text:
A "horse-woman" is a term used to describe a masculine lesbian.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Word of the Gay: "Horse-Woman"
26 comments:
- LA said...
(I tried to send this message via you contact system and it did not work for me - sorry)
Hey there,
We wanted to contact you because you have us on "Twitter" and I love your blog - Thanks for the work you do.
Please mention this on your blog, you might wanna use Google to translate the original article but if you have questions PLEASE write us:
We posted some exceprts on Daily Kos here:
What the 'Equailty Foundation" is accused of by the Polish government and the GLBT association ILGCN Polska is wrong and not corrrect on so many levels. They need to be EXPOSED for their treachery, please help us and out Polish GLBT friends stand up to this communist-esque style roughshod over fellow gay activist by self-annointed gay professionals.
- March 17, 2009 at 4:56 AM
- thehostess said...
get a publisher...I'm gonna buy this dictionary when you write it. Use this word in a sentence: "Can a horse-woman have a camel toe?"
- March 17, 2009 at 9:07 AM
- Queers United said...
It would be kind of fun to make a dictionary of all these words and put them in sentences for examples.
- March 17, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Humm, this is really a degrading word to lesbian women! Sounds like a gay man came up with it... maybe a problem with gay patriarchy!? I get tired of how women who are courageous and take on masculinity are treated like crap in the gay community! All I can say is "Gay Shame"! Go assimilate and watch the "L Word" a heteronormative bullshit show....
- March 17, 2009 at 10:05 AM
YIKES!!! I don't like that one... I would just RUN!!! ;) Guess I'm tipping my hand as to what kind of lesbian I am into! HA!
- March 17, 2009 at 12:25 PM
- Queers United said...
just a bit bridge lol
- March 17, 2009 at 12:30 PM
- Jennie Panic said...
I just wanted to say that the woman in the photo is just amazingly good looking..and that there is nothing 'horse-ish' about her at all!
- March 17, 2009 at 2:18 PM
- T. R Xands said...
That is a strange term, I guess it's like calling someone "horse faced" or "long faced" though? Huh.
- March 17, 2009 at 2:44 PM
- Stacey said...
I swear, there are so many terms coming up on Word of the Day that I've never heard of. Am I that far out of the loop or is someone who's drunk and high making this crap up?
- March 17, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Here's a Word of the Gay: "Shit Dick" a term used for gay men because their penises permanently smell like feces from putting thier genitals in men's butt holes, where feces come out.
- March 17, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Turd Burglar: 1. Humourously derogative term for a gay man. 2. A slang word for one who burgles turds. A word to describe gay men with feces hanging off of their genitals. 3. One who uses his genitals to remove turd's from another fellows back passage
- March 17, 2009 at 5:20 PM
- Queers United said...
I don't make them up some are more common and others are more out there. Anon those are also terms, we showcase all words positive and negative that describe the community such as fag, dyke, tranny. While we don't necessarily encourage the usage of all these words it's good to know them and discuss.
- March 17, 2009 at 5:44 PM
- Queers United said...
Also anon I didn't know penises permanently smell like shit from anal sex. Do straight men have permanently have fish sticks or vaginal goo because they go into vag?
- March 17, 2009 at 5:45 PM
- T. R Xands said...
Do straight men have permanently have fish sticks or vaginal goo because they go into vag?
Do we have to go there with the "fishy vaginas"? :/
But on the other hand, ohhhhhh snap burn!
- March 17, 2009 at 8:18 PM
- T. R Xands said...
Huh, is there a way you could start doing a sort of etymology for these words though? For some terms it seems that just giving a definition isn't enough, but where do they come from? :/
- March 17, 2009 at 8:21 PM
- Queers United said...
T.R. I felt bad going there as I typed it, but thats what came to mind when arguing that point. Fact is not all vaginas like anuses can be cleaned and maintained lol.
Etymology might be a bit trickier, some of these words are contested and have multiple meanings. I'll keep it in mind though, or if I come across some info about possible etymology ill post it. No clue on horse-woman.
- March 17, 2009 at 10:28 PM
Excuse me are you laughably trying to compare shit to a vagina hahhaha LMAO! Pathetic attempt and very revealing about who you are. I will be sure to spread the word about this blog. It's very common for gay men to be contemptuous of women and lesbians in particular. You know it's true or you wouldn't have felt the need to suddenly respond to your comments. I'm glad that you leave your comments for everyone to see because there shouldn't be one lesbian who supports this poorly written blog.
It's not lesbians fault that gay men want to be women so much that you display your shameful contemptuousness toward them on your blog and you're not even embarrassed to do so. Mommy issues should be worked out in therapy.
I rather smell like a woman who hasn't bathed in a week than shit from an AIDS infested fag any day of the week honey. Don't even try to pretend you felt bad writing it. Lesbians have supported our AIDS infested brothers for decades only to be treated with animosity such as yours, because we don't contract filthy diseases the way you do. We have had to suffer as a community becuase of gay males perversions that brings them all kinds of diseases. You shame and embarrass the community as whole. We won't support you anymore, lesbians are starting to wake up and do their own thing because of this very thing. It's usually the old worn out queen that wishes he had a twat so much that he shows his envy without even realizing how obvious he is.
This barely read blog showcases much more derogatory terms towards lesbians than to gay men. You are very obvious, buddy.
And sorry but caca cannot be compared to a woman's vagina, shit cannot be compared to gold. Mens balls stink like turd vinegar on their own, never mind after they stick it up assholes with shit inside of them.
Sorry but the world finds gay men disgusting for a reason becuase your sex involves SHIT.
- March 18, 2009 at 3:26 AM
Wow it's no wonder our community is in the shape it's in. Maybe this blog isn't used to getting feedback but you guys should learn to handle comments in possibly a less inflammatory manner. Lesbians are surpassing us in media and visibility for a reason, us gay guys tend to queen out and start attacking women/lesbians when they have legitimate concerns on how gay males treat them. It's really weak. Not all gay men are like that. I'm not. The younger generation are much less hateful towards women and lesbians and more inclusive. I can't say I blame many lesbians for their anger. I know my male friends are quite derisive of my lesbian friends and I always stand up and tell them where to go. Men picking on women is really weak.
- March 18, 2009 at 8:16 AM
- Queers United said...
Anonymous if you think I hate and/or am not supportive of lesbians you have some serious issues. You are entitled to your opinion, but I am pretty confident that the reason all my lesbian readers keep coming back and enjoying the blog is not due to any sort of lesbophobia. It sounds more like the hate is on your part and its directed to gay men.
- March 18, 2009 at 9:43 AM
- elizabeth-carrie said...
Anonymous, as a lesbian, I want to get your opinion on something. Does it also bother you that my girlfriend's plastic dick smells like shit when she fucks me in the ass with it? Also, a couple I know (hetero) also enjoy anal sex (both of them). Does it bother you that her strap-on smells like his shit and his dick smells like her shit?
Your logic is amusing, albeit disturbing. But I simply must tell you that it sounds like you need a right good fucking in the ass to chill you the fuck out. Don't knock it till you try it buddy.
Have a nice day...
- March 18, 2009 at 4:39 PM
- Queers United said...
*high fives Elizabeth*
- March 18, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Hey Elizabeth, hard believe you are a man but if so ... too bad it was you who got gang fuck/raped in Richmond California. They could have fucked your ass then shoved their dicks in you and your man dyke girlfriends mouth. Stupid bitch, getting big balls behind a computer screen. I hope you lick your shitty plastic bacteria dildo after your man dyke boyfriend fucks you up the ass you dumb bitch.
AIDS faggots don't like when we come back at them. Dirty fagots think they are so "fierce" and witty when acting superior to lesbians. I simply pointed out that you continue to CHOOSE more derogatory terms for lesbians than you do for gay men or tranny's on your shitty blog. This is obvious. I've spoken to someone else about it and she agrees. Sorry but you don't have much women readership on this crap ass blog bud. Doesn't look like you have much readership AT ALL! My comments made your page look busy.
You have mommy issues, puto. Work that shit out in therapy, shit dick. Any "goo" you refer to regarding women's vagina's is a glaring indication of your jealousy of females. Men have nssty snot coming out of their funky penises. And after it get's shoved up an AIDS asses you fuckers should be quarantined.
- March 20, 2009 at 1:03 AM
BTW we know "elizabeth" is a FAKE ACCOUNT you created so you can hide like a dirty little faggot and post your HATE and JEALOUSY of females. People have already seen Queer Unity's hate derogatory comments about women's genitals Lesbians don't buy dildo's to shove up each others asses. Only dirty faggots buy dildo the size of someone's leg and shove them up thier funky shitty asses. You don't get a pass for you hate.
- March 20, 2009 at 1:08 AM
- elizabeth-carrie said...
Wow Anonymous! Did you ever pass 7th grade? Your spelling and grammar are atrocious. Also, are you a comedian?
I never said I was a man. I clearly stated that I was a lesbian. Do you know the definition of one? I'm not jealous of females. I am one! I'm also a lesbian woman who loves to engage in anal sex. If you have a problem with that, then that is your issue to sort out. Not mine.
My account isn't fake, it is very real. Go check for yourself if you like since you have all of this time to dedicate to trolling blogs and talking shit. However, my blog will not let you post comments under an "Anonymous" ID for this very reason. It is you who is hiding behind a computer sans name / blog ID. Coward much?
Why do you have such a preoccupation for what comes out of a man's penis? Why are you so obsessed with where a man puts his penis? It is my belief, as well as the belief of several others, that those who bash homosexuals are repressing their own homosexual desires.
- March 20, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Elizabeth-carrie said her/his account is not fake but, very real. Well, actually the account is very anal. Nuff Said!
- March 25, 2009 at 10:29 PM
Anonymous: I think you're a frustrated 15 yo lesbian. I think you have no idea what sodomy encompasses - it does NOT involve "shit". Scatophilia involves shit, and not many people practice this.
Also, what you've said about AIDS is completely out of line, and I feel like you're channeling Fred Phelps more than anything.
Finally, you say that a guy saying "goo" means he wants a vagina... i'll let you re-read your comments which are obviously the manifestation of penis envy...
- April 4, 2009 at 4:54 PM


