#Which is not even getting into some of England's super special common law get out clauses

[the-busy-ghost]

Alright uninformed rant time. It kind of bugs me that, when studying the Middle Ages, specifically in western Europe, it doesn’t seem to be a pre-requisite that you have to take some kind of “Basics of Mediaeval Catholic Doctrine in Everyday Practise” class. 

Obviously you can’t cover everything- we don’t necessarily need to understand the ins and outs of obscure theological arguments (just as your average mediaeval churchgoer probably didn’t need to), or the inner workings of the Great Schism(s), nor how apparently simple theological disputes could be influenced by political and social factors, and of course the Official Line From The Vatican has changed over the centuries (which is why I’ve seen even modern Catholics getting mixed up about something that happened eight centuries ago). And naturally there are going to be misconceptions no matter how much you try to clarify things for people, and regional/class/temporal variations on how people’s actual everyday beliefs were influenced by the church’s rules. 

But it would help if historians studying the Middle Ages, especially western Christendom, were all given a broadly similar training in a) what the official doctrine was at various points on certain important issues and b) how this might translate to what the average layman believed. Because it feels like you’re supposed to pick that up as you go along and even where there are books on the subject they’re not always entirely reliable either (for example, people citing books about how things worked specifically in England to apply to the whole of Europe) and you can’t ask a book a question if you’re confused about any particular point. 

I mean I don’t expect to be spoonfed but somehow I don’t think that I’m supposed to accumulate a half-assed religious education from, say, a 15th century nobleman who was probably more interested in translating chivalric romances and rebelling against the Crown than religion; an angry 16th century Protestant; a 12th century nun from some forgotten valley in the Alps; some footnotes spread out over half a dozen modern political histories of Scotland; and an episode of ‘In Our Time’ from 2009. 

But equally if you’re not a specialist in church history or theology, I’m not sure that it’s necessary to probe the murky depths of every minor theological point ever, and once you’ve started where does it end? 

Anyway this entirely uninformed rant brought to you by my encounter with a sixteenth century bishop who was supposedly writing a completely orthodox book to re-evangelise his flock and tempt them away from Protestantism, but who described the baptismal rite in a way that sounds decidedly sketchy, if not heretical. And rather than being able to engage with the text properly and get what I needed from it, I was instead left sitting there like:

And frankly I didn’t have the time to go down the rabbit hole that would inevitably open up if I tried to find out

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 1: CamelNOT

[Lively Music Plays]

I shit you not... that’s what it said in the CCs.

Tower of London (?)

*Catherine looks at the array of crowns like a museum curator and the proceeds to strut down the halls*

Wolsey: *gives her this strange look which is a mixture between damn girl and the eagle is my spirit animal.

Then Catherine gets fake detained and taken to Henry in what must be a strange variation of the whole Robin Hood/Maid Marian roleplay they historically engaged in.

... did she just call his erhm manhood his kingship? Well that’s original, I’ll give them that. Also funny how Bessie Blount initially looks on in fright... don’t worry girl that will be you soon.

———————————————————————

*the four ladies have a brunch friendship moment together*

I see Blount is among them... I see they are setting her up as Catherine’s friend in order to play up the whole betrayal.

Alright. Jokes aside, I realised how much I’ve played myself. I was inspired by @melusineloriginale ‘s sporks (which if all this TSP episode posts got you in the mood for PG show mockery I urge you to check out here - you’ll thank me later). In truth, Henry VIII’s early reign is a bit too late from my main area of focus for me to make intelligent jokes.

I’ll content myself with just bullet-pointing random thoughts that came into my head, and if some intelligent thought gets through, well that would be the pinnacle. In any case I’ll aim to not parrot some of the stuff that’s already been said, repetition can get annoying.

This image embodies this post, but maybe not the show. I’ve noticed those Starz productions get better by the end.

First Scenes:

- The recap just reminded me how much I will miss Margaret Beaufort in the coming episodes. I know her portrayal was innacurate but Harriet Walter just made everything better.

- They are making such a big deal out of this whole ‘we were crowned together, we rule together’ thing in this episode - it makes no sense. Catherine was an influential Queen but she was definitely no more than a consort and never saw herself as more.

- Ruairi’s new haircut is pleasing to my eyes.

- When she says ‘Abuelo’ it’s super adorable awww

The Ferdinand and Charles V scene:

- Bessie Blount looks so much like Ursula Pole lmao. Also they totally got the Pole children’s birth order wrong and UGH WHERE IS GEOFFREY POLE???

- I like Mary Tudor’s actress and her facial expressions. However, this whole polyglot image they are representing is innacurate. I am fairly certain she knew no spanish and I recall reading a contemporary account which said that she was not very learned.

- I’m pretty sure it would be considered bad luck to prematurely crown your son ‘Henry IX’ while you’re still alive.

- I actually like the whole Grape motif in this episode. It’s probably the smartest thing they’ve come up with so far for this episode. I know a lot of you will be all like ‘there’s no record of Ferdinand being abusive’ but this choice sort of makes sense when you recall Joanna’s treatment. Also I appreciate them for not being tacky and showing flashbacks of more overt abuse eg physical. The sugared grape is also fairly symbolic (the sugar is like a gilding, the grape easily crushable)

- OMG the guy from Garrow’s law is playing Thomas More!

- AND PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT SEEING THINGS? Margaret Pole x Thomas More is happening?? Please god that is a historical crackship I am getting behind. Yes. This is what I’m most invested about.

Margaret Tudor and Scotland Scene:

- The whole ironic cutaway to Margaret being all depressed after Charles Brandon’s statement about her charming Scottish king is such a cliché movie technique.

- If this were a more artsy film I would think the whole setup resembling a stereotypical middle-class family breakfast was done on purpose for humorous effects or to create a link with the past. But here I don’t have as much trust in the producers. I think they just failed to capture the time period accurately.

- The modernisms continue: ‘Negassi please stop playing’ idk, there just something so modern about this for some reason ahaha

- Also again, I’m getting tired of all this ‘Catherine is basically queen herself’, ‘Catherine is a political genius’, ‘Catherine Catherine Catherine’ ugh. I don’t think the producers understand that Henry VIII was a very autocratic and traditional ruler. He didn’t make any show of joint-rulership (correct me if I’m wrong).

- The teeth thing is funny, smart and I liked it.

Back to Westminster:

- I like Ferdinand’s actor!

- Also Catherine’s response to ‘who are you loyal to?’ was not that smart. I feel like the producers wanted us to be impressed. What if Spain and England’s interests conflict, ey??

The Joust:

- I care too much for the whole Margaret Pole plotline. I’m so invested.

- I could watch a series of More and Pole just exchanging lines. I love the actors too and this is my hope for this series. The whole frustrated parents is SO CUTE.

- I didn’t know More tutored Reggie, I would be curious to know more.

- The way compton says groom to queen’s stool is freaking hilarious. He looks like a pervert.

- Henry Pole is a darling and must be protected at all costs.

- Oh Christ oh Christ that eyeball shot was just... good job on the special effects guys. Don’t know what the point of that choice was.

- I found the whole armour mentions after interesting, it looked so set up as a PR campaign because Stafford speaking about the armour just sounded like a statement agreed on beforehand ‘should have worn the same’ and the Catherine with ‘steel in the bones’ and Ferdinand’s impressed face (it was him playing them?)

- Am I giving this show too much credit?

- Also whats up with “God save the Queen?”

War Counsel:

- Henry VIII’s actor is quite charismatic in this scene. It’s almost as if Catherine is the hothead and Henry the wise one that speaks less but more significantly. It almost feels like they gender-swapped them.

The Bedchamber:

- Did Catherine breastfeed the baby? I thought it was Anne Boleyn. Doubtful... I’m tired of the trope of ‘you’re a good woman if you insist on breastfeeding the child yourself despite social conventions’. For a feminist show, the writers seem very attached to some 1950s perceptions of motherhood.

- I feel like the age difference between Catherine and Henry is well conveyed.

Scotland Again:

- ‘All the sheep were pregnant’ 👀 oh touché Margaret. oh my. Did she just?

- I know they are playing out this disenfranchised Margaret arc to reinforce how great Catherine and Henry are (cheap technique) and to build up to her involvement in Flodden (innacurate historically but I know what the show will do). But I will say this: the humour is pretty good in the Scottish scenes! But I know it’s unintentionally so... (I highly doubt they wanted us to laugh at Margaret hitting James or calling Alexander a pig).

Westminster and the baby chamber:

- What’s are those red splotches on the babies face??

- Oh that shot of Margaret and silent Reginald :((( it makes me sad.

- And now the Poles are at church! I just love the look of them.

- That scene of Maggie and Catherine was needed, as we didn’t get the best friends vibe much in this episode. The whole thing looked a bit pagan though, but it was nice :)

The whole Ferdinand’s betrayal segment:

- The grape motif again was fitting, him snapping the fruit right before she gets to it even despite her knowing what he’s like and what he’ll do, was a good parrallel.

- I’m tired of hearing of this ‘Camelot’. Even in the novel, Camelot was Catherine and Arthur’s dream and... can we just live it up with Arthur?

- Ursula Pole’s, Bessie Blount’s and Mary Boleyn’s actresses look way too similar.

- I fail to see why Catherine thinks she’s turning into her father... she doesn’t strike me as much of a game-player or subtle two-facer.

- I’m intrigued what will happen with Oviedo and Lina... I feel like they won’t stay in England long.

- He was made knight bannaret... nice... but why does he thank Catherine publicly for this? It was in Henry’s gift that he was made a commoner Knight.. if this transpired irl Henry would have been gravely insulter.

Catherine’s Dead Baby and thereafter:

- Guys. In all seriousness, I don’t think the TV series is trying to imply that Catherine killed the baby with her negligence. I mean, they are so bent on us liking her they wouldn’t do that. It would be a bit too ballsy anyway. Remember the red splotches I mentioned earlier? Could those have been a sign that he was already ill but no one noticed/was in denial?

- The pebbles in hands would have had more emotional payoff if it had been established earlier if you know what I mean. Basically, this episode is too fast and entire arcs begin and end within it which extinguished any build-up.

- Oh man Henry is so sweet in this, how will they build him up as the tyrant he was historically if they keep this up?

Scotland Again:

- I must admit, I don’t like all those nicknames they keep using. But somehow James calling Margaret ‘Meg’ is nice and seems fitting.

- What’s a hermana sister?

England Last Mourning Scenes:

- YOU DID NOT BUILD CAMELOT ughhh

- Why is Catherine giving the speech and not Henry?? It turns out Catherine was more emotional historically then the whole perception of ‘perfect queen of stone’ to which some people hold her. However, I doubt it would have been proper of her to give a speech in such a emotional manner.

Conclusion:

6.5/10

Some of the dialogue was stilted, the costumes are confused as to which era they’re supposed to be (aesthetically distracting) and many other characterisation issues.

I don’t have high hopes for this series in terms of cinematography or art but I sure as hell expect it will be entertaining. So far, everything is just getting set up and I find some aspects promising. As you can tell I am truly excited over how the Margaret Pole plotline. I am also interested in how Henry will be portrayed, with Catherine being so OTT and pushy this episode Im starting to Stan him more. In this show he appears sensitive and serene and kinda... adorable. Kind of like a little brother hanging onto his sister’s skirts.

But in a way that is a disservice to the real historical figure which would not tolerate such a representation. I am very irritated by this whole ‘joint-rulers’ thing which is just sooo innacurate. These STARZ shows have an obsession with showing women turn into men for the purposes of feminism - I see.

Catherine overpowers Henry too often and it sometimes feels like he’s HER consort. Of course, the feminism in this show is schizophrenic as we get the overemphasis of Catherine as a 1950s motherly ideal with the whole breastfeeding angle (“you’re better than other noble woman who would find this beneath them”, “they’re not as motherly as you”).

So the relationship dynamic between Henry and Catherine is a bit off at the moment, but oh well.

Mary Tudor is a bit distracting with her dark hair but I find the actress extremely endearing and promising. I know there will be emphasis on her storyline too and I hope they’ll not be clichéd with it.

[alvfr]

I just wanted to ask your opinion on something? It’s just something I noticed a couple of hours ago when reading something and it just got my brain going.

The first line of the author note on the fic I was reading said “if you’re under your country’s age of consent then please go read this sfw version” (or something along those lines) and I feel like that’s a much better way to phrase those sorts of ratings.

Because I know I’ve been reading fanfiction for years which includes when I was around 16/17, but I also live in England; the age of consent here is 16 which means I was legally able to have sex but warned away from reading about it...which just doesn’t make any sense to me.

I understand putting an age limit on it to warn away literal children but nothing super special happens when you become 18, my maturity didn’t exactly spike or anything; there’s not all that much of a difference.

I have to admit I've re-written this response about a dozen times because I was not sure how to answer this in a satisfactory manner.  As a general disclaimer, I will have to say that I am not an expert by any means. In fact, until March this year, I had never posted anything that would qualify as NSFW, so I'm still quite new to the scene. There are probably hundreds of other people who could word this better than me, but I am assuming you are asking me because I use "18+" as an indicator both in my posts and on my blog.

You make some valid points in your question here and I can see how it seems hypocritical almost when the law states you are legally allowed to engage in sexual activities from the age of 16, but you are not supposed to read about it yet. In fact, I think that the pornography laws explicitely state you have to be 18 to access it and herein lies the difference between age of consent and age of majority.

While I agree with you that there is no magical transition overnight when you turn 18, this is still the age where most legal systems recognizes you as a legal adult, and thus responsible for your own person and your own actions. In Norway, like in the UK, the age of consent is 16, but the age of majority is still 18. And it is explicitely prohibited to even show pornography to someone under 18, even if they are legally allowed to have sex from the age of 16.

There are probably a lot of reasons for this, amongst them that porn ≠ sex. And like it or not, an 18-year-old will in almost all cases be more mature than a 16-year-old and should hopefully be able to tell the difference. And at least legally, at 18 you are responsible for determining yourself whether or not you are mature enough to tell the difference.

