#Alaska III project
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30 years ago... Last EVA Omega "Alaska III" Speedmaster September 1993, after a decade of spacewalk usage of the 4750 spacesuit glove series with sewn-in integrated Omega Speedmaster in the righthand glove, NASA started to use the Phase VI series gloves and NASA astronauts no longer wore a Speedmaster during EVA - spacewalks! During the 6th spaceshuttle flight, the 1st for "Challenger", NASA astronauts performed the first EVA - spacewalk wearing an Omega Speedmaster since the Skylab days of 1974! On this 4 hours long EVA, both Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson wore an Omega Alaska III "Radial Dial" Speedmaster chronograph, which was sewn-in the outer layer of their righthand spacesuit glove. This kind of spacesuit gloves was used for ten years, up to STS-51 âDiscoveryâ in September 1993. From then on, NASA astronauts didn't wear the Speedmaster any longer for EVAs, but the Russian cosmonauts did, strapped over their Orlan spacesuits until 2022. Overall, the radial dial Speedmaster was worn in space between November 1981 (STS-2) and October 1995 (STS-73). Photos show NASA astronaut Story Musgrave in the cargo bay of orbiter âChallengerâ wearing the EMU - Extravehicular Mobility Unit, with the Speedmaster sewn-in the extra pocket of the righthand gloveâs outer TMG - Thermal Micrometeor Garment layer. (Photo: NASA)
#Aviator#Astronaut#cosmonaut#861#chronograph#Speedmaster#NASA#Moonwatch#MoonwatchUniverse#spacewalk#space suit#Radial Dial#Alaska III project#Omega#test pilot#pilot watch#Zulu time
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Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #38
Oct 11-18 2024
President Biden announced that this Administration had forgiven the student loan debt of 1 million public sector workers. The cancellation of the student loan debts of 60,000 teachers, firefighters, EMTs, nurses and other public sector workers brings the total number of people who's debts have been erased by the Biden-Harris Administration using the Public Service Loan Forgiveness to 1 million. the PSLF was passed in 2007 but before President Biden took office only 7,000 people had ever had their debts forgiven through it. The Biden-Harris team have through different programs managed to bring debt relief to 5 million Americans and counting despite on going legal fights against Republican state Attorneys General.
The Federal Trade Commission finalizes its "one-click to cancel" rule. The new rule requires businesses to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up for it. It also requires more up front information to be shared before offering billing information.
The Department of Transportation announced that since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration there are 1.7 million more construction and manufacturing jobs and 700,000 more jobs in the transportation sector. There are now 400,000 more union workers than in 2021. 60,000 Infrastructure projects across the nation have been funded by the Biden-Harris Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Under this Administration 16 million jobs have been added, including 1.7 construction and manufacturing jobs, construction employment is the highest ever recorded since records started in 1939. 172,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during the Trump administration.
The Department of Energy announced $2 billion to protect the U.S. power grid against growing threats of extreme weather. This money will go to 38 projects across 42 states and Washington DC. It'll upgrade nearly 1,000 miles worth of transmission lines. The upgrades will allow 7.5 gigawatts of new grid capacity while also generating new union jobs across the country.
The EPA announced $125 million to help upgrade older diesel engines to low or zero-emission solutions. The EPA has selected 70 projects to use the funds on. They range from replacing school buses, to port equipment, to construction equipment. More than half of the selected projects will be replacing equipment with zero-emissions, such as all electric school buses.
The Department of The Interior and State of California broke ground on the Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat Project. The Salton Sea is California's largest lake at over 300 miles of Surface area. An earlier project worked to conserve and restore shallow water habitats in over 4,000 acres on the southern end of the lake, this week over 700 acres were added bring the total to 5,000 acres of protected land. The Biden-Harris Administration is investing $250 million in the project along side California's $500 million. Part of the Administration's effort to restore wild life habitat and protect water resources.
The Department of Energy announced $900 Million in investment in next generation nuclear power. The money will help the development of Generation III+ Light-Water Small Modular Reactors, smaller lighter reactors which in theory should be easier to deploy. DoE estimates the U.S. will need approximately 700-900 GW of additional clean, firm power generation capacity to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Currently half of America's clean energy comes from nuclear power, so lengthening the life space of current nuclear reactors and exploring the next generation is key to fighting climate change.
The federal government took two big steps to increase the rights of Alaska natives. The Departments of The Interior and Agricultural finalized an agreement to strengthen Alaska Tribal representation on the Federal Subsistence Board. The FSB oversees fish and wildlife resources for subsistence purposes on federal lands and waters in Alaska. The changes add 3 new members to the board appointed by the Alaska Native Tribes, as well as requiring the board's chair to have experience with Alaska rural subsistence. The Department of The Interior also signed 3 landmark co-stewardship agreements with Alaska Native Tribes.
The Department of Energy announced $860 million to help support solar energy in Puerto Rico. The project will remove 2.7 million tons of CO2 per year, or about the same as taking 533,000 cars off the road. It serves as an important step on the path to getting Puerto Rico to 100% renewable by 2050.
The Department of the Interior announced a major step forward in geothermal energy on public lands. The DoI announced it had approved the Fervo Cape Geothermal Power Project in Beaver County, Utah. When finished it'll generate 2 gigawatts of power, enough for 2 million homes. The BLM has now green lit 32 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands. A major step toward the Biden-Harris Administration's goal of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035.
Bonus: President Biden meets with a Kindergarten Teacher who's student loans were forgiven this week
#Thanks Biden#Joe Biden#kamala harris#student loans#click to cancel#politics#US politics#american politics#native rights#jobs#the economy#climate change#climate action#Puerto Rico
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This year we've been working on a few big projects in the background and it looks like we can finally share the first one with you (probably the least exciting one from the four, so stay tuned!). During my travels and volunteering trips I had the chance to experience some of the wildest and most beautiful places on Earth. Now that I have everything in place to offer my maps as wall art, I thought you might also enjoy some photos I took during these past few years. Whether it's humpback whales and brown bears feeding on herring and salmon in Alaska or the awe-inspiring landscapes and aurora filled night skies of Arctic Norway, I hope you'll find something you like. With this addition to our website, we are also introducing seven new products: photo art prints, stretched, framed and rolled canvas, HahnemĂźhle photo rag prints, notebooks and greeting cards. (Some of these will be available with the maps as well, probably early next year.) To celebrate the new products, we offer 20% OFF on all of them until the end of this week.
Above: 'Night Rainbow III' - photo of the northern lights with the setting sun, the rugged peaks of Lofoten in the background. Photographer: Robert Szucs
#my photgraphy#artists on tumblr#Lofoten#Norway#Arctic Norway#northern lights#aurora borealis#Nordland#night sky
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Larry Hama brings back the Original G. I. Joe (and the very fetching G. I. Jane as well) in Marvelâs G. I. Joe #86 to commemorate 25 Years of G. I. Joe, and he showed respect to both characters in the story when Cobra Command mounts a raid on a secret Strategic Defense Initiative set in the Chrysler Building, with the hoped for bonus of framing Destroâs Iron Grenadiers in the process as well.
Larry Hama definitely did not make General Joe Coltonâs Janeâs appearances token cameos by any means. Instead he wrote it with having Joe be the one who both planned a way to retake the initiative as well as deduce Cobraâs real operation.
Its too bad Larry didnât have Gen. Colton lead the 1980s Team from the start. As good as Hawk is, Joe was a Green Beret and used to unconventional warfare (a trait Joe Casey demonstrated as well in DDPâs G. I. Joe: Americaâs Eliteâs Phoenix Guard arc).
And as always, Larry added real life elements to this story such as the US military transitioning to the Beretta from the M1911A1, as well as the SDI project- a controversial subject in the 1980s.
(Janeâs explanation of the basics on how the system works with the laser bounced off a series of satellites was one option (also discussed in Payne Harrisonâs novel Storming Intrepid). Granted its reminiscent of both the Gamilon Reflex Cannon in Starblazers and the base principle for the Robotech Defense Force Grand Cannon based in Alaska over at Macross, but sound nonetheless). Again Larry shows the importance of doing research for his G. I. Joe tales.
SDI of course was also the subject for Tom Clancyâs The Cardinal of the Kremlin and was a variation of it was presented in Dale Brownâs Silver Tower via Lt. Gen. St. Michaelâs Armstrong Space Station.
Of course, G. I. Joe #86 wouldnât be a oneshot return for General Colton & G. I. Jane; both would return in G. I. Joe #s 127, and 151, as well as in G. I. Joe Frontline #s 1, 2, & 4. And General Colton would later be assigned to head the team for DDPâs G. I. Joe: Americaâs Elite by Joe Casey, with Jane close by as he commands the unit especially DDPâs World War III arc (Americaâs Elite #35 has one of that seriesâ best covers IMHO).
And of course Larry has both on hand during IDWâs G. I. Joe series as well.
If they get around to do a proper animated Joe series (Renegades was the best thus far), Peter Cullen & Jennifer Hale would be my picks to voice them; for a properly presented Live Action film, either Jonathan Frakes or Robert Downey Jr. and Laura Dern would be my choice.
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Disability National Promotes and Protects the Rights of People with Disabilities
Disability national promotes and protects the rights of people with disabilities. Our enforcement, regulation, coordination and technical assistance activities are guided by a social model philosophy of equality.
The ADA was enacted after tireless efforts by activists like Judith Heumann and Edwards Roberts who sued to gain admittance to Berkeley while using wheelchairs and iron lung machines.
The ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the first comprehensive declaration of equality for people with disabilities. It prohibits discrimination in employment, public services and access to buildings such as stores and hotels.
To be protected under the ADA, a person must have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This definition does not limit the types of impairments covered by the ADA and includes conditions like blindness and deafness.
Title III of the ADA prohibits private places of public accommodation (hotels, restaurants, retail stores and other businesses that serve the general public) from discriminating against persons with disabilities. It also requires them to comply with accessibility standards for new construction and alterations of facilities.
This title also establishes a nationwide system of interstate and intrastate telecommunications relay services to help people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech-disabled communicate over the telephone. This title is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.
NDRN
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) works to advance the nationâs goal of equal opportunity, integration, full participation, inclusion and economic selfsufficiency for people with disabilities through enforcement, regulation, coordination and technical assistance.
NDRN also evaluates what questions about disability national are asked on federal surveys and what improvements need to be made within those data sets. For example, in 2020, NDRN member agencies, P&A systems and CAPs across Alaska worked hard to ensure a fully accurate and accessible census by alerting the U.S. Census Bureau to the fact that the data it was using about people in Assisted Living Homes (ALH) was outdated and inaccurate.
The NDRN also supports the legislative efforts to obtain increased appropriations for the P&A systems and CAP networks as they enforce the federal laws protecting civil and human rights at the state level. This includes advocating for the repeal of practices like having water poured on a 7-year old or putting a middle school student with ADHD in seclusion all day.
The Look Closer Campaign
The Look Closer Campaign was a national disability effort to change the way we view people with disabilities. It challenged the preconceived notions and unconscious biases we have about people with disabilities and promoted a new way of thinking that recognizes their abilities and focuses on what they can do instead of what they cannot.
The campaign also encouraged states to ensure that the portrayal of persons with disabilities by the media is positive; organizations of persons with disabilities should be consulted on this issue. It should also be ensured that public education programmes concerning disability matters include information about the rights of persons with disabilities and their inclusion.
INL recently hosted a national forum to discuss how we can cultivate a more disability-inclusive work environment by upending assumptions, practicing conscious inclusion and providing role models for people with disabilities. The event was attended by leaders from the 56 DD Councils across the country and was sponsored by Paralyzed Veterans of America.
The Disability History Project
People with disabilities are the largest minority group yet their history is largely absent from American culture. This hub presents stories of accessibility, innovation, struggle, drama, and surprise that bring people with disabilities to the center of our nationâs history.
1954: Brown v Board of Education establishes civil rights for black students and opens the door for disabled students. 1962: Ed Roberts becomes a disability activist for college campuses after being denied access to Berkeley and begins Centers for Independent Living that eventually span the US. 1974: Chicago Illinois repeals the last âugly lawsâ - laws that declare anyone who is diseased, maimed, or mutilated to be an ugly person.
Use these resources to deepen your understanding of disability national and how it affects your students. These include:
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@teecupangel why have a therapy animal when you have a Tamagotchi?
Oooh yes. And what If at some point, Eivor crosses paths with Desmond and is like, do I know this guy? I'm pretty sure I know this guy because all immortals dream about each other and it would be very funny if at some point Eivor turned a mother bear into a sixteen year old Desmond lmao
AltaĂŻr's pet project ends up causing the industrial revolution about fifty years ahead of schedule, which is just as well for everyone because airplanes, man. New World, here we go.
Desmond is a baby who needs all the protection he can get, dammit.
If Eivor and 16yo! Desmond cross paths:
The last thing Eivor heard about Loki/Basim was that the fucker was creeping around the US somewhere, so off she goes after the bastard, only to stumble across an immortal baby â aka Desmond.
Holy shit, he's the spitting image of Ezio and AltaĂŻr, what the fuck, they fucked so much they reproduced?!?!
Eivor @ Desmond after hearing about Bill and the Farm:
In fact, Eivor isn't one hundred percent sure that Des is really immortal, but she doesn't really care, he's her son now, damn it.
Desmond Eivorsson gets a motorcycle license at some point.
Eivor is hunting Basim in Alaska while Des is in New York working in Bad Weather and Abstergo finally catches him.
Vidic puts him in the animus for so long that Desmond dies of dehydration. Only to wake up five minutes later.
Clay is immortal? Hmm.... đ¤
Eivor returns to the United States and cannot find her son. That's how she finally gets in touch with Kass and the others again.
Meanwhile, the modern parts of AC II and III are rolling more or less like in canon, except the Animus blocks location dreams and now it's a race against time to find Desmond before the Solar Burst.
I'M WILL GOING BUCK WILD WITH THIS PLOT LMAO
Ah, ah! I was reading stuff on The Old Guard tag and now all I can think of is
Kassandra as Andy cause she is literally older than Jesus fucking Christ
AltaĂŻr & Ezio as Nick & Joe cause WHY NOT
Arno as Booker cause he's a bloody drama queen
F!Eivor as Noriko cause DRAMA
Desmond as Nile cause they're BAMF and all come together on a AltEziDes with Arno suffering on the background and Kass looking like a proud lesbian mama lol
Bayek would be a good Andy too, and Connor and Shay also give me NickJoe vibes lol
Ooohhh, Iâm always game to think about immortality-based plotlines XD
Kassandra as Andy would be spot on, especially if F!Eivor is Noriko/Quynh. Although, instead of a Labyrs, her main weapons would be the pointed tip of a spear and a Viking axe. Sheâd also be more on the calm chill side and happens to like to tease her fellow immortals. (To make it more interesting, maybe F!Eivor and her also met in the Isle of Skye and their relationship blossomed there as well)
AltaĂŻr and Ezio as Nick and Joe would be a pretty fun pairing as well, especially if we keep AltaĂŻrâs whole âdistant and kinda arrogantâ personality. Ezio would be the one to remind him if heâs being too rude, sometimes with just a touch, because, even if theyâve been immortals for so long, some habits are hard to let go of. Ezio likes to joke that AltaĂŻr is a work in progress which everyone knows is his way of saying AltaĂŻr is trying. AltaĂŻr, on the other hand, may act aloof most of the time but heâs quite protective of Ezio and there is no one in the world he trusts more than Ezio. Their personalities tend to clash at times and everyone knows that they sometimes spend half a century or so apart because of some dumb fight neither of them wanted to acknowledge responsibility with. Itâs just become part of their whole deal that everyone just nods along to. Then Desmond comes in.
Arno as Booker would work. Just replace the death of Bookerâs sons with Ăliseâs death (for more pain, maybe imply that Ălise may have been or may have not been pregnant during the time of her death).
But you know who else could work as Booker? Haytham Kenway. Instead of being part of Napoleonâs army, keep his whole deal, including his actions to help the British Empire. But this time, he is the one to kill his own son instead. The American Revolution still played as history had recorded it so Haytham has to live his immortal life with the guilt of killing his son for nothing. Heâd also be the most aloof of the Immortals and perhaps even be jealous of how âeasyâ it is for everyone to move on. (Plus points if he treats Desmond the way he treats his son before and he only realizes it when Desmond tells him to stop treating him like an idiot, only digging in the guilt of how his relationship with his son was).
Eivor as Quynh/Noriko also gives us an excuse to⌠well, torture Eivor. While her imprisonment would be of a similar fate to Quynh/Noriko, we can include her being subjected to a blood eagle in Odinâs name. If you want to hammer in the angst, make Sigurd the one to do it. Of course, if Eivor and Kassandra met on the Isle of Skye, the events of Eivorâs life would have to be shuffled around to make it more coherent. Her imprisonment could be because of Sigurd or because of the Saxons.
And then there was Desmond. One main difference between Desmond and Nile would be their attachment to people. If we keep Desmondâs strained relationship with his parents, he would actually be more open to being immortal. He would hide his desire for a connection with practiced smiles and his chill personality although he wouldnât fool Kassandra. It would be his desire for a connection but hiding it from everyone that makes it easy for him to fall for both AltaĂŻr and Ezio. Neither of them planned to fall in love with Desmond, maybe they even started out a relationship with him as more of something fun and uncomplicated (like having the immortal version of an ongoing sexual and emotional threesome) which Desmond was cool with (he didnât expect to fall for them too) while theyâre teaching him the ropes and helping him acclimate with his newfound immortality. It would only be later that they would realize that Desmond is like the missing piece in their life.
Other possible ideas:
RatonhnhakĂŠ:ton and Shay giving off Nick and Joe vibes? Color me intrigued. This one also has the additional emotional baggage of Shay being employed by Haytham who RatonhnhakĂŠ:ton killed so, like⌠they say their relationship is âcomplicatedâ and that would be an understatement.
