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/** */ Adland's pick of the top five worst ever super bowl ads of all time | Adland

Adland's pick of the top five worst ever super bowl ads of all time

It is not easy to pick the top five worst superbowl commercials of all time.

There's bad, like those mens razors ads which make my teeth hurt every year, then there's really really bad like backfiring (literally) jokes, and then there's so bad that masses of people protest and your company sues the ad agency who created the ad bad. With that said, here's Adland's pick of the top five worst super bowl ads of all time. We've combed through the 35 years of Super bowl ads in The Super Bowl Commercials archive to bring you these fantastic turds.

Number Five: GoDaddy - Marketing 2007 - 2007 Super Bowl XLI commercials

GoDaddy can't even do an ad that'll make it to the TOP of a worst of list, which really says everything right there. No wait, the "beauty shot" below says everything. The key to having a dash of pretty fly by in an ad is to edit it so that only the best and prettiest pictures (and if you can manage it, models) are shown in those few seconds. If you can't even get that right, please just stop it. That model looks like she just smelled the shit that is this "idea". The trying too hard sophmoric humor and sex angle being "too racy for TV" is really tired to begin with, and the fervor with which GoDaddy and Bob Parsons tries to get press for these 'stunts' every year remind me of a sugar-high 3-year olds tantrum over toys. Add a few buxom babes, bikers, a tattooed little person in a bright orange suit, some wet T-shirt action with sprayed champagne plus longhaired slackers rating it all with upside down score cards in the "marketing department" located in an otherwise normal cubicle type office building and you've successfully insulted pretty much everyone on the planet in the space of five seconds. Go Daddy!

Number Four: Lifeminders - The Worst Commercial 2000 - 2000 super bowl XXXIV commercials
Lifeminders must be so proud that their "worst commercial" actually is, the worst. Trying way too hard to copy the 'no ad' idea of the FedEx's brilliant spot in superbowl 1998 but without the relevance they torture you with a badly tuned piano for 30 seconds just to sell you "email lists of information" which basically sounds like spam. The ad is wrong, the company idea is wrong - the only thing they ever did right was the name of this ad. One out of three is bad no matter what people say.

Number Three: The Bud bowl IV Bud Bowl VI Part 1, Bud Bowl VI Part 2, Bud Bowl VI Part 3, Bud Bowl VI Part 4, all in 1984 super bowl XVIII commercials.
It might have been funny in 1989 when it began, but by 1994 the pained expressions on coaches Mike Ditka and Bum Phillips faces, coupled with Marv Albert commenting on the antics of a break dancing aluminum can and terrible overacting from all people in the bar just made the whole thing cringe-worthy to the max. Clearly lacking knowledge of KISS the creatives jam everything they can get into this series, an "evolving storyline", a million dollars sweepstakes, nude bottles and even a woman at a bar looking at this as if it were sexy (gag!), a hurricane, bleeped out swearing, an entire stadium being ripped up by robot hands on blimps and flown into a bar, and finally some dork stealing one of the bottle players thus changing the outcome of the game. What idea did they not cram into these ads, I wonder. The only good thing that ever came of this is that Bud quit doing the annoying Bud bowl.

Number Two: Holiday Inn - Class Reunion - 1997 super bowl XXXI commercials
Enter the sexiest woman at a class reunion party, she's hotter than July, dressed in animal print and the camera spends time checking out her breasts, her butt, her nose and so on all the while a list of surgical improvements and their pricetag is being listed by the voice-over in true Mastercard - Priceless style. So we've already established that it's pretty sexist, and this is where the whole thing gets muddy, turns out the beautiful babe was formerly Bob Johnson. Confusions all around on who was offended, possibly everyone.
I'm going to hell for this but I can't help I laugh at that name. Other suggestions might be Dick Weiner, John Thomas, Buster Hymen, Charlie Russell, Roger O'Henry, Rick Hard or lets not be coy Mr. 100% all-beef thermometer.

Stuart Elliot had this to say about the ad back in 1997.

"Holiday Inn: The surgery that changed 'Bob' into the sexiest woman at the 1975 class reunion is likened to a makeover of the lodging chain by Bass PLC. The racy spot is ruined by the final shot, when a male classmate reacts to the new Bob with a horrified grimace. What's next, narrow rooms for the narrow-minded?"

Holiday Inn soon pulled the ad - and today its widely reported that Gay, lesbian and transgender activist groups threatened boycott, but all I can find is a 97 NYT article that states the ad "offended some people." and plenty more archived news sources with the same exact quote. "Some people" were offended, then.

Number One: Just for feet - Kenyan Runner - 1999 super bowl XXXIII commercials

Lets get a group of four army-clad mercenaries in a tricked out Safari-hunting Humvee chasing down a famously barefoot Kenyan runner, drug him with spiked water so that he keels over like an exhausted African wildebeest infected with Turning Disease, and stick our shoes on him! Yeah, great idea - no one will will find anything remotely offensive or any creepy racist undertones in that. Why don't you go ahead and make all the mercenaries all blond an aryan like - apart from the token woman who could possibly be hispanic by a wild stretch - just to really up the creepy factor. It'll sell shoes. Or not.

This ad was so bad Salon called it the ad from hell and it sent a company previously ranked No. 6 in Fortune magazine's recent list of "America's Fastest Growing Companies" to filing for bankruptcy later the same year. Just for feet sued Saatchi for creating and convincing them to run that ad. We thank Saatchi New York for lowering the bar down into the murky basement of bad, because now if you make a bad ad, it's not this bad. Unless by some freak perfume accident you woke up one morning all the talent of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and the Simpsons sisters combined if so please fuck off to Hollywood.

Honorable mention to these fine folks. These ads are all truly truly bad. But since they don't even seem to be trying to be good - unless they are all produced in some remote planet where focus group "creativity" is the only thing there is - they can never make the list above since those ads all actually tried harder to invent something new, rather than to just slap a camera up to film the brief and add some lust in shape of a nice looking woman to the mix.

All the Gillette ads - and before you tell me that I'm not their target, I've been using Gilette for my legs since they had only two razor blades. But that's only because I can't find Wilkinson Sword at my supermarket, which I'd much rather buy as I won't be sponsoring these awful awful ads and their made up language of tech-words. If you dress a razor up in pink and name it "venus" I'll run ten miles in the other direction. Stick that in your focus group and smoke it. Here's a particularly annoying example - "Fuckers keep this up, and I'm going Amish" as Clayton so eloquently put it.
Gilette - Fusion - Reinvented- 2006

from 2006 super bowl XL commercials

infoUSA/SalesGenies "success". This ad is so bad I fear that I'll sink to the same level of terrible if I even attempt to review it. Do we have the product/service as hero? Check. Do we have the unimaginative fast red car as a reward? Check. Do we have the sexy lady will take an interest in you if you have the fast car? Check. It's like a cliché-convention and they paid millions to "wow" you with this shit.
infoUSA/SalesGenie - "Success"

from 2007 Super Bowl XLI commercials

Not quote bad enough. - they try but they don't reach the bottom of the barrel.
Burger King - Herb the Nerd - 1986 Herb was supposedly the only person in America to have never eaten at burger King, and you could win money if you found him. He was also the least charming person in America, so nobody bothered to look for him.

Burger King - Herb the Nerd - 1986

from 1986 super bowl XX commercials

Wavy Lays - Bet In 1994 the former Vice President Dan Quayle who messed up a spelling bee on the word "potato" seems to be a stoners choice as a famous face in a potato-chip advert. The only thing keeping this off our top five list is the fact that even back when he was only thirteen, Elijah Wood was a talented actor that could save a humdrum script.
Wavy Lays - Bet - 1994

from 1994 super bowl XXVIII commercials

Bud Light - Flatulent horse ad Here's that famous fart joke that backfired. The add-on "rocket sled" gag at the end makes it even worse.
Bud Light - Sleigh ride - 2004

from 2004 super bowl XXXVIII (ads)

Other people insist that these are bad too.
The apple "lemmings" ad might have suffered sequel burn trying to follow in the footsteps of the hugely successful "1984" ad, but not matter what people say today - like that business people were "offended" at being called lemmings and that the ad was "depressing" - I can't help but like the dang thing. C'mon, whistle the tune with me!
Apple - Lemmings -1985

from 1985 super bowl XIX commercials

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MaryWills's picture

Wow. Nice selection of bad super bowl commercials! Some of those are just plain painful!

Dabitch's picture

Ta. I'm curious though, which films adgrunts would like to nominate for the worst. We don't have enough voting data (on ALL 35 years) to really be able to gage that.

Wendall's picture

I wonder how many small African nations could have been fed with the money spent on those Superbowl ads...

TruthInAdvertising's picture

Mr. 100% all-beef thermometer. This is now my porn name.

DaniS's picture

I just read somewhere that the 30 seconds spots are going for something like 2.7 million a pop this year. Which is insane, especially if some one is going to have another flop ideas like the ones you listed above.

I think your "worst" list could really have two categories, there are the "worst" commercials that can be memorable (even if not in a good way) because they were so bad. Then there are the "worst" commercials like your Number 4 - I have absolutely no recollection of it whatsoever.

