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9 Great Glamping Destinations
Get the starry nights, the campfire stories, the cosy sleeping bag, and all the best parts of camping in some of California's most beautiful settings—but without the hassle of hauling loads of gear into the back-country. These glamping destinations give you the best of both worlds—a back-to-nature break from everyday life, but enough comfort that you won't wake up with a sore back and covered in mosquito bites. And the settings? The hardest part will be choosing which one to head to first.
There's Treebones Resort, for instance, which boasts alternative accommodations perched on wind-swept cliffs overlooking the Pacific. Or, head to an overnight safari trip amidst African wildlife at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, or spend a night under the desert stars at the Living Desert near Palm Springs. If you're looking to spend time further north, try a stay under sequoias with five-course meals included at Sequoia High Sierra Camp, or maybe a few nights in one of the eco-friendly tent-cabins of Costanoa Lodge?
For the super-active, there are the zip-lines and climbing walls on offer at KOA Ventura Ranch. For the nostalgic, there's the all-Airstream hotel AutoCamp, with locations currently in Santa Barbara and Sonoma County, and another opening in 2019 in Yosemite. And finally, there's the coastline-kissing campsite at El Capitan Canyon, where you can choose between cedar cabins and safari tents on wooden platforms.
For most locations, everything, including bedding and meals, are included, though some sites require you to bring your own sleeping bag and pillow.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park Roar & Snore
How about an overnight safari trip to see African animals just a half-hour drive north of central San Diego in Escondido? On a Roar & Snore Safari at the remarkable San Diego Zoo Safari Park (sister to San Diego Zoo), have a sleepover adventure in one of 46 comfy, safari-style tents that border an extensive grazing area for giraffe, rhino, gazelle, antelope and other exotic animals.
While visiting this extensive park, book a Flightline Safari—strapped securely into a zip-line, you'll soar as high as 39 metres above the rhinos, giraffes and other animals below. You can even record the entire experience with a helmet camera to relive your experience at home. Also on offer are exhilarating Balloon Safaris and a Jungle Ropes Safari for children aged 7 and up to test their balance and jungle skills on rope bridges, tightropes and more.
All Roar & Snore Safaris include a ride on the Africa Tram and your choice of walking tours, from laid-back to active. Look for special themes throughout the year, such as the seasonal children's favourite Creepy Camp during Halloween (meet spooky, creepy critters and get special treats), or the romantic, adults-only Valentine's Day overnights featuring a candlelit dinner and wine. All overnights include special activities, an after-hours opportunity to see the resident animals, a campfire programme, dinner, a snack and a park souvenir. And when you wake up in the early morning? Enjoy an open-air breakfast with views of grazing animals to photograph and observe, long before the park's doors are open to visitors.
Treebones Resort
Along the spectacular Big Sur coast, you'll find a unique glamping experience: Treebones Resort, with 16 yurts perched on redwood platforms, each with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. Step inside for some surprisingly swanky touches such as queen-size beds and cushy couches, plus sinks, heaters and electric lights. Outside, deck chairs provide the perfect vantage point for jaw-dropping sunsets.
Other accommodations—truly unique ones—are available as well. Designed by a local artist, Human Nest and Twig Hut are 'wood-art' installations that up to two adventurous people can sleep in, making for a Big Sur sojourn unlike any other. And at the other end of the luxury spectrum is the solar-powered 45-square-metre 'autonomous tent', a cocoon-like structure that includes a private deck, claw-foot shower, king-size bed, gas fireplace and outdoor fire pit. Traditional bring-your-own-tent campsites with toilet and shower facilities are available as well.
In addition to simply revelling in the peaceful beauty of it all, there's no shortage of things to do nearby. Book a private guided day-long hike—your guide will drive you between trailheads—and visit Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Limekiln State Park, or enjoy sea kayaking with a local guide in San Simeon Cove, a natural harbour 15 miles to the south. Treebones also features a full restaurant, a sushi bar, a spa, a heated pool and hot tub (available to all residents) and an outdoor bar with that same ocean view, where you can relax with a glass of wine or a local beer after a day of hiking, kayaking or simply hanging out at the resort.
Starry Safari at The Living Desert
Bearded dragons, cheetahs, bat-eared foxes and Arabian oryxes—these are just a few of the remarkable wild animals that will be in your desert dreams—and outside your tent—when you book an overnight stay at The Living Desert in the Palm Springs region. From March to May, guests can enjoy a cracking campfire, exchange ghost stories and roast s'mores (a campfire delicacy of gooey melted marshmallows and biscuits). Then it's time to curl up inside your private tent (camp beds are provided but you will need to bring your own sleeping bag and toiletries) and listen for night-time sounds, like the distant howls of coyotes in the Santa Rosa Mountains. Or just relax outside, gazing at a sky full of stars.
Wake up to enjoy an exclusive private tour of The Living Desert, a nature reserve of more than 1,000 acres of Sonoran desert that showcases the animals of the world's deserts. The collection ranges from a tour of terrains representing and hosting North American and African desert wildlife to the Village WaTuTu, an authentic replica of a north-east African village, to Eagle Canyon, where golden eagles, mountain lions, bobcats and badgers thrive. Day visitors can feed giraffes, stop by a petting kraal (Afrikaans for enclosed livestock area), ride a camel or attend one of the twice-daily Wildlife Wonder Shows. Admission is included with overnight stays.
Wander through the site's many geographical 'immersive' gardens which present plants from specific regions, including East Africa, the Mojave and the Chihuahua region of Mexico. Explore a network of paths that skirt the adjacent Santa Rosa Mountains before returning to check out the Discovery Center with its many exhibits on display.
Sequoia High Sierra Camp
Nestled among the giant sequoias of Kings Canyon National Park, roughly a 4-hour drive south of Yosemite Valley, is the remote Sequoia High Sierra Camp, a wilderness site where guests snuggle up in off-the-grid tent-cabins. It's a 1-mile walk from the nearest car park (longer hike-in routes are available), but once you get to the compound of tents (elevation 2,524 metres), it's nothing but glamping in truly exceptional Californian style. Three meals a day are served; dinners are five-course, open-air affairs prepared by a gourmet chef, and guests are served while seated at large communal tables. The canvas tents are equipped with luxurious rugs, feather duvets and woollen blankets on cosy beds, propane lanterns, and of course, stunning views of the surrounding Sierra Nevada just outside your tent flaps.
After a hot breakfast, hike to mountain meadows, jewel-like alpine lakes, or high summits with commanding views. Maps for several walking trails are provided, and the trails themselves range from a few miles to more demanding itineraries. You can also explore the country on horseback; trekking excursions are available for all skill levels, and can last anywhere from a few hours to several days. On these outings, the High Sierras are your oyster, to fish, swim or bird-watch (numerous species are native to the area—maybe you'll spot a Williamson's Sapsucker). Upon your return to camp, take a hot outdoor shower under a canopy of sequoia branches; the view of blue sky (or starry skies) above is unforgettable.
Yosemite High Sierra Camps
Here's a glamping experience like no other—one that requires some work to enjoy, but that's worth every ounce of effort. The work comes in the form of hiking or pony-trekking to one or more of the five High Sierra camps, open from June to early September. The most easily reached of the camps, May Lake, is a mile-long walk from Glen Aulin. From there, each camp is roughly 6 to 10 miles apart; all are strung along the 49-mile High Sierra Camp Loop trail. But once you've arrived, the scenery—some of Yosemite National Park's most spectacular high country around Tuolumne Meadows—will make it all worthwhile. Plus, the fully equipped cabin tents at each site, complete with a woodburning stove to ward off the chill of the ~2,700-metre elevation air, mean you'll only have to pack your personal items and toiletries. Showers are available at three of the camps (subject to water availability); all camps have toilets.
During your stay, enjoy hot dinner and breakfast, served family style with other guests—a great time to swap stories and hiking tips. Packed lunches for trailside picnics can also be ordered in advance. Guided hikes are available, lasting from 5 to 7 days, as are 4-to-6 day guided horse-riding trips, for both adults and children (minimum age for hikes is 7; for riding, 10).
These camps have been popular destinations in Yosemite National Park since the first location, at Merced Lake, was established in 1916. Because of the demand, a lottery system is in place to secure reservations. See the lottery guidelines for how to submit an entry.
Costanoa Lodge
Mountain bike through towering redwoods, horse ride across coastal meadows, explore beaches and rockpools, and then chill out in a fully equipped safari-tent 'bungalow'(with plush bedding, electricity and Wi-Fi) at the coastal Costanoa Lodge, an eco-adventure lodge in Pescadero. Roughly a 1.5-hour drive south from San Francisco, this peaceful retreat is surrounded by 30,000 acres of state parks from Big Basin to Año Nuevo State Reserve and Butano State Park. The grounds are heaven on earth for nature and wildlife lovers. Drift off to sleep listening to the sound of crashing surf and lonely coyote yelps; in the morning, wander along the empty beach and spot lounging elephant seals. Appealing extras include an outdoor hot tub with views of the coastal hills, and—to completely posh it up—a day spa offering on-site massages and body treatments.
As well as tent cabins, Costanoa has snug cabins with fireplaces, skylights and a group dry sauna, and traditional lodge rooms. Walking, kayak tours, guided bird-watching walks and yoga are popular activities here, and children can do things like make tie-dye t-shirts and ice cream at Costanoa Kids Camp, which runs from April to August. The campsite includes outdoor grills and picnic tables, or head over to the Cascade Bar & Grill, for locally sourced seafood and produce.
Nearby attractions include pick-your-own farms, the 19th-century Pigeon Point Lighthouse, the Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve (home to blue heron, foxes and deer) and two renowned Pescadero institutions, the Arcangeli Grocery and Bakery and Duarte's Tavern, both of which serve up local artichoke-inspired delicacies.
KOA Ventura Ranch
With zip lines, climbing walls, teepees and deluxe cabins, this isn't your typical just-off-the-highway campsite. Tucked into the coastal hills of Santa Paula, a little over an hour north of Los Angeles in Heritage Valley, this sprawling, family-friendly destination is part of the nationwide KOA chain. The 'glampsite' feature teepees that sleep up to 8 people, as well as fancy safari-style tents (with king-sized beds, futons, microwaves and mini-fridges). Also available are bring-your-own-tent pitches (without hook-ups) that feature picnic tables and fire pits, and are in easy reach of the activities area and creek.
Nothing is cramped or close together here—the grounds and facilities are so spread out that some visitors opt to zip around to the activities and pool area on the motorbikes or golf carts that are available to hire. Just watch out for peacocks—the beautiful birds make themselves right at home here. In addition to the teepees (which can be furnished with Native American touches such as fur throws, cowhide rugs and Native American blankets for an extra charge), there are also deluxe and studio cabins with partial kitchens, air-conditioning, coffee makers and Wi-Fi.
There are attractions here that are a few steps up from usual campsite fare, too—fly through the air on the aforementioned 400-metre zip line (tickets required) or the giant jumping pillow before heading out for a walk on family-friendly trails or taking a dip in the swimming pool. Other activities include gem mining, tie-dying, outdoor film nights and seasonal events, such as the Halloween costume competition and haunted hayride, and the 'human ball drop' on New Year's Eve. KOA Ventura Ranch is pet-friendly, but dogs must be kept on leads.
Sleep in a shiny silver bullet at the Airstream and luxury-tent hotel AutoCamp. Several of the sleek trailers are fully outfitted for you and your family or friends, with a little deck and Adirondack chairs outside, a gadget-filled kitchen, cosy quilts for snuggling under, and even fancy toiletries that will make Mum smile. Each trailer also includes two bikes—perfect for a special time with one of your children, exploring attractions in Santa Barbara such as Stearns Wharf, the beach or the bustling Santa Barbara Public Market, where you can pick up designer cupcakes, crusty artisanal bread and other treats for supper back in your super-cool Airstream.
Santa Barbara is the original, but not the only, AutoCamp in California. You get a similar ambience at the Russian River location in Sonoma County, but there are more accommodation options, with 10 luxury safari tents in addition to 20 Airstreams. The activities are a little different too: walk down to the Russian River to swim or canoe, play lawn games or lounge by a fire pit inside or outside the mid-century-modern-style clubhouse. The 280-square-metre building also offers a shop where you can stock up on snacks and local beer and wine.
Opening in February 2019, AutoCamp Yosemite will be the largest and most remote site, near the historic mountain town of Mariposa. You'll be able to enjoy many of the same amenities, plus a heated pool, a mid-century-modern clubhouse, and a lake with a rowing boat and canoe. Yosemite National Park is about 40 miles away and accessible via a daily shuttle.
El Capitan Canyon
With a reputation as one of the most enchanting glamping experiences in the state, El Capitan Canyon—nestled amidst the rolling coastal hills 30 minutes north-west of Santa Barbara—is one of those pinch-me getaways everyone should experience at least once in their life (but we bet you'll book a return visit before you leave). The leafy compound is so secluded that it's hard to believe that more than 100 cabins and safari tents occupy the lush hillside landscape, surrounded on three sides by the shoreline and wilderness of El Capitan State Beach.
Guests can choose from basic canvas tents built on wooden platforms, fancier cedar cabins with bathrooms and kitchenettes, or an Adventure Yurt with a domed skylight that allows for easy stargazing. All the accommodations are situated along a wooded drive that winds its way into the hilly portion of El Capitan State Beach, where wildlife abounds, as well as goats, sheep and a donkey named Eeyore. But the real draw here is the proximity to the coastline itself, where you can walk, bike, or drive under Highway 101 to access the sandy beach and tide pools. Visitors can even go on a leisurely llama trek to a field that offers sweeping views of the Pacific. Complimentary bikes are available for guests; the friendly staff can also arrange surfing lessons, whale-watching excursions, kayaking or wine tasting. There is also a summer concert series on site, May through September.
Pet owners should be aware that because El Capitan Canyon is designated as a wildlife corridor, in an effort to protect local wildlife, there is a no pets policy throughout the canyon.
Insider tip: cook your own meals—there's a shop on site for groceries—or choose from the selection of gourmet-style ready meals available.


