eBookMeter The world’s authority on eBooks and book authors
Read the latest results on eBooks
Best Fantasy eBooks Online
Are you looking for some of the best fantasy ebooks to read online? Well, you found it! Here you can read about all the eBook reviews about fantasy novels. We review the authors and the ebooks that that these authors write. Find out what is the best fantasy ebook is for you!
This page features a growing list of Free Philosophy eBooks, presenting crucial works by Aristotle, Hegel, Kant, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and several different philosophers. You may generally browse these texts on your Kindle, iPad & iPhone, or web browser.
The New York Times Best Sellers are up-to-date and authoritative lists of the most popular Novels in the USA, based on sales in the Previous week. Discover that the best books at Amazon Best Sellers. Locate the top 100 most popular Amazon books. Here, take a look back in the finest new novels that came this year--and then add them to your 2021 reading list if you haven't encounter them however.
100 Best Children's Books Just a tiny tin mouse and his son are broken and thrown away. Found and repaired by a tramp, they move on a trip to return to the doll's house and creatures they recall in the toy shop they initially came from. This heart-warming account violates traditional storybook format, mixing poems with narrative to tell the story of Jack, a schoolboy who is nursing a sadness that he can't find the words to share.
When was the last time you read a novel, or a significant magazine article? Do your everyday reading habits centre around tweets, Facebook upgrades, or the instructions on your own instant oatmeal package?If you are among countless men and women who do not make a habit of reading frequently, you may be missing out.Reading includes a substantial number of advantages, and here are 10 advantages of studying for you to begin studying.
Jane M. Scott (1779--1839) was a British theatre manager, actress, and playwright.Together with her dad, John Scott (1752--1838), Jane developed the Sans Pareil Theatre (later called the Adelphi), in which they offered music and light shows. They accumulated a theatrical company and by 1809 the theatre was accredited for musical entertainments, pantomime, and burletta.Scott wrote over fifty stage pieces in an array of genres: melodramas, pantomimes, farces, comic operettas, historical dramas, and adaptations, in addition to translations.The Sans Pareil was important in the move towards"free" theatre and off from the monopolies that dominated licensed theater at the moment. Jacky Bratton credits Scott's role in London theatre:"She had her finger on the pulse of a brand new world of entertainment for all, and her management of the theatre she created is very important to its receptive and intelligent reading of their brand new audiences and the provision of exciting work for her to enjoy."
EBookMeter is the greatest bookselling chain in Canada and they've just announced their top book picks for 2019. Every year, eBookMeter group of expert booksellers read tens of thousands of the year's novels and, after much debate and deliberation, hand select that titles ultimately earn a spot on the highly anticipated record. By the trials and tribulations of a 1970's rock band to a poignant memoir about confidence and resilience, Indigo's experts are convinced that readers will be captivated by the stories about this year's list.
"You will devour this completely distinctive thriller grounded in Métis folklore." -- Sheila Gonzales Planning Manager
"The most anticipated book of 2019 surpassed my (already quite high) expectations!" -- Teddie Rodriguez, Fiction Buyer
"excellent job" I hired eBook eBookMeter to convert my PDF book into an EPUB, and they did an superb job. I would hire them again for future jobs with no hesitation.


Acrylics and oil pastels on illustration board (matted and framed).
The original artwork size is 13 x 13 inches.
This illustration is done for Shahnameh, "The Book of Kings", a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 two-line verses, the Shahnameh is the world's longest epic poem written by a single poet. It tells mainly the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century. Modern Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and the greater region influenced by the Persian culture (such as Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, and Dagestan) celebrate this national epic.


Brandy and Val September Update
Our cup runneth over this past month with great press, and, why not? Brandy and Val, two real rescue dogs, have great stories to tell and causes to support that benefit children and animals. Our whimsical children’s educational book series and stuffed animal likenesses are great fun for pre-schoolers. Our downloadable discussion guide is chock full of lively topics that parents and teachers can use to make Brandy and Val a learning tool, too!
So, without further delay, we invite you to watch our most recent TV segment spotlighting Val on the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and read about what makes Brandy and Val, the books AND the dogs so special!
Woman’s World Magazine 8/23/10
NBC5 Chicago 6 p.m. newscast 8/30/10
Chicago Tribune 8/25/10
Associated Content Book List 8/25/10
TLC Animal Services 9/14/10
Thank you for your support of Brtandy and Val, Real Dogs with Real Tales books and toys. Give them as gifts that truly give back.
Ilene Fine, Author


The “Library” contains subsections, or archives, with documents explaining TCTB and the current debris environment.
The “Library - Key Documents”
archive provides details about TCTB and its
cooperative plan. Papers found there provide more detailed descriptions of the “Trusted Broker” model (think Red
Cross or international mediation), the planning process, a cooperative methodology for object selection, and
cooperative principles in the form of draft contract clauses. Papers also explain why cooperation is necessary,
and why cooperation through an NGO is best, from both TCTB’s and Russia’s perspectives. This archive also includes
the formal contracting Proposals TCTB submitted to China, Russia and the U. S. in May, 2019.
The remaining archives contain articles by others, grouped by topic, about the current debris environment.
The “Library - Baseline Studies”
archive includes articles by other authors describing the overall debris
environment and possible solutions to consider.
The next three archives include documents by other authors describing hurdles that have prevented remediation to date,
grouped by type: “Library - Baseline Studies”
“Library - Legal Hurdles”
“Library - Economic and Funding Hurdles”
, and “Library - Political and National Security Hurdles”
The “Remediation Object Selection”
contains important papers written primarily by members of the international scientific community identifying the
most dangerous objects in space. These papers reflect the consensus that exists concerning the risk of High Mass
Debris in High-LEO (HMDHLEO) and, in particular, the hundred or more most dangerous objects.
The “Remediation Technology”
articles written by others describing emerging remediation technologies. Remediation technology exists across the
world, in many cases derived from military technology and dual-use in nature. Recent technology demonstrations show
that industry is ready to implement a solution, if paying customers were available.


Many people believe that estate planning is something that can be done later in life, such as retirement planning. However, it is important for everyone to plan ahead – especially if you have children.
Sometimes it can be difficult to wrap your head around what needs to be done to make an estate plan come together, here are some estate planning books that can help you start the process of discovering how to protect your family and assets.
By: Jeffrey Condon
This book was written by an attorney who has several decades of experience practicing estate law. It is a comprehensive guide that explains the basics of estate planning and strategies that can be used to minimize the tax liabilities for the heirs of the estate.
Wear Clean Underwear!: A Fast, Fun, Friendly and Essential Guide to Legal Planning for Busy Parents
By: Alexis Martin Neely
This book outlines the importance of being prepared in advance and how parents can save their children from paying excessive estate taxes or suffering through a long and drawn out probate process.
By: Mary RandolphThe
The legal process to validate the deceased person’s will could take months and sometimes even years. This book outlines different strategies about how an estate owner can transfer assets to their beneficiaries without having to go through the probate process.
By: Margaret Atkins Munro and Kathryn A. Murphy
This book is a favorite for people of all ages because it is easy to understand. It talks about how to take care of a loved one’s estate if they died without leaving a will.
By: Hartley Goldstone, James Hughes and Keith Whitaker
The authors of this book outline the importance of creating trusts to minimize the estate taxes and prevent creditors from seizing certain assets of the deceased.
By: Melanie Cullen
This book offers a detailed step by step process about how to gather records and important documents for future use. It outlines how to safely store all digital passwords so that the deceased person’s loved ones can use them when needed.
Consult an Estate Planning Attorney
These estate planning books are great! In fact, we recommend Wear Clean Underwear so much that we recommend it to all our clients. Check it out!
The one thing you’ll find in common with these estate planning books is the partnership you need to cultivate with an experienced estate planning lawyer.
Please reach out to us if you need help getting started.


The Accessible Academic is the first electronic resource of its kind that makes Humanities research accessible to the general public. Why let all those great ideas just sit in journals? TAA gives Humanities scholarship life in the real world because open access to ideas can empower people and organizations.
The Open Access movement started in the 1990s to make academic journal articles available to all. Science and health care researchers are making that information accessible to all. New services like STM Digest provide lay summaries of its science research. Inspired by these movements, The Accessible Academic focuses on Humanities research, which is more important than ever in today’s world.
The Accessible Academic curates some of the best peer-reviewed studies, reports, and analyses on timely Humanities research topics. TAA cites, summarizes, and provides take-away bites of information and makes it all available to everyone.
Research areas include:
- Cultural Studies (race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc.)
- Literature (Books still matter)
- Philosophy (The big questions)
- Religion (A central theme in human affairs today)
- Musicology (Music, power, social change)
- History (Understanding where we came from)
- Archaeology (Cultural artifacts and idea diffusion)
- Anthropology (Civilizations)
- Communication Studies (Human communication is more than social media)
- Classical Studies (The Classics actually have relevance today)
- Law (Where legal considerations intersect everyday lives)
- Semiotics (Signs, signs, and more signs)
- Linguistics (Language and structure)
The Accessible Academic is a part of TheAccessibleResearchProject.org, which is dedicated to connecting useful academic research findings with real people to make a difference in real lives.
Contact TAA at theaccessibleacademic <at> gmail <dot> com if you’d like TAA to consider a study not yet curated or a topic not yet included. Or, just email with a question, comment, or suggestion.