When I put 18+ in my blog description or as a disclaimer before any NSFW material I post, it is referencing the age of majority and not the sexual age of consent. Tumblr is an American-hosted platform too, and there is a federal age of consent for pornography at 18 in the US. I can't actively stop you from viewing the material if you're younger than 18, but I am actively discouraging it. By tagging it, I have done my job to let any readers know that this is intended for an adult audience. It's absolving myself for the legal liability and giving readers the choice if they want to continue. There are a lot of adults who are uncomfortable or unwilling to view NSFW material too, and the tagging is for their sake as well.

When I put 18+ in my blog description or as a disclaimer before any NSFW material I post, it also marks how I am uncomfortable with anyone younger than that engaging with the content. When I get anons on NSFW posts, I am trusting that whoever is sending it is respecting my boundaries as well.To be perfectly honest though, I feel I have incredibly little in common with an 18 years old high school senior when it comes to sex and sexual experience. I'm closer to 30 than 20 now, started having sex when I was 15, moved out at 16, and have had several long-term relationships before I got maried last year. Maybe I should have put 20+ on my blog instead of 18 to be sure, since maturity is fluid and subjective even beyond the age of 18. There is still no guarantee at 20 either though, and completely impossible to gauge online anyway, so for now I at least go with the legal age limit as specified by both the US, UK, and Norwegian laws.

As a teenager, there is absolutely nothing wrong with exploring your sexuality, but it should be in a safe setting and amongst your peers. Strangers online are neither, in my opinion.

[beatrice-otter]

Slavery, Racism, The Civil War, and America: Or, Why Does Anybody Care About Those Whiny Idiots?!?

Lo these many years ago, American History was one of my special interests.  My undergrad degree was in it (well, not technically, but like 90% of my classes--including Historical Methods and stuff like that--focused on US history).  I still love it, but I'm not focused enough on it to call it a special interest any more. But you guys, there is SO MUCH interesting stuff about early American history that, if it were taught properly, would REALLY change peoples' perspectives on the "brave, gallant, noble" men of the Confederacy.  And I'm not talking just the racism stuff, like 90% of them were whiny pissbabies and THAT is why the Civil War even existed in the first place.  I shit you not.  The modern Conservative Christian persecution complex has NOTHING on the antebellum Southern elite.  Sure, a lot of those guys were personally brave in battle.  But on a political or moral level, they were ... most five-year-olds are more mature.  (I'm simplifying things a lot here and painting with a really broad brush, but it's not inaccurate.)

There are five parts:

How Black And White People Came To Be

Economic Differences and Political Boondoggles, or, How the South Learns That Temper Tantrums Are A Viable Political Tool

The South’s Persecution Complex vs. The North’s Manifest Destiny

Taking Our Marbles And Going Home, Then They’ll Be Sorry: Civil War Edition

More Delusions Of Grandeur: The Whole Lost Cause Romantic Bullshit This meta is going to take as read that slavery=EVIL and that there is no such thing as a "good" slaveowner and that racism is horribly, horribly evil and nothing good can ever come of it and white supremacy twists and mutilates everything good it comes in contact with.  You all know that, or you should, and you can find lots of places talking about that with a quick google search.  Also, Blacks and poor Whites had vibrant cultures during this time period that I'm going to largely ignore because while all that is awesome, I want you to truly understand ALL the reasons why it's stupid and pathetic to glamorize the Southern elite, which means focusing on them.  The South was (and is!) REALLY AWFUL AND SCREWED UP and racism is part of that but not the only part.  But we will start a bit by talking about racism, because it's the root of so much other evil. I'm sure you've heard that "race is a social construct!"  Let's look at how that construct got constructed, shall we?

How Black And White People Came To Be To start with, it is very important that you understand that Africans arrived in North America before White people did.  No, I'm not talking about some African empire that sailed across the Atlantic before Columbus.  (African empires focused on sailing to India and China, which was closer and much more profitable.) I'm talking about the fact that "white" and "black" didn't exist as conceptual categories when the first American colonies were founded.   There were lots of ethnic rivalries and hatreds!  It wasn't a paradise! (See the Kingston Trio song "They're Rioting in Africa," particularly the bit starting at :30)  But there wasn't really a category for race, it wasn't part of how people thought.

How did that change, you may ask?  Well, it all comes down to the English Civil War.  (No, seriously, it does!)  The English Civil War was a series of conflicts in the mid 1600s (so about the time that the first colonies in what is now the US were getting settled) where the middle class and the nobles fought bitterly about what sort of government England was going to have and what sort of religion.  The middle class were in favor of Parliament controlling things, and in favor of sober, stripped-down, moralistic religion (i.e. Puritanism) and the nobles were in favor of the King controlling everything and lots of bells and smells and no strict moral guidance to trouble them.  And at various times, England wasn't really safe for one group or the other depending on who was winning right then, so people left in droves.  The middle-class Puritans settled in the north, and the aristocratic Cavaliers settled in the South. Now, other groups came later but those first settlers were really, really important because they were the ones who established governments and cultural systems that later groups then had to adapt to.  And each group took the bit of 17th Century English society they liked and tried to recreate JUST THAT SEGMENT of it, with all the rest gone.   Middle-class Puritans wanted everything to be middle class farmers and businessmen.  They purposefully excluded both rich and poor alike from entering their colonies, and set up laws and such that benefited the middle class above all.

The Cavaliers were just the opposite.   They came from the aristocracy and the wealthy, and they wholeheartedly believed in its values--many of them had been forced to flee from their homes because of their commitment to the "ideals" that certain people are just better than others, with an inherent right to rule and control society.  Or they were younger sons who wouldn't inherit the family estate and, for the first time, had some options besides "become a priest/lawyer/soldier."  They could come to America and have an estate here!  THEY wanted to be the lords of Great Estates like their older brothers back in England had, with lots of servants and other peons to work the house and the fields, while they sat in their drawing rooms and played cards and threw parties.  (Nice work if you can get it.)  And they really DID NOT WANT the sort of influential merchant/middle class that had been so troublesome back in England.  So they set things up to benefit the super-rich elite at the expense of, well, everyone else, and started shipping over slaves and indentured servants in job lots.

If your high school US History class mentioned indentured servants, it probably lied to you by trying to tell you something along the lines of indentured servitude being really different from slavery.  But the truth is, they were really, really similar.  Indentured servants were poor Englishman working for years to pay off the cost of their passage to America, and would be free after a period of some years.  Slaves were Africans or Native Americans (to start with, at least, although it quickly shifted to only Africans) who had been captured in Africa and sold to Americans.  And they had no such time limit.  But it wasn't unusual for African slaves to get freed eventually as a "reward" for service, and as for how they were treated, well, the elite who owned both groups didn't really make much distinction between them.  And life for them (for anyone in the Southern colonies who wasn't part of the elite) sucked so bad, you guys.  SO, SO BAD.  Even once the slaves and indentured servants got freed, life really sucked, because the whole point of the society was to separate the elite from the peons and make sure everyone stayed in their place.

And then, in 1676, exactly one century before the Revolutionary War, it happened.  Bacon's Revolt.

You've probably never heard of it, and truthfully you don't need to know much about it.  There was a lot of complicated stuff about hating Native Americans and internal English politics, but that's not important for our purposes.  What IS important about it is this: it scared the southern elite out of their ever-loving minds.  See, while Bacon was off doing HIS part of it, the slaves and indentured servants (and all the poor people who had been freed but used to be slaves or indentured servants) got together and decided, oh, hai, we have a common enemy, those aristocratic dudes who are oppressing us, let's get together and BURN THEIR HOMES AND CITIES.  And then, after the revolt in Virginia was put down IT SPREAD TO MARYLAND.  And abruptly those Cavaliers realized OH CRAP, THERE'S A LOT MORE OF THEM THEN US, and if we don't DO SOMETHING they will kill us all and destroy our aristocrat's utopia!

What they did about it was create the slave codes and the whole idea of "white" and "black" in an attempt to play poor whites and blacks off against each other so that the two groups would be so busy fighting each other they wouldn't have time to go after the elite.  Which, sadly, has worked.  They eliminated indentured servitude and hardened the rules for slavery, so that they could go to the poor "white" people and say "look, our skin color is the same, our cultural heritage is the same, you are JUST LIKE US, and not like those horrible "black" people, and your life is so much better than theirs is* and let's all be WHITE together and if you help us oppress and control those slaves we'll only oppress you a little."  And instead of saying "Screw you, we're going to join with the slaves and send you all packing back to England so there's NOBODY oppressing ANY of us," they said "sure, okay."

*not THAT much better.

This was a really bad deal for the newly christened poor "white" people, on a multitude of levels.  And a large part of it has to do with slavery, and where the burdens fell.  Nobody is going to stay in slavery voluntarily unless you force them, particularly when it's as brutal and hopeless and universal a form of slavery as the South was busily developing.  So you have to have social controls, and those things cost time, effort, and money.  And guess where the burden of that fell?  Not on the elite who were the ones PROFITING from slavery, no.  On the poor whites.  For example!  In order to prevent slaves from running away in the night you have to have white people out patrolling every night.   This was not, by and large, a paid position.  Every able-bodied white man in the area would take a turn at it, usually one night a month on a rotation.  And you'd have one really rich guy with LOTS of slaves, he's getting BY FAR the most value out of this, right?  But he only spends one night a month doing this, and the next day he can sleep in because he doesn't have to work, his slaves do it for him.  Then there would be a couple of what middle class whites the south had, and they'd have a couple of slaves, so they were at least benefiting some, and they could MAYBE sleep in but unlike the rich dude, they would have to work the next day.  But most of the guys on the slave patrol were poor guys who owned no slaves and would NEVER be able to afford any.  They are getting no benefit out of this whatsoever.  And they don't get to sleep in the next morning, they are going to have to work sun up to sun down just to feed themselves and their family.  They are, as a class, putting in like 95% of the work needed to maintain the slave system, and getting 0% of the wealth out of it.  It's a great scam.

So while all that's going on, the North has slaves but not huge numbers of them, and instead of worrying about "how to control the lower class" they're worrying about "how to expand the middle class."  And this has huge economic consequences.  Not only are their economies totally different, the North's economy is A LOT healthier.  Like, orders of magnitude healthier.  But in the Colonial period, at least, this is not apparent on the surface.  Nobody's really figured out much about GDPs and the like, and so the South looks awesome on the surface.  They produce expensive raw materials like indigo, rice, and cotton, which they then sell at a hefty profit.  They've got a lot of REALLY RICH FAMILIES.   They glitter.  The northerners ... just don't glitter.  Even if it weren't against their whole Puritan schtick, at this point they don't have anybody as fabulously wealthy as the southern elite.  But they also don't have the sort of desperate poverty that is normal in the south for much of the population, and what they DO have is a vibrant and growing middle class.  So even if they aren't as impressive on the surface, their society as a whole has a larger GDP than the south, and unlike the South's economy which is largely stagnant, the North is growing great guns.

Before we go any further, I don't want you to take away from this that the Northerners were saints or anything.  They were complicit in their Southern bretheren's work, as "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" from 1776 points out so powerfully.

Economic Differences and Political Boondoggles, or, How the South Learns That Temper Tantrums Are A Viable Political Tool

So the Revolutionary War happens, and during that generation a lot of the Southern elite were really uneasy about the contradiction between fighting for their own political freedom while keeping others in literal bondage.  But not uneasy enough to really change things, right?  They still believe that they are better than everyone else and deserve to rule everything, that's what they've believed all along, and they don't want to risk creating a situation where they might lose control and not be fabulously wealthy any more.   Where's the fun in that?  And they want to dominate national politics, it's REALLY IMPORTANT to them.  If they can't, they are going to take their marbles and go home.  Since the North is attached to this ideal of a United States more than the South is, the South can get a lot of concessions by threatening to take their marbles and go home.  (They haven't quite devolved into toddlers yet, but they're getting there.)   And this is where a whole bunch of the political boondoggles of the US Constitution come in.  Such as the 3/5 Compromise, which I always find hard to believe the North actually AGREED to.

For those of you who are not American, the national government is based on each state working together, not the general population.  Political districts are state-based, Electoral College votes are state-based, everything is state-based.  And some of these things (like the Senate) are based on geography (two senators for each state, regardless of how big or small it is) and some of these things (like the House of Representatives and number of votes each state gets in the Electoral College) are based on how much population each state has.  And therein lies the rub for slave societies.

You can't give slaves the vote, obviously, because they would vote to free themselves.  But if you don't count them at ALL for the purposes of votes, if you apportion House seats and Electoral College votes just on the basis of the white population ... some parts of the south are going to have very few of either.  And then the South won't be able to dominate national politics, and that wouldn't be any fun at all.  On the other hand, the North wasn't that thrilled about the idea of "oh, they're not citizens and they can't vote or do anything else citizens do, but WE get to vote FOR them."  So they compromised and said that for the purposes of apportioning votes in the House and Electoral College, slaves counted as 3/5 of a person.  Which gives the South a big boost both in Presidential elections and in the day-to-day negotiations in the House.  I mean, regardless of the ethics of it, this and other "compromises" pretty much screwed over northern political interests until the Civil War, because it gave the South the votes needed to keep control through a combination of actual votes and temper tantrums.

Anyway, now we're in the first half of the 19th Century, and the North is growing great guns.  The economy is taking off like a rocket, and the South's economy ... is inching along like a snail.  Because the North wants to grow, they want the middle class to prosper, and so they are doing things that will help it grow.  One of the things they're doing is building lots of infrastructure.  Roads are a necessary precondition for economic growth because without them you can't get goods to market.  Schools, too--as the Industrial Revolution gets into full swing, you need more and more people with at least some education.  Hospitals, etc.  The South isn't.  Because they don't want poor people (and especially not slaves!) to travel, or get too prosperous, or too educated, because then they'll be harder to control. The Southern elite has decided that they would rather have all of a small pie than a large chunk of a big pie, so as long as they, personally, stay wealthy the don't want the pie as a whole to grow.   (The pie being the economy.)

