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Getting the Mix Just Right
It’s taken a few tries, but I got my sweet potato brownies recipe just right, with this last batch. OMG so good!
Because of the sweet potato, these taste a little bit different from regular brownies. But, if you’re a health-nut like me, you’ll love that they are chock full of nutrients AND they’re luxe and delicious. And I made sure that the sweet potato flavor is not overwhelming. Honestly, that’s the reason I had to fiddle with this, so much.
I’m thinking of making up a batch for Halloween, actually (which is tomorrow), so I have something relatively healthy on-hand, as a treat, rather than all the candy that’s going to be passed around.
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, No Baking Powder
There’s no flour in this recipe, so it’s gluten-free. And while butter is one of the main ingredients of regular brownies, there’s none in these, so it’s also dairy-free…unless you choose to have a glass of milk, alongside it, like I do. Up to you.
I don’t use baking powder, as I find that the eggs give it plenty of lift, so you don’t have to worry about corn starch or aluminum getting into your brownies, either.
There are vegan versions of this. If you want to go that route, I would recommend checking out this vegan sweet potato brownies recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie, which was the original inspiration for mine.
What Is In These Brownies?
- sweet potato (baked and pureed)
- coconut oil
- peanut butter
- chopped walnuts (topping)
- xylitol (or sweetener of your choice)
- sea salt
- unsweetened cocoa powder
Puree, Puree, Puree
I tried making these without pureeing the sweet potato, first, because I wanted to save time and energy. All I can say is “BLECH!!!”. I don’t know how y’all feel about textures, but I am very particular about them. Because I didn’t take the time and care to break up the fibers of the sweet potato, the mix came out stringy and that was a huge turnoff for me. Now, if you get your hands on a massive sweet potato, like I did, recently, you could get 3 cups of pureed sweet potato, which would last you for three regular batches, if you portion and freeze the extra. I can’t stress this enough: pureeing the sweet potato is essential for having the right (super luxe) consistency.
Coconut Makes it Extra Luxe
The coconut oil is a new addition to this recent batch of sweet potato brownies, because I felt that the mix needed a bit more moisture than the peanut butter and eggs were providing. I was concerned that it would taste like coconut, but what it did was help to balance out the assertive flavor of the sweet potato.
Moist and Cake-Like
Even though these sweet potato brownies don’t have any flour, the mix comes out sort of cakey. I think that’s from the starch in the sweet potato. You know how you can easily plow through a sheet of regular brownies, because they’re so light and mostly fluff? These are not that. In fact, I eat this brownie in a dish with a spoon, LOL. It’s very filling and more like a meal, than a snack or dessert. It tends to keep me satisfied for 3-4 hours, especially if I have it with a glass of milk.
So, another reason to treat this like a meal is that it is quite high in calories at nearly 600 per serving, according to Cronometer. But, look at what you’re getting, in each serving:
~ 20 grams of protein
~ 14.5 grams of fiber
32% daily iron
10% calcium (and that’s without any dairy)
15% vitamin C
32% vitamin A
~41 grams of (mostly) healthy fats, from the coconut and nuts
936 mgs of potassium (similar to two bananas)
Ruh Roh! Out of Peanut Butter?!
Any nut butter can be used in this sweet potato brownie recipe, because it doesn’t inform the flavor overly much. Peanut butter is the one that’s highest in protein, of all the nut butters. That’s one reason why I use it. I’m Flexitarian, so I try to get most of my protein from plants. I originally made this with almond butter and swapped that out for peanut butter, because a) I had so much of it in my pantry, b) almond butter is more expensive, and c) the protein content.
But, if you’re not concerned about that, you could swap out the peanut butter for cashew butter, almond butter, or whatever other nut butter you have on-hand and like the taste of. Don’t skimp on the nut butter, though, because it IS important for the lush consistency of the brownies, as well as balancing out the unique flavor of the sweet potato.
A Little Carby, but Worth It
There are 31 net carbs, per serving…which is a bit on the high side, but did I mention how dense and filling these are? That’s really not bad for a dessert, as long as you’re not doing keto. If you are, you could potentially have one of these before a power-lifting session, to give you enough energy FOR the workout. Or you could have it for a treat after lifting, to help repair and build your muscles. Or maybe you’d need to do some form of exercise for 30 minutes, to work off the carbs. But, if you love this recipe as much as I do? Totally worth it.
Tricks for Treats
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a food addict and I have a really hard time with anything sweet. Having a sheet of brownies around is really NOT a good idea for me, because I’m working hard to lose weight and heal my body.
This time, I was miraculously able to make this batch last over a number of days. What helped was baking it in two small glass storage containers. I ate one and froze the other serving, once it had cooled completely. I liked that I didn’t have to use any foil or plastic. I just popped the lid on the container and put it in the freezer. I was able to tell myself that that one was enough. That was a full serving. That boundary kept my food addict in check.
Alternative Baking Supplies
This mix is very very sticky and I’ve tried it with regular aluminum muffin cups. Let’s just say that I’m not doing that, again! It was a royal mess and much of my brownies got left behind. I also don’t think I would use paper muffin cups, for that same reason.
If you want brownies that will pop out, easily, for portability or whatever reason, I would recommend silicone baking molds, like these silicone mini fluted cake pans, by Bakerpan, on Amazon.
Small Ceramic Ramekins
I’ve been meaning to try baking the brownies in smaller ramekins, like these gorgeous red ones on Amazon, that come with lids (very important for storage).
If you want to use something that’s a little more elegant than glass dishes, this would be a lovely way to go.
Sweet Potato Brownies
You can save calories by doing any of the following:
Chopped Pecans: I've made these with chopped pecans on top, instead of walnuts, and they were delightful.
Chocolate Icing: For an extra special treat, bake these in cupcake liners, let them cool, and then spread melted Lily's sugar-free chocolate chips (whatever flavor you prefer) on top, in lieu of sprinkled walnuts.
Love and Blessings!


Little Hustle New York
Brooklyn’s Little Hustle sets vocal harmonies against shoegaze guitars and synth, with a love for 90s indie rock, psych,
riot grrrl, and danceable anthems for artists with day jobs.
Rebecca Keith: lead vocals and keys
Eli Jacobowitz: vocals and guitar
Michael Morini: drums
Markus Geisler: bass.
Streaming and Download help


Kelly Ripa, co-host of Live with Kelly and Ryan, is arguably one of the hardest working women on daytime television. Over the last few years of her career, she's won not one, not two, but five (!!!) Daytime Entertainment Emmys, all while raising three kids with her hubby, Riverdale star Mark Consuelos, and sticking to a crazy impressive wellness routine.
She works out four to five days a week for 60 to 90-minutes, and makes it a priority to get restorative sleep. But as a self-proclaimed "sleep struggler" and "light sleeper," getting a good night's rest doesn't always come easy. "I found that this year Mark took up snoring as a hobby," Ripa tells WomensHealthMag.com. To learn Kelly's go-to solution for dealing with her noisy bedmate, check out the video above. Then, shop her bedtime look and must-haves below.


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by Willie Lagarde
By March 11, 1945 we had seen several of our sister carriers hit and set aflame. As the war was winding down we all suspected the worst was yet to come as the Japs were getting desperate and intensifying the kamikaze attacks. As it turned out in the weeks ahead over a thousand men would die on Franklin and Bunker Hill alone.
Other ships crews sometimes called us the "Lucky Y" and I suppose luck had a lot to do with us still being alive but who’s to argue? Most of us didn’t dwell on the possibility of dying and if we had an option, most would have chosen death over getting f...ed up. If it was luck keeping us alive the luckiest of all days was upon us.
On the evening of this date I drew an anchor watch. It was the only one I ever drew and I pissed and moaned because they were going to show a Betty Grable movie and I wanted to see it.
Up on the foc’sle I could hear the crew whooping and hollering back on the hangar deck and figured Betty was showing off her million dollar behind and legs.
I stepped out on the "chains" platform to observe the angle of the anchor chain which would indicate if the anchor is holding the bottom. No angle or vertical meant the ship was free and drifting. As I moved out I heard a plane fly by that sounded like an OS2U, a float plane carried by the battleships and cruisers. I didn’t pay any attention to it because when the fleet was at anchor these planes were always flying around. It didn’t dawn on me that they wouldn’t be flying at night.
What happened next was an unforgettable (for me) example of the difference between the speed of light and sound.
I was observing the chain when the side of the ship began glowing a bright orange. As I began to wonder "what the hell is going on" I heard an explosion. That plane flying by was a kamikaze.
He passed close enough to our bow had I seen him I could have probably hit him with a baseball. He had his sights on Randolph which was anchored next in line to us a few thousand yards away. He passed up the forward part of Yorktown and the opportunity to kill several hundred Yorktowners including me.
He went on to hit the after part of Randolph causing 25 dead, 106 wounded.
General quarters was sounded along with the call for "special sea details". Some of us were confused not knowing which call to answer first. Needless to say pandemonium erupted on the hangar deck as those several hundred men scrambled to get to their battle stations.
It has been reported that the plane was twin engined but based on the sound I heard he must have lost an engine and was flying on one engine only.
Boy and girls at this point my memory doesn’t agree with dates given in the book; "Fighting Lady". Though I could be wrong, I stand by this theory.
For years I wondered why he chose Randolph when he almost had to fly over us to get to her.
I have never read it but I believe I have a theory. The repair ship Jason was along side repairing damage from the bomb hit we took earlier and the kamikazi pilot either couldn't make out Yorktown behind her or his options were limited when Randolph was a wide open target.
Our hangar deck was jam packed with men watching a movie and a bomb hit may well have killed all of them.
Join the discussion of Lucky Y in the Story Discussions.