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Garnet, Henry Highland
Garnet, Henry Highland gär´nĭt [key], 1815–82, American abolitionist clergyman, b. Kent co., Md. Born a slave, he escaped in 1824 and was educated at the Oneida Institute, Whitesboro, N.Y. He was an eloquent speaker, but his radicalism, particularly in a speech at Buffalo in 1843, in which he called upon slaves to rise and slay their masters, caused his influence to decline. He was opposed and superseded in leadership by the more moderate Frederick Douglass. Garnet served as a Presbyterian pastor in Troy, N.Y., in New York City, and in Washington, D.C. In 1881 he was appointed minister to Liberia, but he died two months after his arrival there.
See study by E. Ofari (1972).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Social Reformers

subset: commoncrawl


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Los Alamos Asbestos & Mesothelioma Lawyers
Justin Ross Kaufman
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The LII Lawyer Directory contains lawyers who have claimed their profiles and are actively seeking clients. Find more Los Alamos Asbestos & Mesothelioma Lawyers in the Justia Legal Services and Lawyers Directory which includes profiles of more than one million lawyers licensed to practice in the United States, in addition to profiles of legal aid, pro bono and legal service organizations.
Researching Attorney Discipline


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I've been working identifying the family of my great-grandfather, John Joseph "Jack" Strelesky, for quite some time. To say it's been challenging is to put it mildly. Jack was one of eight children born to Francis Strelesky and Frances Hainey. He was the oldest boy. His siblings, in order from oldest to youngest: Agnes, Rose, Marie, [Jack], Amelia "Mildred", Levina, Albert Frank, and James Alexander. All were born in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.
I've created a three-generation family chart of my Strelesky research. If you can add anything to my research, let me know. Below is a chart summary:
- Agnes never married.
- Rose married Joseph Christoph Weber, and they had nine children: Frank, Marian, Unidentified boy who died young, Lenora, Josephine, Joseph Jr., Amelia, Amiel, and John Henry. Joseph Christoph died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, of pneumonia during the Spanish flu pandemic. Rose died in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
- Marie married Theodore M. Smith, and they had three children: Alexander, Leonard, and Marcella. Marie and Theodore died in Dubuque, Iowa, and are buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery.
- My great-grandfather Jack married Ernestine Sanders, and they had four children: Herbert, Alice, Eunice, and Marjorie. Ernestine and unborn child died in Sheridan, Wyoming, of pneumonia during the Spanish flu pandemic. Ernestine and Jack are buried in Dubuque, Iowa, at Mount Calvary Cemetery.
- Amelia "Mildred" married James Arthur Moore. They had two children: Albert and Dorothy. Amelia and James divorced before 1930.
- Levina was briefly married Louis Larsen, but they divorced.
- Albert Frank married Dora Gladwin. They had a daughter, Frances Marie. [They had a very tumultuous marriage. In 1916, while living in Wyoming, Albert sued a William Zindel for alienation of wife's affection.] There are two divorce records for Albert and Dora, both from Umatilla Co, Oregon. The first was 1920 and the next in 1924. Albert Frank is buried in Nebraska.
- James Alexander never married.