Hello everyone, how is self-isolation going? We are all heroes in our own way, doing our own little bit towards saving the world. A daunting task, even if all we have to do is stay at home and wash our hands. So, I come bearing gifts in the form of recommendations books to quarantine with. For every book lover like me, I give you my top picks to get you through this period, even as we try to save the world.
Note; the books listed here are of personal choice and are listed in no particular order. If you have differing opinions or have books you want to add to the list, you can leave a comment. I would like to see what you all are reading during the Covid19 lockdown.
Let’s get down to it. Books to quarantine with:
1. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
Lisa writes about the death of a young girl and her mother’s quest for closure, weaving an intricate web that keeps you on the edge till the very end. The story is an interesting read that has an ending that feels like water after artichoke.
2. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda is a personal favourite and Americanah is a book I find myself returning to it again and again. CNA is almost flawless when it comes to writing characters and Americanah is a masterpiece. If you haven’t read it already, then you should.
3. God’s Debris by Adams Scott
Said to be a thought experiment wrapped in a story, this book messes with the mind and keeps you questioning everything you might have believed in. it espouses a philosophy based on the idea that the simplest idea tends to be the best. A must-read.
4. Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
Listed by the BBC as one of its 100 most influential novels, this book takes you on a journey with it. It is told in a poetic style that leaves the reader feeling everything that the characters in the book must have felt.
5. My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Oyinkan spills a tale of murder and family loyalty and connection and everything dark in between and yet still manages to make it sound light, almost comical. You will not drop this book until you are done with it.
6. I’m telling the truth but I’m lying by Bassey Ikpi
A beautifully written collection of autobiographical essays told with such vivid colour. She gives us a glimpse of what it means to live with a mental illness; with bipolar disease.
7.Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
It took me so long to start this book and when I finally did, I slapped my forehead; like the WhatsApp emoji. A masterpiece of a historical novel and a real page-turner. Give it a try and thank me later.
8. Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts
This book tells the story of two survivors of a mass shooting as they struggle to forget and to find peace. the masterful storytelling in this book is the reason Nora is still one of my favourite authors till date.
9. Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo
I kept gasping till the end of this book. In a book filled with plot twists, Ayobami tells the story of a woman and her struggles towards becoming a mother.
10. Sacrament of Bodies by Romeo Oriogun
A poetry collection. Honestly? I have not read this, but I really want to. I have read some of Romeo Oriogun’s work and I cannot wait to read his debut collection
So, there you have it, a collection of books to quarantine with to keep you entartained and busy throughout the time you stay at home. Remember to leave your own suggestions in the comment section and please do not forget to wash your hands. Stay safe.


top of page
About Us - The History Behind Informatics Education
In the 2007 time frame, my wife (Ann Yoshihashi MD) and I started to investigate the feasibility of writing a new textbook in health informatics. Why? I was concerned that the leading textbook was outdated, too historical and not practical.
The normal path would have been to work through commercial publishers so that they would format and publish the textbook. My wife tackled this issue by examining all options, with a particular focus on self-publication. The reasons were simple and numerous. First, the authors and editors would maintain complete control over the look and feel of the book, they would decide how many formats are offered and the price. Importantly, we would also retain a majority of profit, the opposite experience compared to dealing with a commercial publisher. Also important to us was using a platform that would guarantee rapid printing. It is not unusual for it to take 1- 4 years for a textbook to actually be published, particularly if it has multiple chapters and authors. This is unacceptable in any fast-moving field. When we submit our textbooks to Lulu we have a print book in our hands in less than 10 days.
To make a long story short, we embarked on self-publication with our printer becoming Lulu.com and Informatics Education being listed as both the publisher and financial entity. Initially, there was a lot of upfront labor to aggregate and format the book using Microsoft Word. This would normally be done by the commercial publisher. For the last edition of Health Informatics: Practical Guide and our new Data Science book, we have used a textbook designer who takes the Word document, formats all text and designs the cover. This was one of the best decisions we ever made. It is important to point out that MS Word is a poor document management system for anything over 100 pages that have lots of figures and tables. You spend an inordinate amount of time chasing down and locking in images. This experience was significantly better with Google Docs which we used for our second textbook with significant improvement.
The plan for the eighth edition of our Health Informatics textbook is to have Dr. Hersh and OHSU take over the textbook in every sense of the word. At this point, we don't have a publication target time but suspect it will be mid-2021.
The Introduction to Biomedical Data Science textbook was a brainchild of mine that I conceived of several years ago. I was aware that the world (all industries) has become data-driven so everyone needed to up their data game. It will take many years before we have enough data scientists in healthcare and other fields. It was challenging to find the right types of chapter authors to cover topics starting with spreadsheets and ending with artificial intelligence. The end product was worth the hard work.
We are proud that the vast majority of textbook proceeds have gone to universities and organizations such as AMIA. In addition, we have released "micro-grants" totaling $141,000 over the past 5 years to support informatics research and education. It has been a very gratifying experience helping instructors and students. I have communicated with hundreds of instructors from the US and about 40 other countries.
bottom of page


The other day, just for the fun of it, I pulled an old book off the shelf and thumbed through it. The book is Age of Enlightenment, by Peter Gay and the editors of Time-Life Books. It's part of a long out-of-print Time-Life series, Great Ages of Man (yes, as I may have mentioned here before, there was a time, way back in the previous century, when Time-Life actually published books and not just nostalgic CD sets and DVD series).
Most of the old Time-Life book series stuck to a standard format of chapters followed by "picture essays," and the Great Ages of Man set is no exception. What caught my eye in Age of Enlightenment, which covers much of the eighteenth century, was the essay following Chapter 3, "In Search of an Ideal Society." Titled, "The Credulous Era," the section begins:
In the Enlightenment's mood of optimism, the difference between open-mindedness and gullibility was often indiscernible. The philosophes' insistence that old concepts be re-examined opened the door to a flock of irrational schemes and fakeries. If man's intelligence could solve all problems, then it seemed reasonable to believe that people with special gifts could manage special feats...The subtitles within the picture essay set the tone:
Twenty-first Century Boulder/Austin/Santa Fe/San Diego, etc.Eighteenth Century Europe became a paradise for visionaries, pseudo scientists and outright quacks. They persuaded the educated and ignorant alike that they could perform a variety of wonders – e.g., transmitting invisible healing powers to others, giving birth to rabbits and even corresponding with the man in the moon.
"A craze for easy cures." Magnetism was all the rage in the eighteenth century, and a few enterprising medical guys took advantage of this. Many folks know about Franz Mesmer and his "animal magnetism," but perhaps fewer know about a London doc named James Graham. Dr. Graham built a salon that contained a "Celestial Bed" supported by forty "magnetized" pillars. Apparently one purpose of this special bed was to treat men suffering from what is today called erectile dysfunction. Their powers could supposedly be fully restored by lying on the bed and sniffing incense while watching erotic dances. Today I believe such a setup would be called a "Gentleman's Club."
"A genius for mixing sense with nonsense." The Enlightenment was rife with "well-meaning savants who worked in the fringe area between science and fantasy." F'rinstance, there was German doctor Samuel Hahnemann, who discovered some worthwhile therapeutic drugs but also advocated remedies such as maiden's teardrops and crushed bedbugs. Hahnemann is perhaps best known for giving the world homeopathy.
"A booming market for frauds." The author notes, "So gullible were the rich and fashionable of the Enlightenment that a shrewd trickster needed only audacity to leap to wealth and fame." One example: a crude Sicilian peasant named Allesandro Cagliostro, who "became the toast of Paris when it was rumored that he could turn pebbles into diamonds and crones into lovely maidens." Then there was Mary Tofts (sometimes spelled "Toft"), pictured above in a William Hogarth engraving. Mary convinced half of England that she could give birth to rabbits and rabbit parts. I imagine she was in great demand around Easter time.
"A public bamboozled by bubbles." Now, here's something that could never happen today:
...Naive investors, confusing paper certificates with real wealth, were so eager to buy stock that at one point shares were even sold in England "for an undertaking of a Great Adventure but no one to know what it is." Two ventures in particular caught the public's fancy. London's South Sea Company was set up to trade with Spanish America, and Paris' Mississippi Company was founded to exploit the wealth of Louisiana. Both companies were backed by their governments, which saw the stock issues as a way to erase the public debt. Investors stampeded to speculate in what was soon worthless stock. Prices rose astronomically. In 1720 both bubbles burst. Prices plummeted, thousands were wiped out and the two governments were shaken...But all of that crap happened a long, long time ago. Thank Goddess we're far too sophisticated today to fall for anything even remotely like the nonsense they believed back then.
PS ~ For a good time, read (or re-read) the Enlightenment-era classic, Voltaire's Candide. Tell me if that Pangloss character reminds you of anyone you know or have read about.


“One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.”
Brother Lawrence, the 6th letter concerning the practice of the presence of God
Brother Lawrence is well-known for his letters and interviews concerning the practice of the presence of God in the midst of mundane, tedious tasks. But he was a 17th century Carmelite monk in Paris—could his insights apply to the unique challenges of modern motherhood? His daily experience as a lay brother in a monastery is as far removed from the reality of diapers and juggling school schedules as can likely be imagined, yet his words have inspired generations of believers to examine how and when they experience God’s presence.
This new translation of his letters from the original French includes companion letters from the perspective of a modern-day mom, searching for sanctuary in the midst of everyday life. Through this discourse and the accompanying journaling questions, you’ll find encouragement and authenticity about trying to live out a vibrant faith in the chaos of raising children in a fast-paced world.
Be challenged to seek His presence, not only in the laundry room and the midnight nursing sessions, but in every breathing moment.


In the 1960s, as it became clear that gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA), was a major inhibitory neurotransmitter, many labs around the world were studying it. A lab in Belgium at UCB Pharma, set out to try and create a sleep aid by creating a version GABA that would be able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).
In 1964 a cyclical derivative of GABA was created that was able to cross the BBB, however it had no effect on sleep and wakefulness. That molecule, then known as UCB-6215 and eventually as Piracetam, would go on to not only become a commercial success for the lab, but would become the prototype molecule of an entirely new class known as “nootropics.”
This chapter charts the creation of the nootropic concept and follows through the research that led to the coining of the nootropic concept.