domain: history


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This information was provided by the Job Accommodation Network Website.
Reading is a difficult task with ADHD. I tell people that I don't like to read. Maybe you have said this or heard the same phrase. The reason I don't like to read is because my brain can't concentrate on the words. It also is a little difficult to sit down and read when my body wants to move around.
When I try to read, I will spend 20 minutes reading a page a couple times before I realize that I have read the page many times. It is very frustrating and I feel a waste of time. Why should I sit there and read something that isn't processing.
This may be the same reason others say they don't like reading. The reading help tips listed above mention converting to audio.
I like audio much better. I still have to listen to it several times to get what is being said. The same problem with reading exists with audio. The information goes in while my brain is thinking about 20 other things.
Recently I have been doing a lot more reading. I also have been doing better with focusing and concentrating on what I am reading. A vitamin and mineral supplement combined with diet dramatically changed how my body and brain act.
I read and comprehend without reading paragraphs over and over again on every page.
What are causes of adhd? adhd causes? What causes adhd symptoms? You will learn all about this on this site.
Resources for reducing ADHD symptoms naturally and adhd coaching
Learn about how hemp cbd oil is helping this 7 year old with ADHD, Autism, ODD, and sensory processing disorder.
Read about how cbd oil helps a 9 year old boy with focus and school problems.
Hemp CBD Oil Helps 10 Year Old and 15 Year Old With Autism. Read more about these stories.

