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Why should I be funding the Cornish language when I don’t speak it?

“I don’t speak Cornish, so why should my taxes fund the Cornish language?”

– a response to this often asked question!

We pay so much tax in this country, that it would seem that any saving would be, well, a saving.
Where does the money come from and where does it go?

Back in 2012 a calculation was done on an “average salary” of £25,000 and we have to ask, who in Cornwall earns that much? This seems a magical and high salary until you realise that “average salary” includes company directors, the bosses, the stock brokers “earning” £37million for their legal thefts, manipulations and dodgy deals, the bankers and “capitalists” who ensure they increase their wealth at our expense.

At the other end of the scale, we in Cornwall pay billions in taxes, and receive only some of that back in government funding. In fact, according to Business Age magazine, the government was, is, and continues “fiscally raping” Cornwall which is why the EU investment is so essential to mitigate the disaster which is our ongoing economic loss to London (the irony is that Europe’s poorest region – Cornwall – is subsidising its richest city – London).

But what do they do with all that money? It all comes back to us in benefits, defence, health, and all! Doesn’t it?

Well, no. No it doesn’t. Aside from our net loss, much of the money we receive is to make us good little Englanders. We Cornish, therefore, are paying for our own eradication.

destroying our cultureTo illustrate; the government begrudged the Cornish language £150,000 last year. Bearing in mind that even conservative estimates of the total number of people who learn or speak Cornish is around 3000, then that is £50 per speaker. Wow! That sounds like a lot! Until you look at what we spend on education.

Looking at the link below, and bearing in mind our wages are “about 74%” of the UK average, this means our taxes, we in Cornwall contribute £610 every year on education.

How much of that is spent on Cornish language? Well, none, not even the £50 mentioned (which comes from the Department for Communities and Local Government, and not Education).

The £610 we pay every year is all spent on teaching our children English language, English culture, English sport, English drama, English music and an English curriculum. Every last penny is spent on eradicating the Cornish from Cornwall.

Not a penny is spent on teaching anything Cornish to our Cornish children (which make up about 46% of the children in schools in Cornwall now). As one head teacher put it “We are not a Cornish school. We are an English school which happens to be in Cornwall” .

There are some that try to mitigate this disaster – some schools dress their children up as miners for St Pirans day, others might have an after school club learning Cornish. Some have even signed up to the “Curriculum Kernewek” which includes realising that the land outside the window is Cornwall, to an extent, but it is lip service, and ALL things Cornish remain outside of the English curriculum.

So when you next hear someone say they shouldn’t “waste” money on teaching Cornish, remember that you are already paying to have your child indoctrinated into an English curriculum, and £50 per speaker is a drop in the ocean which barely mitigates the disaster.

In fact disaster is a mild term. If there are 5000 people able to speak Cornish (and considering more than 1200 people have signed up to just one beginnners course then 5000 may itself err on the cautious side) then the amount begrudged is £30 per speaker. In contribution terms, that is everyone in Cornwall contributes just 30p per year to the Cornish language funding. We say “begrudged” because the government doesn’t want to pay it.

People in Cornwall saying it is a “waste” provides them with the excuse not to pay it at all, but that money will never go on a nurse, doctor, teacher, or not even a bomb! It will be kept by government, and Cornwall will lose out a little bit more.

Remember, we pay £610 every year towards the English indoctrination of our children. Personally, we would prefer for our taxes to be spent on teaching our children Cornish language, history, sport, drama, cuisine, geography, and all.

Imagine if our £610 was spent on that! We could even teach our kids some English too.

However, at the moment, this is not the case, and so you pay £610 every year towards making Cornwall more English, and paying 30p to making it just a little bit Cornish is a poor mitigation, but desperately needed.

John, Teresa, Craig, Tony, Matt, Mike, Clive & Samuel
Elected Members of the KMTU Steering Group

January, 2016


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28 Christmas Craft Projects

Christmas Craft Round Up

Christmas craft

Happy Friday!!! Only 11 days left until Christmas!! yay! Since I have been a bit of a slacker {thanks to this little cutie}, I decided to feature some Christmas crafts that inspire me. Enjoy!

christmas craft

Noel Wreath from The Happy Scraps.

paper bows

Paper Bow Toppers from Craftaholics Anonymous.

christmas crafts

Grinch Pills from Naptime Journal.

cinnamon toasted almonds

Cinnamon Toasted Almonds from Late to Create.

light up glass block

Light up Glass Block from Designed Decor.

DIY holiday party ideas

DIY Holiday Party Ideas from Craftaholics Anonymous.

Christmas ornament

Ruffled Christmas Ornament from Decorating the Dorchesterway.

chapstick cozy

Chapstick Cozy from Northern Cottage.

dollar store stockings

Fancy’d Up Dollar Store Stockings at Christina’s Adventures.

paint can treats

Paint Can Treats from Cup of Delight.

advent calendar

Advent Calendar from Craftaholics Anonymous.

dress up your pine cones

Dress up your Pine Cones with Refresh Restyle.

advent calendar

Advent Calendar from Girl Loves Glam.

button Christmas tree

Button Christmas Tree from Cup of Delight.

pennant banner

Pennant Banner from Ann Kay Home.

Kid's Christmas craft

Christmas Ornament from Handmade Kids Art.

snowman pumpkin

Snowman Pumpkin from Tales of the Scotts.

paperclip angels

Paperclip Angels from Crafty Journal.

santa ornament

Santa Ornament from Crafty Journal.

gift wrapping ideas

Gift Wrapping Ideas from Christina’s Adventures.

gold dipped champagne flutes

Gold Dipped Champagne Flutes from Gray House on the Left.

handmade sign

Handmade Sign from The Happy Scraps.

sheet music trees

Sheet Music Trees from Ode to my Abode.

Christmas printable

Christmas Printable from Laura’s Crafty Life.

Christmas gift tags

Christmas Gift Tags from A Casarella.

Christmas tree plate

Christmas Tree Plate from Craftaholics Anonymous.

cinnamon coffee cake

Cinnamon Coffee Cake from Retro Housewife Goes Green.

mini Christmas tree

Mini Christmas Tree at Newly Woodwards.

Did you enjoy all the wonderful holiday crafts? Which one was your favorite?

Thanks for stopping by today! I really appreciate it. If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends using the buttons below!

happy crafting,

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  1. 1

    Thank you for featuring my Music Sheet Christmas Trees! Love all the inspirations!

  2. 2

    Thank you so much for featuring my NOEL and my Christmas Arrow Signs. :) It made my morning to see it! ♥

  3. 3

    Thank you so much for including my dressed up pinecones! You made my day :)

  4. 5

    Love the paper clip angels. My 7 year old son is going to make them for his grandmas and sisters.

  5. 6

    Thanks for the feature!!

  6. 7

    Thank you for including my paint chip gift tags! What a fun surprise!

  7. 8

    fun photos! i love the NOEL!

    happy holidays

  8. 9

    OMG!! this post is super. I was looking for something like this…

  9. 10

    Thank you so much for featuring my banner!!

  10. 11

    Thank you so much for featuring my Santa Bell and Paperclip Angel in your great round up of Christmas Crafts. Most of these I haven’t seen before. What a lovely surprise!

  11. 12

  12. 13

    Love the organising tips.

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Are you searching for the best blender to support your nutritious diet?

The number of choices, information, and advice about buying blenders is overwhelming. If this is your first time to invest a blender, you probably feel daunted and confused by the staggering number of blenders in the market.

It is a good thing that there is one source that you can trust. The Prime Shop Kitchen is one of the most trusted online sources of blender buying guidelines. Also, they reviewed blenders for making smoothies to help you determine the perfect tool to fulfill your nutritious diet.

Remember that not all blenders in the market are excellent for making smoothies. To assist you in searching for the best blender for smoothies, find out the different types of blender which you can choose from.

Hand Immersion Blenders

This equipment comprises an electric motor with rotating cutting blades at the end of the shaft. You hold the stick blender and immerse on the ingredients to blend inside a mixing tank. Hand immersion blenders are very convenient since it does not occupy much space. Moreover, this stick blender is also portable. However, it can only blend smoothies with soft ingredients such as bananas and strawberries. It can only prepare one serving of smoothie. It also works well in making purees.

Traditional Countertop Blenders

Countertop blenders are the most popular in the market. It can create two to three servings of your favorite smoothie. However, there are also larger traditional countertop blenders in the market which you can buy.

This type of blender can handle both soft and medium hard ingredients. You can use it to prepare smoothies, protein shakes, milkshakes and baby food. If you are planning to buy a traditional blender, consider the technology of each brand. Today, there are countertop blenders with advanced technology such as smart settings, pre-programmed settings, and function options. You can check out the Prime Shop Kitchen to see examples of innovative countertop blenders this year.

Personal Blenders

Is there such a thing as an on-the-go blender?

Yes, there is!

A personal blender has become one of the most sought out types of blenders in the market within these past years. This blender is similar to a countertop blender but only has different mixing tank design. The tank of a personal blender is either slimmer or smaller. The idea is to make the tank portable as if it is a simple bottle. Personal blenders feature cap bottles to house all the contents inside. If you want an on the go supply of your nutritious drink, this is your best choice.

High-Performing Blenders

This type of blender is designed for heavy duty blending. It can handle large quantities of ingredients. It can even pulverize the toughest ingredients such as ice, nuts, and hard vegetables. You can use a high-performing blender for preparing smoothies, purees, shakes, soup, hummus, salsa and many more.

