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How Canadians Feel About Their Health Care: Wait Times and Spending

View from Canada

This is the third in a series about how Canada regulates its economy.

Usually Canada’s unelected Senate does its business without any reference to its counterpart in the United States. But last month, the issue of health care brought some of the current debate in Washington into Ottawa’s red chamber.

Speaking in the United States Senate in early June, Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, cited wait times for procedures at a hospital in Kingston, Ontario, to show the failings of Canada’s publicly funded health care system.

He said that patients in that college town (and prison center) east of Toronto wait nearly a year for knee replacement surgery, six months for hip replacements, and three months for brain, prostate and breast cancer surgeries. And when it comes to cardiac bypasses, Mr. McConnell warned that “patients in Ontario are told they have to wait six months for surgery Americans often get right away.”

Those proved to be fighting words for Hugh Segal, a Conservative member of Canada’s Senate who lives in Kingston. Speaking to his Senate, Mr. Segal charged that Mr. McConnell had “distorted, misrepresented and misstated” the performance of Kingston General Hospital and cited wait times which, while considerably shorter than the American senator’s, were nevertheless arguably long by American standards.

Although they might dispute the precision of Mr. McConnell’s statistics, even leading advocates of publicly funded health care in Canada readily acknowledge that wait times are one of its biggest problems.

“I’m somebody who’s in favor of public health insurance and think we do better than the U.S.,” said Michael Rachlis, a physician, healthy policy consultant and adjunct professor at the University of Toronto. “But I won’t deny the problems we have in our system with waits and delays and chronic disease management.”

The one positive measure of Canada’s system that its proponents often cite is life expectancy.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Canadians have a life expectancy of 80.7 years compared to 78.1 years for Americans. (Japan tops the list of 29 industrialized countries with 82.4 years.) One widespread interpretation is that Canadians live longer than their neighbors because no legal resident of Canada is without health insurance.

Canada achieves that universal coverage, again according to the O.E.C.D., by spending 10.1 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, far less than the 16 percent level of the United States.

But coming up with the money to pay for those programs is something of a constant political struggle. Health care accounts for 43 percent, or 42.6 billion Canadian dollars, of provincial government spending in Ontario, the most populous province.

While few, if any, experts claim that more spending is the only answer to problems like wait times, there is certainly a connection.

During the 1990s, several provincial governments attempted to rein in health care spending. One result that can be at least partially attributed to those cuts is that Canada has 12.7 C.T. scanners for every million people compared with 34.3 in the United States. There is also a gap when it comes to physicians. In 2007, Canada had 2.18 practicing doctors for every thousand people, according to the O.E.C.D., compared with 2.43 in the United States.

By the turn of the millennium, the public backlash provoked by a widespread sense of poorer health service prompted governments to stop cutting and to start looking at ways of running the system more efficiently while finding new sources of revenues.

Ontario now has a health care premium paid by individuals, based on income, and health tax paid by employers. Individuals’ annual payments range from nothing, for people with taxable incomes of less than 20,000 Canadian dollars, to a maximum of 900 Canadian dollars for people with taxable incomes over 200,600 Canadian dollars.

But those fees only cover about 17 percent of its health care cost. The balance comes from the traditional sources: federal and provincial income and sales taxes. (This paper by Antonia Maioni, the director of the institute for the study of Canada at McGill University in Montreal, offers, among other things, the evolutions of Canadian health care funding.)

The current, perhaps perpetual, debate in Canada on how to improve the health system’s performance without significantly raising spending will be the subject of my next installment. In it, even some advocates of public funding who are critics of the American health care system as a whole think that Canada nevertheless might be able to find some answers in the United States.

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Dude From The Bronx July 8, 2009 · 2:08 pm

Precisely how long do Canadians actually have to wait for necessary surgery? I know it doesn’t take any longer to see a doctor in the initial visit, but what if the doctor determines that you need a quadruple bypass or hip replacement? How long will you have to wait for that?

Wait times for elective (non-life threatening) procedures are needed to ensure the Canadian system works. They prevent Doctors from over prescribing. Although this can cause people to suffer while they wait, it is efficient. I suspect if wait times were deceased, demand would go up as people with minimal need are added to the queue.

“During the 1990s, several provincial governments attempted to reign in health care spending.”

They wanted royal authority in health care spending? Or did they attempt to “rein in” – as to restrain health care spending?

Does it make sense that the rich pay higher taxes and pay higher premiums?

Notwithstanding your uncorroborated interpretation that “one widespread interpretation” of the gap in life expectancies is attributable to differences in health care payment systems, there is no proof of any causal relationship between the two. Life expectancy is a bottom line that reflects numerous fixed, non-institutional factors, as well as other societal differences. To cite some examples of the former: demographic differences, climate differences, distance from the equator (some unfamiliar with the literature may be surprised to see that factor but in fact there is a well documented correlation between life expectancy and distance from the equator); examples of the latter differences include gun usage, violent crime, deaths in military service, abortion policies; and immigration differences. No study has ever gone through the two countries and determined how much weight to assign to all the possible variables that bear on life expectancy. The one study I know of [Lichtenberg] that attempts to determine life expectancy as among the 50 US states showed that the residents of the states most similar to Canada’s provinces – less dense, northern – had life expectancies quite similar to Canada, suggesting that the fixed noinstitutional factors play the most significant role, whereas states with significant climate and population differences (southern US, excluding Florida which is full of migrants) had the weakest correlation.

Florida is also full of old people, many of them are migrants from other states.

Here is a Canadian telling you how he feels about his healthcare. I am truly proud to live in a state that put the health of its citizens about the profits of its corporations. Last week I compressed 2 nerves in my spine, which was unbelievablely painful. I called and ambulance, which came in 6 minutes, which provided me painkillers and treatment on the way to the hospital. When I arrived, I was seated in a reclining bed and talked to by a nurse in about 25 minutes, and the doctor arrived to help me in about 40 minutes. The reason the doctor took 40 minutes?: there was a severely injured woman who needed his attention more then I did. This is what rationing is, understanding when your needs can’t always be put first. So if rationing means that relatively healthy people have to wait longer so really unhealthy people can recieve treatment, then I am proud to say we ration medical care in Canada. Also, throughout this whole ordeal not once was a bill or any talk of payment mentioned. Finally, our long wait times have a lot to do with a lack of doctors, which can be remedied by increasing funding to med schools. Why havent we done that? Supply and demand, if healthcare is unaffordable because those who provide it are scarce (and therefore, valuable) why dont we just continue to increast the number of doctors until the premium they charge for service comes down? Kind of a blunt instrument, but could be effective.

If you are an American, not rich enough to pay out of pocket and have private insurance, you will also have to face wait times if you want to schedule a procedure for a non-life threatening ailment. I have had Americans friends who have had to wait weeks to get hip replacement surgery. So this is really a distinction without much difference for the 75% of the population who don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to throw around to pay for these procedures and have to rely on an authorization by their insurance company.

Life expectancies can also be attributed to lifestyle and cultural factors, i.e. Canadians have a much lower obesity rate than Americans, but there have been studies done that show that patient outcomes are as good, or better in Canada than in the U.S. That should have been cited in the article.

The infant mortality rate in Canada is 4.8 per thousand, compared to 6.3 for the US. The under 5 mortality rate is 5.9 in Canada, compared to 7.8 in the US. UN numbers.

Canadians pay less for health care, live longer and take better care of their children.

There already is rationing of health care in the US. It is called money:

– If you don’t have employer insurance, you don’t get full health care.
– If you don’t have any insurance, you don’t get full health care.
– If you don’t have money, you don’t get full health care.

So, Mr Republicans-who-run-their-live-to-scare-others, don’t try to terrorize us stories of ‘wait times’. Just lose your job and then you’ll see how long you need to wait to afford health care.

5. July 8, 2009
3:23 pm

Does it make sense that the rich pay higher taxes and pay higher premiums?

— Levi

The upper upper incomes want to have cheap goods and services . They want waiters to bring their foo. cooks in restaurants to prepare it, cleaners to clean their homes, taxis to be available, bus drivers to drive buses, lawn services to mow their lawns, clerks to ring up their purchases., repair crews to fix the roads, the elevators…..etc etc etc.

Ergo they have to pay more in taxes for healthcare as an indirect wage to those who provide all those services they take for granted.

They can pay more in taxes or they can pay more for theri goods and services so that those who provide such things can be paid more. One way or another, the top 20% (who consume more goods and services per capita than the other 80%) will pay.

I am a Canadian. I think that there is simply no reasonable way to claim that the system that exists in the US can begin to compare to the system in Canada. In the US, overloads in the system are handled by excluding people – at least 40 million at last count. In Canada, wait times may sometimes be excessive, but at least there is a line to wait in. For many Americans, the line doesn’t even exist. Moreover, Canadians are not subject to HMOs which try to find ways to exclude the people who have been paying premiums for years at just the time that those people really need the medical help.