domain: psychology


text:
“The public roads were accurately divided by milestones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very little respect for the obstacles either of nature or private property. Mountains were perforated and bold arches thrown over the broadest and most rapid streams. The middle part of the road was raised into a terrace which commanded the adjacent country, consisted of several strata of sand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with large stones, or, in some places near the capital, with granite. Such was the solid construction of the Roman highways, whose firmness has not entirely yielded to the effort of fifteen centuries. They united the subjects of the most distant provinces by an easy and familiar intercourse; but their primary object had been to facilitate the marches of the legions; nor was any country considered as completely subdued, till it had been rendered, in all its parts, pervious to the arms and authority of the conqueror.”
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. 1), Edward Gibbon (1782).
Although the Roman road network supported commerce, its principal aim was to enable the Empire to maintain control over its widespread provinces by linking them to Rome,  and its outlying administrative and military centres (such as, in Britain, London, Chester, York and Hadrian’s Wall) to each other. By this means, armies, military supplies, government officials and communications could move as swiftly overland as was possible for the age.
From the earliest times, one of the strongest indicators of a society’s level of development has been the extent of its road system.
When the Romans first reached Britain in 55 BC, archaeological evidence in the form of imported wine and olive oil amphorae, and mass-produced Gallo-Belgic pottery suggests that a thriving trade had already developed between south-eastern Britain and the near Continent. There can be no doubt that the Romans found some form of roads, for the extent to which our Iron Age tribes had developed trading relations would have required them.  Such roads were probably little better than bridleways beaten out by travellers making their way as best they could from place to place, taking lengthy detours en route to cross rivers at fords, choosing high ground to avoid the bogs of the valleys, and deviating from a straight course wherever they encountered an obstacle. Nevertheless, they were adequate for meeting the meagre trading demands of the age.
In Julius Caesar’s account of his second visit to Briton in 54 BC, he mentions finding roads. Following a battle at a ford on the Thames during his campaign against the British king Cassivelaunus, Caesar mentions that Cassivelaunus sent out his chariots from the woods into which he had withdrawn, using all the well-known roads and paths to attack the Romans, who were then plundering the British crops and cattle.  From this and other evidence it is apparent that roads of a standard worthy of Caesar’s description as such did exist, and it is likely that parts of the later Roman-British road network were a consolidation and improvement of what the Romans found when they eventually invaded our shores in force.
Julius Caesar did not linger. It was not until 43 AD that the Roman conquest of Britain under the Emperor Claudius began in earnest, following which the Romans remained masters of the larger part of our island until c.410 AD, when the last of their military forces withdrew to help counter the increasing attacks by Germanic tribes along the Empire’s eastern borders.
During almost four centuries of colonisation, the Romans built cities and erected many private and public works, both civil and military, the remains of which attest to their skill and power as architects and civil/military engineers. They also constructed our first properly engineered roads, which, judging from archaeological evidence in the form of coins, they constructed mostly during the early period of their occupation. Features of the Romans’ major roads echo those of today’s motorways, for, unlike our later meandering roads, they followed direct ― but not necessarily straight ― routes, distances along which could be judged from milestones, while fresh horses, food and accommodation might be obtained from way-stations located at intervals.
At its height (c.180 AD) the Roman road network in Britain comprised over 2,000 miles of major roads in addition to thousands of miles of minor roads.  Archaeological evidence demonstrates that Roman roads were well constructed; the engineers who built them appreciated the need for a solid, load-bearing foundation that needed to be kept dry, and thus firm. Following their departure from our shores these principles were forgotten until rediscovered by our military (for we too built military roads, to subjugate the Jacobite Scots) and civil road builders of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The common features of Roman roads were a metalled surface (e.g. gravel, or sometimes paving slabs ) laid on a compacted foundation of earth and stone between drainage ditches. This arrangement varied in width from, for minor roads, some 15 feet, to twice that for major roads. However, construction did not follow a hard and fast rule, but varied according to the builder, when the road was built, the types of building materials readily available, and the road’s importance. The author of Robinson Crusoe had occasion to observe Roman road construction during his tours of Britain; he was impressed with what he saw:
“The causeways and roads, or streetways of the Romans, were perfect solid buildings, the foundations were laid so deep, and the materials so good, however far they were obliged to fetch them, that if they had been vaulted and arched, they could not have been more solid. I have seen the bottom of them dug up in several places, where I have observed flint stones, chalk stones, hard gravel, solid hard clay, and several other sorts of earth, laid in layers, like the vein's of ore in a mine; a laying of clay so as solid binding quality, then flint stones, then chalk, then upon the chalk rough ballast or gravel, till the whole work has been raised six or eight foot from the bottom; then it has been covered with a crown or rising ridge in the middle, gently sloping to the sides, that the rain might run off every way, and not soak into the work. This I have seen as fair and firm, after having stood as we may conclude, at least 12 or 1600 years, as if it had been made but the year before.”
A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, Vol. II. by Daniel Defoe (1725).
With the exception of motorways and trunk roads, most British roads today are sinuous, although Chesterton’s poem probably doesn’t reflect the true cause:
From The Rolling English Road, G.K. Chesterton (1913).
In contrast, Roman roads were definitely not of the reeling, rolling and rambling variety, although the common belief that they always followed a perfectly straight line over hill and dale is an exaggeration; it is truer to say that they were direct, rather than straight:
“In an open country like much of the south of England, the general course of the Roman roads is often wonderfully direct, perhaps not deviating more than a quarter or half-a-mile from an absolutely straight line in 20 or 30 miles. But even here between the extreme points there are many pieces of straight road not quite in the same line, and where a difficulty, such as an unnecessary crossing of a river, or a steep hill which need not be passed over, could be avoided by leaving the straight line, it was generally done. Where steep-sided valleys had to be crossed the road winds down and up, and resumes the straight line on the other side. In a broken country, or along valleys, a winding course to suit the ground was usually followed, and in a hilly country straightness is sometimes not a characteristic at all.”
Roman Roads in Britain, Thomas Codrington (3rd edition, 1918).
Of equal importance to road engineering is that of maintenance and repair. Much is known about the centralised road administration that existed in Italy, but application of the Italian model to Roman Britain is a matter of conjecture. If it was followed, it is likely that Roman trunk roads were managed nationally.  Financing public road building would have been a government responsibility, but the responsibility for regular repair and maintenance rested with designated imperial officials, the curatores viarum. These officials were tasked with fund-raising, for which there were a number of methods available. The local civitas (county) authorities through whose territory the road passed would be expected to contribute to its repair, as would citizens with an interest in a road; high officials might distribute largesse to be used for roads; and the censors (who were in charge of public morals and public works) were expected to contribute to repairs from their own resources. In towns, citizens were expected to pay for the maintenance of the road outside their property.
THE DARK AGES.
It is impossible to estimate accurately the full extent of our Roman road network,  for following the Empire’s departure from our shores, the military and administrative purposes for which their roads had been the essential infrastructure ceased, and in the following centuries our Roman roads fell into decay. The materials from which they were built were sometimes dug up and used for other purposes, sections of road sank into the ground or were washed away through lack of maintenance, sections were ploughed up for agricultural use, and on those routes leading to Roman outposts that no longer served any purpose, nature soon regained control and vegetation forced its way through the road bed until it was entirely consumed by undergrowth . . . .
From The Way through the Woods,
It is generally accepted that no roads of the solid construction and straight alignments of those of the Roman were built until well into the eighteenth century (see chapter 10). That said, some Roman roads did continue in use until long after the end of Roman rule, although not in the condition in which the Romans left them:
“The Laws of Edward the Confessor recite four of these great roads, Ermine Street, Watling Street, Icknield Street, and Fosse Way, as especially under the King’s peace, and relate that two of them ran lengthwise of the kingdom, two across. Three of these were recognized in the reign of William the Conqueror. Ermine was the great northern road which ran from London to Lincoln and thence on to North Britain; Watling Street ran north-westward from Dover and neighbouring ports through London and the heart of the country to Wroxeter (Uriconium) and North Wales; Icknield Street ran southwest from the country of the Icent eastward of Cambridge to Devon, connecting with Fosse Way not very far from Exeter.”
Roman Roads in Britain, from The Geographical Review, Volume 11.
The laws this extract refers to seem chiefly aimed at preventing robbery and establishing these four former Roman roads as public property by extending to them the privileges of pax regis, the King’s Peace.  A further point to mention is that these road names (e.g. Watling Street) are not Roman; in contrast to surviving routes in Italy and in other Roman provinces within Western Europe, the original names of our Roman roads are not known through lack of written and inscribed sources. The names we have today were acquired during the early Middle Ages, and are of Welsh or Anglo-Saxon derivation.
During the two centuries following the Roman departure, England was invaded, first, by Germanic tribes referred to collectively as the Anglo-Saxons; then, towards the end of the 8th Century began further waves of invasion by peoples mainly from Denmark. Collectively known as the Vikings, these later invaders settled in the north and east of England.
A gradual outcome of the battles fought between Anglo-Saxons and Vikings during the 9th and 10th centuries was that England became unified under one king. In 927, the Anglo-Saxon Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, became the first king of England. The line of succession then continued — alternating between Anglo-Saxon and Danish families, and with some disruptions — until ended in 1066 with the Norman conquest of England. But it is from the late Anglo-Saxon period that English law began to develop.
Under the Anglo-Saxons, landowners were required to yield to the king three services referred to collectively by historians as the trinoda necessitas (or simply trinoda). These were ‘bridge-bote’ (the repair of bridges and roads), ‘burgh-bote’ (the building and maintenance of fortifications), and ‘fyrd-bote’ (service in the militia, known as the ‘fyrd’ ). Rulers rarely exempted subjects from their obligations under the trinoda necessitas, because the provision of these services was the lifeblood of the kingdom. Thus, there was an obligation on landowners to maintain bridges and roads, although by this date, in speaking of roads, we must disregard the Roman road with its cambered metalled surface and drainage ditches. The purpose of a road was no longer to permit distances to be covered as quickly as possible for governmental purposes, as it had been under Roman rule, but to connect the increasing number of inhabited places with each another. To the people of England in this and succeeding centuries, a ‘highway’ meant nothing more than a legal and customary right of way, from place to place, across the lands of others, what in law today would constitute an ‘easement’.
An artist’s impression of an unmade road in wet weather.
Thus, by perpetual use, a well-trodden track was formed; this was the
‘road’, while the ‘highway’ was the legal right of passage along it.
If the track became too bad to be used, the traveller could simply move
onto the adjacent land, whether cultivated or in grass. As the
roads of this age were used almost exclusively by man and beast, and as
this liberty of changing the path would only need to be exercised during
wet weather, when the track became an impassable mire, the practice was
not the serious detriment to local farming interests that it would be
to-day. Indeed, it suggests that rather than repair a road by
filling in potholes and clearing drains, the problem was simply bypassed
in the same way that by-passes were built in more recent times to avoid congested town
centres (Tring being an example).
But despite the lack of a hard, well-drained road surface, reasonably fast journeys do appear to have been possible. In 1066, King Harold’s army in returning from its victory over the Vikings at Stamford Bridge, marched from York to London in a week or less, while in later periods our medieval kings (particularly John) with their large retinues routinely managed twenty miles a day while moving from one royal residence to the next.  Nevertheless, passable roads continued to depend on dry weather.
Prior to the Norman Conquest, land was considered the absolute property of its owner and not subject to any rent, service (excepting the trinoda necessitas), or acknowledgment to a superior. But under Norman feudalism the allodial lands that had characterized much of Anglo-Saxon land ownership were removed. All land became the property of the crown and was held in exchange for whatever services or labour a tyrannical monarch or lord chose to impose on his underlings.
So far as the traveller was concerned, the Norman Conquest brought change. Under the Anglo-Saxons, the sovereign was considered the guardian of public property; thus, all public roads and bridges were considered his, and he had a duty to enact services for their preservation as part of the trinoda necessitas. Under the feudal system imposed by the Normans, the emphasis changed from promoting the common good to augmenting crown revenue. Thus, tolls — known respectively as ‘passage’ and ‘pontage’ — were levied upon travellers and their goods as they passed through certain manors and over certain bridges. The erection of new bridges built with a view to collecting pontage for purposes other than for its maintenance and repair must have become a particular grievance, for an exemption from it is included in Magna Carta (1215) “. . . . that neither a town, nor particular person, shall be distrained or compelled to build bridges, or embankments to rivers except those which are of old time, and by right of special contract, tenure, or prescription, obliged to it; and that none be compelled to make new bridges, where none ever were before, otherwise than by act of parliament.”