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Why Adobe's iPhone Fight Was a Flash in the Pan
NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Four years ago many would have said Adobe(:ADBE) would be dead in the water if it's Flash Player wasn't a big part of blockbuster Apple(:AAPL) iPhone launches and an upstart Google(:GOOG)-Android ecosystem.
The Flash Player's days are now numbered on smartphones. Apple stopped carrying Flash in 2010 and in late 2011, the company said it would stop putting the player on mobile browsers and instead commit Flash software to PC browsing, mobile apps and its replacement, HTML5.
While Apple may have precipitated the death of the mobile Flash Player in the early innings of a smartphone boom, the move hasn't turned out to be the crucible for Adobe that many had predicted.
In fact, after reporting stronger-than-expected full-year earnings on Thursday, Adobe briefly traded at four year highs as the company shows signs that a multi-year software industry turnaround effort will yield strong earnings growth in coming years.
Adobe's non-iPhone revival is an important story in a technology sector riddled with the muddled turnaround efforts currently underway at the likes of Hewlett Packard(:HPQ), Dell(:DELL) and even Microsoft(:MSFT), as they try to adapt to a shift from personal computing to mobile devices. It's also a good example of the quiet work some companies are doing to come out of the so-called Great Recession with new growth prospects that could drive top-line earnings in coming years.
In the tech sector, Adobe's earnings raise the prospect that mergers and acquisitions can drive turnaround efforts, in spite of highly publicized multi-billion dollar write-offs at Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. Meanwhile, Adobe also shows that a post-financial crisis focus on building the foundation of earnings growth over cost cuts may pay off for investors.
In late April, Jeffrey Ubben, the head of ValueAct Capital detailed to the TheStreet why the hedge fund was betting on an Adobe turnaround at the company.
Ubben's argument boiled down to two crucial points:
Deals like a $1.5 billion acquisition of online publishing analytics specialist Omniture in 2009, once deemed as expensive, may actually pay big dividends in coming years as Adobe transitions from software developer to a more full service provider of technology needs in digital publishing and cloud services. Meanwhile, companies bold enough to use the financial crisis to cut acquisitions and increase spending may put them in a unique position for growth as an economic recovery takes hold.
Ubben highlighted the wisdom of the Omniture acquisition and called the business a "crown jewel" within Adobe's portfolio of digital publishing, software and cloud businesses, which includes a still strong Acrobat, Flash and Photoshop products. Although neither Omniture nor Macromedia were yet to return much above their cost of capital, according to Ubben's comments, he added, "I'm much more tolerant of low return strategic deals than I ever have been because no one is doing it."
ValueAct Capital is Adobe's second-largest shareholder, with a 6.32% stake in the company's shares worth over $1 billion, according to Securities and Exchange Filings compiled by Bloomberg, as of Sept. 30.
Ubben's comments came at the IMN Active-Passive Investor Summit, and while the likes of Carl Icahn and Barry Rosenstein of Jana Partners rolled off stories of C-Suite excess, the hedge funder presented Adobe to a roomful of activist investors as a story of corporate turnaround. It was enough to cause some in the audience to shake their heads, amid skepticism Adobe is little more than a PC era dinosaur.
Thursday's earnings signal that Adobe's earnings picture is poised to improve materially in coming years, even if a real post-crisis share price recovery remains years off. JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens upgraded the company to 'market outperform' in the wake of Adobe's fourth-quarter earnings beat and noted that Adobe's 2013 earnings guidance puts a floor on how much the company's turnaround efforts hit margins.
"One of our concerns on this name had been that the transition to a cloud business would pressure the company's EPS -- which has now played out as Adobe guided to FY13 non-GAAP EPS of $1.40 versus consensus of $2.35 and is likely to show gradually improving EPS as we move beyond FY13," Walravens wrote, in a note to clients.
"With the estimate cut out of the way, the most painful part of the transition may be behind Adobe, leaving the stock poised to work its way higher as the company benefits from the inherent advantages of a subscription and cloud-based model," he added.
Adobe shares rose over 5% in Friday afternoon trading, putting the company near post-crisis highs and at 2012 share gains in excess of 30%.
The software maker's share gains compare favorably to other notable tech sector turnaround efforts like Hewlett Packard, Dell and Microsoft. They even exceed stock gains of software and services giants like IBM(:IBM) and Oracle(:ORCL), who are widely perceived as adaptive to a fast-changing tech sector.
At the IMN conference, Ubben highlighted Adobe and other large ValueAct investments, like an acquisition hungry Valeant Pharmaceuticals(:VRX), as reason to cut against a general trend of cost cutting across Corporate America. "We're always fighting the last war in this age of austerity. The problem is that like people don't trust the government, they don't trust their companies," Ubben said.
"The scarcity in two to three years is going to be absolute growth... Investors are afraid of capital expenditure, research & development; they just want more buybacks." the sometimes activist investor added, during a panel discussion.
Still, as Adobe may prove, bets on M&A and turnarounds could take time to bear fruit, amid a still-uncertain economic backdrop and an investor focus on short-term earnings.
Adobe's 2013 outlook - which takes account of the EPS hit its Creative Cloud and digital marketing bets may have on the company's bottom line - caused some Wall Street analysts to temper their forecasts heading into the new year.
Credit Suisse analysts cut Adobe's fiscal 2013 revenue and EPS estimates from $4.306 billion and $2.25 to $4.554 billion and $1.60, respectively, and highlighted some skepticism on whether the company can deliver on forecasts of new subscriber adds to its Creative Cloud and digital marketing offerings.
"We remain cautious on Adobe's stock during the transition to a subscription-based licensing model for Creative Suite and as Adobe invests in digital marketing opportunities," the analysts wrote, in a note to clients.
The Credit Suisse analysts also questioned whether Adobe's best days continue to be in the rear-view mirror. "Although we view revenue growth as the main driver of future operating income growth, we also believe that many of Adobe's solutions are maturing, the combination of which would reduce forward revenue and EPS growth as compared to the past decade and, therefore, limit multiple expansion," the analysts added.
Adobe's earnings continue a debate on whether companies deemed to have been left behind in the race from PCs to mobile devices can find second life. They also unequivocally show that predictions of Adobe's Apple iPhone-related demise were unfounded.
Also watch ValueAct's bet on Adobe as a leading indicator of whether similar contrarian growth and merger efforts at the likes of Eaton(:ETN), Walgreen(:WAG), Bed Bath & Beyond (:BBBY) and Starbucks(:SBUX) bear fruit in coming years, amid a consensus of skepticism.
-- Written by Antoine Gara in New York


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On Twitter, @Downtownjeff asked for my thoughts on a flat tax.
I like the question. Here's the start of my answer.
I prefer a simple income tax system. I don't have a preference for it being a specific 'flat tax' or a 'fair tax' plan that has been proposed by some folks in the past. I just think simpler is better.
I have several reasons for believing this.
- No matter the complexity of the income tax system, government collects about the same percent of the overall economy's income (GDP) in taxes.
- We don't get the social engineering benefits that we think we do from the cleverly designed tax code that we have. We may only get bad outcomes.
- The belief that the tax code can and should serve as a social engineering mechanism is a root cause of the government corruption that very many people complain about.
- The only purpose of the tax code should be to raise money to support government expenses.
- A fair tax system is one where everyone pays something to support government.
I plan to expand on each of these reasons in future posts. In this post, I'll say a little more about the last reason.
Folks become wealthy by producing stuff that we trade our own produce for willingly because we find value in it. We call that a mutually beneficial trade.
A side note on the value creation process:
I trade away what I earned in a few minutes of work for a cup of coffee, for example.
My employer valued whatever he got from me in those few minutes greater than what he paid me.
I valued what I got paid more than having those few minutes to do something else.
The coffee shop valued what I earned in my few minutes of work more than the coffee they sold me.
I valued the coffee even more than what I got paid in those few minutes of work.
That's how value creation works. In two relatively simple and common transactions, value creation compounded in the economy. I got a cup of coffee. My employer got an edited communication (and, no that's not what I do for a living, but it is a part of what I do). The coffee shop got resources to invest in more coffee and crew.
Many of these folks are lucky. But they are also persistent, hard-working and they take risks that you and I couldn't stomach. They failed several times before discovering something that you are willing to trade some of your own produce for and have been flat broke.
These folks pay for the vast majority of this country's government. We should thank them.
But, rather than thank them, we want them to pay even more. How ungrateful!
While demonizing these folks — again, the folks who produce many of the things that we couldn't live without — we give a pass to the folks who spend all of the taxes plus another TRILLION a year. And, we re-elect these fools.
We are demonizing exactly the wrong folks.
We believe it's okay to demand large government without having to pay our fair share.
The Federal government alone spent about $30k per household last year. If your household paid more than $30k in Federal taxes, congratulations, you've paid your fair share.
If you didn't, then you need to start sending thank you notes immediately. You're being very rude. How many years have you relied on the good fortune of others to support the government that you have?
At least we try to justify our rudeness. Well, wealthy people benefit more from government than we do. Or simply, they can afford it. So what. Neither of these mean that everyone can't pay something.
We all benefit from government (at least the parts we stand to benefit from). We should all pay. If you want to pay less, then everybody pays less. If you want more government, then you pay more also. It's that simple.
It's not fair to want more government without picking up some of the tab.
Further thought:
Maybe our tax bill should first show us how much our fair share would be if we divided government spending evenly among everyone (e.g. $30,000/yr).
Then it would show us the amount we actually pay in taxes (household with median income of $50,000 would pay approximately $10,000 including Social Security).
Finally, it shows us the difference and recommends that if your even share of government is greater than what you actually paid that you ought to be thank your fellow taxpayers for helping to pick up your share of the tab. (-$20,000)
Maybe, it could even accumulate over the years so you know where you stand since you entered the country. (Probably a big negative number)
Then we could single out the tax superstars — the folks who have far exceeded their fair shares in their lives. That way we know that not only have they produced great value in our lives through the private sector, but they've also helped us afford a larger government than we could have ever afforded on our own.