High-performing blenders are convenient; however, you need to pay for it. Such blenders are expensive, yet a worthy investment.

Watch out the best blenders for smoothies here at the Prime Shop Kitchen!


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Taylor's Tea Party

For Taylor's 3rd Birthday we had a girly, girly Tea Party (gosh, it seems like we were posting about her second birthday just yesterday)!  It was alot of (crazy) fun. The girls each painted a piece from Taylor's Tea Set, played "Pin the Lid on the Teapot", ate sandwiches, ran around...a lot, and then had a teapot-shaped cupcake cake.

I will probably say this every year, but I cannot believe how fast time passes and how much older my little babies are getting!  Taylor is just so sweet...well, most of the time.  She's so cuddly, loveable, easy-going, and always armed with a smile.  Seriously, I could look at this first picture all day long...I really cannot get enough of my buggity-boo. Happy 3rd Birthday Taylor-po!


text: Umbria the ‘Green Heart of Italy” is often called the poor mans Tuscany! Wonderfully acceptable from Rome & Pisa (midway 2 ½ hours!) It is a paradise for families looking for tranquility. Assisi, Perugia, many medieval historic villages and religious sites are here to be explored. Most of our houses are in the Niccone Valley renowned as the site for …Read More


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At Crystal Bows Bridal Boutique we offer an exceptional wedding dress fitting and alterations service. This gives all our brides peace of mind that their wedding dress will not leave our store until it’s fitting perfectly. Our seamstress, Lisa provides a professional and personal service to all our brides.

At your first fitting appointment we will introduce you to Lisa, our professional seamstress who will explain what needs to be done to make your wedding dress fit perfectly. She will give you a cost for the work required, then Lisa can work her magic to ensure your wedding dress is tailored to perfection.

You will need to bring your wedding shoes and your underwear to the first and all subsequent fittings.

We ask that you be sparing with make-up on fitting days and please, no fake tan. You don’t want to run the risk of getting your wedding dress dirty before you even walk down the aisle.

” Crystal Bows is the bridal boutique of your dreams, ladies! Beautiful decor and a stunning range of dresses. Jade and Sydney were so helpful, patient, approachable and kind to my mum and I this afternoon. I’ve been to a few boutiques so far and Crystal Bows is on another level. I’m so happy to have found my perfect dress here! “

– Sheena Courtney

Your fitting appointment usually takes around 30-45 minutes and we respectfully ask that you arrive on time. It’s tricky if you’re late as you will run into another bride’s appointment.

It’s also a good idea to keep guest numbers to a minimum to ensure that Lisa can concentrate and that you have a valuable fitting appointment.

In addition to our standard wedding dress fitting and alterations service we also offer a bespoke service allowing our brides to make changes to their chosen wedding dress, to add their own stamp or individuality to it. Adding sleeves, changing necklines and creating coordinating jackets are just a sample of the bespoke options Lisa our seamstress offers.

In addition to the above we also offer a full alteration service for Mother of the bride, Bridesmaids, Prom and Evening/Occasion Wear.

143 Great Junction Street,
Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 5JB

0131 629 1840


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Health Sector M&E Russia

Health Sector Cluster Evaluation and Monitor Project
The Conference was one of the best scientific gatherings I have attended. The approach to the topics were scientific but realistic, addressing challenges that development workers face on the field in clear and simple terms. What was most exciting was the opportunity to interact with like-minded people from both Canada and other LMICs, who are passionate about helping others. 2017 delegate
2001 - 2006

This program involved the monitoring and evaluation of nine CIDA-funded health sector projects in Russia to determine the extent of anticipated results achievement and to guide development of CIDA's regional health strategy. Projects were located in Moscow, Barnaul, Chelyabinsk, Chuvashiya, Churvash Republic, Evenki Autonomous District Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol, Tver, Tura (Siberia), Tuyman, and Volgograd.


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STUFF4 Gel/TPU Case/Cover for Sony Xperia M5/Aqua/Blue/Flame Paint Job | Fruugo

  • Artikelnummer: HSxh49bK
  • 1180 Stück auf Lager
  • €7.66

    Imagenes (clic sobre la imagen):

    This pack includes: 1 x Protective Case carrying the Aqua/Blue design from the Flame Paint Job collection. Protect your Sony Xperia M5 with these designer TPU gel cases. Made from TPU Gel, they will protect your phone from bumps and scratches and keep it in pristine condition. These cases come with the Aqua/Blue design printed directly into the back surface to bring life and style to any smartphone. These designs were carefully crafted here in the UK by our in-house team of specialist designers and they are printed directly on the cases using the very latest in print technology. The specially formulated ink dries instantly to produce a tough and durable finish making sure that your phone and its case look great at all times. Image Representation: Please note that all images used are for illustrative purposes only and may not always be a perfect representation of the product being purchased. We do always try to portray the best possible likeness but areas such as the colour and design positioning may vary slightly. Please also note that where a case has rounded edges the design may not be printed to the very edges of the case. In these situations, the printed design will finish at the maximum reach of the printer.


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Dancing With The Stars Cast Officially Revealed Live During Bachelor Pad

Filled under:

This cast list will be showing people who will be participating in the Dancing With the Stars MTV reality TV next season. He Bachelorette star Ali Fedotowsky or one of her suitors will probably be competing in the edition. However, ABC is also likely basing the scheduling on the fact that Bachelor Pad will probably be its top-rated regularly scheduled broadcast during the lazy, late summer programming week.

She has gone on to sell more than 20,000,000 albums worldwide and has won and has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and six MTV Video Music Awards. She has collaborated on stage and in the recording studio with some of music's greatest artists, including Justin Timberlake, Carlos Santana, Erykah Badu, Fergie,But there are also rumor’s that American Idol judge Paula Abdul will take part in the new season of Dancing With The Stars.

The Stars 2010 lineup. It is still going to be announced once The Bachelor season finale gets to finish up. We will be finding out the lineup for the season 10 cast as soon as the commercial break comes through in CBS. So gusy bookmark this post and come back here later for latest updates on Dancing With The Stars 2010 Lineup and Cast.

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company logo
Phone 416-240-7691
Toll Free 1-888-471-1588

Fire Protection System Retro-fit in Etobicoke

Fire Protection System

Fire Protection SystemIf you are seeking more information about "Fire Protection System Retro-fit in Etobicoke", then give us a call. You should contact

Fire Protection System Retro-fit in Etobicoke offers many electrical contracting services; including Fire Alarm Maintenance, New Service Panel Installations, Electrical Services, and many more electrical services which we offer to our customers.

If your electrical situation is dire, call Current Technologies Ltd today at 416-240-7691 and ask for a free electrical quotation.

Current Technologies Ltd Can Help!?

When you just need it done right the first time, give Current Technologies Ltd a call. You will be happy you did.

Current Technologies Ltd treats every client with respect.

Current Technologies Ltd. can help.

Call Current Technologies Ltd now to schedule your appointment 416-240-7691

Looking For Pricing Information For "Fire Protection System Retro-fit in Etobicoke" or fill out the form on the right to find out more.

Request An Estimate

FOR A FREE QUOTE 416-240-7691

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  • If you are searching for a specific service feel free to call and speak with one of our highly trained staff. Current Technologies is always available to help.

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text:
Kevin Winn

Kevin Winn

Senior Associate

  • Contact me

  • Location

    1401 Lawrence Street
    Suite 1100
    Denver, CO 80202
    United States

  • Phone

    303 209 3685

  • Mobile

    720 532 7013

  • Download VCard

Business development, market expert, technology adoption, transaction management. Kevin specializes in levering his focused market knowledge to provide strategic real estate solutions providing businesses the ability to make informed decisions, increasing operating efficiency and bottom-line savings.


text:
Agoglia elected new VVPOA president

The Verde Village Property Owners Association has a new president.

Elections were held Monday night for the organization that oversees the residential area just outside of Cottonwood's city limits.

Ron Agoglia was selected for the top post. A number of unit directors were also selected, according to the 2004 president Rick Morgan.

Morgan will serve as a director for Verde Village unit 7 in 2005. He said many of the unit directors from 2004 stayed in place.

At the board's next meeting a vice president, secretary and treasurer will be selected. The board consists of the unit directors and top officers and board member meetings are held the first Monday each month.

Morgan said about 30 families showed up to vote. Each household gets one vote and only VVPOA members are able to vote.

A year ago when Morgan was first elected to his post, he said dwindling membership was a big problem for the association.

The low number of volunteers is still an issue today.

"There are always challenges," Morgan said. "You always want to get more members and more member volunteers."

Agoglia was unavailable for immediate comment.

Comments are not posted immediately. Submissions must adhere to our Use of Service Terms of Use agreement. Rambling or nonsensical comments may not be posted. Comment submissions may not exceed a 200 word limit, and in order for us to reasonably manage this feature we may limit excessive comment entries.

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text:
Software Download – uTorrent 1.5 build 437

uTorrent is a powerful and efficient BitTorrent client for Windows.

* Multiple simultaneous downloads
* Configurable bandwidth scheduler
* Global and per-torrent speed limiting
* Quick-resumes interrupted transfers
* RSS Downloader
* Trackerless support (Mainline DHT)

Micro-Sized Yet Feature Filled

Most of the features present in other BitTorrent clients are present in µTorrent, including bandwidth prioritization, scheduling, RSS auto-downloading and Mainline DHT (compatible with BitComet). Additionally, µTorrent supports the Protocol Encryption joint specification (compatible with Azureus, and now BitComet 0.63) and peer exchange.

