danger.

We can see examples of coming to grips with the world of the city and the world of nature in Dickens’s narratives, like Oliver Twist, whose eponymous protagonist becomes entangled in the corrupt urban and is rescued within the natural countryside.

The urban versus rural landscape and the metaphors they provide for sanity, purity, and progress is very clear in Oliver Twist, which you may read in detail in this blog post I wrote recently. I would say that Dickens stands on the cusp of Modern and Postmodern in that he definitely calls into question the progressivism of human culture as represented by the urban. Yet, I would also argue that Oliver’s salvation does not come from untamed Nature, but the domesticated Nature of the English countryside which has once again become inhabited by upper and middle classes. As I wrote in my blog, “The Uncanny Landscape”:

“We are introduced to London initially in Chapter 8, which comprises of Oliver’s escape from the Sowerberrys to the city. The first description of the area to which Oliver is introduced does not present itself well. “A dirtier or more wretched place he had never seen. The street was very narrow and muddy; and the air was impregnated with filthy odours” (47). It continues on to describe not only the environment but the people who dwell therein, equally foul and unwanted. Although Brownlow walks these same streets (in Chapter 10), there are places the gentleman either is not acquainted with or does not recognize, such as Fagin’s contact on Field Lane (153). This portrayal links to a later representation of the city as a labyrinth (92), a maze of darkness which is only one step, one corner, away from respectability. On a more immediate level, homes and houses within this precarious world are also represented as corrupt or uncertain. The first deathbed Oliver visits with Mr. Sowerberry shows the architectural disintegration of the city (and social welfare), as the houses are described as “insecure from age and decay”, “crazy dens”, “stagnant and filthy”, and “putrefying in its rottenness” (30). Fagin’s house likewise portrays a darkness that is both physical and metaphorical, highlighting how Fagin’s deeds, ambitions, and machinations are cloaked in shadow. Fagin’s house is repeatedly described as being dark or not being well lit (48, 160). Oliver notes that “that a long time ago, before the old Jew was born, it had belonged to better people, and had perhaps been quite gay and handsome: dismal and dreary as it looked now” (108). Dickens appears to be noting how the desperate living of the lower classes were physically exemplified in the city in the form of abysmal street and housing conditions.” I then juxtapose Oliver’s experiences in the city to that of the countryside. “Although the countryside through the atmospheric conditions of weather and the emotional conditions of particular scenes render the familiar unfamiliar (and thereby invoking the uncanny) on occasion (171-172); in general, the suburban life of the middle-class is painted in very good terms. Brownlow’s study is quite homey – “a little back room, quite full of books: with a window, looking into some pleasant little gardens” (80). Dickens rhapsodizes about middle-class life when describing Oliver’s stay at the Maylies’ house: “Who can describe the pleasure and delight: the peace of mind and soft tranquility: the sickly boy felt in the balmy air, and among the green hills and rich woods, of an inland village!” (198). Chapter 32 through 33 describes a kind of paradisiacal home, where Oliver has his own small room and a study nook as well. His study nook is described as “quite a cottage-room, with a lattice-window: around which were clusters of jessamine and honeysuckle, that crept over the casement, and filled the place with their delicious perfume. […] the prospect it commanded was very extensive” (213). This extensiveness of view combined with the natural, sweet perfumes of flowers is a direct contrast to the repeated “narrowness” of streets and houses in London which are odorous as well. It is no surprise then that Oliver flourishes emotionally and mentally as well as physically (199-200, 212-213).”

This classical example shows the way in which the urban plays a part in and reveals the processes of advancement AND corruption within society. Nature may hold a capacity for uncertainty (the uncanny landscape during the post-robbery chase in Oliver Twist), but it also remains a site for healing and purity. The modern perceptions of the natural process of man’s development most likely has roots within humanism, which began with the Greeks and Romans, was rediscovered in the Renaissance, and found its height (and depths) in the Enlightenment (and ensuing French Revolution). From this idea of man’s progress came other rationalist, materialist, and secularist ideas as theorized by Paine, Rousseau, Darwin, and Freud. As humans began to discover cures and create a better life through the increase of conveniences, it is no wonder that people began to find it easier to believe that man was moving from simple to complex – and that the subjugation of Earth (Biblically supported as well) was inevitable and desirable.

The exploration of the urban gothic, the sacralized natural space, the quiet threat of marginal nature, and the exploration of human identity in terms of conquering and corruption can be seen in many writers, even to this day. Canadian author, Susannah Moodie, explored the push-pull of civilization and the wilderness in Roughing It in the Bush. In Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the spoiling of the Shire is a lesson about how industrialism destroys the beautiful simplicity of agricultural, communal societies – and how those natural communal spaces may be reclaimed. Other famous novels, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Sayers’s Murder Must Advertise, explore the effect of the material urban life on its inhabitants – how moral corruption is hidden within the upper and middle classes as much as it proliferates in the criminal underworld. Even modern day dystopians, like the Blade Runner series (the original and 2049), link technology to a new form of human experience, which is complicated by marginalization and isolation through/despite the advancements of technology. Therefore, I would argue that despite the popularity of progressivist ideologies, the World Wars (and other ensuing wars and the revelation of Communist genocide, as well as Nietzsche’s horrific revelation regarding God’s death) brought progressivism and human exceptionalism into question as well as the effect of materialism on human experience.

The third stage, which I will call the Postmodern Stage, encapsulates the 40s and 50s up until today. Moving from an industry-focused economy to primarily service and technology based economies with even more increasingly great metropolises, cities have become more porous and sprawling. During this time, political and social upheaval continues with danger (physical or long-distance) being more centered on major city centers in the West (acts of terrorism, bombs, school shootings, etc). City schemas at this time have become increasingly decentralized, where commerce and the market flourish in fragmentations as the middle zone of the city has become the new fragmented downtown. In some cases, the disintegration of the downtown areas become quite extreme, having lost funding for development or succumbing to less “productive” interests (ghetto or criminal elements). For other “successful” cities (like New York), the downtown of the city becomes a place for city image to propagate – a site for commerce and consumerism at higher economic levels. The outer rim of the city now sprawling into the countryside creates the “suburban” lifestyle that promotes a “return to nature”. Factories, now dismantled or abandoned, have moved overseas, allowing for the West to recover or preserve large parts of Nature. Nature, now seen as fully conquered through scientific understanding and technological advancement (apart from the occasional hurricane, tsunami, or earthquake), is seen as something to be preserved, cultivated, and carefully harnessed with long-term stability in mind. Only the backwoods of certain American states and the northern reaches of Canada’s southern provinces provide any real sense of danger or vulnerability for the human as technology and science increases their dominion over the physical world through roads, automobiles, and the internet. In response, the countryside, seen as free from crime, quiet, peaceful, “natural”, and healthy, has become a new site to which the rich/aspiring rich retire.

Roots for this stage began in earnest during the Modern Stage as poets and writers pushed back against the excesses and exploitations of the Industrial Revolution. The Romantic Movement, formed from poets such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Blake sought a return to nature a source of social and spiritual renew. Wordsworth’s famous poem “I Wander Lonely as a Cloud” is a great example with the last stanza saying:

“For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”

Other Christian poets, like the Catholic poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, finds within nature (and mankind) a form of God’s divinity. In “As kingfishers catch fire”, he suggests the divine nature of God within his Creation (both man, animal, plant, and man’s secondary creations) ought to reveal itself to us and so prompt us to treat each other and the world with more love and respect. Surprisingly, this movement toward nature was noted on in popular literature as well. I found Agathe Christie’s mystery story Sparkling Cyanide (or Remembered Death) to be an interesting peek into how and why the rich shifted from the ancient seats of safety to the outer world of nature. An observation is made of Ruth, the secretary: “Ruth also in black with no ornament save one jewelled clip.  Her raven black hair smooth and lying close to her head, her neck and arms very white – whiter than those of the other women. Ruth was a working girl, she had no long leisured ease in which to acquire sun tan” (135). In other words, health and leisure activity is related to being outdoors and enjoying nature.