text:
An exception denotes an unpredictable situation at runtime, like "out of disk storage", "read protected file", "user removed disk while reading", "syntax error in user input".
These are situation which occur relatively seldom and thus their immediate handling would clutter the code which should describe the regular processing.
Since exceptions must be expected at runtime there are also mechanisms for (selectively) handling them.
Unfortunately Haskell's standard library names common exceptions of IO actions
and the module
Control.Monad.Error is about exception handling not error handling.
In general you should be very careful, not to mix up exceptions with errors.
Actually, an unhandled exception is an error.
The great thing about Haskell is, that it is not necessary to hard-wire the exception handling into the language.
Everything is already there to implement definition and handling of exceptions nicely.
See the implementation in
Control.Monad.Error (and please, excuse the misleading name, for now).
There is an old dispute between C++ programmers on whether exceptions or error return codes are the right way. Also Niklaus Wirth considered exceptions to be the reincarnation of GOTO and thus omitted them in his languages. Now Haskell solves the problem the diplomatic way: Function return error codes, but the handling of error codes does not uglify the calling code.
First we implement exception handling for non-monadic functions. Since no IO functions are involved, we can still not handle exceptional situations induced from outside the world, but we can handle situations, where it is unacceptable for the caller to check a priori whether the call can succeed.
data ExAction e a =
Success a
| Exception e
deriving (Show)
instance Monad (ExAction e) where
return = Success
Exception l >>= _ = Exception l
Success r >>= k = k r
throw :: e -> ExAction e a
throw = Exception
catch :: ExAction e a -> (e -> ExAction e a) -> ExAction e a
catch (Exception l) h = h l
catch (Success r) _ = Success r
Now we extend this to monadic functions.
This is not restricted to IO, but may be used immediately also for non-deterministic algorithms implemented with the
List monad.
newtype ExActionT e m a =
ExActionT {runExActionT :: m (ExAction e a)}
instance Monad m => Monad (ExActionT e m) where
return = ExActionT . return . Success
m >>= k = ExActionT $
runExActionT m >>= \ a ->
case a of
Exception e -> return (Exception e)
Success r -> runExActionT (k r)
throwT :: Monad m => e -> ExActionT e m a
throwT = ExActionT . return . Exception
catchT :: Monad m =>
ExActionT e m a -> (e -> ExActionT e m a) -> ExActionT e m a
catchT m h = ExActionT $
runExActionT m >>= \ a ->
case a of
Exception l -> runExActionT (h l)
Success r -> return (Success r)
bracketT :: Monad m =>
ExActionT e m h ->
(h -> ExActionT e m ()) ->
(h -> ExActionT e m a) ->
ExActionT e m a
bracketT open close body =
open >>= (\ h ->
ExActionT $
do a <- runExActionT (body h)
runExActionT (close h)
return a)
Here are some examples for typical IO functions with explicit exceptions.
data IOException =
| FileDoesNotExist
| ReadProtected
| WriteProtected
| NoSpaceOnDevice
deriving (Show, Eq, Enum)
open :: FilePath -> ExActionT IOException IO Handle
close :: Handle -> ExActionT IOException IO ()
read :: Handle -> ExActionT IOException IO String
write :: Handle -> String -> ExActionT IOException IO ()
readText :: FilePath -> ExActionT IOException IO String
readText fileName =
bracketT (open fileName) close $ \h ->
read h
Finally we can escape from the Exception monad if we handle the exceptions completely.
main :: IO ()
main =
do result <- runExActionT (readText "test")
case result of
Exception e -> putStrLn ("When reading file 'test' we encountered exception " ++ show e)
Success x -> putStrLn ("Content of the file 'test'\n" ++ x)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Bent Brick Lets Its Hair Down
After the departure of opening chef Will Preisch in February, chef/owner Scott Dolich relaunched the menu at his NW Marshall brick-and-ivy tavern the Bent Brick...and the results are delicious.
The new offerings center around house-made sausages, a la carte "roasts and cuts", and a wide assortment of creative and nostalgia-inducing sides, salads, soups, and snacks, allowing diners to mix and match to create their own combos.
The familiar flavors and casual presentation—sausages arrive aside a mound of crispy chips in a wicker basket and hot-from-the-oven sides come to the table in still-sizzling cast iron cookware—signal a major change from Preisch's conceptual, modern dishes that often felt out of place in the worn-in historical building.
In an interview with Eat Beat in December, Dolich remarked that "the Bent Brick is a cool spot, it's quirky, but it's not upscale, and Will's food had an aura of being upscale...You can't just have great food and a pretty space, it has to be great food that belongs in that pretty space." With dishes like "hamburger dogs" topped with cheese and house-made relish, decadent duck fat potato jojos with ranch, and a kids menu to keep pace with the neighborhood's family-friendly vibe, Dolich and his sous chefs Ryan Mead and William Marquardt certainly seem to have met that goal.
The Bent Brick
1639 NW Marshall Street
While the menu is a drastic departure from its previous incarnation, at least one thing remains constant: Dolich's steadfast dedication to local sourcing and in-house preparations. The bar is still stocked with domestic booze, and a fun new "condiment caddy" showcases the kitchen's refusal to cut corners (think custom tomato ketchup, Old Bay mayo, bright pink sauerkraut, and house hot sauce).
Click through to the slideshow above to check out highlights from the new steakhouse-style menu, and head into the Bent Brick soon to try Dolich's comforting offerings for yourself.


text:
Out Of The Furnace
Director: Scott Cooper.
Screenplay: Scott Cooper,
Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, Tom Bower, Dwight Wolfe.
"Working for a living? I gave my life for this country and what's it done for me? Huh? What's it done for me?"
After finally helping Jeff Bridges to a long overdue Oscar in "Crazy Heart", director Scott Cooper follows up that tale of a downward spiralling musician with another one of downward spiralling blue collar workers. Narratively, it's lacking a certain something but one thing's for sure with Cooper; he certainly knows how to bring out the best from his actors.
With a cruel twist of fate, Russell Baze (Christian Bale) lands himself in prison after a driving offence. While inside, his terminally ill father passes away and his younger, ex-soldier, brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) takes to bare-knuckle fighting to pay off debts. When Russell is released, he finds that Rodney is in over his head with a ruthless crime ring led by Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson). When Rodney eventually disappears, Russell takes matters into his own hands.
If the town depicted in "Out Of The Furnace" feels familiar then that's because it's likely reminding you of the same Pennsylvania steel-mill town that was the setting for Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" in 1978. It would also seem that Scott Cooper is intent on regularly referencing Cimino's classic throughout the films duration; it channels a similar theme of a lack of opportunities for the characters and even though some serve their country in war (Iraq steps in for Vietnam this time) they are forgotten about when they return home. We also get to stare down the scope of a hunting rifle now and again, and there's even a scene where actual deer hunting takes place. And the point of it all, I hear you ask? Well, to be frank, I'm not particularly sure. Maybe Cooper is trying to tell us that so many years – and wars – down the line nothing has changed for these working class people. They're mere fodder and left to go back to their land of opportunity were opportunity doesn't really exist for them. This could be Cooper's intention or it could just be that I'm reading into his script a little too deeply when it's highly possible that there is no depth in the first place. Somewhere there's a commentary on the economic state of contemporary America but the message is muddled somewhat, as it veers into a generic backwoods crime thriller.
The film is a strangely frustrating experience whereby what you see in front of you is visually commanding but it's hard to connect to the character's and their plight. The weakness of the script is apparent and it's difficult to grasp the film as anything more than a revenge flick that leaves a slightly nasty aftertaste. That being said, Cooper is certainly a director that has a good eye and feel for detail and he has a full command over his splendid ensemble. It's the solid performances that really make the film tick. Not that any further proof is required in terms of their acting abilities but a smoulderingly intense Affleck and a snarling, brutish Harrelson really excel and great (all-be-it, underwritten) support is delivered from Whitaker and Dafoe. It's Bale who impresses most, though, in one of his most effective and understated roles. There's nothing heroic about him. He's simply a soulful man with a deep sense of family commitment and refuses to yield when anyone threatens that.
As much as I couldn't see what the point of the whole affair was, I still went along with it. It's deliberately paced and still manages to hold your attention. As a director, Cooper shows a lot of promise but he needs to tighten up on his writing duties. When that happens, I suspect we'll see a real improvement on this potentially solid filmmaker.
Mark Walker
Trivia: Viggo Mortensen was first approached and Billy Bob Thornton was considered for the role that eventually went to Woody Harrelson.
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text:
Solo – responsive single-page template
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Changelogv1.0 – Oct 6th 2012
- Initial version


