Terakawa Ramen

Ever since the temperature been dropping, we’re trying each and every ramen restaurant we can find. To date, one of our all time favorites is Terakawa Ramen. It might actually be wrong to admit this because we don’t want this spot getting more crowded than it already is! Located at 9th and Race in Chinatown, this ramen shop offers fare originating from the Kumamoto region of Japan.

When entering you’ll quickly see this shop is a little small, be prepared for a wait if you go around the dinner rush on the weekends. Its ideal for parties of no more than 4. The seats are stools (with a little carved out portion for your tush), something to note if you can’t sit in seats without a back. All that being said, the service here is impeccable- they are always ready to help take your order, explain what something on the menu is, and the food comes out super fast.

Their  chef’s recipes originate from the Kumamoto region of Japan. The broth is simmered for a period of 2 days. Due to the extensive cooking period, their broth has a deep, well developed flavor that can only be described by experiencing it. And it wouldn’t be ramen without the noodles. Traditional ramen noodles are egg noodles, which are a soft golden yellow color and appear wavy. The Kyushu tradition serves a straighter lighter colored noodle. Both are handmade and both cooked in an ‘al dente’ fashion, as they will continue to cook in the broth when served. It is the Chefs’ intention for you to experience the passion and quality of ingredients that they have put into each bowl of ramen.

  1. Taste the broth.
  2. Taste the noodles.
  3. Experience and enjoy the flavors and texture of the ramen.
  4. We encourage you to flavor the broth & noodles using the spices that are on your table; a Kumamoto specialty.
  5. The flavor of your broth will evolve and change throughout your meal.

In order to define the taste of Kumamoto Kyushu style ramen, you would need to have an understanding of all types of ramen to reference comparisons. So for the well travelled, you will easily be able to define and describe the distinct taste and experience that we offer. For those who may not be as familiar with Japanese culture, let us explain; the broth is simmered for 2 days. As you can imagine, a lot of flavors are extracted from the pork bones. So do you think the pork flavor would be strong or subtle? The true answer to this question depends on what your personal preference is.

When you stop in, be sure to order our favorite the Tan Tan Ramen made with spicy miso and chicken broth soup with sesame paste, topped with minced pork, bean sprouts and chopped scallions. If you don’t like pork, don’t worry, they can also make it with chicken, or spicy! The ground pork is perfect for eating ramen, because it fits nicely into the spoon, and you can use the chopsticks to twirl the noodles. I’ve learned that the proper way to eat ramen is with the soup spoon in one hand, and then chopsticks in the other. This helps ensure that each bite has a little bit of everything- and the chopped pork allows for just that.

Their singature Terakawa Ramen is made with natural Heritage Berkshire Pork bone soup topped with roast pork (charshu), bamboo shoots, kikurage mushrooms, red ginger, chopped scallions and a seasoned boiled egg. We also enjoy the Miso Ramen with chicken and pork miso soup, topped with bamboo shoots, roast pork (charshu), bean sprouts, chopped scallions, kikurage mushroom and a seasoned boiled egg. They also have a special Bibim Noodles served with fresh cooked spicy noodles, chicken, cucumber, kimchee, mushroom and seasoned boiled egg.

The Pork Buns are our favorite starter- either soft or crispy Japanese style bun they’re filled with slow roasted pork with crisp butter leaf lettuce, over cured tomato and spicy mayo. We like to opt for the soft and we only wish there was more than 2 or 3 to an order! Don’t fret, when you order a second round of buns, they’re served quickly.

Other appetizers include Shrimp Tempura Shu Mai which are battered with crispy tempura, topped with sesame seeds and drizzled with lightly spiced bean paste sauce. Gyoza which are pan fried, marinated pork and vegetable dumplings, served with special house dumpling sauce. We’re very curious to try the Tayoyaki which is Japanese mountain-potato encrusted octopus, lightly fried, drizzled with Japanese barbecue sauce and Japanese mayo, topped with shaved fish.

And of course they’ve got Mochi Ice Cream for a little sweet dessert! When it comes to ramen, there’s just something so delicious about it. Whenever the cold seems to be chilling you down to the bone, make the trek to the outskirts of Chinatown for this steaming treat!


X12 - EDI - 837 - 835

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ZocdocAnswersIs it possible that I have bone spurs?

Is it possible that I have bone spurs?

Had ankle surgery about three years ago when I broke my ankle. I've started to feel pain and discomfort in the same ankle over the last 6 months or so. Is it possible that the surgery didn't go perfectly and now I have bone spurs?

I would suggest that you go to see your primary care doctor, given that this problem has been going on now for about 6 months. There are a few different possibilities for the source of your pain. First, it is possible that you have developed bone spurs, which as you know are small growths off of the bone in areas of stress. These cause pain typically when you put pressure over the area where the bone spur is. If you have bone spurs, it is not necessarily evidence that the surgery didn't go well. Sometimes, bone spurs are an unavoidable complication from a broken ankle or other injury. Your doctor will be able to diagnose whether or not you have bone spurs with a simple x-ray. Another possibility is that you are developing some arthritis in the ankle. This is also very common, especially in those who have had multiple sprains and in those who have had bad fractures. Similarly, if you had any hardware (screws, plates) placed in the ankle during the surgery, I think it would be important to evaluate those. Your doctor will take a look and make initial recommendations. They can also refer you back to an orthopedic doctor if that becomes necessary.


Frostbite is an obstacle used in the 4th season of the Winter Wipeout Zone. Contestants had to avoid four cold teeth while two platforms slowly come around and then the contestants go to the middle. Then, they must make their way across the other side and land on the platform to reach the final obstacle, The Sinister Snowflakes. The teeth that is moving can take a contestant off the platform very quick and can severely hit them in the face. Because the teeth move extremely fast on their first try, it was one of the most harmful scariest, and dangerous obstacles ever in the Wipeout Zone.

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ACTEC is a development NGO set up in 1982 with the aim of supporting vocational training projects for the benefit of poor and marginalised people in developing countries. Since its inception, ACTEC has concentrated efforts on promoting projects that efficiently target local populations of Latin America and Africa. In 1994, we initiated activities in Lebanon.

Inspired by the Christian humanism values, ACTEC believes that people´s progress depends on the respect of the dignity of the human person and the improvement of their autonomy. Autonomy of individuals and families relies on their capacity to obtain their own economic means. Work is a privileged way of achieving this. Every person can fulfill his/her potential either personally or collectively through his/her work, profession or occupation. ACTEC promotes vocational training programmes to improve people's economic situation and to make them understand that their living standards mostly depend on the quality of their work. For the last 30 years, our experience has strengthened our conviction that vocational training is essential for development: trained people have substantially improved their living conditions and their prospects for personal and collective progress.

It is essential for us to promote and support local associations that address distress situations with specific and bold initiatives in human education and technical training. All the partners we have chosen to collaborate with - and that have opted to collaborate with us - represent hope for change for those benefiting from their action. Every project, every action, every partner has its own characteristics to respond to the specific needs of a region. However, all our activities have a common denominator: we refuse to be fatalistic about poverty and are willing to find ways for development which will produce a real change in the lives of our beneficiaries.

Designed and developed by: Antorcha Web


Membership FAQ

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Why?  This process was established back when memberships were tracked manually and having a single date upon which memberships expired made it much easier for the membership coordinator to keep track of who's current.  This philosophy may change in the future but for now we're sticking with it.

Are memberships and fees paid through this site tax deductable?

Since the AAW is a registered 501c3 non-profit, you membership dues may be tax deductable.
However, other fees such as the Harry Mac Landing Zone fee are NOT tax deductable because payment of the fee is only handled by the Arctic Air Walkers.  One hundred percent of these fees are passed on to the organization that requires the fee.

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Category Archives: RFRA

Joint Statement
By the Council on American-Islamic Relations of New York &
Columbia Law School’s Public Rights/Private Conscience Project

May 15, 2017

Religious Liberty Guidance Provision

Johnson Amendment Provision

The Public Rights/Private Conscience Project
Phone: 212.854.0167

“Religious Liberty” Executive Order Will Limit, Not Enhance, Religious Freedom

May 4, 2017 Today, President Trump signed an executive order that creates many more questions than answers about how the federal government intends to “protect the freedom of Americans and their organizations to exercise religion and participate fully in civic life.” Several of its provisions raise serious cause for concern.