The earliest legislation specifically affecting our roads was enacted during the reign of Edward I. The Statute of Winchester (1285) recognised the upkeep of roads as a manorial obligation, the responsibility for which fell upon the tenants, who could be ordered by the Court Leet to scour their ditches and remove obstructions. But in other respects the Statute appears to have been aimed more at crime prevention than road maintenance, for it required “that highways leading from one market town to another shall be enlarged where as bushes, woods, or dykes be, so that there be neither dyke nor bush whereby a man may lurk to do hurt within two hundred feet of the one side and two hundred feet of the other side of the way”, so allowing room for detours around ruts and other obstructions. How well this obligation was discharged — and to what extent it was enforced by the Court Leet when it wasn’t — remains generally obscure. But from what is known about the extent of travel in this period, the law appears to have been reasonably effective in operation, for . . . .
“The innumerable local markets, and still more, the periodical great fairs, must have required huge concourses of travellers from longer or shorter distances. We get, in fact, from Piers Plowman and Chaucer, from the municipal and manorial records, and from the pictures of the period, a vision of a really enormous amount of ‘wayfaring life,’ which seems to indicate the existence all over the kingdom of quite passable bridleways. Of wheel traffic, indeed, there was comparatively little, and that of the most primitive kind. Every one travelled on foot or on horseback, and nearly all goods were carried on the backs of animals. Heavy materials were taken by water, going by small boats far up the most insignificant streams.”
English Local Government: the History of the King’s Highway, Webb (1913).
Economic changes during the 12th and 13th centuries — principally cash payment replacing payment in kind — resulted in the feudal system falling into decline. Some serfs, by engaging in trade, were able to substitute payment in cash for their feudal obligations, thus becoming tenant farmers. This gradual change was hastened by the Black Death (1348-50), with its attendant increase in labour costs, and the Wars of the Roses (1455–1485), which weakened the nobility; indeed, the accession of Henry VII in 1485 and the commencement of the strong Tudor monarchy is generally accepted to mark the end of the Middle Ages.
During the two centuries following the Black Death, there was a gradual decline in travelling; as the use of roads diminished, so did the resources applied to their maintenance. This decline can be attributed to several causes:
i. the Black Death reduced the population of England by upwards of 30%, thereby reducing numbers of road users;
ii. the Wars of the Roses resulted in a redistribution of property and a consolidation of the landed estates, which resulted in less travelling to and fro by the aristocracy and their retainers;
iii. with the dissolution of the monasteries and the break with Rome, pilgrimages and journeys to Rome connected with appeals to the Pope ceased. Bands of travellers making pilgrimages also gradually declined;
iv. the agricultural revolution, with its substitution of livestock for arable cultivation, meant that less farm produce needed to be carted to market.
These factors had the effect of reducing the number of human travellers, while increasing the number of beasts being driven to market, beasts that preferred the soft-going of an otherwise bad road surface for waggoners (the roads used regularly for those particular trades sometimes acquired the names of ‘sheepdrove’ or ‘oxdrove’, while trades in malt and in salt resulted in roads named ‘maltway and ‘saltway’). Thus, by the sixteenth century, road maintenance that had been carried out by the manorial estates had diminished, while those who acquired the monasteries following their dissolution felt less inclined than their more pious forbears to fulfil that obligation. To fill the gap, more importance began to be placed on the gifts of individuals and corporate bodies, such as boroughs and craft gilds, but this did not halt the decline in the quality of main roads.
In this period we see the first Acts of Parliament aimed at placing bridge and road maintenance permanently on a national footing. Indeed, some of the provisions laid down in these Acts, together with later modifications, applied well into — and when concerning the role of the parish, almost throughout — the nineteenth century.
First came the Bridges Act of 1530. This was designed to safeguard the upkeep of bridges, which at that time were often of timber construction requiring regular maintenance and repair. In essence this Act:
i. empowered Justices of the Peace, where necessary, to arrange for the repair or rebuilding by, or at the expense of, those who were responsible for their maintenance; but in cases where the maintainer could not be established . . . .
ii. the cost was to fall on either the inhabitants of the town or city where the bridge was situated, or, if it lay outside a town, then the shire or riding as a whole, and in such cases . . . .
iii. the Justices of the Peace were empowered to take measures for taxing every inhabitant in the area for a reasonable sum to cover the cost of the work required, and to appoint two surveyors to oversee the work.
Then in 1555 came The Highways Act. This placed the burden of maintaining those sections of roads within parish boundaries that ran to market towns — in effect, main roads — on parishes. It also placed the supervision of road maintenance on an elected surveyor.
In essence, this Act required every parish, each year (in Easter week), to elect “two honest persons” of the parish to serve as ‘Surveyor of Highways’, and they were to be responsible for putting the Act into effect. The Surveyors were, in turn, to announce in church on the first Sunday after Easter, four days (which had to fall before the 24th June) on which highway maintenance was to be carried out, and during those four days the entire parish was to work on highway upkeep. The Act stipulated the contribution that each parishioner was to make:
i. every person, for every ploughland [an area of land] they held in the parish, and every other person keeping a draught [a ploughing team] or plough there, was to provide a cart or wain [a type of horse- or oxen-drawn, load-carrying vehicle, used for agricultural purposes] equipped for the work, and two able-bodied men, on a penalty of 10s per draught. The Surveyors could, at their discretion, require a further two men instead of the cart;
ii. every other householder, as well as every other cottager and labourer free to labour, was to send themselves or a substitute able-bodied labourer to work for the four days, on a penalty of 12d per day apiece. All labourers were to provide their own equipment, and bound to work for eight hours each day upon the roads.
In 1562, under Elizabeth, the provisions of the Highways Act were extended, the statutory period of work being increased from four days labour per person to six.  Surveyors were empowered to take debris from quarries and to dig for gravel without the landowner’s permission, and Justices of the Peace at Quarter Sessions were empowered to investigate and fine surveyors in cases where they were in dereliction of their duties. But despite the threat of legal sanction there was little incentive for the six days to be spent in useful toil; and, unsurprisingly, the surveyors were rarely up to the task:
The Development of Transportation in Rural England, W. T. Jackman (1916).
Even a cursory study of the history of roads quickly reveals a self-evident truth, that all developments create two crucial administrative problems — who is to do the work and who is to pay for it? In this respect the law failed to recognise that a road maintenance plan that focused on the parish as the administrative unit, placed the burden on an organisation geared towards addressing parochial problems, not those affecting long-distance travellers passing through the parish on their way to distant towns and cities. Many rural parishes could not at any rate afford to maintain the sections of main roads within their boundaries, even assuming that those on which the task fell knew how to accomplish it. This problem only disappeared — and even then, gradually — with developments in central and local government administration, and in taxation and finance, which only took place during the second half of the 19th century.
The Great North Road, showing its ploughed up condition in the pre-turnpike age.
“Our High-ways and Bridges are at this present grown into great decay, and very dangerous for Passage, We have upon due examination found, that the said Decays are occasioned by the common Carriers of this Realm, who for their singular and private profit, do now usually Travail with Carts and Wagons with four Wheels, drawn with eight, nine, or ten Horses or more, and do commonly therein carry sixty and seventy hundred weight at one burthen at one time, which burthen and weight is so great and excessive, as that the very Foundations of Bridges are in many places thereby shaken, and the High-ways and Cawseys Furrowed and Ploughed up by the Wheels of the said Carts and Wagons so overladen, and made so deep, and full of dangerous Slows and Holes, as neither can Passengers Travail thereby in Safety, nor the Inhabitants or Persons by Law bound to repair them, be able to undergo so great a charge.”
From A proclamation To Restrain the Excessive Carriages in Wagons and four-Wheeled Carts, to the destruction of High-ways, 16th August 1661.
But this did not address the shortcomings of each parish’s annual road maintenance bash, because the . . . .
“. . . . quantum of labour might have been sufficient, or nearly so, at the time of its enactment, for the intended purpose; but as traffic still farther increased, and heavier carriages were adopted, wider and stronger roads became necessary, requiring more labour to make and repair them, than the laws enforced, or could be reasonably demanded; and also the want of a more general and effectual superintending power — in process of time rendered the former provisions quite inadequate for maintaining the public roads in sufficient repair. This caused turnpikes to be resorted to, by levying tolls either to defray the expense of repairing the former roads, or to remunerate those who embarked their money in making new lines.”
Strictures on Road Police, by William Grieg (1818).
Thus, even important roads fell into a shocking state of disrepair. In his biography on the civil engineer Thomas Telford, that doyen of Victorian biographers, Samuel Smiles, describes one dreadful section of road thus:
“As late as 1736 we find Lord Hervey, writing from Kensington, complaining that ‘the road between this place and London is grown so infamously bad that we live here in the same solitude as we would do if cast on a rock in the middle of the ocean; and all the Londoners tell us that there is between them and us an impassable gulf of mud.’ Nor was the mud any respecter of persons; for we are informed that the carriage of Queen Caroline could not, in bad weather, be dragged from St. James’s Palace to Kensington in less than two hours, and occasionally the royal coach stuck fast in a rut, or was even capsized in the mud.”
We need to return to the earlier century to encounter what was to prove the beginning of road improvement, the first ‘turnpike’ road. The name ‘turnpike’ is derived from a defensive frame of pikes that can be turned to allow the passage of horses, although in the context of road administration the name refers to a gate set across the road, which is used to halt traffic until the appropriate toll is paid to the gate-keeper.
The first such scheme was intended for use on a section of the Great North Road (London to York and Edinburgh, forerunner of the A1) which had become “very ruinous”. The extent of the measures necessary to return the road to a usable condition were such that they required money, together with an Act of Parliament to provide it. The Act’s Preamble informs the reader that . . . .
“. . . . the auntient Highway and Poast Roade leading from London to Yorke, and soe into Scotland, and likewise from London into Lincolnshire lyeth for many miles in the Countyes of Hertford, Cambridge and Huntington, in many of which places, the Roade, by reason of the great and many Loades, which are weekly drawne in Waggons through the said places, as well by reason of the great Trade of Barley and Mault, that cometh to Ware, and so is conveyed by water to the City of London, as other Carriages, both from the North parts, as also from the City of Norwich, Saint Edmunds Bury, and the Towne of Cambridge to London, is very ruinous, and become almost impassible, insomuch, that it is become very dangerous to all His Majesties Leige people that passe that way.”
An Act for repairing the Highwayes within the Countyes of Hertford Cambridge and Huntington (15 Car. II., C. 1, 1663).
Although it only applied to a section of the Great North Road, and its impact was by no means immediate, this Act turned out to be the precursor of many similar turnpike Acts. Between them, they were to have a far-reaching impact on road transport by turning road building and repair into a business that better harnessed administrative and technological advances. Until the growth of public railways began in the 1840s, turnpike trusts were to lower transport costs, reduce journey times, and improve the quality of service for all road users through building straighter and wider roads, better wearing road surfaces, and easier gradients.
The earlier conditions of six days statute labour per annum, per parishioner — or a cash sum in lieu — spent on road repair, remained in force from earlier Acts, as did the appointment of surveyors, although the local Justices of the Peace took over this task from parish councils. Thus, the answer to who was to do the job? remained the same; the big change was who was to pay? ― the road user.
Although ‘pavage’ grants had been used for maintaining some main roads from as early as the 14th century, they had been of limited duration, usually three to five years. Under the terms of the 1663 Act, which at first remained in force for 11 years, surveyors were authorised to raise money by charging road users according to a scale of tolls set out in the turnpike Act . . . .
|… … … … … … … … …
|… … … … … … … … …
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|… … … … … … … … …
|Foe each score of
|sheep or lambs
|… … … … … … … … …
|oxen or neat cattle
|… … … … … … … … …
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. . . . and they were also permitted to raise loans against the security of the tolls to be collected, all the proceeds to go towards the costs of improving and maintaining the road.
That said, the 1663 Act was to have had limited success. There is no evidence that it was implemented for more than a short period in Cambridgeshire, and never in Huntingdonshire. But on the Hertfordshire section of the road, conditions improved to the extent that the formerly impassable road was described as being “to the satisfaction of all who travel that way.”  In 1665, the term of the Act for Hertfordshire was extended from 11 to 21-years,  but the Act was not renewed when it expired, leaving the road to return its previously “impassable” condition. Thus, in 1692, the powers of the justices were revived and continued by two further Acts, until, in 1733, the administration of the road was placed in the hands of a board of trustees and with this change commenced the turnpike era proper.

