Category Archives: Golden Rule

Rev. Candace McKibben, Guest Columnist Published 9:25 p.m. ET May 3, 2020

Candace McKibben(Photo: Candace McKibben)

I have thought about the difference between prescriptive and descriptive several times of late. It is a distinction I first remember considering in seminary regarding scripture. We learned the importance of distinguishing between passages that describe what was happening and those that prescribe what ought to happen. This distinction is functional in linguistics, business, ethics, psychologyand more.

It is where we sit in the midst of this pandemic as we are learning daily the description of how the virus operates and the prescription of how we can best respond. The challenge is the unknown and the humility required for us to follow those prescriptive precautions known to be effective, when we are longing to return to some semblance of normalcy sooner rather than later.

The discipline in following the prescribed wisdom regarding COVID-19 comes from a place deep in the human spirit. Most religions and cultures have some prescription for how we treat ourselves and others and the significant relationship between the two. It is so prevalent it is known as the Golden Rule. Not silver or bronze;this rule takes first place.

From the Buddhist, Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful, to Zoroastrianisms, That nature alone is good which refrains from doing to another whatsoever is not good for itself, the wisest among us realize the mutual benefit in looking out for each other.

Dr. Karen Armstrong, who has conducted decades of research on the worlds religions, says Confucius was the first person known to offer the Golden Rule when he told his disciples, Never treat others as you would not like to be treated yourself. Jesus, some 500 years later told his disciples, quoting Leviticus 19:18, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Whether approached negatively or positively, the intent is the same. We are to take into account the well-being of others in how we act.

Last summer, my granddaughter Rylee and I were driving from Jacksonville to Cocoa Beach when I asked her about her collegeapplication process. She told me she had to write an essay about her core values. I was intrigued and asked her what values she identified, expecting to hear love, courage, honesty and the like. Instead she said, Knowledge, accountability and reciprocity.

Reciprocity is the moral principle at work in the golden rule. As humans, we have the capacity for empathy, for understanding and relating to the feelings of another, for putting ourselves in the shoes of another and acting accordingly. I agree with Rylee. It is an important value, perhaps now more than ever.

As we think of the pandemic and the suffering it is causing globally, both literally and figuratively, as it impacts the whole globe in holistic ways of health and well-being, it is tempting to retreat. It is also understandable to focus on me and mine. But it is not our better angels at work when we do so. When we insist on our way at the peril of others, we are forsaking our better nature.

As we move forward, we want to find ways to continue to protect ourselves and others by washing our hands well and frequently, by wearing masks and gloves when out for necessary business, by limiting physical proximity to others while retaining social contact in the ways that are not threatening to ourselves or to others, and by doing what we can safely do to support the needs of those who are hardest hit by this pandemic.

As community members and leaders, we can listen to the wisest counsel and use our best judgment regarding re-engagement in society, caring about our own well-being and that of others. We can remember the potential for harm in not being cautious, not just harm to ourselves, but harm to others which inevitably diminishes our own spirits.

If we can continue to practice the Golden Rule, which is the prescribed way forward through this pandemic, we will come out on the other side with a description of humanity at its best, touched by the divine spark, the greater good in us all. It is my prayer that we remain vigilant in caring for each other as we care for ourselves.

The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister who serves as the director of faith outreach at Big Bend Hospice and as pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship.

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The Golden Rule applies now, during the pandemic, more than ever | McKibben - Tallahassee Democrat

The Cabinet minister Michael Gove warns that if people are told to wear face masks during the pandemic they may behave in a cavalier way. Especially if they wear the mask in conjunction with big boots, flouncy shirts and enormous feathered hats.

I suggested recently that the golden rule of reporting this contagion is that if anything goes right, we praise the NHS but if anything goes wrong we blame the Government. So if Oxford University, which is funded by the Government, is successful in developing a Covid-19 vaccine to save the world, can the Government take any credit? If not, why not?

The Left wing of British politics loves to claim the moral high ground. And then along comes this little message from a Guardian reader, published on that newspaper's website to mark the birth of Boris's son: The bastard of No.10 has been usurped by b@st@rd b@by! Lovely people.