I can’t remember the last time I made a New Years’ Resolution. They’ve just never been for me.
But this year I’ve decided to make one. I’ve decided to read more.
Some of you who read my blog regularly or know me at all might be confused because I’m always talking about books: recommending them, giving them, posting about them, and, yes, reading them.
But here’s the thing: I miss the joy in reading.
Reading has always sustained me. Not only is it one of the most important parts of my identity and sense of self — mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter, educator, writer, reader…. — but it’s what calms me, brings me peace, and makes me think most deeply.
It’s even one of the major ways that I mark the passage of time — its transitions, its struggles, its joys. When I was in grade school and starting to realize that my life didn’t look like many of the kids’ lives on TV (on a farm in the snowy Adirondacks with no neighbors, far away from other children) it was Laura Ingalls Wilder with whom I identified most strongly. She and I both lived on pioneer land, had farm chores, could explore the wilderness, and create our own adventures. When I was in college, I learned about the excitement of finding new authors in the literary fiction aisles of my college town independent bookstore. When I was in England during my junior year, in the massive and cold university library I discovered memoirs of women suffering from eating disorders and read them one by one, gradually learning about recovery and personal growth. When my dad died from cancer at age 53, I read (and re-read) Joan Didion’s incredible memoir about grieving the death of her husband, The Year of Magical Thinking, and she became a sort of grief coach, teaching me about how the brain and the soul learns to cope with loss on their own time.
For every year, for every new apartment and house, for every event, for every time period, I can remember what I was reading, where I would read, and where I would get my books.
I’m a night reader. I read in the dark, quiet hours before I sleep. My contacts are off, my glasses and pajamas are on, the events of the day are behind me, and I push every thought and worry gently from my mind as I open the pages.
So what’s happened? Why aren’t I reading? At least not the novels and literature that make me feel connected and calmed. Life happened, I suppose. My toddler’s sleep is inconsistent and difficult, at best. I’m going to bed an hour or two earlier than I used to even a year ago, and I’m certainly better rested, but these hours used to be my sacred reading time. And I’m watching more television (“Scandal” and “The Walking Dead” have become serious addictions), and television is not a bad thing in itself, especially for parents, as I’ve written about before. I’ve been reading and writing about a lot of nonfiction for the blog, which I do like and love to share with readers. And of course, along with my co-editor, I edited and created our own book, The HerStories Project: Women Explore the Joy, Pain, and Power of Female Friendship.
I miss novels. I miss literature. I miss characters and beautiful language.
So that’s my resolution: more novels. (Maybe even a few memoirs in there too….)
And here are my first candidates to reclaim my reading life:
1) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I read “The Secret History” years ago and enjoyed it. But based on the hype and description of the plot of this apparently mesmerizing new novel I think I’ll like this one more.
2)The Signature of All Things: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’ve had this on my Kindle for weeks. Elizabeth Gilbert is one of my favorite contemporary writers. Her nonfiction is brilliant (although I wasn’t a huge fan of the ubiquitous “Eat, Pray, Love“), and I’ve adored a couple of the novels that I’ve read.
3) The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. I’ve started this book several times since the summer. I know I would love it, I really do. There is nothing that I like better than an epic story with multiple characters coming together and then apart, complex friendships and relationships, and subthemes of class and power. I’m a huge fan of every other novel that she’s written. I’m giving it another chance.
4) This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett. This isn’t fiction but a collection of her essays describing the story about how she became a writer and how she’s learned to resolve the complexities of love and family in her own life. It’s received glowing reviews. She’s a brilliant novelist and her portrait of a friendship in the memoir “Truth & Beauty” is unflinching and honest.
I would love to add to my list. Which riveting novels have you read recently and loved? Have you read any of those first four on my list? What did you think?


Have you heard the news? The IAOMS community will have access to intimate conversations between some of the top surgeons across the globe from the comfort of their personal devices. Career advice, the power of mentorship, the future of the specialty and more! We are pleased to welcome you to The IAOMS Podcast Series.
The IAOMS Foundation will celebrate our 25th Anniversary this year. In honor of this milestone, the IAOMS Foundation will present "The IAOMS Foundation: 25 Years and Beyond" podcast series. This series will highlight the Foundation’s programs and accomplishments over the past 25 years and examine how the IAOMS Foundation can play a vital role in shaping future surgeon leaders within the oral and maxillofacial surgical specialty.
All new episodes will premiere weekly through July 12, 2021.
Bookmark this page to access our entire podcast library as it becomes available every Monday. The IAOMS Podcast Series is also available on streaming services including Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and more. Subscribe and share below.


As those who were involved in preparing our charity anthology CALL TO ARMS – and, hopefully, also those who bought copies and enjoyed them – may remember, all the proceeds from the sale of this volume go directly to the Refugee Council. We sent them their first ‘royalty payment’ at the end of February, and in return they kindly sent us a letter of thanks and a copy of their ‘Impact Report’ for 2016-17 to enable us to see where our contribution is likely to be spent.
Lucian is making a last minute trip somewhere in the Balkan region to re-visit a departed friend on the local All Souls’ Day.
He is currently facing plenty of changes in his life, so maybe it’s time to take one more chance, and test the limits of this peek between the worlds the customs of the place allows him on this particular day.
They say this’s a time when a spell cast by a witch can achieve truly exponential results, and its desired outcome is almost always guaranteed, but will this warlock dare break a promise made to an old lover?
Turkish garbage collectors in the country’s capital city of Ankara have opened a public library that is full of books that were originally destined to be put into landfill. The workers began collecting discarded books and opened the new library in the Çankaya district of Ankara. News of the library has spread and now people have begun donating books directly to the library, rather than throwing them away.
Lovecraft’s influence on pop-culture is massive. His shadow looms like a tentacled horror rising out of the depths in movies, books, and especially games media. Cosmic horror calls to the imagination, forcing us not only to look to the stars and below the depths of the seas for terror, but also inward, and at our own insignificance in the universe. Delving into these tropes is a call to fantasy and existential terror, but navigating them and their loaded history can be tricky.
Much has been written on Lovecraft’s infamous xenophobia, racism, sexism, and queerphobia.
Ah, now, if only half of that would actually make sense too.
Manifold Press is currently offering five recent novels at discount prices on Smashwords. Click the Buy with coupon buttons for the books of your choice.
Going strong, this year. Pfft.
Modern LGBTQ+ fiction of the Second World War
Seventeen stories, thirteen authors, a second war. Once again Manifold Press’s writers explore the lives of LGBTQ+ people and their war-time experience in cities, towns and countryside across the world.
Amidst war and peace, in the thick of violence or in an unexpected lull, these stories of the Second World War take the reader far and wide: through Britain, Europe, Asia and South America, from loss and parting to love and homecoming. As for home, it may be an ordinary house, or a prison camp, or a ship: but it is, in the end, where you find it, however far you have to go. Read this book, and make the journey yourself.
An anthology edited by Heloise Mezen.
All proceeds will be donated to the British Refugee Council.


2017 Steamboat Chamber Singer's Valentine's Soiree
Post date: Apr 19, 2017 4:41:43 PM
The Steamboat Chamber Singers, directed by Christel Houston, and accompanied by Laurie Edwards and Andy Shaffner performed February 11th & 12th at Library Hall. The Valentine's Soiree was a fun and engaging hour of music including a Cello solo by Bruce Dean. The audience loved the songs and the delicious food and the opportunity to mingle with the singers.
Many thanks to the sponsors: Alpine Bank and Connell Resources.
- My Valentine
- A Red, Red, Rose
- Put Your Head on my Shoulder
- O whistel and I'll Come to Ye
- Never My Love


Printing study materials for university students
How does it work?
Upload your textbooks online.
Simply register and then upload any study material that you want to print.
We will print it for you at a favourable price.
Everything will be printed and handed to a carrier within 5 working days.
Pick up your study materials so that you can learn.
We will deliver your textbooks to any Zásilkovna distribution point in the Czech Republic. Pick up in person is possible in Brno.
Printing and binding of diploma and bachelor’s theses.
Your diploma thesis printed in 24 hours.