text:
--Abraham Lincoln Papers, 1833-1916, 41 ft., about 40,000 items, on 97 reels of microfilm: Index available. Correspondence and other papers, mainly letters addressed to Lincoln during his Presidency. Includes materials regarding Mary Todd Lincoln. Letters of condolence to Mrs. Lincoln from Eugenie, Empress of France, 28 April 1865; Victoria, Queen of England, 29 April 1865; d'Orleans, Comte de Paris, 5 May 1865. Andrew Johnson to Mary Lincoln, 12 June 1866. Also, about. 60 items for period 1860-1866. Principally correspondence received. Series 1 - 3. Described in D.C. Mearns, The Lincoln Papers (1948), J.G. Randall, Lincoln, the President (1952), and the Library's Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions, 5.1 (November 1947).
--Mary Todd Lincoln Papers, 1861-1930. 17 items: No guide. Mrs. Lincoln's letters in this collection contain information on her endorsement of two men as loyal to the Union, her prediction of the election of 1864, her life after her husband's assassination, and her attempts to obtain a pension from Congress. Also includes a telegram from Abraham Lincoln to his wife about the departure of their son Robert Lincoln on a trip. Also include Mary Lincoln letters to Mr. Patterson, 13 September; to A. R. Thompson, 15 April 1866; to Mrs. White, 30 August 1869; to Dr. A. G. Henry, 17 July 1865; to Dr. Henry, 26 July 1865; to Mrs. Henry, 31 August 1865; to Queen Victoria of England, 21 May 1865; to Hon. Mr. Wakeman, 20 March 1865; to Hon. Caleb B. Smith, 26 October 1861. In container MMC - 151, there is a glossy photocopy positive letter to Mrs. Shearer (?) from Springfield, IL, about "fair promises for Nov." election, 20 Oct 1860; a photostat negative to Hon. Caleb B. Smith about a Mr. Watts, 21 October 1861; original letter to Mr. Potter, 13 Sept 1861 or 1862; original letter to Mr. Wakeman, 20 March 1865; original note to Mrs. Eamaes (?) about death of son William, 26 July 1864; photostat letter to Queen Victoria, 21 May 1865; photostat letter to Dr. Henry, 17 July 1865; photostat letter to Dr. Henry, 26 July 1865; photostat letter to Mrs. Henry, 31 August 1865; original letter to Noah Brooks, 26 December 1865; original note to A. R. Thompson, Esq., 15 April 1866; original letter unreadable, to unknown, January 1869; and photostat and typed copy to Mrs. White, 30 August 1869.
--James Garfield Randall Papers, 1850-65, 1916-52, 19 ft., 7800 items. In part, photocopies. Historian. Correspondence, notes, memoranda, drafts, outlines, printed matter, primarily 1938-51, and photocopies (1850-65) concerning Randall's works on Abraham Lincoln and on the Civil War. Includes the MS. of Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage (1953) written by Randall's wife, Ruth Painter Randall. Unpublished finding aid in the Library.
--Stanton Papers. One letter from Mary Lincoln to T. E.M. Stanton, 11 February 1863.
--Gideon Welles Collection. One letter from Mary Lincoln to Gideon Welles, 21 February 1863 (vol. 53); four letters from Mary Lincoln to Mrs. Welles, 11 July 1865 (vol. 59), 14 October 1865, 6 December 1865, 29 December 1865.
--Hoxie Family Papers. One letter to Vinnie Ream from Mary Lincoln; 10 September 1866.
--Read Family Papers. Mary Lincoln's correspondence with John Meredith Read, jurist.
--Zachariah Chandler Papers. Engraved calling card on which is written "Compliments." Enclosed in small envelope addressed to Mrs. Sen. Chandler, National Hotel, from Mary Lincoln.
--Simon Cameron Papers. Two letters from Mary Lincoln to General Simon Cameron, March 29, 1861 and September 12, 1861.
--Margaret D Williams Papers. Account by Margaret Williams of her journey to Washington with Mrs. Lincoln. Typed D. 8 pp, "A Brief Reminiscence of the First Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President."
--John Davis Batchelder Papers. One calling card engraved Mrs. A. Lincoln with message written above, "Major Gen. Butterfield Compliments of."
--Andrew Johnson Papers. Container 47: One letter, Mary Lincoln to Andrew Johnson, Series 1, 29 April 1865 and one letter, Andrew Johnson to Mary Lincoln, Series 3B, 20 June 1866.
--J. Nicolay Papers: Two letters from Mary Lincoln to Abraham Lincoln, 2 November 1862 and 3 November 1862.
--The Alfred Whital Stern collection of Lincolniana
Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illinois
--Mary Todd Lincoln Papers, 1848-1882, 192 items: Unpublished guide. Correspondence, telegrams, notes, invitations, and other papers of Mary Lincoln. Also, Reverend Noyes Miner's "A Vindication of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln."
--David Davis Papers, 1816-1943, about 19,000 items: Unpublished guide. Correspondence of Davis (1815-86), associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1862 to 1877 and United States Senator from Illinois from 1877 to 1883, and family. Included are letters from Mary Lincoln, which were written between 1861 and 1878 and nearly all of which discuss the Lincoln estate, Mary Lincoln's personal finances, and expenditures for the support of Thomas Lincoln.
--Adele Cutts Douglas Papers, 1857-65, 8 items: Unpublished guide. Correspondence of Douglas (1835-99), the wife of United States Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, includes a letter she wrote in April 1865, to Governor Richard Yates offering her condolences to Mary Lincoln.
--Elizabeth Parker Todd Edwards Papers, 1862-81, 8 items: Unpublished guide. Correspondence of Edwards (1813-88), a Springfield resident and sister of Mary Lincoln. Includes a letter to Mary Lincoln describing the activities of Ninian Edwards and another man on behalf of her pension.
--Elizabeth Todd Grimsley Papers, 1861, 7 items: Unpublished guide. Grimsley (1825-95) was a cousin of Mary Lincoln who accompanied the Lincoln family to Washington, DC, in 1861 and remained for six months to help with White House social functions. Letters Grimsley wrote from Washington to her cousins Mr. and Mrs. John Todd Stuart describing White House events and Grimsley's manuscript concerning her White House visit.
Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Illinois
--Isham Family Papers, 1873-1959, 4 document cases: Card catalog. Personal and family correspondence, diaries, photos, and genealogical material of Charles Isham (1853-1919), the son-in-law of Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln. Other family correspondence and papers relate to portraits of Abraham and Mary Lincoln.
--Legal Documents Collection, 1676-1917, about 200 items: Card catalog. Includes some supporting biographical and genealogical information, of such famous people as Abraham and Mary Lincoln.
--Wives of U.S. Presidents Collection, 1840-1948, about 143 items: Card catalog. Correspondence and other papers of the wives of American presidents includes items of Mary Lincoln. Papers of Mary Lincoln written in 1921 by her half sister Emily Todd Helm, a copy of her marriage license, and a commitment document for Bellevue Hospital.
--Special Collections, Civil War and American History Collection, 1820-80, no size given: Unpublished guide. Collection contains correspondence, diaries, legal papers, photos, broadsides, pamphlets, books, and artifacts relating to Civil War and American history. Includes photos of Julia Grant and Mary Lincoln.
--William Leroy King Collection of David Davis Papers, 1815-1921, 9 ft. about 15,000 items: In part, photocopies (positive) and microfilm. Correspondence, legal documents, speeches, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings relating to the personal, legal, and political life of David Davis (lawyer, U.S. Senator from Illinois, Supreme Court Justice, and Abraham Lincoln's campaign manager) collected by King for his biography of Davis. Correspondents include Mary Todd Lincoln. Unpublished guide in the library.
Batavia Historical Society, Batavia, Illinois
--Local History Collection. 1840-1975, 2 Hollinger boxes: Contains reminiscences, business records, photos, clippings, and yearbooks pertaining to Batavia. Includes medical records and artifacts related to Mary Todd Lincoln's confinement in Bellevue Hospital in 1875.
Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri
--George Harrington Papers, 1842-1908, about 1000 items: Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Correspondence, copies of Harrington's writings, and other papers relating to problems of the United States during the Civil War and after the war, and funeral arrangements for President Lincoln. Includes the original draft of the funeral procession, list of pallbearers, and a note from Mrs. Lincoln.
New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey
--Louis Bamberger Autograph collection, ca. 1683-1929, about 250 items: Includes letters of Mary Lincoln. Indexed in MSS. index; typed list in repository.
Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey
--Blair and Lee Papers, 1733-1916, about 300 boxes, 11 cartons, and 5 vols: Checklist: Papers of these families, the male members of which were active in the navy and politics, include boxes of papers, 1839-94, of Elizabeth (Blair) Lee, a close friend of Mary Lincoln. Includes correspondence with her father Francis Preston Blair, relatives, friends, the DAR, and the Washington City Orphan Asylum; notebooks of poetry, memoranda, bills, recipes, and clippings.
Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, Kentucky
--Emilie Todd Helm Papers, 1836-1930, 8 cases: Published guide. Helm, a family genealogist, was the half-sister of Mary (Todd) Lincoln. Manuscript of her Todd family genealogy. In 1905 Helm sold her Todd family history to a Chambersburg, PA, publishing house. The history was serialized in the first four issues of The Kittochtinnymagazine. The magazine ceased publication with the fourth issue, and Helm donated her manuscript to the Kentucky Historical Society. Also available on microfilm. See G. Glenn Clift, Guide to the Manuscripts of the Kentucky Historical Society (Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Historical Society, 1955).
The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
--Mary Todd Lincoln Papers
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California
--Lincoln Manuscripts, 1848-82, 78 items: Item cards in manuscript catalog. Correspondence of Mrs. Lincoln is primarily addressed to Alexander Williamson, White House tutor for her sons Willie and Tad. Also included are inventory of the Real and Personal Estate Belonging to Mrs. Mary Lincoln, payments to Drs. Ralph Isham, H.A. Hohnson, C.G. Smith, N.S. Davis, R.J. Patterson, J. Jewell, W. Danforth.
Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
--Lincoln Family Collection, about 250 items: Unpublished guide. Correspondence, photos, articles, books, and other items center around Mary Lincoln, and her son Robert Todd Lincoln. Also includes correspondence and documents signed by other Lincoln family members. Also included is Insanity File of material relating to Mrs. Lincoln's trial and hospitalization.
American Jewish Historical Society, Waltham, Massachusetts
--Henry Seligman Paper, 1870, 1 item: Letter in which Seligman writes from Frankfort, Germany about the need to rescue Mrs. Abraham Lincoln from poverty after Congress rejected the pension bill for presidential wives.
Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York
--Papers of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States, 1766-1924, 110 items: Letters and photos. Includes all Presidents from Washington to Coolidge and Mary Lincoln.