µTorrent was written with efficiency in mind. Unlike many torrent clients, it does not hog valuable system resources – typically using less than 6MB of memory, allowing you to use the computer as if it weren’t there at all. Additionally, the program itself is contained within a single executable less than 160 KB in size.

156KB | Windows version Windows (All) | Download | Freeware

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text:
Chaos at the Crossroads – John Stapleton
Woo’s Wonderful World of Maths – Eddie Woo
Roadies – Stuart Coupe
The Last 100 Days – Will Davies
Fathers and Daughters – Madonna King
Raising Boys – Steve Biddulph
Fatherhood – William McInnes
The Boy Crisis – Warren Farrell
Understanding Parental Alienation – Karen & Nick Woodall
The Equal Parent Presumption – Edward Kruk
In Crisis?

Dads in Distress
Tel: 1300 853 437

Mensline Australia
Tel: 1300 789 978

Tel: 13 11 14

Men’s Rights Agency
Tel: 07 3805 5611

A Father’s Day Poem

Sitting in her room
And I fear that soon
As Father’s Day approaches
That the bird of doom
Brings with the gloom
Thoughts of liars, thieves and poachers.

I still recall the day
The mother moved away
And every word she’d promised me
But I never knew
Never had a clue
That she could live life so dishonestly.

It wasn’t much
To keep in touch
My daughter’s voice I’d seek
But they cast a net
I couldn’t even get
One measly call a week.

I’m telling you
If I did get through
I would have to run the gauntlet
Past an angry male
Who would never fail
To threaten me and flaunt it.

The only thing
That he would bring
Were vile attempts to bait
And as her Dad
I felt so sad
She lived amongst their hate.

A Consent Order
For our precious daughter
Meant no need for fighting
But they’d block contact
And that’s a fact
I’ve got it all in writing.

When I’d step back
To stop the flak
They’d simply undermine me
Use any excuse
Backed up with abuse
So treacherous and slimy.

I complained in vain
As they changed her name
And built a mighty fortress
And the mother smiled
As she hid my child
Making every path quite torturous.

I felt a fool
When I rang her school
“Gone somewhere else to learn”
So I called the home
She hung up the phone
“It isn’t your concern”.

Losing patience
Tried her relations
Could anyone lend a hand?
“Though you’re the father
We’d still rather
Stick our heads in sand”.

I so tried
To stem the tide
They’d turned into an ocean
But the more I screamed
The more it seemed
A train wreck in slow motion.

It sure isn’t fun
To deal with one
Who pretends to be religious
But I faced a gun
Because she’d become
Cashed up and litigious.

So the lawyers came
And I played their game
Seems I didn’t have much choice
Nothing to gain
Do you know the pain
When you scream without a voice?

They trashed my name
Just to shift the blame
Filthy lies and allegation
Never thought I’d find
I’d have so much in kind
With the stolen generation.

I always thought
When you go to Court
You at least get natural justice
But I was wrong
Simply strung along
And then kicked in the dusters.

When it was brought
Before the Court
They didn’t give a hoot
And the legal firms
All took their turns
At carrying off our loot.

Family Court
Is just a rort
Completely no assistance
Now I know
It prefers to go
The path of least resistance.

Try to navigate
What’s put on my plate
The peaks, the plains, the ruts
But there’s a massive hole
Deep in my soul
Caused by a thousand cuts.

Maybe I regret
The day we met
And without exaggeration
If emotional pain
Has got a name
It’s parental alienation.

Some people say
“Just walk away
You are drowning in emotion”
Can’t they see
We can’t get free
It’s called Fatherly Devotion.

Don’t need to focus
Much to notice
That I’m bloody bitter
But where my girl’s involved
I’ve resolved
To never be a quitter.

And I know a thing
About parenting
That cannot be ignored
There’s no guarantee
For you or me
That effort brings reward.

Still I miss my girl
She means the world
Of course I’ve made mistakes
Though I’ve been wronged
I know our bond
It bends but never breaks.

So I do my best
It’s the hardest test
Many times I’ve shed a tear
But in my own way
I know I can say
I’m Father of the Year.

Steve Barnwell


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text:
Boulder will not pursue a moratorium on homes of a certain size, the City Council decided Tuesday night, but will act quickly to develop regulations that will encourage smaller dwellings and may include a cap on how big houses can be.

Council began exploring the issue — which has been a stated concern for the past few years — in September. Two weeks later, an emergency vote and public hearing was scheduled at councilwoman Lisa Morzel's request. If passed, it would have temporarily banned homes over 3,500 square feet in lower-density zoning districts.

A moratorium was abandoned after pushback over the lack of public process, but with a promise that the topic would be revisited. Staff brought back the option Tuesday, along with two ways to tackle large homes over the long term: the initial plan of public engagement, board feedback and council action, with implementation by fall 2109 ; or a two-phase approach that would stretch through December 2019.

That would put the large homes discussion on the plate of a new council, something current members felt would hinder progress. At least one sitting council person will be absent: Morzel, who is term-limited.

A majority of the council also did not feel comfortable reviving the moratorium or pursuing, as staff phrased it, other "interim regulation."

"I worry about spending our time figuring out the interim (rule) as opposed to getting on with the rule we want to end up with," said Mayor Suzanne Jones, while councilman Sam Weaver noted that, according to trend data dating back to 2000, only a handful of homes would be scraped and replaced by next October.

Council did re-define why large homes are a problem. They are inconsistent with neighborhood character and don't align with the city's environmental or affordable housing goals. Solutions, therefore, should be things that encourage preservation of existing homes or the building of more, smaller dwellings, either accessory dwelling units or higher-density buildings such as duplexes.

Not every member of council was OK with more, smaller houses — just smaller ones. Mirabai Nagle was a hard no on additional homes, while Cindy Carlisle said her support depended on "how many more" homes the eventual regulatory changes will allow.

"I do not think we can build our way out of affordability issues," she said.

More has to be part of the equation, other members argued. Cutting 10 percent off the maximum home size does nothing for affordability, Aaron Brockett said. Even smaller houses sell for "inordinate amounts," added Jill Adler Grano — 62 homes under 3,500 square feet sold for $2 million or more this year, she said.

"Smaller but same doesn't move the needle," said Grano, who also wants to look at changing occupancy rules on larger lots. Boulder currently disallows more than three unrelated persons from living in the same house, though that was relaxed somewhat for recently altered regulations on accessory dwelling units.

"Portland, Maine, a college town, allows 16," Grano said. "Austin, Texas, a college town, allows six. Seattle allows eight. Portland, Oregon, allows six. San Francisco allows 10."

The questions over size and density are for ultimately for residents to decide, Jones said. Staff is preparing a public engagement framework now and will return to council in the spring.

Councilwoman Nagle requested "statistically valid surveys" rather than "hoping people show up" to open houses or information sessions.

"A statistically valid survey for the people in the zones that the community decides or we decide is what I would like to see," she said.

"I want to (hear from) the people directly impacted or affected. I think it's going to be extremely important if you're going to be changing the neighborhoods that the people in the neighborhoods know what's going on."

Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, or


text:
DAILY FILM DOSE: A Daily Film Appreciation and Review Blog: I Am Number Four

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

I Am Number Four

I am Number Four (2011) dir. D.J. Caruso
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Diana Agron, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Callan McAuliffe

By Alan Bacchus

An ancient war between alien races makes its way to earth in a cozy rural American Midwestern town where a handsome and cool ‘chosen one’ experiences the social conflicts of high school before battling disgusting malevolent baddies to death for the sake of mankind. This is the one-liner for this quickie, but not all that forgettable, attempt to create a new Twilight franchise from the young adult sci-fi novel of the same name.

John Smith (Pettyfer) is the new boy in town, an elusive loner trying to keep to himself while hiding in exile from his war-torn planet from afar. Along with his mentor, Henri (Olyphant), John has settled in this non-descript American township, but he’s always looking over his shoulder. Somehow he gets put into high school and as is customary, he immediately gets targeted by the local bullies for some hazing. Unfortunately for the bullies, John has extraterrestrial telekinetic powers like ‘the Force’ and thus kicks ass all over the place.

Meanwhile, the former girlfriend of bully #1, Sarah (Agron), has taken a liking to John and flirts up a storm. At the same time, the alien baddies are on John’s trail. These bald, tattooed giants wearing Matrix-style trench coats find their way to town to confront John, Henri and his new friends.

With Michael Bay attached, whether it’s as producer or director, we are certain that a) there will be lots of beautiful people, b) lots of palatable family-friendly destruction and c) slick candy-coloured visuals.

The slickness of this picture is not lost on us. Director D.J. Caruso takes this familiar place and story and injects a strong visual style and keen eye for action. The fights, whether they involve local cops who get in the way, the bullies or the truly grotesque evil aliens, are well choreographed and visually inventive.

The familiarity of everything in I Am Number Four results in a fluffy, disposable quality to this aspiring franchise. There’s an allusion to a lengthy and complex back story and an unresolved ending, which could result in some kind of trilogy or multi-sequel/prequel series. But without the strong fan base of a Twilight, the literary credibility of a Narnia/LOTR or even an established star on which to piggyback, this will likely be a one-off fantasy flick.