domain: geography


T-shirt inspired by prehistory and in particular the typical rock engravings of Valle Camonica (first UNESCO site recognized in Italy!), where our brand originated.
High quality T-Shirt, entirely produced in Italy, from design, to the choice of yarn, up to manual screen printing.
100% Ring-Spun cotton
Weight: 140 g/m²


text:
"In 1883, while I was in St. Louis, a convention was held there of the Catholic Knights of America, a social and insurance organization of Catholics, at which I was present as an onlooker. Upon my return to my parish in Central City, Colorado, I organized a branch of the society, and the following year had enough branches to organize a state council. For many years I was the state representative to the Supreme Councils, and on some of these occasions I had an opportunity to visit Kentucky."
View Full Passage Here (part 1)
View Full Passage Here (part 2)


text:
At Sāvatthi, a son of a certain bourgeois man was born with an extremely ugly appearance: his mouth was wide open, his nose was sunken and sunken, his eyes were large and small, his body was short, and his whole body was black. like ink, the voice is as rude as the sound of a pig, the bigger it is, the more it looks like a demon, called the Beast.
She was hated by her parents, and eventually kicked out of the house.
At first, the Beastman went to beg for a living, but when people saw his demonic appearance, they were afraid to run away, no one dared to come near to give food. So, reluctantly, he had to hide in the deep mountains of the jungle, pick forest fruits, drink spring water to live through the day.
Poor Man, living in the depths of the forest could have been safe, but even the animals in heaven or on earth seeing how ugly he was, were afraid and shunned him. He was like a savage forest man, living only a dark life without any light.
The Buddha, with full divine vision, knew the situation, so he brought the monks into the mountains and forests to prepare to transform into a human being. But when he saw the Buddha coming, he quickly ran away. The Buddha then used miraculous powers to make him unable to run so he could not hide anywhere, standing in shock among the trees, not understanding what had happened to him.
Buddhist Fairy Tales: True Wealth
At that time, the bhikkhu-stilts were all sitting in the middle of meditation under the trees, the wind was blowing, the leaves were scattered around them, it was an out-of-the-ordinary scene.
The Buddha immediately transformed into an ugly person, dirty body, not a demon, not a demon, as ugly as the Puppet, holding a bowl full of food, slowly towards him. Confused, suddenly seeing an ugly person approach, at first the Beast Man was surprised, but then in his heart of joy, involuntarily exclaimed:
– This person is really my friend!
After saying this, he approached the ugly man and said:
– We are both ugly and unsightly, equally lonely, just make good friends, don’t you agree?
– Agree, but you and I must cooperate and treat each other like brothers. First of all, I would like to give you the food in this bowl.
The man who finds a soul mate is infinitely happy, without any politeness, sharing the food in the bowl with his new friend.
Having just finished eating, the Buddha’s transformation suddenly turned into a virtuous and handsome man, surprising Xun and asked:
– How did you suddenly become so dignified?
The benevolent chemistry replied that:
– It is not surprising, when I ate the food just now, I used a kind and respectful mind to look at the monks sitting in meditation. Through the blessings of that reverent mind, I became virtuous.
– Is that the method or not? Being ugly is so hard, I aspire to be as virtuous as you.
– Then you just try it like me!
Buddhist Fairy Tales: One Word of Evil, One Hundred Years of Suffering
As if catching the wonderful happiness, the Nun immediately aroused the heart of repentance and the mind of joy, without a shadow of a doubt, using his good eyes to contemplate the bhikkhus sitting in meditation under the trees.
The Buddha then restored to his original form with 32 good generals and 80 beautiesHis light shines everywhere like a hundred thousand suns, causing the Beasts to automatically kneel before Him, bowing down and saying:
– Perhaps in the past I have ridiculed and ridiculed the monks who practice, so I reap the ugly retribution today. I want to leave home to study the Way to repent of my mistakes first.
– Very good! The Buddha said happily. I approve for you to become a monk, to be my disciple.
When the Buddha finished speaking, Xu’s beard and hair naturally fell off, the Dharma robe was naturally put on his body, incarnated in the form of a bhikkhu, and also received Buddha sermons suitable for listening. He practiced diligently, soon attained Arahantship, no longer afflicted by his ugly appearance.

domain: literature


text:
Agitating Kingfisher pilots unfazed by shutdown threat
05 March 2012
Kingfisher Airlines on Sunday sought to damp down the talk that it may shut down if its long-unpaid pilots don't stop agitating, saying it is in talks with tax authorities to get its accounts unfrozen so that it can resume payments.
The airline said in a release today that at no time was shutting the airline suggested. ''Our CEO met with a group of pilots to appeal not to stay away from flying duties, which would potentially affect the operating schedule,'' it said.
At a meeting on Thursday, Kingfisher chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal had warned the pilots that the airline could shut down if they don't resume duties.
''Aggarwal met a group of pilots to appeal to them not to stay away from flying duties, which would potentially affect the operating schedule. At no time was there any suggestion that Kingfisher Airlines would shut down,'' a statement by Prakash Mirpuri, vice-president (corporate communications of the airlines), said on Sunday.
''We are trying our best to cooperate with the tax authorities and get our accounts unfrozen at the earliest so that normalcy could be restored, employees' salaries paid and aircraft recoveries started,'' the statement said.

domain: news


The housing and homeless crisis in Galway is out of control and the failure by An Taoiseach to recognise the extent of the problem on his recent visit to Galway highlights the head-in-the-sand attitude of this government. Since the general election in February 2016 we are now on our third Minister for Housing and things continue to get worse.
This government continually asks for more time, but the evidence clearly shows that government policy is not only not working but the crisis is getting worse. Homeless figures are up, house and rent prices are up: Fine Gael housing policy simply is not working.
What’s needed is an urgent strategic response by the City Council working in tandem with the government. This strategy has to include the urgent building of public housing, affordable housing and the use of co-operatives. Furthermore, urgent legislation must be brought in to regulate the Air B&B sector as a response to the constant representations in relation to Air B&B which continues to reduce the stock of homes available for people to rent and which is intensifying the crisis.
Furthermore there is a crisis in the provision of student accommodation. On the night of the census in 2016 that 8% of our student population was registered as homeless. In our own city of Galway, and as a result of this acute shortage of properties to let, students are facing a simply unaffordable 18% increase in accommodation costs on last year. Indeed students in Galway recently staged a camp-out protest to highlight the extent of the accommodation shortage.
In relation to the provision of social housing what we get from the Government is simply empty rhetoric. In 1975 the state built 8,500 social houses; in 1985, in the middle of a recession, the state built 6,900 social homes; while in 2015 the state built only 75 social houses. And despite Galway being one of top four local authority areas worst affected by the housing crisis, not one single social house was built by Galway City Council since 2009. As a result there are currently approximately 5,000 households on the housing waiting list, approximately 15,000 people, some of whom have been waiting since 2002 for an offer of a home.
The complete reliance on the private market through the use of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is actively fuelling the unsustainable rental market, putting public funds into the hands of landlords. HAP spending in 2017 was just under €153m, while the 2018 estimate is twice that at €300m. Under HAP responsibility for finding accommodation in the private rental sector has been transferred to tenants who find it extremely difficult to compete for limited and increasingly expensive private rental accommodation. Notwithstanding the lack of any effective security of tenure HAP tenants are removed from social housing waiting lists, thus masking the scale of the crisis.
There is a role for the private market but it has to be balanced by an active social housing construction programme and also the facilitation of co-operative housing on Council-owned land. Indeed the number of private houses available to rent has reached its lowest point in over a decade. Moreover the latest report from Daft.ie shows a major jump in rental costs in the city and county with rents in Galway city increasing at almost four times the recommended rent pressure zone cap of 4%.
The inevitable consequence of this lack of housing supply together with the rise in house and rent prices is the continuing rise in the number of people becoming homeless. Nationally there are currently nearly 10,000 people who are homeless. 3,867 children are currently homeless; this is the highest number of children ever recorded as homeless.
In the west, the current official figures show that 496 people, including 209 children, were in emergency accommodation during July. This represents a 56% increase on 2017 figures. These homeless figures however do not include people who are sleeping rough, people who are sleeping in cars or in tents, people who are living with family or friends in overcrowded accommodation of necessity, people in refuges, people with leave to remain but cannot leave direct provision centres: all of whom are homeless.
The failure to provide homes is deepening the social inequalities in our city and causing untold stress and suffering. The right to appropriate housing is a basic human right, without which people are prevented from participating actively in our society.
This short documentary film ‘Through the Cracks‘ which was released over the summer focuses on the challenges faced by families who are experiencing homelessness and who are living in emergency accommodation and is well worth 11 minutes of your time.


Early Release of Selected Estimates Based on Data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey
This early release includes estimates for 15 selected health measures based on data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and presents estimates from 1997-2013 for comparison. CDC will update estimates as each new quarter of NHIS data becomes available.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Department of Health and Human Services
Health and Nutrition


text:
Craig Watters has been named director of Oklahoma State University’s new Riata Institute for Global Social Entrepreneurship. The new institute will focus on furthering student experiential study, research, and service, while simultaneously offering educational experiences both nationally and abroad. Dr. Watters is a clinical associate professor and the International Entrepreneurship chair. He has been a faculty member at the university since 2011.
“The importance of social entrepreneurship is growing globally,” Professor Watters said. “Our students want more and more to make an impact on the world and the world is for them – Central America, China, Pakistan, South America, Mexico, Africa – everywhere I have been so far.”
Dr. Watters holds a bachelor’s degree in English and economics, a master’s degree in information resource management, and a Ph.D. in social sciences all from Syracuse University in New York.