To have a closer look at this years Super Bowl commercial line up you can check out Firebrand's Road to Super Bowl Monday (here's our Social Media Press Release: http://roadtofirebrandspots.smnr.us). And if you want a second chance viewing of the best commercials from SB XLII they'll all be on www.firebrand.com Monday AM.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane :)

adlib's picture

yeah or I could stay here where I get to watch the super ads before Monday... In fact I can watch some right now.

caffeinegoddess's picture

Um. Nice spam at the end there DaniS. ;)

But I think I'll stay right here where the Super Bowl XLII commercials will be posted in beautiful quicktime (as usual) to the Super Bowl Commercial Archive during the event.

Dabitch's picture

The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?"
"The same procedure as every year, James."

* background for non German/Norweigans/Swedes who don't get the joke.
Ah yes, the yearly all nighter. :) Posting ads as they come. Always good fun. How many years have we been doing that now? Seems like bloody forever. Remind me to stock up on Jolt, aye?

Imanaddy's picture

Sssssshhhhh! Adland's timely posting of the bowl in Quicktime is our best kept secret. Let the cheapskates who don't want to upgrade go to aol.com or youtube and suffer crap flash or whatever.

caffeinegoddess's picture

Hah, true. Hopefully it's been long enough that if I end up at SB party this year, my friends won't tease me when I take notes on the ads. ;)

Mets82's picture

Your a genius. Some of the ads I have to see for myself but your a genius for just thinking this. I'm surprised you don't have the Terry Tate ad up. I've commented that it stunk. What's so great about that?  I  see someone get the crap kicked out of them during the Super Bowl, but now  I have to see it during the commericals? Also, one more spot. The Levi's 2002 spot with the guy wearing the jeans down the street. That's just stupid. Why would I, the consumer, see a guy walking or whatever the hell he was doing, down the street, and think "I'll get some of those jeans". If I buy Levi jeans it will be because I want to, not because of that dumb ad.

caffeinegoddess's picture

Um, we have a few Terry Tate spots. Try searching. This one is from the 2003 Super Bowl.

Dabitch's picture

I think he meant on the list of the worst. Terry might be bad but it wasn't one of the five worst ever.

caffeinegoddess's picture

ah. my bad for replying pre-caffeination. ;)

TDD's picture

That terrible Godaddy commercial looks similar to a commercial World Wrestling Entertainment (then, World Wrestling Federation) did in 2000(?) I think it was called, 'Family Values'.

Found it.

(deleted YouTube link)

Dabitch linked to it on Adland.

"Happiness is overrated."

Dabitch's picture

Also here ( I mean sheesh, if there's something we got plenty of baby it's Superbowl ads) , known as "world headquarters". ;P

TDD's picture

I did three searches of Adland, and I came up empty. I was sure it was here! My search skills are very poor today.

If I had typed "WWF" I would have found it, but I didn't to eliminate any World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ads.

Thanks :)

"Happiness is overrated."

Mets82's picture

By the way, the go daddy spot should look somewhat familiar to the World Wrestling Entertainment spot in 2000. The young lady playing the go daddy.com girl, Candice Michelle is a wrestler in the WWE.

TDD's picture

Candice Michelle isn't in the WWF commercial.

"Happiness is overrated."

Mets82's picture

Also the lemmings spot could be the worst I've seen just based on the fact it's too disturbing and creepy. Who wants to see that type of spot during a Super Bowl?

Dabitch's picture

I do. It's a good idea. The rest if the 1985 ones are rubbish.

DaniS's picture

Well, I'm sure you do a stellar job over here at Adland. Just throwing it out there in case any of you were interested in having a place to find commercials of the past/present and future. Sounds a bit more convenient than having to stay up till all hours... but sure, seems like a deep rooted tradition. I can't mess with that :).

Dabitch's picture

Passion is never convenient.

adlib's picture

Dabitch's picture

Haha adlib. Cute.

Honestly DaniS, you're shaming Abraham Harrison's "when in Rome" idea. Engaging in a community conversation should be based on knowing said community first. Adland has the worlds largest super bowl collection (that means past and present) both off- and online. We've been posting the bowl commercials since way back in nineties when there was only one other website doing it as well (USAToday). This website has been around since 1996. We're listed as a resource by the US Library of Congress, the New York Times uses us a source for their yearly bowl-review. We (as in me and the crew) are advertising professionals who have worked and are working on international, national and US regional accounts such as Anheuser Busch, LoJack, Smirnoff, Heineken, T.J. Maxx, Peugeot, Renault, Carlsberg, Grolsch, Nissan, MTV, Dunkin' Doughnuts and New Balance. Our community consists mainly of adgrunts with similar sounding resumés and a whole bunch of people who work exclusively in the viral advertising and buzz realm since back in the day it was considered a new phenomenon - as well as regular ad-fans or ad fanatics, actors in the ads, production company people, directors, ad students, advertising tutors, and producers. Talk to us like you would talk to your colleagues. Or perhaps your boss. But most of all, realize that we have the worlds largest superbowl collection and whatever Firebrand comes up with we've already seen.

TDD's picture

(Said with the voice and style of a Ric Flair promo.)

You want to talk about the Super Bowl? The highs the lows. The winners, the losers. The best of the best! The worst of the worst. The thing that millions of people come to see. The greatest moment of the entire year! You want to talk about the Super Bowl? You want to talk about the Super Bowl? Adland is the Super Bowl! Whoo!

"Happiness is overrated."

Dabitch's picture

Gotta love Rick Flairs hair.

Toste's picture

That's real classy DaniS. Like you walked into a Giants bar sweet talking for the Patriots.

Neaner's picture

Pretty funny though, since the "best commercials from SB XLII " are already up here. You totally stepped in it DaniS.

James_Trickery's picture

Sooooo, Firebrand are doing a Monday thing? That explains why firebrandtv40wall was logged in here all last night I guess. They have to watch the ads somewhere right?

tod.brody's picture

Every industry has its leader and its follower; Coke and Pepsi, McDonalds and BK, Fed Ex and UPS, Adland and Firebrand.

Dabitch's picture

Hahaha! I like that. We're The Real Thing®™

James_Trickery's picture

You should have a jingle. Uh-huh.

Dabitch's picture

And three pretty background singers amitire? How very nineties.

Andreas-Udd's picture

firebrand, firebrand, firebrand (this is search tweaking in action)

This post and this thread is hilarious.

Oh and firebrandtv40wall is logged in again.

Neo's picture

Let me get this straight, Firebrand was logged in here and used a viral marketing company to "seed" their Super Tuesday on Adland just a few weeks before the whole company died?

How very sad. NBC Universal should have sent Dabitch the money that firebrand burned instead. In fact, I'd pay to see her do the talking head/shots girl thing around the latest commercials.

Jack C. Catalano's picture

I think we can update this thread with some of the commercials from this year alone.

Dabitch's picture

^ accurate


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DOE Requests Information on Energy Industry Practices Related to Mitigation of Vulnerabilities in Bulk-Power System Supply Chain

On July 8, 2020 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a request for information to understand energy industry practices related to identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in the bulk-power supply chain. On July 21, 2020, DOE extended the comment period for the RFI to August 24, 2020. Pursuant to Executive Order 13920 (EO) issued on May 4, 2020, threats by foreign adversaries to the bulk power system are a national emergency. The EO directs DOE in consultation with several other agencies to issue regulations addressing the concerns outlined in the EO related to securing the U.S.’ bulk power system. The agency currently seeks comments from the energy industry on current practices to address vulnerabilities, and specifically what challenges EO 13920 could present to small businesses.  Comments are due by August 24, 2020.

  • Read the original Federal Register notice here.
  • Submit comments on the notice extending the comment period here.
  • Advocacy contact: Prianka Sharma at (202) 205-6938.

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text:
Blog Archives

(Advocacy4oromia, 9 July 2015) At least six Oromo university students were also among three journalists and two bloggers released from Ethiopian prison yesterday, according to various reports.

Adugna Kesso

Adugna Kesso

The freed Oromo university students include Adugna Kesso, Bilisumma Dammana, Lenjisa Alemayo, Abdi Kamal, Magarsa Warqu, and Tofik. All were students who were arrested by security agents from various universities located in the Oromiya regional states. No charges were brought against many of them in the last year and three months.

The arrest of unknown numbers of Oromo University students followed a May 2014 brutal crackdown by the police against university students who protested when a master plan for the expansion of Addis Abeba, the city originally home to the Oromo, was introduced by the federal government.

The 10th Addis Abeba and Oromia Special Zone Integrated Development Master plan, which was in the making for two years before its introduction to the public, finally came off as ‘Addis Abeba and the Surrounding Oromia Special Zone Integrated Development Plan.

The government claims the master plan, which will annex localities surrounding Addis Abeba but are under the Oromiya regional state, was aimed at “developing an internationally competitive urban region through an efficient and sustainable spatial organization that enhances and takes advantage of complementarities is the major theme for the preparation of the new plan.”

The students protested against the plan and the federal government’s meddling in the affairs of the Oromiya regional state, which many legal experts also say was against Article 49(5) of the Ethiopian Constitution that clearly states “the special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Abeba.”

Aslan Hassen

Two months ago, student Nimona Chali, one of the detained students, was released from jail without charges. Abebe Urgessa of Haromaya University is still in Qaallitti prison.

