Bernard Picart, Ixion's Wheel

Date: 1733 (1754 edition)
Technique: Etching and engraving, 13 1/2 x 10 in.

From the Temple of the Muses (Neu-Erofneer Musen-Tempel) published in Amsterdam and Leipzig

The King of the Lapithae, Ixion, was invited to dine with the Gods. When he gazed upon Hera he was immediately consumed with irresistible desire. In the delirium of his passion Ixion embraced a cloud which Zeus had fashioned in the shape of Hera. The cloud became the mother of the Centaurs.

As punishment for his actions, Ixion was perpetually bound to a fiery, revolving wheel. Some accounts have the wheel placed in the night sky while others state it is located in the Infernal regions.

Source 1
Source 2

Gustave Moreau, The Angels of Sodom (Les Anges de Sodome)

Musée national Gustave Moreau, Paris

Date: c. 1890
Technique: Oil on canvas

Source

Fresco

It's hard to believe that almost two months have passed since the last "official" Coffee Crawl.  I'd like to thank Leanne again for hosting the Crawlers at her home in mid-May when Liz, Jeff, Chris and I returned from the U.S.  We had a great time, Leanne, and the food was wonderful!

After our road trip to Cape Town Chris went back to the States.  Later that week Jeff, Liz and I had a quick cup of coffee with the Crawlers at the Donkin Reserve Green Leaf Cafe.  Quite a crowd "pitched" (my new favorite South Africanism) and we got to catch up with everyone before we set out for a two week trip to Namibia and Botswana.  The trip was fantastic and, despite one harrowing incident with two very angry black rhinos, a good time was had by all.

Last week, just before Jeff and Liz left for the U.S., they joined the Crawlers at Fresco for Coffee Crawl #63.  Fresco, located at The Acres, 20 Nile Road in Perridgevale, opened its doors for business on May 7.  The shop was recommended to me by an anonymous PE Coffee Crawl blog reader via a comment on the Starburst post.  Fresco's owner Tanya Erasmus told the Crawlers that she had been considering opening a coffee shop for some time so when the opportunity presented itself she went for it.  Well, word about this new shop must have spread around PE quickly as was evidenced by the steady stream of customers there this past Thursday morning.

Meet the Owner
Tanya Erasmus

Desperately in need of a caffeine fix, Jeff, Liz and I arrived at Fresco early on Crawl day.  We settled into a table upstairs because, when given an option, I will always choose loft or second level seating.  I imagine there is some psychology behind that.... feel free to enlighten me if you are so inclined.  Anyway, as we waited for the rest of the Crawlers to arrive we had a chance to admire Fresco's interesting decor.  Tanya has a real knack for interior design.  She has taken a mixed-bag (vintage, modern, distressed) of second-hand tables, chairs, and curios, and accented it with hand crocheted hanging light shades of varying sizes and a unique collection of clocks.  The awesome color scheme, along with the very cool Fresco Fresh Daily logo, ties everything together.  Tanya, your shop is beautiful.... my favorite decor of all the shops we've visited!

Fresco can accommodate 60+ patrons with upstairs, downstairs and outside seating available.  The shop's menu includes light breakfasts and lunches featuring freshly prepared baked goods and homemade jams.  The Saturday morning R38 Breakfast Special has become a favorite of customers since the shop's opening.  Fresco's hours are Mon-Fri, 7:30-4 and Sat, 8:30-1.

Meet the Barista
Addie



Meet the Fresco Staff
Di-anne, Synodia, Jane, Mandy



Enough talk about the decor and menu... let's get down to what really counts... the coffee.  Fresco is the only place in the Eastern Cape at the moment that carries Italian imported Chicco Doro coffee.  The shop's talented barista, Addie, prepared some excellent cappuccinos and Americanos for the Crawlers.  I am a real fan of the Chicco Doro/Addie combo!  It is definitely a "must try" for PE coffee lovers!

This week's Crawlers
Gail, Beryl, Nomusa, Stella, June, Fran, Liz, Jeff

So, on to the talk at the table.  Our first discussion topic on the June 21 Crawl was the Winter Solstice... "shortest day" of the year in the Sounthern Hemisphere / Summer Solstice... "longest day" of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.  Jeff and Liz found it interesting that they would be experiencing two Winter Solstices in 2012 as they will be in the States in December.  In honor of the celestial occasion, the Crawlers, June Nash, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Gail Darne, Nomusa Nkomo, Fran de Beer, and my son and daughter, Jeff and Liz, dubbed Thursday's Crawl as the "Solstice Crawl."  ....  Winter?    Summer?     It matters not.