text:
The Charlotte Hornets (9-15) will be at home in Spectrum Center when they go head-to-head with the Los Angeles Lakers (9-15). Charlotte is a 5.5-point favorite on the opening line, while the Over/Under (O/U) for the game opened at 213.5 points. Action starts at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 9, 2017, and it can be seen on Fox Sports Carolina.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Charlotte Hornets Free Preview
The last time the Lakers played, they won a close one over the Philadelphia 76ers, 107-104. With 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Lonzo Ball played well for Los Angeles. The Lakers had a great turnover percentage of 9.4 (better than their season average of 14.7) and had an offensive rebounding percentage of 28.8 (above their season average of 22.4).
The Hornets are hoping for a better outcome after their 119-111 loss to the Chicago Bulls in their last outing. Dwight Howard was the top scorer from either team with 25 points on 11-for-23 shooting. Chicago had a better effective field goal percentage (0.515 vs. 0.450). Charlotte, meanwhile, had a better turnover percentage (8.9 vs. 11.4).
The offense of Charlotte will battle against the top-notch defense of Los Angeles. The Hornets rank 21st in offensive efficiency, while the Lakers are eighth in defensive efficiency. The Lakers figure to have the advantage on that end of the court.
Of Los Angeles 24 games, 13 have finished under the O/U total, while 12 of Charlotte’s 23 games have finished under the projected point total. Both teams have mediocre straight up (SU) records (9-15 for Los Angeles; 9-15 for Charlotte), but the Lakers hold a slight edge against the spread (ATS). Los Angeles is 11-13 ATS, while the Hornets are 10-12-1.
Brandon Ingram has been playing at a high level over the last five games for Los Angeles, averaging 19.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
This is the first time these teams will go head-to-head this year. The Hornets won both meetings played against each other last season. In the last game, Charlotte won 109-104. The Hornets dominated nearly every stat category in the game. They had a free throw rate of 0.200 and an offensive rebounding percentage of 25.0. The Lakers put up marks of 0.119 and 15.0, respectively, for those same stats.
Los Angeles Lakers at Charlotte Hornets ATS Prediction
Predictions: SU Winner – Lakers, ATS Winner – Lakers, O/U – Under
- The Hornets rank first in second chance points allowed per game (10.0) while the Lakers rank 21st (13.2).
- Los Angeles ranks first in points in the paint per game (54.4) while Charlotte ranks 15th (43.3).
- Los Angeles averages 5.8 blocks per game, which ranks third in the league. Charlotte ranks 19th in blocks allowed per game (5.0).
- Los Angeles ranks 19th in three pointers allowed per game (29.7) while Charlotte ranks 26th (31.4).
- Los Angeles is 4-7 ATS on the road with 7 unders and 4 overs.
- Charlotte is 8-4 ATS at home with 7 unders and 5 overs.
- Los Angeles is 4-2 when they allow under 100 points, while Charlotte is 5-1.
- When reaching 100 points, the Lakers are 9-8 and the Hornets are 9-7.
- The Hornets rank third in fast break points allowed per game (8.4) while the Lakers rank 19th (11.5).
- Charlotte ranks first in points off turnovers allowed per game (14.6) while Los Angeles ranks 26th (19.7).
- The Hornets rank second in rebounds per game (47.1) while the Lakers rank 25th in rebounds allowed per game (45.9).
- The Lakers rank 15th in assists per game (22.7) while the Hornets rank 29th (20.3).
- Los Angeles ranks eighth in steals per game (8.4) while Charlotte ranks 28th (6.1).
- Charlotte is 1-4 ATS with 3 unders, 1 over and 1 push in their last five games.
- Over their last five games, Los Angeles is 2-3 ATS with 3 unders and 2 overs.
- The Hornets average margin of defeat in their last five games has been 6.0, up from 1.8 for the season.
- During their last five games, the Lakers have scored an average of 108.0 points per game (2.2 above their season average) and allowed an average of 116.8 points per game (7.7 above their season average).


text:
The Body (Femme Fatale or Fowl Fatale or Shapely Lady Duck) is a lady duck in "The Super Snooper" (1952).
About The Body
Like a femme fatale, her clothing is completely red (red dress, red gloves, and red lipstick), except for her yellow shoes. She falls in loves with Daffy Duck in his detective 'Duck Drake' persona at first sight. The drop dead gorgeous female duck immediately grabs him, starts kissing him and flirts with him endlessly. Daffy doesn't understand, and he thinks she is a murderess. The Body also hikes up her skirt to reveal her long crossed curvaceous legs while sitting down. Then she turns out the lights and leaves the detective's face covered with lipstick marks. Later The Body asks him to frisk her by saying, "Search Me!" A lot more kisses to his cheeks and lips and seduction attempts follow. In the finale, she admits with balls and chains in her eyes that she is only guilty of being crazy about him. This Fowl Fatale has fallen so insanely in love with him that she wants to get married right away. Wishing to remain a bachelor, Daffy Duck gets the heck out of there. Lifting up her shirt to reveal her long legs yet again, The Body chases him through the house and out of the mansion. Upon exiting the premises, the holes their bodies leave from breaking through the door are of a bride and groom.
"Was someone asking for me?"
"I'm 'The Body' sweetheart! And I'm innocent. Do you hear me? Innocent!"
"Rowr! Rowr! Oh baby! You gorgeous hunk of duck!"
"And you're cute!"
"You cutie pie you!"
"I bet he (Daffy) looks good in a bathing suit!"
"Silly boy! The ax handle estate is a couple of blocks up the street."
"Uh uh sweetheart. I'm guilty! ...Of being crazy about you sweetheart!"
The Body meets Duck Drake.
Caresses Daffy's beak
The Body just met the detective and is all over him.
Declares her innocence
With an hourglass figure like that Daffy doesn't believe she is 'innocent' at all.
The body starts flirting with him
The Body is already madly in love with Daffy.
Lavishes Daffy with kisses
Daffy fends her off.
Reaffirms she did not commit murder
Declares her innocence yet again
Has guilt written all over her face
Removes guilt marks
Daffy continues accusing The Body of murder.
Moves in to grab his hat
Calls Daffy cute
Daffy is annoyed.
Barely listening to the detective
Shocked that Daffy handed her a pistol
Accidentally shoots Daffy
Lifts up her skirt to show off her legs
Turns off the lights
Daffy turns the lights back on after being kissed several times.
Admires her lipstick work
Wipes lipstick marks off Daffy's face
Daffy pushes her away
Daffy hands her a rifle so they can reenact a crime. He gets shot again.
Daffy continues questioning The Body.
She replies "Search me," inviting Daffy to frisk her.
The Body growls after kissing Daffy two more times.
Watches Daffy work
Strikes a pose
Continues admiring the detective
Looks as if she is about to pounce him
Hands her the rope
Accidentally drops a piano on Daffy
Since Daffy is close The Body can't resist kissing him on the cheek.
Pink heart can be seen after The Body kisses Daffy
Calls Daffy a sweetheart
Tells Daffy he arrived at the wrong address
The Body finally admits she's guilty.
Declares her love
She is not guilty of murder, only of being crazy in love with Daffy.
She has him now.
The Body wants to marry Daffy Duck right away.
Has no intention of letting Daffy go
Daffy starts to freak out. He thinks she's attractive but wishes to remain single.
Daffy says goodbye and tries to leave.
The Body is not letting him get away that easily.
Hikes up her skirt and chases after Daffy.
She runs after him at full speed.
Evidence that The Body is wearing hosiery.
The Body pursues Daffy and it is implied that she seduces him and convinces him to marry her.
Forshadowing of their impending wedding.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

domain: entertainment


text:
(ISC)² to aid cybersecurity professional development in emerging economies
(ISC)² has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) to strenghten cybersecurity professional development in emerging economies.
The collaboration will leverage the expertise of both organizations to nurture the global cybersecurity workforce in South Korea and Global Cybersecurity Collaboration Network (CAMP) member countries.
Through the MOU, both organizations will collaborate to:
- Expand cybersecurity professional education and training
- Strengthen professional cybersecurity capabilities, and
- Reinforce the effectiveness of professional education such as case-based training.
“Securing cybersecurity experts is essential not only for the world but also for national security,” said Lee, Won Tae, President of KISA. “We look forward to continuing our efforts to contribute to the global cybersecurity ecosystem by improving the level of cybersecurity in developing countries through CAMP, and we also look forward to promoting the cybersecurity professionals based on this MOU.”
Growing the cybersecurity workforce around the world
Earlier this year, (ISC)² – the world’s largest nonprofit association of certified cybersecurity professionals – launched the One Million Certified in Cybersecurity initiative as part of a larger effort in the US to improve Americans’ skills-based pathways to cyber jobs.
The organization is committed to providing free, entry-level cybersecurity certification exams and self-paced educational program courses to one million new professionals starting a career in cybersecurity.
The One Million Certified in Cybersecurity initiative is global and the Certified in Cybersecurity course and certification is still available for free to applicants around the world.
“This entry-level certification will prove to employers you have the foundational knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for an entry- or junior-level cybersecurity role. It proves your willingness and ability to learn and grow on the job,” (ISC)² says.
“Unlike other (ISC)² certifications, there is no work experience requirement to earn the entry-level Certified in Cybersecurity certification.”
This entry-level certification is ideal for IT pros, college students or recent graduates, advanced high school students or recent graduates, and those who want a career change.