If Arno is Booker, he would have had a relationship with Jacob Frye. Maybe his relationship with Jacob is what helps him move on from the pain of Ăliseâs death but Jacob isnât an immortal soooo⌠(holy wow, Arno has, like, the short end of the stick in this one if heâs an immortal. Haytham doesnât count, he deserves to feel the guilt)
Bayek would definitely be a good Andy as well. If you go for Bayek instead, Quynh/Noriko would have to be Aya. Although, if you just want Bayek to be included in the plot, he could be Lykon instead? Another possible Lykon is Alexios/Deimos as well and that would definitely be some angst for Kassandra.
Of course, Merrick would be Vidic, hahaha. Maybe Copley could be Layla or even Lucy?
Why are they immortals? Why do we need to explain that? Letâs keep it a mystery but make vague points of how it might be connected with some kind of Isu research to achieve eternal life.
#arno has a tamagotchi#it helps him#immortal desmond#immortal kassandra#immortal altaĂŻr#immortal ezio#immortal arno#mother bear Eivor#it's a crazy race against time#the one where their divorced mothers get back together#after... five thousand years?
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Excerpt from this story from the Washington Post:
In the weeks after President Bidenâs inauguration, as the oil industry was facing a far less welcoming White House, a ConocoPhillips executive went pheasant hunting with the Democratic senator poised to wield tremendous power in an evenly divided Congress.
The trip was a political fundraiser for Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). ConocoPhillips has a key oil project under review by the Interior Department on Alaskaâs North Slope, and Manchin had just taken the gavel of the panel overseeing the department.
The next month, the White House backed away from its initial choice for Interior deputy secretary after Manchin suggested she was too hostile to fossil fuels and declined to meet with her. The senator has declined to comment about the hunting trip, and a ConocoPhillips spokesman noted that the company doesnât advocate for specific nominations. The White House on Wednesday nominated Manchinâs proposed pick for the position: Tommy Beaudreau, an energy lawyer and former Obama administration official with deep ties to Alaska.
The struggle over the leadership at the Interior Department is just one example of how the agency has become the first big battlefield in the brewing fight over Bidenâs climate change agenda.
The oil and gas industry is pushing back against the administrationâs desire to reassess â and perhaps increase â royalty rates for drilling on federal lands, which have remained unchanged for a century. It is hostile to the possibility of Biden curtailing new leases. It also has objected to his proposal to eliminate certain industry tax breaks.
âEventually, the Department of Interior is going to have to get out of the business of checking boxes for drilling permits and use federal lands to ease that transition to clean energy,â said Joel Clement, a former Interior official and federal whistleblower who is now a senior fellow at Harvard Universityâs Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. âThereâs nothing in the departmentâs authorizing language that precludes that. Itâs just politics and agency culture. And itâs a heavy lift.â
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Learning Each Otherâs Languages -- Hybridity, Whiteness and Liturgical Inculturation in American Orthodoxy
Note: The following is an adaptation and expansion of a short paper I submitted for my seminary class on Theology, Race & Culture.Â
"Baptism is the transgression of flesh and Spirit that requires assertions of cultural or racial purity to be resisted and renounced. But in this baptismal moment there also lies the profound transformation of the community, for with every new member comes the possibility of transformation, change, and adaptation in its inclusion not only for the welcomed but for those who welcome. The body of Christ shifts and moves and learns new languages as it adds new members. Its body becomes new as the person becomes new."*
Among Orthodox Christians in the United States, there is a common sentiment that the various jurisdictions and hierarchies are living in a state of canonical irregularity, or at any rate in a way that damages Orthodox witness. This is due to the fact that, unlike most other places in the world, the United States does not have a unified Orthodox Archdiocese or Patriarchate to oversee the flock of Orthodox Christians there.** If only we could create an American Orthodox Church, people say, we would solve the problems of Orthodoxy in America.Â
Common objections raised include i. the failure of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) to become the unifying ecclesial body due to poor planning and ii. the logistical challenge of compiling all the various Orthodox bishops in the United States into one wholly unified Holy Synod. That is to say, the objections people raise are usually logistical.
However, it is my opinion that not enough attention has been paid to the cultural and theological problems such a project would need to contend with. Orthodoxy in the United States must contend with the realities of whiteness, both around it and inside it. Yet the Orthodox community is also in a unique position in relationship to other Christian communities brought over to the Americas in the colonial era. Orthodoxy, contrary to the belief of some demagogues and even well-meaning laity, cannot excuse itself from the ways it has assimilated to the systems of whiteness. But its relationship to the American articulation of whiteness, as well as the possibility of ways forward, must be handled differently than the relationship of other Christian traditions that have been in this country for longer and with more power to shape its contours.
As a white convert and clergyman in a non-canonical Orthodox jurisdiction, I speak from a position of some distance. I cannot speak with authority to what first, second and third generation immigrant churches will navigate their position as the Orthodox Church in this part of the world. What I am going to do is attempt to trace some of the history of Orthodoxy in the Americas as it has been relayed to me by parishioners and clergy I have been in community with (primarily but not exclusively the Greek church, primarily but not exclusively canonical). I will then attempt to describe some of the questions my own life as an Orthodox convert and seminarian has forced me to wrestle with, and how they might be worth pondering for other converts and âAmericanizedâ Orthodox communities.
As I understand it, the history of Orthodox Christian churches in the United States has had moments of both refusal of and assimilation to whiteness, with assimilation being more and more the dominant trend in Orthodox churches of European descent***. With the possible exception of the Russian church in the Alaska territories, Orthodox communities were not present in the States when the Anglo-Saxon-led colonial Christianity was being shaped initially. When Orthodox Christians came to the United States in the waves of immigration from Eastern Europe and the Middle East, I don't doubt that they too were gradually assimilated to being "white"****. However, given that they were not present to shape the default "white Christianity" of America, my sense from what I've read and seen is that they continued to express their Christian faith within their own cultural idioms (eg, Greek, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, etc). One interesting side effect of this phenomenon is that there has never been, to my knowledge, a unified American Orthodox Church. The closest attempt, the OCA, was backed by the Russian church and continues to display primarily Slavic liturgical forms in English. However, the Russians did not consult the majority of other Orthodox hierarchs from the various ethnic communities and so the OCA is canonical but not unifying.
White Anglo-Saxon^ converts to Orthodoxy as Iâve experienced tend to fall into one of three categories. There are doubtless more categories and reasons for conversion, but these three stand out as primary tropes specifically for how white Anglo-Saxon converts engage with the intersection of their own culture and Orthodox cultures. We will briefly discuss these categories as a way of examining whiteness in the American Orthodox convert constituency.
I. The âOrthobroâ
Many white evangelicals, conservative Christians and some right wing former atheists convert to Orthodoxy because they perceive it as a source of âpureâ Christianity (âpureâ here meaning always conservative, usually âWesternâ (despite the prevalence of orientalism in Western European portrayals of Orthodoxy) and often white), in contrast to the âdegeneracyâ of progressive or even centrist Catholic and Protestant Christianity. These folks often like to âLARPâ practices of Byzantium or Imperial Russia, or at the very least have a nostalgia for a mythic past of Christian dominance which maps onto but far eclipses the complex realities of cultural exchange and theological hybridity of Eastern Christianity. These folks tend to advocate for traditionalist âfamily values��, lean towards more rigid expressions of Orthodoxy (usually monastic, often though not always emerging from Russian piety). For the Orthobro, whether they conceptualize it in these terms or not, Orthodoxy is seen as a haven and âsafe spaceâ for white Christian identity
II. The Paleo-Occidentalist
Pardon the jargon-y name. This person can overlap with âthe Orthobro,â but does not always. Where the Orthobro generally accepts the Eastern Christian traditions of Orthodoxy as part of their white supremacist project^^, the Paleo-Occidentalist wants to leverage Orthodox theological tradition to reinvigorate their own Western rite Christianity. This can be for positive reasons (a desire to confess Orthodox faith without having to abandon oneâs sense of cultural, confessional or ethnic heritage) or for more sinister reasons (wanting to prop up Western chauvinism in an Orthodox key). Regardless, these converts tend to coalesce around Western rite projects, and those of goodwill often have very positive and edifying things to say about the ecumenical heritage of the undivided Church. I personally am a bit frustrated by the history of Western rite Orthodoxy and the way it has led to friction within communities, but I do think that the desire to express Orthodox faith in a different cultural context is an admirable one. We will return to some of the possibilities alluded to by Paleo-Occidentalists in the conclusion. For now, though, itâs worth noting that Western rite Orthodoxy has generally taken on two forms: i. Converting current Western liturgies to Orthodox theology by removing or adding individual prayers, while keeping the general flow and structure of, say, the Mass the same. ii. Attempting to reconstruct pre-Schism Western liturgies from historical and archaeological evidence.Â
III. The Traditionalist Radical
This third category can overlap with the âPaleo-Occidentalistâ depending on liturgical preference, and it is the category I myself fall into. Most âTradRadsâ Iâve met are Eastern rite. This may be because, ironically, we are engaged in a similar flight from American cultural Christianity but for starkly different reasons than the âOrthobroâ. The TradRad who seeks out Orthodoxy in the Eastern rite generally wishes to find a tradition that is rooted in the core creeds of Christianity but is distant enough from their own religio-political context to provide a fresh start. On this foundation, the TradRad draws from the political implications of the Church Fathers and Mothers, as well as the tradition of Orthodox contemplation and spirituality, to build a foundation for the pursuit of social justice in harmony with the Gospel and the tradition of the Church. In general, we are socially progressive and/or leftist, but theologically traditional (invested in taking the Creeds and spirituality of the Church at their word).
As a result of this phenomenon, my life so far as a convert to Orthodoxy has been one of expressing my faith in worship through liturgical forms of a culture that is not my own. I have gravitated towards the Greek use, since that was the community I was initially welcomed into and which has a theological tradition and aesthetic I have the most affinity for. In so doing, I have tried to be mindful of place, history, and the people I worship alongside in ways that are faithful to our life in community.
My liturgical life has become more complex lately as I have stepped into a ministry leadership position in a small mission parish which currently consists entirely of converts to Orthodoxy and inquirers from not historically Orthodox cultural/ethnic backgrounds. We continue to use the Greek/Constantinopolitan "use" of the Byzantine rite as it has become one of the authentic matrices in which Orthodox prayer life is expressed in the United States (along with the Slavonic rite, the Antiochian use, etc). In an Orthodox parish composed of parishioners from historically Orthodox cultural backgrounds, the hybridity and transformation through encounter of "learning new languages" tends to happen more organically, with the various cultural traditions of the community members being woven into worshiping life. As I pursue formation and explore a vocation to the priesthood, I continue to wrestle with these dynamics. How can we as a community of primarily cultural "outsiders" who identify with Orthodox faith but do not have recourse to Orthodox resources from our own cultural backgrounds** empower the transformation of our community towards greater hybridity and multiplicity?Â
As mentioned above, one common answer has been the attempt to articulate a âWestern-rite Orthodoxyâ in various ways. While this is potentially a valuable pastoral project, and I donât doubt the sincerity or Orthodox piety of my Western--rite compatriots, it often feels to me that those hierarchs who oversee the Western rite are more trying to fit a different theological tradition to a standard of arbitrary Orthodox "purity," rather than adapting what has emerged organically in Orthodox contexts to a Western liturgical style or engaging possibilities of hybridity. This is not to say that, even in convert communities, we should do away with the Eastern rite or Eastern hymnody. I will likely always default to the Divine Liturgy in Byzantine chant. But I do think itâs worth imagining new ways that cultural hybridity could shape American Orthodoxy in ways that reflect its diverse constituents. What would it look like, for example, to celebrate the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom with Western style polyphonic chant or choral hymnody? How might we draw on the influence of Orthodox saints who lived in the Christian West (say, St. John Cassian or St. Irenaios of Lyons)? Could it be possible to incorporate musical traditions of the parishioners that are not from historically Orthodox countries, with input and direction from those parishioners (ie, gospel music or Latin American music)? What about iconography?
None of these suggestions are complete answers, nor would I adopt them personally without deeper thought and consultation with my own communities. But I think theyâre worth thinking about. How do we as converts embrace the heritage of one anotherâs culture as we come alongside each other in a common Orthodox faith? I donât have an answer for that yet (and indeed, there will never be one definitive answer), but I have a feeling that the answers that Orthodox communities discover to these questions will shape the future of American Orthodoxy far more profoundly than attempts to unify the hierarchies on a structural level.Â
*Dr. Brian Bantum, Redeeming Mulatto: A Theology of Race and Christian Hybridity (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010), 159.
**If we think about it for more than a minute, we will realize that there are other parts of the world where this is also true of Orthodoxy. Consider, for example, the unfortunate situation in Ukraine. However, the United States is certainly the largest landmass where this phenomenon holds true, and therefore gets the most attention.
***The situation of American Orthodox Christian communities constituted by immigrants from the Middle East and the Horn of Africa is more complex, and depending on the region, some parishes will also be multiethnic and/or multiracial, which comes with its own challenges and opportunities that are beyond the scope of this response to fully address
****For more, see Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different Color
^ While âAnglo-Saxonâ is in some ways here a reductive term, I use it to refer to people of an Anglo-Saxon or similar background who formed the dominant class of white settlers in America. As someone of English and German extraction, I place myself in this category for the purposes of how my body is read.
^^ Lest I be misunderstood, let me make it very clear that the Eastern rites are not inherently white supremacist. What I mean here is that the Orthobro tends to co-opt the particularity of the Eastern rite as a sign of the âpurityâ of his white Christianity, deploying it contrastively against the Western rite, rather than seeing it as the theological expression of particular communities who are not inherently better or worse than Western Christian communities.
**There have been attempts to develop a "Western rite" in Orthodoxy, some of which have canonical blessing from an Archdiocese or Patriarchate. In my opinion, however, these have been inadequate as they primarily consist in taking a Catholic or Anglican rite and removing any prayer that is deemed 'non-Orthodox'. While this is potentially a valuable pastoral project, it feels more like trying to fit a different theological tradition to a standard of arbitrary Orthodox "purity," rather than adapting what has emerged organically in Orthodox contexts to a Western liturgical style or engaging possibilities of hybridity. The closest thing to this more organic approach has been the attempt to reconstruct pre-Schism Western rites such as the Gallican Missal. However, these projects in my estimation can and are easily co-opted by ideologues with ethno-nationalist leanings. The Eastern rites are not immune to this, but Western rite reconstruction projects in my opinion have been more often directly deployed by Western chauvinists.
#orthodoxy#liturgy#race#whiteness#culture#America#American orthodoxy#theology#learning each other's languages
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Tomb Raiders Travelerâs Guide - Interview With Phil Campbell - TR Gold Games
Interview was conducted by Brian Chew
Philip Campbell is the designer behind Tomb Raider Gold and Tomb Raider II Gold. He is based at Eidos San Francisco. We recently asked him a few questions, and he kindly responded.
TRTG:
We at the Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide (TRTG) have long been advocates of a good background story behind any game. It looks like you and your team have come up with an intriguing and solid backplot for Tomb Raider II Gold: Golden Mask. There's no question from the details you've provided in your press releases why Lara is headed for Alaska. We're looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds!
Phil:
I've been a visitor [to TRTG] for a long time, and love your carefully crafted backstories. It's hard to get over a story, especially with no cut scenes, but I do write out a complete overview when I pitch the new levels. I will try to keep you informed as the game progresses, but I can't give away the whole story now. To date, I've tried to keep everyone aware of the background with press releases etc...
TRTG:
We realize that you and Vicky Arnold, script-writer for Tomb Raider I, II and III, are limited by time and resources in terms of presenting a long background story in-game, but we're wondering if there will be any FMVs or cut-scenes appearing in TR2 Gold?
Phil:
We actually storyboarded cut-scenes this time, but the time pressure has just not made it feasible to do the FMV work. We only have 3 months for this entire project, and the guys at Core are busy on other projects. I think we will try to release the storyboards (rough though they may be!) on our website. We made a deliberate effort to flesh out my Golden Mask story as much as possible - even to the extent of having a real one fabricated for the competition. You'll find that Tornarsuk is a specific type of Inuit spirit god, and this inspired the whole reincarnation scenario.
Originally Lara was just going for the gold - we realised that this was too mercenary for her, and decided to add a 'spiritual' side to the quest. We made a deliberate effort to change the load screen so that we would present the player with a number of clues, all relating to the back story. The collage of this screen obscures the total content of these 'clues' (a good thing), but the newspaper actually has a whole article on the secret wartime base, and the blueprint really is a Russian version of a partial map of level 1! Melnikov island is fictional, but we know which island we picked to represent it! (Actually NOT the one circled in lipstick!) As the story unfolds, I hope it will be clear what is happening story-wise...
To read more, please visit the original site here.
All rights belong to Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide. I only intend to introduce people to old articles and preserve them before they are lost.
#Tomb Raider 1: Unfinished Business#Tomb Raider 2: The Golden Mask#TR1 UB Interviews#TR2 GM Interviews#All Interviews#VL Posts
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Birthday Profiles Of Riverdale Actors Based On The Secret Language Of Birthdays Concept! (Part II)
What Is The Secret Language Concept?
The Secret Language scientific personality reports have proven to be over 90% accurate after 21 years in use by millions of people in a dozen languages worldwide. Our data comes from Gary Goldschneiderâs 40-year empirical study of the life stories of more than 20,000 people, analyzed by date of birth. Gary looked at 50 people born on your birthday and found the personality traits held in common by 45 of them. Then he created personality profiles from those traits for each day, week, month, season and year and I further combined those profile names into the ultimate distillation of your personality - your Secret Language Name. Combining astrology, numerology, and pure psychic intuition, The Secret Language of Birthdays is a wholly unique compilation that reveals oneâs strengths, weaknesses, and major issues while providing practical advice and spiritual guidance. Many have suspected that your birthday affects your personality and how you relate to others. Nineteen years and over one million copies later, The Secret Language of Birthdays continues to fascinate readers by describing the characteristics associated with being born on a particular day. The 366 personality profiles are based on astrology, numerology, the tarot, and Gary Goldschneiderâs observations of more than 14,000 people. Your strengths, weaknesses, and major concerns will be illuminated while you are given practical advice and spiritual guidance. After you study your profile, it will be hard to resist examining those of family, friends, colleagues, and even celebrities.