Student Aslan Hassen died in prison in what the government claimed was a suicide.

However, many believe he was tortured to death. No independent enquiry was launched to investigate his death.

By the government’s own account, eleven people were killed during university student demonstrations in many parts of the Oromia regional state. However, several other accounts put the number as high as above 50.

About Abebe Urgessa

Abebe Urgessa

Abebe Urgessa was a second year student, Water Engineering Major, at Haramaya University. After classes were interrupted following the #OromoProtests movement that swept the whole nation in April 2014, Abebe like many other students went to visit his family till the classes resume.

He was arrested upon arrival at a small town called Teji, in South west Shawa, where his families are living. After detention incommunicado for three weeks, he was falsely accused of standing in a market place telling people not to pay taxes to the government. Though the court released him on bail on the 21st of May, 2014, student Abebe was abducted again just a week later on the 29th of May.

While his where about still remains a mystery to this very date, it’s known that the government accused him, on its media outlets, of detonating hand grenade at the Haramaya University facility.

Abebe’s story designates with many other innocent Oromo students unlawfully abducted and falsely accused with bogus charges while being taken to or kept at undisclosed detention centers under severe tortures, more often than not. His story is just one among the many.

The use of Latin Script for Afan Oromo writing is based on scientific evidence

The historical development of Written Afan Oromo and reasons for using Latin Script to Write Afan Oromo*

The Development of Written Afan Oromo

Afan Oromo is the second widely spoken indigenous language in Africa south of the Sahara (Mekuria,1994; Mohammed,1994). Afan Oromo is widely spoken in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somali, Sudan and Tanzania (Tilahun, 1993). Besides, Afan Oromo has long history of and well developed oral tradition. Despite of this and the size of its speakers as well as its value as widely spoken language in the Horn of Africa, it remained as unwritten language for long period of time. As Tilahun (2006:113) stated “Until recently, Afan Oromo remained an oral rather than literary language.”  This is because of different factors.

Factors that Delayed the Development of Written Afan Oromo

Different interrelated factors have been forwarded by scholars for the delayed and clumsy transition of Afan Oromo from oral to written   language.  For example, Tilahun (2006) indicated that the transition was mainly delayed by Political reason. He further stated that rather than promoting the development of the language, the past governments of Ethiopia discouraged the use of Afan Oromo even from private conversations. Under the consecutive imperial as well as the dictatorial regimes of Ethiopia, writing in other natives languages of “Ethiopia” except Amharic is strictly forbidden. Supporting this, Mohammed (1994:86) stated “— it was not permissible, to write, preach, teach and   broadcast in the Oromo language in Ethiopia until the early 1970s.”

Other linguistic groups are forced to read and write in Amharic by forgetting their own. The Ethiopian governments had neglected and actively suppressed the development of Oromo literature and other groups whose native language is not Amharic. For this reason, Afan Oromo today lacks a developed literature and has less printed materials (Mekuria, 1994:  Mohammed,1994 ; Feyisa,1996).   In addition to the prohibition of learning and writing in Afan Oromo by law by the past Ethiopian rulers, Feyisa (1996) mentioned different factors that impede the development of written Afan Oromo such as lack of trained linguists in the language, lack of Afan Oromo training Academy and lack of suitable scripts. Further, Tilahun (2006) argued the factors could be subsumed under political factor.

Despite the political suppression on the development of Afan Oromo, the Oromos at home and Diaspora, and other interested individuals did not simply accept the suppression condition and look the situation as it is. Rather they made different attempts at home and abroad to overcome the condition and contribute their own share to development of written Afan Oromo (Feyisa, 1996). For example, Tilahun (1996:131) said” Since the early 1970s, Oromo nationalists and scholars have made tremendous effort to develop it as a literary language.”  In addition, before a decade or more, Afan Oromo has been written for various purpose using different scripts such as Arabic, Ethiopic as well as Roman scripts (Hayward and Mohammed, 1981).

Attempts to Write in Afan Oromo by the Oromo People

The history of written Afan Oromo was started in the first part 19th century. Religion especially Christian and Muslim and Oromo scholars played a pivotal role in the development of Afan Oromo literature and writing system. With this regard, Mekuria(1994:91) noted that “Oromo religious leaders and scholars have attempted to make Afan Oromo  a literate language. In1950s, an attempt was also made to develop an alphabet suitable to Oromo sounds.”  The next section illustrates attempts made to develop written Afan Oromo.

Feyisa(1996) and Tafari (1999) stated that the first attempt to write in Afan Oromo was made by Oromo themselves and the first script used was Arabic. This was come to existence through the expansion of religion, especially Musilm among the Oromos. Tafari(1999:113) stated that “After long period of Islamic education and Arabic literacy, the idea of using Arabic alphabet for Oromo language was raised.”  There are different to examples to support this.

Concerning the use of Arabic script to write Afan Oromo, Feyisa(1996) illustrated  that Wallo Oromo have used the Arabic Alphabet to write religious poetry in Afan Oromo. Feyisa further explained that since the beginning of 19th Century Afan Oromo was used as a correspondence among all the Oromo kings and it was language of education in five Jimma States and in Wallo.  In addition, the Muslim Oromos in Arsi, Bale and Hararghe areas used Arabic script to write Afan Oromo. The Arabic alphabet was used basically to write religious poems and praise poems for the Muslim saints. With this regard, Tafari(1999) mentioned that scholars such as Sheikh Ahmed Siraji, Sheikh Mohammad Asi Haba and Sheikh Mohammed Aliy Ta’oo used Arabic script and composed religious poem and different materials in Afan Oromo. Thus, it can be said that Arabic language and Islamic education made great contribution for the development of written Afan Oromo, at least in its early beginning. But the unsuitability of the alphabet to Oromo language is believed to limit the expansion of written Afan Oromo in 19th Century (Tafari,1999).

Attempts to Write in Afan Oromo by Foreign Scholars

In addition to the attempts of Oromo people, foreign scholars write Afan Oromo using different scripts. According to Feyisa(1996)  Bruce, a Scottish traveler, is the first European who collected a few words and develop sentence structure in Afan Orom using Latin script. After Bruce, various European scholars, who kept in touch with Oromo in Africa and Europe and working with them, were interested to study Afan Oromo and attempted to write Afan Oromo in Latin as well as Ethiopic scripts.

One of the attempts to write Afan Oromo was made by Ludwig Krapf.  He came to Ethiopia for missionary activity and latter, he was highly interested to study and write about Afan Oromo (Krapf,1840). On his way to Showa(around 1839), he met several Oromo’s and gathered some information on Afan Oromo, culture and religion(Mekuria,1994). Krapf recognized the importance of Afan Oromo for missionary purpose in Northeast Africa. For this reason,, he was interested to study Afan Oromo after he arrived at the court of the king of Showa. While at the court of’ the Shoan king, Krapf began to study Afan Oromo with the assistance of his servant. Hence, Krapf studied Afan Oromo in its natural surroundings. Then, he published a book in 1840.  In his book, Krapf specifically focused on the script that should be used to write the language and he described the situation that exists before the beginning of his writing as follows: Whereas the [Oromos] are in want of letters, the choice of Alphabet for their language depends on who first begins to write it. If the writer be a native of Abyssinia, he will no doubt choose a form of letters from his own alphabet [Ethiopic or Geez]: and many Abyssinia, in fact, on seeing me occupied with the study of [Oromo] language, endeavored to persuade me to adopt the Ethiopic character (Krapf,1940:20).

From the quotation, one can understand that Afan Oromo had no one decided script of writing and selection of the scripts depends on the first who began to write it. However, if the Abyssinia (Amhara and Tigre) starts the writing, he/she will use Ethiopic script for writing Afan Oromo. Krapf also disclosed that the Abyssinia people attempted to convince to make him use of Ethiopic Alphabet after they were aware that Krapf was interested to study Afan Oromo. This shows that the suppression on Afan Oromo was started long years ago. But Krapf(1840) reported that he did not follow the advice given to him. His Justification was that” —because the Ethiopic Characters present great difficulty to writing as well as to memory” (Krapf, 1840: 21).

Further, Feyisa(1996:22)stated that”—he [Krapf] observed a number of problems with the use of Geez script to write in Oromiffa[Afan Oromo]. Through trial and error, Krapf discovered that Geez was unsuitable for writing Oromiffa. He noted that Geez alphabet does not include some of the major phonological distinctions in Oromiffa and fails to express some particular sounds in it.”  To solve the perceived limitation of Ethiopic alphabet, Krapf used the Roman script to write Afan Oromo.

In addition to the early attempts made by the Oromo themselves and the Europeans described above, various Oromo scholars attempted to developed and adapt the script of Afan Oromo suitable for writing the language. Among these, the works of two Oromos namely Sheikh Bakri Saphalo and Onesimos Nasib, are worth mentioning. These scholars contribute their own share for and played great role in the development of written Afan Oromo. Below an attempt is made to show how they attempted to developed the writing system of Afan Oromo.