With that out of the way we went on to discuss the funky dreams that Liz experienced as a result of taking malaria pills for too long.  The best was the one where she was being chased by a monstrous slice of pizza that had mushroom eyes and utensil appendages.  It would be fun to have a dream expert analyze that one!  The remainder of the Crawl was spent with Nomusa telling tales of her recent trip to the UK, and Jeff, Liz and I sharing stories of our trip to Namibia and Botswana.  After two months of traveling all I can say is that I need a vacaion from my vacation! 

It's good to be back in PE and Crawling again.

~Thank you to Tanya, Addie  and the Fresco staff.  Your new business is off to a great start... Best Wishes!
~Thank you yet again to Delta Airlines for getting Jeff and Liz back to the U.S. safely.
~Belated birthday wishes to:  my brother Chuck - June 17,  David - June 16,  Jackie- June 23,  and Chris -
  June 25.
~Chris, it was fun having you visit... glad you got to meet the Crawlers... they all send their regards!
~Kudos to all the June 21 Crawlers... it was the first Crawl of 2012 at which no one broke the No-Food-
  On-The-Crawl Rule!!!!!

Until next week (Ahhh.. music to my ears!),

Ellen

Tavik František Šimon, The Widow

Date: 1906
Technique: Colour etching, 275 x 400 mm

From the revised Catalogue Raisonné by Arthur Novak

Source

Kanga Cup 2012 - A Festival of Football

The Kanga Cup 2012 will start on Sunday, 8th July 2012, with an opening ceremony at the AIS.

Go to the Kanga Cup website for all the right information and match results:
http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-8337-0-0-0

The Football starts on Monday, 9th July at venues around Canberra, culminating in the finals on Friday.

The will be no shortage of good football, girls and boys, international teams and teams form every State and Territory in Australia. The finals are sensational. Just doesn't get any better than that!

In this program we talk to the Kanga Cup supremo, Capital Football Events Co-ordinator, Adam Castle. This will give you a good understanding of the scale and scope of this tournament and of course, just how big it could become on the world football scene, with the assistance of a substantial sponsor. The event as a whole brings and estimated $3 million "new" dollars into the local ecomony, but sadly, Football in the ACT sees very little of this expenditure. This must change!

Download Podcast here:

Kanga Cup 2012 - Vandals strike and destroy playing venues!

How would you like your local Football field to look like this?

The following two images show some of the damage.

Yes its hard to beleive, but just as Capital Football organisers reach the critical point  before the start of the biggest Football tournament in the Southern hemisphere - The Kanga Cup 2012 - vandals drove one or more vehilces on to three well prepared and maintained fileds (Belnorth home ground fileds near Hawker Enclosed) and absolutely wrecked the playing surfaces.

The fields are no longer suitable for use by the Kanga Cup organisers, and no longer fit to be used for the remainder of the ACT Football season. Belnorth must be sick with worry. Its a body blow to a good local Club. It will not doubt be expensive to restore these grounds to a condition fit for "possession based Football".

Will the ACT Government come to the rescue? You can't expect Capital Football to carry the can for this outrageous anti social and criminal behaviour toward its constituency.

Whoever these miscreants are, they are absolute bastards!

I hope the Police find them, charge them, succesfully prosecute them and they are sentenced to lengthy periods of community service. In fact, I hope the work these mongrels are required to do is assigned to Capital Football, who will no doubt have a lot of work for them to do around the Clubs.

And fine these vandals the cost of repair of the playing surfaces.

If they turn out to be Football players, haul them before the CF Discipline committee and ban them for life from Football. Matter of fact, whoever they are, cite them anyway and ban them from football for life. That way we can be certain they never have anything to do with Football.

You know the worst of this vandalism? There is likely to be a good chance these anti social muppets are minors in a stolen vehicle. Depressing really.

However, the Kanga Cup is a slick operation and plans are already in motion to rework the venues to cope with the 20  plus games a day that would have been played on these fields.

Lucas Jennis, The Ouroboros

Date: 1625
Technique: Engraving

From the alchemical tract titled De Lapide Philosophico

Source

Veterinary Medicine in the Post Land-Grant Era

By Donald F. Smith DVM, Cornell University

Posted June 25, 2012

I seldom use this blog as a forum to share personal opinions. This posting is an exception, however, and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Cornell University or the AVMA. Comments are welcome on this blog or by writing me at dfs6@cornell.edu

         A century ago, there were three types of veterinary colleges. The majority were for-profit schools of varying quality, located in major cities with their focus on horses. These schools could not be sustained past the 1920s because of decreased enrollment when the horse lost its dominance to the internal combustion engine. An additional factor in their demise was the increased scrutiny given private, for profit medical and veterinary schools as the professions improved their regulatory standards. 

         A small handful of veterinary programs were affiliated with their respective medical schools, for example, those at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, NYU and George Washington University. Only Penn survived. 