An example: just yesterday, a friend in California told me that she had delayed going to see the Dr. about a hacking cough because she did not have the money to pay for the appointment or the medicine that would be needed to deal with it. Finally, her mother forced her to go. In the end, she was relieved to find that the actual appointment only cost $40 and the medicine $20. In Canada, this would not happen. Someone with a hacking cough would go to the Dr. without caring about whether or not he/she can pay. That is how it should be. That is how any advanced country should run its healthcare. Healthcare is a right, it is not a privilege.

I could write 10 pages to explain my rational .

Let me share 2 stories with you:

1) my father in law just back from Las Vegas , did not feel well ( high blood pressure ….). Drove himself to a clinic , and was back at the hotel after 1 hour ( saw a doctor and paid 100$ for his visit). Same thing in Montreal the previous month , had to wait 8 hours at the clinic….( but was free).

2) my wife went for a radioscopy monday , was back home within an hour.
I was shoked , but she explain that she went to a private clinic and paid , had she gone to the hospital would have probably waited 4 hours++

Get the message : Its free , but it is second class medecine …

I live in Canada. I’ve had two relatively unnecessary knee surgeries without much of a wait time.
I see my doctor pretty much when I please, and have never experienced an unreasonable wait with my small children in emergency. I have never waited for an MRI. I have gotten timely and effective medical care throughout my life, and expect, like the example of everyone I know, to get it until I drop off the planet. For this, I pay nothing but my taxes, like in all civilized modern countries.

Wait times seem to me a minor whining complaint from the right wing to discredit the public system in order to implement private delivery to ‘fix’ the system. And trust me, the private lobby is salivating over Canada. This malarkey has been blathering on for years. The numbers don’t play out: private care is expensive and grossly inefficient.

to whit:

There is no question that there are problems in health care in Canada. The life expectancy difference may be able to be argued away. Most Canadians would never even think of switching to a US style system.

In the last year before the recession over 45% of the bankruptcies in the US were directly attritributable to someone getting sick. I have no idea what that number is now. You get sick someone else makes a profit how does this make sense at any level.

I cannot understand why the US puts what is a tax on companies by expecting them to pay for the health care of their employees. The longer this goes on the more uncompetitive US companies become.

I would suggest that most of the difference in percentage costs for health care Canada 10% GDP US 16% GDP is the admin costs with so many different carriers as well as the money spent by carriers trying to avoid paying or dropping customers when they get really ill.

I cannot see the US ever moving to a truly universal system. Fear mongering remains the strongest political force in your country. More is the pity that the richest country in the world cannot see its way to act on such a fundamental human right.

Dude asked: “Precisely how long do Canadians actually have to wait for necessary surgery? …what if the doctor determines that you need a quadruple bypass or hip replacement?”

I required a quadruple bypass in 2001. Considering that I was a veteran cardiac patient and in good shape, my cardiologist felt I could wait for the hospital’s chief cardiac surgeon. So I waited 4 weeks. I wore a nitro patch and avoided physical exertion but otherwise continued normal life, including my desk-bound work. By contrast, my brother-in-law went to a walk-in clinic with that he thought was flu. The clinic doctor had him rushed to the local hospital where he underwent open heart surgery that night. There is no one-line answer to your question. It depends on the doctors’ assessment of your condition and where you live — some provinces have better medicare systems than others and some regions within provinces have better systems than others. I have never had an undue wait, in part because I live in well-equipped southern Ontario and in part because I’m willing to drive an hour or so for tests at a hospital or clinic that’s not as busy — many Canadians wait unnecessarily for tests because they won’t go beyond the closest hospital. Ironically, they’ll drive three hours to spend the weekend at the cottage but won’t drive to the other side of the city for a high-tech scan. I believe that waiting times for hip and knee replacement are very long. The Ontario govt, and I believe others, have substantially increased funding for that to reduce those waits.

I am a Canadian who lives in the United States. I am so tired of hearing misinformed attacks on the Canadian health care system by people who have had no experience with it.
For years I had no health coverage in the US because I could not afford it. Now that I pay into an expensive health care plan I have to wait months to get an appointment with my doctors, pay a hefty co-payment when I do see them, pay hefty co-payments on medicine, and have a large deductible.
Based on my experiences with both systems, I far prefer the Canadian-style health care system and would rather wait to be treated for non-critical procedures while others get urgent care, knowing that every person in Canada is covered, and that my own post-tax costs are lower. Also, I don’t pay that much less in taxes here in the US than I did in Canada, but I sure get a lot less in social programs for the taxes I do pay.
Health care should not be just a privilege for the rich, it is a right for everyone.

How many Canadians file for bankruptcy because of health-related expenses? How many (small) Canadian firms curtail hiring or fire employees because of health-related business expenses? How many Canadians stay in a job because of health-related benefits? What are the similar statistics for the US?

How do multi-national firms such as Toyota weigh the cost of health benefits when deciding on locating units in Canada as opposed to America?

I constantly hear that 13 of 14 industrialized nations spend less than half (of the percentage of their GDP) of what America spends on health care. Is there any overall comparison of all 14 nations available, including both the objective and subjective benefits and deficiencies of each system?

And, saving the ugly truth for the end, what is the actuarial cost of a life in each of these countries?

I love Canadians. If only they did not go to Cuba to vacation, they would be perfect.

EVERY time i read stories like this it always seems to be another country rather than the one i live in. i’m canadian; never had to wait for anything significant nor did my father when he was terminally ill two years ago. he had to wait a bit for nurses occasionally because things were very busy. he spent 5 1/2 weeks in the hospital. lots of drugs, meals, nursing care 24 hours a day when he started to try to climb out of bed….his only payments were for a phone and television which were up to him if he wanted them. one thing which isn’t addressed is that each province has its own system and payments. i can choose any GP i want tho some people have trouble finding a family doctor in some areas. if i have to see a specialist i make an appointment with my GP and he makes the first appointment with a specialist. i go and after that i make the appointments. i was part of the medical system in japan too. many more choices and the patient pays 30%, but things are heavily subsidized so, for example, prescription drugs and dental care are much cheaper for people with no plans to help defray costs. as is often said, if the american system is worth emulating why doesn’t anybody outside the u.s want it??

If waiting a few weeks for a non-emergency procedure saved me $25,000, I’d be happy to make that trade-off, as I bet most people would. In the US, there are health-care “haves” and “have nots.” The “haves” don’t know what it’s like to be on the other side, unless they are unfortunate enough to lose their job and find out. Then they change their tune pretty quick.

having lived in both canada and the u.s. i can compare the two systems. is there a wait time for procedures in canada? yes, but as stated in another individual’s post. at least there IS a line. i have waited in canada and have waited in the u.s. the wait has normally been about the same in both countries. the difference is that there was no fear of cost or denied coverage in canada. and, lafontaine, in canada you get the same medical care no matter what your class, in the u.s. it is the wealthy that get first class medical care and the other classes are left to fend for themselves. a perfect example. just today i had to go to have some tests done. it would appear that i have cancer. the doctors are trying to find out where it is and how to treat it. they requested one important test. a simple blood test that would tell them if my symptoms are from a cancer yet undetected in my body or something much more benign. this simple blood test was denied by my insurance because i had not been diagnosed with cancer yet. IF i am diagnosed with cancer THEN they will happily pay for the test to determine if i have cancer. WHAT?! so, according to my insurance i need to go through more expensive tests..that they WILL pay for and that may still be inconclusive, wait for weeks, or months, until the cancer develops more and spreads, thereby making it easier to spot (i.e. diagnose) and MUCH more costly to treat (unless of course the insurance gets what they are hoping for and it is too late to treat because it is terminal and it wont matter anyway) OR they could pay for the simple and inexpensive blood test and possibly find there is no cancer or that it is so small and undeveloped that a simple out-patient procedure will take care of it. but hey, i run a business, not an insurance company, so why should i know what the h@ll i am talking about when it comes to saving money, cost factors, and turning a profit for myself and my investors. why pay for the washer to fix the plumbing when i can wait for the pipes to burst and replace the entire thing. and by the way, this is WITH excellent insurance! don’t get me started on those who don’t have it! maybe if the u.s. system actually took care of all its citizens the same then you would find that the wait time overall in u.s. and canada was not so different. and maybe, just maybe, fewer would die needless deaths.

If we look at the 80/20 rule and apply it to health issues, then managing the 20% that drive health costs the most should be the priority, finding better, cost efficient solutions for these folks could well reduce the total cost of medical insurance for all of us.

Katherine Collins July 8, 2009 · 9:04 pm

I’m a Canadian who has lived in the USA in the past, for many years. For a lot of that time, I had very limited health care, due to my low income. (Being an artist will do that to you.)

During that time, my beloved life partner died of cancer, largely because we could not afford preventive care. As well, my undiagnosed diabetes nearly destroyed my ability to walk.

When I moved back to Canada, my diabetes was properly diagnosed, and I have regained my mobility, and am able to work at a job (social work).

Most amazingly, a few months after my return, I was diagnosed with Leukemia. I was clapped into the hospital within minutes of the diagnosis — they wouldn’t even let me go home to pack a bag. No wait time there! I was given world-class treatment, and have been in remission, with perfect health, for three years. My doctor told me that in the U.S., the same treatment would have cost me three million dollars.