This endocannabinoid system (eCS) resource page has been meticulously crafted to bring together some of the most useful cannabinoid information and resources available on the internet.
With so many people struggling from arthritis, PTSD, depression and much more that want an alternative treatment option this resource page will help to educate anyone about the eCS and the life-changing benefits of feeding it. Below, you'll see common questions listed followed by resources that answer those questions.
What is a Cannabinoid?
Leafly.com – An educational and in-depth look into what actually makes cannabis medicine. This resource includes an explainer video, along with a comprehensive infographic on which cannabinoids help treat certain symptoms.
LeafScience.com – An informative overview of what cannabinoids are exactly and how they work within your body.
MedicalJane.com – A leader in the world on cannabinoid information, this resource showcases an extensive overview about cannabinoids, eCS, cannabinoid receptors and the science behind them.
MyChronicRelief.com – An extensive summary of the history, science, and uses of cannabinoids for people looking at alternative treatment methods.
sclabs.com – Thoroughly researching this subject, SC Labs has compiled this list of the most common cannabinoids found in cannabis.
What is the Endocannabinoid System (eCS)?
Introduction to the Endocannabinoid System – NORML, a national organization fighting to reform laws surrounding cannabis, takes an in-depth look at the endocannabinoid system.
The Reason Our Bodies So Easily Process Cannabis – This beginner’s guide to the endocannabinoid system easily explains how your body works when integrating the healing effects of cannabis medications.
Is Your Endocannabinoid System in Balance? – Discover the significance of having your endocannabinoid system in full sync with your body and what happens when it becomes imbalanced.
The Endocannabinoid System For Dummies – A simplified look what the eCS does and what role the cannabinoid receptors play within your body.
The Endocannabinoid System: An Overview – An extensive look at the endocannabinoid system and the medical applications associated with it.
Why Everyone Should Know About the Endocannabinoid System – Dr. Sulak discusses the importance of and the specific role of the eCS and how it helps you maintain better health.
Cannabis Research Series: The Endocannabinoid System – An extensive view on why the eCS is such an exciting and groundbreaking discovery.
The Discovery of the Endocannabinoid System – This PDF explains the history of the endocannabinoid system and how it was discovered in the medical field.
Medscape.com – This resource highlights the abbreviations used for cannabinoids and discusses how endocannabinoid bioregulation plays a role in cell signaling.
Cannabinologist.org – Dr. Sunil Aggarwal is leading the way in educating the nation on the endocannabinoid system. He has spoken at events such as the Cannabis Health Summit, where he details the endocannabinoid system in a 21-minute video.
What is Endocannabinoid Deficiency?
Cannabinoid Deficiency May Explain a Variety of Health Conditions – Dr. Ethan Russo and Dr. Robert Melamede speak on behalf of how a cannabinoid deficiency can lead to numerous health issues and age-related illnesses.
Dr. Ethan Russo: CBD & Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency – This video is an interview with Dr. Ethan Russo, a board certified neurologist. During this 23-minute video, he dives into the specific about your body and the issues it faces with endocannabinoid deficiency.
Impact Network – Information on eCS being the largest neurotransmitter system in the body and how you can alleviate a deficiency.
What is the Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency Syndrome? – This resource provides fundamental knowledge and scientific evidence suggesting endocannabinoids play a role in inflammation, insulin sensitivity, and fat and energy metabolism.
The Endocannabinoid System – This site was created to showcase videos and major news network reports in one area covering various experts speaking about the endocannabinoid system.
Medical Cannabis Report – Exploration into the endocannabinoid system and cannabinoid science, highlighting if you are suffering from a deficiency and the effects it has on age-related illness.
What are the Benefits of Cannabidiol (CBD)?
CBD Hemp Oil Benefits – An exhaustive resource page for how CBD benefits the body, along with an FAQ guide and uses for specific ailments.
The Ultimate Resource Page for Cannabidiol – This resource covers everything from a basic overview, the effects of CBD on the body, and a thorough comparison between CBD and THC.
CANORML.org – California NORML’s website is dedicated to reforming the marijuana laws within the state. This resource highlights the benefits of CBD and the national attention it has received.
Ben Greenfield Fitness – A massive resource guide with information on CBD, videos, and infographics. This site will really peak your interest covering all the areas you need to know.
Medical Conditions CBD Helps – A thorough list of all the conditions that CBD can assist with, highlighting 51 conditions. This resource provides answers for any ailment.
6 Reasons Why You Should Use Cannabis Oil Daily – Don’t miss these 6 reasons on why you should be integrating cannabis oil into your daily life and how they will benefit you.
CBD and Epilepsy – Discover the positive effects of CBD on epilepsy and how CureEpilepsy.org is leading the way in gaining the research needed to help everyone who is in need.
Can Cannabis Help Repair Arthritic Joints? – An in-depth look at arthritis and how CBD will help relieve your pain and take your life back.
CBD Oil For Anxiety – Is CBD an effective treatment for anxiety? Preliminary evidence suggests that it may act as an: anticonvulsant, antipsychotic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective agent, which will help people suffering from anxiety.
CBD Oil Benefits for PTSD Sufferers – Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, affects many lives each day. Understanding CDB as a treatment option can help save lives of anyone suffering from this condition.
Does CBD Oil Really Help in Cancer Treatment? – Learn the benefits of CDB treatment in cancer patients and how it can help them suppress the pain to even fighting the cancer cells.
CBD Relieves Depression Faster than Any Other Anti-Depressant – When it comes to treating mental illnesses, especially depression, the options are unfortunately extremely limited. Discover how CBD can be an extremely effective antidepressant.
Cannabinoids and Sleep Apnea – This is a resourceful article on sleep apnea, its effects on your body and how cannabinoids can play a role in helping you get a better nights sleep.
How to Use CBD to Feed Your eCS
Cannabis Dosing – A resource for dosage guidelines and how to find the right ratio to use in your daily life.
6 Top Ways to Consume CBD – Learn the many ways to consume CBD and find out which one would work best for you.
Can You Vaporize CBD? – An in-depth look at if vaporizing CBD is as effective as orally ingesting.
Different Types of Cannabis Oil and How They’re Made – This resource is a complete list of the different types of cannabis oil, how they’re made and what they’re used for.
CBD Cooking Calculator – Jeff the 420 Chef has created a calculator to properly infuse CDB into your cooking.


Confused about axial load, base shear or inter-storey drift? Help is here.
Following the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010/2011, many articles and reports appeared describing the events and the impact they had on buildings. Some of these specialised terms may be unfamiliar to many designers and builders.
BRANZ Bulletin 558 Earthquake terminology is a glossary of terms that explains in plain English some of the key words and phrases relating to earthquakes and, in particular, their action on buildings.
The bulletin also covers definitions of terminology associated with constructing buildings to resist earthquake forces.
Available for $13.50 from the BRANZ Shop at www.branz.co.nz or call 0800 80 80 85 (press 2).


Doing Digital Right
The roadmap for winning in the next digital era.
Doing Digital Right is a roadmap for winning in the next digital era. Its author, Louis Lamoureux, has been helping large companies establish and execute digital strategies for 25 years.
It is critical for any executive in any function to understand key digital technologies, the way they are evolving, how companies can leverage them to improve products, processes, and the customer journey, and what kind of business outcomes can be derived. All of that, moreover, is useless without knowing how to help your company define its digital vision and how to act on it. This book covers those topics to help you thrive in the new digital era.


BOOK LAUNCHES AT THE KAROO WRITERS FESTIVAL
Thursday, 12th July 2018
By Catherine Knox
UK academic Jade Munslow Ong is one of several authors launching new books during the Karoo Writers Festival in Cradock from 19th - 22nd July 2018 in the Karoo Heartland.
New books celebrated at Karoo Writers Festival (Cradock 19-22 July)
Heading the list of book launches during the Karoo Writers Festival (Cradock 19 – 22 July), Lukhanyo and Abigail Calata will launch their book My Father Died for This. Lukhanyo is the son of Fort Calata, one of the Cradock Four, martyrs of the Struggle.
The festival falls on the anniversary of the Cradock Four funeral (20 July 1985) and this is honoured in the programme. One of the special events is a performance by the JA Calata choir in the Moederkerk on 19 July.
Three more launches feature local writers and Cradock poet Clinton V. Du Plessis will introduce his most recent volume to festival audiences.
Chris Marais and Julienne du Toit of karoospace.co.za will launch their new book: Moving to the Platteland – Life in Small Town South Africa during a cocktail hour slideshow.
Midlands farming personality, Errol (EK) Moorcroft, will present his new book of anecdotes from his days as a rookie wool-classer travelling about with sheep shearers titled The Wool Classer, The Shearer and The Golden Fleece.
From further afield, UK academic Jade Munslow Ong will launch her acclaimed new study of Olive Schreiner in the light of African Modernism.
And a premier reading of Mein Camp, a new play by Tony Jackman is scheduled for 20 July.
Cradock writer, academic and arts entrepreneur Guy Butler was born 100 years ago and his life and work are celebrated with a reading of his work and two talks, one by Beth Wyrill from the National English Literary Museum and the other by his colleague and friend Professor Malvern van Wyk Smith.
Animal studies in literature are the connecting interest in talks by Grahamstown poet Dan Wylie and UK academic Matthew Whittle. Audiences can once again look forward to open microphone sessions at the close of each day. Friday afternoon is devoted to young poets and their coaches who will have worked together on the Thursday.
The workshop (in partnership with the AVBOB Poetry Project) is augmented by an extensive schools programme presented by the National English Literary Museum. Several junior schools will encourage their learners to dress up as favourite characters from story-books. The evergreen literary walking tour offers a chance to stretch the legs.
Saturday’s programme is presented in conjunction with a food and crafts market at The Shed precinct. Speakers include Toast Coetzer, Alice Inggs, Martin Welz (editor of noseweek magazine), and novelist Joanne Richards. She is offering a sold-out creative writing course in Cradock on July 19.
Toast Coetzer’s band, The Buckfever Underground will take the chill out of Friday and Saturday evenings, performing with pop-up guests.
On Sunday 22 July the party moves out to Buffelshoek Dirosie Game Lodge. Trips up to the Schreiner Sarcophagus will be offered (pre-booking), as well as the launch of The Wool Classer, the Shearer and the Golden Fleece by EK Moorcroft.


As the Prophet Mohammad was returning from his last pilgrimage in 632 A.D. (10 A.H.) with tens of thousands of Muslims, he halted the caravan at a place called Ghadir Khumm, gathered the returning pilgrims around him, and recited the following verse:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. Holy Qur’an (5:3).
As cited in numerous hadiths and other sources, the Prophet called Hazrat Ali to his side and said:
I leave two very important Gifts among you. One is the Holy Book of God (Qur’an), and the other is my family (Etrat).
Then Prophet Mohammad took Hazrat Ali’s hand and raised it up declaring:
For whomever I am the authority and guide, Ali is also the authority and guide.
Oh God! Be friendly with the friends of Ali and be enemy of his enemies.
The Imams (spiritual Guides) descended through the family of the Prophet. The Imam possesses the esoteric knowledge of religion and the secrets of the Holy Qur’an. The knowledge was passed on from the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) to Hazrat Ali as “Vali” (Friend and Guardian) and the first Imam, and then to his descendants and then to the great Pirs (Arifs).
The Prophet of Islam had frequently emphasized the importance of the Book and his Etrat (decedents). The Holy Qur’an and Etrat are two inseparable principles of Islam. Each complements the other. Etrat refers to the chosen Imams of God who have been bestowed with the Divine knowledge. They have cognized the teachings of Islam inwardly in the core of their beings in their hearts. Their way is the Way of Prophet. The book of God can not be read without a spiritual teacher who is bestowed with the Divine knowledge. Imam enables us to open the book of our own being and reveal the knowledge within.
- Abol-Gasem Payandeh. (1957). Nahj-ol-Fasahat, The collection of narrations of Hazrat Mohammad, the prophet of Islam. 6th Edition, Tehran, Iran: Javidan Publications. p.107
- Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn. Shi’ite Islam. Houston, TX: Free Islamic Literatures.