Ghanaian rapper Teephlow has for the third time since 2018 been nominated for the Best Rapper category in this year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards event.
The VGMA record of the year award winner, who is arguably one of the best rap acts in Ghana comes head to head with Sarkodie, the BET best International Flow winner, 2019 VGMA best rapper award winner Medikal, Kwesi Arthur, his arch-rival Strongman and Ghana’s only female rapper robbing shoulders to the world, Eno Barony.
The best rapper of the year category is one particular award which promises to be highly contested as the crème de la crème lock horns to claim supremacy.
Organizers of the prestigious Vodafone Ghana Music Awards have announced nominees for the 21st edition. With a lot of works under the year of review considered, Teephlow as affectionately called grabbed a number of nominations.
To vote for Teephlow, Text F5 to 1767 only on Vodafone to vote TeePhlow as the Best Rapper.


text:
Relying on the experience of frontline nurses, the CFNU works with experts, academics and other health care stakeholders to produce evidence-based research and resources on current health care issues. CFNU’s research has focused on the need for a national pharmacare plan, the importance of safe staffing, health care financing, safe seniors’ care, intergenerational issues in the workplace and occupational health and safety issues.
The CFNU transforms research into policy and practice by advocating for evidence-based changes at the federal level and provincial level at the Council of the Federation.
CFNU’s research products include groundbreaking research reports, backgrounders, fact sheets and position statements.
Sustaining Nursing in Canada proposes a set of concrete actionable solutions to help meaningfully solve the health care staffing crisis. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions worked with the Canadian Health Workforce Network to present in this report the magnitude of the nursing crisis and the known solutions to address it. Authored by University of […]Download
In Canada Beyond COVID, the CFNU looks at the Canadians who fell through the cracks during the pandemic: seniors, nurses, migrant workers, Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, the working poor, the trans community, and others. As we look to rebuild our economy – as we look towards a post-COVID Canada – we must ensure that no […]Download
Outlook on Nursing: A snapshot from Canadian nurses on work environments pre-COVID-19 was conducted by Linda McGillis Hall, PhD, RN and Sanja Visekruna, PhD, RN at the University of Toronto. It was a national survey that aimed to assess Canadian nurses’ perceptions of their work environments. The study was conducted across all health care sectors, […]Download
An investigation into Canada’s management of COVID-19 and the safety of the nation’s health care workers has been released. The investigation’s report, A Time of Fear, details Canada’s systemic preventable failure to adequately prepare and urgently respond to the gravest public health emergency in a century. The independent investigation was commissioned by the Canadian Federation of […]Read the report

domain: sociology


Monica was the latest act to stop through Bliss DC (2122 24th Place NE) over the weekend. The Atlanta-based R&B singer not only partied with Kenny Burns, she performed a couple of her classic hits for the crowd.
Watch Monica perform “Don’t Take It Personal”:
Watch Monica perform “Knock Knock”:
A video posted by ♐#MsPeruShow 🔵🌙ByTheWayOfDc (@_msperu69__) on


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domain: medical


text:
SINGAPORE: The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) detects a wide range of threats on a daily basis and some of the suspicious targets include unidentified aircraft which bear no information on where they are headed.
“Some of these incidents we investigate are linked to potential terror attack categories so we take them very seriously. And when needed, we will activate our air defence responses to deal with them, mostly as a precautionary measure,” Commander of the Air Defence Task Force, Brigadier General (BG) Tan Chee Wee, said to the media on Monday (Nov 28), after the wrap of the biennial Exercise Vigilant Shield.
The RSAF has been on a heightened air defence alert to thwart terror attacks since the Sep 11 attacks in 2001.
In 2010, a round-the-clock task force was set up to respond quickly to terror threats. Air Defence Task Force (ADTF), together with the Special Operations Task Force, Island Defence Task Force and Maritime Security Task Force, make up the High Readiness Core that safeguards homeland security, Singapore's skies and waterways.
Not all incidents, however, will lead to the scrambling of the RSAF fighter jets. “Our air defence team is always looking for potential deviations of traffic in our vicinity,” said BG Tan. As an air hub, Singapore sees about 1,000 arrivals and departures on a daily basis, he added.
(Photo: Xabryna Kek)
SIMULATED HIJACKING SCENARIO
In the wee hours of Monday morning, two RSAF F-15SG fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a "suspicious airliner" at about 2.10am in a simulated hijacking scenario as part of the RSAF’s Exercise Vigilant Shield.
RSAF's KC-135, playing the part of the suspicious civilian airliner, was flying approximately 11,000 ft above the South China Sea when it began to deviate from its intended flight path. In a matter of minutes, RSAF fighter jets were activated to escort the suspicious civilian plane, which was placed on red alert.
“You’ve been intercepted by the Republic of Singapore Air Force Fighters,” an RSAF fighter pilot said through the radio channel. “You’re to comply with all instructions. Acknowledge.”
The air defence exercise is meant to demonstrate the ADTF's capabilities in responding to potential air threats round-the-clock with a robust networked air defence system.
The KC-135 aircraft was chased through the Singapore skies by RSAF fighter jets for more than an hour, before being forced to land at Changi Air Base at 3.30am.
When fighter jets scramble to intercept a suspicious airliner, there is a standard procedure to follow, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This includes radio communication or visual signals in day and night situations.
For instance, in a 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock position, fighter jets rock their wings to establish communications with the suspicious plane, signalling interception. The jet in question will then repeat the action, indicating that its pilots have understood the situation and will comply.
Said Chief of Air Force, Major-General (MG) Mervyn Tan: "The successful conduct of this exercise shows that we have a robust networked air defence system and our tight inter-agency linkage with our partners. The RSAF will continue to strengthen our ability to defend and safeguard the sovereignty of Singapore’s airspace."
The last time RSAF fighter pilots were activated to intercept a civilian aircraft was in 2008, when a small Australian-registered airplane intruded into Singapore's airspace. Two Australians were on board the Cessna 208 which did not have an approved flight path.
This year’s exercise involved about 400 participants from the RSAF, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Police Force. The RSAF also deployed assets such as the F-15SG fighter aircraft, AH-64D Apache helicopter, I-HAWK, SPYDER and RBS-70 Ground-Based Air Defence systems.


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Be advised several routes of the DASH and SPRINT highway will be closed this weekend to make way for a night run event.
The Malaysian Highways Authority (LLM) has announced the temporary closure of several routes along the Damansara-Shah Alam Expressway (DASH) and the SPRINT highway in conjunction with the upcoming Anak Sarawak Penchala Link Tunnel DASH Night Run, which takes place tomorrow, Saturday, November 5, 2022.
The closure of some routes for both highways will be implemented in stages, starting at 9 am on Nov 5 (Saturday) until 5 am on Nov 6 (Sunday). Following the route closure, DASH and SPRINT Highway users are advised to use alternative routes to certain destinations.
For the DASH Highway, routes closed are:
LDP to DASH (Ramp 13 D & 13F)
Penchala Link to DASH (Ramp 13E)
Jalan PJU 7/9 to DASH (Ramp 13G)
Persiaran Surian, Persiaran Kenanga, Persiaran Mahogani and Jalan PJU 8/1 Damansara Perdana.
Participants who are participating in the night running event can enter the parking area provided through Persiaran Surian and Persiaran Kenanga.
During the event, DASH users will be diverted to the Persiaran Surian intersection (exit), which is after the Kwasa Damansara Toll Plaza (RRIM).
For the SPRINT Expressway, routes closed are:
Damansara Perdana (Penchala Link Ramp)
Mutiara Damansara (Penchala Link Ramp)
LDP north KM4.4 (Ikea)
LDP south KM3.5 (Empire Damansara)
TTDI Interchange to Penchala heading west
TTDI Junction kg Sg Penchala to Penchala Link (Mont Kiara direction).
Users of both highways are requested to follow the instructions of the traffic officers at the locations involved, and plan their journey in advance.


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BACKGROUND: The role of certain gut microbes in the development of colorectal cancer has recently been understood. In our previous work, we have reported the reactivity of serum collected from CRC patients to peptide mimotopes of bacterial antigens associated with the development of CRC, hence, their potential in its detection. Here, we evaluate the diagnostic parameters of an anti- Clostridioides difficile toxin B (tcdB) peptide mimotope IgG and IgA antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the detection of CRC.
METHODS: Prediction of the immunogenic epitopes of tcdB was made using the in silico B-cell epitope mapping tools available at the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resources (IEDB). Synthetic peptide analogs of the predicted epitopes which were used in the immunoassays were synthesized and purchased from Genscript (New Jersey, USA). Presence of anti-peptide IgG and IgA from serum collected from patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer were detected by a peptide antibody-capture indirect ELISA protocol developed in this study. Diagnostic parameters were computed.
RESULTS: The amino acid position 1465 to 1474 of the reported sequence of tcdB (PDB Accession No. AGG91641.1) was predicted to be immunogenic. The peptide antibody-capture ELISA developed in this study gave diagnostic specificities of 94.9% and 97.4%, positive predictive values (PPV) of 86.6% and 93.3%, and likelihood ratios of 6.5 and 14.0 for IgG and IgA, respectively. Our results show the potential of the immunoassay designed in ruling in possibility of CRC during diagnosis.