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Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch king in more than a century Tuesday as his mother, Beatrix, abdicated after 33 years as queen.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander kisses his mother Princess Beatrix on the balcony of the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Tuesday April 30, 2013. Around a million people are expected to descend... (Associated Press)
The generational change in the House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a moment of celebration, pageantry and brief respite as this trading nation of nearly 17 million struggles through a lengthy recession brought on by the European economic crisis.
Visibly emotional, the much-loved Beatrix ended her reign in a nationally televised signing ceremony as thousands of orange-clad people cheered outside. Millions more were expected to watch on television. King Willem-Alexander gripped his mother's hand and looked briefly into her eyes after they both signed the abdication document in the Royal Palace on downtown Amsterdam's Dam Square. Beatrix looked close to tears as she then appeared on a balcony overlooking some 20,000 of her subjects. "I am happy and grateful to introduce to you your new king, Willem-Alexander," she told the cheering crowd, which chanted: "Bea bedankt" ("Thanks Bea.") Moments later, in a striking symbol of the generational shift, she left the balcony and King Willem-Alexander, his wife and three daughters _ the children in matching yellow dresses and headbands _ waved to the crowd. "Dear mother, today you relinquished the throne. 33 years moving and inspiring years. We are intensely, intensely grateful to you," the new king said. The former queen becomes Princess Beatrix and her son becomes the first Dutch king since Willem III died in 1890. The 46-year-old king's popular Argentine-born wife became Queen Maxima and their eldest of three daughters, Catharina-Amalia, who attended the ceremony wearing a yellow dress, became Princess of Orange and first in line to the throne. Els Nederstigt, 38, said she got up at 5:30 a.m. to travel to Amsterdam and sat on a camping stool close to the Royal Palace wearing an orange cowboy hat and tiara. "It's a special moment. I was a very small girl when Beatrix came to the throne so this is the first change in the monarchy I can really experience," she said. "We were here when Willem-Alexander and Maxima got married and what you remember is that you were there _ you forget how early you had to get up and how tired you were." The square was overwhelmingly orange, but one blue and white Argentine flag being held up in front of the palace was emblazoned with the Dutch language text: "Netherlands thanks for loving and having faith in Maxima." The day is expected to be a huge party culminating in a boat trip by the new king and queen around the Ij waterway, but security also was tight with thousands of police _ uniformed and plain clothes _ and an untold number of civil servants assisting in the logistics. Police said one man was arrested on Dam Square shortly after the abdication for not following officers' orders. The airspace above Amsterdam was closed Monday for three days. Dutch police swept Dam square for bombs, with assistance from German agents with sniffer dogs. Royal guests from 18 countries are attending, including Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, and the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. Charles was also in attendance when Beatrix was crowned in 1980. Observers believe Beatrix remained on the throne for so long in part because she was seen as a stabilizing factor in the country that struggled to assimilate more and more immigrants, mainly Muslims from North Africa, and shifted away from its traditional reputation as one of the world's most tolerant nations. In recent years, speculation about when she might abdicate had grown, as she endured personal losses that both softened her image and increased her popularity further as the public sympathized. Her husband Prince Claus died in 2002; and last year her youngest son, Prince Friso, was hit by an avalanche while skiing in Austria and suffered severe brain damage. Friso remains in a near comatose state.


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OMICIDIO McCONVILLE, QUARTO ARRESTO IN UN MESE
McConville probe police make arrest (Belfast Telegraph)
Detectives investigating the IRA murder of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville more than 40 years ago have arrested a 57-year-old woman.
The suspect was detained in west Belfast and has been taken to Antrim police station for questioning, a spokesman from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
The abduction, murder and secret burial of Mrs McConville in 1972 is one of the most notorious incidents of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Nobody has ever been charged with her murder.
After decades without significant developments in the criminal investigation, today's arrest is the fourth made by detectives within a month.
In March veteran republican – 77-year-old Ivor Bell – was charged in connection with the killing. Bell, from Ramoan Gardens in west Belfast, faces counts of aiding and abetting the murder and of IRA membership.
Another 57-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man, arrested separately in west Belfast earlier this month, were released from custody after questioning. Police are preparing a report on the woman for assessment by prosecutors.
Mrs McConville, a widow, was dragged away from her children in her home in the Divis flats, west Belfast, by an IRA gang of up to 12 men and women after being accused of passing information to the British Army in the city.
An investigation later carried out by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman rejected the claims that she was an informer.
She was shot in the back of the head and buried 50 miles from her home. The IRA did not admit her murder until 1999 when information was passed to police in the Irish Republic.
She became one of the so-called Disappeared, and it was not until August 2003 that her remains were found on Shelling Hill beach, Co Louth.


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The campaign to rehabilitate Lance Armstrong's public image might include a return of sponsorship money paid by the United States Postal Service, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The cyclist, who has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, is in negotiations to return some portion of the agency's sponsorship money, the source said.
USPS was one of Armstrong's biggest financial supporters during the most successful period of his career, and millions of dollars were paid to finance the team's operations.
While total figures are not available, USPS paid more than $30 million to sponsor the cycling team between 2001 and 2004, according to documents reviewed by ESPN and the Wall Street Journal.
A representative from the USPS, which rarely comments on its relationship with Armstrong, declined on Monday to confirm the sponsorship totals.
The agency's sponsorship of the cycling team, even when Armstrong was regularly winning tour titles, was controversial. In 2003, the USPS Inspector General issued a report that was critical of the agency's practices, saying it was unable to verify the financial performance of sponsorships, and that the arrangements were "not effectively managed."
In October, Armstrong was stripped of his titles and banned from cycling after an exhaustive report from the United States Anti-Doping Agency put him at the center of a team-wide USPS doping conspiracy. Weeks later, Armstrong stepped down from the board of his foundation, Livestrong.
Related: Nike ends contracts with Lance Armstrong
Media reports indicate that USPS support for Armstrong is also the subject of a whistleblower suit brought by Floyd Landis, Armstrong's former teammate who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs after winning a Tour title of his own.
Landis had accused Armstrong of doping, likely a violation of the team's sponsorship agreement with USPS. Whistleblower suits are kept under seal, and the Department of Justice has not publicly addressed the matter.
The government could decide to join the suit, and the New York Times reported Monday that Armstrong is in discussions to testify in the case against the team's owners and other officials.
Patricia Licata, a spokeswoman for USPS, said in a statement that the agency is "well aware" of developments surrounding Armstrong and is "following the situation closely."
"We are not in a position now to discuss any of the legal issues associated with these developments and the prior relationship between the U.S. Postal Service and Mr. Armstrong," Licata said. "But we will do so at an appropriate time."
A voluntary return of some USPS funds could be part of Armstrong's public relations offensive. The former cyclist is thought to have admitted to doping during a taped interview set for broadcast on Friday. Armstrong has also apologized to the staff of the cancer charity he started, a publicist for Livestrong Foundation said.
CNN: Armstrong admits to Oprah he cheated during cycling career
For Armstrong, the financial implications of a doping admission extend beyond USPS funds.
Armstrong had been a highly sought after spokesman for years. He made about $17.5 million in endorsements in 2005, the last year his earnings were tracked by Sports Illustrated's Fortunate 50 list of the top paid active athletes. While that put him as the eighth highest endorsement earner that year, his endorsement deals have decreased since he retired from sports in early 2011.
Armstrong's two remaining major sponsors, Nike (NKE) and Anheuser-Busch, announced after the USADA report was released that they were ending their contracts with the disgraced cyclist.
The exact value of Armstrong's deals with the two companies isn't known, but Nike is the biggest spender on athlete endorsement deals in the world. Its annual report shows it has signed commitments for $3.2 billion worth of endorsement deals over the next five years.
-- CNN's Kevin Bohn and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.