I have always felt that I am happy to pay Canada’s admittedly somewhat steep taxes (of various sorts), because of what we get for it. In the U.S., what do taxes pay for? Wars, bailouts for financial criminals, oppressive policing, and the list goes on . . .

Anybody trying to compare Canada’s system unfavourably with the U.S.’s is either absurdly misinformed or bending the truth for their own purposes. America, you are being lied to, again and again!


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2016-07-30 MiLB: Brooklyn Cyclones at Vermont Lake Monsters

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30 July 2016: Brooklyn Cyclones catcher Darryl Knight sits in the dugout during a game against the Vermont Lake Monsters at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vermont. The Lake Monsters defeated the Cyclones 7-1 in NY Penn League play. Mandatory Credit: Ed Wolfstein Photo *** RAW (NEF) Image File Available ***

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Brexit and the fishing industry

Peterhead Harbour
© Stu Smith . Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The implications of Brexit for the fishing industry are highly uncertain.  Prior to the introduction of a new Fisheries Bill, the House of Commons Library has produced a briefing paper entitled “Brexit: What next for UK fisheries?” on how negotiations with the EU and future UK Government policy may affect fishing in the UK.  It is available here.

An earlier briefing paper by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) called Implications of leaving the EU: Fisheries examines issues for the Scottish sea fishing sector.  It is available here.

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Five ‘ACE’ years: my story of a fundamentalist education – part two | Faith Schoolers Anonymous

This is the second part of a two-part piece. The first part, posted last week, can be read here. When I tell people I was home-schooled, they think one of my parents must have been a teacher (or at least educated beyond GCSEs), or that I had a private tutor. I’m met with faces of disbelief when I try to explain that I didn’t have a teacher at all. I could memorise the information I was fed by Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) in their published booklets, but if I didn’t understand, or had questions, or wanted to learn something outside of that very narrow, biased curriculum, I had nowhere…

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Posted by: Khepera | Saturday, 10 July 2004

Regarding the Torture of Others

There are many who may claim to be “tired” of this ‘story’. However, for those who have lived with this *elephant in the living room* of our american experience, this IS old news, but it continues to be the news of the day….

Before I begin, let me say that some of you may be offended, not just by the article, but by my words which precede it. Some of you, may take exception, even strong exception to my point of view. However, if *personal sovereignty* counts for anything, if the ballyhooed freedoms of this country are for real, then it is incumbent upon YOU to find a way to engage this without dismissal, derision or perfunctory myopia, for you can be certain of one thing — my expressions fall FAAAAAAR short of many others, and quite a few of those I speak of are american citizens of NON-Arabic heritage &/or NON-Muslim beliefs, as am I. When you complain about the *atrocities* committed against US soldiers by those resisting the illegal & unwarranted occupation of their country, consider how you would respond if this was happening HERE.

Consider the following quote from the appended article:

“The administration’s initial response was to say that the president was shocked and disgusted by the photographs — as if the fault or horror lay in the images, not in what they depict. There was also the avoidance of the word “torture.” The prisoners had possibly been the objects of “abuse”, eventually of “humiliation” – that was the most to be admitted. “My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture,” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said at a press conference. “And therefore I’m not going to address the ‘torture’ word.”

Words alter, words add, words subtract. It was the strenuous avoidance of the word “genocide” while some 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda were being slaughtered, over a few weeks’ time, by their Hutu neighbors 10 years ago that indicated the American government had no intention of doing anything. To refuse to call what took place in Abu Ghraib – and what has taken place elsewhere in Iraq and in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay – by its true name, torture, is as outrageous as the refusal to call the Rwandan genocide a genocide.”

IMHO, this quote, and the article, goes to the core of what most white — and white-minded[despise the reference if you must, but you know what I mean] — americans refuse to face, consider, hear or discuss. It is this same sanitation of verbiage which we see/hear domestically when race/hate crimes occur. How many times did you hear the word “torture” used in any articles on Emmitt Till, or the Jasper, Texas cases? Ever hear it in the description/discussion of lynching? These are terms & language white america, in general is loathe to use in describing itself. Have you noticed how “christian fundamentalist” has slipped off the media vocabulary radar screen? There was a time not so long ago when Falwell & his ilk were referred to by that reference. Now, it is reserved, as a sort of *media epithet*, for the ‘despised other’.

What I find perhaps most striking is how much, if not all of what we are seeing from Bush lately has been present and clearly evident all along. Being someone who lived in Texas under Bush for 3.5 years — during which time the Jasper, Texas incident occurred — I have some direct experience to speak from. What I am looking forward to is to see how those intellectual & ethical reprobates who rushed to embrace, support & defend Bush squirm in their efforts to find ways to distance themselves from his rhetoric and actions, now that the results which were predicted all along have come to pass.

The bottom line is this: all those who, however self-righteously, now newly clamor for the heads of those in authority who authorized, knew &/or participated in this and other debacles rapidly being exposed, must ask themselves a burning salient question — “To what extent am I responsible, for these actions in the name of America, as a function of my rhetoric and actions over the last 4+ years?”

After all, rather than claiming ‘they were just following orders’, the Bush regime could easily fall back on the old TV studio adage “we were just giving them what they said they wanted…”

PS: go to the site to see the photos and rest of the article….

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

Voltaire, 1767

May 23, 2004

Regarding the Torture of Others

For a long time — at least six decades — photographs have laid down the tracks of how important conflicts are judged and remembered. The Western memory museum is now mostly a visual one. Photographs have an insuperable power to determine what we recall of events, and it now seems probable that the defining association of people everywhere with the war that the United States launched pre-emptively in Iraq last year will be photographs of the torture of Iraqi prisoners by Americans in the most infamous of Saddam Hussein’s prisons, Abu Ghraib.

The Bush administration and its defenders have chiefly sought to limit a public-relations disaster — the dissemination of the photographs — rather than deal with the complex crimes of leadership and of policy revealed by the pictures. There was, first of all, the displacement of the reality onto the photographs themselves. The administration’s initial response was to say that the president was shocked and disgusted by the photographs — as if the fault or horror lay in the images, not in what they depict. There was also the avoidance of the word ‘’torture.’‘ The prisoners had possibly been the objects of ‘’abuse,’‘ eventually of ‘’humiliation’‘ — that was the most to be admitted. ‘’My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture,’‘ Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said at a press conference. ‘’And therefore I’m not going to address the ‘torture’ word.’‘

Words alter, words add, words subtract. It was the strenuous avoidance of the word ‘’genocide’‘ while some 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda were being slaughtered, over a few weeks’ time, by their Hutu neighbors 10 years ago that indicated the American government had no intention of doing anything. To refuse to call what took place in Abu Ghraib — and what has taken place elsewhere in Iraq and in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay — by its true name, torture, is as outrageous as the refusal to call the Rwandan genocide a genocide. Here is one of the definitions of torture contained in a convention to which the United States is a signatory: ‘’any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession. ‘’ (The definition comes from the 1984 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Similar definitions have existed for some time in customary law and in treaties, starting with Article 3 — common to the four Geneva conventions of 1949 — and many recent human rights conventions.) The 1984 convention declares, ‘’No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.’‘ And all covenants on torture specify that it includes treatment intended to humiliate the victim, like leaving prisoners naked in cells and corridors.

Whatever actions this administration undertakes to limit the damage of the widening revelations of the torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere — trials, courts-martial, dishonorable discharges, resignation of senior military figures and responsible administration officials and substantial compensation to the victims — it is probable that the ‘’torture’‘ word will continue to be banned. To acknowledge that Americans torture their prisoners would contradict everything this administration has invited the public to believe about the virtue of American intentions and America’s right, flowing from that virtue, to undertake unilateral action on the world stage.

Even when the president was finally compelled, as the damage to America’s reputation everywhere in the world widened and deepened, to use the ‘’sorry’‘ word, the focus of regret still seemed the damage to America’s claim to moral superiority. Yes, President Bush said in Washington on May 6, standing alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan, he was ‘’sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families.’‘ But, he went on, he was ‘’equally sorry that people seeing these pictures didn’t understand the true nature and heart of America.’‘

To have the American effort in Iraq summed up by these images must seem, to those who saw some justification in a war that did overthrow one of the monster tyrants of modern times, ‘’unfair.’‘ A war, an occupation, is inevitably a huge tapestry of actions. What makes some actions representative and others not? The issue is not whether the torture was done by individuals (i.e., ‘’not by everybody’‘) — but whether it was systematic. Authorized. Condoned. All acts are done by individuals. The issue is not whether a majority or a minority of Americans performs such acts but whether the nature of the policies prosecuted by this administration and the hierarchies deployed to carry them out makes such acts likely.