Great ironies of our age. Just as the cops start using hi-tech face-recognition cameras, everybody starts wearing masks.

With the obvious exception, that is, of the 30 idiots who posed, maskless and brainless, for photos of their outdoors lockdown-breaking drinking session in Lanarkshire. They still don't get it, do they? They don't understand that for as long as those images are on the internet, they will be recognised as potential plague spreaders who put other people at risk. Months or even years from now they may get a sudden punch on the nose or worse accompanied by words on the lines of: You're the sort of selfish **** who killed my wife. Will they understand it then?

One newspaper referred to the Lanarkshire loonies as revellers. This is an interesting journalistic term, usually used to describe drunks before they commit a criminal offence. Once they start smashing street lights, revellers are magically transmogrified into hooligans.

Meanwhile, more research, this time in Iceland, suggests that coronavirus was well established in Britain right at the start of the pandemic. This surely rings a bell with many people who recall a particularly nasty infection after Christmas with temperature, dry cough and painful chest. These accounts are what experts describe as anecdotal. But is anybody recording these anecdotes? Would we be surprised to learn that this contagion came to Britain long before the official start date at the end of January?

One of the unexpected consequences of lockdown is being confined to Chateau Rhodes with our grandchild, Ruben, who is now ten weeks old, just discovering how to smile and a constant delight. We take our turn in singing the lullabies and rocking him to sleep. This means that among all the other things you have to remember in these strange times (wash hands, use sanitiser, order food online, etc) are the words to The Dingle Dangle Scarecrow. He had a flippy-floppy hat. A Cavalier, I bet.

Link:

Peter Rhodes on cavalier behaviour, idiots unmasked - and when did this pandemic really start? - expressandstar.com

In 1878 the British composers Gilbert and Sullivan created one of their best comic operas,HMS Pinafore, a send-up of the Royal Navy that enjoyed great success.In one of the main scenes the civilian head of the Navy, Sir Joseph Porter, known as the First Lord of the Admiralty, explained how he had risen to such eminence bysinging

Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,If you want to rise to the top of the tree,If your soul isnt fettered to an office stool,Be careful to be guided by this golden rule.

Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,And you all may be rulers of the Queens Navee!

I know this production well, because I sang in it a very long time ago (in the part of the sailor Dick Deadeye, if you really want to know), and Ive always borne it in mind when various navies have been reported as being mismanaged by idiots who have stuck close to their desks and condescended to those who go to sea and actually command ships and sailors.

***

According to the 2019 US military manualDefense Support of Civil AuthoritiesThe mission of the Department of Defense in a pandemic is to preserve US combat capabilities and readiness and to support US government efforts to save lives, reduce human suffering, and slow the spread of infection.But these instructions came to nothing during the hideous farce in which the commanding officer of the US Navy aircraft carrierTheodore Roosevelt, Captain Brett Crozier, was summarilyrelieved of commandby the Navy Secretary.This all began when Crozier, aware of the threat of the pandemic and regretting that nobody in the senior echelons was doing anything constructive about it, sent a note to his superiors indicating that only a small number of sailors had been disembarked from his ship and that this was contrary to guidance concerning quarantine and social distancing.

Crozierwrotethat We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset our Sailors . . . Keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board [the Roosevelt] is an unnecessary risk and breaks faith with those Sailors entrusted to our care.

Like all good officers, Crozier put his subordinates first in his priorities First, your subordinates; then your ship; last, yourself.Its the same in almost every Military Service in the world, and if this leadership is discouraged then armed forces fall apart.It seems, however, that the Pentagon is indifferent to that outcome and is content to not only discourage good leadership but is prepared to destroy those who display it.

Never reluctant to become involved and to make an ever greater fool of himself, the President of the United States, the commander-in-chief of the armed services, butted in anddeclaredHe shouldnt be talking that way in a letter. I thought it was terrible what he did.