The Personality Periods
The forty-eight personality periods, made up of twelve cusps and thirty six weeks, are units between six and nine days in length. Personology predicts the personality characteristics of anyone born within these dates. In other words, those born in the same period will share certain predictable character traits. While this may not completely represent ever individual, it is sufficient to provide an understanding of his or her basic energies. Extrapolating from the personology periods, it is possible to predict the nature of the relationship between any two people. Thus, The Secret Language Of Relationships combines each period of the year with itself and every other period to predict the nature of the resulting relationship. For example, a person born on March 31 falls into the Aries I period. This is the Week of the Child which symbolizes the freshness and openness of early childhood and of the spring season (lasting from March 25 to April 1). People born during this time are characterized by a childlike, enthusiastic orientation. This in contrast to a person born on November 10, who would be a Scorpio II (encompassing November 3 to 11). Born in the fall, which is symbolically likened to middle age, this week takes Depth as its central symbol. Thus, it becomes possible to consider the theoretical implications of an Aries I-Scorpio II relationship.
The Fourty-Eight Periods & Cusps
1. Pisces-Aries Cusp (Mar 19-Mar 24) â The Cusp Of Rebirth
2. Aries I (Mar 25-Apr 02) â The Week Of The Child
3. Aries II (Apr 03-Apr 10) â The Week Of The Star
4. Aries III (Apr 11-Apr 18) â The Week Of The Pioneer
5. Aries-Taurus Cusp (Apr 19-Apr 24) â The Cusp Of Power
6. Taurus I (Apr 25-May 02) â The Week Of Manifestation
7. Taurus II (May 03-May 10) â The Week Of The Teacher
8. Taurus III (May 11-May 18) â The Week Of The Natural
9. Taurus-Gemini Cusp (May 19-May 24) â The Cusp Of Energy
10. Gemini I (May 25-Jun 01) â The Week Of Freedom
11. Gemini II (Jun 02-Jun 10) â The Week Of New Language
12. Gemini III (Jun 11-Jun 18) â The Week Of The Seeker
13. Gemini-Cancer Cusp (Jun 19-Jun 24) â The Cusp Of Magic
14. Cancer I (Jun 25-Jul 02) â The Week Of The Empath
15. Cancer II (Jul 03-Jul 10) â The Week Of The Unconventional
16. Cancer III (Jul 11-Jul 18) â The Week Of The Persuader
17. Cancer-Leo Cusp (Jul 19-Jul 25) â The Cusp Of Oscillation
18. Leo I (Jul 26-Aug 02) â The Week Of Authority
19. Leo II (Aug 03-Aug 10) â The Week Of Balanced Strength
20. Leo III (Aug 11-Aug 18) â The Week Of Leadership
21. Leo-Virgo Cusp (Aug 19-Aug 25) Â â The Cusp Of Exposure
22. Virgo I (Aug 26-Sept 02) â The Week Of System Builders
23. Virgo II (Sept 03-Sept 10) â The Week Of The Enigma
24. Virgo III (Sept 11-Sept 18) â The Week Of The Literalist
25. Virgo-Libra Cusp (Sept 19-Sept 24) â The Cusp Of Beauty
26. Libra I (Sept 25-Oct 01) â The Week Of The Perfectionist
27. Libra II (Oct 02-Oct 10) â The Week Of Society
28. Libra III (Oct 11-Oct 18) â The Week Of Theater
29. Libra-Scorpio Cusp (Oct 19-Oct 25) â The Cusp Of Drama & Criticism
30. Scorpio I (Oct 26-Nov 02) â The Week Of Intensity
31. Scorpio II (Nov 03âNov 11) â The Week Of Depth
32. Scorpio III (Nov 12âNov 18) â The Week Of Charm
33. Scorpio-Sagittarius Cusp (Nov 19âNov 24) â The Cusp Of Revolution
34. Sagittarius I (Nov 25âDec 02) â The Week Of Independence
35. Sagittarius II (Dec 03â-Dec 10) â The Week Of The Originator
36. Sagittarius III (Dec 11-Dec 18) â The Week Of The Titan
37. Sagittarius-Capricorn Cusp (Dec 19-Dec 25) â The Cusp Of Prophecy
38. Capricorn I (Dec 26-Jan 02) â The Week Of The Ruler
39. Capricorn II (Jan 03- Jan 09) â The Week Of Determination
40. Capricorn III (Jan 10-Jan 16) â The Week Of Dominance
41. Capricorn-Aquarius Cusp (Jan 17-Jan 22) â The Cusp Of Mystery & Imagination
42. Aquarius I (Jan 23-Jan 30) â The Week Of Genius
43. Aquarius II (Jan 31-Feb 07) â The Week Of Youth & Ease
44. Aquarius III (Feb 08-Feb 15) â The Week Of Acceptance
45. Aquarius-Pisces Cusp (Feb 16-Feb 22) â The Cusp Of Sensitivity
46. Pisces I (Feb 23-Mar 02) â The Week Of Spirit
47. Pisces II (Mar 03-Mar 10) â The Week Of The Loner
48. Pisces III Â (Mar 11-Mar 18) â The Week Of Dancers & Dreamers
Birthday Profiles Featured:
7. Charles Melton (1/04 â Capricorn II ) 8. Ashleigh Murray (1/18 â Capricorn-Aquarius Cusp) 9. Casey Cott (8/8 â Leo II) 10. Marisol Nichols (11/2 â Scorpio I) 11. Skeet Ulrich (1/20 â Capricorn-Aquarius Cusp) 12. Madchen Amick (12/12 â Sagittarius III)
#7. Charles Melton (Birthday: Jan. 4, 1991 â The Day Of The Formulators; Personality Period: Capricorn II â Jan. 3 to Jan. 9 â The Week Of The Determination; Place Of Birth: Juneau, Alaska, United States)
Those born during the Week of Determination often have the drive and ambition necessary to reach the top of their profession. Whether or not they succeed, no one can fault them for not trying. They are strivers, like the mountain goat who seeks out the highest crags. Once embarked on a course of action, they are extremely difficult to dissuade from their plans. No matter how great or modest their gifts, they make the most of their abilities and stretch their talents to the outer edge of the envelope. Generally pictured as hard-headed, down-to-earth thinkers, they are often interested in theoretical, even metaphysical, religious or spiritual subjects and practices. Nor are their ideas in these areas at all conservative; they may, in fact, be rather radical. No idea is too strange or far out for them to at least consider, and they have an undeniable tendency to let their minds range over the broadest questions of cosmology and human existence. This philosophical bent, however, is usually based on fact and observation, for they have little time for idle or ill-founded speculation. These people often appear tough and aggressive, but most are highly sensitive, perhaps hypersensitive, underneath. They react strongly to criticism, often with denial. Although acutely aware of the disapproval of others, however, they usually have the strength to continue along their path if they believe in their heart that they are right. Of course, there are also immoral folks who get away with as much as they can whether they can justify it or not, for they know something about power and how to wield it. They may be vulnerable to using slightly underhanded or unscrupulous methods. Even the more idealistic, who put their energies into serving a cause or organization, may wind up making questionable judgment calls. Classically, they often believe the end justifies the means. They usually despise weakness in almost any form, and will not hesitate to use the deficiencies of those around them to their advantage. Such a person can only view personal failure as the ultimate humiliation. To say that these folks are unprepared for failure is an understatement: for many, in fact, admitting failure is not really a possibility. In their philosophy, defeat is only a temporary setback, and the very weapons that destroyed their project must be used to rebuild it. Letting go of or giving up on something can be extremely difficult in these circumstances. It may be years, then, before they can free themselves of the baggage of the past they carry on their able shoulders. On the other hand, they are capable of taking big chances at crucial points in their lives, in this way appearing as those prototypes of success who dare to fail. In a strange way, these people are masters of both reality and illusion, for many are so persuasive that they can convince others that an illusion is in fact reality. If they come to believe in their own illusions, however, they may become ineffectual in that they lose their credibility with those around them. Thus a single good friend who refuses to be conned and has the courage to report what he or she has seen, honestly and objectively, may be the most valuable resource they can have. In their personal lives, they are happiest when they have a partner with whom to share the joys and sorrows of everyday life. They can live alone but most often choose not to do so. They may well insist, however, that their work is an inviolable area that they have no duty to share with their mate, who may get the idea that he or she occupies only second place in their heartâthat work comes first with these individuals. Consequently, they should avoid involvements with dependent types who need attention and are unable to keep their nose out of their mateâs business. It is not at all uncommon for these people to marry a spouse whose work has little, if anything, in common with what they do themselves. On the other hand, their friends are often colleagues, or at least work on similar pursuits. Extremely close relationships may develop with such individuals, and mates must accept this or face unhappiness, jealousy or feelings of rejection. Many come to lead three quite separate and mutually exclusive lives: their work life, their social life and their intimate personal life. They may have no interest in integrating these areas, and, indeed, it is often unnecessary for them to do so. Extremely resourceful, they are good at making the best of a bad situation. This and their loyalty enable them to hang in there for years trying to make a difficult or even somewhat undesirable relationships work out. What motivates them is less sympathy with or understanding of their partner than a refusal to admit failure. They can be extremely devoted not so much to a person as to the relationship itself, and to a belief in the concept of marriage or living together. As realistic as they are, those born during the Week of Determination are often seen as idealistic and even at times naive. NaivetĂŠ, in fact, can be considered their Achillesâ heel, but also may be a reason for others to love or feel fondness or sympathy for them. Being vulnerable and admitting to weakness is essential to sharing love, and many handicap themselves by maintaining a strong facade.
Those born on January 4 have a natural talent for solving all sorts of problems. Most often this gift is of a technical nature. Those born on this day specialize in examining a situation and summing up what is wrong with it in a terse, concise style. By being able to formulate what others find it difficult to conceptualize they put themselves in great demand. January 4 people often have a practical knack for accomplishing tasks with a minimum of effort. But they also have imaginative ideas which can be far-reaching as well. Their imagination is rarely of a highly fanciful variety, however, and generally has a solid basis in everyday reality. January 4 people may thus be of the fortunate few who dream up schemes that actually work. More highly evolved January 4 people follow through on their ideas, developing a sequential process, from observation to formulation to implementation, and once this approach is mastered by them it can be applied over and over again in the future. January 4 people are natural collectors of all sorts of things, not only physical objects but facts and detailed information as well. They like to surround themselves with books, tools, materials and other useful paraphernalia, so that they can have it within handâs reach when needed. Those born on this day are very direct, and do not specialize in idle speculation. Conversation is something they enjoy in a social sense, but it must have some meaning or purpose if it is to hold their interest for very long. Generally January 4 people are highly organized. They can drive others crazy with their insistence on order, whether it be a demand for mental clarity or orderly arrangement of their physical surroundings. It seems that to understand almost anything, including human emotions, they must apprehend them within a certain formal framework. Due to such an orientation they may be at odds with those who prefer to take their cue from emotions or intuition. This is particularly true in regard to love relationships. Similarly, though January 4 people can make excellent parents and providers, they also can arouse resentment from their children because of their dominance and control. They must remember that there is no single correct way to live and that if they let up a bit on their children and mates, they will allow everyone concerned to be freer and more themselves. Because of their own highly characteristic mode of operating, January 4 people are usually recognized as individuals who have their own distinct style. Not only in their thought but also in their dress and manner they are very much their own person. For this reason it may be difficult for them to take orders for very long, and although they can be very good at working with a team or as a valued member of an organization, most born on this day ultimately will want to form their own business or company. As artists, craftspeople or self-employed workers they are motivated enough to be highly productive. Those born on January 4 like everything eclectic. In other words, they like to collect, sort and then select only the best, and they use this quick-witted, creative approach in all aspects of their lives. A list of their friends looks like a media mogulâs address book, and their work rĂŠsumĂŠâwith numerous stints in different lines of workâreflects their curious personality and unlimited powers of imagination. To others this may look like an undisciplined and erratic approach, but there is always method in the madness of those born on this day. By learning all that can be learned from a variety of sources, they eventually emerge triumphant with an encyclopedic knowledge of life that appears to serve them well in almost any situation.Because of their eclectic nature and interest in so many aspects of life, January 4 people tend to be the catalyst that stirs up issues in others and makes them face things that they might rather not face. They are very direct people and any interaction with them has to have meaning and purpose, otherwise they quickly lose interest. Their directness and inability to indulge in chitchat can work against themâas idle conversation is often a means of establishing rapport and common ground with othersâbut more often than not their ability to sum up a situation and to come straight to the point is welcomed as a breath of fresh air.Although these people do know how to have funâespecially when they are youngâthey donât tend to be diverted by the trivial for long. In their thirties and beyond they prefer to exert their considerable energies and talents on a variety of projects to give them fulfillment; these are the years when their potential for professional success comes to the fore. Those born on this day really do need to concentrate their energies on finding a line of work that indulges their need for change but also allows them to be the creative, spontaneous and innovative person they were born to be. With their quick wit and encyclopedic knowledge, January 4 people naturally attract friends and admirers. Their changeable nature can sometimes make it hard for loved ones to keep up or know where they are coming from, andâuntil they find someone who is equally vibrant and experimentalâtheir relationships can be a bit hit and miss. Their directness can be off-putting but underneath there lies a sensitive and caring person. The need of those born on this day for experimentation means that getting into a healthy lifestyle routine is not always easy to achieve. Over-reliance on caffeine and/or mood-changing drugs to feed their over-active mind is also a danger. It is extremely important for them to understand that a healthy body equals a healthy mind and for their minds to work at an optimum level they need to take care of themselves by eating sensibly, getting enough sleep and taking regular exercise. Meditation will be particularly beneficial. Ginger essential oils are known to clear the head and improve memory, so if they have a load of work or study in front of them, a ginger-scented aromatic candle is a good choice. It is vital for these people to choose a career that gives them plenty of variety, such as those within the media or travel industries. Their love of knowledge and great communication skills suggests that they can also make great motivators and teachers, as well as scientists, lawyers, researchers, writers, statesmen or stateswomen, journalists and inventors. Whatever career they choose, their ability to inform and inspire others has the potential to bring them great success and respect from their colleagues. The life path of people born on this day is to gather knowledge and to put all that knowledge to positive use. They can do this by showing the world ways to reconcile the practical with the idealistic. Through their help and creativity, visions of a better world can be realized. Their destiny is to inform and inspire. People born specifically on the 4th of January can be rather serious natured but at the same time have a great sense of humor. Like the Capricorn Goat symbol that represents your star sign you are a good mix of strong and protective yet kind and caring. The astrological planet designated to this particular day is Uranus and creates conscientious personalities who are usually goal orientated. If you have this birthday you crave success and like to see things through to the end. You will be stressed by and loathe leaving anything unfinished. Individual's with a January the fourth birthday tend to be described as dependable and fun but also sometimes overly demanding emotionally. Your quick witted charm and your need to be loved make you not as distant and guarded as other typical Capricorns. You have a touch more compassion and you present yourself as approachable putting others at ease in your company. Career choice is not particularly important to a person born on the fourth of January although they are usually quite ambitious. You will probably be undecided on what type of work you want to do until you have experienced several different jobs. Your versatility and dependability allow you to turn your hand to most tasks. Individuals with this birth date are believed to have a fortunate influence looking after their finances. While this luck on the financial side will be beneficial in life you should be careful not to be tempted by opportunities to take unnecessary gambles with money. In relationships the person born on the fourth day of January can be somewhat reserved in the early stages. As you do not wish to appear to need a soul mate you often hold back your emotions for quite a while. Once you learn to trust someone you will slowly begin to reveal your true self and let your guard down a little. As a committed partner you are supportive and practical and will want to be best friends above all else. You can be incredibly warm, devoted and sensual towards your other half and they must of course share your belief in being totally faithful. When in a long term personal relationship you are at your happiest and do not enjoy being unattached. Becoming a parent will allow you to further develop the ease of the expression of your inner feelings and evoke your fun loving characteristics. Those born on January 4th generally have good health if they can manage to keep stress levels down. You really love your food and will often have a keen interest in cooking and experimenting with different recipes. Your diet should be healthy enough but you can be a little lax when it comes to getting adequate physical exercise. You are advised to listen more carefully to your instincts and the messages your body tells you. You should avoid getting stressed out as it can have negative effects resulting in migraines or skin irritations as well as bouts of low mood or a bad temper. Your main strengths of character that will help you progress in life are your commonsensical approach to things and your wittiness. These sensible but humorous qualities and your shy but friendly temperament are sure to gain you many loyal friends. On the negative side those born on January 4th are prone to be occasionally too opinionated. You can sometimes be intolerant of certain people or situations and nothing will change your mind. Your stubbornness is your main weakness as it can prevent you forming an accurate judgment of circumstances so you need to tame it to flourish. Being born on the 4th of January means you are easily bored so you like to ideally structure your daily routines with plenty of variety. You do not like mundane things and will often use your imagination to escape, and daydream, when having to cope with monotonous tasks. Your wishes for the future are usually based on ensuring that you are self sufficient financially as you are full of pride and hate relying on others for your income. Your levelheadedness and expert organizational skills give you an abundance of talents useful in business. Staring your own enterprise should be a serious consideration. As you were born on the fourth day of the month your date of birth has a Root number of Four. Your birthday's number reference has the keyword 'Honesty' and highlights your sincere personality and straightforward outlook. The tarot card linked to your birthday is the 4th card in the Major Arcana known as the Emperor. This is a symbol of stability, wisdom and the gift of strong willpower and shows the strength of your determined spirit. The gemstone bringing the most luck for January the fourth birthdays is Topaz. If worn this powerful gem is thought to increase your confidence and luck. Saturn is the celestial body that influences all Capricorns giving them their typical responsible but fun attitude. The actual day, the fourth of January, when you were born is influenced by the planet Uranus. So it is a combination of these two planetary forces that have determined your collection of unique traits and thought processes. Your sincerity and dry wit make you a likeable person who can be relied upon to brighten the moods of others. If you are able to learn to be a bit more flexible in your opinions you can develop a greater understanding of the differences between us. An ending thought for people born on January the 4th is that you should always respect and not disregard things that are obscure.Â
#8. Ashleigh Murray (Birthday: Jan. 18, 1988 â The Day Of Childlike Fantasy; Personality Period: Capricorn-Aquarius Cusp â Jan. 17 to Jan. 22 â The Week Of Mystery & Imagination; Place Of Birth: Kansas City, Missouri, United States)
The vivid and expressive individuals born during the Week of Mystery & Imagination generate excitement wherever they go. Unable to keep out of the action for very long, they make their presence felt almost immediately upon entering a room. Their viewpoints tend to be controversial, and whether conservative or radical, are highly stimulating, often because of the dramatic way they are delivered. Their interest in the poor and downtrodden is more than theoretical: most of them will not hesitate to make direct contributions of time, money or energy to help anyone less fortunate than themselves. At the same time, however, they have little sympathy for those they see as freeloaders or parasites, able to pull their own weight but refusing to do so. There is structure and a feeling of responsibility in the personalities of these people, but their unpredictable energy may tend to break this order apart at any moment. It is not uncommon for them to have wide mood swings; they can appear sensible and reasonable one moment, uncontrolled the next. They can get pretty wild, so it is not surprising that violence can feature in their lives, whether they attract it or enact it. Chaotic, out-of-control energies can produce tremendous unrest in their lives. Their regard for their personal safety is usually not high, a trait they may reinforce with a daredevil natureâa deadly or at least dangerous combination. A disregard for their health in general, and an insistent confidence that their prodigious energies will bail them out, time and time again, can wear them down over the years, or induce chronic physical conditions. Concerned mates and lovers may have a hard time, for example, weaning them away from heavy drinking and smoking. These people have a pronounced dark side. Not ones to keep anger inside for very long, they can explode in fits of temper that will send others scurrying. The image of such a furious person hell-bent on punishment is at tremendous variance with the face they present when enjoying themselves and having fun. More than most, they can be at the mercy of their demons, so that their outbursts of temper are truly spontaneous. Because they are rarely calculating, it is hard to blame them for their tremendous mood swings, which are usually forgiven, though not easily forgotten, by those closest to them. Even the most settled and conventional among them will often have an active dream and fantasy life. They lead a kind of Walter Mitty existence, with few guessing the extent of their interior life or the degree of its inventiveness. Everyday situations can prove the springboard for bizarre mental gyrations, in which they become the central character in an imaginary world. These flights of fancy rarely indicate pathological statesâquite to the contrary, they show how important being in touch with oneâs fantasy life can be for mental health. These people love to tell and play jokes. Their mates, friends and family must not only understand but appreciate this need if they are to be kept happy. It isnât always easy, however, to keep up with such persons, who may one moment be dealing seriously with day-to-day problems, the next exploding in riotous laughter. They also have a conventional side that can make them extremely exacting: they generally expect all family members to do their duty and discharge their obligations to the fullest. They can only fully respect people who share daily chores and duties with them fairly. These people often seek hard-working, dependable mates rather than beautiful or intelligent ones. Outside their permanent or primary relationship, however, the impulsive among them may be magnetically attracted to vivacious and exciting individuals, or to quieter but still passionate types. Their sexual powers are usually high, and their interest in sex is pronounced. When they stray, they suffer to an extent from guilt, but this can lend extra spice to their indiscretions. Although they may attach little importance to such flings, their partner may not be so understanding, and deep, long-lasting hurts may be inflicted. In their sexual and other escapades, they exhibit an immature side, like Peter Pan, who refused to grow up. Youthfulness is, in fact, one of the most obvious of their qualities. Those born during the Week of Mystery & Imagination do not necessarily age well; many risk burnout in their tumultuous lifestyles, others deteriorate through neglect or abuse of their bodies. Haste and carelessness may not only wear them down physically but contribute to psychological instability. On the other hand, those lucky enough to have a stable support group, whether in family, friends or, a mate, can have it all, establishing the many facets of their personalities. Those who live alone may, in fact, build up great inner strength through dealing with the most difficult and elusive customer they have ever metâthemselves.