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No, Trump is no neocon
With U.S. missiles flying in Syria, the "mother of all bombs" exploding in Afghanistan and an aircraft carrier strike group heading toward North Korea, has there been a revolution in President Donald Trump's foreign policy?
His most fervent supporters shouldn't get overly excited, and his interventionist critics shouldn't get too excited, either. What has been on offer so far is broadly consistent with the Jacksonian worldview that is the core of Trump's posture toward the world.
Trump's views are obviously inchoate. He has an attitude rather than a doctrine, and upon leaving office, he surely won't, like Richard Nixon, write a series of books on international affairs.
What we have learned since he took office is that Trump is not an isolationist. At times, he's sounded like one. His "America First" slogan (inadvertently) harkened back to the movement to keep us out of World War II. His outlandish questioning of the NATO alliance, an anchor of the West, created the sense that he might be willing to overturn the foundations of the post-World War II order.
This hasn't come to pass. It's not possible to be a truly isolationist president of the United States in the 21st century unless you want to spend all your time unspooling U.S. commitments and managing the resulting disruption and crises. And such an approach would undercut the most consistent element of Trump's approach — namely strength.
His set piece foreign-policy speeches during the campaign were clear on this. "The world is most peaceful and most prosperous when America is strongest," he said last April at the Center for the National Interest. "America will continue and continue forever to play the role of peacemaker. We will always help save lives and indeed humanity itself, but to play the role, we must make America strong again."
In direct contradiction to isolationism, he said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he would take the war to ISIS and build up our defenses. He even called himself ¡ in a malapropism — "the most militaristic person you will ever meet."
Now, there is no doubt that the Syrian strike is a notable departure for Trump, and he defended it in unapologetically humanitarian terms. But it's entirely possible that the strike will only have the narrow purpose of re-establishing a red line against the use of chemical weapons in Syria and reasserting American credibility.
That is particularly important in the context of the brewing showdown with North Korea, which he roughly forecast in his speech last April. "President Obama watches helplessly as North Korea increases its aggression and expands further and further with its nuclear reach," Trump said, advocating using economic pressure on China to "get them to do what they have to do with North Korea, which is totally out of control."
The Tomahawks in Syria and saber rattling at North Korea have Trump's critics on the right and the left claiming he's becoming a neoconservative — a term of abuse that is most poorly understood by the people most inclined to use it. All neocons may be hawks, but not all hawks are neocons, who are distinctive in their idealism and robust interventionism.
We haven't heard paeans to democracy from Trump, or clarion calls for human rights. He hasn't seriously embraced regime change anywhere (even if his foreign-policy officials say Bashar Assad has to go). He shows no sign of a willingness to make a major commitment of U.S. ground troops abroad.
Trump is a particular kind of hawk. The Jacksonian school is inclined toward realism and reluctant to use force, except when a national interest is clearly at stake. As historian Walter Russell Mead writes: "Jacksonians believe that international life is and will remain both violent and anarchic. The United States must be vigilant, strongly armed. Our diplomacy must be cunning, forceful and no more scrupulous than any other country's."
This tradition isn't isolationist or neoconservative, and neither is Trump.
Email Rich Lowry at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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A mayoral race in Canada earns a spot on our RidicuList featuring one of the candidates, Tuxedo Stan.
Post by: Anderson Cooper
Filed under: The RidicuList
only if i met stan the cat. i got a joke okay here it goes stans running was perrrrfict for mayor.
Is there actually a municipal law against animals running for office?!! That's the funniest part of this story!
Thanks for posting this!! Thats PAWSOME!!! Go STAN
i hae 2 cats and i swear they r much wiser than people!hurray 4 canada.
Anderson thank for carrying this story about Tuxedo Stan. You should have seen the debate! He won paws down! You are invited to Halifax any time for dinner!
As a Tuxedo Stan supporter I don't find this silly. Stan's campaign has brought much needed attention to Halifax Nova Scotia's HUGE cat overpopulation problem. Of course he won't be on the actual ballot.
Thanks for this Anderson,
Another part of the inside joke of having a cat run for mayor of Halifax is the hours past councils have wasted debating whether to license cats. Seriously.
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


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Kai ReedNews Anchor, Reporter
Kai Reed joined WBAL-TV 11 News as a general assignment reporter in July 2010. In 2014, she began anchoring weekend evening newscasts.
Then, Kai began co-anchoring 11 News at 4 p.m. weeknights when it debuted in September 2022.
She was previously the co-anchor of the weekend evening newscast at WBAL-TV's sister-station in Milwaukee, WISN-TV. She also reported during the week's newscasts.
Kai worked at WKOW-TV in Madison, Wis., as news anchor of the weekend evening news before joining WISN in August 2004. She has served as anchor/reporter for television stations in Rockford, Ill., and Columbia, Mo.
Kai has also held news production roles at WLS-TV and WBBM-TV in Chicago, and at the London Bureau of NBC News.
A Chicago native, Kai has earned degrees in broadcast journalism and political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and is actively involved in the community, has served as an emcee and keynote speaker for several organizations, including the Boys & Girls Club.
You can see Kai reporting weeknights on "WBAL-TV 11 News at 10 on WBAL Plus" and on "WBAL-TV 11 News Tonight."


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Design submitted by Sam from Germany
Sam says: KAKU is a 12-5-9 concept that uses kanji with different stroke counts instead of numbers. The inspiration came when looking up a kanji in a dictionary. The kanji were sorted by components, reading and also the amount of stokes, that are required to write them.
The interesting thing when learning to write kanji is, the stroke count is not always obvious. 口 for example has three strokes, not four since the upper and right one are written in a single movement.
This watch is for people who are interested in Japanese and Chinese language. If you have studied kanji already, that's definitely an advantage. But don't despair, even japanese don't know the stroke order of every kanji. To help interpreting the kanji, I am suggesting an animation that builds up the time display stroke by stroke. Knowing the stroke order and the stroke count is needed to write kanji properly and to understand KAKU's display.
For aesthetical reasons, I only chose symmetrical kanji for this vertical display. It looks more stylish and interesting. I wonder, if any of these kanji compositions are actual terms in japanese or Chinese. It would be interesting to figure them out to give the display a deeper meaning. Right now, every number is represented by a random kanji of the according stroke count.
Here are some symmetrical kanji examples for each number:
1 一
2 二人十
3 三口土大山工干
4 中六天夫文日木父王
5 且凸凹出半古囚央未末本甘田由甲申皿目穴只旦
6 交全共合吉回因早曲米羊圭
7 亜呈困束来言谷貝車辛里串杏芙
8 具典卒固宜実幸昔東画舎苗金昌茉
9 冒品宣某査美茶草革
10 員宰害容益真華貢栗晋
11 曹異菓責黄黒爽菖菫
12 傘善富普晶替森業畳童貫貴買量喜
Zero is represented by a ・ which is not a stroke but a center dot and a commonly used character in Japanese.
Depending on the way, the kanji are pixelated, there can be found more symmetrical ones to create a bigger diversion or to really find existing kanji compositions.


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My friend gave me his spare computer and has been collecting dust in my room ever since. Though it's not better than the computer I am currently using, it is a decent computer as it is Pentium 4 computer. I want to tinker and/or see what I can do with this computer before I give it away for recycling, which is in 7 days.
Any suggestion of what I could do with this computer?