         The third type of veterinary college was part of the land-grant initiative. Established in response to the Morrill Act of 1862, land-grant institutions (one per state or territory and mostly located in towns or small cities) were designed to provide practical education for rural youth in agriculture, engineering and the sciences. Starting with Cornell University in 1868, veterinary programs developed at nine land grant universities in the next few decades. Iowa State University became the first public-funded (land-grant) veterinary college in 1879. 

         Another cluster of land-grant veterinary colleges was established in the post World War II era, and a final cluster in the 1970s. Like the early veterinary schools, most of these later colleges were also located in smaller communities apart from major medical schools. In some states, the colleges were located in towns without major transportation hubs. The agricultural lobby was often the dominant political force in justifying the new veterinary college and all but four of the current 28 veterinary colleges are located at land-grant universities. There is also an imbalance favoring locations of colleges in the Midwest and southern states compared to the most populous areas of the country.  Unlike major medical schools which are most prevalent in large metropolitan areas, only two veterinary colleges (Penn and the Ohio State) are located in the 40 most populous U.S. cities.

         In the early 20th century, it could be said that the land-grant system saved veterinary medicine. Without the emphasis on livestock and food production, as well as having state governments providing core financial support, veterinary medicine might otherwise have floundered as the horse lost its central role in transportation and industry. 

         However, in today's world, I believe that the dominance of the land grant system in veterinary education represents a serious challenge for our profession's sustainability. Starting in the years following the Great Depression, migration from rural to urban and suburban areas was accompanied by a massive growth in numbers of household pets and other companion animals. Meanwhile, livestock production was concentrated on larger agricultural units requiring veterinarians.  Today, fewer than 10% of veterinarians work with livestock or the food production systems. About 80% of veterinarians in private practice work with household pets. Another 10% work with horses, zoo animals, wildlife and laboratory animals. 

Beau is an important member of our family.
 Good nutrition, twice-daily scheduled exercise without fail, 
and quality veterinary medical care have given him health and mobility in his 16th year of life.
Photo by the author in 2007.

         Despite the dramatic expansion of the mission of veterinary medicine, state support for veterinary colleges is still largely defined based upon the needs for livestock and safe food production. While these remain a fundamental responsibility of veterinarians, they do not address adequately the larger and more diverse missions of veterinary medicine, especially the role of healthy and well-adjusted pets in supporting human health and well-being.

         To assure sustainability of veterinary colleges in the present era, we need to embrace enthusiastically the role that veterinarians play in an expanded family profile that often includes pets. In responding to this opportunity, we must adapt a bold new approach for public funding that emphasizes the role of veterinarians as critical members of the medical health community. This includes the veterinarians' role in public health and the prevention and control of diseases that are transmitted from animals to people. But it also needs to acknowledge the role of household pets and other companion animals in promoting both physical and emotional health of people at all stages of life. 

         In practical terms, the public funding of veterinary colleges should be broadened and not remain solely the provenance of departments of agriculture.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Albert von Keller, Expectation (In Erwartung)

Kunsthaus Zürich

Date: 1912
Technique: Oil on canvas, 26 9/16 x 18 5/16 in.

Source

Veterinary Education and the G.I. Bill

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted June 22, 2012
Honoring the GI Bill, signed 68 years ago today.

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

As World War II was drawing to a close, hundreds of thousands of battle-weary veterans returned home. Eager to resume their lives, the G.I. Bill of Rights (signed by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944) eased the transition of some of them back into society by providing access to university and postgraduate education. Students who started veterinary college between 1946 and 1948 were mostly veterans, many of whom were already in their mid- to late 20s with spouses and small children. It is sometimes quipped that Cornell's 1950 graduating DVM class photo had 50 graduates and 50 children, most still in diapers. 


With only ten veterinary colleges in the United States in the early 1940s (1), available slots for veterinary students were very limited. The situation was especially acute in the agriculturally-rich midwest and southern states, and in California. Responding to this need, seven new colleges were established in the four-year period starting in 1944. Six were at land-grant universities; the other was at Tuskegee Institute, a member of the Historic Black college system.

Location of  Veterinary Colleges established
before 1920 (red) and between 1944 and 1948 (blue). 
Colleges are identified in footnote (2).

Members of the first graduating class of the new college at the University of Minnesota were all men, one of whom was Dr. Glen Nelson:  "Most of us were veterans. We had a B17 pilot who was shot down over France and escaped back to England with the French Underground. We had a B29 pilot [who] flew over Nagasaki the day after THE Bomb. I was a tank officer under Patton in North Africa and Italy. We had a prisoner of war in our class, an ex-POW, and another who was shot up pretty bad (sic) on Saipan. Going to the student center was like sitting around the American Legion Club."


Of the 17 veterinary colleges in 1948, all but two (University of Pennsylvania and Tuskegee Institute, later University) were at land-grant institutions. Most of these were located in rural areas of the country in towns or small cities such as College Station, TX; Ithaca, NY and Athens, GA. An 18th veterinary college was added at Purdue University a decade later, but no more were established until the 1970s.