 Those born on January 18 are never far removed from their childlike and playful selves. They may be chided from time to time for being naive, but rarely can they be criticized for being calculating, avaricious or opportunistic. Those born on this day are very much tuned in to what comes naturally. They enjoy having fun, but are not particularly fond of weighty matters. Indeed, they may suffer greatly when demands of the adult world are imposed on them. Consequently, the greatest challenge for January 18 people is to mature into an adult role but preserve their sense of playfulness. January 18 people usually make excellent parents themselves. They have a natural understanding of what pre-adolescent children like. They may, however, have a great deal of trouble with their own parents, particularly during their adolescence and late teens. Departing from childhood is often tragically difficult for January 18 people, and their parents must be extremely sensitive to their transitional needs, particularly in not laying heavy adult pressures on them too soon, or insisting that they abruptly give up childlike habits. Such demands will only foment discord and plant seeds of rebellion. January 18 people like to keep life light but also demand a heavy dose of excitement and adventure to keep them stimulated. When they are unable to find peak experiences in their daily lives, they may retreat to a fantasy world where everything is allowed and everything possible. Since their joys and interests are then internalized, they may unfortunately come to give up more and more on the outer world, in extreme cases withdrawing into their original childhood realm. More highly evolved January 18 people are able to first sublimate and then project their fantasies out on the world, not only summoning up peak experiences but also developing ideas, creating original products or perhaps just manifesting a highly unique outlook and approach to the art of living. Where love is concerned, January 18 people tend to attract more practical, down-to-earth types who perhaps feel gratified by an awakening of their own childlike nature. A successful relationship of this kind inevitably provides a deep sense of security for both January 18 people and their more grounded partner, and is thus very heavily based on mutual trust and sharing. Generally speaking, January 18 people may be happy even when working in mundane jobs, as long as they have free time which is absolutely their own to enjoy as they please. However, for the reasons stated earlier, it is best for them when they can integrate their more fanciful side in a creative or stimulating work environment. Without such stimulation, those born on this day may experience difficulties concentrating, especially when performing tasks of a repetitive nature, and may even be caught flagrantly daydreaming. The imaginative and creative powers of people born on January 18 can lead them to extraordinary heights. They have a quick wit that can delight others, and their company and irreverent opinions are always in demand. In fact they often attract other people like a magnet.Optimistic, trusting and childlike in nature, the only things that can bring down these friendly souls are rules, regulations and authority. Although they have boundless energy and drive, and love interacting with people, they donât tend to thrive in a team or in a mundane job, unless they are one hundred per cent committed. They place an extremely high value on independence of thought and action; this can lead to reckless behavior and a stubborn refusal to conform. This trait is evident in both childhood and adulthood, and all the normal procedures for dealing with their rebellion donât tend to work; they will simply withdraw even more as a result. They need to find an environment in which their need for freedom is respected, and once they do find that their gratitude, loyalty and devotion to it will be immense. They also need to make sure that they find ways to express their playful and friendly side, and their original sense of humor, as this will help them keep bitterness at bay.People born on this day can become bored quickly, losing their concentration and retreating into a world of fantasy or fits of temper if their needs arenât being met or becoming restless and impatient if they feel too confined by responsibilities. They need to learn to find ways to deal more appropriately with a situation; this kind of emotional maturity tends to emerge in their early thirties, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. Asking them to be more realistic simply isnât an optionâthe way forward is for them not to deny their fantasies but to find ways to positively integrate their innovative ideas and extraordinary insights into their lives. By so doing they will be able to make not just their own livesâbut those of all they touchâtruly magical. Those with this birthday tend to throw themselves deeply into relationships and adore spending all their time with their loved ones. Some partners may find this too suffocating and this can deeply hurt those January 18 people to the extent that they hold back too much in future relationships. They often possess the fear that they will not find a soul mate who also wants to throw themselves into a relationship, but in the majority of cases they are successful. Those born on this day need to be careful that they donât disappear into a dreamland by experimenting with mood-altering substances. They can keep their energy levels and their mood constant by getting plenty of sleep and engaging in regular exercise. Because they live so much in their heads, they also need to be careful that they donât forget to eat regular meals and snacks. They need to keep their feet firmly on the ground with plenty of outside hobbies and interests; wearing and meditating on earthy colors such as brown and green will help them feel more grounded. These people have vast creative potential and if a field interests them they are likely to be successful in it. Once they learn how to combine their creativity with practical ability, the fields of advertising or fashion may appeal, as might the world of business, property development and banking. Their idealism may also draw them toward teaching, medicine and charity work; the dramatic side of their nature that enjoys entertaining others may draw them toward the arts, film, media and theater. The life path of people born on this day is to help others see the magic in almost any situation. Their destiny is not just to delight with their flights of fantasy but also to encourage others to take a bold, original and creative perspective on life. People born specifically on the 18th of January are believed to be very strong minded and serious but with a zany sense of humor. Like your zodiac sign of the typical Capricorn Goat you are full of determination and ambition. The astrological planet that rules this particular day is Mars creating personalities that know what they want and just go for it. If you have this birthday you have a good head for business and are excellent at noticing money generating opportunities. Although you are enthusiastically enterprising you are not driven by materialistic things. Individuals with a January the eighteenth birthday usually find it easy and natural to take charge but they are seldom bossy. You prefer to utilize your firmness and motivation to fight just causes as you get great satisfaction from helping others. On the outside you may appear a little distant emotionally but underneath you are a genuine warm and caring person. Success is not all about money to a person born on the eighteenth of January even though they are exceptionally career orientated. You have a lot of faith in your abilities and enough confidence within yourself to achieve most things you set your mind to. You can seem to be egotistical in this area but it will not be for selfish monetary reasons as you are generous natured with your finances. Despite the fact that you love luxuries you can live quite happily without them if you need to. This unfrivolous attitude allows you to be someone who almost always has something put away for unexpected expenses. Typical of a Capricorn the person born on the eighteenth day of January is cautious and cool concerning affairs of the heart. You will usually keep your true feelings locked up until you are absolutely sure that they will be reciprocated. This standoffish approach to romance sometimes means that it could take a while for you to meet the right person. Then you may be ready to reveal your surprisingly warm sensitivity and underlying passion. You are attracted to people that share your hardworking but fun adventurous nature that can appeal to your emotional side. In soul mate relationships you can be rather romantic and generally make a considerate and devoted partner. You are home loving and enjoy spending time making it comfortable as this is where you are at your most relaxed. You like nothing more than a quiet night in with the company of your partner. Food is especially important and enjoyable to those born on January 18th and so you find it difficult to control your appetite. As you try to ideally project an image of healthiness you will probably learn moderation in your diet. Aside from watching your waistline you sometimes have a cavalier outlook towards the rest of your health. This can have an effect on your energy levels making them up and down with the possibility of causing low bad moods and irritability. You are advised to take more interest in giving your body everything that it needs to function properly and aim for plenty of sleep. Your main strengths of character are more often than not in your pioneering helpfulness to others and your sensible but witty demeanor. These qualities gain you many friends and help you quickly get where you want to be in life. Weaknesses you are likely to notice in your personality are that you can occasionally be a bit naive socially and uncharacteristically immature in certain circumstances. These negative tendencies accompany your proneness to being easily distracted but they all seem to diminish as you get older and acquire more social awareness and learn to not get so freely sidetracked. One of the cosmic consequences of being born on the 18th of January means that you are constantly setting goals. Once you have achieved one of your aims you will speedily set yourself another as striving towards things helps you keep feeling optimistic. Some of your dreams for the future are made possible by you being in the right places at the best times so you should always trust any gut instincts. You dream of a simple peaceful life where you are happy and contented with the people and things you love surrounding you. You wish for just enough personal wealth to cover the necessities. As you were born on the eighteenth day of the calendar month your date of birth contains the digits 1 and 8 equating to a Root number of 9. This birthday number reference with the keyword 'Seeker' is an indication of your uncanny opportunistic luck in finding and seizing favorable probabilities. The Tarot card linked to your birthday is the 18th card in the Major Arcana representing the Moon. This could be an esoteric symbol of your heightened empathy and warmth to others. For January the eighteenth birthdays the luckiest gemstone is Bloodstone known to attract affluence and boost concentration. The astrological influence of the planet Saturn is thought to be mainly responsible for deciding the basic personalities of Capricorns. The actual day you were born on, the eighteenth of January is ruled over by the celestial body Mars as it combines with Saturn adding a few extras to your determined characteristics. Your added confidence and nonmaterialistic stance let you progress throughout life with pride and a sense of real purpose. You may need to brush up on your too trusting social skills or you will discover your kindness and good will could be taken advantage of. Finally a thought particularly for people born on January the eighteenth is to make one of your goals to try and look after yourself as well as you do others.Â
#9. Casey Cott (Birthday: Aug. 8, 1992 â The Day Of The Roleplayers; Personality Period: Leo II â Aug. 3 to Aug. 10 â The Week Of Balanced Strength; Place Of Birth: New Jersey, United States)
Leo IIâs are solid and tough and do not back down from challenges; in fact, they thrive on them, and are often at their best when facing problems and difficulties. Although drawn toward experiences that hold an element of danger, they are usually not foolhardy enough to attempt the impossible. Realists, they are well aware of their limitations, which they may stretch to the limit if necessary but will rarely try to overleap. Fixed attitudes characterize them, so it will take a great deal of patience and persistence to get them to change their mind. Leo IIâs pride themselves on their ability to spot phoniness and nonsense, and are particularly critical of metaphysical ideas not strongly grounded in the here and now. Leo IIâs generally exercise tremendous powers of concentration, but through their fixation on their object they may lose the peripheral vision necessary for keeping in touch with their surroundings. In a related problem, their reliance on logical reasoning can detract from what may well be their best suitâthat is, their capacity for strong hunches and their intuitive strengths. These traits may lead them to get out of touch with reality while at the same time remaining convinced of their rightnessâa dangerous combination. Gifted with endurance and tenacity, Leo IIâs hang in there for the duration. The upside of this character trait is their intense loyalty and devotion; the downside is a streak of masochismâa tendency, for example, to suffer while trying to hold a romance, marriage or business together. They can continue in an unhappy or stressful relationship for years without undue complaint, patiently seeking ways to make it work. Although they would sometimes do better by quitting, they will usually refuse to take the easy way out, and they may have little respect for those who lack their level of commitment. When long-standing relationships that have proven unsatisfactory finally do collapse, perhaps due to a stroke of fate, or to the partnerâs unwillingness to continue, Leo IIâs have a tendency to sink into depression. Too often they blame themselves. A long period of grieving may be necessary before they are once again able to function well. They can certainly be their own worst enemies. Those born during the Week of Balanced Strength exude power and self-confidence when their prodigious energies meld, but these same energies also get out of control and can threaten to tear them apart. At such times they make a piteous sight. Alcohol or drug binges and borderline or outright criminal activities can all be the evidence of Leo II energies running amok. Keeping balanced is less an ideal for them to attain than an absolute condition for their healthy survival. The children and friends of Leo IIâs can be severely jolted if these normally reassuring presences disintegrate. Thus Leo II desire to be a protector of the weak and a friend to the underdog can backfire. Those born in the Week of Balanced Strength do well in highly structured situations of their own making, situations in which they are at the helm. They periodically feel an acute need to withdraw into a private place, however, and sometimes to a strictly isolated one. The problem here is an accompanying tendency to nurse hurts and slights, and in extreme cases to manifest paranoia. Developing an accepting attitude and working to diminish dogmatic and intolerant thought are essential to their mental health. Â For the most part, Leo IIâs are extraordinarily faithful people. They see themselves as champions of the downtrodden and protectors of the weak. They despise exclusion and condescension and, for this reason, generally side with the common person rather than the privileged. It is not that they do not have an ability to mix well with a variety of social classes; rather, they dislike insincerity or pretension. In their toughness, Leo IIâs are able to withstand many disappointments. They usually weather the storm and win out through knowing how to wait, âhaving the long breath.â They like being independent, but nonetheless tend to build a well-defined life in which they exert maximum power with a minimum of fuss. Those involved with Leo IIâs, whether as co-workers, employees, family, mates or friends, know that they must not be pushed or prodded when in a negative frame of mind but, rather, must be left alone to work things out for themselves. Leo IIâs also sometimes accused of insensitivity. This is more often a result of their being preoccupied than of a lack of understanding on their part, for many are psychologically astute; yet although they can comprehend another personâs emotional state, they may feel no need to sympathize with it. Leo IIâs are not especially empathic with those around them, and are capable of a stony detachment. Many find emotional matters simply too messy to get involved in, a response that is sometimes traceable to unpleasant childhood experience. When the parent, child or lover of a Leo II is of a more feeling type, conflict can result. Being straightforward and unpretentious themselves, those born during the Week of Balanced Strength dislike people who put on airs. Nothing excites their often uncontrollable temper more than insincerity, lying or disingenuousness. Leo II anger and hotheadedness can weaken the psychological balance on which their strength depends. Those closest to these intense individuals know how to use sensual persuasion and a fun-loving outlook to keep their partners happy.