The Contribution of Onesmosi Nasib  to the Development of Afan Oromo Writing

Onesimosi translated different materials to Afan Oromo. Mekuria(1994:94) mentioned the works of  Onesimos saying “Onesimos wrote and/ or translated most of them between 1885 and 1898.  During those thirteen years, he translated seven books, two of them with Aster Ganno.  He also compiled an Oromo-Swedish Dictionary of some 6,000 words.”  However, the translation of The Bible to Afan Oromowas the most significant contribution made by Onesimos. According Mekuria(1994), his translation of the Scriptures is regarded by historians and linguists as a great intellectual feat and a remarkable accomplishment for a single individual.

Further, Feyisa(1996:22) explained the contribution of Onesmos Nasib by saying” He was a real pioneer in Oromiffa literature. His translation using the Geez alphabet with an additional glottal letter for ‘dh’ is still the standard work in the field, and without doubt he was a father of Oromiffa literature.”   He wrote Afan Oromo in Ethiopic script.

The Contribution of Sheik Bakri Sapalo to the Development of Afan Oromo Writing

According to Hayward and Mohammed (1981), Sheikk Bakri was a prolific writer. Starting from his early teaching, he began to write in Afan Oromo.  In addition to this, he invented an indigenous Oromo alphabet (Feyisa,1996). The development of the indigenous alphabet is said to have taken place during 1956, at the village of Haii. Hayward and Mohammed (1981:553) described his invention as ”It does seem highly likely that Shaykh Bakri was the first Oromo who saw clearly the problems inherent in attempting to write the Oromo language by means of orthographic systems which had been devised primarily for other languages.” He was interested to develop an indigenous alphabet in that he had strong nationalistic aspiration and felt that possessing glorious historical traditions and a uniquely democratic society, lacking a means of writing as a great problem. Feyisa(1996:22) stated that” He devised scripts an indigenous and original system of writing as part of his attempt to overcome problems of orthography in writing Oromiffa. He devised scripts which were different in forms , but followed the symbol-sounds forming patterns of Geez system.”

Having developed the alphabet, the Sheik Sapalo taught it to all his students and to others as well. Then, people began to exchange letters in the new alphabet. In addition to letters, Sheik Bakri himself employed his alphabet for writing his poems and other works, and manuscripts of these are also reported to be in existence.  It is claimed that there are still people who can use it.

After the news of the development of the scrip of Afan Oromo was spread rapidly, it encountered negative reaction from the officials of the area. Nevertheless, Sheik Bakir Sapalo continued to use his own alphabet for writing. Hence, Sheik Bakir contributed his own share in the development of Afan Oromo writing by developing unique script.

The Adoption of Latin Script, Qubee, as Formal Orthography of Afan Oromo

As described the preceding section, Afan Oromo has been written for different purposes using different scripts by various individuals.  During the previous governments, Afan Oromo was not used as a medium of instruction. However, after1970s the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) began to use it as official language in the librated areas (Tilahun, 1993).In addition, after 1991, it was proclaimed that the native languages can be used as medium of instruction as well as can be studied as a subject of a study. Thus, there is a need to develop one formal script that can be used by all speakers of the language uniformly. Around 1970s both Sabean and Latin were suggested to be the scripts of Afan Oromo.

During this time, Mengistu partially lifted the ban on the use of Afan Oromo and allowed the use of Sebean script (Tilahun,1993). However, in November 1991, five months after the downfall of Mengistu, OLF called Oromo scholars and intellectuals a general meeting. Tilahun(1993:36) described the objective  and the participants of the meeting as “The purpose of the meeting was to adopt the Latin script that OLF had been using or suggest an alternative.  Over 1000 men and women attended the historic meeting which met in the Parliament Building in Finfinnee.”  After long hours of the discussion, it was decided that the Latin script was to be adopted. There are different reasons for the adoption of Latin script. However, the major ones are linguistic, pedagogical and practical reasons.

The first was linguistic reason

On the meeting, Sebean script was suggested as an alternative. However, it was agued that its roughly 250 characters are too clumsy to adapt to Afan Oromo. Tilahun also indicated the weakness to adopt  Sabean saying” It must also be added that the Sabean syllabary not only fails to indicate vowel length and germination, but also slows down a writer’s speed since each symbol, which cannot be written cursively, must be printed.”(1993:37). Afan Oromo, excluding those sounds represented by P,V,Z, has 34 basic sounds (10 vowels and 24 consonants). Thus, for linguistic reason, it was decided that the Latin alphabet be adapted to Afan Oromo.

The second one is pedagogical reason

According to Tilahun (1993), the 37 characters (or 34+ P,V,Z) can be learned in less than a month. In fact, only 32 symbols (minus the 5 double vowels) need to be recognized. For an Oromo learning these signs and sounds they represent, the task is even much easier It may take a non-Oromo a little longer because producing the sounds-especially those not found in his/her language-takes time.

Practical reason is the third reason for the adoption of Latin script

Latin script was adapted to many languages of world. Thus, Qube Afan Oromo aligned itself with the so many countries of the world that use Latin script. For example, one practical advantage that is an Oromo child who has learned his own alphabet can learn the form of the English script in a relatively short period of time. Another practical reason is that its alphabetic writing’s adaptability to computer technology (Tilahun,1993). To sum up, the decision to adapt Latin Script as the writing alphabet of Afan Oromo was made by talking the above three main reasons into consideration. Subsequently, Afan Oromo was made the medium of instruction for elementary level and administration in Oromiya.(Mekuria,1994).  After the adoption, different textbooks and other useful reading materials began to be published by the new alphabet. In September 1993, school instruction was legally launched in Afan Oromo for the first time. Hence, the use of Latin Script for Afan Oromo writing is based on scientific evidence.

* This article is abridged from the article written to respond for political allegation based on scientific evidences.


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AC Milan – 2020-21 End of Season Update – Club Focus

Having lost just two games before the Winter break, AC Milan were sitting atop Serie A. The squad had gone through something of a transformation, as clubs with a higher reputation, such as Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid, picked off some of their best talents. Five players left, three of which were first teams starters, resulting in the AC Milan recruitment team swinging into action to replace those that had left.

Some savvy recruitment ensued, with the Club picking up players using either a data analysis approach (Wöber) or identifying those that were under-valued (e.g. Guimarães) and under-utilised players (Cucarella). These were replacements who, it was hoped, would not drop the quality in the squad, nor jeopardise the harmony among the players, which was very strong given their position as current front-runners for the Serie A title. This approach to the two transfer windows (including the previous Summer window) yielded a net transfer spend of £47m for the year according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, helping the Club return to the black. The established war chest could be useful in the Summer transfer window, after a detailed squad analysis to address any weaknesses or lack of depth. This will be the focus of the next blog post in the series.

There was a strong sense of optimism but not necessarily overwhelming expectations amongst the Milanese hierarchy for the title and trophy to arrive back at the San Siro. Club legends, Messrs Maldini, Baresi and Boban, recognised that the push for the Club’s first Scudetto in 11 years could be realised at the first attempt under their new manager.

In truth, there was little to worry about for the Board. Milan’s second half of season mirrored that of the first in terms of defeats, with just two more losses against their name. The changes to the tactics and the personnel at the Club, amongst both playing and non-playing staff, saw a significant increase in the number of chances created and goals scored. The goal difference soared to +53 as a result, leaving an impressive Atalanta behind in second place, with a ten point gap to I Rossoneri. The title was confirmed at the San Siro following a routine 2-0 victory over Parma in front of the home fans.

Goals came from across the team but Piatek was the Capocannoniere for 2020-21, with a credible 24 goals from 36 games, beating off Immobile and Ronaldo. Leading the front line in a far more creative side than the ’19-20 cohort, and for a team taking considerably more shots, Piatek was able to benefit from the service provided to him and use his impressive finishing ability to put chances away, scoring 20 non-penalty goals. Again, more on this in the next blog post.

The Club’s desire to win Serie A was achieved two years ahead of schedule, which even they conceded was beyond their expectations given Juventus’s domination of the League in recent years. This was seen as something of a fillip for the owners of the Club as they had been touting the Club to potential buyers. This news of success on the field only increased the value of the Club off it, with Singer and partners able to cite higher anticipated future revenue streams from Champions League TV money, as AC would be going straight into the Group Stage as number one seeds. When matched with new sponsorship deals, the financial future of the Club looked to be on a stronger footing than it was at the start of the 2020-21 season.

The Club also had reasonable success in the Europa League, if not actual silverware. The squad made it to the semi-finals, only to be knocked out by RB Leipzig over the two legs.

This journey also significantly boosted the Club’s reputation, though it was still a long way short of the overall target – to return the Club back to its 1990/2000s heydays.

League Financial Spending 2020-21

The on-field success and work of the marketing team to drive sponsorship deals saw AC Milan have a healthy 31% of their revenue being spent on player and staff wages. With the third highest revenue stream in the League, AC look to be well set when it comes to adding to their squad in the Summer. Spare a thought for the directors of Napoli who have an eye-watering 67% wage/revenue expenditure. Add this to the fact that their stadium is rented and in desperate need of renovation/replacing and it might be a while before the Neopolitan’s see a new stadium being built through internal finance. Little wonder Napoli fans are staying away in their droves – their capacity utilisation was less than 50% over the season.