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|12th August, 1980
Dominique Swain was born in Malibu, California. She is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as the title character in the 1997 film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, and as Jamie Archer in the film Face/Off. In 2009, Swain appeared in Starz Inside: Sex and the Cinema which discussed the depiction of sex in film. She also starred in the horror/slasher film Fall Down Dead as the main character, Christie Wallace. In 2013, Swain starred in Gregory Hatanaka's drama film Blue Dream as Gena Townsend.
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Meet and Greet with USA Pavilion Student Ambassadors and EmployeesHillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateUSA Pavilion at the Shanghai ExpoShanghai, ChinaMay 22, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, all of your ears should be burning, because you have made such a positive impression. And I hear it everywhere, not just from Jose. I hear it from other people, as well. And I think you have really made our people-to-people connections very much a part of what our experience is trying to be, because that's our whole goal, you know. It is to create lasting connections and understanding between American and Chinese people. And you all represent that.
So, I want you, very quickly, starting right there, to introduce yourself and tell me where you're from.
PARTICIPANT: I am Deenie, I am from New York.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yay!
SECRETARY CLINTON: Little editorial comment.
PARTICIPANT: Imena, from South Carolina.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Great.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)
PARTICIPANT: Lydia, from Colorado.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Jacqueline, from Massachusetts.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Amy, from California.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Vri, from Buffalo, New York.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Buffalo, New York.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Nina.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Zhing, from California.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Allison, from Pennsylvania.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Ashley, from Long Island, New York.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Bethany, born in Shanghai, now in California.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Ally, I'm from Connecticut.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Lindley, I'm in California.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Caleb, I'm from Detroit, Michigan.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Cathy, I'm from Houston, Texas.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Hannah, I'm from Chicago.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Joy, I'm from Houston, Texas.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Rebecca. I'm from D.C.
PARTICIPANT: And my name is Evan, and I'm from Falls Church, Virginia.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Terrific.
PARTICIPANT: Mark, from Memphis, Tennessee.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Okay.
PARTICIPANT: Sonia, from Hawaii.
PARTICIPANT: Sebastian LaBar, Dallas, Texas.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible) Pennsylvania.
PARTICIPANT: Trenton Gabe, from California.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible) from Dallas, Texas.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: A chorus.
PARTICIPANT: David Wong, from Idaho.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Benjamin, Washington State.
PARTICIPANT: Tyler, from Park City, Utah.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible), Los Angeles, California.
PARTICIPANT: Ryan, from New York.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Great.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)
PARTICIPANT: Charles (inaudible).
PARTICIPANT: Taylor, from Salt Lake City.
PARTICIPANT: I'm Janson, from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
PARTICIPANT: Jessica, from Los Angeles, California.
PARTICIPANT: Emily, from Los Angeles, California.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible) from Los Angeles.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible) from Austin, Texas.
PARTICIPANT: Christina from (inaudible).
PARTICIPANT: Katie, from the Scranton area, and (inaudible).
SECRETARY CLINTON: I heard you say that before —
PARTICIPANT: Fisher, from (inaudible).
SECRETARY CLINTON: Okay.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible) from Pennsylvania, and now New Haven.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)
PARTICIPANT: Liberty, from Florida.
PARTICIPANT: Quincy, from Connecticut.
PARTICIPANT: Christina, from San Francisco.
PARTICIPANT: Patricia, from San Francisco.
PARTICIPANT: Sofie, from Minnesota.
PARTICIPANT: Donna, from Boston.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible) from Utah.
PARTICIPANT: Katie, from Alabama.
PARTICIPANT: Mica from Utah.
PARTICIPANT: Edward, born and raised in Kansas.
SECRETARY CLINTON: I heard that this morning, too.
PARTICIPANT: Pam, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
PARTICIPANT: Lavinia, from Chicago.
PARTICIPANT: Heather, from South Carolina.
PARTICIPANT: Sarah Kate, from Wellesley, Massachusetts.
PARTICIPANT: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Great. What a great cross-section.
Now, let me ask you this. How many of you come from families where Mandarin or another Chinese dialect was spoken? So that's a pretty good number.
And how many of you just started from scratch, because you were interested in learning the language? Oh, that's very impressive. Lots of challenging days and nights, I think.
SECRETARY CLINTON: And now, how many of you are finished with college? You're done? You're done? Okay. And then how many of you are still in college, waiting?
I just can't thank you enough for your willingness to do this, because it's been just an incredible addition to our pavilion and our presence here at the Expo.
How did you decide to do this? Anybody?
PARTICIPANT: My grandmother.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Your grandmother?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Did your grandmother hear about it? Good.
PARTICIPANT: I've been in China — this is my third time here. And I lived in Shanghai last summer (inaudible) that the U.S. and China (inaudible) —
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, you are exactly on the right note on that. What about other people?
PARTICIPANT: After Olympics — I volunteered for Olympics.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Did you?
PARTICIPANT: For the 2008 ones. I had such a good time, I knew I had to come here.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good. Now, you're all living in a kind of Expo village, right?
PARTICIPANTS: Right.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Is that working out?
PARTICIPANTS: Oh, yes. Very nice.
MR. VILLARREAL: That's not what you told me.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, yes, that's all right. All complaints go to him. Only positive reinforcement comes to me.
Well, do you have any questions? Do you have anything you want to ask me about?
PARTICIPANT: I really appreciate —
PARTICIPANT: How did you find the pavilion today?
SECRETARY CLINTON: You know what? I liked it. I liked it. And, believe me, I was so relieved, because it was not clear at all, when I became Secretary, that we would have a pavilion. And I thought that would not be a good representation of our country at this important time in history at this event.
You know, expositions are historical markers. I mean, we had expositions in St. Louis — you know that old song, which I'm sure some of you sing, "Meet Me in St. Louis?" Then Chicago had a great exposition. New York had a world's fair. And it — you know, there are too many of them around the world to be present in all of them. But there are important ones, historically. And this is an important one. And I wanted the United States to be here.
So, when I was here in November, it was really a touch-and-go situation. They had — I guess they had some of the outer steel up, right, Jose? And so that was mid to late November. And we were wondering whether we were going to make it. And I kept telling people, "I will have to put it up myself, if you don't get it up."
SECRETARY CLINTON: So I was very pleased. I was excited. And when I went to the Chinese pavilion, many, many compliments about our pavilion, about how popular it is. I think Jose and the team told me that there were 40,000 people here yesterday. That's exhausting.
SECRETARY CLINTON: And you have to be smiling and nice and bilingual the whole time. That's very — a very great accomplishment on your part. But people — you know, people seem to be responding. And that makes me happy, because we want as many people to come as possible, and we want them to get, you know, some feel of who we are, as a people, for the future, for that relationship that, you know, you were talking about.
Well, enjoy the rest of your time here.
PARTICIPANTS: Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Wow, you are truly a sight for sore eyes. I can't thank you enough. I mean, things are really off to a good start, and would not be possible without all of your extraordinary dedication to making things happen.
We had a few death-defying moments, in terms of whether we would get the pavilion built, and get it ready. But all finally worked out. And I am so grateful. So let me thank you, thank you for making this a priority, and understanding the importance of the China-U.S. relationship, and how we are trying to build connections between the American and Chinese people. And I think — have we hit 700,000? Did we hit 700,000?
MR. VILLARREAL: Mark?
PARTICIPANT: Last night.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Last night we hit 700,000. So, you know, that is about as good a beginning as one can imagine. And it's part of what we call public diplomacy. And every one of you is a public diplomat. So I thank you so much.
PARTICIPANTS: Thank you.
# # #
Secretary Clinton Meets and Greets USA Pavilion Student Ambassadors and Employees
May 22, 2010 by still4hill
17 Responses
on May 23, 2010 at 8:48 am | Lilly
I just found the video from this event on Youtube, so here´s the link…it´s worthy of watching 😉
on August 9, 2014 at 10:58 pm | Hillary Clinton's 'Hard Choices' Retrospective Part Two: Across the Pacific Chapter 4 China: Uncharted Waters | Still4Hill
[…] Secretary Clinton Meets and Greets USA Pavilion Student Ambassadors and Employees […]