This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some sappy romantic plotting, laser fights and the Star Wars-style mythic journey plotting. Just don’t get too attached to the material.

I Am Number Four is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

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1 Open the mockup psd file;
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We will be closed for Fall Break on Saturday, October 27, 2018.

We will also be closed November 22-25, 2018 for Thanksgiving Break.

Typically, when Portage Township Schools are closed due to extreme weather conditions, the dance center will also be closed. Also, in the event of an unforeseen closing, we will post the closure on our Facebook page.

Be sure to join our Civic Dance Center Facebook group to receive helpful notifications!


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Are you looking for detailed technical information about Wheatley Pumps? Are you not sure about the specifics you need to place an order for your Gaso pumps? Danco Pump & Supply is here for you. Our business offers a wide array of information on plunger pumps to help you understand the parts you are purchasing, as well as provide you with the basic terminology you need to communicate with others about your pumps.

The team at Danco Pump & Supply is committed to making sure that you receive top-quality plunger pumps, pump parts, and additional services at a price that you can afford. We offer amazing deals on several major industry brands, including Gaso pumps and Wheatley pumps. Take a look at the technical information featured here and learn more about your pumps. Once you have read this information, our team will be prepared to answer any questions about the products and services we provide.

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Daniel Case is a Ph.D. candidate and Presidential Fellow in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Northwestern University. His broad areas of research are networks and complex systems. Complex systems are systems composed of numerous interacting components that exhibit behavior that cannot be inferred by only knowing the properties of the individual parts. Examples of such systems include electrical power grids, social groups, financial markets, and materials. It is often natural to view these systems as networks, and an extremely active area of research is the construction of models of these complicated systems that capture some of their observed behavior. Daniel’s thesis research focuses more so on the inverse problem: constructing a network that exhibits a desired behavior.

His primary thesis research topic is on the design of microfluidic networks. A microfluidic system is typically composed of a network of tiny pipes embedded in a plastic chip that is the size of a small coin. The pipes are approximately the width of a strand of hair and carry only a few nanoliters of fluid. Daniel designs the network of pipes in these systems so that fluids flow through them in an automated or pre-defined way, removing the need for external control systems, like pumps and computers. His work has also shown that these microfluidic systems can exhibit novel behavior, like spontaneous oscillations, negative resistance, and bistability in the flow rate. Microfluidic systems are used widely to perform small scale experiments in chemistry and biology but also has a growing number of biomedical applications, including rapid bed-side diagnostic testing and wearable health monitoring devices.

Daniel’s work is theoretical and computational, and he combines techniques from network science with the physics of fluids. Daniel’s other research areas include: particle advection in fluid flows and control of coupled driven mechanical systems. Daniel received BSs in physics, mathematics, and economics from Louisiana State University prior to coming to Northwestern University to join Prof. Adilson Motter’s research group.


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Although still found with merged ideas and differing complexities of success, excellent of older women seeking youthful men and finding love on free cougar online dating sites online remains around it had been when the first elevated to get sense. Inside the initial nights and days on the internet, numerous women and men have discovered love online, the tranquility of access of worldwide and older women online dating services getting broadened for the mot elements around the world – all that is required a genuine solid web connection and routine understanding of profile-based websites to uncover it, something even cougars’ and people less-experienced in the internet have seen the chance to have their minds around.

Image result for Dating & Flirting

Online With Free Streaming Online For Free Free Online Personality Test-Based

Among a few in the major social systems of individuals seeking love and companionship, not cougars’ just, you’ll uncover website. The main difference with your websites is they may need their users to give a free of charge online for free online free online personality test on register, and uses the outcome within the to compute compatibility along with other users. This is often today’s undertake the higher fundamental websites which began the recognition of mature women online dating services, which formerly needed someone to make a simple profile of interests and matched users predicated concerning this.

For almost any small registration charge, users access these personality tests and ultizing this receive with lists of appropriate suits, whether age-based (ideal for cougars!’) or exclusively interest orientated.

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Mature Women Dating

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New Study Finds Trees Reduce Crime in Urban Cities

In this News 12 Westchester story, Jeff Hillman of The Care of Trees, a Davey company, describes all the benefits of adding and caring for trees in urban areas.

Hillman works at The Care of Trees office in Mount Vernon, New York.

Posted: October 1, 2018

NEW YORK - A new study shows that trees can help reduce crime in urban cities.

The New York Restoration Project study spanned more than 10 years and focused on urban communities in New York City.

The findings showed that areas that increased the number of trees saw up to 200 fewer felonies per year.

Arborist Jeff Hillman from The Care of Trees says one of the reasons this holds true is because caring for parks removes disorder and sends a message to residents that the community is valued.

Click below to watch the video or here to keep reading.

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A Reminder of the Celts

Old Box Elder
Watercolor on Masa Paper, 7.5×10

This was done last June during the pleine aire workshop I taught at my Wisconsin house. It was done at the same location as the the Old Barn watercolor. I gave that little painting to the owner of the property as a thank you for giving us his permission to paint there.

He had this very old box elder tree in back of his house. It had been hit by lightening and was bent over and twisted more like a California laurel tree than like a Wisconsin box elder tree. The owner and his wife had all kinds of things hanging in the tree. There were hand made bird houses and a trinkets all through it though this view had them hidden.

It reminded me of the Celts who hung items as sacrifices in sacred groves or holy springs. Holy Well in Ireland was such a place long before Christianity. People still leave sacrificial objects in the trees there. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

T F m
August 20, 2013

Art is Everywhere. Just Poke Your Nose Out your Door

Blue Spruce
Watercolor on Rag Paper, 10×5″

The subject matter for art is everywhere. I don’t need to go to exotic places to find it. This was done in my back yard. Our side yard is much lower than the rest of the yard and there is a stairway down from the front of the house to the side yard. It’s behind the brick wall seen here. Between that and the blue spruce you see in this piece is a rock garden that also slopes to the side yard level. Between the wall and the white fencing is another stairway going down to the basement entrance.
I am very attracted to situations in which barriers and structures are layered like this. It forces the viewer to figure out the organization of the space. I also like the idea of having to peek through something, like the fence, to find something else. This kind of situation is everywhere in the built environment. All I need to do is be mindful to find it.

T F m
August 15, 2013

Beautiful Pose

Watercolor on Rag Paper, 7×10″

Reclining poses present a challenge with the foreshortening and their horizontality. The cascading hair seems to relieve that with its vertical tumble off the model stand.
What attracted me to this pose was the beauty of her jaw line and her cascading hair which fell in corkscrew tendrils. I had to finish this at home. Time is always short at the Sunday sessions—thirty minutes is the maximum time allotted. I sure miss Saturday session
with its double four hour poses. I could bring something to some degree of finish with having to rush.
Granted, sometimes having to rush through a piece is a boon. Having to think visually exclusively works very well. In those instances the pieces seems to crawl out of the end of my brush. It’s rare that some things seem to paint themselves.

T F m
August 6, 2013

What Traffic Wrought

Life and Death in the Woods
Watercolor on Rag Paper, 12×6″

This was supposed to have been a watercolor figure painting. Gridlock made a landscape. I was on my way to my Sunday figure drawing/painting session when traffic came to a standstill while I was quite far from my destination. The powers that be had decided to close the reversible express lanes downstream of my location. It snarled traffic in both directions making it impossible to get to my session in a reasonable time. I would have missed more than half the working time. It made no sense to continue.
So, I decided to get off the ‘express way’ to go to the forest preserves near the exit to paint. This was the neighborhood I grew up in so I knew exactly where to go. I checked out three groves before deciding on this one. I was attracted to the contrast between the lushness of the foliage and the large dead tree in its midst. This dead tree was quite large when it died. I’d estimate the diameter of the trunk to be 24—30″.
There are a lot of dead trees around this year. Last summer it was very dry and the stress of the drought and a subsequent cold winter did them in. This summer we have had good rains and moderate temperatures. The result is a lushness not seen around here for a several seasons.
I like the idea that I can find subjects for art in my usual haunts. I don’t have to go off to locations that are exotic or dramatic to find ‘good stuff’ for inspiration to work. Besides just working should be inspiration enough.

T F m
August 1, 2013


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David A. Aguilar

Author, Space Artist & Enrichment Speaker

David A. Aguilar is a naturalist, astronomer, author and space artist. His expertise lies in presenting the fascinating connections between the universe and ourselves.

He is the award-winning author and illustrator of seven National Geographic books including "ALIEN WORLDS";  "13 PLANETS";  and "SPACE ENCYCLOPEDIA". His next book, "COSMIC CATASTROPHES" will be published by Random House in June 2016.

He had us on the edge of our seats during his presentation, ready to suit up and blast off!
David Aguilar

David A. Aguilar is an internationally recognized astronomer and author of astronomy-themed non-fiction books designed for space learners of all ages. His expertise lies in showing us the fascinating connections between the universe, nature, and ourselves. He has the spirited ability to open minds to his exciting views of space and its wondrous worlds of discovery.

From television appearances to publicizing the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s New Horizons Missions to authoring and illustrating award-winning space science books, he has shown a lifelong commitment to being on the leading edge of our knowledge about the universe. In 2010 Asteroid 1990DA was designated by the International Astronomical Union to honor his exceptional science education outreach efforts.