In terms of competing financially with Juventus, great strides have been made with matchday and ticket revenue following a successful season on the field. Attractive attacking football saw the crowds return to San Siro to cheer on their side, with an average attendance of 59,908, some 14.59% up on last year. Together, Juventus and AC account for just over one third of the overall income generated from ticket sales and match day revenues, leaving the other big four in their wake.

League Statistical Analysis

The opening blog of this series looked at the causal relationship between salary expenditure and success, measure in points per game. Analysing the data over the season, AC Milan performed above average on their salary expenditure compared against the rest of the other clubs, with the exception of Atalanta. With Juventus spending well over the norm for the rest of Serie A, their 4th place finish saw them drastically under perform. Atalanta deserve notable commendation for their display in the League with only the eighth largest salary expenditure – the La Dea clearly know what they’re doing when it comes to their financial outlay on recruitment, as well as their training/player development and style of play.

In assessing the League’s use of the ball in possession in terms of points per game, AC Milan again came out favourably. Averaging 56% possession but scoring 70 goals in the 38 game season, only Juventus scored more and with less average possession. This looks to be proof that the tactical style is not just possession for possessions sake but that the ball is being progressed into areas which are yielding goal scoring opportunities. When this data is analysed, Brescia are well below the curve and clearly badly under-performed, not creating enough when in possession of the ball, resulting in their relegation. Inter and Lazio both appear to be capable counter-attacking sides, scoring points but with less than 50% of the ball, finishing 5th and 6th respectively.

Yet, when Il Diablo’s shot efficiency is analysed, the team do not appearing to be scoring significantly above the average number of goals per shot taken. Perhaps more could be done to improve this going forward but it is not an immediate concern. Fiorentina on the other hand, took a considerable number of shots and ones that were presumably of poor quality. La Viola’s possession/PPG is also below the trend line too. Perhaps their build up play is too considered/slow, enabling opposition defences time to organise themselves, in turn forcing Fiorentina to pass the ball around before frustratingly shooting from distance? This data also further underpins Lazio’s abilities on the counter-attack, taking the fourth largest quantity of shots and scoring the third highest number of goals despite their possession statistics. The generation of shots by Juventus is also stand out given their possession statistics. To have taken that many more shots than the rest of the other teams by comparison highlights their trigger happy nature as a team. Although when one builds in the C7 factor, then maybe the water becomes a little clearer? Nonetheless, it’s hard to blame the attack of The Old Lady for not defending their Serie A title with this output.

The adage of “your opponents can’t score if they don’t have the ball” also looks to be true to an extent for AC Milan as they conceded a League low of just 17 goals over the season. Only city rivals, Inter kept more clean sheets, with 25, one more than I Rossoneri. Inter appear to be considerable outliers in this regard – their level of possession conceded to goals conceded demonstrates just how tight their defence was over the season. Fiorentina raise their head above the parapet once more with their defence giving up a considerable number of goals given their League-high levels of average possession. Not only were they wasteful when they had the ball, when the lost it, it cost them goals with a high frequency.

For AC Milan, if youth team graduate, Donnarumma, can maintain this class going forward in his blossoming career, AC could be well-placed to dominate into the future. When combined with the mean defence, their domination of possession in games is the result of their recruitment of highly technical players who resist initial pressures and can play through or around deeper defences when the opposition choose to drop off and regroup. Their tactical build-up and their high work rate to press the opposition when the ball is loss then helps to recycle the ball and transition before the opposition are able to capitalise on any weaknesses.

Looking into this in more statistical depth across Serie A, the Pearson correlation co-efficient for goals scored and total points is 0.89 – a very strong statistical correlation. 1,048 points were obtained with a total of 887 goals scored. Yet, not conceding, i.e. keeping a clean sheet had a Pearson correlation co-efficient of -0.87 (negative as the fewer goals conceded leads to more points being gained). The total number of clean sheets across the League was 276. This is correlation is almost as strong to that of points and scoring goals – highlighting the importance of having a strong attack AND defence in the 2020-21 season.

As teased above, the next blog post will focus on the player performances, using data analysis to monitor compare and contrast the squad’s output against their League counterparts. Keep an eye out for when that drops.

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The Block

I had the privilege of growing up on what I consider to be the best block in America. On many summer days growing up, the block felt like a scene from the movie The Sandlot, with our core gang of 8 boys playing homerun derby, tackle football, racing bikes and fist fighting. Since those days, we have grown up to become bankers, designers, biologists, husbands, fathers and homeowners.

Every summer, we all set aside our grown-up lives to head back to the block for a day full of hot dogs, stickball and nostalgia at our annual block party. For that day we get the opportunity to watch the latest generation of kids growing up on the block and reconnect with our neighbors who are always eager to hear what’s going on in our lives. We share our favorite stories from the past year and re-tell all the stories we laughed at last year and the years before. While we are all off living our lives in other places, the block continues to serve as a homebase for us and a place to think about when we need a minute to remember where we came from.

There’s nothing more important than having that kind of foundation. In many ways, that’s what feeds what we do in our personal and professional lives, right? As a designer, I know that the strongest design has a definite foundation – a place from where other aspects happening within a design – whether logo, website or advertisement – can grow and expand. Just like our favorite stories that we tell at the block party – the ones that make us laugh or think – I do my best to tell a story that has impact through my life as a designer. It’s one of the things I like best about it, just like what I like best about returning to my roots. Appreciating all the things that change and grow – and the roots you never forget that remain the same, and bond us together.

– Patrick Midway, Designer


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Agua Latinoamerica

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Shula Ross

    • Visual Arts

    Tel Aviv, IL, United States

    Artist Website

    Israeli sculpture and painter. Studied art history at the Hebrew University, after leaving a career at the Ministry of Education and dedicated herself to art.

    Ross’s art expresses feminine and family topics, as well as memories from her beloved landscapes of Israel. Her works were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in israel, France, Italy, Austria Germany , England, China Finland Mexico Swisseland Montenegro Croacia and the USA.

    Solo exhibition:

    Arbel gallery-Tel aviv

    Efrat gallery-Tel aviv

    Fisr prise for painting -Artoteqe

    Gold medal for sculpture-WAG Croatia

    Semi finaistl-Artbox project

    Honor certificate-Circle foundation

    Artist Media

    Artist Photo Gallery

    AICF Articles about Shula Ross

    | Artist News
    The Israeli branch of the international artists organization ‘WAG’ (World Art Games) took part last month in the International Artistic Festival held in Belgrade.

    | Artist News
    Artist Shula Ross won a gold medal for sculpture at the International Artists Convention that took place in Croatia in August. the convention is held annually by World Art Games with the goal of bringing people together and promote artists. This year t…

    | Artist News
    Artist Shula Ross speaks at ILTV studio about her work. Shula documents the human experience through pen and pastel drawings. Much of her work captures daily life in Israel from shopping in the open market, to prayer and even partying in clubs.


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Friday Photo: a memorable first flight in a Cub

The view: Luke’s first flight

The pilot: Steve Ellis

The airplane: 1940 Piper J3C-65

The mission: Giving rides to deserving kids

The memory: This Cub was used to train pilots in World War II and later for crop dusting. Now it has a much more important mission: giving kids their first airplane ride. On this flight, the passenger was Luke Kallaher of Lindale, Texas – a straight A student and talented drummer. The early morning was beautiful and the flight from Terrell (KTRL) to Van Zandt County (76F) with the windows open was just perfect.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment in our weekly series called simply the “Friday Photo.” Each week we post a great photo taken from the cockpit – one that shares the joy, beauty or fun of flying. If you’d like to join in, send your photo and description (using the format above) to:

  • Steve, looks like the kid is really enjoying that ride in the J3. Excellent picture and I am sure that young man will never forget the day he took a ride in a J3 cub.

  • Now that is what I like to see. A youngster being taken flying, and flown by a pilot called “Steve Ellis”

    Steve Ellis
    Melbourne, Australia
    (Piper PA28, Cessna 172/182)

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Guillain-Barre (GBS) Syndrome Air Medical Services

Critical Care Air Ambulance Services

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is a very rare disorder, causing the immune system of your body to attack the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The PNS is responsible for connecting you brain and spinal cord to the rest of your body. These nerves when damaged do not function properly, making transmission of signals hard. Hence, affecting the muscle movement. It is not certain what causes GBS syndrome but the most common triggers are surgery, infection and vaccination.

The first symptoms of GBS syndrome could be a tingling feeling or weakness in the legs, spreading to the rest of the body. In severe cases it could even lead to paralysis or become life-threatening. GBS syndrome treatment is a slow and steady process, where the symptoms worsen before they stabilize; stretching over weeks. With the life-threatening symptoms, for patients suffering from GBS syndrome, air medical serves as the most ideal transportation method. When opting for AirMed GBS syndrome air medical services be assured of the following:

Our air ambulances are equipped with accommodations of a modern hospital room. Keeping GBS syndrome air medical needs, the team ensures that oxygen machines, heart monitors and IV’s or any other essentials are in place before the flight. The planes are flown at lower altitudes to avoid turbulence, so not to cause unnecessary discomfort to the GBS syndrome patient. The medical crew on-board is assigned based on their credentials and experience with GBS syndrome patients.

With GDS syndrome treatment, nerve pain is usually a challenge to ease. The patient's entire body is inflamed which causes pain. Our team helps massage, regulate movement and provide medication in order to alleviate pain. However, the primary caretaker is approached before on-boarding the GBS syndrome patient to determine the right course action.