I don't remember all the details now, a decade and a half later, but I do remember sitting in class while the professor outlined all the ways in which slavery hamstrung the Southern economy, and how we all sat there flabbergasted that anyone would think it was a good idea.  Now, at the time they didn't have all the tools of economic analysis we have today to see all the fine details of why stuff was happening the way it did, but they could (and often did) see the bigger ones, and they could sure as hell see the difference in large-scale RESULTS between them and the North, and they still chose to double down on slavery whenever the opportunity presented itself.   To give you an example of how different things were, say you were a Southerner who got rich and wanted to invest.  You bought some land and slaves and you got rich and built yourself a plantation house.  You got rich, but society as a whole is not benefiting.  There is no more infrastructure than there was, and there is very little more money in the local economy than there was, because mostly you're saving it or sending it off to the North or England where they're building a lot more luxurious things than down in the South, and there's no secondary industry being spawned.  Good for you!  You're now richer.  The economy as a whole benefits very little.

Now, say you had the same amount of money to invest, but you were a Northerner.  Instead of slaves you invest in, say, a railroad.  And it is profitable.  Your personal return on investment is about the same as that Southerner with his slaves, but the railroad doesn't just benefit YOU, it economically benefits the whole REGION.  Ordinary farmers can send their vegetables to market in the city and make more money on them.  Small businessmen can sell their products outside their own town, or get raw materials shipped in much cheaper.  People who have no opportunity in their own hamlet can go easily to find work elsewhere.  Railway employees are learning valuable mechanical and business skills that a lot of them will take to other jobs and some of them will use to start businesses of their own.  Plus, the northern states have higher local taxes which they then use to build infrastructure.  You are still rich, but the local--and regional!--economy benefits from your success.

So why didn't the South invest in things like railroads, too?  Why keep doubling down on slavery?  Well, remember, their whole culture was shaped by people who wanted to be aristocratic noblemen.  That's still their ideal.  If you invest in a railroad you are just a dirty businessman.  If you invest in slaves and the closest thing America has to an English estate, you are a gentleman.  So who cares if the railroad would be better for society?  You don't, you have a good carriage and the wealth to go anywhere you want.  And besides, railroads are only really profitable if ordinary joes have enough money to use them for transport and business purposes, too, and remember the whole "aristocracy" shtick goes hand-in-hand with "making sure nobody but us has the money for anything fun, so they know their place."  For railroads in the south to be as profitable and prevalent as railroads in the north, you would have to change that whole mindset.  And they didn't want to.  This example focuses on the railroads because it's what I remember, but it is largely illustrative of the larger picture and the differences in how things worked in the two regions.

Back to national politics, and how all these economic differences affected things.  Remember that the southern elite honestly believed it was their God-given right to rule, that they should guide America because obviously they were the best men to do so.  But as time went on, two things happened: one, the generation of Revolutionaries who had moral qualms about slavery died off, and their sons not only decided that there was no problem with slavery, but that it was a moral good.  (Southerners, as part of their tendency towards heroic delusions in which they are noble knights as in the days of old, are also prone to taking any bad decision and doubling down on it rather than admitting any fault or error.)  And second, the differences between the two economies started growing by leaps and bounds and it was pretty obvious to anybody that the northern economy was LIGHT YEARS BETTER.

Like, there are all these diary entries and news articles from European tourists who come to America and visit the North and are Really Impressed because they've got rich people who are as wealthy as anybody else in the world but they also have all this BUSINESS going on at all levels, and things are HAPPENING, and lots of people are improving their lot in life, and while there are slums they're a lot smaller than in most other places of the time.  (It's not perfect.  There's tons of racism and sexism and classism causing inequities everywhere, but all the things that are being built are impressive enough to impress even people determined to be snobbish about provincial yokels.)  Then they go to the South and go, wow, these people are all slooooooooow and provincial with a few rich jackasses at the top.  So the southern elite develop one hell of an inferiority complex.  Because they are SUPPOSED TO BE THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.  But whenever they push their nose outside their own region ... nobody else agrees with them.

The South’s Persecution Complex vs. The North’s Manifest Destiny

By all rights, the North should have dominated the country politically by, say, 1810.  They had far more money and far more people.  (Both because they had a higher rate of children surviving due to better medical care and less poverty, but also because no sane immigrant would ever go to the South unless he already had the money to buy a plantation and join the local aristocracy ... and most people with that kind of cash don't immigrate to another country.)  But the South had all those boondoggles favoring them in the Constitution, and they also had a willingness to throw great big whiny pissbaby tantrums to get their way.  And round about this time they also develop a MASSIVE persecution complex.  Like you know how modern Conservative Christians tend to think that if they don't get their way, if they can't dictate political policy, they are being persecuted?  The southern elite of the early 19th Century makes them look like pikers.   Because the southern elite DID control the country, AND THEY STILL BELIEVED THEY WERE BEING PERSECUTED.

You think I'm joking?  Of the first fifteen presidents of the United States, every pre-Civil War president from Washington on down, only 6 were Northerners.  Literally 2/3 of the time, the South controlled the Presidency.  As for major political decisions, again, you put up a list of major laws and political compromises on a national level from this period, and about 2/3 of them were decided in favor of the South, which was (let me say it again louder for the folks in the back) a lot poorer and less populous than the North.

This is a summary of pretty much every major national debate in the first half of the 19th Century: The South and the North want different things.  The North looks like it is going to get its way because it is more powerful economically and more populous.  The South screams about how the North always gets its way, it's not fair, the South is being persecuted, they should just take their marbles and go home.  (Seriously, they sound like spoiled five year olds.)  About 2/3 of the time the Northern elite roll their eyes but cave.  Meanwhile, the average joe on the street up North fumes because those fucking inbred Southern aristocratic cretins just screwed him over AGAIN.  (The average joe on the street down South mostly either is too busy just trying to keep from starving to pay attention, or if they are, well, the elite control the papers and society so he only sees a very slanted view of things and isn't allowed much political participation anyway.  But contrary to what the Confederate patriots would have you believe, quite a lot of white Southerners loathed their "leaders" for good reason.)

Things get more ridiculous as the decades pass.  Because at first the average Joe on the street up North could tell himself that obviously the Southern economy sucked, eventually it would collapse, and it certainly wouldn't spread, and so let those fucking inbred Southern aristocratic cretins keep Virginia, obviously as the country expands west they will be less and less relevant, and the Northern system will finally prevail.  Like, there was realistic hope for a long-term solution where okay the South can just be its own little region built on slaves and sabotaging its own growth to prop up the elite, and everywhere else can just have a sane (and free) economic system.  But the problem is, the South can see the writing on the wall, too, and part of what they spend their political capital on is enlarging the region of their control.  Like, they don't let free states get admitted to the Union unless there is a new slave state to be added at the same time, which means the slave states always control 50% of the Senate.  And it starts to dawn on people up north that unless something DRASTIC changes, the South will ALWAYS have just enough votes to force the North to dance to its tune, and the South is only getting louder and more vehement about how THEY ARE BEING PERSECUTED!  And northern resentment against the South and the whole institution of slavery starts building.

Now, I want to make it quite clear that the whole nation, North and South, had bought into White Supremacy as an ideology for decades by this point.  Even most White abolitionists are racists.  Some of them are the "nice" condescending type who sort of think black people are about the equivalent of dogs, but you wouldn't treat a dog the way the Southerners treat their slaves.  They envision an abolitionist movement in which nice White people like them free the slaves, and educate them (at least as much as you CAN educate them, which they debated) and give them jobs and the former slaves are eternally grateful and deferential.  Some of the White abolitionists are more open in their racism.  They hate slavery because it means that black slaves take jobs away from free white men, and so they want to get rid of the problem all together by shipping the slaves back to Africa.  Abolitionism started the 19th Century as the pipe dream of lunatic fringe whackos, and what gave it steam to grow great guns as the century wore on was not, by and large, a principled moral stand against racism, but rather an objection that it limited most of the benefits of White Manhood to a small group of white men (i.e. the Southern elite), instead of ALL white men.  Most of America--especially in the North--believed in Manifest Destiny, that it was their God-given right to expand westward and take this "empty" land and subdue it and make it their own.  In the North, the focus was on it being settled by middle-class and working-class farmers and businessmen.  In the South, the focus was on second sons of gentlemen getting their own plantation and thus extending the system of the "deserving few" and the peons.  And mostly even then, the whole point was to preserve their cultural and political hegemony, whereas in the North the focus was more on expansion for its own sake.

But these two economic systems can't coexist in the same territory, you understand?  A system built on slavery will inevitably devalue free labor.  A system built on free labor will inevitably undermine slavery, and make it less profitable (if it's even viable) because society as a whole is not going to provide the social controls necessary to keep slaves in their place, the slaveowner is going to have to do it him or herself.  So while the South is trying desperately to preserve its power, the North (whose population is growing by leaps and bounds) needs more space for free white men to build new communities.  And it can't do that if the slave system gets expanded.  By expanding enough to keep their political hegemony strong, the South is sequestering more and more of the country's national resources and potential space for the exclusive use of their elite.  They are forming a drag on the national economy.  They are selfishly monopolizing resources that millions of White northern men want for themselves.  Pressure starts to build, and in newly settled territories pro-slave and anti-slave people start murdering one another.

Taking Our Marbles And Going Home, Then They’ll Be Sorry: Civil War Edition

About this time the Whig party starts to fall apart.  For reasons that don't need explaining at this juncture, the structure of US elections kind of inevitably forces us into a two-party system, that's just the way the math works.  So a new party can't be born until a previous party self-destructs.  Well, at least a new party can't be a true national player until a previous party self-destructs.  At this point the two parties are the Whigs and the Democrats, and then the Whigs self-destruct, and the Democrats split in half (North vs. South) and the Republican party comes roaring into existence.

The Republican Party is made up, at this point, of a whole bunch of disparate groups: former Whigs, modernizers, abolitionists, but the most influential group is the Free Soilers.   Their slogan: "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men!"  Their whole goal, their only single issue, is to prevent the spread of slavery.  If slavery is contained, the South's power will fade as more and more free states are admitted to the Union, and EVERYTHING ELSE THE NORTH WANTS then becomes possible.  If the Southern system is allowed to spread, they will continue to dominate.  The economy will be slowed, free white men will not have the opportunities they deserve, and America will not live up to its full potential.  This cannot be allowed to happen.

Meanwhile, the South has been slipping ever further into la-la land.  We have already mentioned their persecution complex, which is only getting stronger as time goes on.  Anything other than complete victory is persecution.  No compromise is possible.  They have believed all along that they are the best, smartest, most noble men in America and thus it is their Right and Duty to guide the nation.  To this they have added a heavy helping of aristocratic delusions.  Sir Walter Scott is by far the most popular author in the South, and every gentleman thinks himself Ivanhoe, a knight, a Great Hero.  They are Noble Men in every sense of the word, they are Great and True and Morally Superior to all other men--they are heroes, courageous, dashing, etc., etc., etc.,  If anyone doesn't like them or stand in awe of them, it's because they simply don't understand the Greatness Of The South.  This is what the elite and what little middle class the South has thinks.  Poor whites, on the other hand, are about evenly split between buying into the whole thing and being disgusted by it.  And the rest of the country thinks they're a bunch of whiny immature pissbabies trying to control everything.

Which is why they elect Lincoln.  He didn't even appear on the ballot in most of the South, and he won any way.  Like I said.  The Southerners had been falling behind the North, demographically and economically, for DECADES at this point.  It was ludicrous of the South to believe they could maintain their national political hegemony indefinitely, but like I said, by this point they're pretty delusional.  Their control has, for decades, depended on the North sighing and giving in whenever they throw a temper tantrum.  As soon as the North gets fed up with that ... well.  The North wins.  Lincoln was, until this point, a non-entity who was only the Republican candidate because the Republican Party is, at this point, a loosely-aligned amalgamation of splinter groups whose main line of agreement is that We Aren't Going To Let The South Push Us Around Any More.  Anybody with any prominence in any of those splinter groups would have too many enemies from previous political parties to rally the party support.  So a guy nobody cares about, but who is firmly Free Soil, sounds really good.  As it happens, it sounds really good to the rest of the North, too.

Now, Lincoln's pledge isn't to get rid of slavery.  His personal beliefs are in favor of abolition, and he is genuinely one of the least-racist White politicians of the era, but he doesn't think abolition is realistic and he is a realist before all else.  His main goal is to prevent slavery from spreading.  That's it.   He's not trying to destroy the South, he just wants to curtail its power.

The South goes nuts.  Here is proof, PROOF that they are being persecuted!  They are the brave knights, they are the guardians of American culture, they are the Great Men, they are the noble heroes, the martyrs in the cause of Protecting White People!  They will show those jumped-up dirty peasants from up north!  They are going to take all their toys and go home AND THEN THOSE BULLIES WILL BE SORRY!  They will secede and form their own country that really APPRECIATES their greatness, and all the world will see that THEY are far better and richer and smarter and more necessary than their northern cousins!  All of Europe will support them, because they can't POSSIBLY live without Southern cotton!  Everything will be perfect and nobody will ever persecute them again!

Spoiler alert: it doesn't work out quite like that.

I mean, don't get me wrong.  They did have at least a little crumb of truth to it; they were much better fighters than the Northerners.  (All that knighthood delusion, expressed through all those military academies, paid off.)  Personal valor and gallantry on the battlefield?  No question.  The South was superior.  Military tactics and strategy?  Yup.  Superior there, too.  But that was it.  They sucked at everything else.