Considered in this light, the photographs are us. That is, they are representative of the fundamental corruptions of any foreign occupation together with the Bush adminstration’s distinctive policies. The Belgians in the Congo, the French in Algeria, practiced torture and sexual humiliation on despised recalcitrant natives. Add to this generic corruption the mystifying, near-total unpreparedness of the American rulers of Iraq to deal with the complex realities of the country after its ‘’liberation.’‘ And add to that the overarching, distinctive doctrines of the Bush administration, namely that the United States has embarked on an endless war and that those detained in this war are, if the president so decides, ‘’unlawful combatants’‘ — a policy enunciated by Donald Rumsfeld for Taliban and Qaeda prisoners as early as January 2002 — and thus, as Rumsfeld said, ‘’technically’‘ they ‘’do not have any rights under the Geneva Convention,’‘ and you have a perfect recipe for the cruelties and crimes committed against the thousands incarcerated without charges or access to lawyers in American-run prisons that have been set up since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

So, then, is the real issue not the photographs themselves but what the photographs reveal to have happened to ‘’suspects’‘ in American custody? No: the horror of what is shown in the photographs cannot be separated from the horror that the photographs were taken — with the perpetrators posing, gloating, over their helpless captives. German soldiers in the Second World War took photographs of the atrocities they were committing in Poland and Russia, but snapshots in which the executioners placed themselves among their victims are exceedingly rare, as may be seen in a book just published, ‘’Photographing the Holocaust,’‘ by Janina Struk. If there is something comparable to what these pictures show it would be some of the photographs of black victims of lynching taken between the 1880’s and 1930’s, which show Americans grinning beneath the naked mutilated body of a black man or woman hanging behind them from a tree. The lynching photographs were souvenirs of a collective action whose participants felt perfectly justified in what they had done. So are the pictures from Abu Ghraib.

The lynching pictures were in the nature of photographs as trophies — taken by a photographer in order to be collected, stored in albums, displayed. The pictures taken by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib, however, reflect a shift in the use made of pictures — less objects to be saved than messages to be disseminated, circulated. A digital camera is a common possession among soldiers. Where once photographing war was the province of photojournalists, now the soldiers themselves are all photographers — recording their war, their fun, their observations of what they find picturesque, their atrocities — and swapping images among themselves and e-mailing them around the globe.

There is more and more recording of what people do, by themselves. At least or especially in America, Andy Warhol’s ideal of filming real events in real time — life isn’t edited, why should its record be edited? — has become a norm for countless Webcasts, in which people record their day, each in his or her own reality show. Here I am — waking and yawning and stretching, brushing my teeth, making breakfast, getting the kids off to school. People record all aspects of their lives, store them in computer files and send the files around. Family life goes with the recording of family life — even when, or especially when, the family is in the throes of crisis and disgrace. Surely the dedicated, incessant home-videoing of one another, in conversation and monologue, over many years was the most astonishing material in ‘’Capturing the Friedmans,’‘ the recent documentary by Andrew Jarecki about a Long Island family embroiled in pedophilia charges.

An erotic life is, for more and more people, that which can be captured in digital photographs and on video. And perhaps the torture is more attractive, as something to record, when it has a sexual component. It is surely revealing, as more Abu Ghraib photographs enter public view, that torture photographs are interleaved with pornographic images of American soldiers having sex with one another. In fact, most of the torture photographs have a sexual theme, as in those showing the coercing of prisoners to perform, or simulate, sexual acts among themselves. One exception, already canonical, is the photograph of the man made to stand on a box, hooded and sprouting wires, reportedly told he would be electrocuted if he fell off. Yet pictures of prisoners bound in painful positions, or made to stand with outstretched arms, are infrequent. That they count as torture cannot be doubted. You have only to look at the terror on the victim’s face, although such ‘’stress’‘ fell within the Pentagon’s limits of the acceptable. But most of the pictures seem part of a larger confluence of torture and pornography: a young woman leading a naked man around on a leash is classic dominatrix imagery. And you wonder how much of the sexual tortures inflicted on the inmates of Abu Ghraib was inspired by the vast repertory of pornographic imagery available on the Internet — and which ordinary people, by sending out Webcasts of themselves, try to emulate.

To live is to be photographed, to have a record of one’s life, and therefore to go on with one’s life oblivious, or claiming to be oblivious, to the camera’s nonstop attentions. But to live is also to pose. To act is to share in the community of actions recorded as images. The expression of satisfaction at the acts of torture being inflicted on helpless, trussed, naked victims is only part of the story. There is the deep satisfaction of being photographed, to which one is now more inclined to respond not with a stiff, direct gaze (as in former times) but with glee. The events are in part designed to be photographed. The grin is a grin for the camera. There would be something missing if, after stacking the naked men, you couldn’t take a picture of them.

Looking at these photographs, you ask yourself, How can someone grin at the sufferings and humiliation of another human being? Set guard dogs at the genitals and legs of cowering naked prisoners? Force shackled, hooded prisoners to masturbate or simulate oral sex with one another? And you feel naive for asking, since the answer is, self-evidently, People do these things to other people. Rape and pain inflicted on the genitals are among the most common forms of torture. Not just in Nazi concentration camps and in Abu Ghraib when it was run by Saddam Hussein. Americans, too, have done and do them when they are told, or made to feel, that those over whom they have absolute power deserve to be humiliated, tormented. They do them when they are led to believe that the people they are torturing belong to an inferior race or religion. For the meaning of these pictures is not just that these acts were performed, but that their perpetrators apparently had no sense that there was anything wrong in what the pictures show.

Even more appalling, since the pictures were meant to be circulated and seen by many people: it was all fun. And this idea of fun is, alas, more and more — contrary to what President Bush is telling the world — part of ‘’the true nature and heart of America.’‘ It is hard to measure the increasing acceptance of brutality in American life, but its evidence is everywhere, starting with the video games of killing that are a principal entertainment of boys — can the video game ‘’Interrogating the Terrorists’‘ really be far behind? — and on to the violence that has become endemic in the group rites of youth on an exuberant kick. Violent crime is down, yet the easy delight taken in violence seems to have grown. From the harsh torments inflicted on incoming students in many American suburban high schools — depicted in Richard Linklater’s 1993 film, ‘’Dazed and Confused’‘ — to the hazing rituals of physical brutality and sexual humiliation in college fraternities and on sports teams, America has become a country in which the fantasies and the practice of violence are seen as good entertainment, fun.

What formerly was segregated as pornography, as the exercise of extreme sadomasochistic longings — as in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last, near-unwatchable film, ‘’Salo’‘ (1975), depicting orgies of torture in the Fascist redoubt in northern Italy at the end of the Mussolini era — is now being normalized, by some, as high-spirited play or venting. To ‘’stack naked men’‘ is like a college fraternity prank, said a caller to Rush Limbaugh and the many millions of Americans who listen to his radio show. Had the caller, one wonders, seen the photographs? No matter. The observation — or is it the fantasy? — was on the mark. What may still be capable of shocking some Americans was Limbaugh’s response: ‘’Exactly!’‘ he exclaimed. ‘’Exactly my point. This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation, and we’re going to ruin people’s lives over it, and we’re going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time.’‘ ’‘They’‘ are the American soldiers, the torturers. And Limbaugh went on: ‘’You know, these people are being fired at every day. I’m talking about people having a good time, these people. You ever heard of emotional release?’‘

Shock and awe were what our military promised the Iraqis. And shock and the awful are what these photographs announce to the world that the Americans have delivered: a pattern of criminal behavior in open contempt of international humanitarian conventions. Soldiers now pose, thumbs up, before the atrocities they commit, and send off the pictures to their buddies. Secrets of private life that, formerly, you would have given nearly anything to conceal, you now clamor to be invited on a television show to reveal. What is illustrated by these photographs is as much the culture of shamelessness as the reigning admiration for unapologetic brutality.

The notion that apologies or professions of ‘’disgust’‘ by the president and the secretary of defense are a sufficient response is an insult to one’s historical and moral sense. The torture of prisoners is not an aberration. It is a direct consequence of the with-us-or-against-us doctrines of world struggle with which the Bush administration has sought to change, change radically, the international stance of the United States and to recast many domestic institutions and prerogatives. The Bush administration has committed the country to a pseudo-religious doctrine of war, endless war — for ‘’the war on terror’‘ is nothing less than that. Endless war is taken to justify endless incarcerations. Those held in the extralegal American penal empire are ‘’detainees’‘; ‘’prisoners,’‘ a newly obsolete word, might suggest that they have the rights accorded by international law and the laws of all civilized countries. This endless ‘’global war on terrorism’‘ — into which both the quite justified invasion of Afghanistan and the unwinnable folly in Iraq have been folded by Pentagon decree — inevitably leads to the demonizing and dehumanizing of anyone declared by the Bush administration to be a possible terrorist: a definition that is not up for debate and is, in fact, usually made in secret.

The charges against most of the people detained in the prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan being nonexistent — the Red Cross reports that 70 to 90 percent of those being held seem to have committed no crime other than simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up in some sweep of ‘’suspects’‘ — the principal justification for holding them is ‘’interrogation.’‘ Interrogation about what? About anything. Whatever the detainee might know. If interrogation is the point of detaining prisoners indefinitely, then physical coercion, humiliation and torture become inevitable.