Those born on August 8 manifest a strong desire to play numerous and varied roles in their lives. This should not be interpreted to mean that they are flighty people who shift gears easily, hopping from one career to another. Each change, each new role is painstakingly studied so that success may be assured. Those born on this day usually have a strong desire for professional recognition and stand a good chance of success unless their career choice has been highly unrealistic or poorly suited to their character. It may well be astonishing to others, and even to August 8 people themselves to realize just how fully they have played a given role, particularly when looking back on life from a later vantage point, or after subsequent changes. But as they are highly realistic and responsible, August 8 people generally only move on to a new role once they feel the previous one has been fully played out or satisfied. Mothers who transform into working women, men who change their company or occupation even when successful, children who seem like two different people depending on which family member they are spending time with are all typical models of the adaptability found on this birthday. Should those born on this day be performers or creative artists they will generally be involved in widely varied styles and modes of expression. Those August 8 people who fail at a particular endeavor most often remain undaunted and just pick up and move on to the next job or backtrack to a career which they may have temporarily neglected. However, most highly developed individuals born on this day do not allow a desire for change and varied interests to dissipate their energies; they are therefore loath to involve themselves in more than one project simultaneously if they feel the nature of their commitment is compromised. In the same way, they make faithful mates, business partners, parents and friends. Usually when August 8 people head in a wrong direction or go off the track, they remain open to helpful advice (which is somewhat notable for such stubbornly determined people); thus their closest friends and love mate are invaluable to them at such times. Ultimately, however, after weighing all reasonable points of view, August 8 people generally make independent and rather fixed decisions. In order to keep themselves happy, those born on this day should introduce all sorts of diversity into their daily life. Their egos must be kept under control, however, and goals realistic. A healthy desire for security will contribute stability to their career and lifestyle. Other people tend to think that success comes easily to people born on August 8 because they appear to be naturally good at everything they do. Their success, however, is the result of their sharp intellect and strong work ethic. It is also a result of their exceptional versatility and ability to learn new skills from scratch. Although they are versatile and will probably play many roles and sample many careers in their lives, they are not flighty by nature. Quite the opposite, in fact; when they are engaged in a particular project their focus is intense and their discipline inspirational. It is just that when they have learned all they feel they can learn or gained the recognition they feel they deserve, they like to move on to the next challenge, even if it is totally unrelated to the one they devoted themselves to previously. This ability to change direction and immerse themselves in different projects both confuses and surprises others, especially when these people change direction when they appear to be at the height of their success or capability. Until the age of forty-four there is an emphasis in their lives on order, problem solving and being more discriminating with their time and energy. It is particularly important during this period that their versatility does not lead them to make career or life choices that are unrealistic or simply unsuitable. After the age of forty-four there is a significant turning point which stimulates their need for balance and harmony, and heightens their awareness of partnerships and relationships in general. During this period in their lives the key to their happiness will be to develop more emotional depth and find ways to stamp their individuality on the world around them. Having said that, they should not try to suppress their characteristic versatility because, once they find a cause that is worthy of them, their affinity with diversity and love of fresh challenges will continue to be the key to their success. The all-round excellence of people born on August 8 may be intimidating to partners and friends alike, so for success in long-term relationships they need to ensure they allow others to see their vulnerable human qualities as well as their super-capable ones. In a relationship they work for harmony but they can become quarrelsome if they feel insecure. Learning to be more patient with others will help smooth over problems. Without realizing it, people born on this day are likely to push themselves very hard and they need to understand that even they need to take a step back and unwind every so often. Sticking to a regular sleep, exercise and meal routine will help them feel more secure, especially when they are going through one of their many life transitions. They are often very physical and sensuous individuals, and sports of all kinds are recommended. Weight problems, especially around the middle, could be a problem later in life but they can handle this by eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, and cutting down on the amount of refined foods they eat and the amount of stress in their lives. Time spent relaxing with friends and loved ones will help keep them on an even keel, and wearing, meditating on or surrounding themselves with the color yellow will increase their creative confidence. These inquisitive, imaginative and energetic people have an affinity for sporting or artistic careers, but they may also be drawn to theater, the world of media and entertainment, advertising, business, politics, and tourism. Because they are multi-talented, many careers will appeal to them and there are likely to be many changes, but their love of change means they will always be happiest in flexible careers. The life path of people born on this day is to find ways to stamp their individuality on all that they do. Once they are able to make their goals realistic and attainable, their destiny is to challenge convention with their versatility and ability to make even the hardest of challenges appear easy. People born specifically on the 8th of August are presumed to be highly practical, persistent and commonsensical with an abundance of the usual Lion leadership skills. The astrological planet that rules over this particular day is Saturn making you focused, precise with a great imagination and a craving for diversity. If you have this birthday your realistic and responsible approach grants you a strong sense of purpose, lots of self discipline and a preference to take charge. Undaunted by obstacles you are usually creative, adaptable and open to advice despite tending to make independent fixed decisions. Trustworthy and generous you are very ambitious, hard working, full of determination and especially good at dispelling your energies positively. Individuals with an August the seventh birthday are quite reliable but may have a bit of difficulty expressing their feelings and can also be occasionally hypocritical, stubborn and opinionated too. Career routes are often easily chosen to a person born on the eighth of August due to your high levels of ambition and disciplined attitude. Your responsibility, intellect and adaptability guide you to be particularly skilled at motivating others so managerial positions could be popular options. You are determined to succeed in your chosen job and are usually prepared to work hard for the chance of promotion. When it comes to monetary matters it is rare for you to make mistakes or get into serious debt. You are ordinarily excellent at saving and likely to be lucky with financial investments. For a Leo, the person born on the eighth day of August is typically warmhearted with a need for regular affection and approval from a lover. Incredibly close friendship is important to you in a relationship and you tend to prefer a partner who is open and not afraid to disclose their deepest feelings. Naturally romantic, sincere and devoted you have traditional views on love and romance and will usually be a strong believer in marriage. Considerate and dependable in general you are still proud like most Leo's but your ego is often much more fragile than the majority of your zodiac counterparts. You require a soul mate on the same page intellectually who can cope with your occasional bossy or demanding behavior. A perfect partner must also share your red hot passion and lusty sex drive and be sexy, imaginative and adventurous between the sheets. Healthiness experienced by those born on August 8th is usually maintained by your sensible approach to looking after body and mind. This common sense attitude directs you to ensure that your diet is normally adequate and nutritious but you may be a little lazy concerning the right amount of exercise. If you let this shortfall in your efforts to stay healthy continue it could have an adverse effect on your health. People born on this day should ideally include some form of exercise within their daily routine in order to maintain shape and suppleness as well as expelling excess stress. Your main strengths of character are observable in your versatile, multi-talented and rational manner and courses of action. These fortes of purposeful practicality, preciseness and your enterprising creativity give you everything you need to do anything you really wish to do in life. A keenness to save and try to channel your energy in positive ways are additional favorable traits. The personality weaknesses for those born on August 8th stem from your negative tendency to every now and then be a bit of a hypocrite. A temporary obstinate stance and intransigent views are common weak characteristics. Being born on the 8th of August gives you a proneness to want to lead others and this helps with giving you the motivation to be successful in life. You appear to tackle any goals you set yourself in step by step methods. Your expert planning and skill at overcoming setbacks makes it unlikely to consider shortcuts or the option of easier challenges. Dreams are often full of fantasy and vision as a result of your love of variety and mystery beside your heightened ability to imagine creatively. Any special wishes you have will probably feature in some of the scenes and themes of your dreaming. As you were born on the eighth day of the month your birth date favors you with a Root number of Eight. This numerical reference to your birthday has the keyword 'Leader' indicating your likelihood to not follow others by express your independence instead. In Tarot the 8th card in the Major Arcana deck illustrating Courage is associated with your birthday. This highlights the strength of your spirit, precision and persistence. The luckiest precious gem for August the eighth birthdays is believed to be a Black Pearl, wearing one should attract good fortune and assist you to repel negativity. The principal influence astrologically on the probabilities of Leo personalities is imagined to be our Sun. The actual day you were born on, the eighth of August, is governed by the celestial body Saturn's authority. Therefore the influences of these 2 planets help determine your probable basic temperament qualities. Your admirable conscientious efficiency and responsible realism help you keep your feet firmly on the ground and concentrate your intentions on worthwhile endeavors. Your purposeful honesty, dependability and generosity make you an overall pleasant, reliable and kind person to know. You should consider remembering to think before you speak if you hope to avoid being overly hypocritical or uncompromising. A final advisory thought for people born on August the 8th is to aim to remain adaptable and flexible for the opportunity to increase your wisdom and understanding letting you follow the most fortunate directions.Â
#10. Marisol Nichols (Birthday: Nov. 2, 1973 â The Day Of Transformation; Personality Period: Scorpio I â Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 â The Week Of Intensity; Place Of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Those born during the Week of Intensity are demanding personalities, who have few equals in attention to detail and applying their powers of concentration to the task at hand. They are extremely discriminating, possibly to the point of being judgmental. Particularly in matters of fairness and ethics, they are likely to evaluate people more for their motives than for their actions and sternly pass sentence on those they see as transgressing the bounds of morality. They can be equally strict themselves, however, and are highly prone to guilt over wayward thoughts and deeds. Thus their conscience is always powerfully at work. Getting the job done is important to them, but the way in which it is done has top priority. Even the mildest have more than a touch of the performer to them. Their virtuoso energies are often the outward manifestation of a needy sideâa craving for approval and affection from their families and friends More than most, these individuals have a charged, polarized personality with two sidesâone sunny, one dark. Their sunny side gives them a radiance and a seductive charm that can melt the hardest hearts; their dark side is destructive, and when out of control can inflict serious damage, not only on those around them but on themselves as well. It is this intensity that makes them unlikely to back down from confrontation, so that they often hang in until the bitter end. When they are troubled, their lack of confidence comes to the fore, and may manifest, for example, in a conviction that they cannot get anything right, or that those they care for dislike them. Accusing others of having negative emotions (such as anger, jealousy, or feelings of rejection) that they in fact are feeling and projecting themselves is too often the mechanism they use to ease their pain. They pride themselves on being aware of what they do, and on accepting responsibility for their actions. As a consequence, when another person commits an act against them they most often assume that it was done knowingly or willfully. This refusal to believe that the other person acted innocently or without premeditation can precipitate conflict. Further, they usually refuse to accept excuses for, say, lateness, or for missing an appointment altogether through forgetfulness. They too often view the claim of a memory lapse as a disguise for an intended hurt. Nor do they equally accept all the apologies other people make for their actions: they are more willing to forgive a false move than an impure motive. It may be difficult for them to forgive, but it is almost impossible for them to forget slights, condescension and anything they see as an insult to their intelligence. They are thin-skinned when it comes to criticism, so those close to them will have to tread lightly to avoid arguments. Such conflicts can ultimately have a destructive influence on a relationship, and may lead to a breakup; but they can also have the positive effect of clearing the air, promoting honesty and in general bringing partners to work on improving relations. Excepting in certain moral areas, which remain closed, they most often prefer discussion to combat, but must beware of argument for argumentâs sake. If attacked directly, however, either verbally or physically, they will fight it out. Still, the main thrust of their judgments is not destructive per seâquite the contrary. They tend to feel that they wouldnât even be bothering with someone unless they cared enough about them to help improve their lot. They believe in the positive value of criticism and doubt that a bad situation will get better by itself. Yet their lovers and friends may grow tired of their often painfully sharp analyses, no matter how perceptive these judgments may eventually prove to be. A âblame, blame, guilt and shameâ mantra may, unfortunately, be the only message that either party remembers hearing. Because they value quality far above quantity, they are suspicious of those who are overly versatile, or who make elaborate claims for the merit of all of the different parts of their work equally. They think it better to do one thing really well than to do many things acceptably well. Their friends may be few, their contacts with their parents may be carefully planned and controlled, their relations with co-workers or business partners may be highly selective. Those picked as the friend or mate of such discerning, often knowledgeable individuals often feel honored. To have the undivided attention of someone born during the Week of Intensity who is attractive, interesting and single-minded can be very gratifying, particularly to egos in need of bolstering. Lovers will attest to the highs of intimate relations with those born during the Week of Intensity, and friends know the warmth and good feelings that they engender. Of particular note is their sense of humorâthey can keep those around them rolling around on the floor. They are often excellent mimics, imitating accents, gestures and movements equally well. They are also terrible teasers, one moment mock serious, then exploding in derisive laughter. Once they have found your weak spot or funny bone, they will not give up in their tickling, even when your amusement ends.
Those born on November 2 are usually busy with some kind of transformation. The changes which they effect are both in themselves and in the environment around them. They are characters on lifeâs stage who change the action of the drama just by their presence, for better or for worse. More highly developed November 2 people are very much aware of how they impact on their surroundings, but less highly developed people born on this day are often at the mercy of impersonal forces which seem to be acting through them, using them as unconscious instruments, often with alarming results. November 2 people must thus develop a greater awareness of their transformative powers, and guide them in a moral direction. Their responsibility toward their family and friends is great in this respect. For example, sensitive individuals can be powerfully affected by the opinions, actions and even unspoken wishes of November 2 people. Also those born on this day sometimes wish to change those situations they see as needing improvement but may in fact be meddling in areas where they are not at all appreciated. Their capacity to exercise restraint regarding their influence is an indication of their spiritual development, as is their ability to wisely wait and patiently guide from afar the best interests of their mate or children. The transformations wrought by November 2 people can go very far indeed; the structure, direction and purpose of business organizations or social and religious entities can come under their sway. However, should they fail in the ultimate challenge of transforming themselves, personally, it may all be for nought. November 2 people generally arrive at a crossroads, often around age twenty-eight (first Saturn return), forty-four (Uranus, Saturn opposition) or fifty-six (second Saturn return) when they must drastically redirect the course of their lives. Should they be able to effect an internal change, becoming aware of their needs and ever more determined to realize them, then the chances of them succeeding on their path are great indeed. If they are not able to accomplish the necessary changes inside them, then they will begin to stagnate, eventually growing frustrated, angry and depressed. November 2 people are often taken up with matters concerning money, sex and power. They must be careful not to let such interests gain control of their essential personality. Rather they should keep things light as much as possible and maintain a sense of play and fun in their lives. If they assert their powers in the service of tangible, human concerns, they can make a great contribution to life around them. Like a serpent that sheds its skin, people born on November 2 often appear to be in the process of change, rebirth or renewal. Nothing gets them more excited in life than a new start. But it isnât only their own lives that are constantly changing and evolving; they can also play an integral part in changing the lives of others in some way or in altering the course of events. For example, they may play a significant role in changing the structure of a business or they may encourage others to change the direction of their lives in some way, perhaps by leaving a relationship or by expanding their horizons with travel. As self-awareness doesnât tend to be strong in these people, many of them will not realize just how influential they can be. It is important therefore for them to guard against advising change for the sake of change.Ironically, despite their love of change and regeneration, the one area of life they may be surprisingly resistant to change is themselves. Many of them simply arenât aware of their real needs and, instead of focusing on their inner life, they will direct their energy outwards with constant fresh starts or changes of direction. Itâs only when they can learn to listen to the quiet still voice within them that they will begin to realize that too much change is counterproductive. After the age of twenty, they enter a thirty-year period when there is an emphasis on expansion and adventure in their lives. This may come through study, education or travel. After the age of fifty there is a turning point which highlights the need for greater order, structure and realism in achieving their goals. Whatever their age or stage in life it will be an exciting one, but for the lasting success and outstanding creative potential associated with this birthday to be unlocked they need to understand that, although regeneration is a necessary process for psychological growth, it is not a goal in itself. People born on November 2 are imaginative, clever and rarely short of admirers but their taste for new experiences may lead them into short-lived relationships rather than lasting, meaningful ones. For a while this can be exciting and fun, but over the years a part of them will begin to long for something more enduring. When that longing emerges they will attract the right person into their lives. People born on this day donât tend to have addictive personalities but alcohol and smoking could become a health problem, so it would be wise for them to limit or cut down on these. Nose, ear and throat problems, as well as problems with the digestive and reproductive organs, could also give problems so it is important for them to take special care of their health, with plenty of healthy, nutritious high-fiber food and plenty of exercise, preferably in the fresh air so they get all the mood-boosting effects of sunshine. Because they have an active and inquisitive mind, they are strongly advised to keep agile and not rely on work as a way of doing this; all forms of study, reading and intellectual challenge are therefore recommended, as is learning a new language. Meditation techniques will help them search within rather than without for answers, as will counseling and therapy, and wearing the color purple will encourage them to look beyond the material and focus on higher things. These people need careers that offer them constant variety and they are well suited to careers in tourism, aviation, finance, sales, law, public relations, psychology, education, charity work, and the media. Alternatively, they may express their creativity in music, drama or photography, and careers involving sport and leisure can be good outlets for their energy and ambition. The life path of people born on this day is to learn that the most important changes in their life are those that take place within. Once they are more in touch with their feelings and motivations, their destiny is to make a positive contribution to the welfare of others. People born specifically on the 2nd of November are predicted to be highly curious, sociable and charming with lots of the typical Scorpio determination and honesty. The ruling astrological planet for this particular day is our Moon intensifying your warm courteous mannerisms and gracing you with a likeable diplomatic temperament. If you have this birthday you will be especially good at conveying your messages and wishes via subtle non-vocal communication. Emotionally you tend to be a bit detached and secretive with a strong dislike of being bossed around but you are also intensely thoughtful too. Sharply intuitive and analytical you are inclined to act on instinct and usually believe in following your destiny with a responsible and patient outlook. Individuals with a November the second birthday seem to reveal little about themselves yet be very insightful concerning others. Your plentiful stamina may manifest as stubbornness once in a while and your avid desire to improve things can occasionally be perceived as interfering. Teaching or work in a creative industry are often popular career choices to a person born on the second of November. You will usually feel strongly that you need to do a satisfying job that challenges your intellect and stimulates your sense of responsibility. Your patience and diplomacy are helpful attributes in any workplace. Rate of pay is likely to be less important when considering a suitable occupation as you are unlikely to be particularly finance focused or materialistic. You appear to prefer living simply and quite frugally and this approach helps you conceal your real generosity to all but those who know you really well. For a Scorpio, the person born on the second day of November is typically extremely loyal and will insist on the same loyalty in a close love relationship. You are usually uninterested in a short term or shallow romance. When you meet your soul mate you will see a serious commitment to them as a big part of your fate. You appear to be profoundly loving with a preference to control but this will be in a genuine very devoted way however occasional jealousy and possessiveness are common. Demonstrative affection, trust and security all make you feel loved and contented in a special long term partnership. Your skillful reading of body language and sensual emotional responses guide you to be a considerate partner and lover. You are inclined to possess an above average sex drive and a great imagination directs you to commonly enjoy watching and discussing some of your wildest sexual fantasies. A non conformist attitude can sometimes unsettle the usual healthy state experienced by those born on November 2nd. It is rare for you to follow recommended health advice as you tend to favor adopting your own healthiness routines. You will generally eat well and exercise regularly in ways that suit and feel right for you. You will often utilize exercising time to help relieve stress and to spend time alone with your thoughts. People born on this day should perhaps try and avoid having too many unresolved worries on their mind. If built up anxieties are not alleviated quickly it could slowly drain away your energies and make periods of insomnia a possibility. Your main strengths of character are displayed in your powerful curiosity and intuition along with your fairness and fondness of improvement. These positive characteristics when combined can make you incredibly productive, honest and determined. The personality weaknesses for those born on November 2nd have the potential to be sparked by any negative situation that makes you feel slightly insecure or distrustful. This kind of negativity when activated can intensify your cool secretiveness and also cause you to be particularly stubborn or nosy in response. In addition you may begin acting in a smothering or uncharacteristically manipulative manner. Being born on the 2nd of November sees you ordinarily welcoming challenges especially if they involve making something better. You like winning and are not usually adverse to a bit of suffering or inconvenience to attain a desired goal. Giving equal attention to professional and personal ambitions it is likely for an achievement to mean more if you feel you have truly earned it through hard work and effort. When it comes to dreams your perceptive nature, yearning for happiness and underlying generous streak could strongly dictate the content. As you were born on the second day of the month your birth date awards you a corresponding Root number of Two. This numerical reference to your birthday has the keyword 'Harmony' highlighting your admirable predilections for tact and negotiation as well as your thoughtfulness. In Tarot the 2nd card in the Major Arcana symbolizing the Priestess is closely associated with your specific birthday. This symbol pinpoints your trusted natural instincts, high levels of inquisitiveness and intense sexuality. The lucky gemstone for November the second birthdays is a Pearl, to be worn for possible increases in inner peace, hope and overall contentment. Astrologically all Scorpion personalities are believed to have their probabilities derived from the influential planet Pluto. The actual day you were born on, the second of November is ruled over by the Moon's influence adding a few differences to your typified zodiac description. Your charm, sociability and inquiring mind fully express your warmth, subtlety and insight. Your polite demeanor, refined conduct and determined mindset assist you to easily make the most of your fated path. If you are able to conquer your slight insecurities and suspiciousness it will be unusual for your negative side to be revealed. A concluding thought for people born on November the 2nd is to beware of behaving hastily as timing could be essential to your success.