The award-winning “7 Wonders of the Solar System” is the second book in a 3-books series published by Penguin Random House Books, and his 10th book on astronomy. “7 Wonders” has been named “2017 TOP PICK FOR TEENS & KIDS” by the New York Public Library; "OUTSTANDING SCIENCE TRADE BOOK FOR STUDENTS” by the National Science Teachers Assoc (NSTA) and "2018 NONFICTION GEM" by the Texas Library Association. Newly released "7 Wonders of the Milky Way" and the upcoming “LUNA: The Science and Stories of the Moon” complete this bibliography of space science books.

TELEVISION and RADIO CREDITS see also IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7950342/

  • 2018-19, Space Artist and Onscreen Contributor on “Cosmic Front” for NHK Japanese National Television Corp.

  • Onscreen Contributor & Space Artist on the History Channel's "UNIVERSE" series - "Alien Faces" and "Alien Worlds" episodes.

  • Contributor, Science Channel's "UFO Hunters".

  • Frequent Onscreen Contributor and Content Development season(s) 2015-2017, Science Channel's "NASA’s Unexplained Files".

  • Radio credits include the BBC, and NPR's Here and Now.

  • NASA/JPL, Smithsonian, BBC, History Channel, Weather Channel, ABC Nightly News, CBS, NBC, CNN, NY Times, USA Today, National Geographic, Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, Scientific American, Nature, Time magazine, US News & World Report, and Space.com.

He is the former Director of Science Information at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA. He left Harvard in 2015 to join NASA’s New Horizons Mission special media team on the historic Pluto Flyby Mission

He is a Smithsonian Science Lecturer and Harvard World Tours Expert Study leader, and  has crafted astronomy experiences across the globe from Kazakhstan to Easter Island, to Antarctica, including:

Earth & Sky: Astronomy in the Chilean Andes; Astronomy of Hawaii; The Underwater Worlds of Tahiti and French Polynesia; Exploring the Amazon; African Safari;  Discovering Alaska;  Iceland – Land of Ice and Fire;  Mysteries of Machu Picchu and Easter Island;  Voyage to Antarctica;  Inside the Russian Space Program–a journey to Kazakhstan for the launch of cosmonauts to the International Space Station;  In The Footsteps of Galileo;  Around the World by Private Jet;  Exploring the Emerald British Isles;  Treasures of Mystical India;  & Astronomy in Arizona; Black Sea on the Island Sky; Baja California and the Sea of Cortez; Grand Tour of Australia & New Zealand; Regent Seven Seas, Crystal Cruise Lines, THE WORLD voyages.

He has the added distinction of being a 2008 Grammy nominated song writer and musician along with his former band on “Love is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970".

Copyright © 2018 Aspen Skies. All rights reserved.
Materials on this website may be copied for classroom or library use but may not be reprinted or resold without permission from the author.


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Devon, Cornwall and South West Beagle Society

kennel_club_logo Facebook circle blue small logo

Beagle Breed Clubs Support the DNA Genome Project

I am delighted that the UK Beagle Breed Cubs have joined together to support the Animal Health Trust/KC initiative “Give a Dog a Genome” and will be one of the fifty breeds to be sequenced. The Breeds were asked to raise £1000. This is half the cost of the work and the KC Charitable Trust will pay the other half.

This work sequences the DNA make up of each breed of dog, which can be used to compare against other members of the same breed. This is very useful when looking for disease patterns in sick dogs. It can also be used to compare against other breeds. Some conditions, such as epilepsy, occur in several breeds so this will have a profound affect on the ability to detect mutations causing disease.

Well done to all the breed clubs and Beagle Welfare for agreeing to support this project and responding within a week. This is a superb effort!

Beagle Welfare (reg. Charity), our own breed Rescue, is coordinating the fund raising and the Breed Clubs have already started sending in their donations to fund this exciting project.

There is more detail on the AHT website which answers the question “What is Whole Genome Sequencing?” and also the aims and objectives of the project .


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Welcome to HeartLand Realty, Inc.

Welcome to HeartLand Realty, your source for Colorado real estate! Serving the greater Denver metro area, Boulder County and everywhere in-between!  After viewing my web site, should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me. I'd be delighted to answer any questions you might have.  In today's challenging market - it's vital that you have a knowledgable real estate broker in your corner!
Buying and/or selling a home is sometimes a complex undertaking. It's more than a real estate transaction, it's your home! When you hire Debra as your real estate professional, you'll save time and money. Together, we will determine your wants and needs to help you find your dream home or sell your current one.  I promise to make your real estate experience stress-free and agreeable. I possess a wide range of real estate experience and guarantee to find or sell your home in a timely and professional manner. I will make sure that you get the most out of your next real estate transaction by taking advantage of cutting edge technology, products and services.

I invite you to contact me with any of your real estate needs and questions, as I am here to serve you!  I look forward to hearing from you soon!


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Pre-Order 'Church In These Streets' $6.99 At Google Play *Limited Time: iTunes: Amazon: Available Everywhere 11.13.15 Shop Jeezy: Get Your TM101 Vinyl + Digital Album + pre-sale tickets to Jeezy’s TM101 Anniversary Show iTunes: Amazon: More From Jeezy: Music video by Young Jeezy performing Get Right. (C) 2012 The Island Def Jam Music Group Buy Now!

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The Viability of Targeted E-mail newsletters

Email newsletters are still effective and according to a recent survey conducted by The Future of Email Marketing, “76% of marketers “see email communication completely personalized” and 74% see email as still having one of the highest returns on investment in a marketing arsenal.”

bandq-1“Hyper-personalization” of email is becoming a reality as data science makes reporting on, and tracking consumer activity, even more precise. Marketers are collecting massive amounts of data that allow automation to streamline email communication and deliver targeted content. More robust Email automation tools are on the way according to Daniel Codella of Zurb. These tools will seamlessly integrate with mobile strategies and allow marketers to capitalize on trends and immediately connect with their target audience.

A UK company, B&Q, is poised to produce the next email standard – “Kinetic email”. Each user has a unique member ID and barcode. An interactive carousel changes with each mouseover and displays different items. This would assume that the user base is mostly mobile – since only mobile devices can get in on the action. But who isn’t mobile these days? As always, content will be of paramount importance in this Tsunami of strategic communication.


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Enriching Materials For Body, Mind and Spirit

Stone Runes

CDN Retail:$32.95
Product Code:9780738713977
Author:Lo Scarabeo
Vendor: Llewellyn Worldwide

  Every rune is a channel between worlds... Discover the unique power of these ancient characters representing Teutonic gods, the natural elements, and a magical language.

Includes 25 stone runes, black velvet Lo Scarabeo bag, and instruction booklet


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Home Page
Chapter 1
Author Bio
Book Reviews
Contact Author
Truly Inspiring
Letters to the Author
Depression Myths
Articles on Depression
Ten Dont's of Depression
What Can You Do
Thought For The Week
Helpful Links

Order Book

Chapter 1

Journey to a Choice

The moment I felt depressed, it never occurred to me to do anything else but be depressed. The progression from a feeling of depression to being a depressed person was a foregone conclusion that I never questioned.

Depression always ends. Not because of Prozac. Not because of psychotherapy. Not because of psychoanalysis or shock treatments. Depression always ends because it is in the very nature of depression to end. The only question is, how can we get it to end sooner, the way we want it to, instead of later, which we hate?

The answer is that we have to learn to think about depression in a different way. But it is not going to be enough to simply consider new ideas from a safe distance. We have to get down on our hands and knees with a magnifying glass and crawl around inside of the beliefs we have for so long relied on. It is not going to be enough to consider what we think. We have to consider how we think because the problem of depression lies in the very gears of our thinking process.

To do this we must entertain some rather esoteric ideas that we cannot so easily dismiss with our ready-made answers. There are wonderful clues in ancient paradoxes, like koans: What is the sound of one hand clapping? These clues can reach beyond our normal considerations to some un-invented part of us that we are not normally in touch with They help us learn to think sideways, intuitively, restructuredly–all the better to match wits with our depression

Depression makes us fearful that we will never be truly happy because we see how our happiness can be blown away in an instant, like straws in a hurricane, and absolutely nothing remains to comfort us in our anguish.

We need not be afraid. We do not need comfort. It is not true that all our happiness has fled and what we are suffering is the pain of its loss. Our essential capacity for happiness is not something we can "get back" or acquire no matter how hard we try because it is our natural state. What happens is that depression covers over our natural state and tricks us into thinking that we don’t have it anymore. When we properly address our depression, it relinquishes its hold upon us, and we find ourselves once again in the bedrock of our infinite okayness. Practically speaking, happiness is unlearned depression.

Our essential happiness is not conditional. Conditional happiness can not pass for essential happiness anymore than being serially grateful for disparate things can pass for a state of infinite and abiding gratitude. Conditional gratitude, where we see something that causes us to be grateful, is not the same as essential gratitude, where being grateful causes us to see something. Conditional happiness, the temporary excitement of having what we want, is not the same thing as essential happiness, the transcendent awareness that we can want what we have. Conditional happiness is a feeling that comes and goes. Essential happiness is our original state of well-being that is always available to us. It is not quantitative despite the fact that we think it depends upon some quantity of things or feelings we "must have."