We understand how patients with GBS syndrome can be extra sensitive to touch since their nerves are not functioning properly. Our medical crew exercises extra care with GBS syndrome patients: they are more gentle and slow.

Moreover, GDS syndrome treatment requires the crew to be more emotionally supportive. The patients sometimes find it hard to deal with this disorder and become more anxious. Our experienced team understands where they are coming from and therefore extend as much emotional support as possible, starting from the very first encounter they have with the GDS syndrome patients.

Kindly get in touch with our 24/7 support team today for any GBS syndrome air medical queries or related services.

Our medical teams also hold board certifications in CFRN (Certified Flight Registered Nurse) or CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse) We are proud to have this as one of AirMed’s standards to provide the highest clinical care.

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The Power of Foresight
By Hayley Siegel
The Transforming Essence
By Moshe Rudin

The Power of Foresight
In this week’s parashah, Huqqat, one of the most shocking events in the entire Torah occurs. Despite forty dedicated years of service as teacher, general, and counselor on behalf of God and the Israelites, Moses is told by God that he will not be permitted to enter the Promised Land with the tribe!

The reason? A conversation with a rock puts Moses in a hard place! When the children of Israel complain that they are thirsty, Moses turns to God for help in securing water in the dry desert. God provides Moses with an immediate solution. All Moses must do is speak softy to a rock, and this conversation will supply all of the tribe and animals with their desired water. As complaints and groans from his thirsty tribe members beat down upon him like a waterfall, Moses strikes the rock out of frustration. While water pours forth, God is enraged by Moses’ disrespect. Moses loses the privilege of entering into the Promised Land with the tribe: “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, you will not bring this congregation to the land that I have given them” (B’midbar (Numbers) 20:12).

Moses’ inability to enter the Promised Land is the most devastating event of his life, and certainly the most unexpected. After unshackling the tribe from the burdens of Egyptian slavery, he spent every waking hour leading the tribe forward to the Holy Land – a place where they would be both physically and spiritually nourished. While managing rebellions amongst his people, dealing with personal struggles, and defending the tribe from their enemies, Moses remained the key person in charge at the end of the day. With one simple mistake and lapse in character, Moses is prevented from reaching the apex of his life.

Moses’ inability to enter the Promised Land teaches us a powerful lesson about the importance of taking the time to think about our words and actions. By examining Moses’ unfiltered outburst at the rock, we understand how one moment can offset all of the good we have accomplished in our lives. The news is littered with examples of powerful, successful individuals at the top of their games who torpedo their personal lives and professional careers when they disregard the future consequences of their actions. From Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York, to the fraudulent executives of Enron, we are reminded that a lack of foresight can create total destruction for ourselves and our loved ones.

Parashat Huqqat teaches us that we must take the time and energy to reflect on the performance of every deed we complete and be mindful that each action has consequences. Although living up to this responsibility may be burdensome, this thoughtfulness will help us to advance with dignity and integrity to our own promised lands. On this Shabbat, may we consider each moment significant on our personal journeys and garner the strength to think about our words and actions before they leave our minds, hearts, and souls.

The Transforming Essence
HaShem spoke to Moshe and Aharon saying: This is the Statute of the Torah which HaShem commanded saying: Speak to B’nai Yisrael; take to you a perfectly red heifer which has no blemish . . .

In the midst of the great trials of the wilderness, the endless outcries of the people, the expedition of the twelve scouts and its disastrous aftermath and the revolt of a portion of the nation’s leaders against Moshe and Aharon, comes a startling hiatus – a declaration of core values. Zot Huqqat Ha-Torah – This is the Statute of the Torah. Not a statute, not the statute of impurity and purity but the statute of the entire Torah. Thus is the preparation of Mei T’horim – the Waters of Purity – the admixture of which, applied ritually, has the power to remove tum’ah, ritual impurity, from one who has been overshadowed by death.

Tumah and Taharah, translated as impurity and purity, but leading to vastly different worlds of implication, association and symbolism than the English terms, are better rendered as Of Life for Taharah and Of Death for Tum’ah. Our Torah is a Torat Hayyim, a Torah of Life, affirming possibility, actualization, hope, positive change and growth. Jews do not seek the balance between the poles of Tahara and Tum’ah, between Of Life and Of Death but are unequivocally Of Life, even as the God we worship is Elokim Hayyim, the God of Life. This preoccupation with life seems to demand that we be forever out of synch with a world that is divided between living and dying, a world regulated by cycles of germination, growth, decay and dissolution. But we are a people who looks to innerness; a people called upon to see beyond all ephemera and phenomenon to the enduring and eternal; to be and to live the Or – the light – that infused the abyss in the first Speech: Y’hi Or – Let there by light.

The Rabbis understand the word huqqah – statute – to refer to an irreducible teaching, a royal edict, a pillar of reality which cannot be fathomed by human conception, only realized through action. Sandwiched between revolts and upheavals which ultimately sweep away the entire tumultuous generation of the wandering, including that generation’s leaders, Aharon, Miriam and Moshe, Huqqat Ha-Torah – the Statute of the Torah – appears as a reminder that amidst change, turbulence and chaos, there are eternal verities that endure: `Iqqarim, essential states of being through which all existence is delineated and which are reflected in humanity by what we do, see, dream and live.

This is why the Statute of Taharah is the Statute- because it treats of the essence of the Torah and the nation charged with its realization. Every mitzvah in the Torah, every behavior, act and practice is meant to lead to the proliferation of the light, of life, of the actualization of that which is of God in every human being.

The Kabbalat Shabbat service concludes with Psalm 93. In this concluding psalm, the world is described as a garment which God wears, the hidden heart of all that is. The rivers raise their voices and roar, the many waters swirl, the mighty waves of the sea pound but even greater is the elevation of HaShem. (Ps. 93:3) For all of the madness and randomness, the churning vicissitudes of the life of the individual and of the world and of the wilderness in which we wander, there is a life-presence within the maelstrom the finding of which elevates and transforms. `Eydotecha ne’em’nu m’od– Your testimonies are very trustworthy. (Ps. 93:5)

Torah – occupation with the Torah and realizing its values, infusing Torah with our deepest selves – enables us to transcend the sound and the fury and to dwell in kedushah, in blessed holiness. As the verse continues – L’veitkha na’avah qodesh, HaShem, l’orekh yamim – Holiness is beautiful for Your House, God, to the end of days.

Shabbat Shalom


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Recent Posts

The Pestle Documentation Project

Frustrated by Magento? Then you’ll love Commerce Bug, the must have debugging extension for anyone using Magento. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, Commerce Bug will save you and your team hours everyday. Grab a copy and start working with Magento instead of against it.

Updated for Magento 2! No Frills Magento Layout is the only Magento front end book you'll ever need. Get your copy today!

Back when I still had some hope Magento 2 would be the same sort of open-source-for-everyone platform that Magento 1 was, and I was working my way through writing the Magento 2 for PHP MVC Developers series, I was simultaneously developing pestle, my command line tool for generating Magento 2 modules.

As time went on I realized the Magento specific commands were buried in pestle’s UI, so I started breaking them out into their own namespace

# old command name format
pestle.phar command-name

# new command name format

Unfortunately, these command names didn’t match my original articles, and the thought of digging through the archives to find every reference and change it didn’t really appeal to me — particularly as it became clearer that Magento 2 was chasing a more corporate controlled and “enterprise” version of open source.

That left pestle’s documentation in an odd state. Everything was out there, and smart developers could pick it up — but newcomers would either need to wade through my entire blog series OR start guessing based on commands in Pestle’s help. As much as as I disliked the direction post-eBay/pre-Adobe Magento chose to take their platform, I still had empathy for that developer just starting out with that platform, and that empathy gnawed at me.

So I’m finally doing something about it. I recently created a new milestone in the pestle project that, when complete, will fully document the Magento side of pestle (as well as some of the more esoteric features of the framework itself). I’m also putting aside my usual side-eye for publishing to servers I don’t control, and making everything work with the popular Read the Docs service.

It’s a daunting amount of work and far from my first priority, but I’m hoping to chip away at it over the summer. If you’ve got a favorite command or weird bit of esoteric behavior you’d like to document, PRs are welcome.

Copyright © Alan Storm 1975 – 2021 All Rights Reserved

Originally Posted: 14th June 2019


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Amazon Echo Show (1st gen. 2017)

Amazon Echo Show (1st gen. 2017)
alaScore 91

67 reviews

Jan, 2021

alaTest has collected and analyzed 67 reviews of Amazon Echo Show (1st gen. 2017). The average rating for this product is 4.1/5, compared to an average rating of 4.6/5 for other products in the same category for all reviews. People really like the reliability and size. The sound and usability also get good feedback, but there are some mixed comments about the bass quality. Many are critical about the price and design.

usability, sound, size, reliability

design, price

We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other products in the same category the Amazon Echo Show (1st gen. 2017) is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 91/100 = Excellent quality.