Both of these examples show the interconnectedness of Man and Nature. Although civilization, culture, and industry promised better life for humankind through the processes of controlling the external world and expanding man’s knowledge, in the end, Nature revealed itself to be integral to a healthy human experience of life. Surrounded by the sludge and smog of mankind’s “progress”, it is no wonder that people began to question the efficacy of technology as a primary mediator for human experience. Tolkien, one such writer, grew up in Birmingham (a manufacturing city), and watched with horror as the city swallowed up the natural world about it. He is said to have grieved over the loss of trees in particular – and his fears for the natural world were aptly brought to life by Jackson’s scene of the ruination of Isengard at the hands of the industrial-minded, corrupt Saruman.

The connection of health with nature is the primary reason for the movement of the affluent back to the countryside and Nature. We can see this in simple pop culture images: Daredevil‘s Fisk and The Defender‘s Alexander are posed in gardens, talking and strategizing, and both are linked to “high” culture – art and music, respectively. In the 2017 Ghost in the Shell remake, the Major discovers that she used to belong to (what essentially amounted to) Luddite group which lived in a wild part of the futuristic city, in a pagoda next to a large tree. The antagonist, a rich CEO, ends up dying in his jungle garden. Aeon Flux‘s setting, a kind of dystopia/utopia, appears to be a perfect blend of nature and urban, but just as the nature is a product of over-control, so too is the human experience within Bregna. In retrospect, then, one can see how evil and danger, for large parts of human history, appeared to exist outside the agency or purview of humanity – as it manifested itself through nature. Nature still shows itself capable of bringing mankind to its knees as seen by the horrific (and long-lasting) effects of the Honshuu-Sendai Earthquake of 2011; however, despite his attempt at control over the dangers of Nature, humanity came to realize that evil and danger could also reside and grow from within – from within human effort for progress.

Yeats’s poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, symptomatic of much of his poetry, finds spirituality and restoration in nature. As aforementioned, Hopkins’s poetry, a little more nuanced, supplements Yeats’s ideas with the concept of finding God in humanity and nature itself, particularly in his work “As kingfishers catch fire”. These poems bring us to the great question: what can a Christian find the urban, the rural, and the movements between the two? Is the rural pure nature – a picture of God where we can feel closer to Him? Or is He to be found in the urban spaces as well? I would argue for both.

God in Nature is a primal force within human life, history, and personal experience. This is not the essence of God in a pantheistic sense, but seeing Nature as another canvas for God’s personality to shine forth. Scientifically and artistically, as I gaze at the natural world, whether it be a flower, an ant colony, or a supermassive black hole, I am amazed at the complexity and design of it all… and looking beyond, I understand that God is loving, orderly, rational, and terrifying. How can the same person who made a butterfly also allow for pulsars? These powerful moments, I believe, are touched upon most openly in what we call the Books of Poetry and Wisdom.

“I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor[b]?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has[c] rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
17 They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
24 Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
(Job 41)

Of course, quite a few songwriters have picked up on these forms of praise, my favorite being Ortega’s “Creation Song”.

“He wraps Himself in light
As with a garment,
He spreads out the heavens
And walks on the wings of the wind.
He sends forth the springs
From the valleys
They flow between mountains.
The birds of the air dwell
By the waters,
Lifting their voices in song.”

It is no wonder then that writers and poets have always pictured Eden as a garden. God, after all, expressed Himself through the creation of the world. Yet, his final and most special act of creation was forming man out of the dust and breathing into him a different kind of being.

In this sense, God in Man is a particularly special force within our lives. Secondary creation, Tolkien suggested, pointed toward God (Tree and Leaf). In this sense, our art, our communities, our economic structures, our architecture in their basic essences point to something of the Divine. It is, of course, not perfect, but neither is it unnatural. In a sense, cities are a form of development and progress which God had instilled in us at the beginning when He commanded Adam to have dominion over the Earth. Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 1 states:

15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. 18 As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them. 19 When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

Although many people have viewed Ezekiel’s vision as metaphorical, I always wondered if perhaps he was attempting to describe something that does exist. If the cherubim and seraphim are in fact real, then their workings and connections to movement, etc, as well as multiple references in Revelation to a various sites which are constructed of incredibly constructed with a variety of materials including diamond, crystal, and gems. These kinds of visions point to a sense of God Himself as the ultimate (organic) technician with as much capacity for technology (microchips and all) as we are. There is nothing that we have created that is a surprise to Him. In the same way we smile with pride at our children as they learn how to draw wobbly circles or read aloud, I think God is proud of what we have discovered, even if sin has destroyed the motivations, aims, and exploitations of such knowledge and accomplishments.

That being said, I would argue that dichotomizing the urban and the rural as being either good or bad is dangerous because both speak to an understanding not only of ourselves and our places within the cosmos – as both being vulnerable wayfarers and knowledgeable dominioneers, but also of how God’s Personhood is made manifest in multiple ways.

Section 1
“Þise were di3t on þe des, & derworþly serued,
& siþen mony siker segge at þe sidborde3.
Þen þe first cors come with crakkyng of trumpes,
Wyth mony baner ful bry3t, þat þer-bi henged,
Nwe nakryn noyse with þe noble pipes,
Wylde werbles & wy3t wakned lote,
Þat mony hert ful hi3e hef at her towches;
Dayntes dryuen þer-wyth of ful dere metes,
Foysoun of þe fresche, & on so fele disches,
Þat pine to fynde þe place þe peple bi-forne
For to sette þe syluener,1 þat sere sewes halden,
on clothe;
Iche lede as he loued hym-selue
Þer laght with-outen loþe,
Each two had dishes twelve,
Ay two had disches twelue,
good beer and bright wine both.
Good ber, & bry3t wyn boþe.” (l. 116-129)

Section 2
“For vneþe wat3 þe noyce not a whyle sesed,
& þe fyrst cource in þe court kyndely serued,
Þer hales in at þe halle dor an aghlich mayster,
On þe most on þe molde on mesure hyghe;
Fro þe swyre to þe swange so sware & so þik,
& his lyndes & his lymes so longe & so grete,
Half etayn in erde I hope þat he were.
Bot mon most I algate mynn hym to bene,
& þat þe myriest in his muckel þat my3t ride;
For of bak & of brest al were his bodi sturne,
Bot his wombe & his wast were worthily smale,
& alle his fetures fol3ande, in forme þat he hade,
ful clene;
For wonder of his hwe men hade,
Set in his semblaunt sene;
He ferde as freke were fade,
& ouer-al enker grene.” (134-150)

Anonymous. Beowulf. Gutenberg, 2018.

Anonymous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gutenberg, 2018.

Anonymous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by .

Christie, Agathe.  Sparkling Cyanide. Ed: designed by Correy. HarperCollins Publishers, 1945.

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Penguin Books, 2002.

Ezekiel 1.” The Bible. The Bible Gateway, 2018.

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “As kingfishers catch fire.” Poetry Foundation, 2018.

Job 41.” The Bible. The Bible Gateway, 2018.

Naeem, Muhammed. “The Romantic Movement as a ‘Return to Nature’”. NeoEnglishSystem, 2010.

Ortega, Fernando. Creation Song. FlashLyrics, 2018.

Wordsworth”. Poetry Foundation, 2018.

Wordsworth, William. “I Wander Lonely as a Cloud.” Poetry Foundation, 2018.

Yeats, William Butler. “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Poetry Foundation, 2018.

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June 8, 2021

Pearl PD needs help identifying cars involved with theft

Gabbi Ferreri

On May 6, 2021, the Pearl Police Department received a complaint from the tenant of a storage complex stating that his camper was stolen. Investigators discovered that a Gray Dodge Durango entered the property on 4/22/21 at approximately 12:00 PM and stole the camper.

On May 14, 2021, officers were again dispatched to the same storage unit for a theft. Investigators discovered this time a Skeeter fishing boat had been stolen. After investigating further it was found a Maroon Ford F-250 entered the premises at 8:30 AM on the same date and stole the boat.

It is believed the same individual(s) are responsible for both thefts.

If you have any information regarding the thefts, please contact Pearl Police Department at (601)939-7000, email us at criminal.investigations@cityofpearl.com, or if you’d like to remain anonymous call Crimestoppers at (601)355 TIPS (8477) or use your mobile device or computer to submit a tip by going to www.P3tips.com.