The order—unlike a prior leaked draft—does not single out for special protection particular religious beliefs about sex, marriage, or reproduction. Nevertheless, it still opens the door to agency under-enforcement of federal laws in ways that will harm, not enhance, religious liberty. In particular, Section 4 of the order, entitled “Religious Liberty Guidance,” directs the Attorney General to issue guidance on “interpreting religious liberty protections in Federal law” to all federal agencies. This provision instructs Attorney General Jeff Sessions to interpret religious exemption laws, like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), in ways that may cause significant harm to vulnerable communities.

For example, Sessions could attempt to limit government enforcement of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, or the Fair Labor Standards Act if he determines that enforcement will burden an individual’s or corporation’s religious liberty in violation of RFRA—even if a court would be unlikely to construe RFRA so broadly. More specifically, he could interpret RFRA to provide an exemption from Title VII of the Civil Right Act to employers who believe they have a religious obligation to proselytize to their non-Christian employees. If RFRA is interpreted by agencies to allow employers, landlords, healthcare providers and others to impose their religious beliefs on other individuals, this will significantly burden religious minorities who may find themselves shut out from participation in civic life.

While this order doesn’t require Attorney General Sessions to interpret RFRA and other exemptions in any particular way, we know that he has supported using ‘religious liberty’ as a tool to advance particular conservative beliefs while harming vulnerable communities—a position that many in Trump’s cabinet share. Furthermore, he has expressed hostility to religious minorities. While in the Senate, he voted against a proposed amendment that opposed placing a religious test on those entering the country, and he has called Islam a “toxic ideology.”

In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to update our analysis. Follow PRPCP’s policy page and blog for all of our most up to date information.

Potential Consequences of Trump’s “Religious Freedom” Executive Order

Press Advisory: Potential Consequences of Trump’s “Religious Freedom” Executive Order

Date: May 4, 2017

Contact: Ashe McGovern | | 212.854.0167

Potential Consequences of Trump’s “Religious Freedom” Executive Order

President Trump is set to sign a far-reaching and constitutionally problematic executive order today. Although a draft of the final order has not yet been released, it will likely mirror, at least in part, a similar draft that was leaked earlier this year. While more detailed analysis will be necessary once the final order has been released, the leaked order raises the following issues. Specifically, the order:

Defines “people” to include for-profit corporations—even corporations that do not have an exclusively religious purpose. The order defines a “person” to be consistent with 1 U.S.C 1, which includes for-profit corporations.  This means that where the order affirms the right of “people” to act in accordance with a particular set of religious beliefs, including opposition to LGBTQ equality, it enables for-profit corporations to act in a discriminatory manner. These companies would be shielded from government intervention and enforcement of otherwise applicable laws, as long as they assert that their behavior is in keeping with a particular set of “religious beliefs.” The order also defines “religious organization” to include closely held for-profit corporations “operated for a religious purpose even if its purpose is not exclusively religious and is not controlled by or associated with a house of worship.” Thus an organization that is primarily engaged in secular activities, but claims to have some set of guiding religious principles—which the order fails to limit or define—could qualify as a religious organization. It would then be granted the protections religious organizations are given under this order.

Grants broad exemptions from federal civil rights and nondiscrimination laws to private and nonprofit organizations that are funded by the federal government to provide social services, education, healthcare, employment opportunities or other services to the general public. The order states that “persons and organizations do not forfeit their religious freedom” when contracting with the federal government in delivering services to the general public. This means that private organizations, even those that are funded by the federal government, will be shielded from claims that they have violated civil rights and nondiscrimination law as long as they claim their behavior is in accordance with a set of religious beliefs that they are free to define. This also means that the federal government will be unable to require religious grantees to provide publicly-funded services on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Enables federal contractors to impose their religious beliefs on their workers as a condition of employment. The order states that all agencies must provide exemptions to federal contractors and grantees consistent with religious exemptions found within the Civil Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act. These exemptions have been carefully tailored and limited by the courts, and do not currently apply to federal contractors. Applying them to federal contractors would impermissibly expand the exemptions, and allow federally-funded organizations to require that their employees follow particular religious beliefs or behaviors in order to remain employed.

Grants broad religious exemptions to federal employees acting in their official capacities as government workers, including workers that regularly interact with the public. The order requires agencies to “accommodate” the religious beliefs of federal employees, even where those beliefs conflict with their official duties as government employees. This could mean that a federal employee, who works for the Social Security Administration, for example, could refuse to process an application for a same-sex couple, a transgender person or a person of different faith, by stating that their religious beliefs prohibit them from doing so.

Directs relevant federal agencies to exempt any organization, whether religious or secular, from having to provide comprehensive reproductive services and healthcare to their workers. The order directs the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury to issue an immediate interim rule that “exempts from the preventative care mandate…all persons and religious organizations that object to complying with the mandate for religious or moral reasons.” The order also directs HHS to take “appropriate actions” to ensure that “any individuals” who purchase health insurance on the individual markets, including federally facilitated and state sponsored health insurance, have the ability to purchase insurance that does not provide coverage for abortion and “does not subsidize plans that do provide such coverage.” This means that any for-profit employer can be granted a religious exemption from the requirement that they or their health plans provide contraceptive and family planning services. This would substantially broaden the Supreme Court’s holding in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which applied only to closely-held corporations. The order would also require state and federal exchanges to include plans that prohibit family planning services. Furthermore, it would preempt state laws that require health plans to cover birth control and abortion.

Allows federally-funded child welfare services and agencies to discriminate on any basis, including on the basis of race or religion, if doing so would “conflict with the organization’s religious beliefs.” This includes organizations that “provide federally funded child-welfare services, including promoting or providing adoption, foster, or family support services for children, or similar services.” This means that organizations that provide foster or adoptive services would be empowered to discriminate against same-sex couples, people of other faiths, unmarried people, or others whose relationships or behaviors do not conform to the organization’s particular religious beliefs.

Allows religious organizations and houses of worship to engage in political lobbying, while still maintaining their tax-exempt status. Specifically, this order would allow an organization that is speaking on a “moral or political issue from a religious perspective” to endorse or support political candidates. Currently, the tax code prohibits all 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. This provision would exempt religious organizations—and only religious organizations—from that mandate. The order also prohibits the Department of Treasury from imposing any tax penalty or burden to any organization that acts in accordance with beliefs that “marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved for such a marriage, male and female and their equivalents refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy physiology or genetics at or before birth, and that human life begins at conception and merits protection at all stages of life.”

Enacts far-reaching requirements on all federal departments and agencies to promptly rescind any rulings, directives, regulations, guidance, positions, or interpretations that are inconsistent with the order. This means that directives, rulings, regulations, guidance and interpretations that do not provide expansive religious exemptions may be rescinded or withdrawn by any agency or department of the federal government. This could include already existing protections enacted under the Obama administration for LGBTQ communities, women, and people of color, in their ability to seek access to reproductive services, employment, healthcare, education or social services.

Access a .pdf of this Press Advisory here.

For more policy analyses from the PRPCP, see our Policy Page, here.

Date: May 3, 2017

Contact: Liz Boylan | | 212.854.0167

1) Who does the EO apply to?

2) What religious beliefs are protected?

3) Who is authorized to grant a religious exemption?

4) Who is harmed?

5) Are government contractors and employees included?

Download a .pdf of this press advisory, here.

Columbia Law School Think Tank Submits amicus brief in Transgender Rights Case

Press Release:
April 25, 2017

Columbia Law School Think Tank Submits amicus brief in Transgender Rights Case

Liz Boylan,, 212.854.0167

Read a copy of the full amicus brief here:

Read the district court opinion here:

EEOC Proposed Guidance Shows We Can Protect Religious Freedom & LGBTQ Rights

Press Release:
March 23, 2017

Columbia Law School, The Public Rights/Private Conscience Project

EEOC Proposed Guidance Shows We Can Protect Religious Freedom & LGBTQ Rights

Liz Boylan,, 212.854.0167

Read the full letter from the PRPCP here:

The EEOC’s Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Unlawful Harassment is available here:

What Muslim Ban? A Religious Liberty Hearing in the Trump Era

Re-blogged from Religion Dispatches
Originally post, February 16, 2017

Report: Church, State & the Trump Administration

JANUARY 30, 2017

Trump and Cabinet Nominees Seek to Restrict Muslim Rights, Break Down the Wall Between Church and State

A new document issued by the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project (PRPCP) at Columbia Law School outlines the numerous areas in which the Trump administration will seek to advance particular conservative Christian tenets, restrict the rights of religious minorities, and break down the barrier between church and state. Enactment of the administration’s policy priorities would call into question the careful balance that currently exists between the First Amendment and other fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution. The report, entitled Church, State & the Trump Administration, highlights the ways in which the new administration’s early executive actions and cabinet nominations, as well as his campaign rhetoric and proposed policies, indicate hostility toward religious liberty guarantees of the First Amendment and an intentional disregard for other fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The report will continue to be updated in the coming weeks as the administration takes further action.