(1) Middlesex University in Massachusetts operated a veterinary college  in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
(2) Veterinary colleges established between 1868 and 1920 were at: Auburn, Colorado St, Cornell, Iowa St, Kansas St, Michigan St, Ohio St, Texas A&M, U of Pennsylvania, and Washington St. Those established between 1944 and 1948 were at: Oklahoma St, Tuskegee, UC-Davis, U Georgia, U Minnesota, U Illinois, and U Missouri.


Some material for this blog first appeared in an article by Dr. Smith in the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education (JVME, 38[1], pages 84-99, 2011).
Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu.

Carlos Schwabe, Angel of Hope (Ange d'espérance)

Collection M. Félix Marcilhac, Paris

Date: 1895
Technique: Watercolor and india ink on paper, 18 x 23 cm

Source

Edgar Sawtelle, Dr. Mark Morris and a Dog named Buddy

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted June 21, 2012

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).



When a friend gave me the book, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, she told me it was a story of farm life, a veterinarian, and the special bond that unites a boy with his dogs. Oh yes, and a murder or two! What Julie Kumble allowed me to discover on my own was that it also contained hidden references to one of Cornell University's most famous veterinary graduates, Dr. Mark Morris, Sr., and the beginning of prescription pet food formulations. 

Cover of David Wroblewski's novel,
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle".
Photo by Dr. Smith.

Edgar Sawtelle is a fascinating novel about a multi-generation farm family and their exceptional kennel of breeding dogs. While investigating events surrounding the suspicious death of his father, young Edgar Sawtelle discovers letters written in 1934 by his late grandfather to a man named Brooks, one of the original breeders of seeing eye dogs in Morristown, New Jersey. His most famous guide dog was a German Shepherd named Buddy.


Author David Wroblewski doesn't tell us about the more far-reaching contribution of Buddy. That is his role in the development of the pet food industry in general, and prescription diets, in particular. Here is the "rest of the story."


An advanced-standing transfer student from the midwest arrived at Cornell University in the fall of 1925 and the following spring he received his DVM. Two years later, Mark Morris, Sr., established Raritan Hospital for Animals in Edison, N.J., one of the first small animal practices in the country.


Dr. Morris was convinced that proper nutrition was essential to pet health. At that time, Buddy was the guide dog of a blind man, Morris Frank, and they were touring the country by train to demonstrate the impact that a seeing eye dog could have by allowing a blind person to navigate independently, safely and with dignity. When Buddy's life was threatened by kidney disease, Dr. Morris was consulted and he formulated a unique specialty diet that slowed the progression of the renal failure. Buddy's life was prolonged and he and Mr. Frank were able to continue their travels about the country spreading the good news of dogs as companions for the blind.

Dr. Mark Morris, Sr., Cornell DVM 1926
Photo from Hill's Pet Nutrition

The special dog food was initially mailed as needed to Mr. Frank in glass jars, but the jars often broke in transit. "Frank arranged for delivery of several thousand cans to Dr. Morris as well as a hand operating canning machine."(1)  Morris and his wife initially processed the canned food in their own home and sent it to Frank and Buddy wherever they were traveling. Meanwhile everywhere they went throughout the country, they were telling people of the miraculous food developed by Dr. Morris back in New Jersey.(2) Morris' fame spread and the prescription pet food industry was born. His 'kidney diet' was appropriately named Canine k/d®, and was licensed to Hill's Packing Company (now Hill's Pet Nutrition) to produce what soon became a growing line of pet prescription formula diets.


With the royalties from the sale of these diets, Mark Morris established a foundation dedicated to animal health and well-being. Morris Animal Foundation is now the largest organization in the world that invests in research that will advance veterinary medicine and improve the quality of life for companion animals, horses and wildlife.


References:
1. http://www.hillspet.com/our-company/story-of-hills-pet-nutrition.html
2. Personal Conversation between Dr. Mark Morris, Jr. and the author, Cornell University, circa 1995.


Dr. Smith thanks Julie Kumble for sharing the Sawtelle book. She is director of grants and programs at the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, and the aunt of a member of Cornell's DVM Class of 2015.
The author invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Jacques-Laurent Agasse, Ondine

Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zürich, SIK-ISEA

Date: 1843
Technique: Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm

According to a theory advanced by Paracelsus, an Undine is a water nymph or water spirit, the elemental of water. They are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls. They have beautiful voices, which are sometimes heard over the sound of water. According to some legends, Undines cannot get a soul unless they marry a man and bear him a child. This aspect has led them to be a popular motif in romantic and tragic literature.

In 18th century Scotland, Undines were also referred to as the wraiths of water. Even then, they were not feared as other wraiths such as the kelpie.