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French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve was having a crisis when I talked to him from Toronto recently.
"One of my kids lost his passport. I was about to kill him," he laughs. "The problem is that when something like this happens, you have to leave everything and find a solution quickly."
Villeneuve, who helmed the Oscar-nominated foreign language film "Incendies," could be excused for feeling some pressure. The father of three was dealing with two films being presented at the Toronto Film Festival, "Enemy" and "Prisoners," which is being released today.
His first English-language film release, "Prisoners" stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. The thriller revolves around the kidnapping of two young girls. Jackman plays the father of one of them, Kelly Dover, a carpenter and a survivalist with a bit of a religious bent. Gyllenhaal is Loki, a local police detective who is heading the investigation. Intent on finding the girl, Loki is also a by-the-book guy who is haunted by his own childhood, which is evident in a facial tic and his homemade tattoos.
Early on, a suspect (Paul Dano) is picked up but is quickly released because the police have no evidence he was connected to the case. This doesn't sit well with Dover, whom Jackman gives an intense hulking presence to. The carpenter, a recovering alcoholic, who feels that the police are running out of time soon decides to take action of his own.
The filmmaker says when he got involved in the movie two years ago, he told the producers that the main thing about the film would be the casting "because there are no small parts — all the characters are going to specific dark places."
He found some top-flight actors for the film, including Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, as well as Golden Globe-nominee Mario Bello and Oscar-nominees Viola Davis and Terrence Howard. Villeneuve says a lot of the "quality of the film is due to the quality of the acting," and credits Jackman and Gyllenhaal for digging into their roles, which aren't especially likeable.
"Hugh is such a powerful actor, and he was so generous," the director says. For the role of Loki, Villeneuve felt Gyllenhaal — who also stars in "Enemy" — could flesh out the part. "It was his idea to give the character a tic. Love it when actors bring little details to the history of their characters."
While the child abduction aspect is important to the story, Villeneuve says what attracted him to Aaron Guzikowski's script was that it "explored different points of view about how people would react when confronted with the idea of torture — whether you help with it or whether you shut your eyes and shut your mouth."
Originally set in Massachusetts, Villeneuve moved the action to the Pittsburgh area and notes that "Prisoners" is essentially an American story. "We could've made it into a Western about an individual not trusting his institutions who takes the law into his own hands."
Still, the filmmaker says he can relate to many parts of the story. "Right now French-Canadians are upset with our institutions. There is a lot coming out in the press about massive corruption. Montreal looks like the worst Italian city corrupted by the Mafia – it's ridiculous."


text: Frank Kumor sets the lyrical melody of Santana's "Bella" to a spirited samba. This versatile arrangement features the standard instrumentation of marimba 1, marimba 2, xylophone, vibraphone, and drumset, plus optional samba band. The addition of the optional surdos, tamborim, pandiero, and timbau parts gives the ensemble an authentic samba-school style. Performers are challenged both musically and technically through the combination of rhythmic syncopation, melodic flourishes, and opportunities for improvisation. This piece provides an excellent educational opportunity for students and makes an exciting addition to your program with an international flair.


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"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."
–Charles Dickens, Great Expectations


text:
By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press
Police found the children, some as young as 6, working deep in gold mines and cotton fields around Burkina Faso. They were unpaid and unschooled. Some were being sexually abused.
An international police operation has freed nearly 400 children from forced labor in the West African country and arrested 73 people suspected of child trafficking or forced labor, Interpol announced Thursday.
It was a rare victory against forced child labor in West Africa, which has some of the world's highest poverty rates. Young boys are often sent to work as hired hands in other people's fields or are employed in the numerous mines that dot the countryside. Young girls are frequently sent to work as maids in the homes of the urban elite.
The Interpol-organized operation in Burkina Faso, carried out Oct. 29-30, targeted children sold and forced into labor by traffickers.
Children were found working in extreme conditions, including down "narrow, airless mining holes," and receiving no pay or schooling, France-based Interpol said in a statement Thursday. Young girls were "often subjected to sexual abuse," it said.
The 387 children rescued were returned to their families or taken in by social services. The operation targeted sites around the capital, Ouagadougou, and Hounde and Bobo Dioulasso.
"Interpol will continue to work closely with all its member countries to identify and stop the exploitation of these innocent victims and help them regain the childhood they deserve," Henri Guida Blemin, of the police agency's human trafficking unit, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Interpol specialists trained local officials before the operation, in the hope they can dismantle child trafficking networks and prevent child labor in the future. The agency has carried out similar operations in other African countries since 2009.
Many thousands of children work long hours at often dangerous jobs in hundreds of primitive gold mines scattered through the West African bush. They slip down dozens of meters (yards) into mine shafts as narrow as manholes, or pound chunks of dirt and rub mercury in their hands to attract gold out of it. Child-mined gold is then bought by itinerant traders and trucked and shipped out to the world market.
The U.N. labor organization describes mining jobs as "one of the worst forms of child labor" and has worked for laws and agreements fighting it. More than 200 million children are estimated to be working worldwide, according to a 2010 International Labor Organization report.
Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.


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… and you thought all I focus on is history… humpf!
I keep telling people, electronically delivered history isn't simply a matter of a new platform (the Web) for a place to put stuff (aka the same old print media layout and design)… and this round of books in the pic above, being packed-up for the move, tells part of that other half of my interests in blogging… as well as other electronic means of delivering history. In the age of electronic delivery, you have to get out of the reading-for-print mindset. Yes, there are still traditional elements involved, but, the Web changes a great deal, and I don't just mean the mechanical function of delivery of content. Rhetorical approaches tied in with hypertext… well, it's deep, and I haven't been able to play much in that area over the past year and a half, but after the move… we'll see what happens.
A couple favs in here are Marie-Laure Ryan's Narrative as Reality, George P. Landow's Hypertext 3.0, Sharp, Rogers, and Preece's Interaction Design, Bolter and Grusin's Remediation, Redish's Letting Go of the Words… and, actually, in my car as casual reading (whenever I can find the time lately) is another Jay David Bolter book… Writing Space.
Even almost three years since graduating from my second masters, no… it's not history I consider for a PhD, but Writing and Rhetoric (method), while history serves purely as the material that is delivered through the method.


text:
41 had signed up but some couldn't make it unfortunately. In the end, a more manageable 23 turned up. Here's most of us as pictured afterwards in The Old Oak bar where we went for drinks and sandwiches.
I had a great time today, I think everyone else did too by their reactions. The day didn't go quite as I had planned. We met at the GPO at 2pm, waited a few minutes for stragglers and then just because it started to rain we headed to The English Market.
Half an hour or so there and people were making comments about the number of cameras so we walked up Oliver Plunkett Street and found the Globalfest Festival in full swing in Bishop Lucey Park!
It was great to walk through the park, the rain kept off, a stage play provided plenty of shots, and other activities and people did too. Off through the side gate and just as we got on to Tuckey Street, the heavens opened and rain poured down. Luckily the awning in front of Tribes was down. Good cover for all of us!
As the rain let up we headed towards the Grand Parade again, on the way to The Clarion for the end of the Lee Swim. We stopped at Nano Nagle Bridge to shoot the local scenery and then at the Peace Park (they've done a great job on that, much more open and visible than it was), and then off down South Mall.
The Lee Swim had started at 3pm, it was 3:35pm now and my brother Donal rang to say the swimmers would be on the home stretch now. I walked a little faster.
We got to the Clarion to find the last few dozen swimmers hitting home. The final swimmer was visibly suffering, doing the backstroke slowly against the current. When he finally slapped the target a huge cheer and clapping erupted from the crowd. He was helped into a Zodiac for the final trip to the quayside. There's no way I could do what they did. Amazing stuff.
Then it was off to The Old Oak. My wife and son arrived just as we did which was happy timing. We commandeered their back room and a few extra chairs. People got drinks, some of us had sandwiches, we all chatted, and the group photo was taken (by my wife Jacinta. Thank you!)
Thank you so much to Gary and the staff of the bar. Wish we could have stayed longer.
Great day, feet are very sore from the unaccustomed exercise, hope we can do it again this summer!
Edit – that was fast! Katie has started posting some photos from the walk already. Check them out on the corkphotowalk tag on Flickr. She's uploaded the same ones on pix.ie under the same tag too. Worth keeping an eye on that tag!
|Canon EOS 40D
|Focal length
|Shutter speed


text:
|Product Name
|Player Version Sporting CP 22/23 Third Authentic Jersey
|Item NO.
|0.3 kg = 0.6614 lb = 10.5822 oz
|Football> Primeira Liga> Sporting CP
|Sporting Lisbon
|Creation Time
1??Washing method Wash by hand, hanging to dry. Avoid machine wash and facing the sun exposure
2??Due to the differences in jersey brands and styles as well as errors in manual measurement, the real data may have an error of 1-3cm, which will not affect the size selection and wearing
3??Due to the shooting lighting, browsing equipment and other reasons, there may be slight differences between the color of the actual product and the picture, and there may be some differences in the materials and other aspects of the products of the same style but different colors.
4??The introduction of the products in this page is for reference only, and the specific information of the products shall be subject to the actual product.
No related record found