Politically they were a mess and showed nothing but how terrible they were at political leadership.  I mean, the whole Southern system is built on selfishness.  "I want to be wealthy and make everybody else wait on me hand and foot."  That's it, that's the bedrock.  I mean, it's a communal selfishness, that focuses a lot in preservation of the class, but as it turns out that doesn't really translate well to preservation of the nation. I mean, a lot of the fights between North and South had been over funding infrastructure and the like.  The North would say, "oh, hey, we really need this, it will benefit the economy as a whole and the country as a whole," and the Southern elite would respond "but it doesn't benefit ME PERSONALLY all that much, so why should I help pay for it?"   Or even things that didn't require funding, the Southern elite didn't care if it would benefit the country as a whole if it would discomfort them in any way.  And it turns out that if nobody is willing to pay for anything and nobody is willing to allow themselves to be inconvenienced or discomforted, and everyone believes that when you don't get your way you take your marbles and go home, you ... can't really run a government.  (This is why Jefferson Davis tried to turn down the Presidency of the Confederacy.  He knew exactly what was coming.)  It was one show of incompetence after another.  Nothing worked, nothing got accomplished, when you read stories and records of all the shenanigans and incompetencies you are left with the realization that your average middle school class council would have done a FAR better job.  Heck, our current Republican congresspeople are more competent than they were.

The military leadership of the Confederacy was superior to the military leadership of the Union, but the disparity in numbers and materiel was overwhelming.  The only reason it lasted as long as it did was the Union general with the longest tenure was McClellan, who hated advancing unless he was sure of victory and had a positive genius for winning a battle and then RETREATING.  Once they finally had someone who was both competent and willing to press forward (Grant), it was all over but the shouting.

As for the support of Europe ... dude, nobody liked the South.  To the actual aristocracies of Europe, the Southern elite were commoners with delusions of grandeur.  They sneered at both North and South equally.  And Southern cotton was very useful to them, but they had other sources of cotton and other industries.  The South ... their entire economy was based on exporting raw goods that they grew to other places to be processed, either to factories in the North or to factories in Europe.  Their economy simply couldn't survive without markets.  But all of their markets could survive without them.  It was a rude awakening.

More Delusions of Grandeur: The Whole Lost Cause Romantic Bullshit

They lost.  They lost HUGELY.  Their economy was trashed and, for a time, the elites' stranglehold on power was curbed by the occupying Union army and Reconstruction.  But the South has always been good at delusions of grandeur.  As soon as the boot was off their necks, they set busily about constructing an alternate history in which they weren't whiny immature pissbabies but noble, principled men defending Right and Good and Just Society.   Instead of sighing for the Golden Noble Age of Heroic Knights, now they will sigh for the Golden Noble Age of Heroic Confederate Soldiers.   Their leaders weren't feckless and selfish and incompetent, they were Noble Leaders Heroically Trying To Build A Great Society, Heartlessly Prevented By The Grinding Northern Industry.  They will convince the world of how ABSOLUTELY AWESOME THEY WERE.

And this time they succeed.  They didn't just convince themselves of their delusions, they convinced most everyone else, too!  Places that hated them or resented them or rolled their eyes at them now accept that they were these noble heroes!  See, the thing is, the South was not all united in support of the Confederacy.  The elite, sure, they were all for secession.  Blacks were obviously NOT, but nobody asked them.  Middle class whites and poor whites ... it really varied from region to region and from individual to individual.  West Virginia was the only region where poor and middle class whites who wanted to stay in the Union had enough sway to make it happen (and the geography to keep themselves from being conquered by the Confederate states surrounding them) but there were actually quite a lot of places in and around the South that wished they could have done the same.  But by now they believe that their ancestors were wholeheartedly Confederate and that it is a matter of heritage and pride that they be the same.

Do you know why most historians--especially most WHITE historians--who focus on the Civil War focus on military history?  Both professionals and amateurs both?   Because it's the one thing the South actually did WELL.  If you look at the politics, you have to deal with the fact that they were a bunch of whiny, immature brats with less maturity than most five-year-olds who threw temper tantrums whenever they didn't get their way and couldn't govern or lead themselves out of a wet paper bag, and who would have collapsed under their own weight even if they'd managed to win. If they had won, and managed to put together some sort of ramshackle government, I guarantee you that a) it would have been very unstable and b) it would have been passed around like a prize between a few of the elite families as their own personal playground and c) their economy would be pretty poor.  (Also, good chance that somewhere along the line there would have been a slave revolt that actually worked long-term.)  Because as much as the Southern Elite managed to get themselves back in control after Reconstruction, and as much as they managed to put a lot of the old structures that benefit them at everybody else's expense back in place on a state level, they STILL have much more of a functioning economy post-slavery than they did at any time during it.  The South's economy has always been slower than the North's because they keep hobbling it so the elite keep in control, but they weren't able to do that quite as badly and so in the 20th Century the gap between them and the North has closed a bit.  The South wins the Civil War?  The South would look like a third-world country today, and not one of the ones that is pulling itself up by its bootstraps, either.  And the thing is, where most third-world countries are the way they are because a colonial power came in and smashed everything nice, the South would be that way because they did it to themselves in an effort to keep the poor poor and the rich rich.

And I look at this and shake my head at the triumph of propaganda over reality, and also at the fact that ANYBODY, even a racist, could POSSIBLY think that those idiotic inbred delusional cretinous whiny pissbabies were cool or worthy of adoration.

Discussion and commments are at my Dreamwidth.

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This is a rough guide to the English School System! This is based off my personal experience, so it isn’t going to be true for everywhere and everyone. However, I have been to multiple schools in multiple places in England, so it should be pretty accurate. (I hope.) Give this a like or reblog if you found it useful, and I’m always around if you have any further questions! Love you <3

Nursery

This isn’t mandatory, but the majority of children will attend nursery. This is basically just a toddlers group. 3-4 years old (although I know some groups / people that will start when they’re 2)

Primary School

Reception or Foundation Years. (Changes name between schools. The year before Year 1, usually consists of playing in sandpits and drawing stuff. In some schools you have to wear a uniform, and in some you don’t.) 4-5 Years old

Year One. (The first year of school. You’re in the infants, which is basically the lower primary school. This year you just learn basic spelling and maths and writing skills, but you still do a lot of playing and activities as well.) 5-6 Years old.

Year Two. (The second year of school, or third if you’re including reception. This is you’re last year in the infants, and all your teachers use this as a way to persuade you to behave. “you’re going into the juniors now, you’ve got to act like a big kid!!!” This year you do less play and more work, but it’s still an enjoyable year. There is a little exam at the end of it but nobody takes it seriously.) 6-7 Years old.

Year Three. (You’re finally in the juniors!! Honestly there isn’t much difference lol, it’s just how the school curriculum is set up. So the infants is Key Stage 1 and the juniors is Key Stage 2. But you finally feel like a big kid because you’re in the juniors now!! This year is more serious work.) 7-8 Years old.

Year Four (There’s nothing special about this year lol. You’re not the little kids but you’re not the big kids either, and you might even start getting homework. *gasp*) 8-9 Years old.

Year Five (So close to year six!! The teachers are preparing you for your final year of Primary school, but honestly it’s still pretty chill. You’re definitely getting homework at this point. You’re so jealous of the year six’s but you know it’s only a year away.) 9-10 Years old.

Year Six. (Your last year is finally here!! You feel like the best and oldest people in the world. This year is a lot more work as you’re being prepared for SAT’s. The teachers make it seem like a big deal, but I’ll let you in on a secret. They don’t matter at alllll lol it’s total bullshit. It’s good preparation for secondary school though. At the end of the year, you sit an exam in Maths, English, Reading. Sometimes Science too. Once they’re over you’re super happy. Then the end of the school year comes and you’re sad cause you have to leave your friends. However you’re super happy because high school!!) 10-11 Years old.

Secondary School

Year Seven. (This is your first year of high school. Super exciting for the first week but then it just sucks. Everybody changes that year and suddenly fitting in is super important. There’s always a couple of exceptions. There’s a lot more homework and you actually have to move between classrooms which isn’t half as fun as you thought it would be.) 11-12 Years old.

Year Eight. (This year is pretty chill. You’re not new anymore, and there’s no stress either.) 12-13 Years old.

Year Nine. (You finally have to start picking your GCSE subjects. Until now, you’ve been taking every class your school provides. Now you have to pick just three you want to take, as well as doing all the mandatory ones: maths, english lit, english language, science. Picking is super difficult and they make a huge deal out of it.) 13-14 Years old.

Year Ten. (You finally get to stop with the dumb subjects you hated, but now the workload has doubled and you no longer like the subjects you were doing before. It’s not awful though. There’s no exams, but you do have mock exams at the end of the year.) 14-15 Years old.

Year Eleven. (Your last year of secondary! At the end of the year, you take roughly seven exams, and you get your marks back a little after the end of the year. In each subject you’ll get marked A* - F. If you got higher than a C in everything then you’re good to go! If you got less than a C in Maths or English then you’ll have to resit the exams. Now you’ve just got to say goodbye to your friends and head off to college.) 15-16 Years old.

College

Please note: You don’t have to go to college, but the majority of people do. However, you do have to be in education until you’re 18, so other choices would be an apprenticeship or other qualifications I know nothing about, but you can easily google. (College Alternatives UK. Google that and you’ll find all sorts of alternatives.)

Year Twelve / First Year of College (Year Twelve is only used in the context of a Sixth Form, which is where the college is part of a high school. In a college, it isn’t thought of in years as such.) Don’t worry, this isn’t college in the American sense. In some places, it’s just an extension of their high school (also known as Sixth Form), and for some it’s a whole new place, but in the same town usually. You narrow down your subject choice to three. This could be English, Graphic Design and Law. Food Tec, Drama, Computer Science. Math, Science, English. Whatever your college provides, and whatever appeals to you. Pick three subjects that you think will help. Some university courses require certain A levels so keep that in mind.)

Year Thirteen / Second Year of College. (You have to take your A levels and the pressure is on. All your workload has been tripled and you’re probably regretting your existence. During this year you need to start applying for universities as well. At the end of the year, you take your exams. And then you’re done with education!!)

University

I can’t really explain Uni because it differs a lot. What I will tell you is that we don’t have double majors (duel honours is a thing but it isn’t common) and we don’t do roommates or dorms in the same way americans do.

You get your Bachelors degree (which usually takes 3-4 years.) Then you can get yours masters. (Another 2.) And then a PhD. (3 years.) Most people will only get a Bachelors but many do go further.

Applying for university is done through UCAS. It basically uses a point system, but you can read more about it here.

I hope this was somewhat helpful!!

[wayneooverton]

6 totally badass women I’m obsessed with right now

Despite 2018 seeming like it was perhaps a giant dumpster fire for women around the globe, woman did a tremendous job of getting. shit. done.

From the bravery shown by the women of the #MeToo movement, to historic wins for women in the midterm elections in the US (particularly of women of color), to Spain appointing a majority-woman cabinet, to Iranian women watching the World Cup in a stadium next to men for the first time in decades, to women in Saudi Arabia finally being legally allowed to drive, the list is long. It was a good year for us.

In honor of International Women’s Day, I’m sharing a little list of badass women I’m currently obsessed with right now. I cut this list down from 17 to 6 because, holy hell, there are a lot of women that deserve some bragging right now and each one deserves her own blog post. I bow down!

Please leave a comment to let me know who I left out, and who else I should be obsessed with at the moment (because there’s always room for more in my closet shrine!)

1. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

If you were alive during 2018 (which I’m assuming you were since you’re reading this article) you probably didn’t escape the year without first hearing about Free Solo.

Perhaps you weren’t interested or didn’t really understand, but surely  you’ve heard about the epically superhuman efforts of Alex Honnold, a free solo expert who achieved his dream of scaling 3,000ft of a vertical wall in Yosemite National Park without a rope.

It has rightly been dubbed as one of the greatest athletic feats in the history of mankind (NBD) and watching the event is equal parts exhilarating and holy-shit-I’m-sweating-in-places-I-didn’t-even-know-could-produce-sweat terrifying.

When you hear about Free Solo, people normally talk about two things:

1) how amazing Alex Honnold is (and he is amazing)

2) what a great film Jimmy Chin produced (one of the greatest adventure photographers of all time)

Ok great, enough about them, let’s move on to the real star of the show.

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It was a day … @stellamccartney @carolyntangel @thefashionguitar @mhmakesithappen @jimmychin @alexhonnold @sannimccandless @freesolofilm here we go….@c_albert #oscars2019 @oscardelarenta @idaorg thank you to too many who made this possible thank you #avillage

A post shared by Chai Vasarhelyi (@chaivasarhelyi) on Feb 24, 2019 at 12:38am PST

What no one ever seems to talk about is the co-director and all around inspirational badass Chai Vasarhelyi and her role in all this.

So who is she? I’m glad you asked. Chai is an uber-ambitious 39-year-old woman who grew up in Manhattan and when to college at Princeton. She finished her first documentary, A Normal Life, at age 24 that told the story of 7 college-aged friends in the middle of the Bosnian Conflict.

I can’t even tell you one interesting thing I did the year I was 24. Her film won the Tribeca Film Festival. Casual.

Moving on! She spent the next decade making films about Senegal, honing in on her knack for storytelling and showcasing raw human emotion. Let’s fast forward a bit because I could literally talk for hours about her and we’ve got a lot of women to cover.

Chai found herself in the presence of Jimmy Chin (who she initially blew off because why not, you do you, girl). He asked her for some tips on his film, Meru, which had been kicking around for years, not managing to make it into any film festivals. She let him wait in limbo for three months before she got back to him and agreed to take a look.

Chai turned the now famous Meru from doomed, super bro climbing porn film, to a genuine story that went on gain high praise from elite film festivals everywhere.

How’d she do it? She insisted on re-shooting basically everything except for the actual climbing. All of the storytelling, all of the interviews with the climbers, all of the interviews with the family members. She revisited all of that and pulled out real human emotion that she felt viewers could connect with. And she was right.