#11. Skeet Ulrich (Birthday: Jan. 20, 1970 â The Day Of The Freewheeler; Personality Period: Capricorn-Aquarius Cusp â Jan. 17 to Jan. 22 â The Cusp Of Mystery & Imagination; Place Of Birth: Lynchburg, Virginia, United States)
The vivid and expressive individuals born during the Week of Mystery & Imagination generate excitement wherever they go. Unable to keep out of the action for very long, they make their presence felt almost immediately upon entering a room. Their viewpoints tend to be controversial, and whether conservative or radical, are highly stimulating, often because of the dramatic way they are delivered. Their interest in the poor and downtrodden is more than theoretical: most of them will not hesitate to make direct contributions of time, money or energy to help anyone less fortunate than themselves. At the same time, however, they have little sympathy for those they see as freeloaders or parasites, able to pull their own weight but refusing to do so. There is structure and a feeling of responsibility in the personalities of these people, but their unpredictable energy may tend to break this order apart at any moment. It is not uncommon for them to have wide mood swings; they can appear sensible and reasonable one moment, uncontrolled the next. They can get pretty wild, so it is not surprising that violence can feature in their lives, whether they attract it or enact it. Chaotic, out-of-control energies can produce tremendous unrest in their lives. Their regard for their personal safety is usually not high, a trait they may reinforce with a daredevil natureâa deadly or at least dangerous combination. A disregard for their health in general, and an insistent confidence that their prodigious energies will bail them out, time and time again, can wear them down over the years, or induce chronic physical conditions. Concerned mates and lovers may have a hard time, for example, weaning them away from heavy drinking and smoking. These people have a pronounced dark side. Not ones to keep anger inside for very long, they can explode in fits of temper that will send others scurrying. The image of such a furious person hell-bent on punishment is at tremendous variance with the face they present when enjoying themselves and having fun. More than most, they can be at the mercy of their demons, so that their outbursts of temper are truly spontaneous. Because they are rarely calculating, it is hard to blame them for their tremendous mood swings, which are usually forgiven, though not easily forgotten, by those closest to them. Even the most settled and conventional among them will often have an active dream and fantasy life. They lead a kind of Walter Mitty existence, with few guessing the extent of their interior life or the degree of its inventiveness. Everyday situations can prove the springboard for bizarre mental gyrations, in which they become the central character in an imaginary world. These flights of fancy rarely indicate pathological statesâquite to the contrary, they show how important being in touch with oneâs fantasy life can be for mental health. These people love to tell and play jokes. Their mates, friends and family must not only understand but appreciate this need if they are to be kept happy. It isnât always easy, however, to keep up with such persons, who may one moment be dealing seriously with day-to-day problems, the next exploding in riotous laughter. They also have a conventional side that can make them extremely exacting: they generally expect all family members to do their duty and discharge their obligations to the fullest.  They can only fully respect people who share daily chores and duties with them fairly. These people often seek hard-working, dependable mates rather than beautiful or intelligent ones. Outside their permanent or primary relationship, however, the impulsive among them may be magnetically attracted to vivacious and exciting individuals, or to quieter but still passionate types. Their sexual powers are usually high, and their interest in sex is pronounced. When they stray, they suffer to an extent from guilt, but this can lend extra spice to their indiscretions. Although they may attach little importance to such flings, their partner may not be so understanding, and deep, long-lasting hurts may be inflicted. In their sexual and other escapades, they exhibit an immature side, like Peter Pan, who refused to grow up. Youthfulness is, in fact, one of the most obvious of their qualities. Those born during the Week of Mystery & Imagination do not necessarily age well; many risk burnout in their tumultuous lifestyles, others deteriorate through neglect or abuse of their bodies. Haste and carelessness may not only wear them down physically but contribute to psychological instability. On the other hand, those lucky enough to have a stable support group, whether in family, friends or, a mate, can have it all, establishing the many facets of their personalities. Those who live alone may, in fact, build up great inner strength through dealing with the most difficult and elusive customer they have ever metâthemselves.
Those born on January 20 are intensely alive individuals who are very comfortable following their impulses wherever they lead. The capacity to make snap decisions and act on them is highly characteristic of people born on this day. Improvisatory rather than painstaking, they take life as it comesâno matter how chaotic or upsetting it is, they feel they can handle it. Their own internal state is often chaotic as well, although they miraculously impart an orderliness to their work, most often due to technical ease in their particular medium. Humor figures prominently in the makeup of these vibrant people. The most dire circumstances are often alleviated, lightened by their ready wit. But such a fine sense of irony also serves to protect a profound inner sensitivity. Though they are fond of jokes and will even play the fool themselves if it suits them, they are very proud individuals who take themselves very seriously indeed. January 20 people have a deeply human quality which endears them to their family and friends. Despite the fact that they can display a nasty temper and are sharply outspoken in their views, they are quickly forgiven by others, for there is no malice in their outbursts. Because of their love of fun they may be taken for superficial, except by those who really know them. Actually January 20 people often lead a highly private, even secret life, and share their hopes and dreams with but a few intimates. Most January 20 people are by nature big-hearted, and therefore share without a second thought. However, later they may well feel a bit put upon if they find the other party unworthy of their generosity. Although not always in the best health, January 20 people are highly resilient physically, emotionally and mentally, and capable of surviving many catastrophes in their lives. Somehow they always seem to pull through, buoyed by an incurable optimism. Although they are generally on the side of the underdog and have strong protective sympathies, January 20 people can themselves be very dictatorial, a role for which they are hardly suited. They are not particularly adept at forcing others (including their children) to obey the rules they set down, and perhaps because their own freewheeling style implies a kind of disregard for such restriction, others donât take their authoritarianism seriously. Emotional, expressive and caring, these larger-than-life people may have glaring faults and make many mistakes of judgment, but do so with a singular absence of malice. Their insistence on a positive attitude toward life, and their courage and stick-to-it-iveness are an example to others. People born on January 20 are lifeâs ad-libbers. They may not always be sure where they are going but they also have no doubt that they will get somewhere. They are liberal, sensitive and charming individuals with a remarkable skill for cooperation and improvisation. They are constantly learning, adapting and perfecting their skills, and these qualities helps them climb the ladder of success, sometimes to the very top.Others may sometimes mistake people born on this day as dreamy, disorganized and scatter-brained. Although they give the appearance of confusion, every detail is stored in their methodical and analytical mind and they simply have an original way of approaching life. They are capable of remarkable endurance, their flexible style ensuring that they overcome the toughest of setbacks with their sense of humor intact.People born on this day have a genuine compassion and love for people, and will go to extraordinary lengths to help them. They are typically supportive of the underdog but when they are thrown into the role of leader they can come across as dictatorial. It is important for them to carefully consider their approach to leadership, given that their attitude toward the authority of others tends to be light-hearted rather than respectful.Although they appear tough, the respect of others is extremely important, sometimes too important to them. They need to learn to trust their own judgments more as they are usually right. Fortunately, around the age of thirty there is often a turning point which heightens their sense of self-worth and emphasizes the need for working with their gut instinct.The considerable personal charm and flexibility that characterizes people born on this day suggests that they have the potential to become wellrounded personalities. Once they can build a sense of self-worth and find a direction and sense of balance, people born on January 20 can display surprisingly intense powers of concentration and commitment that not only assure success but also win them the lasting admiration and respect of others. In love, people born on January 20 have a great sense of fun and spontaneity, and they make charming, optimistic and supportive lovers. There is a tendency for them to become insecure when they are deeply involved and to obsess too much about a partnerâs opinion. They need to learn to apply their same relaxed and go-with-the-flow approach to life to their relationships. People born on this day may go through periods of recurring poor health. On the whole t heir optimistic, flexible approach always helps them through but if they can learn to pay attention to warning signs they can ensure that they donât succumb to poor health in the first place. Regular health checks are important, as is an immune-boosting diet rich in fiber, whole grains and vegetables, and a regular exercise routine. They may also find that alternative therapies such as aromatherapy, hypnotherapy and homeopathy offer them a sense of well-being and calm. Wearing amethyst jewelry or placing an amethyst crystal under their pillow will also help calm their emotions and reduce stress. Any career that involves dealing with the public will attract these people, as they genuinely care for the well-being of others. They can also achieve much in medical and scientific fields, and their ability to communicate well means that they make great teachers, counselors and advisors and entrepreneurs. On the other hand, they also have latent creative abilities, and careers that put these to good use, such as writing (in particular science fiction), music and the media, may also appeal. The life path of people born on this day is to build up a sense of self-worth essential to their growth. Once they feel confident enough to progress, their destiny is to create harmony in the world by showing everyone a way forward. People born specifically on the 20th of January are often dreamier and more sensitive than their Capricorn zodiac symbol portrays. The ruling astrological planet for this particular day is the Moon creating Goats that are not as reserved as usual and better in tune with their emotions. If you have this birthday you are an eccentric thinker who likes to look beyond the first appearances of things. You are hard working and realistic with high ambitions but you are also quite rebellious and do not enjoy being told what to do. Individuals with a January the twentieth birthday are usually cheerful, friendly and surprisingly persuasive in their communication making them good at getting their own way. Due to the prominent lunar influences on your natal date you can sometimes be a little unsure in your direction and confidence. You are fortunately bestowed with added resilience, decisiveness and focus which help you locate your directional purpose. Career path choices to a person born on the twentieth of January are not always easy as you find most work types too monotonous. You may try several occupations before deciding on something you will enjoy, self employment is often a consideration for the most job satisfaction. Individuals with this particular birth date are quick to adapt to most work challenges and are usually great at doing two things at once. Financially you organize your budget well even on a meager income and do not like to borrow. You do not generally run into problems in this area as you are able to spend and save wisely. Unlike a typical description of a Capricorn the person born on the twentieth day of January is fairly demonstrative with their feelings. Your surface emotional state remains typically cool concerning romance but your inner warmth and responsiveness peeps through quite easily to those you love and care about. As you search for a partner to be a friend as well as a lover you may find your destined soul mate among your close personal acquaintances. When in a long term relationship you are affectionate, generous, broad minded and protective and you love pampering your partner and being pampered. You are happy without an official commitment of your relationship but will probably feel unable to give up the whole of your heart. Your untypically characteristic dreaminess and sensitivity make you emotionally receptive and romantically inclined. To keep looking good and feeling great those born on January 20th should follow a sensible diet that avoids additives and includes lots of fluids. You are not generally a fan of keep fit activities but you are likely to enjoy noncompetitive, gentle or fun exercise to manage stress or unwanted weight gain. You are advised to try to listen to your body and the signals it gives you when it needs more or less of something physically or emotionally. If you smoke or drink too much it can have a big impact on your general health especially upon your skin. Try to moderate any bad habits you have for optimum fitness. The main strengths of your character are that you are immensely expressive, resilient and big hearted. These qualities seem to overpower your touch of shyness and insecurities complimenting your highly imaginative side. A prominent personality weakness for those born on January 20th is your tendency to every now and then be completely unrealistic in your ideas or opinions. As you have such a vivid imagination you can sometimes get carried away with voicing your impractical thoughts before thinking first. As you mature you tend to learn how to gain a bit more self-control over this negative trait. Being born on the 20th of January makes you determined to be successful in life and this is one of your biggest dreams and goals. You have a positive attitude and when you make decisions regarding your future you aim to definately stick to them. Being organized and quickly learning from any mistakes allows you to achieve much of what you wish for. Although you may not often dream of the perfect love relationship you unconsciously yearn for emotional happiness above anything else. You normally realize from a young age that your temperament needs a fine balance in its physical and mental state to be truly contented. As you were born on the twentieth day of the month the numbers of your date of birth, 2 and zero reduce to a Root number of Two. This numerical reference to your birthday has the keyword 'Harmony' and reflects your yearning for balanced peaceful surroundings. The Tarot card associated with your special day is the 20th card in the Major Arcana named Judgment. This could signify your decidedness and high responsiveness to stimuli. The lucky gemstone for January the twentieth birthdays is the luxurious Pearl and it is thought to bring it's wearer good luck and generate calming positivity. As the planet Saturn influences Capricorn personalities you will acquire much of your character traits from its astrological authority. The actual day you were born, the twentieth of January is influenced by the strong presence of the Moon bestowing you with the additional finer features of your personality. These 2 planets combine to cosmically determine the unique way that you think, act and feel. Your expressiveness, ability to think outside the box and ingenuity set you apart from others but you should beware of being egotistical and try to think before you speak. A final thought to ponder for people born on January the 20th is the well known saying 'Remember to Look before you Leap' as this is pertinent advice for you.
12. Madchen Amick (Birthday: Dec. 12, 1970 â The Day Of Body Language; Personality Period: Sagittarius III â Dec. 11 to Dec. 18 â The Week Of The Titan; Place Of Birth: Sparks, Nevada, United States)
Those born during the Week of the Titan think on a grand scale. Their minds are usually geared to big projects, whether planning a family get-together or mapping out a business strategy. Disliking pettiness in all forms, they see the total picture first, and generally avoid getting hung up on the details. These people are big-hearted, and give shamelessly, but are realistic enough to expect something in return. They reach for the stars, but they keep both feet solidly on the ground. Their ambitions and aspirations are firmly rooted in the here and now. Whether small or large of frame, they are physically imposing, and make their presence felt in any gathering. The persona they project is big, and hard to take in all at once. This feeling that they are difficult to walk around can also extend to the sense that they canât easily be gotten out of the wayâcanât be bamboozled by airy schemes or faulty reasoning. Those personally involved with these powerful individuals will inevitably have to reckon with playing a subordinate role. It can be dangerous to come between these individuals and their goals, for once they have made up their mind they move with lightning speed. Their friends and family learn soon enough what a given mood foretellsâquiet or action. The people who get along best with them try to read their emotional weather report at the beginning of the day, for it may well determine the outcome of any project at the dayâs end. Their more disturbing aspects may have to be overlooked or ignored in the cause of group harmony and effective action. There are moody and disturbing elements to their personality that may strain living and working relationships. If such individuals are depressed, they are hard to budge. They often internalize external pressures and may, in consequence, exhibit chronic (rather than acute) physical and mental symptoms. Those close to them will eventually have to try to cheer them up, or get them to take a more positive view of their lives, but often to no availâfor these people actually find these dark moods an essential way of withdrawing from the world to chew things over. Extremely thoughtful, they can ruminate over a problem or plan for weeks or months before finally coming up with a solution. In this activity they are best left alone. Since their emotions come from a very deep place, their eruptions of feeling can be nothing short of volcanic. It is extremely important, then, that they spend time with people who are sympathetic to them, and with whom they can periodically unburden themselves by discussing whatever is on their mind. Like a pressure cooker, smoldering crater or grinding tectonic plate, they need to let energy loose in small doses if they are to avoid being shaken apart by the âbig one.â Complaining is actually healthy for these people, and those who understand them welcome their occasional fussing and grumbling; the alternative is a good deal worse. They are drawn to magical and ecstatic experiences, not only in their personal lives but also in their careers. What basically attracts them, after all, is the impossible challenge, and they love to pull off miracles both minor and major before their astonished colleaguesâ eyes. Yet they cannot be called competitive, since there seems to be so little to fear from their fortified citadels that no real competition is possible. That outlook may seem egotistical, but it gives some idea of their self-confidence and assurance. And yet, behind the massive bulwark of their personality, somewhere in a remote back passage lurks insecurity. This is their greatest enemy. A wee voice still murmurs from time to time, âAre you really as rock-solid as you seem?â The answer, of course, is no, but the world is usually fooled until a crack appears in the Mount Rushmoreâlike facade. Everyone has some kind of insecurity, of course, so it should come as no surprise that they do, too; what is important, however, is their inability to recognize or deal with it. This lack of self-awareness may be the high price they pay for their peace of mind. The most successful lovers and mates for them are often those who can weave a magical spell around them, after first lulling them into letting their guard down. They actually enjoy being enchanted by those very special individuals who can lighten their ponderous workload or their crushing personal responsibilities. Their mates will benefit from their protective and capable ways but can also come to feel imprisoned, and may chafe under the feeling that the full expression of their own talents and abilities is denied. Those born during the Week of the Titan are so focused and single-minded by nature that there is usually little difficulty in distinguishing between their desires and their needs, which are in some cases identical. Those emotionally involved with them know what they demand, and usually face only one decisionâcomply or resist. Negotiation or compromise is not in the picture. Still, like the giant in a fairy tale, they can be fooled, often without finding out about it until later.