In a German tale known as Sleep of Ondine, Ondine is a water nymph. She was very beautiful and, like all nymphs, immortal. However, should she fall in love with a mortal man and bear his child, she would lose her immortality.

Ondine eventually falls in love with a handsome knight, Sir Lawrence, and they are married. When they exchange vows, Lawrence vows to forever love and be faithful to her. A year after their marriage, Ondine gives birth to his child. From that moment on she begins to age. As Ondine’s physical attractiveness diminishes, Lawrence loses interest in his wife.

One afternoon, Ondine is walking near the stables when she hears the familiar snoring of her husband. When she enters the stable, she sees Lawrence lying in the arms of another woman. Ondine points her finger at him, which he feels as if kicked, waking him up with surprise. Ondine curses him, stating, "You swore faithfulness to me with every waking breath, and I accepted your oath. So be it. As long as you are awake, you shall have your breath, but should you ever fall asleep, then that breath will be taken from you and you will die!"

Source 1
Source 2

A Boise Construction Company’s Connection to Paint Your Wagon, a 1969 Musical Starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin.

Do not adjust your computer monitor. Clint Eastwood was in a musical.

In 1969, the Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon, written by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe of My Fair Lady fame, was brought to the silver screen by Paramount.  Its trailer invited moviegoers to: "Come along with Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jane Seberg as they bring the free living, free loving, California gold rush days to life  ...a lusty group of people who one day looked civilization in the eye - and spit!" Both the grizzled Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood have singing roles.

While one of Lee Marvin's gravelly numbers was a surprise hit in Britain, Clint Eastwood's "I Talk to the Trees," which was sung over a light bossa nova beat and augmented by a lonesome cowboy harmonica and lush string arrangement, was not a chart-topper.  With its poor reviews, long running time (two and a half hours), peculiar casting decisions, bloated 18 million dollar budget, and appearance at a time when the era of the Hollywood musical was drawing to a close, the film was probably destined for problems and did not become the blockbuster success that Paramount had hoped for.

An M-K-owned crane places a 75-foot tree on the set of Paint Your Wagon.  The water wheel is visible in the foreground.  The Em-Kayan, August 1968, pg. 13

Concerning the movie sets, Howard Hugh's book "Aim for the Heart" states that, "the camp looked splendid, incorporating sluices and a huge waterwheel, at a cost of 2.4 million." The sets for Paint Your Wagon were designed by Boise's own Morrison-Knudsen Company.  The Morrison-Knudsen Company (M-K) was founded in Boise in 1912 by Harry Morrison and Morris Knudsen. Some projects in the company’s long history include the Hoover Dam and Alaska’s Trans-Atlantic Pipeline.

During Paint Your Wagon, M-K improved 18 miles of roadless wilderness in order to bring almost 30 pieces of heavy construction equipment to the remote filming location.  The set design also needed to accommodate a dramatic implosion of Biblical proportions, about which the August 1968 edition of M-K’s newsletter, The Em-Kayan, says: "Paramount is putting up 102 frame buildings to create No-Name City, more than half of which are rigged to collapse during the movie's rousing but best-unrevealed finale."

A scale model of No-Name City is inspected by Production Designer John Truscott, Director Joshua Logan and Producer Alan Jay Lerner. The Em-Kayan, August 1968, pg. 12

Boise State University's Albertsons Library has a complete run of the Em-Kayan, Morrison-Knudsen's company newsletter (1942-1988).  The library’s Special Collections and Archives also holds the Morrison-Knudsen Records (including labor files), the papers of M-K Vice President of International Operations Lyman Wilbur, the papers of M-K Executive Vice President James McClary, the papers of Ann Morrison, first wife of co-founder Harry Morrison and namesake of Ann Morrison Park, Boise Redevelopment Agency documents,  and most M-K Company Reports. 

"Aim for the Heart: the Films of Clint Eastwood," by Howard Hughes (London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2010.), is also available to the BSU community as an eBook download.

Kent Randell,
Special Collections/Archives

John Charles Dollman, The Unknown

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne

Date: 1912
Technique: Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 76.5 cm

Source

John Anster Fitzgerald, The Old Hall, Fairies by Moonlight; Spectres & Shades, Brownies and Banshees

Private collection

Date: 1875
Technique: Watercolour on paper, 21.5 x 24 cm

Source 1
Source 2

Albert von Keller, In the Moonlight (Im Mondschein)

Kunsthaus Zürich

Date: 1894
Technique: Oil on canvas, 150 x 100.5 cm

Source

Albert von Keller, Spiritualist Telekinesis of a Bracelet (Spiritistischer Apport eines Bracelets)