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More Ampas / Baftas and more @brockcollection what a break from being a mud drenched Doc filmmaker feels like being Cinderella…..thank you @freesolofilm @thefashionguitar @carolyntangel 🙏❤️

A post shared by Chai Vasarhelyi (@chaivasarhelyi) on Feb 8, 2019 at 11:51am PST

And as a surprise to literally no one, she did the same thing for Free Solo.

She took what easily could have been a niche climbing film and turned it into an oddly relatable and universal story: perfection vs death, love vs. focus, ethics vs. filming an incredible feat. For her efforts and diligence, this documentary made people feel things other than fear and exhilaration.

She gave the audience and understanding of the complexity of the whole project. Oh, and she’s married to Jimmy Chin in case anyone actually cared. And they just took home an Oscar!

2. Jacinda Ardern

You didn’t think I was going to write this list without mentioning one of the most badass world leaders of all times, did you? Especially from the country that was the first to give women the right to vote!

As a leader of the first Labour government in New Zealand in a decade, Jacinda Ardern shares values common of a leftist party: investment in health, education, climate action, public housing, and social justice. Excellent start, but hundreds of politicians share those values and push those agendas.

So what makes Jacinda so special?

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Happy Diwali! If you’re in Auckland (or even near it) pop along to the festival at Aotea Square

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on Oct 19, 2018 at 8:22pm PDT

For starters, Jacinda has absolutely no time for what others expect of her outside of her job responsibilities.

All those bogus questions about family woman usually get when they run for public office? Nope! Jacinda wasn’t having any of it. She was elected and promptly announced her pregnancy like it was NBD, had the baby in a public hospital and became the first world leader ever to go on maternity leave, where she graced the world with a charming Facebook Live video of her and her daughter Neve.

When she was ready to go back, she went and her partner (not husband, mind you!) stayed home with the baby. I love a good gender role swap!

She continued her year getting shit done as the Prime Minister and also being an amazing parent.

She brought her new baby to the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit where she spoke moments after handing off the babe to her partner (She also got her baby a special UN pass for the event). Through her actions, she is normalizing being in a position of power as a new mom, breastfeeding at work, and having her partner be the primary caregiver.

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Welcome to our village wee one. Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl that arrived at 4.45pm weighing 3.31kg (7.3lb) Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. We're all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital.

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on Jun 20, 2018 at 11:14pm PDT

Enough about her baby. Let’s talk about her career accomplishments. In her short time as president, she has already:

Introduced the Families Package that delivers more money to families with children and reduces child poverty

Passed a bill to allow leave for victims of domestic abuse

Made the first year of tertiary education or training fees free

Increase student allowances and living cost loans by $50 a week

Passed the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill, setting minimum standards for all rentals

Passed law banning overseas speculators from buying existing houses

Set up a ministerial inquiry into mental health crisis

Introduced legislation to make medicinal cannabis available for people with terminal illnesses or in chronic pain

Increased the minimum wage to $16.50 an hour (and announced this year another bump up to $17.70 by April of this year)

Set the zero carbon emissions goal and began setting up an independent Climate Commission, ended all new bids on offshore oil and gas exploration

And announced a phasing out of single-use plastic bags nationwide

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It’s been a while since I gave an update on the work to eradicate M. bovis, so here it is…. We’ve had 74 properties infected so far. 36 farms have now gone through the process of having their farms given the all clear and restocked – I visited one of those farms today to talk about their experience. We still have things we need to improve (and we made a few extra announcements on that today) but we’re also still very committed to eradicating Mycoplasma Bovis.

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on Oct 8, 2018 at 5:28pm PDT

Oh, and she greeted the Queen of England wearing a traditional Maori cloak. What’s that? A country treating its indigenous population with even an ounce or respect and dignity!?

3. Melise Edwards

Melise has become one of my favorite women to follow on Instagram. Not only is she a sponsored rock climber, but she’s also an actual brain scientist AND social justice warrior.

She refuses to sit behind her climbing success without also tackling issues for women and communities of color in the outdoors. She refuses to accept the erasure of dark-skinned women in outdoor advertising and when she gets hate mail for it, she straight up calls those bullies out.

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The truth is: I've had so many negative interactions in the climbing community in recent years that have arisen due to conversations surrounding diversity, feminism, privilege and inclusion that I find myself sometimes uninterested, angry and afraid to be a part of the local community. . . There have been the friends from my city & back home who block, unfriend and unfollow me, though first letting me know that "demonizing white people" by asking for folks to recognize our many collective forms of privilege and the impacts of recent historical oppression on minorities is divisive and racist against white people. . . There have been the strangers and local climbers who are all too comfortable harassing and trolling me online with the added bonus of getting to see them here in the gyms when I climb. There have been the in-person conversations at where people seek me out to tell me I'm playing the victim and that racism and sexism are not really issues. . There have been the prominent climbers and first ascentionists who vehemently oppose these conversations and message me condescending remarks. There has been a man twice my age writing a blog post on his institute's page about my fragility. And on top of this, we see chronic affronts and attacks on POC & other underrepresented groups within the outdoor community and society at large daily. It comes from friends. It comes from strangers. It comes from leaders and people in positions of power in the industry. It comes from people who would rather not get involved. . . These things make it difficult to "just go climbing" and push myself within a hobby that used to give me so much joy. My life is amazing and I'm so thankful for where I am and all that I do. There are also many incredible people and groups in this industry who are doing invaluable work. But if I am being honest, I am struggling with my waning passion for a community and hobby I used to love. (Photo by @andreasassenrath)

A post shared by Mélise | Seattle, WA (@meliseymo) on Feb 26, 2019 at 12:02pm PST

Her passion and dedication is infectious and makes me want to do better:

“I yearn for the day when multiple women of color can be featured for an advertisement or photoshoot within and beyond the outdoor industry; for the day we don’t need to have several white women or men in the shot for the photo to be inherently successful. . I yearn for the day POC can get paid and aren’t questioned or criticized for wanting to get paid for their work and time. This means valuing their time, chronic advice, labor and the information they provide enough to actually compensate them. (E.g. how do I make my company more diverse?) . . I yearn for the day when more people of color make up the staffing at large companies and folks don’t call on *that one POC you know on Instagram* to ask for chronic free education and labor. . Companies: Diversify your staff. Diversify your marketing. Take actual efforts to support POC in the outdoor community beyond superficial displays that do not get at the root of the problem (e.g. inviting a panel of POC to talk for free at your events.) . Finally, please stop asking POC to only come to your events to talk about diversity instead of their amazing careers in the outdoors, recent adventures or athleticism. We can all do better when we learn how rampant these issues are in our community and seek to change them. I believe in you all.”

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Marketing in the outdoor industry and society at large is strikingly homogenous. Even attempts to diversify marketing efforts will usually feature one light skinned, white passing or racially ambiguous woman still out numbered 10:1 by white models and a usually all white staff. . . Similarly frustrating is the chronic expectation for POC to continually offer free labor to *thank* companies for daring to care about diversity. Superficial means of supporting diversity will be offered without ever addressing the issue at the community, staff, company and marketing level. . . Companies need to do better to represent the diversity of our communities. . I yearn for the day when multiple women of color can be featured for an advertisement or photoshoot within and beyond the outdoor industry; for the day we don't need to have several white women or men in the shot for the photo to be inherently successful. . . I yearn for the day POC can get paid and aren't questioned or criticized for wanting to get paid for their work and time. This means valuing their time, chronic advice, labor and the information they provide enough to actually compensate them. (E.g. how do I make my company more diverse?) . . I yearn for the day when more people of color make up the staffing at large companies and folks don't call on *that one POC you know on Instagram* to ask for chronic free education and labor. . . Companies: Diversify your staff. Diversify your marketing. Take actual efforts to support POC in the outdoor community beyond superficial displays that do not get at the root of the problem (e.g. inviting a panel of POC to talk for free at your events.) . Finally, please stop asking POC to only come to your events to talk about diversity instead of their amazing careers in the outdoors, recent adventures or athleticism. We can all do better when we learn how rampant these issues are in our community and seek to change them. I believe in you all. (PC @andreasassenrath)

A post shared by Mélise | Seattle, WA (@meliseymo) on Feb 2, 2019 at 9:56am PST

4. Cristina Mittermeier

In case you haven’t heard, global warming is real. It’s happening right now and us humans who have expedited global warming are generally not being helpful at all.

Good thing there are people like Cristina Mittermeier to show us the way forward. (And if I haven’t lost you at this point, congrats, you understand science!)

The Mexico-city born marine biologist has some notable accolades but her strength goes beyond her studies and awards. Cristina is an expert storyteller and sheds light on what’s going on in the world, whether at the bottom of the ocean floor or in some of the most remote indigenous villages in the world. She photographs them, tells their story and gives hope for the possibility of a mindful, sustainable future.

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What might seem like a featureless snow-covered landscape to us is an invisible map filled with smells that lead to prey and mates for polar bears. While the future of this incredible species remains uncertain and concerning, the unwavering hope that so many of you have for vulnerable wildlife tells me that our ability to protect them has never been more diverse and more promising.

A post shared by Cristina Mittermeier (@cristinamittermeier) on Oct 7, 2018 at 9:23am PDT

At her core, she wants her audience to really truly think about what it means to be a human and our undeniable link to other species and the responsibility to look after fellow life forms.

In 2005, she created a league of Conservation Photographers (hello new dream job!) to help give a platform for photographers working on environmental issues. She’s also co-founded a nonprofit called Sea Legacy, with legendary photographer Paul Nicklen, that works towards protecting the world’s oceans through storytelling.

If that’s not enough to convince you to be obsessed with her as well, I’ll leave you with this quote.

“To roam the farthest corners of the Earth, where wild creatures live, is a privilege reserved for an adventurous handful. But even though most of us may never feel the chill of Arctic air through the frozen flap of an icy tent, images can help us understand the urgency many photographers feel to protect wild places. My work is about building a greater awareness of the responsibility of what it means to be a human. It is about understanding that the history of every living thing that has ever existed on this planet also lives within us. It is about the ethical imperative—the urgent reminder that we are inextricably linked to all other species on this planet and that we have a duty to act as the keepers of our fellow life forms.”

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Blue whales are the largest animals to have ever existed, reaching mind-boggling dimensions of 100 feet long and upwards of 200 tons on a diet composed almost exclusively of krill, tiny-shrimp like crustaceans. It was a joy to be in the water with this gentle giant off the coast of the Azores. I had never had an encounter with a blue whale before. While the hunting of blue whales was banned by the International Whaling Commission in 1966, endangered fin whales are still being hunted in Iceland in defiance of a world wide ban of commercial whaling in 1986. Follow the link in my bio to learn more. This work was performed under the authorization n.0 XX-ORAC-2018 issued by the Government, on February 22, 2018.

A post shared by Cristina Mittermeier (@cristinamittermeier) on Jun 23, 2018 at 8:42am PDT

5. Mirna Valerio

There’s a myth in the medical world that fat people cannot be considered fit.

There’s phony talk about the importance of BMI (spoiler: it’s absolutely worthless for determining health) and the unarguable need to shed pounds to achieve health.

This simply is not true and Mirna Valerio is here to prove it.

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Guess what y’all? I’m a swimsuit model too! I loved this shoot with the talented @insecto, Carlos Palacios, in Costa Rica for @skirtsports! I never thought in a million years I’d be doing #swimwear photoshoots on a beach on top of a SUP board in #halfmoonpose baring, well not quite all, but more than I am used to… ## WELCOME TO MY NEW WORLD! Also this bathing suit is available the link in my bio—use code MIRNAVATOR for a 20% discount! #swimsuit #beachphotography #womenwhomove #optoutside #bathingsuit #bareitall #bodypositive #bopo #photography #bodylove #effyourbeautystandards

A post shared by Mirna Valerio (@themirnavator) on Feb 25, 2019 at 11:30am PST

Mirna has essentially been an outdoors obsessed athlete all of her life. From field hockey and lacrosse in high school to now being a full-on ultramarathon runner in her adult life. She started blogging (Fat Girl Running) in 2012 as she was training for her first marathon and as her support systems grew, so did the haters, flooding her inbox with negative comments. But Mirna never let the haters get her down. She loves her body and is consequently chasing our stereotyped perception of what fitness and health look like.

“They don’t like to see me on a cover of a magazine because I do not represent what fitness means to them,” she says. “I want to continue sticking my big ass into places where people think I don’t belong. That has been the nature of my life—I’m going to do it and I’m going to do it proudly.”

“We are much more than our bodies. Whether it’s body image, our choices to be moms or not, our career choices—we are more than our bodies,” Valerio says. “We’re so powerful beyond our wildest dreams.”

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An excellent morning on the #wildwoodtrail at #forestpark in Portland with new friends @erin.nicksmartin and @rossmaxloudness from my awesome Facebook Group FATGIRLRUNNING. We had a great time exploring the #trail, enjoying the peeks of sun, and most of all, each other’s company. So happy to have our community! #fatgirlrunning #trailrunning #optoutside #runtrails #trailandultra #trailrunning #outdoors #urbantrails #portlandtrails #runner #zapposrunning #empoweredbyrunning #hylandspowered

A post shared by Mirna Valerio (@themirnavator) on Dec 27, 2018 at 12:51pm PST

As a runner, author, and educator, Valeria has secured her voice encouraging everyone, especially the youth, to get outside where they can test their own mental and physical strength. She advocates for green spaces in cities and supports more price-public funding for school trips.

“It’s not just a necessity for urban kids, but it’s a necessity for kids all over no matter what their level of privilege is and no matter what their level of exposure and access is,” she says. “Whenever I think of the outdoors, it’s not only a place to be myself and live in my introverted ways, but I also look at the outdoors as a place of bonding with other people and having these really deep, profound experiences with nature that you can’t have looking out a window.”

6. Pattie Gonia

Pattie Gonia is the world’s first backpacking queen and honestly, this is exactly what we need right now in these trying times.

Some days the news is so dark and our world leaders are so questionable that you might want to crawl into a tiny cave and not come out until everything is fixed but then, like a ray of sunshine and hope, emerges Pattie Gonia, the viral drag queen who dances on top of mountaintops in platform heels and everything in the world seems a little more manageable.