text:
Slow Dance: Obama's Romance With the CIA
How the president learned to stop worrying and love hard power -- as long as it's covert
Was there ever an unlikelier pair to be leading a team of elite warriors? The man up on the screen was a pudgy, avuncular Californian, Leon Panetta, with a lifelong passion for environmental causes--in particular, protecting marine life (as in fish, not jarheads). The president who was watching him from a secure room inside the White House, Barack Obama, had so inspired the world with his give-peace-a-chance rhetoric that he'd won a Nobel Prize after only eight months in office. Yet here they were, the two of them, about to take out the world's No. 1 terrorist, a task that all those bare-toothed Bushies had failed to accomplish.
The operation was CIA--that is to say, civilian. Though the Navy SEALs who carried it out were America's fiercest fighters (their commander, Adm. Bill McRaven, can "drive a knife through your ribs in a nanosecond," a colleague once said), the military had "loaned" Team Six to the CIA for this operation under Title 50 of the National Security Act. McRaven and the SEALs were in charge on the ground, but it was a supersecret unit within Panetta's Central Intelligence Agency that had been pursuing, almost alone, this particular quarry in a manhunt that had dramatically accelerated since President Obama took office. Charged by Obama to find Osama bin Laden at all costs, the CIA had managed to track the Qaida leader's chief courier to certain areas in Pakistan. And now, two years later, that painstaking hunt had led the agency to this moment--perhaps the greatest in the CIA's storied history--with Panetta giving the "go" for the op on Obama's direct orders.
Is 2012 Ron Paul's Time to Shine?
Raid on Bin Laden, Then Came 'Geronimo'
Can Obama Keep His Word on Iraq Withdrawal?
If you think it's an accident that the May 1 takedown of bin Laden occurred on Obama's watch, think again. The mission's success followed a meeting that included the president and his new CIA director in October 2009, as the administration reviewed its Afghanistan and Pakistan policy. As usual, the agency put together a wish list of counterterrorist activities for Panetta to take to the president: adding more predator drones inside Pakistan; enlarging the areas in which they operated; and opening new facilities in the country, including CIA safe houses like the one set up to observe bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. The CIA hoped it might get, as usual, about half of the 10 items it wanted. "But at the end of the day, the president told Leon, 'You're getting everything you want, all 10 things,' " said a senior administration official who asked not to be named.
To many career spooks, the flowering of the Obama-Panetta partnership has been a revelation. "Let's be candid," the senior administration official said. "Some people had arched eyebrows" at the beginning, especially when Obama named the 72-year-old Panetta, a fairly liberal Democrat who, along with Obama, had criticized the agency's interrogation practices and opposed the surge in Iraq. But Panetta "embraced the agency's mission, and the president recognized very early on the capabilities that the CIA had to bring to bear."
Some people may still be wondering: Is this really the president we elected? Obama, after all, was supposed to be the inspiring, transformational figure who would restore America's image as a benign superpower. What is being transformed, instead, is our image of Obama. As it turns out, he is no liberal weenie abroad, no typical Democrat with a passion for human rights and international law. In recent months, Obama has also disappointed many of his fans with his tepid support of Arab democracy protesters. His passions appear to lie elsewhere. What Obama seems enthusiastic about is the use of hard power--lethal force. And the more precise and deadly, the better.
As long as it's done covertly. And that's the key.
We had forewarnings of this. During the 2008 campaign, candidate Obama pledged to go after al-Qaida more aggressively than President Bush had; as far back as the summer of 2007, Obama had stirred controversy by saying he would even send troops into Pakistan if he had to. The bin Laden mission was only the most dramatic illustration yet of a growing, although sub rosa, trend. Obama has narrowed his strategic focus on terrorism, zeroing in on the most-dangerous terrorists who can't be rehabilitated, namely Qaida fighters; at the same time, he has dramatically multiplied the resources that his administration is devoting to the mission.
Consider: Although the administration does not publicly acknowledge the existence of the program, the number of Predator drone strikes on targets in Pakistan and elsewhere has more than tripled during Obama's presidency--and he is now making drones available to NATO in Libya. The U.S. has increased its intelligence and special-operations forces in Somalia, Yemen, and Libya. But even that is only a small part of the story. Under Panetta, the CIA has conducted "the most aggressive counterterror ops in the agency's history," according to the senior administration official. He has knocked off not only bin Laden but also a key operative in Somalia--Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, the leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in East Africa--using special-operations forces. The agency has gotten a long list of other terrorists with Predators (although the government has acknowledged, reluctantly, that the drone strikes have killed many innocents along with thugs and bandits). Obama also secretly authorized the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an influential radical cleric--and an American citizen--thought to be living somewhere in Yemen; the president apparently came close to getting Awlaki in the same week he got bin Laden.
Even some Republicans are impressed. "They have been very aggressive," Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told National Journal. "They have expanded the programs that worked" under the Bush administration. Bush himself raised the role of the CIA and special ops in 2008, when he loosened the rules of engagement in Pakistan to allow Predators to fly their deadly missions.
The Secret War
Obama's expansion has been so dramatic that it almost amounts to a whole new program. The "operational tempo" for such covert attacks is expected to increase even more in the next two years--as will the CIA's role under its incoming director, Gen. David Petraeus. As U.S. combat troops withdraw from Iraq and then, at least partially, from Afghanistan, senior CIA officials acknowledge that they will shoulder more of the war against the terrorists. The U.S. security presence in Iraq will center on clandestine action and surveillance overseen by the CIA. Afghanistan already has the agency's largest-ever presence in any one country, and when NATO evacuates in 2014, the agency will re-inherit a fight that it once owned. Even after U.S. forces depart, "do not expect a significant drawdown in CIA resources in Afghanistan," the senior administration official says. Currently, the CIA runs one drone program in Pakistan, and the U.S. military runs a separate one in Afghanistan; eventually, the agency will take up that burden as well.
Obama has also demonstrated a take-no-prisoners ruthlessness (literally) that has surprised even some inside the intelligence community. Whether it is because Obama simply wants to get the "war on terror" off America's front-burner as quickly as possible, or because the administration has not decided what to do with detainees, few, if any, senior militants have been arrested since he took office. Many have been killed.
One senior official inside the CIA is forthright about the issue, at least when speaking anonymously. "It's a lot simpler and easier for a sniper to shoot or to use a Predator to launch a lawful attack than to detain and interrogate prisoners," he says. "Once they're dead, then Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International doesn't bring a habeas [corpus] case for them. If we're not going to hold them, we're 'pure.' We may not have information or intelligence, but we do ensure that no one in the human-rights community is yelling and screaming at us." In addition, the official says, not dealing with detainees has freed up the agency's resources to focus on the hunt for more terrorists.
The policy also casts some on the left as hypocrites. A few longtime observers, such as Bill Roggio of The Long War Journal, think it's ironic that the Bush administration's policies provoked such controversy over torture and treatment, when Obama's sometimes harsher policies do not. "Why is it more humane to kill people than put them in a prison? But can you blame him? He's not getting any pushback on it," says Roggio, who suggests the reason has a lot to do with Obama's being a Democrat.
John Bellinger, who was chief counsel for the National Security Council and the State Department under George W. Bush, suggests that the Obama approach has mainly to do with the confusion over whether to try detainees at Guantanamo--which Obama had promised to shut down by now. "There does appear to be a conscious effort to avoid detaining members of the Taliban and al-Qaida, or at least to limit their numbers," Bellinger says. Harold Koh, a prominent Yale scholar who once inveighed against the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies, has found himself lampooned by some of his former colleagues since taking over for Bellinger at State. Much as the Bush team once did, Koh has merely asserted the "legality" of his boss's program.
Tom Malinowski, who runs the Washington office of Human Rights Watch (and occasionally advises the administration), disagrees that Obama is killing suspected terrorists to avoid imprisoning them. "There has been no case that I know about in which this administration used deadly force in circumstances in which the Bush administration would have tried to make an arrest," Malinowski says. "The drone attacks have taken place in parts of Pakistan and Yemen where taking prisoners was not an option." Asked whether Human Rights Watch supports Obama's policy, Malinowski replied, "We have not opposed the policy. The argument that I've made is, there are circumstances under which the use of lethal force to take out suspected terrorists would be justified under international law."
Still, Malinowski added, "I can't say every specific drone strike is lawful," and he acknowledged that the administration achieved a high-water mark of aggression with the bin Laden strike. "I think it's the first time they have killed someone, or launched operations where lethal force was the expected method, in a part of the world that is under the firm control of a stable government" and an ally, at that. Indeed, Obama had even prepared a U.S. force to battle the Pakistani military if Islamabad interfered with the bin Laden mission.
Apart from the killing of bin Laden, it's hardly clear that Obama's approach is effective, let alone ethical, most of the time. In the case of Nabhan, the Qaida leader in Somalia, U.S. special-operations forces apparently had the option to take him prisoner but were told to shoot, sacrificing not just a life but also a source of potentially valuable intelligence. In other respects, the policy simply may not be working. Those targets not marked for assassination in Afghanistan, for example, are often turned over to Afghan authorities when captured. As a result, U.S. military officials complain that they are rearresting the same jihadis in Afghanistan over and over, and several hundred recently escaped from a prison in Kandahar. Meanwhile, "collateral damage" from the massive drone campaign is responsible for hundreds of innocent casualties and is provoking new anti-Americanism; Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani native who tried to bomb Times Square a year ago, told authorities that he was motivated in part by the drone strikes.
Obama has been mostly lucky until now. A bin Laden-style raid can easily become a "Black Hawk Down" debacle, and this latest mission nearly did when Team Six lost a helicopter to equipment failure. A CIA safe house can remain secret, as it did in Abbottabad, or it can yield up a Raymond Davis, the agency contractor who almost scuttled U.S.-Pakistan relations when he shot two men in Lahore in January. "Will drone strikes become Obama's Guantanamo?" Bellinger asks. "What seems to be reasonable today--will it become anathema tomorrow? Where this could really go off the rails and throw the drone policy into a ditch is if they hit the wrong thing. And then, suddenly, this sort of clean program could become a major millstone around the president's neck."
Still, the New America Foundation, which tracks covert strikes based on news accounts, suggests that the administration is killing fewer innocents than its predecessor; since 2004, the foundation estimates that as many as 20 percent of the fatalities were "nonmilitants," but that in 2010, when drone strikes reached a height of 118 missions, the number was "more like 5 percent." A U.S. official familiar with the details of the program says even those numbers are high; since the beginning of 2009, she says, 180 strikes have killed 1,200 "militants," with only 30 "noncombatants" killed, none since the summer of 2010. The drone is "the most precise weapon in the history of warfare," she says.
What also remains unclear is whether Obama's covert approach to terrorism amounts to a formally thought-out set of principles. The White House won't say--the program is covert, after all--and the president has resolutely resisted tying himself to any template that might be misconstrued as a doctrine. Indeed, much of Obama's presidency has been about unwinding the damage from various iterations of the Bush Doctrine--the with-us-or-against-us message behind the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But today, says Seth Jones, an intel expert at Rand who works with the Pentagon, "it looks like perhaps the Obama doctrine is to respond to threats with a small footprint using intelligence and special-ops forces."
The reason for this shift is obvious. Obama has already gone through a politically and economically painful process of expanding the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan. In these budget-straitened times, after a decade of war and with little public appetite or resources for further military deployments, he understands that he's pushing up against the limits of American tolerance for sending U.S. troops anywhere in the world. Yet Obama has also come to believe that lethal action is necessary in many places--not just Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the Middle East and Africa.
No Vietnam Baggage
In the administration's first year or so, many critics said that the president was too untested and unformed on foreign policy. They were echoing what Obama's own secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had asserted during the 2008 primary campaign when she questioned her rival's readiness to deal with a foreign-policy crisis at "3 a.m." Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused Obama of "trying to pretend we are not at war" with terrorists. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden criticized the administration's decision to release the Bush-era torture memos, warning that it would embolden terrorist groups by letting them know "the outer limits that any American would ever go to in terms of interrogating an al-Qaida terrorist."
But Obama always had another approach in mind, according to national-security officials. He was concerned about interrogation methods, but not nearly as much as he was about removing al-Qaida from the battlefield. Although he clearly made mistakes early on--in particular, his pledge to close Gitmo--Obama quickly developed his harsh and rigorous focus on top Qaida leaders. Almost right away, he ordered Panetta to go after bin Laden, administration officials have said.
To some longtime observers and advisers, the president's apparent comfort with the use of force is not surprising. "He's of a generation that came of age after Vietnam, unlike, say, Bill Clinton," says a former campaign adviser who would discuss Obama's state of mind only on condition of anonymity. "He's not mired in self-doubt like so many who came out of the Vietnam experience. He doesn't carry all that baggage" of a failed war. President George H.W. Bush, after victory in the first Persian Gulf War, famously remarked, "We kicked the 'Vietnam syndrome' for good!" But Obama was only 14 when the Vietnam War ended; he suffered, at most, a brush with the Vietnam syndrome. Even in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, the president seemed to be admonishing the world that it was getting him all wrong, says former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., an intelligence expert who recently took over at the Woodrow Wilson Center. "Read his speech. He said there is genuine evil in the world, [and] where there is, we have to confront it. And that was in the toughest forum possible--he was getting the Peace Prize."
Obama is also following an old presidential pattern. One reason the CIA has been nicknamed "the president's agency" is that chief executives often turn to it. "It's more than diplomacy and less than war," says one veteran intelligence official. Stephen S. Kaplan, who recently retired after 30 years at the CIA and is a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, says that Obama is coming to the same realization as his predecessors--but with even greater enthusiasm. "Democrats always come in skeptical of the CIA. Republicans always come in saying, 'These are our guys.' The Republicans inevitably get disappointed, and the Democrats get increasingly impressed" as they realize that no other outfit else can perform the necessary tasks.
If an Obama doctrine is cohering, it's likely to become even clearer with the high-profile move of Petraeus to the CIA this summer and Panetta to the Pentagon. In the past, this celebrity general has managed to place himself at the center of the biggest fight out there. But Petraeus will be going about his new task with Panetta's staff and strategy, according to officials who have talked to both men. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that Petraeus told him that not only was he retiring from the military, he wasn't bringing any of his military staff with him. "He said, 'I'm going to be relying on the current staff at CIA,' which he knows is very well trained and very professional." Petraeus also has extensive experience with special ops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Harman believes that as a result of all these moves, the administration's policy will quickly shift away from traditional counterinsurgency--which targets both enemies and hearts and minds, and which requires a lot of troops--to a pared-back policy of covert counterterrorism policies, as advocated by Vice President Joe Biden. "When Petraeus switches to the CIA and Panetta goes from that to Defense, that combination, plus the focus of the [Counterterrorism Adviser John] Brennan-led team in the White House will increasingly come up with a CT strategy," Harman says. Bin Laden's death--and the pressure to withdraw from Afghanistan quickly--also accelerates the shift from counterinsurgency to smaller-force counterterrorism.
That is where warfare itself is going, says Bill Nolte, a former longtime official at the CIA and the National Security Agency. "Information is now just a much bigger part of the weapons set," he says. "That's the real issue. If you want to see it as competition between kinetic weapons and information weapons, a lot of kinetic weapons are depending on better information. We're not just dropping bombs from a B-17 with a circular probability. We're now filling the munitions themselves with information derived from a variety of sources." And that requires tighter CIA-military coordination than ever before.
Strikingly, Obama's approach has an ideological furtiveness to it: Even as he has hit Islamist terrorists hard, he has given Islam itself a broad pass. As the administration did with its recent national-security strategy--in which the enemy was identified only as al-Qaida and any reference to Islamism was left out--the Obama team seems eager to paint the Muslim world as largely blameless for the actions of a few deranged individuals. It is part of Obama's broader strategy of winning back the affections of the Islamic world while clandestinely knocking off the extreme elements within it.
The Perils of Secrecy
Are we, as a nation, comfortable with such a global covert war? The jubilation over bin Laden's demise buried a real discussion about it. What will happen as the CIA and special ops blend more operations overseas? The CIA operates under strict congressional oversight rules, but the military's special-operations forces do not. The mixed approach seems to have very little accountability, says Philip Giraldi, a former CIA counterterrorism official. He points to the "multiple stories" that came out about the bin Laden raid, perhaps the most visible and talked-about in special-ops history. "I have to think this was all being recorded in real time, and we still don't know the real story. As far as the drone strikes, I'm not sure how that's being managed. The whole thing is kind of scary," he says. "When I was in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, the station was loaded with special-ops guys and CIA paramilitaries. And, man, they weren't accountable at all. I wouldn't trust them to take the family dog around the block. They were kind of killers."
According to a senior CIA lawyer, the statutes reining in the CIA, which date from the famous Church Committee hearings of the 1970s, have set up effective procedures--but only for the CIA under Title 50 of the National Security Act. "Now, almost 40 years later, we're in a situation where the CIA has to go through this bureaucracy, and at the same time you have the [special-operations] military doing all sorts of things that present worse types of concerns with much less congressional notification." Chambliss, Rogers, and others on Capitol Hill say they are comfortable with having just the CIA under oversight strictures, which involve regular reporting, and they trust that Petraeus won't run afoul of them. Still, Rogers says, "I wish they wouldn't talk about it so much. It's just not healthy to talk about what specific things the agency is doing in country A or country B."
But is it healthy not to talk about it? Clearly, this is the CIA's moment as much as it is Obama's, coming after years of humiliation over bad intelligence calls on Iraq and elsewhere. Yet lack of accountability, whether in peace or war, has too often caused grief in American history, having contributed to the CIA's previous decades of mishaps, from the Bay of Pigs to the misguided assassination plots of the '70s. Today, even legal opponents of the current covert war admit that it's hard to bring cases when "no one knows who's on the target list," says Maria LaHood of the Center for Constitutional Rights. (One of the very few lawsuits against the drone program was filed in Pakistan by a journalist, Shahzad Akbar, whose son and brother were killed in a drone strike.) "I think targeted killing is an outrage legally, and an outrage politically," LaHood says.
LaHood is a minority voice, and, going forward, the CIA "will get the resources it needs," Chambliss says. That's all good news to Barack Obama, America's covert-power president. But it's reasonable to ask how long the good news can last--and if the costs of covert action will catch up to us.
Image: Navy via ABACAPRESS.COM