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in ,

Clones Audio announce Asher DAC

  • 2014 was the year Hong Kong’s Clones Audio successfully commercialised 47Labs’ Gaincard circuit, around which founder ‘Funjoe’ built his boutique hi-fi manufacturing company. The 25i integrated – about which this reviewer penned commentary for TONEAudio – begat a power amplifier version of the same (25P), which was then split into monoblocks (25PM and 55PM). Then came a remote controllable revision of the integrated (25iR) and a pre-amplifier (AP2). Clones Audio also offer a phono pre-amplifier (PA1).

    That’s a healthy number of product introductions for an eighteen-month window.

    But it doesn’t end there. In February of last year came the ‘reference’ Sheva DAC at €1799. Srajan Ebaen’s 6moons review of the same can be eyeballed here. “Where the Sheva comes into its own is with systems short on weightiness and relaxation. It’s a body builder, not an accellerator, separator, dynamicator or high-definitator,” he wrote. “It’s also perfectly matched to Funjoe’s AP1/55pm separates where it plays to the home-crowd advantage.”

    Look to the Clones Audio website today however and you won’t find the Sheva listed. Supplanting it already is the all-new Asher DAC.

    Named after Funjoe’s son, the Asher is Clones Audio pushing back on its previous commitment to affordability and aiming up market.

    It’s somewhat similar in design to the Sheva with 4 x ESS Labs Sabre ESS9018 per channel but improvements have been made to the output stage regulators and a Femto clock added. Separate toroidals feed the Asher’s analogue and digital sections.

    The Sheva had balanced outputs but the Asher doesn’t; it’s single-ended only.

    From its SIX (!) digital inputs – USB, optical, i2S, coaxial, BNC and AES/EBU – comes support for up to 384kHz PCM and quad-rate DSD. However, as per their bandwidth limitations, S/PDIF inputs top out at 192kHz PCM.

    The front panel display points to this converter’s remote control. (Defeatable) 32-bit digital volume attenuation, phase toggling and display brightness are each selectable from the listening position.

    The Asher is already listed in Clones Audio’s online store for territories not already served by a distributor proper. Pricing comes in at HK$17500. At today’s rates, that’s around US$2250 and a few hundred lighter than the Sheva.

    Cardas GRFA-S RCA sockets are an Asher build-time option for an additional HK$300 (~US$40).

    Further information: Clones Audio

    Written by John Darko

    John currently lives in Berlin where he creates videos and podcasts and pens written pieces for Darko.Audio. He has also contributed to 6moons, TONEAudio, AudioStream and Stereophile.

    Darko.Audio is a member of EISA.

    Follow John on YouTube or Instagram

    Sennheiser 280 Pro headphones w/ Zu Audio Mobius

    Down in a vinyl and streaming world: the compact disc


text:
Banana og

Strain Name: Banana og

Grade: A

Type: sativa

Looks: Nice Flower

Smell: Stinky

Taste: Very Excellent

Effects:Takes you high for couple of hours

Potency: 10/10

Good Strain For: cancer, pains, Eye problem, appetite, sleeping problem,Nausea/vomiting,Relaxing, hunger, stress,Daytime use, insomnia, brain problem, body- alleviates depressed states, anxiety, Seizure and PSTD, nausea etc.

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text:
Stages Dash Public Feature Request Log

A place to request Dash features for the Stages development team.

Di2 and SRAM eTap Shifting Integration

Add shifter integration so i can view current gear, set the gear types, adjust shift modes, and adjust trim

  • Guest
  • Mar 11 2019
  • Planned
  • Attach files
  • Guest commented
    13 Apr 03:56pm

    Since the buttons are so difficult to use on this head unit I think Di2 Integration is a must. Please update us on the status of Di2 integration. Almost every single other head unit can do this, frankly, it's frustrating that Dash cannot. Add to the fact that you put every decent feature behind a $20/mo. paywall.

    For shame, ya'll.

  • K B commented
    15 Dec, 2020 07:49pm

    If the developer is reading it possible to integrate the planned GoPro (start/stop video) to this? It would be great if we could program a hood button to start and stop GoPro recording.

  • K B commented
    14 Dec, 2020 03:38pm

    I just want to be able to:

    1. Use my shifter buttons to start/stop a lap and to change pages

    2. Monitor Di2 battery level

    What is the status of this?

  • Bruce Beee commented
    7 Aug, 2020 06:57am

    EPS gear ratio integration would be great, as would battery level

  • R R commented
    24 Jul, 2020 06:49am

    what is the status on this idea? I read at another topic that this would be delivered after varia integration. That’s done, so what can we expect?

  • Jason Johnson commented
    18 Dec, 2019 01:26am

    I see this as planned as of March 11, 2019. Well it’s December 2019. Any ideas when this will be come a reality?

  • tfk the5krunner commented
    9 Dec, 2019 03:07pm

    defer to @RohanMartin,

    the Dash buttons are not great. adding di2 button control would aid usability as might di2 battery indication metrics

    pretty gear selection metrics would be nice but i guess not that useful

  • Guest commented
    29 Jul, 2019 08:49am

    Consider adding ANT+ before Private ANT Di2. Private ANT adds a bunch of complexity. It's easy to break reconnecting all ANT+ sensors. Let me know when you get on to this and I can share how to deal with the issues (I did this exact work for Wahoo and Sigma).

  • Guest commented
    8 Jul, 2019 10:55am

    My favorite Di2 feature on the Edge 520 was being able to see what gear I was in.  It would also beep when I shifted into either my biggest or smallest gear so even if I wasn't looking at my screen I would know if I had run out of gears.  This saves having to look down at the rear cassette to see which gear you are in.  It made it easier to know when to shift the front chain ring up or down.  When climbing, mentally it is good to know how many gears you have left so again it is easier to just look at the Edge rather than the cassette.  The Edge allows you select from pre-configured cassettes (ie 11/25, 11/28, 11/30) and chain rings (39/52, 36/52, 34/50) or you could also configure them manually.  I think that the majority of people would use one of the pre-configured options so I'd rate the manual configuration as 'Nice to Have' rather than 'Must Have'.  The Edge could also show your gear ratio but I never used that.

  • Guest commented
    2 Jul, 2019 02:06am

    Also enable Di2 battery level to be viewed on the Dash and control the Dash using the 'hidden' buttons on the top of Di2 shifters.

  • +8


text:
The Consumer Data Research Centre is the UK's leading source of consumer data, part of the ESRC's Big Data Programme. We offer data under three tiers: Open, Safeguarded and Secure. Access to Safeguarded/Secure data is through a reviewed application process. Secure data is accessed through our labs in London and Liverpool, or remotely through UCL's Data Safe Haven.

To download our Open datasets, and to apply for Safeguarded/Secure datasets, we ask users to create an account on CDRC Data. This allows us to better understand the impact of our research, and aggregated user statistics are part of our funder's reporting requirements.


text:
Manufacturer: Embraer
Type: EMB-312 Tucano
Serial No: 31400108
Operator: Brazilian Air Force

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Manufacturer: Cessna
Type: Cessna 208 Caravan 1
Serial No: 208B2123
Operator: Brazilian Air Force
Country:  Brazil
ModeS: E48443

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text:
Inpatient multidimensional psychiatric data set

This data set has been originally published in:

Hedeker D. and Gibbons R.D. (1996) A computer program for mixed-effects ordinal regression analysis. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 49, 157-176.

These data are from the National Institute of Mental Health Schizophrenia Collaborative Study and are available here. Patients were randomized to receive one of four medications, either placebo or one of three different anti-psychotic drugs. The protocol indicated subjects were to then be evaluated at weeks 0, 1, 3, 6 to assess severity of illness; additionally some measurements were made at weeks 2, 4, and 5. The primary outcome is item 79 on the Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric.
Scale which indicates severity of illness. We will analyze imps79o which is an ordinally scaled version of the original variable imps79 which has the following interpretation

1 and 2 1 (not ill or borderline)
3 and 4 2 (not ill or borderline)
5 3 (markedly)
6 and 7 4 (severely or most extremely ill)

Predictor variables of interest are TxDrug a dummy coded variable indicating treatment with drug or placebo. Below is an extract of the data set:

The columns have the following meaning:

One can see on the following figure the evolution of the IMPSo with respect to time on both treated patients and patients with placebo.


text:
Israeli-German film ‘The Cakemaker’ a delicious look at a love triangle

Sarah Adler and Tim Kalkhof star in “The Cakemaker,” a story about a love triangle in which one member is deceased. Photo: Strand Releasing

There’s much to savor in “The Cakemaker,” a German-Israeli co-production offering a story that could have been melodramatic or sentimental, but in the hands of first-time filmmaker Ofir Raul Graizer is genuinely affecting.