Depression is not quantitative either despite the fact that psychiatrists have labeled it a disease and divided it up into various classifications and diagnoses. Depression, like essential happiness, is qualitative. But depression is not our natural state, it is a state of alarm. When I began my career as a psychotherapist in 1987, I was as deeply afflicted with depression as anybody else who walked through my door looking for help. But no more. I have come to see depression in a revolutionary way that has totally eliminated the whole idea of it as a disease in my life. After suffering with it for decades; after watching my brother struggle with the same ravages of manic depression that killed my father, I know, now, that it doesn’t have to be that way. There are 17 million people suffering with depression who are all seeking an answer to their hurt and pain. Ten years ago, as a result of my work as a cognitive behavioral therapist, my struggles with my own severe mood swings and my experiences with patients who came in for therapy, I discovered the real cause of depression. I haven’t "been depressed" since that time.

This book is not an orthodox book on depression. The trouble with orthodox books is that we agree with them. We seldom do things we agree with because agreement makes us feel so comfortable that it is easy to substitute our knowledge for our action. There is simply no movement without resistance, as physics tells us. That’s why we bounce a ball on the hard floor instead of a pillow. That’s why we do exercises. Because we seldom agree with them. Exercises make us feel so uncomfortable that we end up doing them out of some kind of spite, and they take us galaxies beyond anything we intellectually agree with.

There’s a good chance you won’t agree with even the title of this book. You may find it uncomfortable, annoying, confronting, outrageous, even dangerous. How can depression be a choice? You may want to argue with this book, fight with it, wrestle it to the ground. Good. The quickest path to change is through our resistance to change. And there is nothing we less want to change than our own long-held opinions, and the process of how we think. It is human nature. But sometimes the very act of defending some deeply-held idea causes us to look at it more closely. We see a flaw. I have sat down at my desk in a furious rage to write down all the one, two, three points that "prove I am in the right;" only to find, as I read over my own words, the surprising clue to my culpability.

The other problem with orthodox theories about depression, in addition to the fact that we agree with them, is that at some point they all depend upon some faulty but hidden premise that no one thinks to ferret out because everyone is so caught up in the admiration of the excellent logic employed. We are all subject to this touch of intellectual arrogance.

The hidden premise in psychiatry and psychology, upon which both disciplines depend entirely, and without which all of their diagnoses and treatments would disappear in a puff of smoke, is that the persona and the self ( the mind and the self) are one and the same. This is based upon Freud’s model of the unconscious mind that has never been scientifically proven but has always been taken as a "given."

"Ultimately our troubles are due to dogma and deduction," warns historian Will Durant. "We find no new truth because we take some venerable but questionable proposition as the indubitable starting point, and never think of putting this assumption itself to a test of observation or experiment."

So I do not depend upon my logic as proof that I am right. I am sure my ideas work because I have already freed myself from depression, and I have lived in a calm state of cheerful sanity for more than ten years. My logic does not proceed from a disease in search of a possible answer. My theory starts with the answer I have already found and goes backwards to see how I did it.

You may, at this very moment, be suffering from depression yourself, or someone you love may be fighting their own terrible battle with it. What I say in this book does not come from the abstract notions of some lofty and idealized therapist’s pulpit. It comes from my soul’s-depth experience of the very pain you may now be suffering. It is a pain that I think I can help you negotiate because I have learned how to negotiate my own pain.

Sometimes you may not so easily follow my thinking, but my intention in the pages ahead is to be your true companion, trying to make myself understood not by telling you how you must have been doing something wrong to be feeling so bad, or to list all the ABC’s of what you should be doing and thinking. We get depressed not because we are doing something wrong but because there are a few essential things we have never been taught how to do at all. Thanks to some new advances in neuroscience that have pointed out the way, we can all learn how to do these things.

In the coming chapters I will illustrate for you the progress of my own education and how it has served me, my own errors of thinking and what I have done to correct them. I will pass on to you precepts rooted in ancient wisdom as well as some rather esoteric philosophical concepts that I have found helpful. I will also tell you stories about incidents in my own life, and then link all of these up with current scientific research.

I now have the tools I need to handle depression. But they are not tools you can so easily hand over, ready-made, to someone else. They are tools that only emerge into being by entertaining small ideas and applying them to your life. Depression is essentially a trick of the mind. First, we can learn how this trick works so that we will not be fooled by it so easily. Then, we can develop our own tricks to protect us from this life-disturbing strategy of the mind-gone-wrong.

The solution to depression lies waiting on almost every page of this book. One person will click with an idea in the first chapter and think, "I get it." Someone else will read to the very last chapter before something will spring to life for them. Another may read the book, put it back on the shelf and later a situation will occur and they will connect it with something they have remembered and, click, click, click. They will get it.

The secret to depression is very much like the secret of learning how to read. And isn’t it simple and easy when we know how? And isn’t it seemingly impossible for those who remain illiterate? And how many of us could have learned how to read on our own, without anybody teaching us? And who has ever tried to teach us about depression?

For those of us who experience it depression is like living your own death. As successful as I was in many other aspects of my life, I was often paralyzed by a chronic despair. I spent half my life locked in a joyless, painful, coffin-of-the-mind. I learned about depression from the inside of it, from the pain, from the helplessness, and from the hopelessness.

One day, when depression began its periodic and pitiless attack upon me, I decided to fight back, mentally, and found that I had the power all along to escape from depression, I just didn’t know it. I discovered that I had a choice. I did not have to meekly give way to my painful feelings. I could battle them for precedence and win!

If the three most important things in real estate are location, location and location; then the three most important things in mental health are perception, perception and perception. It is our perception of depression that is the problem more than the low level of serotonin that seems to cause all the trouble. When we are born, our perceptions are very limited. We have not even differentiated our own self from the world that surrounds us. As newborn infants we must learn to distinguish our own legs from the ceiling!

We all transcend this first enmeshment when we learn to distinguish our body from the universe at large, as well as from other bodies. For many of us, this is as separated as we get. Our soul remains merged with the self, and our self remains merged with the mind. I cannot yet see through that "one-way mirror" of the soul that enlightened ones such as Buddha describe. I keep company with that larger part of humanity; those of us who, like moons in a cosmic midnight, know not the sun to which we owe our luminous existence. But I have transcended my enmeshment with my mind enough to be able to free myself from depression as an act of will.

Please note that I say "free myself from" depression. Yes, the feeling of depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, but "disease" or "medical illness" is not the name of the situation. Depression is not a mental illness. It is not even a cultural illness, though that might be closer to the mark. Depression is a mind set. We don’t need to cure the mind. We need to cure the set. It is neither necessary nor possible to "cure" the primal impulses of depression or mania, which are merely extensions of the fight-or-flight response--our most basic defense mechanism. What we need to cure is our reaction to them.

Most people think we can’t do that. Most people think that what creates our perceptions and the behavior of depression and manic depression lies within the workings of our "unconscious mind" and is therefore not accessible to will. I found this to be incorrect. We simply have to learn how to use our mind, instead of thinking we are our mind. This is the meaning of that old maxim: The mind makes a wonderful servant but a terrible master.

With a push from the New Age spiritual movement, we now understand the body-mind connection; that the mind can have a powerful effect over illness and healing in ways we once didn’t think were possible. But we have not yet grasped the mind-self connection; that the self is supposed to direct the mind to manage our health, thinking, feelings and behavior. The mind-self connection is the key to depression. If the self does not choose to direct the mind, the mind may bury the self in all sorts of varieties of negative thinking and mood disorders. In the absence of any conscious direction by the self, the mind can direct itself right into mental illness.

Goethe was clearly referring to this same idea when he wrote, "Where a man has a passion for meditation without the capacity for thinking, a particular idea fixes itself fast, and soon creates a mental disease." Yes, depression is strong and painful, and we can get very focused on it when we get into that downward spiral. But we don’t have to. We can cure our easy habitual reaction to depression, which is to succumb to it, and as an act of will regain our lost equanimity.

That is because we can improve the mind. We don’t improve the self. Rather, we more or less uncover the self or don’t uncover the self, use the self or don’t use it. Human beings don’t just know something, we also know that we know it. What we know (mind) may change as to improvement, but the awareness that we know (self) is not a matter of improvement or gradation, it is a matter of "either/or;" it is a matter of "asleep to it or awake to it."

This means that the understanding that we are painfully depressed can awaken us to the hidden point of choice; it need not abandon us at the edge of despair. Where is choice hidden? Choice is hidden between the awareness of the self and the use of the mind. Choice lies eternally and changelessly between the "I am" and whatever else may follow it to complete any sentence (such as "I am" depressed).

In order to exercise this choice we must learn to split the atom psychologically. That is, we must be able to separate out the "I am" from the "I am angry" or the "I am" from the "I am depressed" so that we can understand we are not those things; and in fact, we are much more powerful than depression or anger. It is simply a matter of educating and training our minds so that anger and depression are no longer in charge of us. We are in charge of them.

For many of us depression is the fight of our lives. We can win that fight. We can do whatever we have to do to win. We can read anything that can help us. If we don’t understand it at first, we can study it. We can encourage ourselves into a belief that we can get better which is just a little bit stronger than our belief that we can’t. All that we need to begin is our earnest desire to understand. It is the strongest force in world because understanding is not just a possibility, it is our destiny.

I may still struggle with the chemically-based impulse to depression. But I no longer "get depressed." I may still be momentarily overtaken by depression, but I can no longer be taken over by it. My struggle with depression is different now, and on a more conscious level. The battle is not limited to the lower brain states of emotional pain and my reactive behavior to that pain, for I have learned to call upon the higher brain functions of reasoning, intelligence, and creativity that now come to my aid.