Kunsthaus Zürich

Date: 1887
Technique: Oil on cardboard, 84 x 76 cm

Source

William Thomas Horton, Untitled

Date: Last decade of the 19th century
Technique: Unknown

Source

Heinrich Lossow, The Enchantress

Private collection

Date: 1868
Technique: Oil on canvas, 115 x 85 cm

Source 1
Source 2

Thomas Cooper Gotch, Death the Bride

Alfred East Art Gallery, Kettering

Date: 1895
Technique: Oil on canvas

Source 1
Source 2

Mikhail Ivanovich Sapozhnikov, King of Gloom (Цар mороку)

Date: Unknown
Technique: Unknown

Source

Boomerangs FS - Trials for NSW Premier League Competition Teams

Herbert James Draper, Ulysses and the Sirens

Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull

Date: 1909
Technique: Oil on canvas, 213 x 177 cm

Source 1
Source 2

Top three skills for young players

Sourced from Footy4kids.co.uk

1. A good first touch

Having a good first touch is, perhaps, the most important skill any young football player can have. This is because the more confident a player is she can control a pass, the more likely she is to keep possession, and the more time they will have to get their head up and decide what to do with the ball.

How to recognise a player with a "good" first touch

The player gets her body into line with the approaching ball - not moving into line is a very common fault and will almost invariably result in too hard a first touch.

If a pass is under-hit, she moves quickly to meet the ball.

She chooses the correct part of her body with which to receive the ball - while 90% of all passes can be controlled with the inside of the foot, it's important that your players practise receiving with other parts of their feet as well as their thigh, chest and head.

The receiving surface is relaxed and withdrawn on contact to cushion the ball - I tell my players that the receiving surface should be like a sponge.

The first contact with the ball moves it out of her feet and away from pressure - this can only be achieved if the receiving player has scanned the pitch before the arrival of the ball. Help your players do this in your warm-up by giving them numbers and asking them to pass to each other in numerical order while moving around a small playing area.

All these elements can be practised with any game that involves passing the ball - the coach simply shifts the emphasis from the pass to how the players react to and control the ball.

2. Being able to shield the ball

While a good first touch will help a young player control the ball, she must also know how to keep the ball if she is prevented from passing, dribbling or shooting.

This is done by "shielding" the ball - keeping your body between the ball and your opponent.

It's easy to practise. Demonstrate the technique then put your players into pairs, standing opposite each other and about 10 yards apart.
One player passes a ball to their partner then follows the pass, putting pressure on the receiver who puts their body between the ball and the approaching player by simply stepping across the path of the ball.
Note: The receiver's front foot should rest on top of the ball so she can concentrate on keeping her body between the ball and her opponent without having to look at the ball.Make it competitive by playing a series of 1v1 competitions in which the player shielding the ball earns a point if she can hold off her team mate for five seconds.

3. Be able to dribble!

The biggest sin a youth football coach can commit is to discourage dribbling by insisting his players pass the ball.

All young players need to be given the freedom to express themselves and there is no better way to do that than be allowed to dribble and take on players to their hearts' content.

So let's not hear any more shouts of "pass the ball!" from the touchline. Please.

Notes from my journal: Spell(not)work

Why is my spell not working?

I get asked this a lot by witches who are either just starting out in their craft or this is their first really big spell that they care a lot about the outcome.

I used to respond with – Don’t worry about it so much. Just let it go.

Or – Did you set a specific timeline on the spell? Is it supposed to happen between one full moon and another or one season or (put some time here)?

Or – perhaps it’s simply your karma that it’s not meant to be right now.

The responses are little varied. Most of the time I’m blown off and said witch goes on to find someone else who can give them, what I like to call the Staples Button, quick fix (you know, like the commercial, where they hit the big red Staples button and the solution automatically happens). This magic bullet, or big red button, simply doesn’t exist yet, we all look for it at some point in our lives.

So, what do I saw now when a witch comes to me and asks why, why, why won’t my spell work?

I explain that a spell is like a prayer of intent. We gather our tools to bring the desired vibration then, with a chant or prayer or meditation, we send it out into our reality in order to make change happen. This is the definition of magic spell.

The reason a spell doesn’t work is 2 fold:

1. A spell or prayer of intent must be left alone. This is something I learned when I was in Sunday school at my grandmother’s Baptist church. Worry is a sin. Worry over a matter you’ve prayed for (or have cast a spell for) shows lack of faith in God (or the Universe or the Deities or the higher Self, etc). By worrying over a spell, you’re not allowing it to happen. – The Fix? Let it go! Let your spell work. Let it take its time and work as your path allows it to. By worrying over it you’re sending doubt into the Universe and blocking the very thing you want.
2. The other reason why a witch’s spell doesn’t work is because it does. Confusing? Well, so many witches visualize a spell or intent and expect it to happen with trumpets sounding and a big banner saying THIS IS IT! They don’t realize that the man they bump on the street in a hurry to get to their appointment was the Mr. Right they cast a love spell for or that the Boss’s dog dying was the perfect time to show remorse and letter get that big promotion they cast a money or job spell for. The Universe is subtle and we have to boost our intuition and understanding that every little curve in our path can lead us in the right direction. 