Yes!

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SURPRISE BISH !!!! park ranger pattie is here to write you a ticket for being TOO DAMN FABULOUS. 👑 & o no sis we’re not done yet. 💥 your fine is to tell someone u know needs to hear it how fabuluz they are too. 🧚🏻‍♂️ & u know y??? because this is our year to shine TOGETHER. so u better watch out u better not hide i’ll be patrolling these here parts & should u choose to be too fabulous again just watch me i’ll pop out from behind a tree (BOO!!) w these au natural hairy leggz & say u too wonderful AGAIN here’s another 1 !!!! . whooole lewk by queen @katienashbeauty photo by queen @erinoutdoors photographed on jumanos native lands . #servingyounationalparkSERVEice #nationalparkservice #nationalparks #outdoors #neature #nature #alewk #amajorlewk

A post shared by Pattie Gonia (@pattiegonia) on Mar 4, 2019 at 12:30pm PST

Pattie graced us with her presence less than six months ago but has already made waves across the world.

Pattie is portrayed by fellow Nebraskan photographer and Eagle Scout Wyn Wiley. If you aren’t familiar with various state identities in the USA, let’s just say that Nebraska is not the easiest state to be apart of the LGBTQ group.

Nevertheless, Wiley unapologetically embraces his inner queen and we’re all a lot better because of it.

But Pattie Gonia is more than a feel-good IG feed to make you smile. Wiley’s ultimate goal is for Pattie Gonia to inspire more people to get outside and enjoy mother nature, especially those who have historically been excluded from the outdoor community, including the LGBTQ community, people of color, and bigger folks.

He hopes to achieve this by having Pattie Gonia lead groups of newbie hikers and using sponsors to help provide gear for those who can’t afford it, because let’s be honest, outdoor gear can be as expensive as hell and historically, spending leisure time outside is a huge fucking privilege.

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THE BEND & SNAP TRAIL EDITION ♻️💃🏼🌲 ugh isn’t trash on the trails the most sad moment??? let’s keep our trails clean & do it while looking fab && snatched & cute as a bb prancing deer. not only for us but for all the animal babes friends we share mother natch with!!! remember, we have one earth to have our party, let’s not leave the house trashed. pick up your trash. it’s simply good etiquette, queens. . keeping our trails is clean is as easy as you brining a simple plastic bag to not only pack out your trash but what was left behind by other people. even if you pick up a piece or two of trash on a 30 min hike that can do wonders to keep mother natch looking snatched. . outfit by clothes my mom got me for christmas video by @charlieronan edit by @adamkingman #recycle #packout #packinpackout #protectourparks #nationalparks #hikevibes #litter #trash #stateparks #parksandrec #11thessential #leavenotrace #staywild #colorado #redrocks #denver #nature #fierce #drag #dragqueen #dance . video taken on cheyenne and ute native land

A post shared by Pattie Gonia (@pattiegonia) on Feb 7, 2019 at 12:22pm PST

On a more personal level, Pattie is a way for Wiley to explore his more feminine sides.

“In my normal life, I’d say I’m pretty straight-passing,” he says. “But when I put those boots on, it feels like a girl when she puts on mascara for the first time – it unlocks a different side of you that you haven’t seen before. I think femme is important. I think masculinity is important. I think it’s all inside of us.” If everyone accepted this gender fusion, the world would be a much better place.

Trust me. Better yet, trust Pattie.

Spill! Who are some badass women you’re obsessed with right now? Comment below and share some inspo!

The post 6 totally badass women I’m obsessed with right now appeared first on Young Adventuress.

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[watchingthesuperbowl]

Grading Super Bowl XXXVI

What was the final score?

New England 20, St. Louis 17

How much of the game was close? What was the “edge of your seat factor” like? (20 points)

In a purely scoreboard sense, the Patriots had a double-digit point lead for a third of the game. That doesn’t seem all that close. In context, though, it was much closer than that. 14 points was hardly a safe lead against this Rams offense. St. Louis moved the ball consistently all night, but just as consistently got bogged down around the Patriots’ 35-40 yard line and failed to score. The Rams had zero three-and-outs in Super Bowl XXXVI, but managed only three points in the first 50 minutes of play.

So watching this game, it was nothing like the previous year’s Super Bowl in which New York wasn’t scoring because they were getting dominated. The Rams eventually pulled it together in their first drive of the fourth quarter, down 17-3. Kurt Warner led his team on a methodical 77-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to seven.

New England got the ball back, up 17-10 with around nine minutes on the clock. They had every opportunity to kill clock, but went three-and-out, punting the ball back to the suddenly heating-up Rams offense. St. Louis did what they’d done all day, moving the ball consistently down the field but hitting a brick wall near midfield. Rams coach Mike Martz decided to punt with no timeouts left and four minutes on the clock, pinning all of his team’s hopes on its defense. Once again, with a chance to kill clock and ice a championship, the Patriots punted after a three-and-out.

Needing a touchdown with less than two minutes on the clock and no timeouts left, Kurt Warner went to work. A short completion to Az Hakim turned into an 18-yard gain when Hakim cut upfield and gained an extra ten yards or so instead of stepping out of bounds immediately. Kick return wizard and reserve wideout Yo Murphy was one-on-one with a linebacker on the next play, an 11-yard Warner to Murphy completion to the Patriots’ 26 yard line. On the third play of the Rams’ final possession of regulation, Ricky Proehl came open on a nominally illegal pick play and Warner hit him for a touchdown. It felt closer than the scoreboard all day, but now there was no such thing as closer than the scoreboard. It was 17-17.

The Rams didn’t know this at the time, but Tom Brady is obviously some kind of warlock. Brady got the ball inside his own 20 with 1:21 left on the clock and zero timeouts.And he did Tom Brady things, completing three passes to J.R. Redmond, one to Troy Brown, and another to Jermaine Wiggins in order to drive to the Rams 30. After Brady spiked the ball to stop the clock with 0:07 left in regulation.

And then Adam Vinatieri came on to kick what would be the game winning field goal. He had never missed a kick indoors before this kick, and he still hadn’t after the kick. 47 yard field goal is good, Patriots win, upset complete. (Score: 18 out of 20. A couple points deducted for the Rams being down 10+ points throughout the entire third quarter.)

Was there any kind of comeback? Was there ever any indication that the team which was trailing had a chance to come from behind and win? (15 points)

Absolutely, yes. Down 14 points as the fourth quarter began, the Rams tied the score at 17-17 with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. If the game had gone to overtime, you’d have to think St. Louis would be the more likely winner. The Rams’ offense, one of the greatest in NFL history, had just scored two touchdowns in eight minutes. Before the game winning drive, it had been more than a quarter since New England had even earned a first down.

If Vinatieri misses that kick or doesn’t get the opportunity, the Rams probably win the game. It would have been the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. (Score: 14 out of 15.)

Did the great players come through with great performances? (15 points)

Frankly, nobody had a great performance. Maybe Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri. Almost to a man, everybody on the field played pretty well but nobody played extremely well.

Tom Brady, who’s obviously going to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Canton, Ohio at some point, was named the MVP despite fairly ho-hum statistics. (16-27, 145 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) I assume he won the award because of the way he led the game winning drive - and also because someone had to win it. (I probably would have voted for Vinatieri, FWIW.)

Kurt Warner, who’s already visited the big famous museum in my hometown in Northeast Ohio, threw for 365 yards and a touchdown, but also had two costly interceptions.

At one point in the game, play-by-play man Dick Stockton said that Rams running back Marshall Faulk might be the greatest running back who ever lived. I think that’s an indication of a tenuous grip on reality by Stockton (Jim Brown says hello), but Faulk was a great player, a deserving Hall of Famer, and one of the better backs of the past few decades. He played well but not remarkably so, running for 76 yards and gaining 54 more through the air.

The second-tier stars all did about what you’d expect. Rams receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce each had five receptions for 50 or so yards, Troy Brown of the Patriots had six catches for 89 yards. Patriots running back Antowain Smith, hardly a star but a guy who ran for 1157 yards and 12 touchdowns in the regular season, gained 92 yards on the ground. (Score: 9 out of 15. A good but not great score for a game in which each individual star was good but not great.)

Were the teams historically great? (10 points)

Oh, heck yes. I wrote about these Rams a couple of weeks ago. The Greatest Show on Turf was in inner-circle great offense that could do everything and do everything well. The St. Louis defense in 2001 wasn’t as great as the offense, but it was darn good. They finished seventh in the NFL in points allowed and third in yards allowed. They could bring it defensively.

At the time, the Patriots were considered a fluke, a good team that got hotter as the weather got colder. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that this was the beginning of an unrivaled run of dominance that’s still underway sixteen years later. New England won three Super Bowls in four years, won seven AFC championships in 16 years, and the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady combination has won five Super Bowls and counting. Belichick wasn’t quite done building his juggernaut in 2001, but he was close. (Score: 10 out of 10)

Were there memorable moments that will be talked about for decades? (10 points)

Vinatieri’s field goal, for sure. As I write this, he’s still playing and still excellent more than 15 years later, and this kick is one of the first things that comes to mind when people think of him. It would not surprise me even a little bit if Vinatieri became the third placekicking specialist in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after he finally retires. There are a lot of kickers who had great careers, but nobody has the same kind of “clutch” reputation that Vinatieri has. This single kick has a lot to do with that reputation.

If not for the Patriots’ game-winning drive, the tying touchdown, a pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl, would likely be the enduring image of this game. And New England fans would still be freaking out about the illegal pick that caused him to be so open. (Score: 9 out of 10)

How was the quality of play? Were there a lot of penalties, punts, and turnovers? (15 points)

Really good. It was clear what the teams were trying to accomplish on both offense and defense, and they mostly executed those gameplans.

The Patriots didn’t turn the ball over all day, didn’t kill themselves with penalties, and got good performances from their defense and special teams. (That field goal!) The New England defense had a gameplan very similar to Belichick’s plan to shut down the Bills in Super Bowl XXV: Allow complete passes underneath, but absolutely do not allow the receiver to run after he catches the ball. They did this extremely well, with very few exceptions.

St. Louis turned the ball over three times. One of them could easily be filed under “crap happens”, when Ricky Proehl was blasted by a defender just after making a catch. Proehl fumbled, but just about anyone would have coughed it up in that situation. It was a great defensive play and not a poor offensive play. Warner’s two interceptions were particularly bad, and almost certainly decided the game. One of them was a pick six for Ty Law, who broke on a poor pass and was off to the races to give New England a 7-3 lead in the second quarter..

Penalties weren’t a factor, punts were thankfully less common this year than last year, and I never got the feeling I was watching garbage football. It was a nice antidote to Super Bowl XXXV. (Score: 13 out of 15)

Are there any other factors that add to the greatness of the game? This covers things like weather, story line, rivalry matchup, legacy franchises, unexpected results, etc. (15 points)

It seems almost impossible to fathom from the perspective of 2017, but the Rams were 14 point favorites. This game was, at the time, the second-biggest upset in the history of the Super Bowl.

The Patriots win was an unexpected result, and the fact that they were even there was perhaps more unexpected. New England went 5-11 in 2000, started 2001 with three losses in four games, and they were 5-5 as Thanksgiving approached. Their franchise quarterback, Drew Bledsoe literally nearly died during the second game of the season when he suffered a sheared blood vessel in his chest. Their quarterback coach, Dick Rehbein, died suddenly and unexpectedly in August. Everything was going wrong. You’d have been laughed out of the room if, during the third week of November 2001, you would have predicted the Patriots would win the Super Bowl while holding the St. Louis offense in check throughout the game. But here they were.

Super Bowl XXXVI was the first Super Bowl played after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and as such was a particularly emotional day for players and fans. It’s difficult to quantify or put into words what the day was like, but there was a low-level feeling of dread that something terrible would happen to go along with a swelling sense of national pride and identity. An entire book could be written about the return to normalcy that cultural touchstones like Super Bowl XXXVI provided, but this isn’t the time or place for such a book. Suffice it to say that this was a big friggin’ deal. (Score: 13 out of 15)

How does the game grade overall? (sum of all previous categories, 100 points)

86 out of 100. The second-best Super Bowl ever played at this point, a whisker behind the absolute classic the Steelers and Cowboys played in Super Bowl XIII.

If you wanted to claim that this is the greatest Super Bowl ever played, I certainly wouldn’t argue with you. It’s there or thereabouts.

Ratings and rankings of Super Bowls I-XXXVI:

1. Super Bowl XIII - Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31 - 87 points 2. Super Bowl XXXVI - New England 20, St. Louis 17 - 86 points 3. Super Bowl XXIII - San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16 - 85 points T4. Super Bowl XXV - New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19 - 84 points T5. Super Bowl XXXIV - St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16 - 84 points 6. Super Bowl X - Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17 - 80 points 7. Super Bowl XXXII - Denver 31, Green Bay 24 - 77 points 8. Super Bowl VII - Miami 14, Washington 7 - 74 points 9. Super Bowl XXX - Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17 - 69 points T10. Super Bowl IX - Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6 - 68 points T10. Super Bowl XXXI - Green Bay 35, New England 21 - 68 points T12. Super Bowl XVII - Washington 27, Miami 17 - 67 points T12. Super Bowl XXVIII - Dallas 30, Buffalo 13 - 67 points 14. Super Bowl XIV - Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles 19 - 65 points 15. Super Bowl XVI - San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21 - 62 points 16. Super Bowl XIX - San Francisco 38, Miami 16 - 61 points T17. Super Bowl III - New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7 - 58 points T17. Super Bowl XXII - Washington 42, Denver 10 - 58 points 19. Super Bowl XXI - New York Giants 39, Denver 20 - 57 points 20. Super Bowl XXVII - Dallas 52, Buffalo 17 - 55 points 21. Super Bowl XXXIII - Denver 34, Atlanta 19 - 53 points 22. Super Bowl VI - Dallas 24, Miami 3 - 52 points 23. Super Bowl XX - Chicago 46, New England 10 - 51 points 24. Super Bowl I - Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10 - 50 points T25. Super Bowl XVIII - Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9 - 49 points T25. Super Bowl XXIV - San Francisco 55, Denver 10 - 49 points 27. Super Bowl XXVI - Washington 37, Buffalo 24 - 48 points 28. Super Bowl VIII - Miami 24, Minnesota 7 - 47 points 29. Super Bowl XV - Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10 - 44 points 30. Super Bowl IV - Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7 - 43 points 31. Super Bowl XXXV - Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7 - 42 points T32. Super Bowl II - Green Bay 33, Oakland 14 - 40 points T32. Super Bowl V - Baltimore 16, Dallas 13 - 40 points 34. Super Bowl XXIX - San Francisco 49, San Diego 26 - 39 points 35. Super Bowl XII - Dallas 27, Denver 10 - 38 points 36. Super Bowl XI - Oakland 32, Minnesota 14 - 35 points

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Like it or not, resources are finite. If we don’t use them carefully, we’ll run out. But while we’ve all heard the scary stories about peak oil, we’re guessing you had no idea that we’re running the risk of hitting peak banana.