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Look, I know that there are always going to be fads, and that diets are no exception. Kale is a phenom today and tomorrow it might be dandelions. I get it. Fads happen, people grab on for reasons from wanting to be healthy to just liking to stay part of the crowd. Or worse, to be "trending". (I feel like that should've been accompanied by a #hashtag) See, I do get it. And still, I find myself disheartened when someone finds out that we're a gluten free family. Especially when their response is similar to the one I got this morning.
Oh, you're one of those.
Excuse me? One of those whats?
Oh, you know, one of those mommy-poppins where you make all your food from scratch and you're an organizational freak, you homeschool, and your children are always perfectly polite. And with an added eye-roll (just in case I couldn't feel the distain dripping off her words) I'd think you were one of those moms who just likes to make other moms look bad or feel guilty, if it weren't for the way you're dressed.
At this point, I couldn't help but laugh. I am….reserved. I'm quiet if I don't know you and hate confrontation. So this morning was almost like an out of body experience when I found my timid self voicing the things that would have normally just been left to scream in my head. I laughed, out loud style, Like, really laughed. Enough to make her look at me with eyes wide in a way that I'm pretty sure said, oh good lord, what have I done?
Once I regained composure of my unkempt hair, makeup-less face, and sweat pants and shirt covered self, and looked at her well-manicured, make-uped, hair done, business attired self and tried not to burst out laughing all over again. And then I shared with her some of my thoughts.
Some of your assumptions were correct. I do make lots of things from scratch, and I really do love organization more than the average person, and my children are usually polite… but there is nothing about me that does any of those things for any reason that is outside of my family. We're gluten free because two of my three children have Celiac Disease. And well, you know, we'd like to keep them alive, and thriving, even. And the from scratch part, well, that's simple. It's a third of the cost than buying gluten free things store bought, and it gives us more options. So I don't really have much of a choice. If I bought every meal from a store (vs homemade/from scratch), we'd spend over $1,000 on groceries. And that is not an exaggeration. And homeschooling, well, that's a bigger issue. But my oldest has dyslexia like his daddy, and learning is a struggle. So we keep him home and practice being patient every single day so that he can have a different learning experience than the handful of people we know that struggled with dyslexia as children that the school system left feeling stupid. And as far as the organization goes…I love it, I really do. But I have three children. I have a demanding day time schedule, and often have to stay up until three am just to keep up with the laundry and the food prep clean up, and everything else. And that's when I'm not working, if I am there are usually several nights a month where I do not get to sleep, at all. I have learned to function on very little sleep. Which is why my hair is in a pony tail and my face is plain, and my clothes are frumpy at best. I would never try and make another mom feel bad about the job she's doing or that she's not doing enough. I would like to believe that we're all trying our best. Sometimes I wish that celiac, or dyslexia, weren't a part of our daily lives. It would certainly make things simpler. And would open up some more time for all of us. But it's the life I have and I do everything I can for my children to feel that it's a normal one, and that they're not missing out on anything.
The lady didn't look at me, and didn't say anything for a long time, and we just stood in silence, watching our children playing together across the playground. Just before she round up her children to head home, she (without looking at me) did quietly say,
Well, your children sure are cute.
Um, thanks.
I'm not sure if that was her version of an apology or if she realized that we've all got struggles and whether we look like we've got it together or not, it's probably not. I hope so. I hope the next mom who says, Oh you're one of those really means, Oh, you're one of those moms that struggles just like the rest of us, your struggles just look differently than mine. And I hope that the next time I find myself thinking, Oh you're one of those about anybody, that I remember that their struggles just look differently than mine.