Despite his stated commitment to religious freedom, during his first week in office President Trump has issued an Executive Order that clearly expresses an official State preference for Christianity, and disapproval of Islam. Furthermore, Trump has consistently demonstrated that his policies will be grounded in the concerns of certain conservative Christian groups. His Executive Order reinstating a significantly expanded version of the anti-choice global gag rule, an expected Executive Order sanctioning anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and his selections for cabinet appointments all point to an administration that will seek to further particular religious ideals while breaking down the barrier between church and state.

President Trump and cabinet appointees appear to hold a deeply flawed understanding of the First Amendment, and particularly the Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from favoring or disfavoring any religious group or belief. If confirmed, many of his appointees are likely to implement policies that will harm the rights of religious and other minorities, particularly Muslim communities, LGBTQ people, and communities seeking access to adequate healthcare and protection of their reproductive rights. A recently released report by PRPCP also highlights the ways in which communities of color are particularly harmed by the religious exemptions that President Trump, Vice President Pence, and others in his cabinet have championed.

“Despite his insistence that the protection of religious liberties is a top priority, Trump has made clear, through executive orders and cabinet appointments, that he seeks only to prioritize a version of white Christian nationalism and supremacy, that, if left unchecked, would create tangible harms to many marginalized communities—and violate fundamental liberty and equality guarantees under the Constitution,” said Ashe McGovern, Associate Director of PRPCP.

“Religious freedom is fundamentally inconstant with the State’s endorsement of particular religions or religious beliefs,” said Elizabeth Reiner Platt, PRPCP’s director. “Anyone committed to free exercise rights should be deeply concerned with Trump and his cabinet’s apparent distain for the separation of church and state.”

“The new administration has shown a disturbing commitment to write the First Amendment out of the U.S. Constitution,” said Katherine Franke, Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Faculty Director of PRPCP.   “In its first week in office the Trump White House has been remarkably aggressive in both embracing a particular religious agenda in violation of the Establishment Clause and discriminating against people whose faith it disfavors in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” Franke continued.

Read the full report here.

MEDIA CONTACT: Kira Shepherd, 215-908-4825,

Read the full report here.

PRPCP’s Comment Regarding Zubik

This week the Public Rights Private Conscience Project (PCPCP) submitted a letter to the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in response to their request for information (RFI) regarding an accommodation for religious employers who do not wish to provide their employees with insurance coverage for no-cost contraceptive care, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The request came shortly after the Supreme Court punted a case on this very topic back to the lower courts, leaving religious freedom and women’s health advocates in limbo regarding the mandate’s fate.

The case, Zubik v. Burwell, combined separate challenges from religious non-profits to the ACA’s contraceptive mandate, which requires employers to provide health insurance coverage for birth control to their employees. The religious accommodation to the mandate allowed religious non-profits to file a one-page form with the HHS to opt out, and made health insurance companies or third-party administrators responsible for stepping in to provide this coverage without involvement or funds from the employer. But the non-profits asserted that even this requirement violated their religious beliefs. The government holds that the accommodation complies with relevant laws protecting religious freedom, such as the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA), which was enacted in 1993 to protect religious minorities.

In the RFI, the government states that their commitment to religious freedom and desire to find an accommodation that works for all led to the public information request.  The government also recognized that the Zubik decision “affect(s) a wide variety of stakeholders, including many who are not parties to the cases that were before the Supreme Court,” which they say increased their desire to find an effective solution to the problem presented in Zubik.

The RFI asks the public to comment on two alternatives to the ACA religious accommodation. The first alternative would allow religious non-profits to contract with insurers for coverage that did not include contraceptives and then the insurer would have to notify employees separately and explain that they would provide no-cost contraceptive coverage independent of the employer’s health plan. Here, the religious employer would only have to verbally notify the insurer of their objection, rather than through a form. The second alternative was for women employees to affirmatively enroll in policies that only covered contraceptives.

In the comment that PRPCP submitted we began by discussing how the existing religious accommodation does not offend RFRA:

“RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening the exercise of religion unless doing so is the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling government interest. The current accommodation meets this standard for two reasons: first, it does not impose a burden, much less one that is substantial in nature, on religious exercise and second, it is the least restrictive means of furthering the government’s compelling interests in ensuring access to contraceptives, a necessary part of basic preventative health care, and avoiding violations of the Establishment Clause.”

PRPCP then discusses how the alternative accommodations proposed by the plaintiffs would impose harms on employees and their families and risk violating the Establishment Clause. Here, we noted that a number of Supreme Court cases have held that the Establishment Clauses was violated when a government-created religious accommodation imposed serious harms on other private individuals. We stated:

“Both of the alternative accommodations put forth in the RFI would impose a significant harm on non-beneficiaries, most notably employees and their families. The first alternative, by providing ample opportunity for confusion, misrepresentation, and further RFRA litigation, would make employees susceptible to extensive gaps in necessary contraceptive coverage. Further, by making enforcement of the contraceptive mandate significantly more difficult, it would impose costs on both employees and the government. The second alternative would impose significant burdens on third parties by requiring health plans to create, and employees to seek out and enroll in, contraceptive-only health plans. These plans would likely face substantial administrative and financial difficulties. Furthermore, they would result in fewer employees and families having adequate access to contraceptive health care.”

Lastly, we mentioned how important seamless access to cost-free contraceptive care is for women of color, a conversation that is oftentimes left out of the discussion about religious accommodations to the ACA. PRCPC noted:

“Eliminating disparities in reproductive health care, including high rates of unintended pregnancy, involves increasing access to contraception and family planning resources. Access to contraception allows women of color to plan whether and when they will have a child, which research has shown provides them with greater financial stability and freedom.  Many women of color, who on average earn significantly less than white women, cannot afford to pay for quality contraception. For example, the IUD is considered the most effective form of contraception available on the market today and costs between $500.00 and $1,000.00 without insurance. Because of its high cost, among other factors, only six percent of Black women have used IUDs compared with seventy-eight percent who have used birth control pills, which have higher user failure rates.  Providing women of color with access to contraceptive coverage at no additional cost will help to reduce the reproductive health disparities that we see in communities of color. This is an important first step in ameliorating the overall health disparities between women of color and white women in the United States.”

We applaud the Department’s commitment to religious freedom as mentioned in the RFI, however hope this commitment does not outweigh its duty to uphold the rights of women seeking cost-free contraceptive coverage. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court dodged making a decision on this important


Saturday, November 29, 2014

Responsibility of Poverty

The Responsibility of Poverty

Child and Family Advocacy

November 5, 2014

Poverty expands the globe and stretches over time through economic changes and historical eras. There has always been poverty, and we can assume that there always will be poverty.  Attempts to cure poverty that are documented in our legislation seem to only prolong it with a bit of reluctant temporary relief for some of the needy. The United States’ social programs provide career spaces for intervention. Media taboo at covering the truth of poverty’s effects on families serves to keep the majority ignorant and distracted while covering for behind the scenes pocket-lining. As a result, our societal support for public policy that aids poor is met by loathing of the so-called sloths.

The exploration of what it is like to be poor tends to bring pity, but the action to solve poverty has a different character. The dominant decide the fate of the dominated without fully understanding the affected poor person’s struggle. The foundation for public attitude towards poverty begins with the government policy, with media that is created by the political and economically elite, and then it goes into the minds of the average person. Those living in poverty are the bottom class status, with a narrowed version of quality of life and limited capability—the hopeless who survive but not thrive. Poverty creates the desperate gleaners of society: ultimately they get what is left over, if even.

Following the War of 1812, America began to grow due to immigration and trade. In New York this marked the beginning of the tenement housing. This lifestyle is documented in the Jacob Riis classic, How the Other Half Lives. The first tenement house was called the “rear house” and was a home that used to belong to the wealthy aristocratic Manhattan family, the Knickerbockers (Riis, 2010).  All of the homes along the river were once inhabited by the wealthier crowd, but were now rented out to the poor as tenement-housing. Tenement houses were once a blessing for a hard-working poor family to have a home, and that was the case until the corruption of the landlord losing sight of healthy living conditions and tolerance of misbehavior of the tenants (Riis, 2010). Around 1857 (when the Republican Party began) these homes were remodeled by their real-estate and boarding-house agents, to accommodate for more families per home. This required drastic partitioning of rooms into smaller rooms (sometimes window-less). The wealthier were taking an opportunity to make the most money on the poor. The conditions of these homes were dilapidated and the landlords blamed the conditions on the tenants’ destructive behavior which went without accountability (Riis, 2010). The landlords were only after the rent and overlooked the needs of the people. Poverty creates a vulnerable group of people based on the desperate fashion of survival and their lowered expectations of their own treatment.