I have game rules, boundary lines, and acquired skills for play, such as there must be in any endeavor where we find our creature selves pitted against nature for survival. The end result is that I have domesticated "the Beast" which I had once thought must forever feed upon me at will. And like an old sea-captain whose experiences have toughened him into a worthy adversary of the mighty ocean he sails, at times, and from a respectful distance, I, too, regard my own unfathomable "deep" with an awe not unmixed with affection. Depression, well encountered, has many virtues.

But depression no longer has the authority to intrude itself upon my daily life. I am not claiming, however, that I control depression. This would be a foolish attempt, like trying to control electricity, or the ocean, or nature. We do not seek to control these great imponderables. We do not dare to grab them by the throat and throttle them until they do what we want. We observe them, and respectfully learn their principles so that we can have a safe and proper relationship to them, and make good use of what they have to offer us.

By studying depression in this manner, I have learned to control my response to it based upon my understanding of its principles, and the discovery and exercise of what precautions I must take in order to "command" it. There is no other way. Cutting, shocking, or drugging depression out of our brain is like wrestling with lightning; we will only harm ourselves. The right way is not to gain complete control over depression but rather to gain complete control over our reaction to depression. It is a very simple solution. Unfortunately, in the beginning, for those of us who have a habit of going deep into depression, it is also very difficult to do.

It was the difficulty of managing their terrible pain of depression that most often brought people into my counseling office in search of some common-sense therapy for a failed relationship with their spouse, or their boss, or their child. Slowly I began to sense a pattern in the unconstructive, almost passive, way in which we were all living our lives.

It seemed to me that my problem, and everybody else’s, lay in the lack of clarity and directedness in our everyday thinking, especially when depression hit. We all had an extreme dependence on a very vague reality, thinking things and doing things in a certain way, not based upon any clear, conscious investigation or choice, but simply because we have always thought it or done it that way.

For instance, if I were at a party and a feeling of depression came over me, I always excused myself as soon as possible, went home, and crawled into bed. The moment I felt depressed, it never occurred to me to do anything else but be depressed. The progression from a feeling of depression to being a depressed person was a foregone conclusion that I never questioned. But a dedicated long-term, systematic study of my habits, especially those habits that I employed automatically whenever I got depressed, opened my eyes to some entirely new possibilities.

The first thing I discovered was that I had never clearly understood that sleeping in my clothes, staying in bed for days, sighing a lot, and talking in a weak, sad voice were habits, choices. I thought they were reality, my life, the behavioral necessities that came automatically with the paralyzing pain of depression. The psychiatrist I went to as a young woman in my thirties also believed that. He suggested drugs. But drugs had not greatly helped my brother or my father with their manic depression, so I refused drugs, hoping something better would come along. I was not to find that "something better" for fifteen years, not until after I became a psychotherapist myself.

I would like to say I had a brilliant theory that transformed my life. But it was not like that at all. Looking back I can pretty much piece everything together, how one thing led to another and how, therefore, it all came about. But it wasn’t so much a matter of creating fundamental ideas. It was more like fundamental ideas kept coming and dragging me along by the scruff of the neck. And when I still didn’t "get it," since there is nothing more patient than potentiality, they would come around in another disguise so I could "discover" them all over again in a different and hopefully more promising context. Sometimes I was not a quick student, but anyone who ever knew me could see that I was tooth-and-claw tenacious.

It may seem that I was always quick because I relate to you, in the coming chapters, incidents of "instant" success. But I know that any such instant was the shining victory to a great siege of unknowingness that went before, much of it so unknowing that it would be difficult for me to reconstruct it. There will always be connections between my breakthroughs and my awareness of unknowingness, but they are not always easy to catch. Most breakthroughs are not so much a case of truth being revealed as ignorance being dissolved. This is a level of experience about which one can say nothing, and yet something of meaning has nevertheless being conveyed.

Perhaps it has been a help to me, as well as a scourge, that even as a child I was often introspective. When I was ten I had an experience that started out as a kind of playacting that all children turn to when they are bored and lonely, but it transformed into something much more significant than that; a deep awareness that I was alone in my ultimate responsibility for myself. Even though I denied it for years as an adult, I was always being pulled back to this essential core.

I can remember staring dreamily and intently at myself in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door, a little girl in white cotton underpants, hair still damp from a summer bath. I realized that I could not really see myself in the mirror all at once, the way I could see other people when I looked at them. I could see any one of my features clearly but I somehow couldn’t focus on my complete image in the mirror or carry it in my mind like I could carry the complete images of other people. I could recognize myself when I looked at the mirror, but when I turned away I could not reconstruct myself in my mind. This did not frighten me, but it started me thinking some rather odd thoughts.

I found that my image would disappear when I stared intently into my own eyes for a long time. At a certain point, only the staring would be left to stare back at itself. Then I began trying to see through the eyes in the mirror that were looking back at myself so I wouldn’t disappear, and this is what I thought: I am going to remember this exact moment forever. I am going to remember always that I am now ten years old. I am always going to remember myself. I am going to grow up and, when I do, I am going to remember this time and come back and keep myself company so I won’t be so lonely.

For some reason this thought was a great comfort to me, beginning at that exact instant, and continuing for all of my life. I might forget it for years at a time and then it would come back to me. There was something very important and solid and real about this thought. Even today it gives me a sense of being ageless and timeless.

When I lost this sense of core self in the busyness of growing up and mixing-it-up with life, I found two remarkable teachers to help me salvage my ship of self-responsibility when it foundered. Osho was an Indian guru who is now widely published. Dr. Allan Anderson was the sage I encountered in graduate school at San Diego State University. And I must credit all those books that jumped off the shelf as I rummaged through old book stores or foraged through garage sales.

I first sensed Dr. Anderson was no ordinary teacher when I found that two students in one of his courses were quantum physicists who had driven from Los Angeles to San Diego three days a week for ten years to audit his classes! Sometimes the physicists were able to illustrate some small point for the class such as the "myth of continuity" with descriptions of their experiments on quarks.

And here is one book incident: Just before I entered graduate school we moved to a new house from the rented quarters we had been in since our big move from New Jersey to California in 1983. I got lost trying to meet with a real estate agent and found myself at a small psychic community book sale where I proceeded to buy the whole lot, whatever wasn’t a Harlequin romance or a Louis L’Amour western. I took a chance on everything else, even Greek history, feathery handwritten journals of "sidereal theory" (whatever the heck that is, I thought), Chang Tsu, Sankaracharya, and Karl Menninger.

The paperbacks were only 25 cents each, and I had been supplying myself with what often turned out to be disappointing paperbacks from the drugstore at four or five dollars per to feed my long-term reading habit during the year and a half my own books were in storage. You can well imagine the metaphysical treasure trove I thus came by.

The lot included some volumes on The Metaphysical System of Hobbes, a various assortment of Yogananda, Krishnamurti, Rudolf Steiner, L. Ron Hubbard, Edgar Cayce, Mary Baker Eddy, Martin Heidegger, and George Gurdjieff. For one dollar per hardback I grabbed up an odd accumulation of Carl Jung, Max Picard, Erich Fromm, R. D. Laing, Alfred Adler, Lugwig Wittgenstein, and Alan Watts. There were a couple of anthropology and astrology text books. There were also some wonderful old 1890s to 1930s books on hypnotism, astronomy and "scientific studies" of Mind, not the human mind per se but what the various authors referred to as the "cosmic Mind "of which the human mind was "but the reflection."

The books on hypnosis were especially interesting to me. One little gem called The Practice of Autosuggestion was dedicated "to all in conflict with their own imperfections." I loved that! Another, Hypnotism: Laws and Phenomena acknowledged Agassiz who said, "Every great scientific truth goes through three stages: First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, they say they have always believed it."

In graduate school I took the courses required for my Master’s degree in the departments of Psychology and Counseling Education that were quite politically correct for the liberal-minded 1980s, with the emphasis on multiversity, personal freedom, self-actualization and the various Freud-derivative psychotherapies. At the same time I also indulged myself in courses from the more traditional Department of Humanities that expanded my interest in classical literature and philosophy. It was here that I was introduced to Tarot, The I Ching, Tao Te Ching; and the writings of Nisargadatta Maharaj, Heraclitus and Meister Eckhart.

My continuing interest in hypnosis led me to study the latest research in neuroscience and brain mapping. There have been remarkable advances in just the last few years in the knowledge of the architecture of the brain by neuroscientists such as V. S. Ramachandran and Antonio Damasio, knowledge that was not available to Freud and William James at the time these respective fathers of psychoanalysis and psychology formulated their theories.

My growing familiarity with neuroscience, hypnosis and the more esoteric philosophies slowly began to color some of my attitudes about psychiatry, psychology and the practice of psychotherapy. I began to see that the stronger a therapy emphasized feelings, self-esteem and self-confidence, the more dependent the therapist was upon his providing for the patient ongoing unconditional positive regard. The more self-esteem was the end, the more the means, in the form of the patient’s efforts, had to appear blameless in the face of failure. In this paradigm, accuracy and comparison must continually be sacrificed to acceptance and compassion; which often results in the escalation of bizarre behavior and bizarre diagnoses.