Georgetown Football History Chapter 1:
Football's Roots At Georgetown
With the exception of intercollegiate baseball, football has been played at Georgetown University longer than any other team sport. Though interrupted three times for a combined period of eighteen years, the football legacy at the Hilltop stretches back through over half the school's history. It is a story all too forgotten but no less a part of the University's rich athletic heritage. The articles which follow in this series are a small attempt to highlight some of the people and events that have contributed to the Georgetown football story.
The University's first intercollegiate sport was baseball, which began play in 1870. By 1874, the rapidly growing sport of football was capturing interest at the college level. Hoping to bring a sport to the winter months, a group of students formed the Georgetown University Football Association on November 1, 1874, with the purpose of developing an intercollegiate team along the lines of teams at Princeton and Rutgers. The problem was that in 1874, there were no nearby colleges actually playing the game. As a result, the Football Association established an intramural program and apparently faded from the scene. Many of these same Football Association founders, notably John Agar (Class of 1876), were instrumental in the founding of the Rowing Association in 1876 and the University's adoption of the colors blue and gray shortly thereafter.
The Georgetown College Journal chronicled the sport's gestation in an 1874 article which read as follows:
With sports coverage nonexistent in the daily newspapers, the Journal becomes the only verifiable source on sports at Georgetown University in this era. The next mention of football at the college is not until 1881, when the Journal announced the scheduling of a game between a Georgetown team and a group of boys from Alexandria High School. Wrote the Journal:
" Before the holidays the football eleven of the Alexandria High School sent a challenge to the college for a match game; the game was to be played on their grounds and the Rugby ball was to be used. Though we had not a regularly organized team, the challenge was accepted, and an eleven was selected from the players of the year. "All arrangements for the match were made, but at the last moment word was sent to us that the High School eleven could not play; the game was consequently postponed.
"Though this match did not take place, there is no reason why football should not become as popular at the college during the colder months of the year as baseball is in the summer. We have a first class baseball nine; now let us have a good football eleven."
In 1883, a Journal citation noted two games between a "representative eleven" from the Georgetown intramural ranks and a team cryptically known as "the House". The games are never officially recognized by future Georgetown records, probably because the identity of "the House" was somewhat clouded. However, these games are cited by Gallaudet University as their first two intercollegiate games, which they claim to be wins over the Georgetown team. A citation by the Washington Post also claimed that Georgetown traveled to play St. John's College in 1884, but this too cannot be verified.
It is not until 1887 that a recorded game is cited to begin team play. In that event, Georgetown defeated Emerson Institute 46-6 for its first win. Its first winning streak was short lived, as a 24-8 loss to Alexandria High School soon followed. The 1887 season finished with a 12-6 win over Washington High School, ending the first season 2-1.
The 1888 schedule featured local high schools and semi-pro clubs, with Georgetown earning a 4-2 mark. Still, campus interest remained small compared to baseball and rowing, each of which featured college opponents. In 1889, the University scheduled its first full intercollegiate opponent, the University of Virginia. The Georgetown archives tell of a rousing 32-0 triumph of the Blue and Gray that day...but Virginia records claim the gentlemen from Mr. Jefferson's university prevailed, 34-0. (Of course, we concur with the former.) A turnout of nearly 4,000 fans to Georgetown's baseball diamond broke all local attendance records for a sporting event. With the game, the sport won acceptance at Georgetown and became a regular part of campus life.
The One-Stop Web Site For Hoya Football


Booth Library | Theater |
Need help? email@example.com
- Harper's Weekly
Fulltext Articles | 1857-1889
- Health Source: Consumer Edition
General Health Topics | Consumer Information | Nutrition | Childcare | Sports Medicine | Wellness | Exercise
- Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition Includes Peer Reviewed Content
Medical Topics | Treatments | Research | Nursing | Allied Health
- Historical Abstracts Includes Peer Reviewed Content
Topics: World History | Excluding the United States and Canada
- Historical Statistics of the United States : Earliest Times to the Present : Millennial Edition
Published in 2006, this resource provides access to statistical data on American social, behavioral, humanistic, and natural sciences - including economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural resources, climate, religion, international migration and trade.
- Homeland Security Digital Library
U.S. Policy and Strategy documents relevant to current issues in homeland security.
- Hospitality & Tourism Complete Includes Peer Reviewed Content
Topics: Hospitality | Tourism | Culinary Arts | Leisure | Business Travel Hotel Management | International Foods | Tourist Destinations
- Household Products Database Open Access
Lists health effects from Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provided by the manufacturers for over 4,000 consumer brands. Research products by name, category or chemical ingredient.
- How Products are Made Open Access
Explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products. The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and manufacturing process. There is related information for each product including how the item works, who invented the product and possible future developments.
- Humanities International Complete Includes Peer Reviewed Content
Topics: Authors | Artists | Musicians | Literature & Theater Criticism | Fiction, Short Story, Poetry, Drama Criticism | Photography | Painting | Music | Theater | Graphic Arts | Film | Contemporary Arts | Society & Culture
Interdisciplinary and Related
- 18thConnect Open Access
Online finding aid | Scholarly community | Eighteenth-century literary & historical studies
- Alexander Street Video
Streaming Video | American History in Video | Counseling and Therapy in Video I & II | Dance in Video | Ethnographic Video Online: Volume I | Filmmakers Library Online | LGBT Studies Online | New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990 to Present | World History in Video | Browse Collections Available at EIU
- American Literature (Oxford Bibliographies)
Oxford Bibliographies in American Literature provides authoritative guidance to recommended titles for the scholarly examination of topics American literature.
- American Periodicals Series Online
Topics: American Magazines | 1740`s - Early 1900`s
- American Popular Entertainment Collection Open Access
Historic newspapers and trade journals published for the entertainment industry in the US between 1853 and 1929. These works include trade perspectives, features, and travel information on vaudeville, music performance, burlesque, and other popular forms of entertainment of the period.
- British and Irish Literature (Oxford Bibliographies)
Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Literature provides authoritative guidance to recommended titles for the scholarly examination of topics in British & Irish literature.
- British Periodicals
Topics: British History and Culture | 1680s to the 1930s
- Early English Books Online (EEBO)
Fulltext | Digitized facsimile reproductions of Virtually Every Work Printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America | 1473-1700
- English Short-Title Catalog Open Access
The English Short-Title Catalog (ESTC) is designed to include a bibliographic record, with holdings, of every surviving copy of books, pamphlets and other ephemeral materials produced in Great Britain or any of its dependencies, in any language, worldwide, from 1473-1800.
- Godey's Ladys Book
American Magazine Published for Women 1830-1885 | Color Plates | Fashion | Literature | Health and Hygiene | Recipes | Handicrafts
- Google Scholar with EIU Electronic Journals
Search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Use the Get Full Text @ EIU link to access Booth Library`s electronic journals.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Full-Text Articles | Biographies | British History | Irish History | Earliest Times to Year 2000
- Victorian Database Online
Comprehensive Bibliography | Books | Articles | Dissertations | 19th Century British Studies


Spiral Classics online Record List for collectors of second hand classical LPs. Grouped by record codes.
The economic history of the United States is about characteristics of and important developments in the U.S. economy from colonial times to the present.
Description: The Alachua County Commission, by authority of the Florida Legislature, selected this site for a courthouse in 1854, moving the county seat from ...
Start studying APUSH EXAM TERMS. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.
9781934625736 1934625736 Struggle, Christopher Trevor 9781436790338 1436790336 Blake Family - A Genealogical History of William Blake, of Dorchester, and His ...
BibMe Free Bibliography & Citation Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard
Aim . In a fast changing Zambian political, economic and social environment, the centrality of the law cannot be overemphasized. An understanding of the law by those ...
The Original Whistle Stop (626) 796-7791 Complete Catalog Listing Thursday, June 11, 2015 5:47:22 PM
The Tri-County Obituary Project Coordinator is Louise Adams . This page contributed by Karen Mitchell. NOTE: Please use your BACK button to return to where you were.
Altoona Members of the Blair County Bar Association and Judge Bell, taken in front of the Court House, March 1896.
Choose from the Available Items; AFT Museum: American Freedom Train Museum: $25.00: AFT Videos: American Freedom Train Videos: $29.90: K-0001: Operating O …
9781599791487 159979148X Como Interpretar los Tiempos, Chuck D. Pierce 9781435831858 1435831853 Earths Rock Cycle, Nancy Kelly Allen 9780548782101 0548782105 The ...
Art, Theatre and Dance Related Programs. We offer many programs related to "Art, Theatre and Dance" such as art exhibits, painting classes and lectures.
Native Heritage Neighborhoods of Westbrook NRA ‘Old Presumpscots’ Baseball Team O.M.H.A. Hockey or Music Paper City Lunch Platinum Knights Club
Express Helpline- Get answer of your question fast from real experts.
The home page of Arnold Firby, St.Thomas Ontario, Canada
Shanghai PMC Company © 2000-2017 Copyrights. Sitemap


This story takes place in Japan, during Edo period – where it had been peaceful more than 200 years under its isolation policy from overseas. The country turned upside down when Admiral Perry paid visit from America, and it has become a warzone of “pro-shogunate” group and “anti- shogunate” one. The shogunate summoned all the skilled sword fighters to form “Shinsen gumi” and mercilessly tried to suppress the anti-shogunate group. The story begins when two swords – that of Shuzo from Ashura, the anti-shogunate group, and that of Riki from Shinsen gumi – meet in a battle. Shuzo has no fear of dying, while Riki is determined to survive for his younger siblings. A daughter of a samurai family, Saki, loses her father and older brother due to the confrontations of these two groups, but she bravely attempts to head to Edo by herself. She has a grand purpose; she wants to deliver a petition to the Shogun, asking for a peaceful, warless country. Out of the guilt and responsibility, Shuzo and Riki decide to put off their fight and to accompany her to Edo, much to everyone’s surprise. However, the journey of these two enemies turns out to be a bumpy one. They differ on any matters imaginable. And various troubles follow them everywhere they go. Can these three people get to Edo castle and hand the petition to the Shogun? And will the country see a new day to start a peaceful era? Or does the war fail to end and the three will be lost in the chaos? This is a “buddy road story” of the sword-bearing samurais. You will not be able to see the end of their journey without tears.
This piece of “Reality” (現-UTSUTSU) had performed in Tokyo in November 2008.
This fiction described the incident, epidemic, and human life dramatically and extremely through various sort of characters and fictitious hero on the background of poor life in Japan in the latest Edo period ( 1850's ).
The high light: Sword action
First Act Introduction
Second Act Introduction