Review analysis

(Based on 67 reviews)

Expert Reviews

User Reviews

Showing 56 review(s)

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Showing 1 - 10 of 56 Show Reviews: in English | in other languages (10)

Expert review by (

Amazon Echo Show review: Seeing is believing

The Echo Show does everything the original Echo does, but many of those features are much better when you add in a screen. Given that the Show is only $50 more than the standard Echo, it'll be a worthwhile investment for anyone looking to add a digital...

Alexa takes great advantage of the new touchscreen ; Music sounds great over the new speaker ; Echo Show does everything the original Echo does ; It'll get better over time as developers build skills for the touchscreen

Odd, angular design ; Low-resolution screen

Amazon essentially created a category with the Echo, and the Echo Show marks the first significant re-thinking of what a voice-activated home-hub can be. Ultimately, the screen isn't essential , but it proved to be very useful. And the improved speaker...

Jun, 2017

DT Recommended Product

Expert review by : Jenny McGrath (

Amazon Echo Show Review

Easy to use ; Some Alexa features, like timers and lists, are better with visuals ; Plays videos and gives visual search results ; Lots of potential uses for an assistant with a screen

Skills still need some work ; No privacy shutter

Right now, the Echo Show’s on-screen features aren’t show-stoppers. We can see a lot of potential, though.

Expert review by : Will Greenwald (

Amazon Echo Show

The Amazon Echo Show combines the Alexa voice assistant with a 7-inch touch screen and stereo speakers, but its smaller successor has proven to be a better experience.

Touch screen useful for discovery, selecting suggested items, and controlling playback. Full range of Alexa features with visuals.

Limited touch control options. Dated design. Unimpressive audio quality and mediocre screen for the price.

Bottom Line: The Amazon Echo Show combines the Alexa voice assistant with a 7-inch touch screen and stereo speakers, but its smaller successor has proven to be a better experience.

Jun, 2018

Expert review by : Ry Crist (

Amazon Echo Show review

Editor's note (October 26, 2017): Since introducing the Show in June 2017, Amazon has evolved its lineup of Echo smart speakers , refreshing some older models and continuing to expand Alexa's skills, support new third-party integrations and release...

The Echo Show offers everything you love about Alexa, complete with new video and touchscreen controls. It shines best as a dedicated, hands-free video calling command center.

The uninspired design feels dated. At launch, the touchscreen visuals don't do enough to bring Alexa to life, or make her much easier to use -- though that could change with the arrival of new screen-specific Alexa skills.

Amazon's touchscreen Alexa device shows potential for people interested in video chatting with friends and family members, but it needs a little more development before we'd recommend it.

Oct, 2017

Expert review by : Dieter Bohn (

Amazon Echo Show review: Alexa is even better on a screen

The Echo Show might be your new favorite kitchen gadget

Isn't trying to be a tablet ; Better sound than other smart speakers ; Video conferencing between Shows is easy

Not enough screen-enabled skills yet ; Could be better sound for the price ; Camera can't handle backlit rooms

Ask not what you must do for your gadget

Jun, 2017

Expert review by : David Pierce (

Review: Amazon Echo Show

Too bad it's so ugly.

Solid screen, microphone, and speakers. Alexa's way more useful when it can show you stuff. This is the kitchen TV you've been missing.

For an object in your home, Amazon sure built an ugly gadget. A lot of the screen's true usefulness is up to developers. Alexa is great, but nowhere near perfect yet.

Jun, 2017

Expert review by : Chris Davies (

Amazon Echo Show Review: Alexa’s screen shows promise

Amazon's Echo has grown from a voice-controlled curiosity to being a legitimate home assistant, and now, with Echo Show, it's gaining a display. The latest iteration in the smart speaker series bucks the trend of spoken interactions only, adding a...

Alexa is as useful as ever ; Hardware is solid and soberly handsome ; Touchscreen-enabled apps show some promise

Short list of touchscreen-enabled 3rd-party Skills ; Teething pains for some Skills on how display is used ; Most expensive Echo version yet ; Alexa still lacks multi-user support

The more I interacted with Alexa via Echo Show, the more the subtle differences versus it and the Echo or Echo Dot became clear. When I use one of the latter, Alexa is decentralized: a disembodied voice, much like a Star Trek ship’s computer. In...

Jun, 2017

Expert review by : Michael Brown (

Amazon Echo Show review: This is the best Echo (but it’s also the most expensive)

Amazon's best smart speaker, the Echo Show comes with a 7-inch touchscreen.

Everything we like about Alexa, plus visual feedback ; A 7-inch touchscreen display ; Video calls and an in-home video intercom (two Echo Shows required)

Can't stream media from network storage ; No video our aux audio output ; Smallish 7-inch display that's limited to 1024x600 resolution

Priced at $229.99, the Echo Show isn’t exactly cheap. But it delivers plenty of value, and at press time, Amazon was offering a $100 discount to shoppers who buy two at once. This is the first time Amazon has offered a lower price on the Show, however,...

Oct, 2017

Expert review by : Ilse Jurriën (

Amazon Echo Show starts shipping

Amazon Echo Show speaker with Alexa : In two days from now the new Amazon Echo Show will start shipping. The smart speaker with 7" touch display and voice assistant Alexa offers much more than just great quality music. The device answers your...

Jun, 2017

Expert review by : Ilse Jurriën (

Amazon Echo Show voice assistant

Amazon Echo Show Alexa voice assistant : Amazon has announced the Echo Show. There have been rumors about this smart speaker for some time, now the digital Alexa voice assistant is officially unveiled. The Echo Show succeeds the current Echo-speaker,...

2017 is the year of voice assistants. Earlier this year, Samsung released the Bixby assistant for its Galaxy S8 smartphones and on June 5, 2017, Apple will probably launch her own Siri speaker.

May, 2017

Price comparison for Amazon Echo Show (1st gen. 2017)

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ONLINE Course: Audubon at Home: Vultures—Bald Is Beautiful!

Black vulture

September 22 , 5:30 pm 6:30 pm

Pre-registration is required by 3 p.m. Monday, September 21st, and space is limited.

UPDATE: Registration is now closed. Check out our upcoming events here.

In response to physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are offering some free online courses and events as a public service to help folks continue to learn about the birds they love! Please support our work if you are able and make a tax-deductible donation at alaudubon.org/give. Even though the state has reopened, it’s important to stay safe during this pandemic. See our full COVID-19 statement here.

Cape vulture, part of the captive breeding program at VulPro in South Africa by Jessie Griswold.

Often labeled as ugly, disgusting, and associated with unscrupulous politicians, vultures are a key component to life because they eat the dead. Learn from Jessie Griswold about the critical role they play in the ecosystem, how to identify Alabama’s resident birds, as well as the steep decline in global populations. We’ll dispel some myths, discover the adaptations that make these birds so efficient, and learn that bald is beautiful!

Disclaimer: This presentation will include pictures of dead animals.

Where and when do we meet? This online course meets on Tuesday, September 22nd, from 5:30–6:30 p.m. CDT. It will be roughly an hour-long online class with time at the end for questions.

Registration: Space is limited. To register, click on the button above. If you’re new to our online system and don’t yet have a username and password, simply click the “X” on the pop up and fill out the basic form. You’ll receive an automated email upon registering.

Please note, you will receive a separate email with the Zoom webinar instructions before the first class (once registration closes). You’ll need the link or webinar ID and password from this email to join the meeting. In the event the link does not work for you, you may need to go to the Zoom website and manually enter the webinar ID and password. Please double check your email and make sure it’s a valid email address prior to completing your registration. We’ve had several kick-backs when sending the Zoom meeting instructions out to registrants, and you won’t be able to join the webinar without this information. Thanks!

Questions? Email the Outreach & Communications Director.

Will this be recorded, and will I have the ability to view them later? Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to record our online courses. Please check out our other upcoming online events here.

Is there a waiting list? We do not have waiting lists for our online courses at this time.

The link doesn’t appear to be working. You may need to go to the Zoom website (https://zoom.us) and manually enter the webinar ID and password. Also, wait until just a couple of minutes before the meeting is supposed to begin to try to enter the meeting. It will not work if you try to join the meeting half an hour before it’s scheduled to begin, for instance.

I did not receive the email with the Zoom meeting instructions. Please double-check the email address you enter when registering for the course as that is where the instructions will be sent (once registration closes). You may need to add us to your email provider’s safe sender list in the event it goes to spam. Also, please contact us by the morning of the event if possible as generally you should have received the email right after registration closes so that we have time to address your issue.


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Sneha Girap (Editor)

Jamison Newlander

Updated on
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Occupation  Actor
Spouse  Hanny Landau (m. 2002)
Role  Actor

Name  Jamison Newlander
Years active  1987–present
Education  New York University
Jamison Newlander The Lost Boys Where are they now slide 6 NY Daily News

Born  June 2, 1970 (age 45) (1970-06-02) Los Angeles, California
Children  Azi Sylvester Newlander, Nathan Dov Newlander
Movies  The Lost Boys, Lost Boys: The Thirst, Lost Boys: The Tribe, The Blob, Rooster
Similar People  Brooke McCarter, Billy Wirth, Edward Herrmann, P J Pesce, Joel Schumacher

Interview with corey feldman jamison newlander and brooke mccarter

Jamison Newlander (born April 2, 1970) is an American actor who attended New York University. He starred in the 1987 horror film The Lost Boys, playing Alan Frog a vampire hunter.