In the Pentagon at the time the Navy Secretary was Thomas Modly who had once been a navy helicopter pilot, but then, as the White Housetold us, went close to his desk and when selected by Trump was currently a Managing Director in PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Government and Public Services sector and is the firms Global Government Defense Network Leader, where he is responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of solutions for government defense clients worldwide. Prior to this, Mr. Modly served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Financial Management and as the first Executive Director of the Defense Business Board. He also has extensive private sector expertise as a corporate development and mergers and acquisition specialist.

And in an exhibition of vicious spite the gallant desk-bound merger-specialist Modly sacked Captain Crozier then flew at vast expense to Guam and addressed the ships company over the speaker system, trying to justify his action and insulting their former commanding officer to abackgroundof jeers, yells and catcalls from the crew.Hedeclaredthat Captain Crozier was too naive or too stupid to be in command of the aircraft carrier.

Which brings us back to the comic operaHMS Pinafore, when desk-bound Sir Joseph addresses a sailor named Ralph, saying. . . Now tell me dont be afraid how does your captain treat you, eh?

Ralph: A better captain dont walk the deck, your honor.

The entire ships crew: Aye Aye!

Sir Joseph: Good. I like to hear you speak well of your commanding officer; I daresay he dont deserve it, but still it does you credit.

It is sad that sometimes Art repeats itself as pathetic absurdity.

***

And one wonders what the sailors of US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf might think of their commander-in-chief whotweetedon April 22 that I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.Use of the phrase shoot down in relation to little patrol boats attracted derision, but is nevertheless a distinct threat that could easily lead to war with Iran, which seems to be what he wants.Asreportedby the Washington Post, the incident that took his ever-tweeting attention took place the previous week, when the US military said 11 small vessels belonging to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted dangerous and harassing approaches toward a fleet of American ships, including the USS Lewis B Puller, an expeditionary mobile base vessel, and the USS Paul Hamilton, a destroyer. In one case, an Iranian fast boat zipped by within 10 yards of a Coast Guard cutter.

It is doubtful if any US navy commanding officer would shoot down and destroy a little motor boat that zipped by his ship unless direct orders had been issued to the effect that the rules of engagement at sea had been altered to include such an eventuality. The Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquiststated that the president issued an important warning to the Iranians. What he was emphasizing is all of our ships retain the right of self-defense, and people need to be very careful in their interactions to understand the inherent right of self-defense, which is absolutely meaningless.The cavorting was indubitably childish and silly and offended against the accepted norms of courtesy at sea, which most navies take very seriously, but in no manner could it be regarded as hazarding US lives.

The absurdity of the Trump-Pentagon reaction to a few zooming motor boats is part of Washingtons concerted effort to bring Iran to its knees and encourage the population to rise up against the batty mullahs who run the country so badly.That this encouragement is involving the deaths of countless harmless Iranian civilians by denial of vital anti-pandemic assistance through vicious sanctions is neither here nor there : what matters in the Pentagon is the ascendancy of its war machine around the world.

The Pentagons fandangos are indicative of misdirected priorities, which themselves reveal a deep malaise among Washingtons supposedly best and brightest.But the malaise is not Covid-19:it comprises the diseases of ignorance, pettiness and malevolence which are the stock-in-trade of the commander-in-chief, who is sticking close to his desk and his golf courses, and making us all sea-sick.

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The White House and Pentagon are Making the World Seasick - CounterPunch

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MINNEAPOLIS (Up News Info) Governor Tim Walz announced Friday that retail companies could reopen their doors this week with a caveat: They have to make deliveries or pickup options on the sidewalk.

That means about 10,000 Minnesota retailers can go back to work.

Primp Boutique has multiple locations in the Twin Cities and is reopening its doors for sidewalk pickup. Owner Wesley Uthus said clients will fill out an online form for what they want to order, and may even have the option to book a FaceTime appointment with a stylist.

"It was really a challenge," said Uthus. "Trying to figure out how we continue to deliver that experience and how we can do that on the sidewalk in a way that still feels personalized and still feels like Primp," he said.

Golden Rule Gallery at Excelsior offers personalized gift boxes for Mother's Day.

READ MORE: Retail businesses, including pet groomers, prepare for sidewalk service

"For us, it will only be me who works with my 4-year-old son," said owner Erin Duininck.