Essentially a depiction of a love triangle in which one member is deceased, the movie is deliberately paced and told with restraint.  There’s an air of sadness about it, but one that’s worn lightly.

Thomas (Tim Kalkhof) is a talented pastry maker in Berlin. Among his regular customers is Israeli businessman Oren (Roy Miller), who buys Thomas’ cinnamon cookies to take back to his family in Jerusalem. The men begin an affair during Oren’s visits, until Oren drops out of touch.

Learning that his lover has died in a car crash, Thomas soon takes off for Jerusalem, for reasons that the taciturn baker never spells out.  He hangs around the coffee shop operated by Oren’s widow, Anat (Sarah Adler), without identifying himself.  Recognizing his talents – he makes a mean Black Forest cake, in addition to the cookies – she hires him to bake for her.

This angers her deeply religious brother-in-law, who is terse with this German outsider, and warns that Thomas’ presence in the kitchen could cost the cafe its kosher certification. Anat is not religious, and business is good as a result of the baker’s skill, so she wants to keep him around. Besides, she’s started growing fond of him, though he keeps mostly to himself, and has adopted a deferential persona.

Writer-director Graizer shows us enough of Thomas plying his considerable skills to impress even non-foodie viewers. These scenes are entertaining, but secondary to the movie’s larger concerns, which focus on the consequences of Thomas’ decision to keep quiet about the past, and Anat’s slowly closing in on the truth.

In making us care about the quiet and slightly melancholic Thomas, Kalkhof shows considerable skill.  The character’s loneliness is never too far from the surface, but not overplayed. Though he never spells it out, it’s clear that his proximity to Anat is important for tempering the loss of Oren. The always appealing Adler is also quite good, in a role that certainly allows her to show more range than Kalkhof.

Graizer take his time and never feels the need to spell everything out, and “The Cakemaker” is a testament to what filmmakers can achieve when they trust the audience.

MThe Cakemaker: Starring Tim Kalkhof, Sarah Adler, Roy Miller. Directed by Ofir Raul Graizer. In Hebrew, German and English, with English subtitles. (Not rated.  113 minutes.)

  • Walter Addiego
    Walter Addiego Walter Addiego is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:


text:
Jumanji (2017)

On the already determined Jumanji release date, Columbia Pictures present an up-to-date adaptation of the famous and beloved story, with Dwayne Johnson leading the acting cast. By the way, other actors complete the main performance crew:

  • Kevin Hart
  • Karen Gillan
  • Madison Iseman
  • Ser’Darius Blane
  • Jack Black
  • Alex Wolff
  • Rhys Darby
  • Morgan Turner
  • Tim Matheson
  • Marc Evan Jackson

Jumanji (2017) Promo
The companies behind the production are Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The fantasy movie is shot according to the screenplay penned by Scott Rosenberg. The principal photography started in September 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The interesting question remains the following: will the original story be changed somehow? And if yes, in what way can it be altered, specifically? The 1995 flick was of great quality and had a strong success level. In any case, it would be a kind of a tribute to Robbin Williams, a brilliant actor and a kind man, who died in 2014.

Plot Summary

At the center of the story, there are four teenagers who find themselves in Jumanji’s world. They need to survive among those rhinos, black mambas and an endless variety of jungle traps and puzzles, in order to return to the real world.
They should take on roles from the Jumanji game: Bethany turns to a bookworm professor; Spencer becomes a brave explorer; Martha starts her experience as an amazonian warrior; meanwhile, Fridge becomes a tiny genius.
Jumanji (2017) Cast
They are destined to start accepting things in an entirely another way when embarking on this adventure against their will.

Release Next Year

According to the current state of affairs, the premiere is planned for December 2017. So in a year, the revamped story hits theaters throughout the world. This cannot but please the audiences that look forward to the revamped story, though many of them are skeptical about it.
The question is whether it will replicate the success of the previous flick, at least. There are some doubts concerning this, as it is not frequent when the new version is better than the original one. In any case, we will be able to make certain conclusions only after the debut next year. Stay tuned with our service for news if you are eager to follow this project!

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text:
With us in the temptations…

Don’t fear times of trial and testing.  Don’t fear the wilderness.  God knows what you can handle and won’t let you be pushed beyond that (1 Cor 10:13).  He wants to use those times to grow you in many ways (James 1:1-4).  Remember that He will be with you in the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4), and you, in Christ, never are forced to sin (Romans 6:12-14).  Christ has already walked through the temptation (Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 4, and Hebrews 4:14-16), and He will help us (Hebrews 4:16).

– Mark 1:12-13

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text:
davidd (davidd) wrote,

How Is This Being Allowed To Happen?

I posted this to another forum, in response to a post about beaches being closed in Sydney, Australia. I may as well put it here, too. Kinda like writing my own epitaph is what it feels like:

Here in the States, the "most liberal and progressive" states, all with Democrat leadership - California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois - now have both the highest rates of infection and the most stringent lock-downs in place. Mandatory stay-at-home orders enforced by surveillance drones and the police, with the National Guard (military) on stand-by alert. I cannot believe the American people are standing for this. Every day the restrictions everywhere become more extreme. All businesses, other than medical businesses, are essentially shut down.

Official estimates put the newly unemployed number at 2-million. But all the restaurants are closed, with the exception of small take-out operations being allowed in some areas. I looked up the numbers. There are more than 15-million people employed in the restaurant industry alone, and that does not include restaurant suppliers or related support services. It would not surprise me if the actual unemployment numbers are between 20- and 30-million. These are all people who will, within weeks, fall behind in their mortgages or face eviction from their rental apartments, see their credit ratings destroyed as they begin to miss credit card payments, and soon stop paying their utility bills. Certainly, the government will step in to bail out the card-issuing banks and the insolvent utility companies, but all the people will be homeless, broke, and be ineligible for credit. Longer term, this means total disaster for auto makers and the real estate market.

I'm waiting for someone to convince me that this is not a huge conspiracy on the part of an elite global cabal to transfer most of the wealth of the world in to the hands of a tiny few and essentially reduce most of us to impoverished servitude.

All this to save a relatively small group of "at risk" persons, the aged with pre-existing health concerns. That's the messaging the governments are using - "are you willing to kill your grandmother through your selfishness," the broadcast media keep repeating - to ramp up the fear and guilt to keep everyone in line. And thus far, it is working. Worldwide, so it seems.

International air travel has been shut down. Local public transportation has been shut down. I expect roadblocks any day. And soon enough, once the people in power begin to sense growing unrest, I have no doubt the Internet will go dark. "The bandwidth is needed for medical and emergency services use," will be the excuse, and everyone will comply. (Internet service has already been shut down in Kashmir, Myanmar, and Ethiopia.)

Social engineering theorists are having a field day with this, espousing theories and plans, none of which, not a one, factor in the devastation those plans and theories would have for the "average working-class Joe," the restaurant waiters, the grocery market clerks, the barbers and the auto shop mechanics, the people who hold society together.

According to this lofty high-thinker, it's already too late for the United States, but Australia should soon be able to resume trade with China.

I have no hope at this point. None.

Petty bureaucrats are closing beaches here in the States as well. And they have the public at large convinced that it's "for their safety" and for the "protection of the vulnerable." It's all a lie. A huge, evil lie.

It's about power and control.

Marijuana dispensaries have been declared "necessary services" so they can remain open. My spouse has long been saying that the legalization effort has been driven by the intent to keep people complacent and compliant. I now believe that assessment. It certainly seems to be right.

Forty-million people under lockdown in California alone. And they're all, apparently, going along with it. If there is unrest, the media are not reporting it. I do not believe they will. Part of the strategy is to enforce compliance by giving the impression that everyone is unquestioningly compliant.