The bizarre behavior results from us taking credit for everything that is positive and assigning blame elsewhere for anything negative. Because of this skewed positive-feedback loop between our judged actions and our beliefs, we systematically become more and more adapted to ourselves, our feelings and our inaccurate solitary thinking; and less and less adapted to the environment that we share with our fellows. The resultant behavior, such as crying, depression, displays of temper, high-risk business or romantic ventures, or abandonment of personal responsibilities, that seem either compulsory, necessary or intelligent to us, will begin to appear more and more irrational to others.

The bizarre diagnoses occur because, in some cases, if a "cause disease" (excuse from blame) does not exist, it has to be "discovered" (invented). Psychiatry has expanded its diagnoses of mental disease every year to include "illnesses" like kleptomania and frotteurism. (Do you know what frotteurism is? It is a mental disorder that causes people, usually men, to surreptitiously fondle women’s breasts or genitals in crowded situations such as elevators and subways.)

The problem with the escalation of these kinds of diagnoses is that either we can become so adapted to our thinking and feelings instead of our environment that we will become dissociated from the whole idea that we have a problem at all; or at the least, the more we become blameless, the more we become helpless in the face of our problems, thinking our problems need to be "fixed" by outside help before we can move forward on our own.

For 2,000 years of Western culture our problems existed in the human power struggle constantly being waged between our principles and our primal impulses. In the last 50 years we have un-principled ourselves and become what I call "psychologized." Now the power struggle is between the "expert" and the "disorder." Since the rise of psychiatry and psychology as the moral compass, we don’t talk about moral imperatives anymore, we talk about coping mechanisms. We are not living our lives by principles so much as we are living our lives by mental health diagnoses. This is not working because it very subtly undermines our solid sense of self.

Uncorrupted unconditional positive regard is powerful; it is called love. However, in order to gain their power of authority as an agent of change, the psychotherapist and the psychiatrist must first pay unwitting homage to the "Great Dread Disorder." If the disorder is not more powerful than the patient, there is no need for a psychiatrist to cure it. So the disorder is what really gets the regard, not us. The unconditional positive regard for the patient is necessarily shallow because this hidden loyalty to the disorder relegates the patient to second class in power and importance not only to the psychiatrist but to the patient’s own anguish. Our whole society is now in a state of learned helplessness that psychology has taught us.

In contrast to the undue reverence for mental illness as a prime determinant of behavior, that I found in the psychological sciences, was a denial of dignity and authority to disease that I found in the work of Emil Coue in the 1890s. Coue was a French pharmacist who introduced a psychotherapy based upon hypnosis, which in those days was called "suggestion."

Coue "tactfully teased some of his patients, giving them an idea that their ailment was absurd, and a little unworthy; that to be ill was a quaint but reprehensible weakness that they should quickly get rid of." Here was the idea that it was our ignorance and weakness causing our problems, not some overwhelming, powerful outside force. The solution was that we were to become informed and strong. And the implication was that it was doable.

It was thinkers like Coue who seemed to point solidly in the same direction I had tentatively begun to travel in my determined effort to "cure" my depression. I did, at first, hope to cure depression, thinking it was an affliction. Later, I saw the goal more clearly as coming to a "right relationship" with my depression. What proved correct was my initial decision that heroic effort and self-responsibility was the proper way to head. Perhaps I chose this way because I had already begun to give up on my existing idea of happiness as being either not achievable or a bad bargain, I wasn’t sure which.

I was encouraged to this understanding about "happiness" by the ancient mystics who warn us to beware of "all desire," of wanting something else other than reality; of wanting something else other than "what is." I found I was now willing to commit myself to that old Victorian adage "Be good, my child, and let who will be clever" by changing it ever so slightly: "Be good, my child, and let who will be happy." When we are able to question our frantic search for our skewed idea of happiness, we turn away from the complications of wanting something other than what we have now got; and then there is only the one and simple path ahead.

On this path I encountered Ovid who claimed, "The most potent thing in life is habit;" and Wellington who maintained, "Habit is ten times nature;" and Dryden who warned, "First we make our habits, then our habits make us." My subsequent experience coincided with these philosophers rather than contemporary psychologists and psychiatrists. I found that the positive habits that I formed consciously as an act of will could override the bad habits that I had formed autonomically as coping mechanisms.

And though it was the foundation on which I developed the counseling techniques I was now using to help others, I found I needed something beyond traditional cognitive behavioral therapy in order to help myself. So when I worried that my life was becoming so complicated I couldn’t see where to begin to make changes, I consulted The I Ching that counseled: "If you wish to be rid of something, it is sufficient to simply withdraw from it in your heart."

I began to explore pertinent relationships, relative to depression, among the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology, hypnosis, neuroscience, philosophy and ancient wisdom. I was drawn especially to a salient connection between psychology, neuroscience and moral principle. The insights that came from making this connection so transformed my perception of reality that when I applied this new thinking to my life, I was able to cure myself of 30 years worth of manic depression. Not immediately of course, but over a period of two or three years.

Supported by the linking principles of all these disciplines, the now more open-eyed observations of my own behavior, and subsequent theory and practice, a new way of managing depression began to take shape. I started calling my ongoing developmental process "Directed Thinking" when it was so aptly nicknamed by one of my patients.

Although Directed Thinking can be learned, it is not a system easily encapsulated, like a twelve-step program. It is a description of my own personal quest to a cure, and the insights that led me, indirectly, to a different relationship with my mind. I do not know how to give you the truth about depression, but I can describe for you exactly the journey I took where the truth about depression found me.

It is not necessarily a journey from point A to point B because many important insights were the hindsights of experience before they became the foresights of theory. Thus my journey was sometimes from point G to point B, so it lacks the linear continuity that is generally the stuff of a learn-step-one-then-go-on-to-step-two-self-help text. But this is good. We don’t learn psychological lessons deductively, in a linear way. They generally sneak in the back door when we’re least expecting them. I love this story about accidental learning that Susan F. told me.

She was an elementary school music teacher who was demonstrating for her first grade class the notes of the scale by letting them tap on glasses filled to different levels with different colored water. She ran out of colors and mixed the blue and red to differentiate the last glass. At the end of the class, when she asked the children what they had learned about music, one child raised his hand and said, "l learned that red and blue makes purple."

Though Directed Thinking is basically an inductive process, there is still the temptation to impose standards of deductive reasoning in the reporting of it, which can result in a "foolish consistency;" that old "hobgoblin of little minds," about which Emerson warned us.

For instance, I might say at one time that pain may not be as real as it seems and another time that pain may be our most trenchant reality, two inconsistent ideas when compared to one another. But these two ideas are less truths to be disputed than they are different-colored lenses through which to see ourselves. In the same sense I may refer to happiness as our original givenness, or a will-o-the-wisp that is dangerous to pursue. An Eastern guru would say it this way: If you want to see the moon, do not debate directions with the finger pointing to the moon, simply look where the finger is pointing.

We want the truth about depression. The problem is that the horizon of any truth may be seen differently from a north or a south view. Truth itself may not be "one way" but we can only apprehend truth one way, from one direction, from where we stand at the moment. Anais Nin said, "We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are." The old sages understood this. The reason their sayings often seem meaningless is due to their penchant for answering the questioner instead of his question. Instead of directly answering our question, real wisdom indirectly gets us to change our stand and then we see that it was our question that had been meaningless.

In the pages to come I present to you the kaleidoscope of my own journey. At any point some idea may become so clear to you that it could totally change your stand, the way you look at things. This is what happened to me. I was given an "answer" to depression that lies beyond any medical cure for it. As a result of this new understanding, although I still experience the same wide mood swings that used to devastate me, I now remain a calm, stable, sober and cheerful person.


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ElveNar { The Kit}

This kit will take you to places you never seen...
Bright colors, like in the fairy world...
On your way to great adventures..
See the images in the box below, I know you will love the amazing pages my ct fairies made with the kit!
  • JPG & PNG files
  • Big size based on 12"x 12" papers
  • PU/S4H/O ok

*All Elements are made by me!
*Note for pirates....
You are NOT allowed to share my stuff or re-sell as commercial use in ANY way!

For any questions please email me:
Or the store owner:

Happy designing!

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Safaricom Increases Voice, Data and SMS Charges

Over the last 18 years Safaricom has played a leading role in providing Kenyans with access to affordable and reliable communication services. In line with our purpose of transforming lives, we have invested strategically in our network, deploying new technologies and innovating continuously to enable us deliver relevant products and services to our customers.

While we remain committed to delivering great value to Kenyans, recent changes to taxes affecting our services were passed through the Finance Act 2018. In particular the Excise Duty tax applicable on Voice, SMS and Data services was increased from 10% to 15%. This is in addition to the prevailing Value Added Tax applicable to mobile services at the rate of 16%.

We have since then been undertaking extensive engagement with the Government on the impact, timing and exact nature of services that these taxes will affect.

Therefore, as a result of the increased taxes passed in the Finance Act 2018, we wish to notify our customers that from midnight of the 18th October 2018, our headline price for voice calls and data will increase by 30 cents and SMS by 10 cents.

Additionally, we have also reviewed our prices for mobile data bundles, Fibre-To-The-Building (FTTB) and Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) to effect the new 15% Excise Duty tax on internet services. The full tariff guide has been filed with Communications Authority of Kenya as required by law and is available from our website, USSD, and all our customer touchpoints.

We are aware of and regret the impact these additional taxes on our customers. It is our sincere hope that these changes will not affect the remarkable gains we have made in mobile phone and internet penetration in Kenya over the last two decades.