Provide access to the general book collection in SZGM Library, serving SZGMC staff and other community users. Circulation would also supply you with answers to questions pertaining to checking out books, renewing library items, the number of items a patron is allowed to check out.
Borrowing Privileges are issued at the SZGM Library circulation desk. Staff can use their ID cards to check out and/or renew items. Borrowers are responsible for all uses of their card with respect to borrowing. It is the responsibility of registered borrowers to notify the Circulation Section if their library card is lost.
1. Staff are eligible to borrow 5 books for 15 days renewable twice for another 15 days each time.
2. Outside Users are eligible to borrow 3 books for 15 days renewable once for another 15 days.
* Borrowers can bring books back to the Circulation Desk to be renewed.
* Borrowers can also renew books by phone, calling the Circulation Desk, and providing them with their ID number.
* The borrower is charged for books that are lost while on loan to him/her. The cost of the lost item is determined by and paid to the Circulation Section.
Offer diverse electronic and printed resources to provide users support in finding information needed for doing research. Research Assistance is conducted by the reference staff who make themselves available to help library users find their way to library resources and begin the process of locating the information they desire, be it in print or electronic format. The reference area contains numerous networked computer workstations that give access to the library’s online catalog and various other electronic resources. Moreover, Reference Services houses a collection of non-circulating reference books. The staff assists users in using the collection during regular hours, answers mail and telephone queries, and responds to e-mail requests sent to “Ask a Librarian”.
Ask a Librarian
This electronic reference service allows you to submit and get answers to your questions about SZGM Library collections and services, or about how to find information via email.
SZGM Library offers the following types of Ask-A-Librarian services:
* By E-mail: Submit a Quick Question, and a Librarian will answer you by e-mail- firstname.lastname@example.org
* By Phone: Call at a Reference Desk during the library hours at 02 - 4191919 or send a fax at 02 - 4416446
* In-Person: Visit the Reference Desk during the library hours.
The INTERNET use in the library is creating an environment that is constantly changing. The library is using the Internet to provide electronic resources and services. You can access library’s Internet network using your own laptop computer, free access is provided in all public area in the library during library hours.
|Serial No.||Name of the Book|
|1||Zayed: Man Who Built a Nation|
|2||Basic Architectural Design|
|3||The Architecture of the United Arab Emirates|
|4||Masterpieces: Medieval Art|
|5||Book of the Knowledge of All the Kingdoms, Lands, and Lordships that are in the World|
|6||Reading the Islamic City|
|9||Treasures of the World's Cultures|
|10||The Arts of Islam|
|11||Middle East Garden Traditions: Unity and Diversity|
|13||Islamic Visual Culture, 1100 - 1800|
|14||Islamic Arts from Spain|
|15||Civilization of Faith|
National Center for Documentation & Research
The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research Library
Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority Library – National Library
UAE University Library
Zayed University library
Higher Colleges of Technologies library
Abu Dhabi University Library
Sharjah University Library
Tel. No.: 02 4191919
Fax No.: 02 4416446
P.O.Box: 94944 Abu Dhabi, UAE


Another very interesting session was the one by Michael Rogers, who is a “Futurist – in – Residence” at the New York Times. Rogers writes a column called the Practical Futurist in NYT and his area of interest is in understanding new technologies and their impact on human life. His theme for the talk was virtualization – where people worked and interacted remotely and about tools that enabled it. He gave some cool examples of gadgets that we are quite familiar with and some that are not yet popular – smart phones is of course obvious. Rogers talked about smart phones that could project a virtual keyboard on any flat surface and could also function as a pico projector. Clearly, smart phones are only getting smarter!
He talked about Cisco’s and Xerox’s foray into telepresence and how this can substitute business travel soon. Rogers also feels strongly that there needs to be a balance between what can be done face to face and what can be done online – surely all things that can be moved online will be done so. In this context, he shared an anecdote related to digitizing efforts of a library. Apparently, 300 hundred years back, Italians used to dip their letters in vinegar to prevent the spread of cholera. And the vinegar can still be smelt after all these years – someone at the library found this out when the digitization effort was being carried out . Obviously, going online will deprive us of these quaint experiences which Rogers thinks is necessary and hence his caution – Don’t forget the vinegar. Overall, a fascinating talk which opened up so many possibilities!


By Michelle Simon, Middle and Upper School Head Librarian
There is nothing like an engaging author visit to invigorate a school community and ignite the desire for story and storytelling. The library speaker series at the Wildwood middle and upper school welcomed both Jason Reynolds and Ellen Oh this fall. Excitement still lingers after our most recent visit from young-adult author Jason Reynolds. When he stepped on stage he said he wasn’t going to talk about his books, because students could read them, instead, he shared his own story and life experience. He was quick-paced, funny, mesmerizing, and authentic as he spoke about his life growing up in the 80s and 90s—a time of innocence and fun, but also of drugs and violence in America. As a kid, he wasn’t exposed to books that resonated with him and he deliberately chose to not read books. It wasn’t until age 17, after reading Black Boy by Richard Wright, that he related to a protagonist and developed a love of words and story. He soon became a best-selling author writing what he knows. He is now a Newbery Award honoree, a Printz Award honoree, a National Book Award honoree, a Kirkus Prize winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors.
Visiting authors are powerful for kids. Since Jason’s visit, his novels have been continuously off the library shelves. Simply hearing from authors about their processes and motivations can be what a previously reluctant reader needs to entice them and lead them to the right book. Eighth grader Toby M. said, “He made me want to read Miles Morales: Spider-Man after he talked about how he was thinking differently about the story of Spider-Man and how he could make the character more relatable.” Seventh grader Conner R. said, “I liked the way he spoke to us so honestly and not like students, but as friends.”
In October, Ellen Oh, young adult author, co-founder, president, and CEO of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books presented to all middle school students about the writing process and had writing workshops with 8th graders. During her middle school presentation she too discussed the struggle to find books that reflected her experience as Korean-American and the need for diversity in the publishing industry. A group of voracious upper school readers and students from the Wildwood Institute for Social Good and Community Leadership met with Ellen for a working lunch. The students asked about how to move from passion to organized action, and what makes the process successful. Alexus P., 9th grader, commented, “Being able to connect with someone so well-rounded and versatile opened my eyes to new perspectives on shaping my community. I’m really fortunate to be in a community that allows for so many interesting opportunities.”
We look forward to welcoming visiting authors throughout the school year and invite you to read more about them in our Newsroom. We are grateful to our Annual Giving donors for making the author series possible.


By guest, Sep 29 2018 09:59PM
Tales of Viking children are a war on dyslexia and illiteracy with stories and myths to engage even the most reluctant readers
The mother of the Children of Ribe, C.S. Woolley, and her Viking Saga for children are striving to be more than just another author and book series.
The Children of Ribe is a book series that is gathering more and more acclaim and it has been especially effective at helping dyslexic children and reluctant readers to engage with literature. This isn’t to say that every reader loves the books or that there is suddenly a universal fix-all approach to dyslexia contained within each book, but it is hard to argue with results and the feedback that C.S. Woolley has been given.
“Hi hope you don’t mind a private message as after purchasing your book for my son Joshua he loved your little message, he started it today to read it to me and he said compared to his school books he said the lines don’t jump and the words don’t move around. I’m so grateful as I think this might be the break through into for him to enjoying reading without it feeling like a chore. He has been siting reading it on his own without prompting which hasn’t happened in years. He’s only up to chapter 2 but he is finding it good and likes the characters.”
“Hi I brought this book for my son last year and he has finally taken to reading it. He is a a dyslexic 9 Year old who hates reading. Until he decided to actually try this book we have had for 12 months. He had read this book independently and is on chapter 11! This is the 1st book he has ever read. Please tell me you have more that I can buy before he actually finishes this one! I have your biggest fan in the making I think.”
“My son's school have agreed for him to use these as his reading books. It's the 1st book he has ever read independently and voluntarily. He was so excited to get the 2nd and 3rd books."
"Treason ended on a cliff hanger and my daughter is eagerly awaiting Murder."
What is even more astounding is how much children can learn about the Vikings from these books, with the cultural and religious accuracy being fairly high throughout. Even the historical notes at the end of each book reveal more of the complex history on which this fiction is based. From how they fished and set up tents to the myths, monsters and even the 9 realms, you’d think this amount of detail would overwhelm adults, let alone children.
Yet, C.S. Woolley has wonderfully woven all of this information into a rich story that leaves kids learning without even realising it. The themes, issues and characters are all crafted to engage children and adults like tackling this from wanting to be treated like an adult, dealing with identity crises, the bonds between friends and family, rivalries, the effect of perspective of good and evil, the honour code, power struggles, manipulation, thinking for yourself even when it is unpopular, and feuds that grow out of insignificant instances, these books really do have it all.
The books (on the whole) also get gradually longer as the series progresses, so we decided to ask her why. "I wanted to begin with shorter books to help boost the confidence of dyslexia and reluctant readers when it comes to literature. The size of some books makes them look completely overwhelming. But with the Children of Ribe, I wanted every reader to feel like they could read the whole thing. Then make the next book a few pages longer so that they wouldn't realise that they were reading more until suddenly they are reading 400 pages with ease and though some of James Joyce's works may still be too much to cope with, they have had a whole new world of books to explore and enjoy."
With MURDER available on early release direct from the publisher and hitting bookshelves in paperback on 26th September and the eBook hitting digital stockist on 29th September, there has never been a better time to discover the Children of Ribe series.
Direct Paperbacks from £7.94 signed by the author with free UK delivery
Paperbacks from £7.99 RRP and eBooks from £1.99 RRP
To find out more or get your copies of the series please visit www.mightierthanthesworduk.webeden.co.uk/the-store