On a personal level, I have absolutely zero fear of the coronavirus, but I am absolutely terrified by what is happening around the world, and how quietly and obediently people everywhere are going along with it. This is an exercise in propaganda and social engineering on a scale almost too vast to imagine, which is probably part of the reason people are so blind to what is happening. It is simply too big to be believable.

I've never been a "conspiracy theorist" before – well, tongue-in-cheek, maybe, but never seriously – but to me, this seems blatant and obvious.

But what can we do? What can we do?
Tags: cabal, conspiracy theory, coronavirus, global terror

  • 30 March 2021

    So... wear the masks for a few weeks, huh?

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text:
The Italian Incident: Update

In News & Stuff, The Italian Incident by David104 Comments

My new nemesis. Nightly we are engaged in a battle of wills. It’s not a battle I am winning. But I wanted an adventure when I set out this year. I wanted to learn new things and lean into the fear and while my adventure has changed, it hasn’t stopped. Because man, do I fear this damn thing. 🙂 Zack Arias is currently planning a One Day Workshop on the light modifiers you can make from one bedpan. 🙂

I’m sitting upright for the first time in 2 weeks and while this won’t be a long update I thought it was about time I updated you.

The medical evacuation came on Thursday the 28th and by 7am I was being shuttled out of the hospital in Italy and onto my own Leer jet with enough meds to keep me happy and quiet. I had spectacular nurses and they took great care of me. 14+ hours later I was in ER at Ottawa Civic Hospital in the care of family and a medical team that spoke English. Fast forward to May 04, when after swelling had gone down and there was room in the OR schedule for me, they did a marathon 12-hour surgery. I think they spent 8 hours on the right ankle alone. I made a mess of that ankle and there are bone grafts and screws in the right foot and plates and screws in the left.

Surgery went well, though elevated heart rate pointed them to pulmonary embolism, which means I’ll be on blood thinners while i recover. My cracked pelvis will heal on its own with bedrest. My right wrist, inially thought broken, seems only sprained. I’ve no idea how long I’ll be in the Hospital in Ottawa. Eventually I’ll be released to recover at my family home out in the country, and that could be 3 months. Could be less, could be more.

In the mean time Jessie is in Atlanta waiting for me and one day, when I’m strong enough to drive her home, I’ll fly down and bring her back to Ontario which is now my home-base for a while.

Coming home was amazing. The health care here is truly remarkable and anyone who bitches about it hasn’t likely spent time in hospitals and clinics around the world. Even my medical bill in Italy, which will be covered by a good travel medical insurance policy, was only about $3000. I paid more than that for 4 hours in NYC Hospital in Queens and all I got was some Motrin. I’m not commenting on anyone’s system but ours, I’m just grateful beyond words that right now I can heal without though to fighting over bills or losing everything because of one accident.

My medical evacuation was covered by MedJet Assist who were absolute gods to have pulled off what they did for me, with such patience and professionalism, and a shocking lack of red tape or fine print. I will never travel anwhere, ever again, without coverage with them.

I won’t even bother telling you how much work this has been for Corwin, who though an extraordinarily skilled manager is the best friend everyone should be so blessed to have in their corner. Dude is my hero right now.

Lastly, another attempt to express my gratitude to you all. Through this all Corwin and I have had countless emails, tweets and comments expressing concern and support. I’ve honestly never in all my life felt so overwhelmed by attention and kindness. I’m truly humbled and grateful and please don’t fill the comments on this post with more of it because honest to God I feel like I’m going to burst, but thank you. 🙂 From the bottom of my heart – thank you for being the community that you are.

I’ll keep you updated, and as things settle I’ll slow down with all this talk about bedpans and will pick up the thread on more interesting discussions we were having before I decided to jump off that damn wall. 🙂

Again, you have my deepest thanks.

  1. Pingback: e-bog: A deeper Frame, af David duChemin | Jesper Vang Skærbæk Jensen – Bloggen

  2. Author

    Carlos – Thanks for the help, man, could not have done it without you guys! Your team was amazing. Truly amazing.

  3. I’m the one who help organize your flight back home. The one no one ever see’s kindaoff like charlie on Charlie’s Angel. We here at GLOBAL JEtCare are happy to hear you are doing better. Our med crew enjoyed transporting you back home also. Keep up the fight and make everyday better than today. God bless ROCK ON!!!!

  4. with your taste for adventure, you better just keep me on speed dial 😉
    BTW, multitrauma patients are not supposed to be as happy as you were. You should be studied.
    I still giggle about the saline story….. If only I could share some of the better ones….maybe when I retire, because the world needs to know…..

  5. Author

    Thanks Tiffany. It was a pleasure being your patient. If you ever need to evacuate my sorry ass again, please let me know. I’m here for you. 🙂

    Seriously, I’m grateful for all your help in getting me back home, and with as much laughter and bad-ass narcotics as possible. if you get some time, please send me a 12-pack of that special saline of yours. 🙂

  6. David, I don’t know you in person just through your photographs and books that expanded my mind and my vision.
    Today for the first time I visited your blog and I discover that your suffered an accident.
    Your post “Choose Your Risk” produce a deep impact on me, 11 years ago, with 27 years old, I left everithing and went to live and travel to Europe and it was the best experience in my life! (how much I miss those days!)
    As you said in light of everything, your words resonate ever deeper now.

    I don’t have any doubt about your recovering, you have a strong spirit and an incredible love and passion for life.

    Silvina (from Argentina)

  7. OK. No comments of concern or support. How about this:
    What did the nurse say when she discovered a rectal thermometer in her pocket? “Oh, no! Some @$$hole has my pen!”

  8. David — I’m truly amazed at how upbeat you are through all of this. And all I can say is best wishes for a full recovery.

  9. Thanks for the update David, glad that you are now truly on the road to recovery. I know that you will return to full health, but take this time to relax, reflect and heal…thats all important now…thinking of you!

  10. Glad you are OK David. This post made me think of my Mom. After fainting an ambulance brought her to the same Queens hospital I suspect you were. Laying for hours in pain and with her her calls unanswered, ever-feisty Mom called 911 for help. She apparently wasn’t the first. It went straight to the hellhole’s switchboard. Took me two days of threats and cutting red tape to get her to a decent hospital.

    I know you are starting to better understand the hackneyed cliche that time heals all wounds. That is true of physical as well as emotional ones.

    Get well, stay well and relish life’s curve balls. You don’t need to hit a home run to appreciate a good pitch…

  11. David,
    If you’d like Jessie sooner in Ottawa, I’d be happy to drive it up there for you. I just finished a year in Australia camping out of a Nissan X-Trail, so I’m pretty familiar with what you were doing with Jessie. I have abundant flexibility as I’m retired military so my schedule can be tailored to fit your needs.

  12. Now you’re in my neck o the woods – Ontario!!! Will be looking forward to seeing where all of this takes you, and still looking forward to the next book coming soon too! Nice bed pan comp. lol

  13. Hey David, don’t underestimate the astounding acoustic properties of the bedpan also – the amplification and resonance they provide to even the meekest sound defies the laws of physics. You may have to switch your DSLR over to video to really capture “vision and voice” 🙂

  14. Hey David, glad you made it safe and sound back onto Canadian soil. Sounds like a long road ahead for recovery, you really messed yourself up :-). I hope things go speedily well and that your family spoils you a bit.

    You are so right about our healthcare system, couldn’t agree more. Spent last year arguing with cancer and did all the treatments, scans, injections, etc and thank God it did not cost me for each thing. We would be living on the park bench now if it did!

    Take care!!

  15. I am so glad to hear that you are recovering! As an American who has lived in Italy for the last two years, I have a whole new appreciation for a different way of doing things with regards to healthcare. I’m glad that you have gotten the care you need without stress to you or your family about how to pay for it.

    Now, since you’ll be sitting a lot in the near future, does this mean that there are more books on the horizon? 🙂 I’m a big fan of your writing on photography! I picked up Within the Frame a month ago and love it.

  16. the bedpan modify coupled with a cushy toilet seat as light ring might usher a new era in photography! best to ya!

  17. David, wish you all the best, you sound great…

  18. Bedpan Ring Light – That’s I whole image I don’t really need at lunchtime.

    (PixelatedImageLOG anyone?)