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Annie's Mailbox: Need Mother-in-Law Help
Dear Annie: I am married to an absolute angel. Unfortunately, her mother has been living with us for the past two years. Mom doesn't work, doesn't do much of anything around the house, doesn't cook or clean, and sleeps until nearly noon. We have to ask her to do things, just as we would a child, and then she responds as if we're scolding her.
Mom is only 54 and has no medical or physical problems that would keep her from working. She has worked, but can't keep a job. When her husband died, she lost everything because she never bothered to ask for help or advice. She believes that God will make a way for her. I have no problem with that, but God expects you to be willing to take the first step forward.
We don't want her on the street, obviously, and will continue to let her stay here. But we have no privacy and require extended trips just to feel normal. How do we encourage her to move on? -- Need Mother-in-Law Help
Dear Need: Mom is too young to be so useless around the house. Does she have mental health issues? Adult Attention Deficit Disorder might explain why she has so much trouble keeping a job. But regardless, she is not going to do anything about it if you and your wife don't set some rules and stick to them. Even volunteer work would give Mom a sense of purpose and a place to go every day. Your wife needs to be frank with her mother, saying that she loves her but needs her to contribute to the household in some form. Insist that she get counseling as a condition of staying, and your wife should ask to go with her for the first session to explain the issues to the counselor.
Dear Annie: Two years ago, my wife developed breast cancer. The cancer was removed, and we've been told she will be fine. We have been married for 41 years, and I am hoping for another 41. I love my wife more than words can say.
Since her brush with cancer, I have noticed that things that once might have incited a "discussion" no longer seem to matter. And I have discovered a number of maladies of my own.
I have, for instance, become "deaf" to certain things in our marriage. For instance, she used to say "you know" a lot. You know? Now I am just thrilled to hear her voice. Blindness has also invaded our house. Neither of us notices the petty annoyances that used to bug us. Our marriage is better now that we don't see so well.
We both have lost our ability to talk, as well. Once in a while, certain words -- hurtful words -- used to be thrown around carelessly. But now, neither one of us has the ability to say such things anymore. And I had no idea that cancer could make a person forgetful. I can no longer recall any of my wife's faults.
One thing that has not been affected, though, is my heart. It still races when I see her. It still flutters when I hear her voice. And it still skips a beat when we kiss. Why must we wait until it is almost too late to appreciate what we have -- and could have lost? -- A Little Wiser
Dear Wiser: We love this. Your words should remind all couples of what is truly important. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with our readers.
Dear Annie: I have another suggestion for "Not Anti-Social or Addicted to the Internet." A good place to meet folks is at a bowling alley. We have a lot of fun at our local one. They offer bowling, coffee and some prizes. It's not a regular league, just a fun time. He should check it out. It includes folks of all ages, although most range from 50 to 80. -- Bowler from Florida
"Annie's Mailbox" is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar. This column was originally published in 2018. To find out more about Classic Annie's Mailbox and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit Creators Syndicate at www.creators.com.