At the end of the 1800’s, the Settlement House movement began. “Inspired by the efforts of Canon Samuel Barnett’s Toynbee Hall in London to bring the privileged and underprivileged together to overcome the effects of spiritual and social disintegration, Stanton Coit and Charles B Stover founded the Neighborhood Guild of New York City in 1887” (Stern & Axinn, 2012, p. 107). The plan was to help integrate the immigrants by living with them in a settlement house. These educated people felt that society would benefit from their efforts. Then in 1889, came Jane Addams with her Chicagoan-established Hull House (Stern & Axinn, 2012). The success of Jane Addams was not just the historical initiation of social work as a profession. She also balanced her protection of them by ensuring their autonomy and dignity. In her book, Twenty Years at Hull House, Addams writes about how “heart-breaking” unemployment was for the neighborhood that she worked with. Addams (1910) describes how these people were taken advantage of and became victims of the “padrone who fleeced them unmercifully” (p. 221), or how they became the “mere sport of unscrupulous employment agencies” (Addams, 1910).

Addams (1910) references Tolstoy’s story “What to Do,” which describes his efforts to “relieve the unspeakable distress in the Moscow winter of 1881” (p. 260). His conviction was that “only he who literally shares his own shelter and food with the needy, can claim to have served them” (Addams, 1910). Addams (1910) discusses her point of view that the resident “social workers” at the Settlement House were impatient with the cooperation and methods of society for dealing with the problems of poverty, but through the twenty years, they saw the “charitable people, through their very knowledge of the poor, constantly approach nearer to those methods formerly designated as radical” (p. 306). This real solution for poverty has the benefits of accountability of the poor, guidance, and exact resource links alleviating the guesswork. Addams approached legislation without hesitation because she knew exactly what is genuinely needed to happen for those without a voice.

In the worst of environments today the poor suffer poverty-stricken conditions in a nation of a wealth of resources. In a long-term study by author Jonathan Kozol, A Fire in the Ashes, he describes people living in appalling poverty. This was a twenty-five year study of tenement housing in New York by documenting the lives and struggles of the tenants and their children. Many of the tenants were displaced by broken marriages, due to death, divorce, abuse or other causes. The story of Alice Washington, for example, a 42 year old woman with positive outlook even in her hopeless condition, offers a sense of stability to those around her. She ended up in the deplorable tenement houses due to an abusive husband and was somewhat of a mother figure for many of the young mothers in the same living conditions of filth and poverty. Her healthcare was limited and available only when she was near death, which occurred several times over the years. She suffered from many ailments, but in the end died from a combination of cancer and HIV/AIDS (Kozol, 2012). There were problems in these tenement houses that were mainly a result of the lack of aid. There was no one responsible or accountable for these people’s existence. Drug-use and crime went without consequence. Health care and health maintaining resources were not offered. There was nothing but the use of raw survival skills among these people. Some of the children, like Silvio, another character in Fire in the Ashes, didn’t fare so well in the tenement houses due to the pressures of gangs, street-life, inequality of opportunity, lack of resources, and other issues related to poverty that caused him to have a violent death at a young age (Kozol, 2010). The experiences show are so traumatic in cases of extreme poverty that the people involved seem to lose hope in the system.

Within these two books, Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives, and Jonathan Kozol’s Fire in the Ashes, there are several similarities, yet one documentation is in the 1800’s and the other is in modern-day times. The similarities are the decrepit housing conditions, the unavailable aid and links to valuable, operational resources, and most important, someone responsible overseeing the entire program. Jane Addam’s Hull-House, however, is a success. The hopelessness of eradicating poverty is a reality, deterring people from becoming radical about the issue because of the common sense that wealth is not evenly distributed, so why bother? There will always be poverty.

The stereotypes of families living in poverty are substance abuse, domestic violence, child neglect, lack of goals, and, the eugenicist’s favorite, lesser intelligence of those who are raised in poor areas. “Strong families have troubled lives also. To be a strong family is not to be without troubles, it is much more: it is the presence in the family of important guidelines for living and the ability as a family to surmount life’s inevitable challenges when they arise” (Stinnett & DeFrain, 1985).  America has some people who feel that they are more deserving and have a need to have their own people separated from the poor.  The Bell Curve is based on a Social Darwinist type of eugenicist view. The main point of the book is to promote the idea that “the isolation of the cognitive elite is compounded by its choices of where to live, shop, play, worship, and send its children to school” (Herrnstein & Murray).

The Census determines who is considered to be poor by the material possessions that a family has, such as an X-box, a microwave, or cable TV (Smiley & West, 2012). What this implies is that possessing material items, even if those things are used or dug from the garbage of another’s house, constitutes a level of wealth. The rich are not going to be willing to give up the fight against paying taxes to help the poor when the Census suggests that being poor is what one makes of it. Compare America’s poverty situation with Brazil’s. At the turn of the century when all of the immigrants were flooding into the Americas, European immigrants were encouraged to settle to increase the white vote over the black natives, and slowly the black natives were pushed to the Northeast of Brazil where it was already economically declining anyway (Penn, 2005). Today, Brazil is home to some of the world’s poorest children, even though their country is in the upper third percent of the world’s per capita income (Penn, 2005). This shameful inequality among the people in Brazil is due to the same factors as the United States and every other country have—the social and political elite, who only care about their own. The conclusion then would be that there will always be people living in poverty.

There need to be relief efforts set into place that are significantly stronger than past attempts. Past failures need to be examined to prioritize how modern concepts are formulated. United States must strive to make its safety nets for families better than those of other nations. A study in the American Journal of Public Health determined that any inequality in income distribution of a country causes the life expectancy to be lowered. The rich do not want to put any tax money into valued community efforts for public services like hospitals and schools (In Ore, 2011). This does not hurt them, but it hurts the rest of the country. There is lack of funds to attribute to what the majority of the country needs to maintain health, but the inequality of income distribution creates lower life expectancy for the entire country.

Throughout the 1800’s power and control of America’s wealthiest over the poor created problems in the society of poverty. Solutions to social issues were experimental. The Orphan Train, founded by Charles Loring Brace, was a back-up plan to place children when their parents were financially ruined. This was done instead of just ensuring family unity with financial aid. Jane Addams brought harmony to the immigrant poor population by establishing the Hull House in Chicago, as well as legislation initiatives for those poor. The Charity Organization Society made their best attempts at setting fine examples of moral behavior as they visited the poor. In the 1800’s, the rich were getting richer with industry and paid their workers the poor wages (Smitha, 2014). Their rationalization was that the workers could work hard enough if they wanted to change the way that they lived (Smitha, 2014). The bottom line of the relationship between the rich and poor in the 1800’s was that there was no responsibility to aid made into law, so that was it. The rich were not made to do it, so they did not.

The wealthy have maintained those same basic characteristics in attitude towards the poor over the generations; however, there has been great progress in awareness of poverty’s needs too.  In A New Framework for the Study of Power, Lowi describes the antecedents of progress, such as the Sixteenth Amendment that authorized income tax in 1913 when World War I began. Then in 1933, Franklin D Roosevelt introduced the New Deal to raise individual taxes and formed several programs to initiate some wealth redistribution (Lowi, 1970). “The poverty line was first set by the government in 1964, when it was determined that an income of $3,000 for the year was considered adequate to meet the needs of an urban family of four” and that salary was divided up into expected expenditures, accounting for a third of it to go towards food (Burton, 1992). Taxes were a way of accommodating the deficiencies in the lives of the poor. In 1986 however the Tax Reform Act enabled the rich to achieve loopholes (Lowi, 1970). By the time Clinton was put into office in the early 1990’s, the technology boom produced an economic spirit. In 1994, when the Republicans captured congress with their anti-Clinton initiative, the White House became conservative and measures like the 1996 Welfare Reform were passed. Meanwhile, back on Wall Street, the rich were collecting all of the money (Phillips, 2002). By the end of the twentieth century, the gap was established between the rich and the poor as the infamous 1% began. At every milestone of the poor people in need, the wealthy population was using their position in society to make the decisions about the poor’s survival. In an interview with Frank Norris, the author of Octopus, he says:

When a new road penetrates a new country or a new locality it is necessarily in itself a trust. That community through which the solitary road runs takes on new life. But in time, if another road does not penetrate the same locality, the original road, the trust, will get the better of the shippers in that community. If a second road enters the locality, however, and competes with the first road then there is a war and the farmer benefits thereby. As soon as the farmer begins to get prosperous at the expense of the competing roads the latter combine and the farmer or shipper gets the worst. (Norris, 1901)

In other words, the poor have the power to accept or reject the power of the wealthy, but instead they trust them because those wealthy bring opportunity due to the potential inherent in their resources. The problem, or the resulting maltreatment of the poor, is that the power that the wealthy accumulate attracts conflict for them from competitors who want the same power. The end result is the poor get railroaded, literally. The wealthy find ways of keeping their seat safe from the competition. This can be done by promoting the needs of other wealthy to create their own safety net. Then the wealthy are one moving system running over the needs of the poor who originally gave the wealthy their power in trust and in hope. Power and control over another human inevitably leads to abuse, unless someone accepts responsibility for the needs of the powerless.