Remember: we are not talking about that rarest of cases, the ‘’ticking time bomb’‘ situation, which is sometimes used as a limiting case that justifies torture of prisoners who have knowledge of an imminent attack. This is general or nonspecific information-gathering, authorized by American military and civilian administrators to learn more of a shadowy empire of evildoers about whom Americans know virtually nothing, in countries about which they are singularly ignorant: in principle, any information at all might be useful. An interrogation that produced no information (whatever information might consist of) would count as a failure. All the more justification for preparing prisoners to talk. Softening them up, stressing them out — these are the euphemisms for the bestial practices in American prisons where suspected terrorists are being held. Unfortunately, as Staff Sgt. Ivan (Chip) Frederick noted in his diary, a prisoner can get too stressed out and die. The picture of a man in a body bag with ice on his chest may well be of the man Frederick was describing.

The pictures will not go away. That is the nature of the digital world in which we live. Indeed, it seems they were necessary to get our leaders to acknowledge that they had a problem on their hands. After all, the conclusions of reports compiled by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other reports by journalists and protests by humanitarian organizations about the atrocious punishments inflicted on ‘’detainees’‘ and ‘’suspected terrorists’‘ in prisons run by the American military, first in Afghanistan and later in Iraq, have been circulating for more than a year. It seems doubtful that such reports were read by President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney or Condoleezza Rice or Rumsfeld. Apparently it took the photographs to get their attention, when it became clear they could not be suppressed; it was the photographs that made all this ‘’real’‘ to Bush and his associates. Up to then, there had been only words, which are easier to cover up in our age of infinite digital self-reproduction and self-dissemination, and so much easier to forget.

So now the pictures will continue to ‘’assault’‘ us — as many Americans are bound to feel. Will people get used to them? Some Americans are already saying they have seen enough. Not, however, the rest of the world. Endless war: endless stream of photographs. Will editors now debate whether showing more of them, or showing them uncropped (which, with some of the best-known images, like that of a hooded man on a box, gives a different and in some instances more appalling view), would be in ‘’bad taste’‘ or too implicitly political? By ‘’political,’‘ read: critical of the Bush administration’s imperial project. For there can be no doubt that the photographs damage, as Rumsfeld testified, ‘’the reputation of the honorable men and women of the armed forces who are courageously and responsibly and professionally defending our freedom across the globe.’‘ This damage — to our reputation, our image, our success as the lone superpower — is what the Bush administration principally deplores. How the protection of ‘’our freedom’‘ — the freedom of 5 percent of humanity — came to require having American soldiers ‘’across the globe’‘ is hardly debated by our elected officials.

Already the backlash has begun. Americans are being warned against indulging in an orgy of self-condemnation. The continuing publication of the pictures is being taken by many Americans as suggesting that we do not have the right to defend ourselves: after all, they (the terrorists) started it. They — Osama bin Laden? Saddam Hussein? what’s the difference? — attacked us first. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, before which Secretary Rumsfeld testified, avowed that he was sure he was not the only member of the committee ‘’more outraged by the outrage’‘ over the photographs than by what the photographs show. ‘’These prisoners,’‘ Senator Inhofe explained, ‘’you know they’re not there for traffic violations. If they’re in Cellblock 1-A or 1-B, these prisoners, they’re murderers, they’re terrorists, they’re insurgents. Many of them probably have American blood on their hands, and here we’re so concerned about the treatment of those individuals.’‘ It’s the fault of ‘’the media’‘ which are provoking, and will continue to provoke, further violence against Americans around the world. More Americans will die. Because of these photos.

There is an answer to this charge, of course. Americans are dying not because of the photographs but because of what the photographs reveal to be happening, happening with the complicity of a chain of command — so Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba implied, and Pfc. Lynndie England said, and (among others) Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican, suggested, after he saw the Pentagon’s full range of images on May 12. ‘’Some of it has an elaborate nature to it that makes me very suspicious of whether or not others were directing or encouraging,’‘ Senator Graham said. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said that viewing an uncropped version of one photo showing a stack of naked men in a hallway — a version that revealed how many other soldiers were at the scene, some not even paying attention — contradicted the Pentagon’s assertion that only rogue soldiers were involved. ‘’Somewhere along the line,’‘ Senator Nelson said of the torturers, ‘’they were either told or winked at.’‘ An attorney for Specialist Charles Graner Jr., who is in the picture, has had his client identify the men in the uncropped version; according to The Wall Street Journal, Graner said that four of the men were military intelligence and one a civilian contractor working with military intelligence.

But the distinction between photograph and reality — as between spin and policy — can easily evaporate. And that is what the administration wishes to happen. ‘’There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist,’‘ Rumsfeld acknowledged in his testimony. ‘’If these are released to the public, obviously, it’s going to make matters worse.’‘ Worse for the administration and its programs, presumably, not for those who are the actual — and potential? — victims of torture.

The media may self-censor but, as Rumsfeld acknowledged, it’s hard to censor soldiers overseas, who don’t write letters home, as in the old days, that can be opened by military censors who ink out unacceptable lines. Today’s soldiers instead function like tourists, as Rumsfeld put it, ‘’running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law, to the media, to our surprise.’‘ The administration’s effort to withhold pictures is proceeding along several fronts. Currently, the argument is taking a legalistic turn: now the photographs are classified as evidence in future criminal cases, whose outcome may be prejudiced if they are made public. The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner of Virginia, after the May 12 slide show of image after image of sexual humiliation and violence against Iraqi prisoners, said he felt ‘’very strongly’‘ that the newer photos ‘’should not be made public. I feel that it could possibly endanger the men and women of the armed forces as they are serving and at great risk.’‘

But the real push to limit the accessibility of the photographs will come from the continuing effort to protect the administration and cover up our misrule in Iraq — to identify ‘’outrage’‘ over the photographs with a campaign to undermine American military might and the purposes it currently serves. Just as it was regarded by many as an implicit criticism of the war to show on television photographs of American soldiers who have been killed in the course of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it will increasingly be thought unpatriotic to disseminate the new photographs and further tarnish the image of America.

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Pierre Chareau’s Art Deco

First Published 23 May 2013

photo copy 4

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We were captivated by this gueridon-bobliothque “MB 960” by Pierre Chareau circa 1930 at Artcurial last week. It is one of the top lots in the upcoming Art Deco sale on March 28th.

This sumptuous solid mahogany table is supported by a metal pedestal with a rolling ball foot. This foot and the hinged arm attached to the bookshelf allows it to rotate out into the room or be tucked into the bookcase. His design process incorporated the functional elements into the overall concept and lifted up these otherwise mundane elements to a new level of intrigue.

Chareau also turned functional elements such as pipes and beams into decorative ones in his iconic  Maison de Verre (1928-1932) in Paris,( 31 Rue Saint Guillaume 75007). This is the first house built exclusively of steel and glass, and one of the first loft spaces!

Another version of his adaptable furniture is the expanding ‘fan-effect’ table. There are two examples of this work in the interior image above – just in front and to either side of the painting on the easel.

His work while very luxurious and inline with the tenets of art deco also blurred the lines between the functional and decorative elements by treating them all with the same respect.

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surrounded by clouds

On day 2

Day 2 at Northumbria CU events week was all about Inception.

Pop-a-Question: If you could live one moment of your life again, what would it be?

Lasagne for tea, and a talk on Inception, guilt, regret, and the Lost Son.

In summary: 2 to go.

This entry was published on November 13, 2013 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Randomness. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

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Elysium: The Elder War

Journal Entry 9, Nox

Journal Entry #9

I have not felt this king of rage since my mortal days.  The GALL of these trespassers entering MY domain and disrupt MY people.  People that I protect.  People that I have helped prosper.  In the old days, I would have had them beaten, dragged through the streets and then crucified as an example to discourage other rabble rousers.  Apparently, my time in Petronius’ company has helped quell that part of me.

Of greatest concern was the fact that the monk was able to somehow overcome my ability to cloud his mind to my presence.  I have heard rumors of mortals that were true believers that were resistant to our abilities.  Maybe there is some truth to it.  Regardless of how strong his faith was, the gods judged him unworthy and he was slain by rival Christian sect.

I feel bad for Petronius, he tried his best to stop the violence and to save the prostitutes, that the monk had recruited into his cult, from the pyres.  Petronius’ skills as a mediator did prevent the situation from escalating.

The wild card in all of this was the presence of the Lasombra Narses.  He violated our domain on multiple occasions, even after my command that he leave and never trespass again.  I would find him and kill him myself, but how does one kill a shadow?

In the days that followed, my friends and I continued our discussions about the looming threat of the Stryx.  We’ve decided that it might be best if we make our way east to Constantinople.  There is still so much left undone in Rome though.  I think it is time to reward Cassius for his years of service and loyalty.  I have been grooming him to take on more responsibilities, so this is looking like the opportune time to put that plan into action.  I’ll have to seek permission, but I believe he will make a good addition to our society.

TheStoryteller66 UmbraNoctis

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Category Archives: Uncategorized

Can I Protect My Pension From My Soon-to-be Ex?

Source: Can I Protect My Pension From My Soon-to-be Ex?