    ***Exits quickly stage left****

    (oh that came out wrong!!)

  19. Fine, I won’t comment about about great it is to hear how things are progressing and how much we all hope it continues to go well. Instead I’ll lodge a complaint that you haven’t blogged enough photography and what f/stop and camera I should use to shoot my next session… 😉

  20. Dude, you’ve obviously got more than one angel looking out for you. I’m a believer that when someone is destined for important and great things, not even Death has a right to take you. You’ve made an undeniable change in the lives of so many people – whether they’ve embraced fear and dumped a crummy job for something they love (not just photography), or just thought a little more before snapping a photo. The ability to make a person stop and think changes who they are forever. It’s not Messianic (I wouldn’t be so bold to offend you with that), but you have proven to be something of a messenger to large community of people who tire of a constant rhetoric. At it’s core is your mantra “gear is good, vision is better”, but it goes beyond that, to something more spiritual and just a bit instinctive – the urge to be daring, embrace failure, and actually live our lives the way we’re supposed to.

    That’s important stuff, David, and that’s why you’re still here. You’re not done yet, and a higher power knows it.

  21. Glad to hear the humour hasn’t been knocked out of you by your accident – get well soon!

  22. David,
    Relieved your surgery went well and that your usual good cheer and positive outlook remain undiminished. The journey you started this year has taken unexpected turns but for someone with your fortitude, all will be well.
    A nod to the healing powers of arnica gel, for soreness, stiffness etc that perhaps you might use further down the road when/if the docs approve.
    Sending you wonderful wishes–

  23. So glad to hear how you are doing and that you are recovering well. Hope you get back on your feet soon.

  24. Thanks for the update. glad the surgery went well. your sense of humor is apparently unaware of what you are going through, it speaks volumes about your spirit. As for that bedpan, perhaps Jessie needs a hood ornament.

  25. Hi, I heard what happened to you from Zack, I am one of the few who can say I know what you are going though… I broke my pelvis, ribs, hand, pubic bone, shoulder and fractured my skull from a fall… I do believe things happen for a reason even bad things happen to good people, regardless of why this happened I know for a fact this will change you for the better… PT is the best, good luck with you recovery…

  26. David – glad to hear you’re doing better, and have such a positive attitude about it all. All the best for your recovery, and as always, you’re proving to be an absolutely inspiring force to all of the rest of us. Thanks for just being you.

  27. Glad to hear that you’re on the mend. You are very lucky to be Canadian, I thought of that when it became clear how much medical care you are going to need. Our American system is one reason I’m sticking with the corporate 9-5.
    It’s great that you get to go home and recuperate with family, that’s so much better than a hospital room.

  28. Just a random fan and unseen student wishing you a speedy recovery. Sounds like quite a fall you took. Your photograph with this post is just exactly what I would expect had i thought about it! The experience told without words. Keep us informed.

  29. Good to hear of your improvement, it wont be long and you’ll be back in action. Your sense of humor is your greatest gift.

    Hang in there man, am praying for your speedy recovery.

  30. Thanks for taking the time to write the update – it’s always good to read what you write. Thanks for continuing to teach and share your perspective on life in the midst of your own pain and suffering. You have so many good things to teach us, even/especially while you’re stuck in a hospital bed. Keep up the good teaching! Your hospital room is your temporary classroom and us fellow pilgrims scattered around the world have much to learn.

  31. As with many others, you have so changed my trajectory as a photographer in such a positive, life changing way that posting, praying and encouraging you is the least we can do!! Can’t wait to see what God teaches you during this tough time (and all the e-books you will write!)

  32. I’m amazed at how well you seem to be handling this all, I’m sure I’d be a big baby given what you were dealt. Be well, heal fast!

  33. I was almost holding my breath waiting to hear from you after surgery. Glad things went well. Glad you are able to sit up now. Take it one day at a time and celebrate the triumphs, no matter how small. Recovery can be slow going with foot injuries but you’ll be back out there before you know it. I have had bone grafts and screws in my foot, too, so I feel ya’. You have been such a wonderful inspiration to so many with your incredible photographic talent, and I hope that collectively your followers and students can give back a little of your own inspiration to get through this hurdle in your life. Try to stay positive no matter how tough it seems at the moment because things will greatly improve over time.

    Hang in there and be well.

  34. David – about a year ago I somehow found your blog or books or both. Since then I have been obsessed with thinking about vision. I loved the way you described in one of your books your approach of arriving at a place and listing all the emotions and ideas that the place stirs. Then, and only then, going off to capture those ideas. I can only imagine that your images and ideas of bedpans and light modifiers are the result of, what must be for you, this type of ingrained behavior. As you are humbled by the out pouring of support from your community, we are grateful for what you give to us.

    Now please – stay off those physical walls while you continue to climb those mental ones.

  35. I was so shocked when I read about your incident. I recently read your book, Within the frame, and enjoyed it enormously. I wish you a very quick recovery and best of health.

  36. Oops – my daughter reached over my laptop ajd the above is the result of that! Anyway – it would be a fun challenge!

  37. Ok, @Rick, bedpan as a ringlight? Fantastic idea, for shits and giggles I may have to purchase a metal bedpan (a new on of course) juf

  38. I heard whispers that Jessie is eying up that bedpan for some kind of secondary, emergency gas tank.
    All the best in your recovery

  39. I can only speak for myself but suspect that many, like me, have benefitted from your encouragement and positive attitude. So it is too small a repayment to share our encouragement and support as you go down this unexpected side-trip on your life journey. Maybe you will come up with a side project in the process?

    It’s rad and a testament to what a great guy you are that you interrupt your status updates on Twitter with notes about others who face longer recoveries.

    Wishing you a fast return to normal toilets, LOL!

  40. David,
    Never forget: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

    good luck from DC my friend.

  41. ha! humor will take you through a few rough spots. and friends and family will help with the rest. still looking forward to my workshop,

  42. Good news. Get well mate.
    What happened to the nikon you were shooting BTW ? I mean, those things are advertised as being tough as nails (or as my mother in law for that matter). If it survived the fall, you might want to tell nikon about it 🙂

  43. Thanks for the update – keep laughing, and you can handle anything. I echo your sentiments (and those of other commenters here) on our great Canadian healthcare system. We wouldn’t want it any other way, eh? I’m sure this is a special mother’s day for your Mum, knowing that she could have lost you. Take care!

  44. terrific:). glad you are home, close to home and recovering with sense of humour intact if not your ankle…

  45. Get well soon! We, Canadians often bitch about the system but really we have the best healthcare we can possible get in this country. You don’t realize it until something goes terribly wrong. Last winter, I broke my kneecap in half due to slip and fall. They put my patella back together with pins and wires and now, three months later I am walking almost like nothing happened. I imagine you will need a lot physiotherapy like I did, but you will be on your feet soon. You will need have plenty of patience and will (along with some good pain killers) but you will make a full recovery. Take one day at the time… Good luck!

  46. HI David, glad to here things are on the improve. We missed you in Venice 🙁 but tried to stay i the WTF spirit.

  47. hey david, great to you see you on the road to recovery and your humour intact. Wish you a speedy recovery and may you be rid of this sort of pan-o-rama soon. cheers from India.

  48. So happy to hear you didn’y lose your sense of humour! Can’t wait to see the many uses for bedpans…(jk!)
    Stay strong and have happy healthy healing.
    In Christ.

  49. and for photographers, I always thought ‘panning’ meant something else altogether!

    rest up dude 🙂 … and imagine all the great books you’ll be able to catch up on!

  50. Glad you are doing better after surgery. I can really understand what you say in your post…I am an RN in the US for 25+ years(our health care system is horrid and horrifically expensive), have worked as a flight nurse and do volunteer work in Asia, so know a bit about the need for travel insurance and medical evacuation. Also, I have been home caring for my wife and blog partner who is healing from being hit as a pedestrian by a drunk, and hit and run, driver. She is just walking a few steps after eight weeks in a wheelchair….(knee and ankle surgery)….it will be a long recovery for her…and you. But, hang in there….and look ahead, not over your shoulder…the past is past. Your view of the world will be much closer for a while…but you still have great vision.