The media has shown bias in the favor of the wealthy, white, Republican men and their opinions (Peck, 2012). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was pushed through Congress from the lobbyists represented by the wealthy station owners. Those wealthy owners increased their control. As the local programmers lost control, broadcast came under control of the wealthy (Missmollyana, 2011). What used to be fifty corporations dominating the media are now only six corporations who control what America is exposed to in the media (Snyder, 2010). One of those corporations is owned by Mr. Rupert Murdoch, an immigrant from Australia. Murdoch’s media empire includes Fox Television, the Dow Jones (Parent Corporation of The Wall Street Journal), The Boston Herald, The London Times, The New York Post, and more. “Mr. Murdoch may be best known in this country as the man who created Fox News as a counterweight to what he saw as a liberal bias in the news media” (Becker, 2007). Murdoch pays out eleven-million dollars to his army of lobbyists (Becker, 2007). An article written in a business magazine captures the drama surrounding the results of the Nielsen Media Research showing sharp drops in ratings by minority viewers for Fox Television programs. Murdoch did not want to hear that, so he launched a smear campaign on the Nielsen Research and their CEO, Susan Whiting. In the end, Nielsen’s research only concluded that the drop in ratings for Fox channels was due to the fact that the minorities chose to watch local channels instead (Bianco & Grover, 2004). Murdoch gets his own way by force, almost bullying, his way through corporate America. His anti-liberal media goals reek of power.  Among the biggest fans of Fox Television are the Tea Baggers, a group that identify themselves as Conservative Republicans. “In this iteration of conservative mobilization, Republican elites [and Tea Baggers] have been able to rely on powerful conservative media sources, led by Fox News” (Williamson, Skucpol, Coggin, 2001). According to the article The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican Conservatism, the Tea Baggers rely on Fox News for support and for connection to their conservative topics. The majority of the group is white, high-income men with a primary concern in America of government spending on social welfare (except for their own Social Security, the highest amount of expenditure dispersed in social welfare).  “Opposition is concentrated on resentment of perceived federal government ‘handouts’ to ‘undeserving’ groups, the deﬁnition of which seems heavily inﬂuenced by racial and ethnic stereotypes . . . particularly ‘welfare’ mothers” (Williamson, Skucpol, Coggin, 2001). The entire topic becomes ironic when the total amount of government subsidies that News Corp, owned by Murdoch, accumulated since 2005, was found to reach $33,090,399 (Good Jobs First, 2014). An Alternet article describes how Mr. Murdoch successfully found loopholes to escape 2 out of 4 years of taxes with the other two years being incomplete payments, with domestic pretax profits topping $9.4 billion. The article also makes the point that Murdoch’s empire advertises for corporations like General Motors that have had government bail-outs with tax-payer money (Howard, 2011). In America those that are against assisting the poor in surviving, apparently are not ashamed to admit it—even on television and media, which they actually use as a tool to emphasize that perspective.

Throughout the history of the United States there have been both the greed of the rich and oppression of the poor. Iniquities come with rewards of power, and someone has to lose.

The greed and power of wealth have found ways of keeping their seat in society over time using the oppression of the poor. The resolution in this conflict is obvious if historical failures and successes are explored. Finding loopholes and weaving socioeconomic webs produce individual power, but harm the overall economy for the majority.

I recommend that legislation to end loopholes be held accountable by a dedicated task force. During the 1990’s the government passed several reform acts affecting population segments (in particular 1996) allowing the wealthy to excel. It also caused those who value equality to be distracted by the detail of the many reforms for socioeconomic and social welfare which allowed for backdoor economic corruption.

I recommend responsibility for poverty at the legislative level in form of special, unnegotiable taxes for those individuals who have used their financial wizardry to accumulate most of our country’s money. This responsibility holds the population accountable as a whole system and eliminates the abusive powers associated with economic monopoly.

I recommend tenement housing for those who live in poverty. Past failures must be examined to avoid deplorable conditions. The success of Jane Addams can be taken as an example. Tenement housing with guidelines could benefit a family better than the current TANF system of welfare. The barriers associated with tenement housing are only in circumstances of neglect and irresponsibility. The National Social Worker Association should be given control of this rather than the direct control of government agencies working alone because they obviously are acting on behalf of another population.

Providing protection with tenement housing offers a person direction for their independence if done correctly. A program formed that categorized a person’s position using formulas would then place them in a track to achievement while providing guidance and accountability. Categories can be accessed by using a formula that included racial disparities, education level, sex, dependent children, legal barriers and other types of barriers to create a plan for individual potential to be maximized. House laundry, childcare, classes, training and planning exercises could be programmed with parent-like guidance over planned time-lines. The working would have to save their money and turn in weekly bank statements proving they are not spending their money (unless authorized to do so). At the end of the time-line of the program, the saved money is used for the next step to independence. A person is not released from the program until all barriers are relinquished such as educational and training so that a stable future is possible. Social workers will live on site and oversee all activity, including curfews, drug free zones, daily room checks, and weekly paperwork turned in from the tenants. A weekly grocery trip with their social worker present will assure nutrition to each member and accountability to the funding for food subsidy.

 Inequality is a part of the cons of having freedom, but there is at least an expectation of the dignity and worth of everyone. If equality is not available, demonstrate what has been learned by history and create legislation requiring the top percentage of wealthy to give back to the poor. As the wealthy have fully displayed their skill at acquiring the wealth of our country, they need to expect to be required to support those people that have been subjects of their financial and social brilliance.

Addams, J. (1910). Twenty years at Hull-House: with autobiographical notes. New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco: The Macmillan Company.

Becker, Jo. (2007, June 25). Murdoch, ruler of a vast empire, reaches out for even more: The New York Times. Retrieved from

Bianco, Anthony & Grover, Ronald. (2004, Sept 19). How Nielsen stood up to Murdoch: Bloomberg Business Week Magazine. Retrieved from

Burton, C.E. (1992). The poverty debate: Politics and the poor in America. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press

Good Jobs First. (2014).Accountable development and smart growth for working families. Retrieved from

Herrnstien, Richard J. & Murray, Charles. (1994). The Bell Curve: Intelligence and class structure in American Life. New York, NY: The Free Press.

Howard, M. (2011, March). How you end up bankrolling Fox News: News Corp and Rupert Murdoch weasel out of paying taxes: When gain, prosperous, multinational corporations get out of their tax obligations, ordinary citizens are the ones who are forced to make up the shortfall. Alter Net Retrieved from

Kozol, Jonathon. (2012). Fire in the ashes: Twenty-five years among the poorest children in America. New York: Broadway Books/Random House, Inc.;

Lowi, T. (1970). The power elite in America. Ed. Crockett. USA: D.C Health and Company.

Missmollyana. (Mar 2011). Intro to Mass Communication: Telecommunication Act of 1996: Not an act to follow. Retrieved from

Norris, F. (1901). Nader, J. M.(2009). A Recovered Interview with Frank Norris. American Literary Realism 42(1), 79-82. University of Illinois Press. Retrieved November 4, 2014, from Project MUSE database.

Penn, Helen. (2005). Unequal childhoods: Young children’s lives in poor countries. New York, NY: Routledge

Phillips, K. (2002). Wealth and democracy: A political history of the American rich. New York, NY: Broadway Books

Ore, Tracy E. (2011). The social construction of difference and inequality: Race, class, gender, and sexuality. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Peck, Adam. (2012, April). If its Sunday, its meet the Republican white men. Think Progress. Retrieved from

Riis, Jacob. (2010). How the other half lives: A Jacob Riis classic, (including photography). USA:

Smiley, Travis. & West, Cornel. (2012). The rich and the rest of us: A poverty manifesto. New York, NY: Smileybooks.