Wills and Estates

Matta Law

edwardbrooke22.jpgI was estranged from my Mother who passed away recently, is someone obligated to let me know details of the will? As a youngster I was hit by a car, my parents sued on my behalf, 50 years later I have never received a penny every time I asked my Mother she would change the subject, Was wondering if it’s a waste of time to pursue this as I have permanent damage to the leg that was broken in the accident
            You have two separate issues here: Did your mother leave a valid will and how can you recover the damages award received in a personal injury action many years ago. In all likelihood, your award was an “Infant Compromise” and the funds should have been placed in a restricted account for your benefit when you came of age. That’s how the theory goes…

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Tassili n'Ajjer (Berber: Tasili n Ajjer, Arabic: طاسيلي ناجر, English: Plateau of the Rivers) is a heavily eroded sandstone rock formation in the Sahara desert, located on a vast plateau that encompasses southeastern Algeria, western Libya and northern Niger. It features over 300 rock arches, dense clusters of eroded sandstone rock pillars, and steep cliffs and gorges, where water pools permanently at the surface.[1] Tassili n'Ajjer covers an area of over 72,000 km2 (28,000 sq mi).[2]

Tassili n'Ajjer
Tassili n’Ajjer National Park NASA Landsat 7 (2000).jpg
Landsat multilayer image of the Tassili n'Ajjer
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location Algeria Edit this at Wikidata
Coordinates 25°40′00″N 9°00′00″E / 25.6667°N 9°E / 25.6667; 9
Includes Tassili n'Ajjer Cultural Park Edit this on Wikidata
Criteria Cultural and Natural: (i), (iii), (vii), (viii) Edit this on Wikidata
Reference 179
Inscription 1982 (6th Session)
Tassili n'Ajjer is located in Algeria
Tassili n'Ajjer
Location of Tassili n'Ajjer

Prehistoric artEdit

The rock formation is an archaeological site, noted for its numerous prehistoric parietal works of rock art, first reported in 1910,[2] that date to the early Neolithic era at the end of the last glacial period during which the Sahara was an inhabitable savanna rather than the current desert. Although sources vary considerably, the earliest pieces of art are assumed to be 12,000 years old.[3] the vast majority date to the 9th and 10th millennia BP or younger, according to OSL dating of associated sediments.[4] Among the 15,000 engravings so far identified depicted are large wild animals including antelopes and crocodiles, cattle herds and humans that engage in activities such as hunting and dancing.[5] According to UNESCO, "The exceptional density of paintings and engravings...have made Tassili world famous."[6]

The Tassili n'Ajjer ranges from 26°20′N 5°00′E / 26.333°N 5.000°E / 26.333; 5.000 east-south-east to 24°00′N 10°00′E / 24.000°N 10.000°E / 24.000; 10.000. Its highest point is the Adrar Afao that peaks at 2,158 m (7,080 ft), located at 25°10′N 8°11′E / 25.167°N 8.183°E / 25.167; 8.183. The nearest town is Djanet, situated around 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Tassili n'Ajjer. The archaeological site has been designated a national park, a Biosphere Reserve (cypresses) and was induced into UNESCO's World Heritage Site list as Tassili n'Ajjer National Park.[7]

The plateau is also of great geological and aesthetic interest, as the panorama of geological formations of "rock forests" of eroded sandstone resembles a strange lunar landscape.[8]

The range is composed largely of sandstone.[5] The sandstone is stained by a thin outer layer of deposited metallic oxides which color the rock formations anywhere from near-black to dull red.[5] Erosion in the area has resulted in nearly 300 natural rock arches being formed, along with many other spectacular landforms.

Because of the altitude and the water-holding properties of the sandstone, the vegetation here is somewhat richer than in the surrounding desert; it includes a very scattered woodland of the endangered endemic species Saharan Cypress and Saharan Myrtle in the higher eastern half of the range.[5]

The ecology of the Tassili n'Ajjer is more fully described in the article West Saharan montane xeric woodlands, the ecoregion to which this area belongs. The literal English translation of Tassili n'Ajjer is 'Plateau of the rivers' referring to a time when the climate was repeatedly far wetter than it is today (see Neolithic Subpluvial).

Relict populations of the West African crocodile persisted in the Tassili n'Ajjer until the 20th century.[9] Various other fauna still reside on the plateau, including mouflons, the only surviving type of the larger mammals depicted in the area's rock paintings.[5]

In popular cultureEdit

  • Tassili is the recording location and the title of a 2011 album by the Tuareg-Berber band Tinariwen.
  • In his 1992 book Food of the Gods, new-age icon Terence McKenna hypothesized that the Neolithic culture that inhabited the site used psilocybin mushrooms as part of its religious ritual life, citing rock paintings showing persons holding mushroom-like objects in their hands, as well as mushrooms growing from their bodies.[citation needed]
  • Tassili Plain is a track on the 1994 album Natural Wonders of the World in Dub by dub group Zion Train.

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

Tassili n'Ajjer National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Location Tamanrasset Province, Algeria
Coordinates 25°45′N 8°15′E / 25.750°N 8.250°E / 25.750; 8.250
Area 72,000 km2 (28,000 sq mi)
Established 1972
  • Bahn, Paul G. (1998) The Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  • Bradley, R (2000) An archaeology of natural places London, Routledge.
  • Bruce-Lockhart, J and Wright, J (2000) Difficult and Dangerous Roads: Hugh Clapperton's Travels in the Sahara and Fezzan 1822-1825
  • Chippindale, Chris and Tacon, S-C (eds) (1998) The Archaeology of Rock Art Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  • Clottes, J. (2002): World Rock Art. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
  • Coulson, D and Campbell, Alec (2001) African Rock Art: Paintings and Engravings on Stone New York, Harry N Abrams.
  • Frison-Roche, Roger (1965) Carnets Sahariens Paris, Flammarion
  • Holl, Augustin F.C. (2004) Saharan Rock Art, Archaeology of Tassilian Pastoralist Icongraphy
  • Lajoux, Jean-Dominique (1977) Tassili n'Ajjer: Art Rupestre du Sahara Préhistorique Paris, Le Chêne.
  • Lajoux, Jean-Dominique (1962), Merveilles du Tassili n'Ajjer (The rock paintings of Tassili in translation), Le Chêne, Paris.
  • Le Quellec, J-L (1998) Art Rupestre et Prehistoire du Sahara. Le Messak Libyen Paris: Editions Payot et Rivages, Bibliothèque Scientifique Payot.
  • Lhote, Henri (1959, reprinted 1973) The Search for the Tassili Frescoes: The story of the prehistoric rock-paintings of the Sahara London.
  • Lhote, Henri (1958, 1973, 1992, 2006) À la découverte des fresques du Tassili, Arthaud, Paris.
  • Mattingly, D (ed) (forthcoming) The archaeology of the Fezzan.
  • Muzzolini, A (1997) "Saharan Rock Art", in Vogel, J O (ed) Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa Walnut Creek: 347-353.
  • Van Albada, A. and Van Albada, A.-M. (2000): La Montagne des Hommes-Chiens: Art Rupestre du Messak Lybien Paris, Seuil.
  • Whitley, D S (ed) (2001) Handbook of Rock Art Research New York: Altamira Press.

  1. ^ "Rock Art of the Tassili n Ajjer, Algeria" (PDF). Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Tassili-n-Ajjer". britannica. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  3. ^ "Tassili N'Ajjer (Algeria)". Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  4. ^ "OSL dating of quaternary deposits associated with the parietal art of the Tassili-n-Ajjer plateau (Central Sahara)". Quaternary Geochronology. 10: 367–373. July 2012. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2011.11.010. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d e Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. pp. 371–372. ISBN 0-89577-087-3.
  6. ^ "Tassili n'Ajer". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Tassili n'Ajjer National Park, Djanet". Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  8. ^ "Tassili National Park, Sahara Algeria". Retrieved 2012-12-16.
  9. ^ "Crocodiles in the Sahara Desert: An Update of Distribution, Habitats and Population Status for Conservation Planning in Mauritania". PLOS ONE. 25 February 2011.

External linksEdit


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From Latin vīcīnitās (neighborhood) (compare French vicinité), from vīcīnus (neighbor) (compare French voisin), from vīcus (village).

Wikipedia has an article on:

vicinity (plural vicinities)

  1. proximity; the state of being near.
    There was a crackling sound in the vicinity of my right ear.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
      The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; [] . Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated competition.
  2. neighbourhood; nearby region; surrounding area.
    There is a hurricane in the vicinity of the Bahamas.
    • 2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in, Al Jazeera:
      Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler, reporting from Bangkok, said hundreds of Yingluck's supporters gathered outside the Bangkok Supreme Court to await the verdict but were not allowed in the vicinity.
  3. approximate size or amount.
    I weigh in the vicinity of 80kg.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.


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Definition of mild-mannered in English:

  • (of a person) gentle and not given to extremes of emotion.