  51. Thanks for the update. I am kicking myself that I did not take you up on your offer for coffee last summer in Yaletown. Hope you make Vancouver your home again. I can attest to our medical having gone through two cancers and not paying a cent and still not paying for CT scans every three months.
    Keep that positive attitude David. And thanks for giving me the Vision..

  52. Thanks for the update…..wishing you an even speedier recovery and to be home soon.

  53. Don’t mock the bedpan. They get a bad rap but in the end you’ll be glad it’s there. No pun intended. Sending good thoughts your way.

  54. You know we nurses only save the cold metal ones for the patients we love – the plastic ones are for the others 🙂 Glad to hear you’re progressing well. Keep wiggling those toes!

  55. Thanks for the update. We wish you well as you go through the highs and lows of recovery!

  56. If you want Jessie sooner than later, I can always drive it up for ya. I kinda need to visit IKEA in ALT, anyways.

    (doesn’t even cost $100 to fly back, so…)

  57. Stop being a pita and gushing and hurry up and recover, finished all your books and am bloody bored now 😉

  58. Sign me up for Zack’s bedpan light modifier workshop! He’s been in my head since last weekend anyway. 🙂 you have the best attitude of anyone I know (or don’t know). I’m glad for the update, I was wondering about all of the logistics of getting you back here. So glad you’ve got an excellent health care system to get you through this.

  59. All I have to say is bedpan beats catheter my friend, aye? I was so thrilled when they took my cath out on Friday…so uncomfortable. And hey,bedpan lighting? SWEET! Can’t do that with a catheter! 🙂

  60. Sounds like this will be an insanely challenging, engaging and fascinating year for you, David. You will have some very difficult days in the ‘new normal’… but it is what it is… ‘good’ and ‘bad’. You just have to transition from this one day at a time in your healing process.

    P.S. Next time you may want to use a reflector on the bedpan to maximize the natural light better. 🙂

  61. David, it is sometimes hard to see the good in things that happen but the truth is there is always good. everything happens in the right time and for a reason. I’m sure you’ll be able to find the bright side of this incident and come out of it strong and ready for new adventures. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Sephi

  62. I thank all that’s good for your terrific attitude. What a rough hand you’ve been dealt, and yet, I know you will come out on the other side with grace and joy and yet another wonderful perspective on things that I hope you will feel compelled to share. Your vision is important – you say that all the time – and I maintain that it’s just as important – even more so – at times of waiting and healing.
    So please mend well, and I wish you even more strength than you had before.

  63. I know that was NOT the adventure you were looking for this year, but I hope it will just be a bump in the road (a rather big bump I guess) and you will be able to continue your journey after your recovery!

  64. I’m so happy to hear you are doing well. It’s interesting to think about this in the context of the conversation we had over lunch in New Orleans. We really don’t know how much time we have left and we need to live life to the fullest and stop waiting for the right time to take that trip or pursue that dream. Thank you for being an inspiration to us all.

  65. I totally echo your “Yay Canadian Health Care” – so glad you’re getting rest and good care and are healing – still praying for you here. Hoping you T1 is behaving nicely too!

  66. Sign me up for Zack’s one-bedpan-light class!!! How great that you can have a sense of humor through all this. That’s what keeps us going – humor! All the best to you as you continue to heal.

  67. Glad to hear you’re on the mend, one day at a time is the key. Keep us posted will you.

  68. Ok, no more well wishes. But David, could you tell us more about the bedpan light modifiers or ask Zack if Chase will let him do this workshop on “Creative Live”?

  69. Nice to hear that you’re on the right way. Wish you all the best for the next months. I hope that everything will be fine at the end of all of that !!!

    all the best

  70. The visuals of that future Zack Arias workshop made me laugh out loud. I have been happy to read that your sense of humour is still strong. I’ll be thinking of you as I head out on a 3-week trip tomorrow and every time I put eye to viewfinder I’ll ask myself “What would David do?”
    Be well.

  71. We’re going to use you, you know, here in the US, as an example of good medical care. Just fair warning! 😀

    Glad to see you’re recovering well, sad to have missed you in Texas (was hoping for a Dallas stop!). Prayers and chants and well-wishes coming your way….

  72. 🙂 <— (That's me "not commenting" on how we all care about you and are happy you're home, fixed and safely healing.)

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Category Archives: Aikido

A Better Way to Overcome Fears And Worries

My book Fighting To Win: Samurai Techniques For Your Work And Life had just come out, and I was on a TV show publicizing it. The host said, “I read your book last night. You say in it that in the martial art called aikido you “harmonize” your movements with your opponent’s movements. Can you demonstrate to me what that means?”

hands of Aikido martial artistWe were sitting about three feet apart, facing each other.  I said, “I’ll be happy to.” The host said, “Should we go over there where we have more room?” I said, “This is fine. I won’t have to get up out of this chair. Throw a punch at me as though you are mad at me and want to knock me down. Don’t hold anything back. Really throw a punch.”

The host said, “Are you sure you want me to?” He was a very big, muscular man who was obviously a body-builder. I said, “Go ahead. I’ll be all right.”

The host stood, reared back, and threw a punch; still sitting, I reached out and grabbed his hand that was coming at me and pulled it forcefully. The host went flying to the floor. Lying on the floor, he said, “Wow.”

I helped him up and said, “You see, I harmonized with you by not resisting you but instead by going with you, following your intention, the direction of your movements, pulling your hand rather than blocking it. That is called extending in aikido–that pulling–going further in the direction of the opponent’s momentum and force. That is not the normal Western way to defeat an opponent. In the West we are trained to oppose force with force. You punch me and I punch you.  Then the stronger person wins. In aikido the weaker person can win.”

The host laughed: “I certainly know now how effective extending can be in defeating an opponent.”

I said, “You can apply the technique of extending to overcome everyday emotional difficulties like fears and worries that may have been causing you problems that even for a long time have interfered with your living.”

The host said, “That’s interesting. How does that work?” Then he added, “You’re not going to throw me again are you?” I chuckled and said, “That won’t be necessary.”

Some Applications

The fear of public speaking is a major problem for many people. Surveys have shown that some people would rather fall 32,000 feet from an airplane than give a speech in public. (In other words, they would rather die.)  The only greater fear among most people is the fear of sharks. I’ve known people to turn down promotions into lucrative executive positions or teaching jobs because giving speeches or lectures would be a necessity of the new job and that they cannot imagine themselves doing.

I know of a PhD candidate who spent eight years researching and writing her dissertation, but after finishing it was so afraid of the interview with department faculty that was required before that degree could be awarded that after all the work was done she quit the program. She had worked hard for a long time and never had the fulfillment of a degree because of the fear she could not cure.

Man holdng head, worriedI’ve seen emotional extending used successfully to overcome the fear of an upcoming speech many times. Go into a room by yourself, sit on a chair, and alone, worry and make yourself afraid. Tell yourself things that scare you. Exaggerate. Do this for five or six minutes, or longer, if necessary. After a while you will find the fear disappears. Extending excites emotions that are troubling you, then calms them down. The fear of asking for a promotion or a raise, of having an upcoming job interview or of asking for a date can be dealt with the same way. Whatever the fearful situation is, extending will help.

Excerpted from Fighting To Win: Samurai Techniques for Your Work and Life:

“All your emotions are forms of energy. Each and every one of your emotions is power. Your positive feelings of excitement, pleasure, joy, courage, optimism, confidence, and love can fill your actions with an almost unbelievable power. You know that yourself without even having to think twice about it. When you’re filled with really positive feelings, there’s hardly anything you feel you cannot accomplish.  Hardly anything can stop you.

Your negative emotions are also power. But they’re destructive. Your fear, worry, anxiety, depression, anger, nervousness and even stage-fright and all the other of what the samurai called inner ‘dragons’ are power that’s being used in the wrong way. They are energy that’s pointed in the wrong direction. It’s directed inward, against you. It holds you back. It keeps you down.

What I call emotional aikido is a way of transforming negative, inward-directed emotional power into positive power pointed outward. It transforms your harmful emotions into helpful ones, and it does so by going with your harmful emotions, not opposing them.