Smitha, Frank E. (2014). Macrohistory and world timeline: Industrialists against organized labor. Retrieved on from

Snyder, Michale. (2010, Oct). Who owns the media? The 6 Monolithic Corporations that control almost everything we watch, hear, and read. The Economic Collapse. Retrieved from

Stern, M.J. & Axinn, J. (2012). Social Welfare: A history of the American response to need. 8th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Stinnett, Nick. & DeFrain, John. (1985). Secrets of strong families. Canada: Little, Brown & Company.

Williamson, V., Skucpol, T., &  Coggin, J.  (2001, Mar). The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican Conservatism. Retrieved from…/files/tea_party_pop.pdf


Delaware City Vineyard logo

Between Sundays

A Missional Community is a group of people (likely 25-50+ people) who are united around a common service (or mission) to the larger community. This includes outward ministries like FEEDdelaware (our Food Pantry) and ministries within the church like Worship and Family Ministry. These communities are marked by serving and are therefore the pefect answer to the questions - How do I get involved? Where can I serve?

If you have additional questions or wish to express interest in volunteering, we welcome you to complete our online DCV Connect Card.


Shogi Shogi variants

Heian dai shogi

Heian dai shogi (Japanese: 平安大将棋 'Heian (Era) large chess') is an early large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess) as it was played in the Heian period. The same 12th century document which describes the Heian form of shogi also describes this variant. Unfortunately, this description does not give enough information to actually play the game, but this has not stopped people from attempting to reconstruct this early form of shogi. A fairly complete and playable reconstruction is outlined here.

Rules of the game

The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's king or to capture all the other pieces, leaving a bare king. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after capture.

Game equipment

Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 13 ranks (rows) by 13 files (columns) for a total of 169 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color.

Each player has a set of 34 wedge-shaped pieces of 13 different types. In all, the players must remember 13 different moves. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are:

Many of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names.

Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of each piece (other than kings and gold generals) are one or two other characters, often in a different color (e.g., red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play.

L N I C S G K G S C I N L a
FC FD     FT   SM   FT     FD FC b
P P P P P P P P P P P P P c
            GB             d
            GB             j
P P P P P P P P P P P P P k
FC FD     FT   SM   FT     FD FC l
L N I C S G K G S C I N L m

That is, the first rank is

Game play

Two players alternate in making a move, with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms "Black" and "White" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A move consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus displacing (capturing) that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if all or part of its move lies in the promotion zone.

Movement and capture

An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece, that is, by another piece controlled by the moving player.

Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, x). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line.

If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must promote. This applies to the pawn, lance and knight upon reaching the furthest rank.

Step movers

The step movers are the king, generals, fierce tiger, go between and the 13 pawns on each side.

Jumping piece

The knight can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either.

Ranging pieces

The ranging pieces are the flying dragon, side mover, free chariot and lance.

The promotion zone is the 'enemy camp', the farthest three ranks of the board, which are mostly occupied by the opposing player's pieces when the board is first set up. When a promotable piece makes a move within the promotion zone - including entering, leaving, or moving entirely within the zone, - it has the option of "promoting" to a more powerful rank. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. The characters inscribed on the backs of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink. Promotion is not mandatory if the unpromoted piece could move further on a later turn, and in some cases it may be beneficial to leave the piece unpromoted. Promotion is permanent and promoted pieces may not revert to their original rank.

Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. Each piece promotes as follows:

If a pawn, knight or lance reaches the furthest rank, it must be promoted, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns.

Individual pieces

Following are diagrams that indicate the movement of each piece. Pieces are listed roughly in order, from nearest to furthest rows. Betza's funny notation has been included in brackets for easier reference.

It should be noted to players of chu shogi and dai shogi that the copper general and iron general move differently in this game from how they move in the other two games.

Steps to an adjacent square
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
Piece Kanji Rōmaji King 玉将 gyokushō
Text description of piece movement.
Image description of piece movement.
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. (K)
Gold General 金将 kinshō Silver General 銀将 ginshō
Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities. (WfF)
Step: The silver general can take one step diagonally, or else directly forward, giving it five possibilities. (FfW)
Copper General 銅将 dōshō Iron General 鉄将 tesshō
Step: The copper general can take one step in any of the four orthogonal directions. (W)
Step: The iron general can step one square in one of the three forward directions; or, one square sideways, giving it five possibilities. (frlK)
Knight 桂馬 keima Lance 香車 kyōsha
Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. (ffN)

A knight that reaches the furthest rank must promote.

Range: The lance can move any number of free squares directly forward. (fR)

It cannot return and must promote upon reaching the farthest row.

Side Mover 横行 ōgyō Fierce Tiger 猛虎 mōko
Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways.

Step: It can step one square directly forward. (fWrlR)

Range: The fierce tiger can step one square along any of the four diagonal directions. (F)
Flying Dragon 飛龍 hiryū Free Chariot 奔車 hansha
Range: The flying dragon can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonals. (B)

Because it cannot move orthogonally, it can only reach half the squares on the board.

Ranging: The free chariot can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. (fbR)
Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō Go Between 注人 chūnin
The pawn can only step one square directly forward. (fW)

It must promote upon reaching the farthest rank of the board.

Step: The go between steps one square directly forward or backward. (fbW)

Check and mate

When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game.

A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.

Game end

A player who captures the opponent's king or all the other pieces (bare king) wins the game unless the opponent’s bare king can bare the player’s king on the next move, in which case the game is a draw. In practice this winning condition rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable.

There is one other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.)

Game notation

The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but modifications have been made for heian dai shogi.

A typical example is P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, L = lance, N = knight, GB = go between, FC = free chariot, FT = fierce tiger, I = iron, C = copper, SM = side mover, S = silver, G = gold, FD = flying dragon, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter, for example +P for a promoted pawn. The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 13m being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.)

If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting.

Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.

Read more:

Tabletop games: Rules and Strategy


Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Episode 3&4

The Hatchery

The party returned, straggling into greenest, informing them that the camp had been abandoned by the time they return to investigate. Unknown to the rest of the town however was the clutch of Black Dragon eggs that they had retrieved from the cave and hidden in the back of a wagon under a hunters tent and a pile of furs, the party now plans to head towards Mythral with the eventual destination being the Dragon Isle and the Order of the Dragon, a faithful group of knights and others that have dedicated themselves to the service of Bahamut.


Article Text

Cutting edge methodology
SP2-1 Rose Angina questionnaire: accuracy for diagnosing coronary heart disease in Bangladesh
  1. M A Rahman1,
  2. N Spurrier1,
  3. M A Mahmood1,
  4. M Rahman2,
  5. S R Choudhury3,
  6. S Leeder4
  1. 1Discipline of Public Health, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  2. 2IEDCR (Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research), Dhaka, Bangladesh
  3. 3NHFH&RI (National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  4. 4The Menzies Centre for Health Policy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Objective To determine accuracy of the Rose Angina Questionnaire (RAQ) for diagnosing coronary heart disease (CHD) among Bangladeshi adults, by comparing the classification based on the questionnaire with cardiologists' diagnosis.

Methods A case-control study of non-smoking Bangladeshi adults aged 40–75 years, was conducted in 2010. Cases were incident cases of CHD from two cardiac hospitals if diagnosed as such by the cardiologists; controls were non-cardiac patients from cardiac outpatient departments. One control was matched to each case on age and gender. Full version of the original RAQ questionnaire was used for study participants.

Results The sample comprised 302 CHD cases and 302 controls (mean age 53±8.5 years). RAQ detected 194 cases (32%) and 409 controls (68%) from either hospital. RAQ categorised 17.5% of sample as having CHD who were considered not to have CHD by the cardiologists; RAQ categorised 34.5% of sample as not suffering from CHD, who were diagnosed as having CHD by the cardiologists. Among 301 CHD cases, 160 (53.2%) were diagnosed as CHD by both hospital cardiologists and RAQ. Among 302 controls, 268 (88.7%) were diagnosed as not having CHD by both hospital cardiologists and RAQ. CHD patients are five times more likely to have RAQ positive result compared to controls.

Conclusion The RAQ had sensitivity of 53%, specificity of 89% and likelihood ratio positive of 4.8 in diagnosing CHD among Bangladeshi adults compared with diagnosis by cardiologists. RAQ can be used as an alternate tool for diagnosing CHD at field sites where there are limited resources.