    ‘karate was introduced into Japan by a mild-mannered Okinawan schoolmaster’
    • ‘He was mild-mannered and polite, attempting light humour to put me at my ease.’
    • ‘Off the field he is a quietly spoken, mild-mannered person; on the field, he's different.’
    • ‘He is too mild-mannered to be a manager; too nice to be nasty.’
    • ‘And he is on BBC2 in the evenings now, asking his aggressive questions at mild-mannered members of the public.’
    • ‘He sounds like a slightly demented five-year-old child, while at the same time looking like anybody's mild-mannered uncle.’
    • ‘After returning, we've reverted back to our normal roles as mild-mannered students.’
    • ‘Softness and that curiously mild-mannered touch dominated Lang Lang's playing.’
    • ‘Jacob does not know how to react to this headstrong woman who is nothing like the mild-mannered wife he had loved.’
    • ‘Presently, Larry is working as a mild-mannered library clerk at a community college in Kingston, Ontario.’
    • ‘Superman may save the world on a regular basis, but he gets to come home and be mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent.’
    • ‘These are startling things to hear from such a quiet, decent, mild-mannered man.’
    • ‘Even the mild-mannered people out in the provinces are now saying that there will be civil disobedience.’
    • ‘But this time it was not the defence secretary who spoke but the normally mild-mannered secretary of state.’
    • ‘This sent my normally mild-mannered father, who was eating dinner at the time, into a rage.’
    • ‘He's normally mild-mannered, easy-going and a joy to work for.’
    • ‘Two policemen are filming and photographing the apparently mild-mannered women holding the poster.’
    • ‘He was a kind, mild-mannered man who did not like the trials of leadership or the political intrigues of court.’
    • ‘A mild-mannered man is wrongly accused of a crime and sentenced to anger-management treatment.’
    • ‘One of the most mild-mannered people I know is driven into a frenzy by the fact that there is a caravan parked in a drive just up the road from her.’
    • ‘My mom was mild-mannered compared to that, which was really saying something.’


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(redirected from Pentigram)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus.

1. a star-shaped figure formed by extending the sides of a regular pentagon to meet at five points
2. such a figure used as a magical or symbolic figure by the Pythagoreans, black magicians, etc.
Enlarge picture
This pentagram, from a fourteenth-century manuscript, is designed to facilitate the acquisition of “all secrets of knowledge.” Courtesy Fortean Picture Library.

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

The pentagram is a five-pointed, star-shaped figure usually drawn with the single point upward. It is also known as Seal of Solomon, pentalpha, Star of Logres, goblin's foot, witch's cross, and Druid's foot.

As a magical figure, its origins are lost in time. Eliphas Levi describes the pentagram as signifying "the domination of the mind over the elements." It is generally associated with the life force, much like the ancient Egyptian ankh, and was often associated with the Microcosmic Man—a figure of a man, with arms and legs extended, superimposed on a five-pointed star. For medieval alchemists, magicians, and philosophers, the pentagram symbolized man as the microcosm. As Barbara Walker says, "Man is the world, the world is man, and his genitals are the center of the universe." It was considered an illustration of the principle "as above, so below."

The pentagram has always been associated with magic. The five points represent the four elements—earth, air, fire and water—surmounted by spirit. According to the fourteenth century tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentacle was sacred to Morgan, the Celtic death-goddess, and in the tale was carried on a blood-red shield in her honor.

The Golden Dawn's "Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram" includes a self consecra- tion by drawing the pentagram on the body, touching with the tip of a ritual knife. A similar consecration (done either on oneself or on another) is found in some traditions of Witchcraft, where the forefinger is dipped into oil or salted water and then touched to the forehead, right breast, left shoulder, right shoulder, right breast, back to forehead. In some degree systems (e.g. Gardnerian), a variation of this ritual is part of the consecration for first degree. An inverted pentagram—with the two points upward—is for the second degree, and a pentagram surmounted by a triangle is for the third degree.

An inverted pentagram is not necessarily a sign of evil. How and by whom it is used may suggest good or evil. Reportedly, Satanists use an inverted pentagram, often portrayed superimposed on the head of a goat. In that sense it is a negative symbol, whereas an inverted pentagram used in Wicca is a positive symbol.

In modern-day Witchcraft, a pentagram is described in the air, using an athamé, to seal a consecrated circle. It may also be drawn with single point uppermost to invoke and with two points upward to banish.

a regular pentagon on whose sides are constructed isosceles triangles of identical height. In particular, the triangles can be equilateral or can be formed by extending the side of the pentagon. In the latter case the pentagram is a star-

Figure 1

shaped polygon that can also be formed by the diagonals of a regular pentagon (see Figure 1).


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Ready-To-Run Boats

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Bonzi 47 Skater - Enforcer Edition
Bonzi Sports 47 Skater - Enforcer Edition.  Complete Ready to Run with Enforcer hardware package - just add electronics. All the speed, style and quality of the Bonzi Sports 47 Skater with the affordability and reliability of Enforcer RC Boats hardware. Just add electronics.  ..
Enforcer Super G
ENFORCER SUPER G - Ready to Run with Zenoah G230RC Air Cooled engine. This is the boat that started it all! All of the quality of Enforcer RC Boats - hand laid fiberglass hull and gel coat finish.  Zenoah G230RC Air Cooled engine and Enforcer clutch. Complete with everything you ne..
Enforcer Mega G
Enforcer newest Mega G Ready to Run boat. Big brother to our world famous Super G...this model includes the Zenoah G320RC (32cc) air cooled engine, bullet proof Bonzi' Billet Clutch for added reliability and our Enforcer SPD III dual rudder outdrive. A step up from the Super G for those who jus..
Enforcer Magnum 57
57 inches of wave crashing excitement is the best way to describe our world famous Magnum 57. This boat is the Granddaddy of large scale-like gas model boats, and you can bet you will find one on almost every continent in around the world. Designed for rougher water conditions, the Mag 57 is at home..
Enforcer Silex Pro
Enforcer Race Boat - complete set up with Zenoah G260PUM engine. White, Yellow, Black or Red Gel Coat finish.  Tech Specifications: Length: 47" Beam: 13" Deadrise" 1.25 - 1.5" Weight: 5 pounds Special Features: Composite core for additional deck and hull strength 100% cloth (hull) /..
Enforcer Magnum Old School
In 1986 we designed the magnum 57 which has become one of our most popular models. Since that era spawned the development and usage of close-canopies to protect the driver and throttle-man, we have all become to acustomed to those designs. We thought it would be fun to design an open cockpit to show..
Team Enforcer
Perhaps the most popular model in gas model boating is our world famous Team Enforcer 46". Since 1986 the Team Enforcer ( original design ) has been tearing up water ways all over the world. The Team Enforcer was the first realistic gas model boat manufactured in production. Now into it's fourth gen..
Team Enforcer Offshore
The Team Pro is based off of the same boat as our popular Team Enforcer model, however we designed a closed cockpit to offer this ever popular boat to those that like the newer off shore race boat style. The new closed cockpit really added a fresh look to this older and very proven hull design, and ..
Enforcer Manta Ray
The sister ship to our popular Magnum 57 is our Manta Ray. The hull was made by cutting down the freeboard of the Magnum 57 to offer a lower profile look. This lessened the length by 2" and enabled us to create another model with similar characteristics great for rougher water conditions. We designe..
Enforcer Man-O-War
In 1987 the full size version of this beautiful semi-scale replica took the US # 1 title in Offshore competition. We purchased the molds and the rights for the model version in 1992 to add it to our line of Enforcer boats. After re-tooling the molds in our factory, and only changing one attribute fr..
Enforcer Crackerbox
Wow! It's been 20 years since we started production of this model, the first production fiberglass Crackerbox to grace the hobby industry in 1992. We closely followed the Jerry Dunlop design to be completely legal in this once, limited class of gas model boat racing. Now twenty years later this hull..
Enforcer Split-N-Image Cat
Combining high speed performance with outstanding looks, The 50" Enforcer Split-n-Image Cat is a great boat for the intermediate/advanced RC boater. Modeled after full size Catamarans, it includes a Zenoah G260PUM 26cc water-cooled engine, a fiberglass gel-coated hull (available in 4 colors), and a ..
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ZSSS trade union to elect new president

Ljubljana, 4 October - One of the biggest Slovenian confederations of trade unions is meeting for a congress in Ljubljana today to elect a new leadership. Lidija Jerkič is expected to be elected the new boss, taking over from Dušan Semolič.

Lidija Jerkič in the running for the new president of the ZSSS, a powerful confederation of trade unions.
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Sessions and Workshops

Private Sessions

Sarah offers a combination of in-office and outdoors-based treatment plans based on your needs. One on one private sessions with horses are held on the ground and no previous horse experience is required.

Current client at The Refuge?

Interested in supplementing your existing therapy with sessions with the horses? Equine-Facilitated Trauma Therapy is typically held once a month between May and October, based on availability of the barn facility and weather permitting. Sessions are typically 60 minutes.

Already have an existing therapist elsewhere?

Call or email to find out about how to enhance the work you are doing with sessions with the horses. Sarah is happy to collaborate with your current therapist to ensure that your treatment goals are aligned.

Interested in booking?

Please contact Sarah to determine availability and discuss next steps. An initial intake session in office is typically required before beginning sessions at the barn for clients that are not currently accessing services at The Refuge.

Client Retreats

Sarah partners with other practitioners to co-facilitate retreat workshops for clients who are interested in a mini-intensive. These retreats are typically held over a weekend, from 9am to 4pm daily (hours may vary in certain cases), and group sizes are kept small out of respect for the comfort of the human and equine participants and to ensure a more personalized experience.