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Inspiring story of Jan Koum, a college drop out who started WhatsApp
Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp was born in a small village near Kiev in Ukraine. He was the only child of a housewife and a construction manager who built hospitals and schools. His house did not even have electricity.He led … Continue reading


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Haldane, John Scott
Haldane, John Scott, 1860–1936, British scientist, b. Edinburgh; father of John Burdon Sanderson Haldane. He made many important contributions to mine safety, investigating principally the action of gases, the use of rescue equipment, and the incidence of pulmonary disease. He devised a decompression apparatus for the safe ascent of deep-sea divers, and in 1905 he discovered that regulation of breathing is determined by the effect of the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood on the respiratory center of the brain. He studied barometric pressure on an expedition to Pikes Peak, Colo., in 1911. He founded the Journal of Hygiene, and his published works include Organism and Environment (1917), New Physiology (1919), Respiration (1922), and The Philosophy of a Biologist (1936).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Medicine: Biographies


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When a great SmartPak customer (who is now a good friend), Dr. Jeff Papows, mentioned he was taking over the management responsibilities of one of my favorite horse shows, which just so happens to be sponsored by SmartPak, I said "let me know how I can help." When he replied immediately "you can do the awards," I agreed quickly without really knowing what I had volunteered to do.
As Director of Awards and Presentations at the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament that took place recently in Hampton Falls, NH, I learned:
- Start early! This responsibility may end with showing up at the ring and handing out a pretty blue, red, yellow (you get the idea) ribbon and smiling for the photo. But it starts with ordering ribbons and prizes weeks before then taking inventory and sorting by day, by ring, and by class.
Here's what the media and awards tent looks like at birth:
- Got storage? If not – find it. You absolutely need a trailer on site – there's a lot of STUFF involved with handing out awards. This is the trailer on the property used to store ribbons, trophies, table linens, prizes from sponsors, catalogs from key sponsors like us (and there may be a case or two of beer in there if you look closely enough).
- Get to know your Show Manager and his team – FAST! Fess up early if you've never done this before and ask for guidance. Mike Belisle, Show Manager, and his posse of horse show management professionals including Rich Herrera and Lee Hughes were fantastic to work with. And all it cost me was an occasional hot cup of coffee or errand run for one of them stuck at the in-gate booths!
- Be organized! Get up early, get all the ribbons and prizes to the ring BEFORE the classes begin. With only two rings running you'd think that would be easy. So glad I got a golf cart that didn't quit.
- Have chap stick handy! Get ready to smile and smile some more, then keep smiling. Wednesday, day 1 of the show, let the photos and prizes begin and be grateful for super weather (until Friday). Photos courtesy of Ken Kraus, Phelps Sports.
- Get excited! So much fun to be able to hand over such gorgeous ribbons, trophies and prizes such as those awarded at the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament. Yup – even that scooter was donated by a local car dealership and if you were a Division winner you could get a key that could start the scooter and ride it back to the barn!
- Be ready to get up close to some seriously accomplished riders such as Peter Leone (a Team SmartPak rider), Darren Graziano, Leslie Burr Howard, Candice King, Kevin Babington, Paul O'Shea, and even international course designer Olaf Peterson, Jr. at the Meet & Greet panel where you could ask the riders any burning questions you may have had. Many young riders came asked who their favorite horse was, when they started riding, and why they still love to ride. Great fun and a lot of laughs!
- In between running between rings, enjoy the great riding. From the schooling area to the ring, amateurs to professionals, I so enjoyed watching the competition. Of course I'd rather be competing myself but this was just as much fun. This is Jeff Papows riding his beloved Eurostar, aka Merlin, in the Masters.
- Appreciate the comradery. What other sport can competitors share insights about their rounds to help each other ride the best course they can (and sometimes help find the right spurs for the round as well). Here's a shot of Allen Griffin helping out Kevin McCarthy before entering the Grand Prix ring.
- Enjoy the ride! Photo of SmartPak's CEO Paal Gisholt, Show Chairman Jeff Papows, and Team SmartPak rider Peter Leone enjoying the gorgeous day on Sunday before the Grand Prix.
Team Silver Oak included the fabulously talented Sharon Ricci, Jeff's right and left hands, who helped pull off a spectacular debut for the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament.
And being present in the ring to watch a recipient of the Children's Wish Foundation, one of the charities supported by the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament, being honored for her fight against a debilitating illness.
This is Ken Kraus of Phelps Sports handling the media that came on Sunday to cover the event.
Myself and Frank Waters, a talented announcer from Great Britain invited to the show to orchestrate and announce the exciting events on Sunday.
- And bonus tip #11 – tic tacs – yup – perfect for shaking in the air, behind your back, down on the ground to get an excited horse to pay attention, with ears pricked, for a beautiful photo. Have 'em plentiful and handy at every ring!
It was an honor to be part of such a fabulous team of management and organizers from the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament. I worked so much harder than I ever expected, but felt exhausted, gleeful and so very proud of the experience. With thanks to Jeff Papows, Sharon Ricci, and the entire Silver Oak team, I so hope to get invited back next year.


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*Wish I could have been there but Sara Austin, SELF's health director, was the team leader so I want to let HER take a turn at the wheel of my blog today. I'm SOOO proud to be part of this magazine!
Go Sara!* SELF has team spirit!
As the director of SELF's health coverage, I get to learn about—and help pass along to our readers—the latest and greatest in cancer prevention and treatment advice all year long. I like to think I do a little to fight cancer just by showing up for work each morning! But recently I started thinking that wasn't nearly enough.
One of the reasons I feel so lucky to work at SELF is the magazine's history as the co-founder of the pink ribbon campaign to raise awareness of women's cancers. It's a cause that couldn't be closer to my heart, having lost friends and both parents to cancer, but also having been inspired by so many of my cancer-kicking friends who have gone through breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical disease and gone on to mark their five-year survival, grow their family, tackle big new jobs and travel around the world. Isn't that what it's all about?
We all want to see more of these happy endings and fewer of the sad ones. That's why I joined a group of my colleagues to form Team SELF for the Entertainment Industry Foundation/Revlon Run-Walk, held each spring in New York and Los Angeles. Since 1994, the funds raised in the EIF Revlon Run/Walks in LA and New York have together distributed over $60 million for cancer research, treatment, counseling and outreach programs. As the organizers like to say, thanks in part to these funds, new treatments are being developed, lives are being saved and hope is gaining ground.
We gathered near our offices in Times Square early Saturday, leaving partners, kids and puppies sleeping soundly at home. Not everyone would welcome seeing their colleagues on a chilly weekend morning, but SELF is a special place! (I wore my SELF baseball hat; articles director Paula Derrow had loaded her iPod with the SELF playlist of the month.) We were all inspired to join the throng of thousands of people that had gathered and had fun reading the signs of support and custom T-shirts groups had made in support and celebration of their favorite survivors. After a pep talk from Jimmy Fallon, Times Square filled with millions of pieces of confetti and the racers wound our way uptown and through Central Park. By the time we reached the finish line, it was a perfect, sunny spring day, and everyone left home grateful for the experience.
I'm proud to share that Team SELF raised nearly $5,000 for the event's beneficiaries, which include Cancer Care, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the EIF National Women's Cancer Research Alliance. The Los Angeles event is May 7, so there's still time for you to sign up if you're in that area! Each individual participating at an event like this one helps make a difference—but it's going to take all of us working together to find the cure we need.