text:
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"The Second Coming" (season 6, episode 19; originally aired 5/20/2007)
In which surely some revelation is at hand
"Why does everything have to have a purpose? The world is a jungle, and if you want my advice, Anthony, don't expect happiness. You won't get it. People let you down, and I'm not naming any names, but in the end, you die in your own arms. … It's all a big nothing. What makes you think you're so special?"—Livia Soprano, "D-Girl"
"You're okay, baby."—Tony Soprano, "The Second Coming"
To be alive is to be a part of a system: a great, grinding series of gears that chews everybody up and spits them out the other side, torn to bits and unrecognizable. The odds are pretty good that if you're reading this, you're reading it in the West, in the luxury of a comfortable home, on an expensive machine, in a place where you don't really need to worry about where your next meal is coming from or whether you'll be killed by an exploding rocket on your way home from the supermarket. Yet to be alive in the West, to be alive in modern society, is to win a massive lottery you didn't even know you'd entered. Every day, billions of the world's citizens live in the middle of the uncertainty of their very survival, and the comfort of our own existence involves turning a blind eye to this—the better to make sure we don't confront the weird luck we've all had to be born in this moment, in this place, in this life. We're born owing such an incredible karmic debt to all of those who are disadvantaged so that we might be advantaged, that to even consider it could shut a person down. So we don't think about it. This isn't a condemnation. I do it. You do it. Everybody does it. It's how we live.
There's a trick in fiction that almost never works. That trick is for the author to pull back and try to catch a glimpse of that system, of the way that the world turns us all into grist for the mill, perhaps by pointing out all of the problems in the world the characters are ignoring, or by having some pompous windbag lecture everybody on what they should care about. To my mind, however, The Sopranos neatly manages the trick of pulling back far enough to show the audience all of the awfulness in the world through an unlikely method: It puts these thoughts in the mouth of a hypocritical young dumbass who's severely depressed. We're trained to write him off in almost every way, yet everything he says is completely the truth. (Well, he didn't turn out to be right about that "Bush bombs Iran" thing.) He's a paranoid nutball, who's also got his eyes on the things nobody dares speak of, from the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, to the futility of religious wars. A.J. Soprano functions almost as a weird moral conscience in the early portions of this episode, except for the fact that the show knows putting these words in his mouth will make him easy to write off.
And then he tries to kill himself.
The near suicide of A.J. is perhaps the show's most harrowing sequence, shot by Tim Van Patten in an alternating series of wide shots of the swimming pool where he tries to drown himself and close-ups of A.J.'s terrified face as he realizes he doesn't want to die. His frustrated fumbling in the pool, trying against all odds to drag himself to safety even as a cement block keeps trying to drag him under, is the stuff nightmares are made of, particularly once Tony looks out at the pool and sees his son clinging to the diving board for dear life, fingers threatening to slip off at any moment. James Gandolfini and Robert Iler's work in this sequence is magnificent, as Tony pitches himself into the pool to drag his son to the side, then pull him out of the frigid water. He pulls his son into his arms and tells him it's going to be okay, after briefly berating him. Behind them, the pool, ostensibly covered for the autumn, sits quietly, this symbol of Tony's potentially rich family life having narrowly averted becoming a death trap.
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What's remarkable about this sequence is how it suggests both the grinding system keeping these people in place and the fact that change—at least on a generational scale—is possible. The specter of Livia looms over this episode like no other in the final stretch of the series, and it's for good reason: She wouldn't have cradled Tony in her arms after he tried to kill himself. While Tony might snap at Carmela for making her son a mama's boy, he's there when his son needs him. His angry snaps turn to anguished cries as surely as A.J.'s own mouth opens to let out horrified, grateful yelps. It's going to be okay, he says, and from this rare moment of father-son tenderness, this rare moment of an unguarded Tony Soprano letting all his feelings out, we cut to a drugged A.J. in a hospital wheelchair, being wheeled into a psychiatric ward. Tony's face has regained the glassy indifference it's worn ever since this half-season began. He gathers his wife and daughter into his arms because he must. But whatever emotion he felt in the moment his son nearly died has been shoved way, way back beneath the surface.
So, of course, when both Carmela and A.J. try to weasel out of their own responsibilities in the matter of A.J.'s near-death, Tony breaks out the greatest weapon he knows: "Poor you." He's become his mother, a bitter, empty vessel that doesn't know how to reach out to the others around him and instead stews in his own vituperative juices. A.J. brings up his grandmother in his joint therapy session with his parents, and for a moment, her words (quoted at the beginning of this piece) seem prophetic: A.J. really would have died in his own arms. His father was there to save him, so he lived. But in the moments when A.J. might have most needed his father to let him be emotionally vulnerable, Tony slammed the door shut again, back to being the man who poisons everything. After all, what opens this episode? A shot of asbestos-ridden rubble, chemicals floating into the air.
"The Second Coming" is easy to boil down entirely to A.J.'s suicide attempt. It's certainly one of the most visceral sequences in the history of the show, and the work from Van Patten, the actors, and episode-writer Terence Winter is superb. Yet there's the rest of the episode that depicts the way that Tony's family life once again intersects with his professional life in unexpected and potentially damaging ways. That's been the story for the run of this series, but now that Tony seems to have kicked off a war between New Jersey and New York, all because of awful insults Coco hurled at his daughter at a time when Tony was already emotionally fragile, it really does seem like this will spell whatever end is coming for these characters.
It would be one thing if Tony did this with a season left. With just two episodes left, however, it becomes a much weightier thing. The late scene where Tony and Little Carmine go to see Phil and can't even get close to him and instead listen to him berate them from the gloom of an upstairs window, is a mirror of the one where Tony went to see Phil back in "Kaisha" and came to an unusual truce with the man. This time, however, no peace will be brokered. The line has been crossed, and if there's a part of Tony that wants to pull back from it, it's a very small one. There was a time when these two men had hovered close enough to death to know that the best way to leave this earth is by settling your accounts with those you love. But that's in the past now. Time has a way of dulling even the sharpest revelations.
Or, as Tony puts it in one of his two sessions with Dr. Melfi in this episode, sometimes you almost grab hold of a thought, and then it flies away from you just as quickly. It's something he brings up when talking about his sunrise epiphany at the end of "Kennedy And Heidi," the moment when he "got it." He's cagey about what "it" was, perhaps because he himself doesn't know. But he's able to share with Melfi that there are worlds beyond this one—"Alternate universes?" she asks, and he finally nods after giving her a hard time, perhaps pointing toward Kevin Finnerty—and that he's come to see mothers as the bus that delivers us to this world and then leaves us behind. We keep trying to get back on the bus, he says. We keep trying to get back to that place where we were safe and warm and all of our concerns were cared for. But we grow up and get older. We begin to talk and walk, and that bond starts to fray. And then we're on our own, waiting at the bus stop well past midnight for something that's not coming.
"The Second Coming" is very interested in process. Really, this whole season is. It's all building to a series of moments—A.J.'s suicide attempt is one of them—and it's very careful to direct our attention to the smaller moments that add up to these larger ones. If there's war between New Jersey and New York, it will be started because of Tony curb-stomping Coco, but he did that because Coco harassed Meadow (and because he was in a rotten state of mind from all of the guilt he was carrying around about how his rotten genes might have contributed to his son's depression), and Coco did that because… and on and on. You can go back. You can make a case for determinism. You can suggest that A.J. tried to kill himself because he inherited a rotten gene that no one has figured out what to do with. You can make depression into the monster in this particular story, the lurking shadow that hovers over everything, the tarp over the pool.
Or you can accept that depression is there and move on with your life. Granted, this is hard to do. If the monster's always there; if the depths are always waiting to swallow you beneath the thin haze of medication or therapy or exercise that stands in the gap between your soul and their blackness; it can be hard to ignore. But you start to make choices, and you accept responsibility for those choices, and you try to get better. And maybe it takes a lifetime, and maybe it takes one week. But you find your way toward a kind of compassion and a kind of understanding. You claw your way out of the blackness. You understand that you don't have to die alone. You can be a better person. You can hold onto the things that matter. You can take responsibility for your own actions. A man drove a donkey cart off the road, but it's not his fault that A.J. dove into that pool. Tony takes a stab at this, at owning up to what he did to Coco, but Phil won't hear of it because he's too enraptured by his own petty bitterness. If these people finally untied the stones pulling them to the bottom, finally embraced the freedom that comes from accepting that you and only you can guide yourself home, they might realize the rope had been long enough to swim all along.
You can understand, Melfi says to Tony. You can understand what it's like to want to kill yourself, to be depressed. In that moment, Tony can and he can't. He can remember that moment on the side of the pool and know what his son was going through, what was causing him to ache. But he also can't, because to do that would open up doors inside of Tony he'd never dare step through. The system holds us rigidly in place. It keeps us in our comfort zone and rarely beckons us out of it. A.J. asks what he can possibly do to change the world, even at the level of stopping his friends beating up the Somali boy. He's just one individual, right?
Yet just one individual can accomplish something if he or she steps back far enough to see the whole picture. It doesn't mean everything will be better. It doesn't mean you'll ever get back on the bus. But it does mean you'll finally be an adult, washed out of the cocoon and ready to own up to your choices. It does mean you'll have some measure of empathy and grace for your fellow human beings. And it does mean you might start to understand how to operate within the system that pins you down, might start to understand how change occurs on a geological time scale, but does occur. Like the dinosaurs in Tony's hospital picture book, we evolve or we go extinct. We understand that everything is a part of the same series of particles and waves, as Tony's hospital friend Mr. Schwinn would say, or we die.
"The Second Coming," both in poem and episode form, is about a great and terrible death that never quite arrives. Why, then, does this episode seem tinged with the slightest color of hope, if only we were brave enough to turn and look at it?
Stray observations:
- Adriana alert: I love the way this season subtly weaves Adriana's ghost throughout the proceedings of nearly every episode. Here, it's extremely subtle, but I can't imagine it's an accident: The TV in A.J.'s psychiatric ward is playing Joey, the series Drea de Matteo went to after her character was written off this show.
- Look. The food on this show often looks delicious and incredible, but Lincoln Log sandwiches? No. Those look like the most disgusting things ever.
- The scene where Tony broaches the subject of A.J.'s suicide attempt with the guys in the back room at the Bing is at once a fine example of how far these characters have come in appreciating mental-health issues and a very sly piece of comedy. I love Paulie saying it's a wonder kids aren't jumping off bridges every day and Tony's weighted glance at that thought.
- Christopher's death continues to haunt Tony. Now, a picture of him is hung up in the back room, and Carmela continues to take care of Kelli in her time of grieving. (Tony also bestows upon Carmela a gift from his time in Vegas, another penance gift for what he did while he was there, though neither will acknowledge this.)
- This episode is just filled with powerful scenes, but my favorite dialogue scene is probably that fight between Tony and Carmela. I love how every fight they have in this series feels like it's been building for 20 years, because it probably has.
- Meadow's mystery boyfriend turns out to be Patrick Parisi. Carmela seems terrified both by the notion of this and by the notion of Meadow going into law. Tony and Carmela had really hoped that by marrying Finn and going into medicine, Meadow might escape the Mafia. Instead, she's steering right back toward it. The apple never falls far from the tree.
- Kupferberg tells Melfi all about a study that suggested sociopaths don't benefit from talk therapy and, indeed, use talk therapy to better their own lives. Once again, a character is confronted with an important revelation, and it's left to them to consider whether to make the necessary decision to act or sink back into their life of comfort. I'll leave you to see how this plays out, though if you've been watching the series this long, you'll know. (I will say I find it a little strange that Melfi wouldn't have heard of this study, but, hey, I'll go with it.) Also, the perfect punctuation to this scene: Kupferberg takes a swig out of that stupid water bottle.
- It shouldn't make me laugh, but the sight of A.J. moping while Chamillionaire sings about "ridin' dirty" always makes me giggle.
- It's very weird to me to see that advertising campaign for the insomnia medication again. It seems like something that aired very recently, but it's obviously more than five years old at this point. It's the perfect symbol of the haze that seems to be enveloping A.J., too.
- That's a beautiful final shot of Tony, whose face looks wracked with emotion after his confrontation with Phil, walking into the psychiatric ward, not even attempting to get the contraband pizza inside, finally gathering his son into a hug. Nice work, Van Patten.
Speaking With The Fishes (spoilers):
- This is probably the last week we'll do this section. I will say this: As a continuing "Tony dies" agnostic, I find it very interesting that the two episodes leading up to the finale both have characters looking at the thing that's about to kill them and cutting from the shot of their look to a POV shot. Here, it's A.J. looking out at the pool, which we then see.
- My continuing theory that Melfi can only cut Tony loose as a patient because he's realized he's beyond help is bolstered here, as she pushes him to empathize with his son, and he just can't make the leap. I still wish the show had worked in a scene for her in "Made In America," though, even if it was without Tony.
- The picture of Chris is the one the Adriana cat stares at in the series finale.
Next week: All aboard "The Blue Comet," the penultimate episode of the whole series.


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Despite it's well-intentioned roots, "African-American" remains a term that seems to create more confusion and questions (i.e.: Would a White African living in America — such as actress Charlize Theron — be thought of as African-American too?) than connection. Sure, "Black" is far from perfect, but that term's imperfection is balanced out by a certain cultural and historical resonance that African-American will never possess, allowing it (Black) to ring authentic while African-American seems (at best) clunky and misguided and (at worst) pandering.
Has "African-American" run its course? Is there still a need for this term to be a part of our national lexicon?


text:
This area is intended for everyone new to PHP. It opens with a series of informal, entertaining tutorials written by Vikram Vaswani, founder and CEO of Melonfire. These tutorials build on a previously-published 5-part series which has now been updated and extended to embrace PHP 5, making parts of it suitable for those of you who already have worked with PHP 4 in the past.
If you came here to learn about elementary PHP 4 or basic PHP 5, this is for you. Enjoy!
- PHP 101 (part 1): "Down the Rabbit Hole"
An introduction to PHP's variables and operators.
- PHP 101 (part 2): "Calling All Operators"
The rest of the PHP operators (there are many), and simple form processing.
- PHP 101 (part 3): Looping The Loop
Basic control structures explained.
- PHP 101 (part 4): The Food Factor
Arrays, PHP array functions, and what it all means.
- PHP 101 (part 5): Rank and File
Everything you're ever likely to need to know about dealing with external files from a PHP script.
- PHP 101 (part 6): Functionally Yours
All about functions, arguments, passing by reference, globals and scope.
- PHP 101 (part 7): The Bear Necessities
A gentle introduction to object oriented programming in PHP 4 and PHP 5.
- PHP 101 (part 8): Databases and Other Animals – Part 1
All about connecting to a MySQL database from PHP, using the mysql or mysqli extensions.
- PHP 101 (part 9): SQLite My Fire! – Part 1
Introducing another database: SQLite.
- PHP 101 (part 10): A Session In The Cookie Jar
Sessions and cookies – how to keep track of visitors to your site.
- PHP 101 (part 11): Sinfully Simple
An introduction to PHP's easiest method for dealing with XML.
- PHP 101 (part 12): Bugging Out – Part 1
Basic error handling.
- PHP 101 (part 13): The Trashman Cometh – Part 1
A primer in basic security.
- PHP 101 (part 13): The Trashman Cometh – Part 1
Putting the pieces together – a first Web application.
- PHP 101 (part 15): No News is Good News
Creating a simple RSS news aggregator.