text:
Choose your room
The Hotel Vincci Bit 4* is special and unique, where clients live different emotions and experiences. The passageways of each floor have been decorated with paintings by prestigious artists, designers and street painters who are well known nationally and internationally.
Useful information:Tourism Registration Number: HB-000448
Other names for Hotel Vincci Bit:
Hotel Vincci Bit Barcelona

domain: artistic


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The phrase “Green Rush” is often used to describe the flood of fortune seekers pouring into the cannabis industry, a reference to the gold rushes of the 1800s. But you may not be aware of another gold rush happening right now, right under our noses.
Drug testing is a $3 billion industry. With some facilities charging as much as $2,000 per specimin, they call it 'liquid gold.'
I’m talking about “liquid gold”—as it’s known to those in the $3 billion per year drug testing industry, where despite a growing number of states legalizing cannabis, business is currently booming. In fact, for those well positioned to capture that revenue stream, their cups of liquid gold runneth over.
Don’t believe me?
You must not have read a recent New York Times exposé, which revealed just how lucrative urine can be these days. The article profiled one young man—now dead from an overdose—who racked up a $260,000 urinalysis bill in just a few months while rehabbing at an outpatient facility that routinely charged $2,000 or more per specimen for drug tests, with patients often submitting to three or more tests per week.
According to the Times, industry insiders privately refer to rehab patients who produce that many highly profitable urine specimens as “thoroughbreds.” They’re the lifeblood of a money hustle that began 50 years ago, one that was started almost singlehandedly by Dr. Robert DuPont, former US Drug Czar under Presidents Nixon and Ford, the first-ever Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and a pioneering liquid gold rusher.
DuPont (no relation to the family that founded the chemical company) began his lifelong obsession with human waste in 1969, when the Harvard-trained psychiatrist moved from the National Institutes of Health to the D.C. Department of Corrections. During his time at Corrections, DuPont noticed that many of the inmates placed under his care struggled with heroin addiction. To gauge the scope of the issue, he undertook a study that changed forever how he thought about “the crime problem.”
“I got together a group of unemployed college students,” DuPont explained to Frontline several decades later. “We went down to the D.C. jail with our urine cups, and collected urine from everybody who came into the jail… What we were able to show is that the crime epidemic was directly tied to the rise in heroin addictions in the city. That link was very important to everything that happened afterwards.”
What happened afterwards: The US launched the modern war on drugs, one of the greatest public policy disasters in modern American history. That policy ruined millions of lives, and enriched a handful of entrepreneurs like DuPont.
DuPont: Present at the DEA’s Creation
Perhaps more than anyone alive, Robert DuPont embodies every false promise and failure of America’s oppressive approach to drug policy. He headed an agency (NIDA) that relentlessly cooked the books on medical cannabis research for five decades. He served as Richard Nixon’s drug policy advisor during the creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a rogue federal agency that has put generations of otherwise law-abiding cannabis consumers in prison. And he almost singlehandedly popularized the “gateway drug” theory of cannabis, which has since been thoroughly debunked.
At age 81, Robert DuPont is still cashing in on the spoils of the drug war.
DuPont even found a few ways to cash in directly on the spoils of the drug war.
In 1982, he and former DEA Administrator Peter Bensinger founded Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, a firm that provided drug testing services to the growing number of corporations that felt entitled to scrutinize their employees’ urine during the “Just Say No” era. He also served as a paid consultant to Straight Incorporated, a notorious chain of drug treatment centers that targeted predominantly teenage patients for torture-like “therapy.”
The severity and scope of Straight’s malfeasance is staggering. In the late 1980s, California state investigators received complaints about the company systematically subjecting patients, including many minors, to “unusual punishment, infliction of pain, humiliation, intimidation, ridiule, coercion, threats, mental abuse…and interference with daily living functions such as eating, sleeping and toileting.” Eventually a string of government investigations and civil lawsuits alleging widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse would lead to Straight Incorporated’s downfall, but DuPont never publicly withdrew his support.
And he’s still in the game. At 81, he serves as scientific advisor for CAM International Ventures, a global company started up in 2013 by several big names from the liquid gold racket. Bensinger, DuPont & Associates lives on as BDA/Morneau Shepell, a consulting firm that offers corporate HR departments a “comprehensive portfolio of solutions” that include drug testing management, and helpline services for employees who are suffering from gambling problems, drug addiction, or other behavioral health issues.
Naturally, DuPont denies that his financially rewarding drug testing business in any way informs his belief that what the world needs now is more drug testing.
“I find it bizarre [that people] think my interests after all these years were financial,” he told The Daily Beast. “There is a financial incentive in drug testing, but the reason I’m interested in drug testing is that there is an interest from the disease standpoint.”
Many studies have found drug testing in the workplace, for welfare recipients, and for students to be an expensive and invasive waste of resources. But why should that deter the guy selling the tests? And really, given all the threats facing the cannabis industry these days, who cares if some relic from the Nixon braintrust is riding out his golden years making bank off liquid gold and spouting tired old nonsense? It’s not like he’s helping set national cannabis policy.
Or rather…hold on.
Look closely at this photograph:
Photo courtesy of Marijuana Moment
That’s US Attorney General Jeff Sessions walking out of a closed door policy session, late last year, with a group of longtime cannabis legalization opponents. The agenda of the Dec. 2017 meeting was meant to be secret, but Marijuana Majority’s Tom Angell saw this photo online. Angell enhanced it and caught the US Attorney General inadvertently leaking the details of his own strategy sesh. Third on the agenda: Bob DuPont.
In addition to DuPont, the agenda listed a murderers row of ancient drug war hawks who haven’t updated their views on cannabis since 1973:
- Dr. Bertha Madras, a longtime opponent of medical cannabis in any form.
- Dr. Hoover Adger, who likes to say “medical marijuana is an oxymoron.”
- David Evans, executive director of the Drug Free Schools Coalition. Evans has long argued that regulated legalization “will mean millions more damaged young people,” despite data that clearlyshows cannabis use among minors unchanged or decreasing in states that legalize and regulate.
But even awash in that sea of has-beens and know-nothings, DuPont’s name stood out as particularly ominous.
Because what if the post-legalization future of cannabis isn’t a law enforcement crackdown? What if you’re free to smoke all the heavily-taxed legal cannabis you want, so long as you never drive a car, attend school, raise a child, hold a job, access medical care, or require government assistance of any kind?
Drug Test is a ‘Loyalty Oath’
As a co-founder and charismatic leader of the Yippies, Abbie Hoffman spent the late 1960s and early 1970s trying to foment social and political upheaval. Like many of his cohorts, he saw cannabis liberation as a central goal of the revolution.
By the 1980s, that moment may have passed, but Hoffman remained a radical at heart, and he’d identified a new fascistic threat to liberty and justice. So he wrote Steal This Urine Test: Fighting Drug Hysteria in America, as a follow up to his underground classic Steal This Book.
Asked by the New York Times in 1987 to explain his motivations for focusing on the issue, Hoffman likened being forced to take a drug test to the “loyalty oaths” in communist Russia. He saw it as a raw expression of authoritarian power over individual freedom, rather than some rationed approach to dealing with addiction.
“There is a drug problem in America,” Hoffman explained, “and it is, how does one educate one’s children about the drug problem.”
It all sounds so simple when you strip away the lies and propaganda and just examine the actual problem on its own terms.
As a society, we want to minimize the damage caused by drug abuse, especially the harm to children. Pretty simple. So how, exactly, do we get from there to no-knock police raids and pee tests for $2,000 a pop?
The answer, perversely, is that SWAT teams, mass incarceration and near-constant urinalysis all cost way, way more money than educating our children about drugs in an honest and meaningful way. And because those things cost a lot of money, there’s a tidy profit to be made off them, whether they’re effective approaches or not.
Which brings us back to Robert Dupont.
DuPont’s New Proposal: Test Everyone
At the December meeting with Jeff Sessions, DuPont was slated to speak on the dangers of drugged driving. That’s troubling because in 2010 he helped write a model bill that instructed law enforcement to drug test anyone suspected of drugged driving on the spot, for all illicit drugs, and arrest them immediately if even a trace amount shows up.
If DuPont had his way, you wouldn’t even have to be driving to face arrest for a failed drug test.
DuPont’s policy would result in the roadside arrest of legal cannabis consumers in the eight legal states, even unimpaired drivers, because roadside tests typically turn up inactive traces of THC from days or weeks earlier. In fact, if DuPont had his way, you wouldn’t even have to be driving to face arrest for a failed drug test.
“Any person who provides a bodily fluid sample containing any amount of a chemical or controlled substance… commits an offense punishable in the same manner as if the person otherwise possessed that substance,” stated the proposed bill. “This provision is not a DUI specific law. Rather, it applies to any person who tests positive for chemical or controlled substances.”
Early last year, the Daily Beastinterviewed DuPont as he talked up his most recent proposal, a “New Paradigm for Long-Term Recovery.” DuPont described it as “the opposite of harm reduction.” That plan calls for drug tests to be a mandatory, routine part of every medical practice and procedure—and many other aspects of daily life.
If a drug test shows you’re an “addict” (the verdict even if you have only trace amounts of state-legal cannabis in your urine), you’ll be arrested, and “the leverage of the criminal justice system” will be used to force you into rehab. There, you’ll be drug tested for another five years (ca-ching!).
In effect, DuPont’s proposal would do for rehab centers what mandatory-minimum sentences did for prisons—exponentially expand their populations and turn them into corporate profit machines. He wants to put a multimillion-dollar bounty on the head of every cannabis consumer in America. And he’s got the ear of the same U.S. Attorney General who recently revived federal for-profit prisons and rescinded the Cole Memo.

domain: law