Those born on December 12 put a great deal of emphasis on their physical condition, how they move and in general what they do with their bodies. This is in no way meant to imply that they are not mentally and spiritually oriented; it is simply that body attitudes fascinate them. Indeed, reading the body language of others can be their specialty. Those born on this day thus have a window into the psychological and emotional state of any person with whom they are interacting. December 12 people know how to put on a show, act a part and in general use their presence expressively. Again, this does not mean to imply any heaviness or grossly carnal attributes, for those born on this day are more likely to be lithe, active and healthy types. But whether fat or thin, December 12 people give the definite impression of being comfortable and relaxed around their bodies. Some December 12 people are even capable of compelling others through their presence alone, without posturing at all. This subtle form of coercion need not be overtly threatening, but certainly lets the other party know that they are there, and that they mean business. December 12 people put their most outstanding physical characteristics to work for themâwhether it be their stature, muscularity or shapeliness. Should their appearance deviate greatly from the norms of attractiveness current in society (i.e., if they are overweight, short of stature or have irregular features) they will find a way to make these work to their advantage. Oddly enough, after one has been with a December 12 person for some time, his/her physical characteristics take on a transparent air and the real person underneath the external structure emerges. It is only then that one realizes how their physical characteristics serve as a symbolic facade for their real personalities, and the connection between the two. The voice of a December 12 person must be considered an important physical characteristic as well. More than with others, those born on this day reveal much about themselves through the quality of their voice, rather than by what they are saying or even the emotion behind it. Indeed, they know how to use their voice in a seductive or forceful manner with great effect. December 12 people must explore themselves at a deep level if they wish to grow spiritually. They should beware of becoming obsessed with physical characteristics, outward appearance, money, prestige and the like. Also they must not get too attached to physical objects or dependent on the approval of others. Keeping their independence and dignity intact in the face of lifeâs hardships and accompanying temptations is a great part of their growth. Non-material pursuits, whether religious, spiritual or philosophical can benefit them greatly. People born on December 12 often feel that they have an important message to deliver to the worldâone that they believe will help others progress and learn. They also long to broaden their mind through study and travel, and as well as being mentally agile they also tend to be physically agile, enjoying traveling about from place to place or experience to experience.These peopleâs insatiable appetite for knowledge and experience is heavily influenced by their powerful desire to make a tangible, beneficial and enlightening contribution to the lives of others. Colleagues and friends will often admire their mental dexterity and their ability to identify areas in need of improvement and communicate their remedial visions to those around them in ways that are truly memorable.Until the age of thirty-nine there is an emphasis in their lives on the need for order and structure. These are the years when they are most likely to feel boxed in or tied down, and the struggle between their desire to establish themselves and their thirst for adventure can be complicating and confusing for them. After the age of forty there is an important turning point when they are likely to become even more experimental in their approach to life and when the drive toward freedom will be particularly strong. The term mid-life crisis would not be inappropriate here, and these people may suddenly feel the need to make dramatic changes in their personal and professional life.These people must never forget that they possess a tremendous amount of will-power and, when they finally devote themselves to a worthy career and set themselves clear goals and objectives, they have all the ambition and talent they need to be a success. When it comes to their personal life, if they can channel some of their energy inward to develop their intuition and spirituality, they will be able to draw on their extensive knowledge and life experience to realize their ambition of delivering an empowering message of hope, love and positive expectation to the world. People born on December 12, whether they are conventionally attractive or not, often have a seductive voice and a powerful and dramatic physical presence. They can use these to their advantage when it comes to attracting potential partners. They will probably have many relationships, but once they finally find a partner they want to commit to they are likely to fully commit to the relationship to make it work. People born on this day can sometimes think that they have inherited poor health and that they are likely to succumb to the same illnesses or conditions as their parents. In the great majority of cases their fears are unfounded, and if they take good care of themselves by practicing preventative medicine they can reduce or completely eliminate their risk of dementia, osteoporosis and high blood pressure. Once they understand the connection between their current eating, sleeping and lifestyle habits and the long-term health risks involved, it is often enough for them to make positive changes. These will include making sure their diet is fresh, nutritious and healthy, and that their exercise routine becomes a part of their life. They would benefit greatly from grounding and calming activities such as tai chi and yoga, and mental disciplines such as meditation. Wearing, meditating on and surrounding themselves with the color purple will encourage them to look within for a sense of excitement. These people have a message for the world, and careers that allow them to impart knowledge such as lecturing, teaching, writing, counseling, advising, politics, coaching, and training will therefore all appeal. They may also be drawn toward advertising, salesâespecially the promoting of innovative new productsâmedia, publishing, the theater, or the arts. The life path of people born on this day is to balance their need for freedom with their need to establish themselves. Once they have added a spiritual dimension to their lives, their destiny is to educate, advise and inspire others. People born specifically on the 12th of December are presumed to be independent and adventurous with the typical Sagittarian kind heart and occasional tactlessness. The ruling astrological planet for this particular day is Jupiter giving you competitive and idealistic streaks guiding you to be rather disciplined and thorough. If you have this birthday your alert and agile temperament is quick witted and communicative with a craving for variety and change. Your strong dislike of boredom, dullness and routine encourages you to broaden your horizons by way of travelling and study. Friendly, outgoing and organized you are also creative, good with words and great at reading the body language of others. Individuals with a December the twelfth birthday are fair and generous but a little scared of emotions too and although quite patient you tend to be overly cautious at times. You are a deep thinker with a lively, enthusiastic and determined approach and highly likely to have an avid interest in history and geography. The immensely articulate and eloquent disposition granted to a person born on the twelfth of December makes them suitable for the majority of careers. Your preference to keep busy sees you enjoying fast paced working environments best. Your carefully controlled discipline and thoroughness are excellent attributes for doing well in any job you choose. Spending money is something you are inclined to really enjoy but your generosity may cause a few financial problems if you are not careful to adequately control your budget. Your giving spirit and quest to try and live life to the fullest and seize the moment can also make saving a bit difficult. For a Sagittarius, the person born on the twelfth day of December is typically romantic but this is always with a hint of practicality in a relationship. Cheerful, spirited and freedom loving you will usually be a tad flirty but with the capability to love very deeply. In spite of your usual friendliness and wittiness the idea of too much intimacy or potential emotional dependency scares you so you can be sometimes hesitant to commit to a long term relationship. You will need a supportive soul mate partner who you feel you can trust implicitly if you wish to grow and strengthen emotionally. You will usually possess a lusty sex drive that makes you adventurous and fun in the bedroom but still considering friendship and an intellectual rapport more important than the physical side of a devoted partnership. As you love with your mind as well as your body erotic conversation can be a real sexual turn on. The right amounts of exercise and sleep is of much importance to the overall healthiness ordinarily experienced by those born on December 12th. As you seem to be forever on the go it is rare for you to have weight issues despite your fondness of rich foods. If you are ill you do not often find limiting or restricting your diet or high levels of activity easy so you will commonly be a grumpy patient. People born on this day could discover that any excesses of sugar or caffeine are particularly bad for overall general medical and dental health. Drinking plenty of water is advised to avoid potential skin problems and a proneness for quick dehydration. Your main strengths of character are revealed within your expressive expansive independence, enthusiasm and determination. These positive qualities enhance your creativity and eloquence and along with your friendliness, patience and lively sense of humor help you speedily adapt to new or changing circumstances. The personality weaknesses for those born on December 12th are frequently provoked by your slight fear of emotional closeness or a challenge to your keen competitiveness. In any of these type of negative situations or following something unexpected or upsetting your responsive behavior can become mardy, materialistic, tactless or compulsive. Being born on the 12th of December means your most likely desired goal is to do all you can to help others and this guides you to perform many good deeds. Achieving unselfish aims usually gives you immense motivation and satisfaction. You will ordinarily have really fond memories of all your worthwhile accomplishments and a hope that people will appreciate and remember your kindness. Dreams are often linked to your passion for travel and yearning to visit interesting places. As you were born on the twelfth day of the month your birth date digits of a one and a two give you a Root number of Three. This numerical reference to your birthday has the keyword 'Innovation' pinpointing your efficient alertness, agility and organizational skills. In Tarot the 12th Major Arcana card featuring the Hanged Man is associated with your birthday. This identifies your deeply thoughtful nature in addition to your aversion to restriction. The luckiest gemstone for December the twelfth birthdays is imagined to be an Amethyst, to be worn for possible boosts to inspiration, wealth, wisdom, positivity and contentment. The probabilities of the personalities of all Sagittarians are thought to be greatly influenced by the planet Jupiter's astrological power. The actual day you were born on, the twelfth of December is ruled over by the same planetary influence intensifying most of your typified and expected characteristics. Your talkative yet composed manner and kindhearted attitude make your easily approachable and highly responsive. Your strong sense of adventure and avid wish to study usually curbs your hint of caution and can take you quite far in life. If you can conquer being slightly cool emotionally it should further develop your intellect and understanding. A finishing advising thought for people born on December the 12th is to try to be a little more realistic once in a while.
#charles melton#ashleigh murray#casey cott#marisol nichols#skeet ulrich#madchen amick#riverdale#secret language of birthdays
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Ad Astra Richard Truly⌠On February 27, 2024, US Navy Vice-Admiral & NASA astronaut Richard âDickâ Truly passed away aged 86. In 1965, Truly was among the first military astronauts selected to the MOL space station program. In 1969 he joined NASA astronaut group 7 and acted as CapCom on the 1973 Skylab and 1975 ASTP missions, before flying in space on shuttle missions STS-2 and STS-8. Between May 1989 and May 1992, Truly was the first former NASA astronaut to head the American space agency. For his service to the United States' efforts in space Truly was awarded two NASA distinguished service medals, the NASA outstanding leadership medal, two NASA exceptional service medals and two NASA space flight medals. This November 1981 photo shows Richard Truly onboard space shuttle Columbia mission STS-2, the first crew to wear the Omega Alaska Project III âradial dialâ Speedmaster chronograph. (Photo: NASA)
#Aviator#Astronaut#321#Speedmaster#chronograph#Omega#Moonwatch#NASA#MoonwatchUniverse#Ad Astra#Space Shuttle#Omega watches#military#US Navy#Officer and Gentleman#pilot watch#test pilot#montres#uhren#Zulu time
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Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #18
May 10-17 2024
The Justice Department endorses lifting many restrictions on marijuana. Since the 1970s marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive classification for drugs that are highly addictive, dangerous and have no medical use, like heroin. Schedule I drugs are nearly impossible to get approval for research studies greatly hampering attempts to understand marijuana and any medical benefits it may have. The DoJ recommends moving it to Schedule III, drugs with low risk of abuse like anabolic steroids, and testosterone. This will allow for greater research, likely allow medical marijuana, and make marijuana a much less serious offense. President Biden welcomed DoJ's decision, a result a review of policy he ordered. Biden in his message talked about how he's pardoned everyone convicted of marijuana possession federally. The President repeated a phrase he's said many times "No-one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,"
The Department of Interior announced no new coal mining in America's largest coal producing region. The moratorium on new coal leases has been hailed as the single biggest step so fair toward ending coal in the US. The Powder River Basin area of Wyoming and Montana produces 40% of the nations coal, the whole state of West Virginia is just 14%. The new rule is estimated to reduce emissions by the equivalent of 293 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, the same as taking 63 million gas powered cars off the road.
Vice-President Harris announced that the Biden-Harris Administration had broken records by investing $16 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Harris, a graduate of Howard University, is the first President or Vice-President to have gone to a HBCU. The Administration's investment of $900 million so far in 2024 brought the total investment of the Biden-Harris administration in HBCUs to $16 billion more than double the record $7 billion. HBCUs produce 40% of black engineers, 50% of black teachers, 70% of black doctors and dentists, and 80% of black judges. HBCUs also have a much better record of helping social mobility and moving people out of generational poverty than other colleges and universities.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $30 billion dollars in renewal funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The program supports 2.3 million families that are in need of housing with vouchers that help pay rent. This funding represents a $2 billion dollar increase over last year.
The Department of Agriculture announced $671.4 million in investments in rural infrastructure. The money will go to project to improve rural electric grids, as well as drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The money will go to 47 projects across 23 states.
HUD announced a record breaking $1.1 billion dollar investment in Tribal housing and community development. HUD plans just over 1 billion dollars for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program. This is a 40% increase in funding over 2023 and marks the largest ever funding investment in Indian housing. HUD also is investing $75 million in community development, supporting building and rehabbing community buildings in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
The Department of Transportation announced $2 billion in investments in America's busiest passenger rail route, the Northeast Corridor between Washington DC and Boston. This is part of a 15 year, $176 billion plan to rebuild the corridorâs infrastructure and prepare for increased ridership and more trains. So far investments have seen a 25% increase, 7 million riders, over figures last year. a fully funded plan would almost double Amtrak service between New York City and Washington, D.C., and increase service between New York City and Boston by 50%. It would also allow a 60% increase in commuter trains.
HUD announced plans to streamline its HOME program. Currently the largest federal program to help build affordable housing, the streamlining of the rules will speed up building and help meet the Biden Administration's goal of 2 million new affordable housing units. HUD announced last week $1.3 billion dollars for the HOME program, which built 13,000 new units of housing in 2023 and helped 13,000 families with rental assistance
The Department of Interior announced $520 million in new water projects to help protect against drought in the western states. The funding will support 57 water related projects across 18 western states. The projects focus on climate resilience and drought prevention, as well as improving aging water delivery systems, and improving hydropower generation.
The Departments of Agriculture and HHS have stepped up efforts to wipe out the H5N1 virus prevent its spread to humans while protecting farmers livelihoods. The virus is currently effecting dairy cattle in the Texas panhandle region. The USDA and HSS are releasing wide ranging funds to help support farms equipping workers with Personal Protective Equipment, covering Veterinary costs, as well as compensating farmers for lost revenue. HHS and the CDC announced $101 million in testing an monitoring. This early detection and action is key to preventing another Covid style pandemic.
The Senate confirmed Sanket Bulsara to a life time federal judgeship in New York and Eric Schulte and Camela Theeler to lifetime federal judgeships in South Dakota. This brings the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 197. For the first time in history the majority of a President's judicial nominees have not been white men.
Bonus: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that transgender health insurance exclusions were illegal. The ruling came from a case first filed in 2019 where an employer refused to cover an employee's gender affirming surgery. The court in its ruling sited new guidance from the Biden Administration's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that declared that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects trans people in the work place. These kinds of guidelines are often sited in court and carry great weight.
#Thanks Biden#Joe Biden#democrats#american politics#marijuana#marijuana legalization#climate change#climate action#HBCU#howard university#affordable homes#native american#Trans rights#judges#h5n1
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My Selections for GRAMMYS 2020
Continuing what I started last year hereâs my reaction to the GRAMMY Nominations with my selections for who I believe should win, and also who I would have picked for each category.
Let me first lay out the ground rules: - I will be following the time frame for eligibility which is October 1st 2018 to September 30th 2019. - I will be ignoring categories for genres I donât listen to enough. Metal, Country, Classical, Jazz, will be left off. - I am ignoring that the Performance categories are a mixture of recordings and live performances and just treating them as genre specific âRecords of the yearâ awards. The oneâs with âSongâ in the title are geared more towards the song writing. - I will first make my selection of the available options. Bold and underlines will be my top selection with underlined not bold as my runner up. - I will then make my own selections for each category and who I think should win out of that. - My selection is not just a list of my favorite albums. My selections will be a balancing act taking in account artistic accomplishments, Impact both culturally and popularity as well as what I personally think is good. - I made a few liberties with some of my selections, mostly from the rules for eligibility being vague in spots. - This list is just all my biased suggestions. Iâm sure there will be some major differences in opinions with anybody who reads this. - Feel free to shoot me a message to discuss more with me anything you wish to!