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Business Outlook: Trump Presidency’s Impact on Gold and Oil Outlooks

By Hussein Sayyed

Since the day that President-elect Donald Trump unexpectedly won the U.S. elections, the sliding gold price has signaled an unanticipated risk on investor mood. Instead of money flowing to safe-haven investments like gold, it appears that the markets are instead taking confidence from the end of uncertainty over who will lead the U.S. economy into the year 2020. As of November 14, gold was trading at a five-month low, dropping as low as $1,214 per ounce after spiking to just over $1,300 in the immediate aftermath of the elections. Whatever the political implications, it appears that the markets sense that a bull is set to take charge of the economy and they are positioning for the changes to come, meaning that the safe-haven trade on precious metal is less attractive compared to other prospects. The lower gold price could indicate that a period of more optimistic sentiment lies ahead, transforming the bearish mood that’s prevailed since the sub-prime crisis hit the U.S. and world markets in 2007. However, it may be a bit too early to say that the short-term outlook for gold is downward, and a lot depends on what happens in the next two months.

Challenges for gold bears are waiting in the wings over the next two months until Trump is inaugurated as president. Gold prices are influenced by the Federal Reserve’s stance, which is still dovish even amid expectations that an interest rate hike is imminent by the end of the year or in early 2017. If Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pulls the trigger on an interest hike in December, gold bears will likely count this as a win and the price may lose further ground. The opposite scenario also holds water at this point; should Yellen stay dovish and U.S. interest rates stay as low as they are currently, then the gold bulls could seize opportunities to drive the price back up. Investors are set to focus strongly on updates on U.S. GDP growth and better performances in the job sector, and the results for November and December are likely to have a sharp impact on the gold price.

The developments over the next couple of months are also key for bond yields in the first quarter of 2017. If Trump’s economic policies start boosting U.S. jobs and growth, monetary tightening could be just around the corner, meaning higher U.S. interest rates and bond yields, and less attraction towards the non-yielding gold investment. Even so, it’s a significant consideration that Trump’s infrastructural and tax cut plans may lead to a higher budget deficit and inflation levels, prompting investors to consider gold as a hedge just in case—Score for the gold bulls in this scenario.

On the political risk side, we don’t know a great deal about Trump’s foreign policy in concrete terms. Additionally, outside the U.S. there are more political risks building; after the Brexit vote and uncertainty over U.K.-EU relations, other European member states are facing tough times. Italy is set to hold a constitutional referendum on December 4, and there are elections in Germany, France and Austria in 2017, each featuring a right-wing candidate. All these factors could act to push the gold price up, so the bullish case for the yellow metal still exists, even in a world of rising interest rates.

Trump’s presidency could also impact the price of crude oil, at least judging from his overall policy of boosting U.S. businesses through deregulation. Question is, can deregulation make a significant difference in the U.S. shale oil industry? In light of high production costs versus reduced revenues amid the last two years of low prices, regulation appears to be the least of the shale industry’s problems. The short-term major influence on worldwide crude oil prices still lies with OPEC and the prospects of a supply-cut deal at the end of November. Even the recent fall in WTI crude to below $43 per barrel seen in the wake of the U.S. elections is more strongly linked to OPEC’s negotiations and reduced expectations that a deal can be reached that satisfies all the cartel’s member states.

Long-term, Trump’s policies may gain influence over the oil price if he decides to dissolve the nuclear proliferation agreement with Iran, leading to a drastic cut in output from the OPEC member country. This would dovetail with OPEC’s drive to cut supplies and raise prices, and while it would be a messy process to reverse President Obama’s executive order, it could be achieved. Given the worldwide glut, the oil markets are receptive to production cuts of all descriptions, so we could see price hikes in this scenario.

The political risk premium is an unknown factor for crude oil in the long-term, particularly when it comes to Trump’s relations with and policies towards the Middle East. While the U.S. elections may be over and that period of uncertainty has ended, the president-elect’s foreign policies towards external oil-producing countries are still wild cards that have yet to be played. What is certain is that OPEC and the U.S. are boosting production to record levels, with data from the EIA showing that oil production increased to 8.69 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first week of November, up 170,000 bpd from the previous week. Meanwhile, the U.S. rigs’ count continues to climb even amid the bearish market conditions.

Crude’s fundamental market conditions of lower demand amid an over-supply do carry a lot of weight with investors; but it’s always worth remembering that fundamentals can be brushed aside in favor of wildfire sentiment and animal spirits at the most inconvenient of times. Relying on fundamentals as the sole predictor of the oil price could be risky considering the uncertainty that lies ahead with a new president at the helm of the world’s largest economy.

Hussein Sayed is the Chief Market Strategist at FXTM.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Latin Roots of the Yoga-Sutra--Chapter 1--Aphorism 8

Aphorism 8: Misperception is false knowledge, not based on what actually is.

Let's first discuss the Greek and Latin roots of three of the following words in aphorism 8:

Misperception: from the Latin verb capio, capere, cepi, captum: "take, capture, seize" and the Germanic prefix mis-: "bad, badly, wrong, wrongly." "Perception," etymologically, is the "thorough seizing or capturing" by the mind of experience, or of the world that the mind "perceives." Note that the prefix "per" in this case acts as an intensive prefix, adding emphasis to the main stem "cept." ("pre" in the word "prefix," on the other hand, means "before, in front of," as "prefixes" are those words that are "fastened in front of a word"). The suffix "-ion" means "act, state, or result of doing something." Hence, etymologically, "perception" is the "act of thoroughly capturing or seizing" the world around one, through the mind. Following on that, "misperception" is the "act of thoroughly and wrongly capturing or seizing" the world around one. SAT and GRE words are legion through this root, e.g.: captious, conceit, precept, encapsulate, incipient, principle, capacious, recuperate.

False: The word "false" comes to English via the Latin verb fallo, fallere, fefelli, falsum: "trick, deceive." Hence, something "false" deceives the viewer, or has tricked her into believing something that is not true. Some interesting SAT-level derivatives run through fallo, fallere, including: fallacy, fallacious, infallible, fallible, fault, default, unfailing, and faux. Note also that the word "faucet" "flows" through this word: can anyone guess why? I will provide the answer in my next post, and the name of anyone who is so incisive and perspicacious so as to see through the etymological trickery.

Actually: runs through the highly prolific Latin root word ago, agere, egi, actum: "do, act, drive." Something that "actually" is has been "done," and therefore exists in reality (Platonic or not). A truly astounding number of English derivatives flow through ago, agere, including but not limited to the ff. SAT and GRE level derivatives: exacting, retroactive, intransigent, variegated, castigate, cogent, ambiguous, prodigal, mitigate, purge, and cogitate. Interested in (many) more? Check out my Greek and Latin roots English vocabulary site.

Now, let's take a look at Aphorism 8: Misperception is false knowledge, not based on what actually is: the second of the five patterns mentioned in aphorism 5:
There are five types of patterns, including both hurtful and benign

As we learned in my post concerning aphorism 4 of Patanjali's Yoga-Sutra, patterns of thought that are formed at birth and early on in life limit one's view of reality, coloring one's awareness of what the world truly is and restricting it to the view of the pattern, which is not necessarily where reality lies, but only the reality of the pattern itself, which is not actual truth or clear perception. Hence, to understand how to supersede such patterning, one must learn the "types" or forms of these patterns; all of them, according to Patanjali, are not necessarily hurtful, although some are. Being able to harness those that are benign to further the process towards enlightenment and obviating those that are hurtful will take us a long way towards fulfilling our goal, that is, to allow one's awareness of true reality to be unhindered and unfettered by those hurtful or debilitating patterns. In aphorism 6, we are given the names of these patterns, the second of which is delineated in our current aphorism.

Misperception of the physical world can be as simple as mistaking a rope for a snake, or a bear for Sasquatch. What we thought was one thing turns out to be another. Traditionally this sutra has been exegetically limited to that interpretation. I would like to advance another that extends this idea from the purely physical realm to the phantoms of the mental realm.