This traditional Manchu longpoem was eventually written down, with some Confucian editorializing. It gives a view from within Manchu culture of the female shaman* Teteke who was considered the most powerful of all shamans, so potent that she could bring a boy back from the dead. This story is a classic example of soul-retrieval from the underworld, by a shaman who chants and drum, goes into an ecstasy so deep that she falls as if dead, makes her journey in the spirit, and must be revived by her assistant.
During the Ming dynasty, the only son of a rich official died. The distraught family mourned him with a lavish funeral. An old hunchback came and said, Are you just going to let your son go? Why not send for a skilled shaman to bring him back to life? The family replied that the shamans around there weren’t much good, and asked for a recommendation. “Rich sir, how could you not know? There is a shaman by the name of Teteke who lives on the banks of the Nisihai River not far from here. This shaman has great power; she can revive the dead. Why don’t you go ask her?” Then the old man left and ascended on a five-colored cloud (like a Taoist immortal or Buddhist arhat; the implication is that the family’s piety and good deeds were being rewarded).
So the father went in search of the great shaman. He asked a woman hanging clothes where the Nishan shaman lived. She smiled and told them that she lived on the opposite bank (the first of several times that the story shows this shaman as a trickster). The father came to find out that the laundress was in fact the shaman herself, and returned. She demurred at his request, saying that she was only a novice and that they should seek out other, more capable shamans. The tearful father begged her to take the case, and she finally relented.
The Nishan shaman washed her face, set out an incense table, and threw round Go pieces into the water (performing a divination). She sat on a stool in the middle of the room, grasped her hand drum and drumstick, and drumming, “she began to entreat.” Chanting hobage and deyanku, “she implored in a chant, and the spirit permeated her body.” She began to sing a prophecy that described all the relevant happenings leading up to the son’s death. (This prophetic description of the situation at hand recurs in innumerable shamanic tales around the world.) She asked for confirmation, and the father affirmed that everything she had said was true. The text underlines that she was entranced during the ceremony, after which: “The shaman grasped a stick of incense, raised it up, and revived. Then she put away the tambourine and drumstick.”
After more imploring from the official and another demurral from the shaman, she agreed to come to his house to do a ceremony. They loaded up her cabinets of spirit receptacles and brought her on a sedan chair. They set up the spirit placings, and the shaman ate. The other shamans of the village came, but their accompaniment was out of harmony with the chant. Nishan shaman said she would not be able to travel to the underworld that way. So they sent for her assistant, the 70-year-old Nari Fiyanngo who, she comments, “has been filial and obedient.”
When he arrived, Nishan shaman humorously asked him to harmonize beautifully with the tune. “If you do not harmonize with the chanting and murmuring, I will beat your buttocks with a wet drumstick made of cherry wood!” Nari Fiyanngo laughed and replied, “Powerful, strange Nishan shaman, I, your younger brother know this. I do not require a lot of instruction!” And he sat down, ate, and then began to drum. The shaman put on her garments, bells and skirts, “and put the nine-bird cap on her head.” Her body began to wave like a willow and shook with her chanting. She began beseeching her spirits:
Hoge yage Please come, escaping / Hoge yage from the stone pit
Hoge yage please descend quickly / Hoge yage…
And the shaman began to go into ecstasy. The incantation continued as she instructed her assistant to prepare a rooster, a striped dog, and many offerings of bean paste and paper bundles as offerings for the underworld gatekeepers.
Hoge yage I am going to pursue a soul
Hoge yage into a dark place
Hoge yage I will go to the land of the dead
Hoge yage I am going to raise
Hoge yage a fallen soul.
Nishan Shaman instructs her assistant to help her return by reviving her by throwing buckets of water around her face. “Having uttered this, she was thrown down and immediately her appearance began to change.” In other words, her body fell as if lifeless while she began her otherworld journey. The assistant came and laid her down, lined up the offerings next to her, and began to drum and chant in support of her spirit voyage.
Leading the rooster and dog and carrying the offerings, the shaman started off for the land of the dead. As she went, animals ran, birds flew, and snakes slithered. (These represent the creatures of the three worlds — upper, middle and lower — that the Manchu have in common with the Mongols and other North Asian peoples). “Traveling like a whirlwind she arrived at the bank of a river.” She looked around for a way to cross, and called to a lame boatman to take her across so that she could meet her dead relatives. She named her father and mother, then gave a long list of matrilineal relatives (a theme that is repeated further on). She paid him with bean paste and paper, and he ferried her over.
Then the shaman came to the Red river. This time there was no boat. She invoked the great eagle and the silver wagtail, the river snake and eight pythons. She threw her drum in the water, stood in it, and crossed the river “like a whirlwind,” again leaving behind bean paste and paper bundles for the river spirit. In the same manner she went through all the underworld gates and gave offerings to their guardians. (Drum as boat, as horse or other conveyance in the spirit realms is a common theme in North Asia; so is the shaman’s coat adorned with bells, mirrors and pendant amulets, and the cap with feathers or horns.)
“With skirt bells shaking, cap waving, and small bells ringing,
the Nishan shaman was making her voice clang like metal.”
Finally she confronted a lord of the underworld who had carried away the son. Getting no satisfaction from him, she went to the higher lord of the underworld, whose city walls were tightly locked. The shaman made a long invocation to dozens of animal powers to enter the city and bring out the child spirit. “When she finished, all the spirits rose up in flight and became like clouds and fog.”
A great bird snatched up the boy and brought him to the shaman. Infuriated, the underworld king confronted his underling, who replied that it must have been the Nishan shaman who did this. He pursued her, calling out, “Shaman, elder sister, wait a moment.” He appealed to her, saying that it was not right to take the boy away without paying a fee, since he had made great efforts to bring him there and was in trouble now. They negotiated; the shaman offered him bean paste and paper bundles, but he protested that it was not enough. She added more, but still it was not enough; he asked for the rooster and dog, since the king of the dead has neither, and thus everyone would be satisfied. She agrees, but only on condition that he lengthen the child’s life. A long bargaining session ensues, with the shaman piled up more years of long life, and the spirit throwing in good health and progeny. The deal is done, and the shaman leaves.
But Teteke had one more obstacle to confront. The spirit of her long-dead husband confronted her beside the road, and demanded that she bring him back too. She answered that it was not possible, since his tendons and flesh were rotted, but said that she will make offerings at his grave and take care of his mother. He became enraged and started to reproach her with old marital disputes. She retorted that he had left her with nothing, and yet she had cared for his mother all these years. Making no headway, at last she called on a great crane to come and fling him into Fungtu City (Taoist world of the dead). Then she sang an anthem of female independence and nonconformity that affirms the old, pre-Chinese matrilineal traditions of the Manchu:
Deyanku deyanku Without a husband
Deyanku deyanku I shall live happily
Deyanku deyanku Without a man
Deyanku deyanku I shall live proudly
Deyanku deyanku Among mother’s relatives
Deyanku deyanku I shall live enjoyably
Deyanku deyanku Facing the years
Deyanku deyanku I shall live on
Deyanku deyanku Without children
Deyanku deyanku I shall live on
Deyanku deyanku Without a family
Deyanku deyanku I shall live lovingly
Deyanku deyanku Pursuing my own youth
Deyanku deyanku I shall live as a guest
After singing this, she led the boy quickly through the underworld. Now they came to a beautiful, majestic tower surrounded by five-colored clouds and guarded by two gods in gold armor. She asked them who lived there, and they replied, “Omosi-mama, who causes the leaves to unfurl and the roots to spread properly.” Omosi-mama is the Manchu goddess who gives life to all beings. She endows human beings with three souls: the true soul, which is the lifeforce that, once departed, causes death; the soul-that-precedes, which can travel during dreams or soul-loss, and which the goddess gives to another person after death; and the external soul, which returns to the god of the underworld after death (probably the physical body-soul).
Here Nishan shaman negotiates again with various guardians, giving them offerings. She encounters among the goddess’s attendants the deceased wife of her assistant and exchanges friendly greetings with her. Then she goes to pay her respects to Omosi-mama, an old woman with snow-white hair. She is described as ugly (much like the spinner-faeries in early modern European lore): “her eyes protruded, her mouth was large, her face long, her chin stuck out, and her teeth had become red-unpleasant to behold!”
But however demonized by the storyteller, this Old Goddess remains the life-giver. Around her, women were bustling around making babies, passing around yarn, carrying children to be born, putting them into bags and taking their on their backs out the eastern door. Nishan shaman prostrated nine times before Omosi-mama. The old goddess did not recognize her at first, but then exclaimed, “How could I have forgotten? When you were to be born, I became annoyed with you because you absolutely refused to go, and I placed a shaman’s cap on your head, tied bells on your skirt, put a tambourine in your hand, and causing you to act as a shaman, I playfully brought you to life.”
Omosi-mama spoke of how she had ordained the future fame of the shaman, and how she fated destinies for all the souls who came from her realm. She had her helpers show Teteke around so that she could see the flourishing forests whose willow branches were used to send forth souls who have not eaten horses or cattle, and the sparse woods for those who have (in a bit of Buddhist editorializing against meat-eating). In another building all kinds of animals, birds and fish were being created. There was also a city where ghosts wept and lamented, and where souls were judged for a long list of crimes. The graphic descriptions of punishments also show strong Buddhist overtones, as does the bodhisattva preaching and predicting the future rebirths of the various souls, from palace-dwellers to animals and worms.
After witnessing all this, the Nishan shaman retraced her steps, paying more fees to the various spirits and guardians so that she could return. The ferryman hailed her triumph in bringing back the son from the land of the dead. She reached his father’s house, and her assistant poured the buckets of water on her as she had instructed. Then he burned incense to revive her, singing an incantation praising her achievement and calling on various animal spirits to help her awaken. The shaman got up and began to chant an account of what she had done, and reporting the blessings of Omosi-mama:
Kerani kerani When you serve Omosi-mama
Kerani kerani with respect and purity
Kerani kerani Omosi-mama’s flowers are good
Kerani kerani Therefore do only good.
Then the shaman was thrown backward again, and censed again by her assistant. “Then, because the shaman herself fanned the soul into the empty body of Sergudai Fiyanngo, he suddenly came to.” He asked for water and said he had been sleeping and dreaming for a long while. The family rejoiced as he sat up. The father offered wine to the Nishan shaman and her assistant. She praised Nari Fiyanggo, modestly quoting a saying that if a shaman was worth three parts, she will not come back to life unless helped by an assistant of seven parts. Everyone laughed. Then the family loaded up wagons full of payments for the shaman and her assistant.
But the final episode shows the social and political pressures on such a powerful woman at the time this old epic was written down. Her mother-in-law heard that Nishan had refused to bring back her dead husband, and even thrown him into Fungtu city after he threatened to boil her in oil. The mother was furious, and accused the shaman of killing her husband a second time. She went to the capital and filed an official complaint. Nishan shaman was arrested, and her testimony matched the mother’s. So the officials condemned her as a disloyal wife. They could have executed her for this but instead, because she had not lied, they destroyed her shaman’s regalia and drums.
The epic ends with an tacked-on admonition similar to those added to other classics of orature, such as the Icelandic Völuspá, when they were committed to writing by men determined to defuse them. The writer claims that the Manchu poem contains “evil teachings contrary to the great law. People in the future must not imitate them.”
Three different written versions of this story exist. The other two texts lack this sermonizing conclusion. One does not mention any destruction of the shaman’s power objects; the other describes it in a single final sentence which also appears to be tacked-on. The original poem was performed in a broad-based Manchu oral tradition that was dissolving under Chinese influence. At the same time, Manchu kinship patterns moved toward patriarchal Chinese patterns. However, the persistence of maternal kinship terms led Shirokogoroff and other scholars to posit an original Manchu matrilineage. The passages affirming maternal kin in the poem seem to bear out these older maternal loyalties. The very reason offered for the shaman’s downfall was her disloyalty to patriarchy, much more than Confucian or Buddhist officialdom’s disapproval of shamanic rites.
Manchu clans were structured around shamanic spirits—both ancestors and animal guardian spirits. [Nowak and Durrant, 96] The Manchu kept their clan lists secret, guarded in spirit receptacles. Nishan Shaman brings these sacred receptacles with her for the ceremony, implying that ancestral spirits were important for such rites. Her song places strong emphasis on the maternal relatives, and Margaret Nowak suggests that it is “a plea for the old order.”  Teteke’s self-affirming chant to her dead husband is “a strong and surprising denial of all that a woman in Manchu culture should live for: husband, husband’s clan, children, descendants.” Nowak contrasts the patrilineage-preserving task of restoring the son to the shaman’s repudiation of marriage and motherhood.
Toward the story’s end, having seen the punishments for sins in the underworld, the shaman ends a love affair with her assistant and breaks from “all strange dissolute matters.” Here Nowak takes the wording of “elder sister”/”younger brother” at face value, and frames the wrongfulness of the relationship as breaking clan taboos around sexual relationships. I disagree; this kind of kinship language is a common Indigenous framing that does not necessarily indicate direct blood relationship, or in many cases a much broader concept of kinship. Here it functions to signal the shaman’s seniority over her assistant. It is the “elder,” not “sister,” that is significant here; and what is disapproved is that the widow has any love affair with anyone.
But this entire theme of transgression is another late interpolation tacked on at the end. The real meaning of Nishan shaman, as Nowak comments, is that “she transcends social norms”and mediates between the worlds. [101-2, 107] Her cleaving to “mother’s relatives” stands in stark contrast to the Confucian norm that drives the story: the official has lost his only son, the second, and thus his patrilineal posterity.
Nowak remarks on another interesting pattern in the poem: that water figures in passages between realms. The shaman throws her divinatory Go pieces into water; she and others wash their faces before the shamanizing begins; she crosses rivers to the underworld; her return to ordinary consciousness is accomplished by pouring water; and the first thing the revived boy does is ask for water. (Passage across the waters is also important in Korean ceremonies of the mudang.)
Nowak also makes an key observation on the realm of Omosi-mama “Here nothing new is ever added; nothing old totally disappears. In cyclic fashion life keeps appearing and reappearing.” Omosi mama is “autonomous,” and oversees this endless process “significantly symbolized by the turning stone wheel.” [112-16]
The epic illuminates the way Manchu shamans did their ceremonies, the kind of incantations they sang, even mentions the cabinets with ancestral regalia referred to by other sources. It portrays Manchu beliefs about life, death, and a great Goddess who is both life-giver and fate-giver. It also repeats the theme of the greatest of all the shaman who is nevertheless modest and retiring, that we have already seen with Pa Sini Jobu.
© 2013 Max Dashu
* Shaman is a word of the Tungusic languages, including Evenk, to which Manchu belongs. Attempts to read it as sha-man, and pluralize it as sha-men, are misinformed. The second syllable -man has nothing to do with English “men,” and in fact the word is not sex-specific.
All quotes are taken from Margaret Nowak and Stephen Durrant, The Tale of the Nishan Shamaness: A Manchu Folk Epic. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977)
Manchuria was historically connected to Korea, and influenced as well by Mongolia on its western border. (They adopted a central Asian script from the Mongolians.) In 1931 the Japanese invaded, followed by the Chinese after World War II. The Manchu are best known for their own conquest of China, founding the Qing dynasty in the 17th century. You are far less likely to read about many Indigenous groups such as the Orochen, Numinchen, Dagur, and others who are culturally closer to their Siberian relatives, the Evenk and Even.