Neurologist Dr. Viktor Frankl points out that, paradoxically, trying too hard at something often makes it impossible. For example, the person who is afraid of blushing and tries hard not to when he enters a room full of people will actually blush. The person who is afraid of stuttering, and tries hard not to, will stutter. Frankl calls this “hyper” intention. It’s intending too much and too hard. A classic example of too much intending is the man who is so damned intent on impressing his partner with his sexual prowess that he tries too hard and fails miserably.

Frankl realized that hyper-intending could be a very useful way to rid people of emotional impediments: If a person stuttered when he tried very hard not to, wouldn’t he be unable to stutter if he tried very hard to make himself stutter? And that’s exactly what happened. A man with a lifelong severe case of stuttering stopped only when he tried very hard to force himself to stutter. A man who had suffered from writer’s cramp for some years was cured by trying not to write neatly and legibly, but in the worst possible scrawl.

The moment he deliberately tried to scribble, he couldn’t. Using the technique of hyper-intention, Dr. Frankl even cured a healthy man of his terrifying fear of having a heart attack. He had him try to induce one! The man worked at it like the devil. He huffed and puffed trying to make it happen. What happened was that the heart attack didn’t happen, but the man lost his irrational fear of one.

In going into battle against a disturbing inner emotion you have a choice to make. If you’re a direct force-against-force stylist you’ll probably attempt to overcome the emotion directly through willpower. You’ll tell yourself, “I won’t let this thing get the better of me. I will not blush this time . . . will not stammer . . . will not feel nervous, afraid, worried, depressed,” etc., etc., etc.

According to Frankl, that approach only increases the problem: “Pressure precipitates counter-pressure.” But if you use the indirect, extending style of hyper-intention you stand a far better chance. To use it, you (1) take the frontal approach by identifying the emotion that’s disturbing you, and then you (2) go with it and exaggerate it. If you’re feeling afraid of something tell yourself things that will make you even more afraid. Fear your guts out. Fear to beat the band. Do the same thing for any feeling that’s troubling you. All your emotions have a saturation point which when reached will stop the emotion. Emotional extending is over-saturating them.

You can’t ignore the troublesome worries, fears and anxieties that get in your way and interfere with your functioning and feeling well, just as you cannot ignore any opponent without risking defeat. They’re real. They’re blocking you. And to win you have no choice but to deal with them. You can’t will them out of existence by pitting your willpower against their power. But you can extend them out of existence. Don’t attempt to suppress them or beat them down. Do the opposite—exaggerate them, hyper-intend them, over-saturate them, extend them.”

pink lotus flower on green If you choose to use the aikido approach to overcome external and emotional adversaries, be aware that the way to “serve” one’s adversary in the aikido style is to understand what they want, and to give them more of it to get what you want. Remember: the extending technique or process can be an antidote to the emotions of fear, worry, anxiety, the blues, and depression.

Using emotional extending aikido the “intention” of your fear is to make you feel afraid. Give it what it wants. But go further. Make yourself feel more afraid .The fear will grow greater for a while as you think thoughts that induce fear, and then if you persist the fear will disappear. Make yourself be more anxious and the anxiety will grow greater and then as you continue extending, the anxiety fortunately will disappear.

If the PhD candidate who dropped out of the program rather than face her fear of speaking with the department faculty had been familiar with emotional extending it may well be that she would have had a wonderful career she had worked so hard to prepare for.

© 2021 David J. Rogers

For my interview from the international teleconference with Ben Dean about Fighting to Win, click the following link:

Interview with David J. Rogers

Order Fighting to Win: Samurai Techniques for Your Work and Life eBook by David J. Rogers

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Filed under Aikido, Blocks to Action, Eastern Philosophy, Viktor Frankl


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15% Tax to Foreign Buyers! Where does this Leave the Vancouver Real Estate Market?

I’m sure that you have heard the news.  The BC gov is now charging foreign buyers an additional 15% property Transfer tax.

How does this impact the Vancouver Market? Will we see prices fall as a result?

The answer to both of these questions is yes but it will take 3 to 5 months for it to play out.  The first thing that will happen is prices fall.  I believe we will see this happen in the high end market, mostly in the single family market in areas like West Vancouver, the Vancouver Westside and East Vancouver. This would have happened regardless of the 15% tax because demand was decreasing and supply was increasing in these markets before the tax was even introduced.

The East Vancouver Single Family market we have seen inventory (i.e. number of listed homes in a given month) increase every month for the last 6 months.  In the Vancouver Westside single family market the number of homes sold in a given month is down 20% from 3 months ago.  Both these scenarios will also put downward pressure on prices.  The silver lining for individuals looking to sell a single family home in these neighbourhoods is that land cannot be created out of thin air and generally there is still an undersupply of housing in the single family market.

Bob Rennie related this 15% tax to when the GST was first introduced.  It took 6 months for people to get used to paying GST and then it was accepted and the market returned.  The same thing will happen with the new tax on foreign buyers. People will adapt and accept it.

We have all heard the saying that where there is uncertainty, there is opportunity.  For you buyers out there, now is the time to get off of the fence.  You will no longer be competing with other buyers and have more time to make a decision on your purchase. For you sellers it is time to sharpen your pencils and make sure that you are priced accurately, maybe consider pricing a little bit lower than the last sale to get under the market and catch it while it dips. Or if you don’t have to sell wait it out for a few months for things to settle down.

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Officer Mohamed Noor turned himself in Tuesday in connection with the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, his attorney confirmed.

Minnesota Police Officer Mohamed Noor has been charged in the fatal shooting of Justin Damond.  (MPD)

The criminal complaint remained sealed by midday Tuesday, but according to the jail roster Noor was booked on a third-degree murder charge for perpetrating an eminently dangerous act while showing a “depraved mind.” The second-degree manslaughter charge alleges he acted with “culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk.”

Damond was shot July 15, minutes after calling 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. The 40-year-old life coach’s death drew international attention, cost the police chief her job and forced major revisions to the department’s policy on body cameras.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman was scheduled to discuss charges Tuesday afternoon.

Noor, a 32-year-old Somali-American, has not talked publicly about the case and declined to be interviewed by state investigators.

In a statement Tuesday, Damond’s family praised the charges, calling them “one step toward justice.”

“No charges can bring our Justine back. However, justice demands accountability for those responsible for recklessly killing the fellow citizens they are sworn to protect, and today’s actions reflect that,” the statement said.

A police officer who was with Noor at the time of the shooting, Matthew Harrity, told investigators that he was startled by a loud noise right before Damond approached the driver’s side window of their police SUV. Harrity, who was driving, said Noor then fired his weapon from the passenger seat. Damond died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The officers did not turn on their body cameras until after the shooting, and there was no squad camera video of the incident.

The lack of video was widely criticized, and Damond’s family members were among the many people who called for changes in procedure, including how often officers are required to turn on their cameras.

The shooting also prompted questions about the training of Noor, a two-year veteran and Somali-American whose arrival on the force had been celebrated by city leaders and Minnesota’s large Somali community. Noor, 32, had trained in business and economics and worked in property management before becoming an officer.

Then-Chief Janee Harteau defended Noor’s training and said he was suited to be on the street, even as she criticized the shooting itself. But Harteau — who was on vacation when the shooting happened and didn’t make her first public appearance until several days after the shooting — was forced out soon after by Mayor Betsy Hodges, who said she had lost confidence in the chief.

Harteau’s replacement, Medaria Arradondo, quickly announced a policy change requiring officers to turn on their body cameras in responding to any call or traffic stop.

If convicted of third-degree murder, Noor could face a maximum of 25 years in prison, though the presumptive sentence is 12 ½ years. A judge could issue a sentence ranging from about 10 ½ to 15 years.

The second-degree manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, but the presumptive sentence is four years.

Jail records show he’s being held on $500,000 bail.

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Guest Post: Rev. David Gierlach Good Friday 2021

“Why on earth do you call it ‘Good Friday’?,” my atheist friend demands one day. “What’s possibly ‘good’ about this day?” I suppose that’s a question we each of us have asked, if not out loud, then perhaps in the

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M-3034 CHRISTMAS Sleep Mask

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Estimated delivery by 02.08.2021

200 pcs. in stock

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VAT incl.

M-3028 CHRISTMAS Sleep Mask

EAN: 4260118761590

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We ship from Germany.

Free shipping within Germany! This does not apply to German islands - we charge a flat rate of € 15 for this.