Jamison Newlander Jamison Newlander Img Need

Quickies episode 14 jamison newlander

Jamison Newlander Jamison Newlander

Newlander's best known for his role as Alan Frog a vampire hunter in the 1987 film The Lost Boys. He also played the part of Anthony in the 1988 remake of The Blob. In 2003, Newlander wrote, directed and starred in an independent film titled Rooster. In 2008 he was to reprise his role as Alan Frog along with Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog in Lost Boys: The Tribe. However, upon DVD release, Newlander's character can only be seen in the alternate ending bonus features of the DVD (and then only momentarily), having not made the movie's final cut. Both he and Corey Haim are however listed in the acting credits for their minor roles.

Jamison Newlander iamediaimdbcomimagesMMV5BMjI1NDk4MDY0N15BMl5

Newlander starred in a third Lost Boys film, titled Lost Boys: The Thirst, alongside Corey Feldman and Tanit Phoenix. It was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.

Jamison Newlander jamison newlander on a night like this YouTube

Newlander co-hosts a short bi-weekly podcast called "The Jamison Newlander and Some Other Guy Show" with an unidentified co-host. The podcast is released every second Sunday.

Personal life

In 2002, Newlander married Hanny Landau.

On August 15, 2008, his wife gave birth to their first child, Nathan Dov Newlander.

On November 12, 2012 his wife gave birth to their second child, Azi Sylvester Newlander.

Jamison Newlander Wikipedia

Similar Topics
Billy Wirth
Brooke McCarter
Edward Herrmann


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Understanding The Texas Lemon Law

Understanding The Texas Lemon Law

Contrary to what its name suggests, the Texas Lemon Law is not a legislation that deals with the buying and selling of fruits or rule against its bright color.
It does not even come close.
Rather it involves the right of American consumers, who buy vehicles, used or brand new, cars or trucks, to return defective products and ask for a refund.
Along with the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the Uniform Commercial Code, the Texas Lemon Law or Lemon Law in general protects the rights of American citizens to quality products that would give them value for their money.
In general, the Lemon Law requires car manufacturers and not car dealers to refund the money a consumer has paid for if a car is found to be a “lemon.” The definition of a “lemon car” is of course different with every state depending on what the state legislation says. Usually, states differ in their definition of what a “lemon” car is and the period of warranty that is given to the consumer.
The Texas Lemon Law, for one, allows for four repair attempts or 30 days out of service for defects that are not so life-threatening. For serious product defects that pose a serious safety hazard such as problems in the steering wheel or in the brake, the Texas Lemon Law allows for only two repair attempts. If after the stated number of repair attempts, the defects have not been fixed, then a car will considered a “lemon” and therefore eligible for refund. The repair attempts under the Texas Lemon Law should of course happen within a period of two years or 24,000 miles whichever comes first for the four attempts. A period of one year or 12,000 miles is given to defects that affect the safety of the car.
Similar to other state laws, the Texas Lemon Law also requires consumers to have their cars fixed in authorized service centers and to make no unauthorized modification or alterations in the car. This is done to avoid questions that will be raised by manufacturer as they are accorded the right to investigate and challenge the claim. If the defect has been found to be caused by neglect, abuse and alterations not sanctioned by the manufacturer then no refunds will be given.
Consumers, under the Texas Lemon Law, are also asked to put their complaint into writing, stating the defects of the car. This is especially needed if it is stated in the vehicle’s manual. Supporting documents should be kept in hand such as receipt of the purchase, which would state when the car was bought, repair receipts as well as diagnosis of the problem.
In addition to refunding the money, the Texas Lemon Law may also invoke the manufacturer to pay for incidental costs that the consumer has incurred due to the defect in question such as towing services and even rental of car while the “lemon” is still in the repair shop. Refunds will also not be given in full. Under the Texas Lemon Law, the purchase price will be lessened by the equivalent amount of the mileage that the owner has used the car.
While most companies have good arbitration programs which they use to cut down legal costs just in case the complaint goes to court, there are some car manufacturers who will remain firm that the defect was not there when you bought the car. If this happens, complainants are encouraged to seek legal counsel.


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#HobbyCareerPassion: It Happens to Nice Men and Women Too by Alana Lorens

Welcome to my weekly feature where authors share about the hobbies, careers, or passions of their characters.

I’m pleased to introduce today’s guest, Alana Lorens…

It happens to nice men and women, too

Nice to meet you!  My name is Inessa Regan, and I’m an attorney practicing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While I handle many different kinds of cases, one particular kind of client really calls to me—survivors of domestic violence.

While we don’t like to think about it, our friends and neighbors (and maybe ourselves) are victims of this sad crime. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience physical violence by their intimate partner at some point during their lifetimes. About 1 in 3 women and nearly 1 in 6 men experience some form of sexual violence during their lifetimes. In an effort to help reduce that number by any means I can, I often provide free legal services to clients who need to get out of a dangerous situation, and I work with the local shelters to help their clients when I can.

At the time in my life told in the novel SECOND CHANCES, I get the opportunity to help an Iraq veteran who’s being battered by his soldier wife. The wife suffers from post-traumatic stress from her own war experiences, but won’t get the help she needs. As is so often true, we wonder why the battered party doesn’t just “get out”—but it is very clear that each of these situations is more complicated than is seen from the outside.

Do you need help, or know someone who does? Here’s some numbers for you to call.

When Inessa Regan gets a pink slip, laid off from her law firm at the age of 42, without prospects she’s sure her life is over. She hides from the world, until her neighbor brings her a client, a young Iraq war veteran dying of cancer.

Kurt Lowdon only wants to make sure his affairs are in order should the worst happen, but meeting Inessa gives him encouragement on the road to recovery. His quest to help her realize her self-worth leads them into dangers they never expected, as horrors from the war and long-hidden family secrets come back to haunt them.

“A lot of people back home don’t understand what it’s like,” Rafe went on, his throat tight with the strain. “People get pushed to the wall. You’re on edge all day, all night. Things happen when guys get stressed out, you know? They need an outlet. Relief.”

“’Things’? You mean what? Fights? Drinking?” He shook his head and she wondered what other kinds of ‘relief’ he might be talking about. Her thoughts took a darker turn. “You mean the reports about women raped by their fellow soldiers?”

He nodded. “It happened all the time. It happened…to Susan.” He choked up. “Most of the girls, they’ll stay in their bunks all night, no matter what, just so they don’t have to hit the latrine alone. One night, Sus just couldn’t. No one would go with her. So…”

Inessa saw confirmation in Kurt’s face. “And Susan blames you for what happened.”

“If I-I-I’d been more c-careful, or let J-Jimmie get that b-bomb…I shoulda looked out for her. No one would have t-touched her if I’d been there!”

Kurt walked around the desk to put a hand on Rafe’s shoulder. “Susan’s been violent. I’ve seen the bruises. But he won’t retaliate—he feels responsible.”

“She’s changed. She’s a whole different person!” Agitated, Rafe ejected from his chair and started pacing. “She was never like this with me, not before I was sent Stateside. After she got back to the Real World, she was damned moody, man. We got into it at least twice a week, sometimes about nothing. She quit going to counseling after she lost the last job, just like all the others, always a fight with co-workers or a boss, and then it’s done. Seven months now, we’ve lived mostly on my disability.”

He turned to Inessa, gaze intent. “Living with her’s like living outside the wire, you know? I couldn’t stay any more. When I told her I was leaving, she shoved me down the stairs. I had two broken ribs.

“I would even have let that go, ‘cause I know she’s had a bad time. But since I been home with my parents, she won’t leave me alone. She threatens me, threatens them, follows me all the time. I’m not worried about me, I can take it. Damn her, my parents have nothing to do with what happened to me, or to her! I can’t let her do this.”

Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. One of her novellas, That Girl’s The One I Love, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, three crotchety cats, and four kittens of various ages.

Website https://wordpress.com/page/alana-lorens.com/21

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/

Filed under Author Blog Post, Hobbies...Careers...Passions

12 responses to “#HobbyCareerPassion: It Happens to Nice Men and Women Too by Alana Lorens

  1. pamelasthibodeaux

    Wow, sounds like a great book!
    Good luck and God’s blessings with your writing and in the work you do.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Babs Mountjoy

    Thank you so much for hosting me, Alicia! Domestic Violence is so prevalent and confusing and traumatizing. We need all the help we can get from sympathetic legal staff!

    Babs aka Alana

  3. Pingback: PTSD leads to assorted tragedies in SECOND CHANCES | Alana Lorens, author

  4. barbarabettis1

    A very important — and difficult — topic to write about. This sounds like an insightful book, Alana. Best of luck with it.

  5. Kara O'Neal

    I can’t believe those ratios. Wow. It’s always such a shock to realize how much it happens and you may not even know it.

  6. Babs Mountjoy

    It’s frightening, indeed.

    Babs aka Alana Lorens

  7. Wow, difficult topic to address. Your book sounds very interesting!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Great post. I don’t think people understand how traumatic domestic violence is–as well as the impact it makes on the children in families. Best of luck with sales and promotion.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Babs Mountjoy

      And coupled with PTSD, it’s a nightmare. Veterans need lots of help–I’m not sure they are offered enough. 😦

      Babs aka Alana Lorens

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