#1 Bananas Latin America is the largest cultivator of bananas in the world, with the area being responsible for around 70% of world production. That makes for a $8.9 billion a year industry. Humans have been growing bananas for at least 10,000 years, and they’re an important part of the everyday diet for countless people. They’re rich in magnesium, potassium and vitamins C and B6, making them the most consumed fruit in many countries. The bananas we’re accustomed to, the Cavendish species, is the only type grown on a large scale. It’s a monoculture, meaning that every banana tree is one and the same and all bananas in every supermarket are basically clones of each other. Recently, a banana fungus known as Tropical Race 4 began attacking banana trees, inhibiting their ability to extract nutrients from the soil. This fungus can’t be killed by any current fungicides and can easily move from place to place by sticking to boots, clothing, tools and even water. It’s spread to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and appears to have hit Latin America as well. The only way to stop this plight is to quarantine and destroy the infected plants. Otherwise the Cavendish will be all but wiped out, forcing us to replace it with one of the other 1200 banana species out there. These other breeds look and taste different, but maybe that’s something we’ll have to adjust to.

#2 New Music The Gracenote database holds 130 million songs from around the world. If we were to listen to them all day and night, it would take us 1200 years. That’s not even close to what all the possible combinations of tones put together can add up to, and we can safely say that new music will be created as long as humans exist. But humans have a relatively small capacity to hear sounds — our range is between 20 and 20,000 Hz. Together with the fact that we have a preference for only particular notes and have a tendency to borrow and remix songs and tones from the past, the number we’re talking about drops significantly. The exact date when all possible combinations of sounds capable of forming new and enjoyable music will be reached is unknown and likely far in the future, but we have to keep in mind that someday it will come to an end.

#3 Wine As temperatures keep rising, predictions show that large areas where grapes are currently grown will be unsuitable by 2050. Vineyards need cold winters and hot, dry summers, and places like Bordeaux, Rhone, Tuscany, Chile, Argentina, Southeast Europe and Napa Valley will no longer be able to do so. Even the vineyards in Southern Africa and Australia will suffer tremendously, with simulations showing a 70-75% drop in production over the next several decades. We’ve already see the effects of climate change on wine production, with a 4% drop in 2014. These famous wine countries won’t be completely unable to produce, but tremendous expenses in irrigation and other special adjustments will need to be made in order for them to continue production. Fortunately, other areas will become perfect for wine production, such as Germany, the Netherlands or even England and Yellowstone Park. Central China and Tasmania could also do well in the near future. But most of these areas are either cultivated with something else or are wild. Moving the wine industry would be extremely costly, and could threaten animals like the panda with extinction.

#4 Helium Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe. It’s also among the lightest. That means the helium that’s here on our planet escapes the atmosphere on a regular basis. Besides being a source of fun at kid’s parties, helium is also used for welding, as a super coolant for MRI machines, in the Large Hadron Collider, in diving and in growing silicon crystals, among other important uses. The reason we don’t notice the scarcity of the gas is because the United States National Helium Reserve, which houses around one billion cubic meters of the stuff, was mandated back in 1966 to sell all helium at extremely low prices until 2015. Now that the reserve is almost up, we’ll most likely see a steep rise in helium prices because now we have to make our own. To do so, we need to tap into natural gas production, since 7% of it is helium. Qatar finished building a facility in 2013 which is capable of producing 60 million cubic meters, making it the second largest producer after the US.

#5 Honey Bees Bees have been around for some 74 to 146 million years, before the continents even drifted apart. Their appearance seems to coincide with the evolution of the first flowering plants. Currently there are several species, but the most common and most useful to us is the  European Honeybee. This species was domesticated as early as 1000 BC in Egypt, and has since been transported to every continent for their delicious honey and useful wax. Today these little insects are under threat by a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has wiped out 36% of hives in the US alone. The causes behind this plight are varied and not completely understood. Scientists believe that mites, infectious agents, weather patterns, electromagnetic radiation, pesticides, poor nutrition and stress are the main factors, as well as the Israeli acute paralysis virus. CCD was first documented in 2006, and no viable solution has been found yet. And even if you think you could live without honey and wax, bees pollinate over one third of the world’s food supply. Without them, plants can’t grow and reproduce.

#6 Medical Isotopes Utilized in detecting bone cancer and brain and kidney diseases, medical isotopes are used by over 70,000 people every day. They make use of a radioactive tracer called technetium-99m which is made inside research nuclear reactors. Back in 2009, two of these reactors shut down for repairs since they’re over half a century old. This flung the medical community into a panic, and many professionals had to resort to older and less reliant techniques for treatment which involve exposing patients to high doses of radiation. There’s no stored supply of the isotope, because it only has a 12 hour lifespan. Nevertheless, it’s used in over 80% of all medical imaging worldwide. What’s even more disturbing is that the Canadian Chalk River reactor, which produces more than a third of the world’s Tc-99, will permanently shut down in 2016, leaving a gap in the isotope supply chain that no one can fill anytime soon. Some North American companies are looking into the problem and seem to have come up with a way of producing Tc-99 without the need of nuclear reactors. But the miles of red tape they have to get past, together with the fact that it will take them years before any viable production will begin, will leave countless people without a reliable diagnosis.

#7 Caviar We all know that caviar is a luxury food — a spoonful can cost as much as a full meal. Caviar is made from the eggs of the beluga sturgeon, native to the Caspian and the Black Sea. It can live for more than 100 years, and can weigh up to two metric tons. They’ve been around since the time of the dinosaurs, but recently it’s  been classified as critically endangered because of overfishing and loss of habitat. The United States imports over 80% of the world’s caviar, which is worth around $100 million per year, but the black market is believed to be 10 times larger. An import ban has been put in place in both the US and EU to conserve and regenerate the population of sturgeons. This has led to prices skyrocketing from $2000 per kilogram to a whopping $10,000. This steep rise has made the black market explode, and not even a 10 year suspension of activities from countries producing caviar — Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Russia — has been able to properly stop it.

#8 Sardines While we’re on the subject of dwindling marine life, here’s another fish that will soon disappear from supermarket shelves. This is due to overfishing and the cooling of the North Pacific waters since the 1990s. Sardines love slightly warmer waters, and a sudden shift in temperature can have dire consequences on the marine ecosystem. This phenomenon wasn’t a surprise, as scientists has been warning it could happen. Nevertheless, heavy fishing continued, and in 2013 fishing nets of the Pacific coast of Canada came up empty. This happened before in the 1940s when the waters cooled and the sardine population dropped, but now that there are more fishing boats their population will take even longer to replenish, if they ever do. What’s even more troublesome is that because of size-selective fishing, the average size of many fish species has dropped to about half of what they used to be in the 1970s. Laws and regulations were put in place to preserve younger fish, while the bigger ones were up for grabs. Since only smaller fish were left in the oceans, their offspring were also smaller. That’s one well-intended law that backfired.

#9 Antibiotics Antibiotics aren’t disappearing, but they are becoming obsolete. Like every living thing on Earth, bacteria are constantly evolving to better cope with outside forces. That’s why over 23,000 people die each year in the US alone from antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. This is a natural event, but one that was greatly accelerated by the overuse of antibiotics for simple cases sore throats and virus related illnesses which can’t be cured with antibiotics. We also take on antibiotics when we eat most kinds of meat. To make matters worse, pharmaceutical companies have found that investing in antibiotic related development is no longer worthwhile financially, and are diverting investments into chronic illness drugs that can be used over the long term. The situation looks so overwhelming that some have proposed the money come from the military budget, since this situation may soon become a matter of national defense.

#10 Sand Coming back home from the beach with sand all over your swimwear could soon be a thing of the past, since there will be no more beaches to go to. Because of rising sea levels and increased storm activity, not to mention massive erosion caused by human shore line development, somewhere between 70 to 90 percent of the world’s beaches are disappearing. This phenomenon isn’t visible to those of us living inland who only visit the seaside in the summer, but people closer to beaches can attest that sand is brought in by the truckload every season to fill in the gaps. You might think that using desert sand would be a great solution since it just sits there doing nothing, but that type of sand is much finer than beach sand and will simply be blown away by the wind. That’s why Dubai replenishes its beaches every year with sand shipped all the way from Australia. In Africa and Asia, beaches are stripped bare by people collecting sand for construction sites. People go to the seaside not to sunbathe and swim, but to gather what sand is left, sometimes risking their lives for a few buckets of sand while the tides pull at their feet and waves crash overhead. So maybe next summer just take the family to the local pool instead.

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Sims Library providing weekend classes on computer basics

New Post has been published on https://dbapress.org/sims-library-providing-weekend-classes-on-computer-basics/

Sims Library providing weekend classes on computer basics

The Girlfriends’ Guide to Buying the Right Lingerie For That First Weekend Away!

Every female desire to make sure that her first weekend away with their boyfriend is unique and one way to do that is to buy a special piece of undies that you can version only for him but what occurs in case you get it wrong. If you buy the incorrect piece of underwear, it is able to turn an amazing weekend away to a damage up the celebration.

The key to buying underwear for that first weekend away is to be sexy without being classes on computer basics.

Most guys might instead see their girlfriends secure and their bodies accentuated in the right undies than searching cheap and nasty.

I wager we have all seen the revolting undies from a number of the reasonably-priced person movies, however, in reality, couples don’t need that enjoy. Not if they want their relationship to closing.

When choosing the piece for your weekend, you first need to exercise session whether it is going to be a chunk you are going to put on out to dinner, a piece you may place on previous to retiring to mattress or something you’ll marvel him with inside the morning.

The most common kind of underwear that couples pick for his or her weekend away for dinner is a pleasant attractive bra and panty set. If you are buying your undies for dinner then the 2 excellent colorings to put on are either pink or gray. The putting you will be in will rely on whether or not the bra and panty set come with suspenders or not. It is usually recommended that if you are in a formal dining surroundings inside the town then suspenders are a need to along with stockings. If your weekend away is in the united states of America, then a pleasant pair of jeans that suit your lingerie could be more suitable.

Always make certain that the underwear will fit your outerwear. There are many exceptional units of ruffle bra and panty units but they would not necessarily work with jeans. A flat style of underwear would be extra appropriate.

If you are buying lingerie for retiring to a mattress, then satin is usually the pleasant way to head. What you purchase is depending on your dreams. In a chillier weather satin or silk long pajamas in either red or crimson is the manner to go together with a protracted matching gown and matching g-string, thong or panty.

Remember the important thing with lingerie is that less is greater. To make your weekend more thrilling then slowly screen what you’re wearing. If your weekend away is in a warmer weather then a satin stretch sleepwear get dressed might be greater appropriate with matching panty.

When deciding on day underwear, the virtually cool way to wonder him is to pick out a bit that can be worn exposed. A best external bustier is one manner that you could obtain this. Alternatively, you can wear a buttoned blouse that element exposes the bustier or maybe a nice high-quality bra.

Your first weekend away is ready you feeling satisfied, healthy and sexy all weekend, so the pieces you choose ought to usually fortify this final results. Never buy a bit that you may experience uncomfortable in due to the fact he’ll pick up on that discomfort. At the same time, you want to explicit your femininity to him as well, due to the fact there is nothing greater thrilling than your first weekend away, so it must be unique.

Matthew Arnold and Three Classes – The Barbarians, the Philistines, and the Populace

Matthew Arnold is sincerely a fantastic fighter for triumphing actual lifestyle within the society of London. He reveals the kingdom of materialism that is making an attempt to strangle real way of life. So, on this bankruptcy, Arnold divides the society of England into three classes – The Aristocratic Class, the Middle Class, and the Working Class. He reveals Anarchy very commonplace in these instructions and analyzed them with their virtues and defects. He designates the Aristocratic elegance of his time as the Barbarians, the Middle magnificence as the Philistines and the Working elegance because of the Populace.

His scrutiny of 3 instructions of his time proves him a terrifically skilled critic. For Aristocratic magnificence, he views that this class lacks the adequate courage for resistance. He calls this elegance the Barbarians because they consider of their personal individualism, liberty and doing as one likes; they’d super passion for subject sports. Their manly exercising, their electricity and their accurate seems are simply discovered within the Aristocratic class of his time. Their politeness resembles the Chivalry Barbarians, and their external patterns in manners, accomplishments, and powers are inherited from the Barbarians.

The other magnificence is the center class or the Philistines acknowledged with the aid of its mundane awareness, professional of enterprise and found busy in industrialization and commerce. Their eternal inclination is to the progress and prosperity of u . S . By building towns, railroads and strolling the outstanding wheels of industry. They have produced the greatest mercantile military. So, they’re the Empire builders. In this material progress, the working class is with them. All the keys of progress are of their arms.