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In today's globalized planet, it is not only technological innovation that binds us. Americans having their best Chinese takeaway place is resistant that you will find a relationship occurring in between the East along with the Western side in terms of food items. It does not end there. Even though marketers take flight to The far east, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, they still make sure to their very own fill of Chinese food items as they are there any.
Chinese meals aficionados really make time to see which Chinese cafe has got the finest Chinese meals, consequently a good place to order their Chinese takeaway from. Although experiencing and enjoying the meals in the restaurant, they would want to bring this house and sometimes enable others attempt the meal as well. Once they discover the Chinese cafe for them, they start a romantic relationship. If you think regarding this, it comes with an ongoing connection between client and bistro – particularly if the consumer keeps going back to the organization.
Chinese meals can even be like a picnic to a few people way too. From the perception that businessmen may have these provided for lunch time every time they have those nitty gritty lunch events. There is some thing about Chinese food that makes folks more comfortable. It needs to be the chopsticks, rather than the standard forks and cutlery.
Chinese Takeaway is also very handy. The truth is, most Chinese dining establishments are open up very later. Anyone who is up late at night completing work or possibly a college project or cannot sleep at night can just dial and purchase for Chinese takeaway. Then they would expect this to become transported to their home right away. They can savor the foods inside the comfort of their very own property.
Chinese Takeaway fails to spoil easily. These could be requested right now and still be consumed the morning after the future. Just burst it within the fridge and heat it in the microwave oven as required. For this reason dormers rely on Chinese takeaway each time they feel the urge to enjoy something closest to dishes they might have within their residence.
Stats show that there is a increase in Chinese restaurants because lots of people just adore eating at Chinese dining establishments and buying takeaway. As a matter of simple fact, it reached a point of men and women attempting to prepare food their particular Chinese food items. It is extremely very easy to prepare. But if you are one of the cooks at the Chinese cafe, you also have to cook quickly. If you get the chance of watching a Chinese chef actually in operation, make the most from it. It can be this sort of intriguing vision to behold.
Here is the very reasons why you can find gas burners in Chinese dining establishments. They really want the gasoline to be very productive to ensure that foods can be cooked quickly and served towards the buyers in the jiffy. The good thing about Chinese foods is it remains to be tasty even when it is cooked immediately.
Inspired by: ezinearticles


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As my grandfather was fond of saying: "it's time to fish or cut bait." As predicted here, the Obama administration intends to put a new Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) on the fast track. Those of us who believe in the Constitution of the United States and our inherent right to protect ourselves, our families, and our property, will soon be forced to choose between our beliefs and support for a corrupt, liberty destroying government. In short, in their eyes, we will become criminals.
Attorney General and race-baiter Eric Holder erroneously believes a new AWB would stop the flow of guns into the hands of drug smugglers in Mexico. If he can't, with all the power of the state, stop the flow of drugs into this country, can he really believe an AWB would keep firearms out of the hands of millionaire drug cartels who have no regard whatsoever for the current laws?
Mr. Holder cares not if criminals have guns; he just wants to make damn sure those who love liberty are totally disarmed and unable to protect what little property they have left! Soon we will hear from the state those who possess firearms are somehow latent racists. Actually, James Wolcott, blogging at Vanity Fair, wrote the following:
"No wonder so many would-be Wolverines in the right blogs are talking about stocking up on assault rifles and ammo — they've got ransackers running wild in their imaginations too. I urge these people to confront their racial fears,…"
The coming economic storm created with the "bailout" mentality now infecting our elected morons and the lapdog media, which the Heritage Foundation predicts will bring on 85—95 percent confiscatory taxes visited on the producers in our society, obviously has those in power concerned. The Obamatrons know that with that rate of taxation social order will disappear, and history proves masters prefer their slaves unarmed.
Glen Beck, who supported the huge growth in government under Dubya, is now claiming he has seen the chaos coming for years and openly discusses the breakdown of societal order and possible armed revolution, in the MSM.
Many in this nation have been preparing for such an event. Firearm and ammunition sales are at an all time high, with many weapons that fall into the government's definition of assault weapon disappearing in availability and rising rapidly in price when available. A friend in North Carolina phoned this weekend to tell me he waited in line for an hour to get into a local gun show. Another friend in Tennessee had a similar story. Most ammo and reloading supplies are in short supply nation wide.
My personal choice in "assault weapons," the M1A SOCOM, has disappeared from Internet firearms auction sites and most gun shop racks. The AR-15, M4 platform is seeing huge sales and similar lack of availability.
Many wonder out loud what those in the military will do, when, not if, the government moves to confiscate those nasty black guns from American citizens. If they have taken the time to reflect on their oath of enlistment in which they swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, the answer should be obvious. Any enemy of the Constitution should immediately become the enemy of those sworn to defend it. Nowhere in the oath is a commitment to support the government.
Many also wonder if there will be a "defining" event that will precipitate the call for total confiscation, a false-flag operation or another mass public shooting of civilians, perhaps even children, by a mentally unstable individual, heavily into prescription drugs.
For several years I have been of the opinion there is no political answer to the coming unrest in this country and the subsequent move to seize firearms from the populace. I have written often of my total lack of faith in the National Rifle Association (NRA) and their belief in "compromise" with the enemy as a means of retaining our God-given rights. I have never understood why we beg from man (the state) for that which is already ours! When the NRA's belief in compromise led them to promoting the growth of the state apparatus used to deny our 2A rights, (BATFE) my beliefs were confirmed.
While I once also supported Gun Owners of America, (GOA) and still believe them to be honest and sincere in their support for the 2A, I find their approach to be based on convincing politicians to do what is morally and constitutionally right. We all should realize "that ain't gonna happen."
Loving liberty will not be sufficient in the coming hard times. Gun owners, constitutionalists, and believers in freedom are going to be faced with some life-changing decisions. Again, to quote my grandfather, "we are going to be forced to put some wheels on our prayers."


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Has anyone been giving a full tablet of Protandim daily? My son (9.5, 57 lbs) has been on 1/2 tab of Protandim for over an year and I am wondering if it could be increased to 1 tab.I would appreciate…Continue
Hi Amit,
Simon has a mobility scooter which he uses only for school field trips or family outings where there would be too much walking for him, because he does get tired (like the zoo or an amusement park). Or say if he spent most of the day at a birthday party running around, then he would use it for our nightly family dog walk. But he goes to school everyday without any aids (except a cart on wheels to carry his stuff from one classroom to another), does the 2 flights of stairs several times a day, rides his 2 wheel bike on flat streets without hills. He does waddle, and sticks out his tummy, but does not do the Gower movement anymore since starting Deflazacort, and he can jump a little bit. He swims well but can't really follow formal lessons anymore, can't do the required laps, etc to progress to the next level. He goes to Scout camp in the summer with his scooter. His calves have increased in size this past year, but nothing else has really changed. His neurologist and rehabilitation doctors are very impressed with his abilities.
How is your son doing, and the family?
Good energy to you,
If you call 1-888-894-1374, the clinical concierge/guest services center can fill you in regarding charity flights. So far, we have not used these services.
Was your son just diagnosed?
Liam turned 11 last November and has a deletion of exons 48, 49 and 50 - in frame. We await the exon 51 skipping trials to come to some fruition. We got the diagnosis when he was 8 and a half - fairly late in the game. We could not believe it because he had no glaring symptoms of DMD. We first started him on Prednisone which was horrid and he had a bad reaction to it, so we switched to Deflazacort and have been quite happy with it - as to side effects. I really hate steroids. We had a biopsy done when he was 9.5 which showed DMD and less than 3% dystrophin production. When we began the steroids, there was no significant changes in regard to strength and stamina as is seem with most children.
Today, he is 11 and is still fully mobile - used no devices what so ever - which is rare. He runs, jumps, swims, rides horses - and is just a spectacular kid. He is an A student in school and really loves life. The key to our family is that we never show our unhappy DMD sides to Liam. He thinks we do not care and that in turn affords him a very happy childhood. He, at this point, doesn't care that he's got DMD.
Tell me all about your son and what you do for him. I like to hear what others offer their children and how they are fairing.
Thanks for the message.
Hi Amit,
Yes, we're in the Houston area (Montgomery). We have a pretty good network of parents here in the area. If you give me your email address, I'll add you to our mailing list for when we get together. My son is 8. He was diagnosed just before his 3rd birthday. Right after diagnosis is the toughest time. If you ever need to talk you can give me a call. My number is 936-582-1537.
I just read that your son was diagnosed just 2 weeks ago. I am sorry for what you are going through. The PPMD community has been a huge source of support over the years. I know you will find the same support that we have.
I have a DMD son of 15 years. If you need any help, please call me 908-281-8008