Album of the Year:
Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE SO WE GO? Bon Iver - I,I H.E.R. - I Used To Know Her Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rickwell Lil Nas X - 7 Lizzo - Cuz I Love You Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride
My Picks: Big Wild - Superdream Jacob Banks - The Village Illenium - ASCEND Khalid - Free Spirit Lizzo - Cuz I Love You Nick Murphy - Run Fast Sleep Naked NilfĂźr Yanya - Miss Universe Tyler, The Creator - IGOR
Record of the Year:
Ariana Grande - 7 Rings Billie Eilish - Bad Guy Bon Iver - Hey, Ma H.E.R. - Hard Place Khalid - Talk Lil Nas X - Old Town Road (Feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) Lizzo - Truth Hurts Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower
My Picks: Avicii - SOS (Feat. Aloe Blacc) Bon Iver - Hey Ma Flume - Let You Know (Feat. London Grammer) G Flip - About You Illenium - Good Things Fall Apart (Feat. Jon Bellion) Khalid - Talk Lizzo - Cuz I Love You Taylor Swift - Lover
Song of the Year:
Billie Eilish - Bad Guy H.E.R. - Hard Place Lady Gaga - Always Remember Us This Way Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved Lizzo - Truth Hurts Taylor Swift - Lover Tanya Tucker - Bring Me Flowers Now
My Picks: Flux Pavilion - Somebody Else (Feat. GLNNA)Â G Flip - I Am Not Afraid Gryffin & Aloe Blacc - Hurt People Kahlid - Better Maggie Rogers - Alaska MUNA - Stayaway LĂON - You & I
Best New Artist:
Billie Eilish Black Pumas Lil Nas X Lizzo Maggie Rogers ROSALĂA Tank and the Bangas Yola
My Picks: Billie Eilish Clairo Dermot Kennedy G Flip Jacob Banks Kim Petras Maggie Rogers NilfĂźr Yanya
Best Pop Solo Performance:
Ariana Grande - 7 Rings BeyoncĂŠ - Spirit Billie Eilish - Bad Guy Lizzo - Truth Hurts Taylor Swift - You Need To Calm Down
My Picks: Bon Iver - Hey, Ma Billie Eilish - Bad Guy G Flip - About You Maggie Rogers - Alaska NilfĂźr Yanya - Heavyweight Champion of the Year
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance:
Ariana Grande & Social House - Boyfriend Jonas Brothers - Sucker Lil Nas X - Old Town Road (Feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello - Senorita
My Picks: James Blake - Barefoot in the Park (Feat. ROSALĂA) JOHNNYSWIM - Souvenir Khalid - Outta My Head (Feat. John Mayer) Mark Ronson - Late Night Feelings (Feat. Lykke Li) MUNA - Stayaway
Best Pop Vocal Album:
Ariana Grande - thank u, next Beyonce - The Link King: The Gift Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Ed Sheeran - No. 6 Collaborations Project Taylor Swift - Lover
My Picks: Billie Eilish - WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? G Flip - About Us Kim Petras - Clarity Maggie Rogers - Heard It In A Past Life NilfĂźr Yanya - Miss Universe
Best Dance Recording:
Bonobo - Linked The Chemical Brothers - Got To Keep On Meduza Feat. Goodboys - Piece Of Your Heart RĂFĂS DU SOL - Underwater Skrillex & Boyz Noize - Midnight Hour (Feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
My Picks: Big Wild - Joypunks Flume - Let You Know (Feat. London Grammer) Flux Pavilion - Somebody Else (Feat. GLNNA) Illenium - Good Things Fall Apart (Feat. Jon Bellion) Elohim - runnin
Best Dance/Electronic Album:
Apparaty - LP5 The Chemical Brothers - No Georgraphy Flume - Hi This Is Flume [Mixtape] RĂFĂS DU SOL - Solace Tycho - Weather
My Picks: Big Wild - Superdream Alan Walker - Different World Illenium - ASCEND RĂFĂS DU SOL - Solace Whethan - Life of a Wallflower Vol. 1
Best Rock Performance:
Bones UK - Pretty Waste Gary Clark Jr. - This Land Brittany Howard - History Repeats Karen O & Danger Mouse - Woman Rival Sons - Too BadÂ
My Picks: FIDLAR - Get Off My Rock Karen O & Danger Mouse - Turn the Light Mother Mother - Dance and Cry The Ting Tings - Estranged Foals - Exits
Best Rock Song:
Tool - Fear Inoculum The 1975 - Give Yourself A Try Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall Brittany Howard - History Repeats Gary Clark Jr. - This LandÂ
My Picks: Brittany Howard - He Loves Me Circa Waves - Sorry Iâm Yours Karen O & Danger Mouse - Woman Of Monsters and Men - Rororo Vampire Weekend - This Life
Best Rock Album:
Bring Me The Horizon - amo Cage The Elephant - Social Cues The Cranberries - In The End I Prevail - Trauma Rival Sons - Feral Roots
My Picks: Bring Me The Horizon - amo Circa Waves - Whatâs It Like Over There? Foals - Part I: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Mother Mother - Laugh and Cry The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
Best Alternate Album:
Big Thieft - U.F.O.F. Bon Iver - I,I James Blake - Assume Form Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride Thom Yorke - Anima
My Picks: Bon Iver - I,I Nick Murphy - Ran Fast Sleep Naked James Blake - Assume Form Karen O & Danger Mouse - Lux Prima Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
Best R&B Performance:
Daniel Caesar & Brandy - Love Again H.E.R. - Couldâve Been (Feat. Bryson Tiller) Lizzo - Exactly How I Feel (Feat. Gucci Mane) Lucky Daye - Roll Some Mo Anderson .Paak - Come Home (Feat. Andre 3000)
My Picks: Kindness - Hard To Believe (Feat. Jazmine Sullivan & Sampha) Mahlia - What You Did (Feat. Ella Mai) Maverick Sabre - Slow Down (Feat. Jorja Smith) Nicole Bus - You Rationale - ExplosionsÂ
Best Traditional R&B Performance:
BJ The Chicago Kid - Time Today India.Arie - Steady Love Lizzo - Jerome Lucky Daye - Real Games PJ Morton - Built For Love (Feat. Jazmine Sullivan)
My Picks: BANKS - Look What Youâre Doing to Me (Feat. Francis & The Lights) Jacob Banks - Love Ainât Enough Kahlid - Better Lizzo - Cuz I Love You Ruti - Racing Cars
Best R&B Song:
H.E.R. - Couldâve Been (Feat. Bryson Tiller) Emily King - Look At Me Now Chris Brown - No Guidance (Feat. Drake) Lucky Daye - Roll Some Mo PJ Morton - Say So (Feat. JoJo)
My Picks: BJ The Chicago Kid - Reach (Feat. Afrojack) Khalid - Free Spirit Lucky Daye - Concentrate Maverick Sabre - Weakness Ruti - Racing Cars
Best Urban Contemporary Album:
Steve Lacy - Apollo XXI Lizzo - Cuz I Love You Georgia Anna Muldrow - Overload NAO - Saturn Jessie Reyes - Being Human in Public
My Picks: BANKS - III Kindness - Something Like War Lizzo - Cuz I Love You Maverick Sabre - When I Wake Up NAO - Saturn
Best R&B Album:
BJ The Chicago Kid - 1123 Lucky Daye - Painted Ella Mai - Ella Mai PJ Morton - Paul Anderson .Paak - Ventura
My Picks: BJ The Chicago Kid - 1123 Dawn Richard - New Breed Jacob Banks - The Village Kahlid - Free Spirit Anderson .Paak - Ventura
Best Rap Performance:
J. Cole - Middle Child DaBaby - Suge Dreamville - Down Bad (Feat. J.I.D., Bas, J. Cole, EARTHGANG & Young Nudy) Nipsey Hussle - Racks in the Middle (Feat. Roddy Rich & Hit-Boy) Offset - Clout (Feat. Cardi B)
My Picks: Denzel Curry - RICKY Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. HERE Freddie Gibs & Madlib - Palmolive (Feat. Pusha T & Killer Mike) Little Simz - Boss Mustard - Pure Water (Feat. Migos)
Best Rap/Song Performance:
DJ Khaled - Higher (Feat. Nipsey Hussle & John Legend) Lil Baby & Gunna - Drop Too Hard Lil Nas X - Panini Mustard - Ballin (Feat. Roddy Rich) Young Thug - The London (Feat. J. Cole & Travis Scott)
My Picks: Chance The Rapper - All Day (Feat. John Legend) GoldLink - Zulu Screams (Feat. Maleek Berry & Babi Bourelly) Kevin Abstract - Joyride Lizzo - Tempo (Feat. Missy Elliott) TOBi - Come Back Home (Feat. VanJess)
Best Rap Song:
YBN Cordae - Bad Idea (Feat. Chance The Rapper) Rick Ross - Gold Roses (Feat. Drake) 21 Savage - A Lot (Feat. J. Cole) Nipsey Hussle - Racks in the Middle (Feat. Roddy Rich & Hit-Boy) DaBaby - Suge
My Picks: Boogie - Soho (Feat. JID) JID - 151 Rum Rapsody - Nina Raja Kumari - SHOOK YBN Cordae - Have Mercy
Best Rap Album:
Dreamville - Revenger Of The Dreamer III Meek Mill - Chamionships 21 Savage - I Am> I Was Tyler, The Creator - IGOR YBN Cordae - The Lost Boy
My Picks: Denzell Curry - ZUU GoldLink - Diaspora Rapsody - Eve Lil Simz - GREY Area Tyler, The Creator - IGOR
Producer of the Year (Non-Classical):
Dan Auerbach Finneas Jack Antonoff John Hill Ricky Reed
My Picks: Big Wild Diplo Jack Antonoff Seven Lions Tyler, The Creator
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Young Oon Kim hinted that Moon was not the messiah, but only in the line of the messiah.
ⲠAllen Tate Wood with Miss Young Oon Kim in about 1971.
Moonstruck: A memoir of my life in a cult
by Allen Tate Wood (published in 1979)
extracts from pages 82-84 and pages 134-138
National headquarters was at 1611 Upshur Street, N.W., a big, funny old house with a double-pointed roof in a nice upper-middle-class black neighborhood with lots of big, shady maple trees. The building had once been the Libyan embassy. I was shown to a small room among the many on the second floor. There I would sleep on the blue close-cropped rug, because everyone in the Unified Family slept on the floor except Miss Kim, who did not either because she was a saint or because she was older or because she was rather frail.
â˛Â 1611 Upshur St NW, Washington, DC.
I had arrived during the dinner hour, and after I had brought my stuff to the room I joined the group of twenty-five or thirty seated at the two long cafeteria-style tables down in the linoleum-floored basement. Miss Kim sat at the end of one table and I was seated next to her. I was somewhat awed by Miss Kim. I knew her from the photograph that appeared on the back of the early editions of the Divine Principle, which she had translated. That picture showed a Korean maiden of about thirty-two in Oriental dress. She had an oval face, even features, lovely dark eyes and a mouth full and yet disciplined.
Now I saw her some eighteen years later and she was still pretty. Her hair was still long and jet black and she wore it pinned up. What her movements and posture now showed especially, and what the portrait had not been able to convey entirely, was how feminine and graceful she was.
I donât remember what I ate that first meal, but I do remember Miss Kimâs quiet, gentle exploration of my personality. She asked me many questions about myself, but never in a rude stand-and-deliver manner that I might have expected from someone who so obviously held the respect of everyone in the room. She asked about the trip and observed that I must be exhausted, wanted to know about my education, my religious background, my hopes for the future, about my family and where I was from.
âPrinceton,â I answered.
âI thought that was a university.â Her English was precise, pronounced delicately.
âIt is. It is also a nice town. Many people are confused by that.â
âIt is not so far from here?â
âNo, not at all.â
âWill you visit your parents?â
âYes, of course. We are a close family. I have not seen them for four months.â
âYou have not seen them since you joined us?â
âNo.â
âHave you written them?â
âYes.â
âWhat do they say?â
âThey donât really seem to understand. But this has been a rather confusing time for us. They will.â
âThey may not. I would not be surprised, Allen, if they never do. Most of us here are not old like me, but young. Many times families are the enemies of religious experience. Jesus said: âFor I am come to set man at variance against his father. A manâs foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.â Be prepared for the worst. Your family will oppose you in this. They will try to take you from us.â
This was not the first time nor the last time I would hear such sentiments. I had heard them many times already at Berkeley. We had been a young group, nearly all in our way dropouts, some of us deeply hurt, even maimed by the conflict with our society, and tales of ferocious fights with parents were commonplace.
________________________________________
pages 134-138
⌠I was demoted even further. I would not be a lecturer in Level III. I was going back to being a student. I was aghast. I had been expecting to be reinstated, like Frank and Neil Salonen, but here I was getting pushed even further down.
I went to Miss Kim. She was the power behind the power. She was everyoneâs confidante; she knew all that was going on behind the scenes. And she had always liked me, favored me.
I remember talking to her as the late afternoon light faded in the kitchen. She sat with her elbows on the plastic tablecloth. Behind her on the shelves our motley, tacky collection of dishes was stacked. In the background the refrigerator hummed.
I told her the whole story in a great state of agitation. As I spoke she pulled the pins from her hair, which I had never seen down. Her beautiful blue-black hair cascaded about her shoulders. It was thick and long. It reached down to the middle of her back. There was greater meaning in the gesture, I thought. I felt I was seeing the unveiling of a celestial being. What she said did not disappoint me.
Miss Kim had always been a critical follower of the Reverend Moon. Once she had told me that she believed he had some years ago lost his ability to read minds and travel in the astral world. That was why he had to employ the three mediums now. Once she had hinted that Moon was not the messiah, but only in the line of the messiah. He was an Abraham figure, and his son or his grandson would be the true messiah. This was utter heresy, of course, and this was in the back of my mind as Miss Kim spoke.
âDo not worry, young Allen. Frank has many problems and you must bear with him. All this will smooth out later. Meanwhile, I have powers myself. I will look after you. You are under my protection.â
I left the interview completely satisfied. I felt that I had the blessing of a real-life good witch of the East. I did not know exactly what she meant, but I had faith in her. I recalled what had happened the last time I had come to her discouraged. I did become a student in Level III, and I bore with it the best I could. I was a good follower, and by November came the news that made me determined to remain one. The Reverend Moon was coming here!
In December 1971, about a week before Christmas, Moon was present for our Level III graduation, which was held at a church we rented across the street. We had been renting its basement for our Sunday services for a long time. I got a small printed certificate saying that I had graduated from Level III. Presumably I was rehabilitated.
Moon stayed in the Upshur Street house, in the âparentsâ room,â which was a room we kept in every center, specially furnished and waiting, should the day come for the visit of Our Leader. He lay low for about a week. He watched a lot and he conferred privately with many people. I was not one of them; I was no longer in the inner circle. Then, on the day before Christmas, he came out of his room and began to speak. And he kept on preaching all through Christmas and on to the beginning of the new year, for the greater part of seven consecutive days.
Moon talked for many hours each day, until people began to fall asleep, and he would awaken them with a shout or a shake or even a slap across the face.
He told us many things. He told us that the messiah was now in the new Rome, that as of now he had made far more progress than Jesus ever had, though he was also far short of completing his mission. But from now on, his mission was here. Moon would not perform miracles, by the way, because miracles were merely crowd pleasers, nothing serious. Jesusâ miracles were a sign of failure, Moon said.
Moon retold the parables of the Bible, adding his own interpretations. Mrs. Won-bok Choi, the medium, translated for him, as she continued to do when he was in the United States and speaking more or less privately, to his own followers. When he spoke publicly, as he was preparing to do, for his mission was taking outward shape, Colonel Pak was the translator.
Moon told us about the nature of sin. The main duality in Godâs creation was between good and evil. To do evil was to sin, but since everyone thought of themselves as good, how did we know when we were sinning? The answer was that when we were working for ourselves, we were sinning. When we were working for others, we could be sure that we were doing good. Even if we did things that seemed good to others, if we did these things out of our own vanity and egoism, then we were doing evil. Motive counted very heavily in Moonâs system. Just as we could lie for good motives, and thus be doing Godâs work, we could tell the truth for bad motives and be doing Satanâs will.
Such a psychology kept us at constant war with ourselves, and if it succeeded in its aims, our energy would be constantly projected outward. Moonâs was not a religion of introspection, of mysticism, of finding a oneness with God or Nature, nor even a religion of peace or beauty. It was rather a path of action. He would tell us what to think, and our duty was to obey him. His was the perfect religion for those who wished to escape from themselves.
In those seven days Moon mapped out a plan of action and told it to us. He would begin a One World Crusade and he would speak for three days in each of seven cities. A number of us would be formed into mobile bus teams, whose job would be to go into each city as an advance guard. These people would rent the hall for him to speak, sell tickets, do publicity, preach in the streets and then, when at last the Master arrived, move on to the next city on the list and do the same thing. About all this there was an atmosphere of breathless urgency. This was not something that was to happen in the far future or even the near future, but right now. It was to begin even before the month of January was out.
But that was only part of the beginning of his mission, merely the bringing of the word. After having gotten our followers, we wanted to hold them. For that we needed more centers, at least one in every state, including Hawaii and Alaska. Despite our best efforts so far, we had centers in only eight states. We would immediately send out missionaries to all the other states.
In those seven days Moon also prayed many times, and each prayer ended with him in tears. He pulled out his big white handkerchief, snapped it open with a flourish, wiped his eyes and blew his nose. He even sang to us at times; his voice was not pretty, but it was powerful. He sounded like a wounded water buffalo. Moonâs voice had great range, and sometimes, in contrast to the low ranges of his singing, it rose in passion to a mere mouseâs squeak. All in all he was a gigantic, an enveloping personality.
One of the sad things that happened for those of us who knew and loved Miss Kimâand particularly for me, since I was under her protectionâwas that Moon deposed her, abruptly, impatiently, bitterly, though privately. He was angry; he told her she had failed. We heard that he told her she must assume in regard to him the role of a child. She must learn everything all over again.
______________________________________________
Young-oon Kim â it all ended in flames and tears for the professor
Newsweek on the many Korean messiahs of the 1970s
Park Tae-seon â another Korean Pikareum Messiah
Kim Baek-moon talked about âsexual union with Godâ
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CNN projects Rep. Mary Peltola will win race for Alaska House seat, thwarting Sarah Palin's political comeback again | CNN Politics
CNN projects Rep. Mary Peltola will win race for Alaska House seat, thwarting Sarah Palinâs political comeback again | CNNÂ Politics
CNN  â Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, the Democrat who won a special election that sent her to Congress this summer, will once again thwart former Gov. Sarah Palinâs bid for a political comeback. CNN projected Wednesday that Peltola will win the race for Alaskaâs at-large House seat after the stateâs ranked choice voting tabulation, defeating Palin and Republican Nick Begich III. CNN also projectedâŚ
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