Welcome to Woodchuck Lodge
“These hills fathered and mothered me. I am blood of their blood and bone of their bone, and why should I not go back to them in my last years?”
John Burroughs, Literary Naturalist, 1910
Wild Saturday, June 6, 1 p.m. Slow Down Nature Walk, with herbalist and nature writer Violet Snow. Enjoy a leisurely ramble with eyes wide open, to observe, appreciate and share what you see, hear and smell, as Burroughs did. A simple adventure for all ages. First, you might want to listen to "The Walk," below.
Admission is free! Donations, of course, are most welcome. This is a Headwaters History Days event.
The Lodge will be open for free tours before and after the program, and again Sunday, June 7, 11-3. Special tours can be arranged for groups. Call President Bill Birns, 845-254-6025.
On your next visit to the Lodge, pick up the new audio book, "Afloat and Afoot," containing two unabridged essays by John Burroughs: "Pepacton, A Summer Voyage" about his paddle in a home made boat down the East Branch of the Delaware; and "The Heart of the Southern Catskills," recounting his efforts to climb Slide Mountain in 1885. Produced by Silver Hollow Audio, the 2-CD set was supported by a grant from the O'Connor Foundation and includes commentary from Woodchuck Lodge trustees Bill Birns and Diane Galusha. FMI and to download: www.silverhollowaudio.com
Here's a sample of what 65 folks enjoyed on a stellar June afternoon last year. Click on the full screen icon!
This is "The Walk," written by John Jacobson (fiddler on the tune), inspired by John Burroughs' advice that the walk you take today, should be the walk you took yesterday, and the one you take tomorrow, as nature is ever changing, and there is always something new to see. . .
Thanks to Brett Barry for the audio, and to Fred Margulies for syncing the amateur video with the professionally recorded sound.


Resources for starting and restarting a thriving youth ministry
Starting or enhancing a youth ministry program?
You can create a program that goes beyond Sunday school and is sustainable over the years by building a strong foundation through vision, Unity principles and sound administrative practices. The following resources will help guide you in creating a thriving youth ministry:
- Youth Ministry Guides and Manuals. These are "how-to" manuals to help create the foundation for success.
- An understanding of Unity Worldwide Ministries’ educational Living Curriculum philosophy
- Youth ministry assessment
- Be sure to visit our Resource Library for free downloadable online resources.
Starting a Uniteen group?
Uniteens (11-13 years)
Uniteen groups usually meet each Sunday in Unity churches to explore spiritual truths. They provide a safe place for youth in their preteen years (middle school) to connect with others and explore what they believe. Most groups meet for social outings to socialize and develop healthy relationships. Some regions offer weekend Uniteen retreats (Unitreats) that facilitate spiritual exploration.
Resources, including Uniteen Leadership Team Roles and Responsibilities, the Uniteen Program Guide, and regional information will set the foundation for getting you started in teen ministry.
Did you know that you have regional support?
Starting a YOU chapter?
Youth of Unity, ages 14–18
Youth of Unity (YOU) is an active teen ministry for high school students, ages 14–18. Teens usually gather on Sunday to explore and discover spiritual truths and learn how these truths relate to their lives. Most chapters meet at other times to do service in their church community, have a social event, or attend regional or international events.
For additional resources
Visit Tools and Tips for overview of youth ministry.
Visit the Resource Library for free downloadable online resources.


Welcome to our Resource Library. This section contains information on:
Disclaimer: These pages are provided as an information source for public use. The NLCSA strives to maintain the integrity of this site and to present information which is accurate and timely. The information is subject to periodic updates, revisions, deletions and additions without prior notice. The NLCSA is not responsible for errors or omissions contained in the information, and makes no representations as to the accuracy of the information. The material available on this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied on in lieu of professional advice.
Where an official printed document differs from text which may be provided at this site, the official printed document takes precedence.
Commercial use of material contained at this site is prohibited without the express written permission of the NLCSA.