Misperception, unfortunately, is the way in which most of us view reality, in a clouded and "unreal" state. We do not see what "actually" is, but rather we see with "false knowledge," which launches us into suffering via the kleshas, or five afflictions (caused by defective mental patterns): craving, aversion, ignorance, ego, and clinging to life (in the sense of not accepting that death is but another bardo, or stage of existence). Having wrongly perceived what actually is, we come to have false conceptions of what existence is, especially of who we are (false self vs. true self), and thus react blindly and with little sagacity to many situations in our lives. Most of us, unless we are enlightened yoginis or bodhisattvas, spend our lives in a cloud of confusion, battling our way through a reality that is only wrongly constructed by our minds, and is not actual. Kant examined a concept of this sort nicely in his Critique of Pure Reason (1781) when he spoke of noetic a priori filters that our mind has at birth, patterns, as it were, that cloud our vision of reality, much as clear water becomes stained when it flows through coffee grounds. Yogis correctly perceive the clear water of what is actual, and thus are unaffected by the kleshas; the rest of us are drinking our coffee, pleased with the caffeine, but then needing more the next day, sometimes more that very day. Clearly aphorism 8 is one of the hurtful patterns because reality is not presented as it actually is, but as the mind misperceives it to be.

My next post will focus on aphorism 9: Conceptualization is based on linguistic knowledge, not contact with real things.

Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek Mythology Blog!


The Mistwhisper tribe[1] is a part of the gorloc faction called the Oracles who live in Sholazar Basin. Their main settlement is called Mistwhisper Refuge.

Their leader may be Mistcaller Soo-gan as he is the only named NPC at Mistwhisper Refuge.

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Video Killed the Professor?

(Link to full article

After reading this in the New York Times, I was wondering how many would agree.  Should college lectures, and all direct instruction for that matter, be replaced by video? If there are better teachers out there, shouldn't the students learn from them? I’m not ready to say yes.

Face-to-face still has value, even in a lecture hall with several hundred students. Every day, I teach the same lesson to three different groups of 7th graders. Though similar, each lesson takes on its own personality as a result of who is in the room.   Each class asks different questions and reacts differently to the information being presented. I might recognize a misunderstanding in the first lesson and be able to adjust for future lessons.  If anything, chemistry professors at the University of Nebraska should be viewing the online lectures in an effort to improve their own.

Another negative result of having all students watch “the best” lecture or lesson would be its cultural impact on society.  A lot of who we are is shaped by our experience in school.  If we all had the same math lesson, same introduction to philosophy and the same lesson on the civil rights movement, our interactions with each other would be less interesting and have less value.


Orthotropics is an early prevention, non-extraction, and non-surgical orthodontic treatment dealing with correct growth of the face and jaws. It is an alternative to retraction orthodontic mechanics and symptom care and instead of pulling the top jaw back, as some orthodontic procedures do, they encourage the bottom jaw to grow horizontally after the top jaw growth has been corrected. The treatment is focused on preventing further lengthening of an already too long face, due to the maxilla being unsupported, and is based on facial beauty rather than straight teeth alone.

What are malocclusion and facial change?

Malocclusion refers to a misalignment between the upper and lower teeth (i.e. the way these teeth fit together when biting or chewing). The condition can be described as crowded, crooked or protruding teeth and is also referred to as an “irregular bite”, “crossbite”, “overbite” or “overjet”. The facial complex is responsible for such functions as eating, swallowing, speaking, aerating the inner ear, filtering incoming air and maintaining an airway. Abnormal development of the face affects all of these functions, causes poorly aligned teeth, and impairs appearance. 30% of children in the U.K. experience malocclusion that is serious to warrant treatment. Thousands of children require surgery every year. In its most serious form, Malocclusion is often associated with jaw joint problems, infection, airway obstruction, sleep apnea, congenital malformation (i.e. malformation of the facial complex) and ENT problems. A well-proportioned and mechanically sound face is a healthy, functioning face. Intervention at an early age can prevent the development of the problems associated with Malocclusion. Orthotropics treats the causes, not the symptoms. Orthotropics aims to make the face fit the teeth, not the teeth fit the face.

What are its causes?

We have identified three main causes of facial change:

• Weak jaw muscles

• Lowered tongue position

• Incorrect swallowing

Children who have week jaw muscles, hang their mouths open with a low tongue posture and suck their teeth inwards every time that they swallow, develop longer faces with crowded teeth. This negatively effects the development of the face.

What is Orthotropics Treatment?

The orthotropic method aims to provide space for all teeth, including wisdom teeth, by improving muscle tone, correcting facial posture and swallowing training. These factors determine the direction of facial development, and treatment should be aimed at treating the cuases. This is achieved by wearing a discrete brace that discourages patients from dropping their mouths open and by Oral Myology training (exercises that correct muscle function and swallowing). The goal is to convert vertical growth into horizontal growth (see image) in order to provide space for the teeth to align naturally. During treatment tongue space more than doubles, allowing the natural conversion to an adult swallowing pattern to take place. The effect is dramatic and permanent. Orthotropics is an early prevention, non-extraction, and non-surgical method. Natural growth guidance is non-intrusive: there is no need for “railway track” braces, extractions, headgear, surgery or retainers. This is not to be confused with functional treatment, and is in no way similar to a Twin blocks, Herbst or Damon appliance.

How is Orthotropics different from Orthodontics?

What are the benefits of Orthotropic treatment?


AN Oslo court will hand down its verdict on Friday against Anders Behring Breivik for his twin attacks last year that left 77 people dead, bringing to a close one of the most spectacular trials in Norway’s history.

The attacks traumatised the normally-tranquil nation, and highlighted the authorities’ lack of preparedness.

While Breivik has confessed to the crimes he pleaded not guilty, arguing that his actions were “cruel but necessary” to protect his country from multiculturalism, which was embraced by his victims.


Awwwards – Honorable Mention
Oxy helps you Depilatory Strips

Oxy helps youDepilatory Strips

What is the best way to use depilatory strips?

The strip should always be warmed before use in order to help the wax it contains melt at the right temperature. For this reason, you should rub the double strip between your palms for about 30 seconds.

What sort of precautions should I take when I use the depilatory strips?

It is essential to make sure that the skin is clean and dry and free of any wax or oil residues. The strips should not be used on irritated skin, on cuts, moles or varicose veins. In order to dry any excess bodily moisture present, a talcum powder may be used.

How can I complete my depilation?

You should not use water, soap or solvents to remove any waxy residue. You should use only the post-depilation tissues. While they remove any waxy residue, they also impart a fresh and pleasing sensation and relieve the skin of any burning or reddening. They also aid the capillary vessels in recovering from the stress caused by the pulling motion.

Can I use the same strip more than once?

Each strip can be used repeatedly because the strips maintain their efficacy over several applications.

When can I go in the sun after having used the depilatory strips?

It is advisable to avoid exposing your skin to the sun too soon after the application; it would be better to wait at least 24 hours.


Domestic Violence FAQs

Removal of Children by Welfare Officials – Permanent or Temporary?

When welfare officials remove children from their parents, the objective is to correct the reasons that caused the removal and to reunite the family after the correction. The court will consider many factors including the nature of the deficiency or bad conduct of the parents, the frequency of the events, the efforts taken by the parents to correct the situation and the time required to correct the situation. For example, if the parents make no effort to improve the situation or the neglect is extremely severe, then the court can order termination of parental rights. Once the parental rights are terminated, there is no legal relationship between the children and the parents and the children may be adopted by another family.

What is child neglect?

Child neglect refers to the situation where the parents or legal guardians intentionally ignore or do not provide for the basic needs of the child including food, clothing, shelter, health care and supervision. It is also referred to as child endangerment.

What persons and what types of actions are covered by child abuse laws?

When an adult abuses children in his or her care, it is a criminal offence. An adult include parents, legal guardians, foster parents, family members, and other adults in the home and even baby sitters. An adult supervising a child cannot go beyond reasonable physical punishment. For example if an adult beats a child so severely that the child needs medical care, then that adult breaks the law. Child abuse not only includes physical abuse but other forms of cruelty and mental torture such as extreme humiliation of the child.

An adult need not personally commit the act to be guilty of child abuse, an adult who has legal responsibility of the child will be guilty of child abuse if he or she fails to protect the child from the abuser.

How does one report a suspected case of child abuse?

Many states have a toll free child abuse hotline. You can also report suspected cases of child abuse to the state or county department dealing with children’s issues or human services. In case of emergency, you can always call the police.

Duty to Report

Certain people have a legal duty to report suspected child abuse or neglect. Such persons include teachers, doctors, physicians, nurses, child care providers and social workers. A person who has this legal duty but fails to do so will be subject to criminal prosecution. States also encourage people such as other family members and neighbors who are aware of child abuse to report the cases. Many states have set up child abuse hotlines for this purpose. Individuals who report such cases in good faith are generally given immunity against civil lawsuits by the parents.

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How effective is a protective order against domestic violence?

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