I know that neither of these things offers a quick fix. The life of the modern witch is, sadly, not like that portrayed on television shows like Bewitched, Sabrina or Charmed. There is no all knowing Book of Shadows that offers a spell for every situation, no matter how unlikely, and poof – your demons, inner or outer, are gone and all is well with your world. Magic isn’t all smoke and glitter and big bangs. Sometimes its soft and gently like a summer breeze on skin.

A large portion of spell casting is faith. Faith is simply believing in yourself or in the Universe or Deity that you’ve invoked for the spell and that the spell will come to its fruition somehow. There are ways to build faith.

One way is to build your intuition. This may seem unconnected but if your intuition is strong, you will be able to see the omens as what they really are – signals and messages from the Divine or the Divine Self.

By building intuition and seeing and understand omens, you can better see your ability to walk the path laid out for you AND to see the subtle ways spells work out (without big bangs and trumpets sounding). By seeing these messages, you can better understand how your spell can work instead of running around blindly trying a dozen ways to force your spell to work and having doubts about the outcome.

I want to leave with a note of understanding. I know that life can be hard sometimes but the Witch’s Way or Path or whatever you would like to call it offers the hope of enlightenment and understanding of the world around us. We simply have to open ourselves up to this possibility. Don’t be distressed when a spell or ritual doesn’t work out how you thought it should. Open up your heart and eyes for the smaller, simpler, and, sometimes more magickal things in life.

Welcome our new Head of Special Collections

Greetings! My name is Cheryl Oestreicher and I am the new Head of Special Collections and Archives in the Albertsons Library. We’re located on the 2nd floor in Room 222 (look for the glass exhibit cases).

Special Collections and Archives is responsible for caring for and making available unique materials. We preserve Boise State’s history through photographs, books, papers, publications, film, and other materials that document the people, buildings, athletics, student life, faculty, and other aspects of BSU. We also have material from former senators and governors (Frank Church, Len Jordan, and Cecil Andrus), Basque culture, Idaho authors (Ted Trueblood), and other subjects pertaining to Boise and Southwest Idaho. Our materials allow for research into numerous topics, such as political science, environmental studies, Idaho history, literature, Basque studies, ethnic studies, gender, geosciences, and music.

I started here in May, which also marks 10 years I’ve been working in libraries and archives. I received a Master of Library and Information Science from Dominican University and just last year finished a Ph.D. in Modern History and Literature from Drew University. I moved here from Atlanta, where I worked with Civil Rights collections, including former aide to Martin Luther King, Jr. /U.N. Ambassador/Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. I also worked with Chicago jazz and contemporary poetry collections at the University of Chicago; managed the University Archives at Drew University; and was the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fellow at Princeton University.

I’m very excited to be here and to share our great collections with faculty and students. We welcome anyone to use our collections – whether it’s for a term paper, thesis or dissertation, or even just for fun. Please stop by and visit us between 8-5, Monday through Friday. Hope to see you soon!

Sidney H. Sime, Tom O' the Roads

Date: 1908

Illustration from The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany (The Highwaymen)

Source

Notes from my journal: Compatibility & Astrology

Compatibility and Astrology

A topic I find abundant in magical writing is relationships and compatibility. There are tons of books on the shelf in the New Age section of the book store that all deal with Astrology and relationships. Most of them give descriptions of the personalities attributed to each sign and then explain what two or three signs your sign is compatible with then go on to say what kind of dates, gifts or sex lives you’ll have together.

I find these books a little silly and beyond fallible.

Let me give you an example:

I am a Sagittarius and my Chinese Zodiac is an Earth Dragon.

My husband is a Pisces who’s Chinese Zodiac is a Water Ox.

According to almost every sing book I’ve read we are as incompatible as night and day and should, in all likelihood, be on the verge of such dislike as to hate each other.

Sagittarians are tactless and firey with little patience for dreamy and inconsistent Pisces who often will leave a meeting with Sag with their feelings hurt and self-esteem trampled.

Dragons view Oxen as fuel for their fire. They have little time for the Ox’s stubborn, slow behavior and homey ways.

Earth and Fire ME has very little in common with Air and Water Hubby.

Even our Prakriti – our Ayurvedic personality and body types – conflict. I’m Kapha – soft with a healthy yet slow metabolism – while my hubs is a Pita – hot and acidic with a high metabolism and the need to consume.

Yet, out mixture of conflicting elements and star alignments allow us to balance each other out so well that not only do we get along but we love each other passionately. I find the Water in my husband’s personality cools my firey nature and the Earth in my nature as well as my Sagittarian need to plan help ground my husband’s Airy and dreamy nature.