The different magnificence is the operating magnificence or the population. This magnificence is known raw and half of evolved because of poverty and different related diseases. This elegance is often exploited by way of the Barbarians and Philistines. The creator finds democratic arousing in this magnificence because they’re getting political attention and are coming out from their hiding places to claim an English guy’s heaven- born privilege of doing as he likes, the assembly where he likes, bawling what he likes, and breaking what he likes.

Despite such class gadget, Arnold unearths a commonplace foundation of human nature in all. So, the spirit of sweetness and light can be based. Even Arnold calls himself philistine and rises above his level of start and social status in his pursuit of perfection, sweetness and mild and lifestyle. He, in addition, says that all three lessons locate happiness in what they like. For example, the Barbarians like honor and attention, field sports, and satisfaction. The Philistines like fanaticism, enterprise, and cash making and comfort and tea meeting, however the Populace elegance, hated by way of the each instruction, likes shooting, hustling and smashing and beer. They all hold special activities through their social repute. However, there are some souls in those instructions who desire for the way of life with a preference to understand approximately their high-quality or to see things as they may be. They have a choice to pursue motive and to make the need of God to prevail.

For the pursuit of perfection, it does now not lie most effective at the genius or the gifted men and women, but additionally on all lessons. Actually, the love or the pursuit of perfection is in the approach of the not unusual human beings. He calls the person of culture because the proper nurse of pursuing love and sweetness and light. He finds such humans in all three training who have a fashionable human spirit for the pursuit of perfection. He says that the proper source of authority is the great self or the right reason to be performed by tradition.

The Best Self or the Right Reason & the Ordinary Self:

Here he discusses the excellent self or the right motive and the regular self that may be felt in the pursuit of perfection most effective. In this regard, he talks approximately the baths, surrounded by nature itself in the soul of guy, is provided in the literary judgment of a few critics of literature and in a few spiritual corporations of America. He further says that the concept of excessive first-rate self may be very tough for the pursuit of perfection in literature, faith or even in politics. The political device, customary in his time, changed into of the Barbarians. The leaders and the statesmen sang the praises of the Barbarians for winning the favor of the Aristocrats. Tennyson celebrates in his poems the consideration of the amazing extensive-shouldered genial Englishmen along with his experience of duty and reverence for the laws. Arnold asserts that Tennyson is singing the praise of the philistines because this middle elegance is the spine of u . S . In development. The politicians sing the reward of the populace for carrying their favors. Indeed, they play with their emotions, having shown the brightest powers of sympathy and the readiest electricity of actions. All those praises are mere clap-entice and trick to benefit applause. It is the flavor of bathos surrounded via nature itself in the soul of guy and springs into regular self. The everyday self-enforces the readers to misguide the state. It is greater admirable, however, its blessings are entertained through the representatives and ruling men.

Arnold inclines to right cause as a paramount authority which has the attraction to quality self. All the classes have to follow it, in any other case anarchy might be prevailed, and they will do what they like to do. In schooling, he desires to be the successful great self as it became at jeopardy. He is of the opinion that when one guy’s particular form of taste for the bathos shall tyrannize over the other guy’s, in the result, the right motive or the great self must fail to rule in training. He insists on the right reason this is the authority within the count number of schooling. The state of affairs in training arises for the shortage of highbrow flexibilities in educationists who’re neglecting the satisfactory self or proper purpose and are trying to appeal to the genial taste for the bathos and tearing it to its natural operation and its infinite type of experiments.

Arnold wants to convey reform in training with the aid of shifting the control of public colleges from their vintage board of trustees to the nation. Like politics, in schooling, the danger lies in unchecked and unguided man or woman action. All the actions need to be checked by means of the real motive or the exceptional self of the individual. It is the opinion of a few humans that the nation won’t intervene into affairs of training. The liberal party guys trust in liberty, the person liberty of doing as one likes and assert that interference of the nation in education is a contravention of private liberty. Arnold says that such best non-public liberty has nevertheless indefinite distance.

The assignment of Arnold’s tradition is that each individual ought to act for himself and must be best himself. The selected humans or classes need to devote themselves to the pursuit of perfection, and he appears to be agreed with Humboldt, the German Philosopher, in a case of the pursuit of perfection. The way of life will cause them to perfect on their own basis. So, it’s far critical that guy has to try to are trying to find human perfection by way of instituting his fine self or real purpose; subculture, ultimately, might locate its public cause.

Eye Strain Reduction Eye Exercises For Computer Users

We are residing in a technological age whereby the usage of computer systems has to turn out to be extra frequent than ever before. Considering the truth that computer use is at an all-time excessive worry approximately the terrible consequences of the extended use of this generation on eye health is a trouble that is pretty frequent no longer simply in The United States however in other international locations as nicely. For instance, a chart survey carried out by means of Quartz reveals a few surprising statistics about the length of time that Americans spend watching their laptop monitors and other technological devices.

In this survey, facts have discovered that Americans spend a mean of about 444 mins searching at screens; the equivalent of seven.7 hours an afternoon. This debt for 147 minutes spent watching television, 103 in the front of the PC, 151 mins on smartphones and forty-three mins on a pill.

Staring at those virtual gadgets for prolonged intervals of time can take a toll on our eye health. Additionally, staring is an activity that predisposes our eyes to anxiety in the attention muscle tissues and strain and tension inside the visual gadget. The symptoms related to those visual conduct consist of blurry vision, eye pressure, burning eyes, headache and the improvement of vision conditions together with myopia to call a few.

The solution to this problem includes the exercise of eye relaxation strategies that loosen up the eye muscle tissue and reduces stress and strain in the eyes. Here are 2 eye pressure relieving sporting events you may position into exercise to help you accomplish this goal.

Regardless of how pressing or attractive the paintings in the front of you can seem, set apart at least a couple of minutes in every 1-hour interval, or half hour c programming language, to look far away from your close up work. Practice searching far from your near up work for a few seconds and as you are looking away, inhale and exhale as you blink your eyes at every half of hour c language. Blinking facilitates to save you dry eye by way of stimulating the attention’s herbal tear production. Blinking also has a soothing impact on the visible gadget.

The second approach includes a technique called the close to some distance moving method. You can begin this exercising through taking a few deep breaths. Then, pick a relaxed seat. Then, keep your thumb up so that it’s far approximately 6 inches away from your nostril. As you stare at your thumb inhale and as you shift your consciousness to an object about 20 toes away, exhale. Keep alternating your cognizance from your thumb to object 20 feet away.

The breathing done on this eye relaxation eye exercise approach has a soothing effect on the attention muscles that have been subjected to anxiety and pressure as a result of immoderate observing PC displays. This approach additionally sporting activities the attention muscle mass and improves the focusing electricity of the eyes for better herbal eyesight.

A strategy to resolving the issues related to excessive watching computer screens and the extended use of digital devices is the everyday practice of eye pressure relieving eye exercise techniques. These strategies release stress and anxiety from the visible device, relieve eye strain and dry eye; crucial elements essential for constructing and maintaining more healthy eyesight.

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New Post has been published on Alienation

New Post has been published on https://alienation.biz/be-a-great-london-employer-introduce-tenancy-deposit-loans/

Be a great London employer - Introduce tenancy deposit loans

London is open to humans from around the arena. The combination of folks who make London their domestic is prime to the capital’s vibrancy and our financial fulfillment.

But we recognize that too many Londoners wars to locate housing they are able to have enough money inside the capital, and employers often tell me how housing costs are making it increasingly difficult to recruit and maintain a talented body of workers in London.

As Deputy Mayor for Housing and home Development, I am operating with companions across London to tackle the housing crisis, and I need to tell you approximately tenancy deposit loans – a simple and realistic way which you as employers can help your employees, your business, and our metropolis.

Ultimately we recognize we need to build more new and affordable housing, and the Mayor has already started to put in location fundamental lengthy-time period tasks to address the capital’s housing crisis.

Having secured a document £three.15bn from the Government closing November,

We will begin construction on ninety,000 new affordable houses in London through 2021. This consists of our new homes for London Living Lease in an effort to help the ones on common learning keep a deposit.

However solving the crisis can be a marathon, not a dash, and so we additionally need to do all we are able to assist Londoners struggling with housing expenses now.

One way we are able to do this is through employers providing tenancy deposits loans to their employees. These paintings by using firms supplying a loan masking the fee of the deposit through payroll.

A Fascinating Highlights of London

Hosting a big range of first-rate websites, numerous travelers who tour to England could begin their trip by spending a while in London. these days we might be highlighting some of the greatest websites of London.

Massive Ben

One of the popular landmarks of London, the famous Big Ben Clock began indicating the time for the humans for the first time in 1856. Huge Ben became in truth named after Benjamin Holt, a well-known Welsh civil engineer and flesh-presser who acted as the First Commissioner of Works in the First rate Britain at the time. He additionally supervised the process of the development of the well-known Big Ben, typically covered in diverse tours to England.

Huge Ben weighs greater than 12 tons and it becomes positioned on the pinnacle of the Tower of London. This terrific structure is considered to be the most famous time size device within the whole global. Vacationers who come from all around the globe to revel in their holidays in England could clearly pay Huge Ben a visit. Large Ben is surely startling being 320 feet in peak. The larger hand of the clock is 14 feet in the period, even as the shorter hand is around nine ft. Large Ben is blanketed inside the UNESCO global History List of websites.

The British Museum

The British Museum is considered one of the largest and most important museums of human records and History inside the complete world. The museum hosts greater than 13 million shows from all the regions and the continents around the world. The museum welcomes masses of vacationers who visit England every day.

A few of the most thrilling sections of the British Museum of London is the department special for showing the famous of the Center East. Due to the fact that First-rate Britain occupied a huge phase of Africa and Asia, the museum has quite an incredible collection of presentations from Egypt and Sudan such as some super historic pieces.

The Piccadilly Rectangular

The Piccadilly Rectangular is Many of the maximum popular in London. No vacationer who tours England would ever bypass the threat to discover this antique Square. Mounted in 1819, the Rectangular nowadays hosts many stores, stores, markets, cinemas, and theaters. This is in addition to massive monitors, big fountains, and plenty of cafes and restaurants. Achieving the Rectangular is simple thru public transportation and just like the metro and the buses of London.

Buckingham Palace

One of the most top notch ancient sites of London, the Buckingham Palace became Set up in 1703 to later become the house of the royal family of Splendid Britain. these days, the palace is considered Many of the most famous touristic sites that clutch the eye of lots of Vacationers who spend their holidays in England.

The Roles of an Employer Defense Attorney in the Business Realm

Even the maximum diligent employees every so often require the services of an attorney to help navigate difficult employment regulation troubles. Those troubles can crop up at any time, so groups must be prepared to face them with the felony help of an organization defense lawyer.

Worker Classifications

Employers who incorrectly classify their personnel may also face legal action or hefty fines. For example, classifying team of workers participants as man or woman independent contractors as opposed to employees could reason an organization to be sued by means of personnel who feel that they’re now not efficaciously categorized. The steerage of a legal professional throughout the classification procedure can assist in warding off such incidents.

Representation in Courtroom

Employment court cases are complicated and may take months or longer to resolve, mainly if the worried events aren’t cooperative. A corporation defense lawyer can shop time by using attending required Court hearing classes so the purchaser can maintain to run his or her commercial enterprise. The legal professional may also take care of accumulating and preserving evidence for the case.

Reviewing of Agreements and Contracts

Clauses in contracts and agreements can be used as the idea for submitting a Courtroom case. An attorney can overview the contract to make certain that everyone the vital criminal phrases are correctly carried out and are enforceable in Courtroom. Further, the legal professional can provide you with insights on when to apply the contracts to protect your enterprise from prison troubles. For example, issuing an employment settlement to every new Employee before a suitability assessment is executed may want to spell trouble for the enterprise.

Overview Handbooks and Guidelines

A legal professional can take a look at the Worker manual and enterprise Regulations in intensity to make certain that not one of the statements or Guidelines violate state or federal law or create unintended duties. After thoroughly reviewing the documents, the lawyer might also recommend implementation of additional Rules to safeguard the commercial enterprise from felony problems.

An organization protection attorney also can evaluation employment decisions-particularly people who have an effect on a full-size variety of the group of workers members earlier than they’re applied. Examples of decisions that require the intervention of a lawyer encompass a change of 401-k plan, discontinuing an Employee gain, and shedding a number of the employees.

Student Loans – FAQ’s for Loan Consolidation

With scholar loans, there usually appears to be a few unanswered questions. There are many questions that scholars need to invite and we are able to answer a number of the extra critical ones right here.

The factor to take into account, earlier than you decide to any sort of loan consolidation is to make sure to arm yourself with as a great deal knowledge as you can.

One of the first locations you need to try are the councilors at your academic institution, they’ll have all the present day local know-how approximately loans and consolidation because it applies to their faculty especially.

The second one area to get greater answers is a simple internet search, the trick to keep in mind here is that the more questions you ask, the greater solutions you may get.

Reap a small notebook and write all of your information down in a single region, hold the front of the book on your answers and use the again of the e-book to list your questions as you believe you studied of them. Small notebooks are very on hand to keep with you at all times due to the fact you in no way recognize when a query will pop into your head.

Q 1. Why? Why is there a need to consolidate?

A. you’ll significantly reduce the monthly reimbursement quantity, reduce the most important of the loan and probably pay your loans off lots quicker.

Q2. when? while is the great time to get a consolidation mortgage?

To get the most benefit you ought to keep in mind consolidating instantly after your commencement. You will be capable of taking benefit of the grace length and consequently, you will be capable of getting the pleasant possible hobby fee.

Q3. What? What if you aren’t eligible for a consolidation loan?

There may be a few situations so one can make you ineligible to get hold of a consolidation plan. Those can be such things as: · You have got had a preceding consolidation

· The quantity of your loan is less than $20,000

· In case your debt is best to one employer.

If that is the case, then you could keep in mind the subsequent solutions…

· Investigate a non-public consolidation plan.

· Look at liquefying any assets you could have.