For more information, please see the Events Calendar for details.


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The Twilight of the Illusion.

You know when something feels like it’s going to last for ages, and then you reach the end and it feels like it’s flown over? That’s what the Fantasy Faire 2016 has felt like for me.

I spent yesterday gathering a shed load of pictures of the various Fairelands so that I can remember the awesome and amazing sights I’ve seen. So as the Fairelands disappear into memory, I have something to remind me of the visions I saw.

Twilight Illusion had a heaven and hell feel to it. With the high, white buildings in the clouds and stairs leading down to the dark, red half, plant roots breaking the path waiting to trip the unwary traveller.

I must admit that this wasn’t one of my favourite sims, but I could definitely appreciate the hard work. It just felt like too much in such a small place. I would have preferred it separated as that would have given it the space it deserved to really capture my imagination.

2 thoughts on “The Twilight of the Illusion.

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Engineering | Engineering Technical Services

ETS Information Technology Support

Softare Licenses

Applications and software tools available from ETS are covered under license agreements with the appropriate companies. These licenses may allow for single-use, multi-use, site or campus-wide distribution. A link to the list of available software is available at the bottom of this page.

In order to protect our software vendor copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights, ETS must ensure that all software within the Fulton School of Engineering is properly licensed.

If you use all or part of any software program on a university owned computer you are required to properly license the software. This includes any program that can be distributed to other people and is true whether the product will be sold, used internally, or given away. This applies to software intended for educational purposes and personal use. This holds true for old, new, and future software products.

We license our software in order to protect our legal responsibilities to software developers. Virtually all software is copyrighted, and it is illegal for anyone to redistribute it without a license. The university and Fulton School of Engineering are ultimately responsible for promoting authorized software distribution, however, we rely upon each computer user within this institution to ensure they are abiding by governing regulations set forth by the software manufactures.

If there is any confusion as to agreements we currently have with our numerous software vendors, please contact Denise Felsenthal.

Engineering Technical Services, as well as other ASU colleges and departments, may enter into a site license, volume purchase or educational discount agreement with a variety of software vendors to provide reduced pricing to the Fulton School of Engineering community. ETS has purchased and maintains a number of college-wide site license products for the Fulton School of Engineering. Some of these products have been acquired with Information Technology or other departments. Products can have different eligibility, licensing terms, hardware requirements and installation procedures. Some products can be self-installed others can be installed via ETS software delivery. This list includes products that are fully supported by ETS and also includes software available for use only through the Central College Systems.

For more information on Fulton School of Engineering Software Licensing, contact Denise Felsenthal.


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Liberia releases last Ebola patient – flash quote from MSF

MIL OSI – Source: Africa Press Organization – Press Release/Statement

Headline: Liberia releases last Ebola patient – flash quote from MSF

Liberia releases last Ebola patient – flash quote from MSF

MONROVIA, Liberia, March 5, 2015/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Commenting on the news that Liberia has released its last Ebola patient, Vickie Hawkins, Director of MSF UK, said:

“This is an encouraging sign for Liberia. However, there is no room for complacency as the number of new Ebola cases in the region has risen this week.

“From the outset, this outbreak has been characterised by its unpredictability and geographic spread. People move easily over the porous borders that separate Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, so until 42 days pass without a new case in any of the three worst affected countries we need to remain vigilant.

“There are serious gaps that persist in the response. Significant improvements need to be made in contact tracing and surveillance, and we still need to improve regional coordination. Practical collaboration between surveillance teams based in each country need to be implemented as soon as possible to avoid importing new cases into areas considered Ebola-free.”

Selwyn Manning, BCS (Hons.) MCS (Hons.) is an investigative political journalist with 23 years media experience. He specializes in reportage and analysis of socioeconomics, politics, foreign affairs, and security/intelligence issues. Selwyn has extensive experience as a commentator and has provided live political analysis to a wide range of television and radio organizations broadcasting in New Zealand, Australia and globally including the BBC (Five Live, London) and BBC (World Service). He is currently a correspondent to Australia's FiveAA radio, and is a regular live-on-air panelist on Radio New Zealand's The Panel with broadcaster Jim Mora.


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Chasing charity / Marcia Gruver.

Gruver, Marcia. (Author).

Electronic resources

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781607420996 (electronic bk)
  • Physical Description: 1 online resource.
  • Publisher: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 2009.

Content descriptions

Summary, etc.: Fuel your love of romance in this mesmerizing sequel to Marcia Gruver's Diamond Duo. In this second book of the Texas Fortunes series, Charity Bloom is left stranded at the altar after her best friend takes off with her fiance. How will she ever show her face in town again? After Buddy Pierce discovers oil on the Bloom property, he realizes the real treasure may be above ground-in the form of Charity Bloom. Can he strike it rich in Charity? When her ex-fiance decides he wants her back, whom will Charity choose the handsome roughneck or the deceitful rogue?
Reproduction Note: Electronic reproduction. Uhrichsville : Barbour Books, 2009. Requires OverDrive Read (file size: N/A KB) or Adobe Digital Editions (file size: 833 KB) or Amazon Kindle (file size: N/A KB).
Subject: Fiction.
Genre: Electronic books.

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The path : what Chinese philosophers can teach us about the good life / Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh.

Available copies

  • 8 of 8 copies available at Evergreen Indiana.

Current holds

0 current holds with 8 total copies.

Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Hagerstown Jefferson Twp PL - Hagerstown 181.11 PUET (Text) 39213000775209 Adult Nonfiction Available -
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Morgan Co PL - Morgantown Branch 181.11 PUE (Text) 78551000525512 Non-Fiction Available -
North Madison Co PL - Elwood PL 181.11 PUE (Text) 30419101507487 Adult Non-Fiction Available -
Plainfield-Guilford Twp PL - Plainfield 181.11 Puett (Text) 31208912448695 non-fiction Available -
Starke Co PL - Schricker Main Library (Knox) 181.11 PUE (Text) 30032010675954 ADULT NON-FICTION Available -
Westfield Washington PL - Westfield 181.11 Puett (Text) 78292000357103 Adult Non-Fiction Book Collection Available -
Zionsville PL - Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Branch 181.11 PUETT (Text) 33946003106387 Nonfiction . 2nd Floor Available -

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781476777832
  • ISBN: 1476777837
  • Physical Description: xvi, 204 pages ; 21 cm
  • Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, [2016]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note: The age of complacency -- The age of philosophy -- On relationships: Confucius, and as-if ritual -- On decisions: Mencius, and the capricious world -- On influence: Laozi, and generating worlds -- On vitality: the inward training, and being like a spirit -- On spontaneity: Zhuangzi, and the world of transformation -- On humanity: Xunzi, and putting pattern on the world -- The age of possibility.
Summary, etc.: "Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard? It's because the course challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. This is why Professor Michael Puett says to his students, The encounter with these ideas will change your life. As one of them told his collaborator, author Christine Gross-Loh, You can open yourself up to possibilities you never imagined were even possible. These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities. In other words, [this book] upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Above all, unlike most books on the subject, its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place-- just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently. Sometimes voices from the past can offer possibilities for thinking afresh about the future"
Subject: Philosophy, Chinese > History.

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Walk like you have somewhere to go: my journey from mental welfare to mental wealth.

O'Neal, Lucille. (Author). Samuels, Allison. (Added Author). O'Neal, Shaquille. (Added Author). Ezell, Latasha. (Narrator).

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781595554239 (sound recording : hoopla Audio Book)
  • ISBN: 1595554238 (sound recording : hoopla Audio Book)
  • Physical Description: 1 online resource (1 audio file (5hr., 14 min.)) : digital
  • Edition: Unabridged.
  • Publisher: [United States] : THOMAS NELSON : 2010.

Content descriptions

Restrictions on Access Note: Digital content provided by hoopla.
Participant or Performer Note: Read by Latasha Ezell.
Summary, etc.: As the mother of one of the greatest athletes of all time, her journey is exceptional; but her story reveals that she is more than just "Shaquille O'Neal's mom." Lucille O'Neal is a woman you know, a woman you understand. Perhaps your own journey resembles hers. O'Neal has been a rebellious teen, a single mother, a wife, a college student, a divorcě, and, above all, a woman of unique courage. Acquainted early in life with turmoil, O'Neal's circumstances shaped her perspective and strengthened her resolve to overcome the challenges she would encounter later in life. She has endured poverty, rejection, abuse, addiction, and the illness of a child, yet today her faith and compassion for others are stronger than ever. O'Neal writes candidly-and often humorously-about her years of spiritual unrest and mental warfare, and her return to the God of her childhood. In Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go, O'Neal shares her struggles and disappointments against the backdrop of her sweetest memories and proudest accomplishments. After fifty-five years, O'Neal has gained the wisdom to recognize her wrongs and guide others down a different path. Her story is proof that it's never too late for a new beginning.
System Details Note: Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject: O'Neal, Lucille > Mental health.
O'Neal, Shaquille.
Self-esteem in women.
Basketball players > Family relationships > United States.

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