The issue with these blanket statements in astrology books about what sign goes best with what other signs is just that – they are blanket statements. No person is a perfect Sagittarius. There are many varieties – a moon sign grounding them, they were born on the cusp of Scorpio or Capricorn, etc. This all effects the personality just as much as the sun sign.

Another thing many people don’t take into account is that there are multiple types of astrology. There’s Western, Chinese and Mayan. There are also different traditions of astrology. Western Astrology with the Zodiacs from Aries to Pisces also has a modern very with the Ophyn sign, which can change one person’s sign to a completely different one.

For example, my husband and I are completely incompatible according to Western and Chinese astrology but according to Mayan Astrology we’re perfect complements. I am a White World-Bringer and my hubs is a Red Skywalker and according to our Mayan astrology readings we not only complement each other but also bring balance to each other’s lives.

So, before you start comparing Zodiac signs of perspective dates, remember there’s more to the realm of compatibility than a paragraph in a book for $12.95 at the New Age book store. 

President Capital Football, Rachel Harrigan Talks to the NPL about the Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Evaluation Report

Communication, Communication, Communication - Broken or what?

This program is given solely to discussion of a report titled “Capital Football Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Report“ , undertaken by consultants (The Shannon Group), and commissioned by the President and Board of Capital Football.

Criticism of CF finally reached a crescendo in late 2011 and the CF Board simply could not ignore it any longer. So here we are, a consultants report that has captured the feelings and experiences of a substantial sample of our football constituency. And its not good news for the CEO and staff of Capital Football.

This is serious stuff for any organisation. Have a read, ask yourself, would you like to receive this report about your organisation. I think not!

You can find a copy of the report on the CF website. All clubs should get this report up on their websites.

Communication, between CF and various elements of the ACT football constituency, in its widest and most meaningful sense is broken and needs to be fixed. There are many reasons for this unsatisfactory situation, but one thing seems certain, it cannot continue in this way. Things must change!

For myself, the numerous unsatisfactory outcomes around the ACT U13 Girls team at the recent FFA Nationals, were a real low point in CF operations. Disgraceful really. As the President CF observed, "so much went wrong". Sure did! And we do this work every year. Sad, because we have enjoyed so many productive outcomes in this age group in recent years. The meeting between parents of players and the CF Board did little to reassure these parents that this would not happen again. Hope they are wrong. But???? And there are some pretty smart people among those parents and a few who are quite football savvy. Something, some of the CF staff, seldom seem to fail to factor into their business practices. Pity.

The Shannon Group report is a hard hitting report. The report absolutely skewers the CF organisation.
There is no missing the fact that this report,  in substantial part, points the finger directly at the CEO and Staff of Capital Football, the organisational culture and business practices.

The buck has to stop somewhere. Make no mistake, there is a lot of work to be done to regain the trust of some important parts of the football community and enable collaborative processes to ensure positive progress with all of the football community going forward. But the CF organisation has been found to be seriously deficient in these matters - in its present form.

How will this re-education / re-orientation and organisational change be done and who will be given the task of doing it? We do not cover this matter in this interview and in fairness it's probably a bit early for the President to have a firm view on that important matter. I would imagine that  this calamity would see the Board stepping forward with great caution, but at speed. And step forward they must! Unless they do and do so decisively, it will hang around their collective necks (and ours) like a dead albatross!

I would hope that a small sub committee of the Board is given over site of this change process and monitors and regularly reports on measures undertaken to make sure the changes necessary happen, that they are sustained and communicated in quick time to all of our football community. This is surely past the stage where the entire matter is handed over to the CEO and staff to fix. As one wag remarked to me yesterday -"given this report it would be like leaving the rabbits in charge of the lettuce".

I would imagine that the CEO and CF staff are feeling a bit uncomfortable with this report, and some probably in denial. If so, get over it quickly. Listen to the President of CF, clearly there is little sympathy for not accepting responsibility for this parlous state of affairs. Its always worth reminding ourselves that it is the ACT Football constituency which underwrites CF and whom the CF organisation serves. Who pays the piper, calls the tune! It is no one's personal fiefdom, nor does all football knowledge reside within the walls of Football House.

The role and importance of our Clubs comes through in this report and in this interview.

This report appears to draws a line in the sand -  a clear line between Board and the CF operating organisation.

The President and Board have published the report in full. There are no hidden corners, there it is, warts and all. And for that we can only applaud the CF Board and in particular, the President of the CF Board, Rachel Harrigan, who was quick to respond to the NPL’s call to discuss the report.

The message is clear - we are now going to do business very differently to that which has been done in the past and in so doing, a big shift in organisational  culture. It will take time. It is vital.

So, anyone not clear on what is now required going forward?

Please read the report, its on the CF website, and listen to the Rachel Harrigan, Pres of CF Board, as she responds to some rather difficult questions. Good leadership.

Go to Podcast Part One


Got to Podcast Part Two