Customers can connect online to chat back and forth with the owner to design the perfect gift with what they have in store. Though difficult, she supports trade changes to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"I have to worry about the staff," said Duininck. "I have very vulnerable friends and family, so I don't deserve it."

Mall of America said select stores there will also have a sidewalk pickup. Orders would be collected in the north lot.

CONTACT US: Do you have a story about the COVID-19 pandemic to share with us? Please contact us here.

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Coronavirus in MN: 10,000 retailers can return to work Monday, but only on the sidewalk or at delivery Up News Info - Up News Info

In the new limited series from TV impresario Ryan Murphy and regular collaborator Ian Brennan (the duo behind Glee and Scream Queens), post-war Hollywood is reimagined as a burgeoning hub of contemporary progressive thought, where there's room at the top for plucky youngsters of varying colours and sexual orientations so long as they're uniformly attractive and well-kempt.

"I'm gonna change the way they make movies in this town," promises aspiring director Raymond Ainsley, who's played by Darren Criss, an alum of both Glee and The Assassination of Gianni Versace for the record, a much sharper Murphy production than this one.

"I wanna take the story of Hollywood and give it a rewrite," replies Archie Coleman, the budding screenwriter played by newcomer Jeremy Pope. (Might I suggest he start by rewriting this artless dialogue.)

Their revolution is a-brewing at the fictional Ace studios, where Archie has managed to sell a script without revealing that he's both black and gay, with Raymond (half-Filipino, but able to pass as white) on board to direct and gunning to cast his African-American girlfriend Camille (Laura Harrier), one of the studio's contract players, as the lead.

All wildly controversial stuff for 40s Hollywood, which was still subject to the conservative strictures of the Hays Code.

But the fierce pushback anticipated by Archie, Raymond, and Camille never quite manifests because Murphy's Hollywood is little more than a vapid exercise in woke wish fulfillment in which bigotry proves a startlingly easy condition to treat.

I don't begrudge anyone their happy ending, but certainly the series would have benefitted from a more meaningful engagement with the wrongs it sets out to right or hell, just a little bit more conflict!

Meanwhile, loitering outside the studio gates, hoping to get noticed by anyone in casting, is recently returned veteran Jack Castello (The Politician's David Corenswet). As a straight white guy, what hampers his path to silver screen glory is not his race or sexuality but a pronounced lack of talent.

That's not much of an issue, however, once he starts turning tricks for upscale clients out of a gas station that doubles as a brothel (just pull up to the pump and ask to go to 'dreamland'). Soon after Jack services Avis (Patti Lupone), the brassy wife of Ace's studio head, he too is fraternising with the chosen folks on the other side of the gate.

Real-life denizens of Hollywood's golden era also make regular appearances, revivified in order to lend poignance to this confected history amongst them closeted matinee idol Rock Hudson (portrayed, with all the charm and intellect of a potato, by Jake Picking) and his provocatively blunt agent Henry Willson (Jim Parsons, of The Big Bang Theory), as well as Anna May Wong (Michelle Krusiec), the first Chinese-American movie star.

The results ought to make them squirm in their graves. What was clearly meant to be uplifting, empowering viewing a risqu revisionist fantasy with a social conscience, why not? is thoroughly deadened by the sanctimonious tone that often clings to Murphy's slick and soapy melodramas.

"Sometimes I think folks in this town don't really understand the power they have," says Raymond, always in earnest, to Ace's Head of Production (Joe Mantello) during a pitch meeting.

Au contraire, Raymond: none of Hollywood's players seem to ever have doubted the industry's power so ardent is their love affair with show biz, so convinced of its importance, that they can conceive of no nobler or more pressing cause than equal opportunity stardom.

"Movies don't just show us how the world is," continues the idealistic director. "They show us how the world can be and if we change the way that movies are made, [] I think you can change the world."

(Together with Brennan and Janet Mock, his co-writers, Murphy seems to be terribly afraid of subtext, consistently opting to break the golden rule of storytelling 'show don't tell'.)

Variations on this theme are voiced again and again throughout the series. Even Eleanor Roosevelt (Harriet Sansom Harris) joins the chorus: "I used to believe that good government could change the world," she tells the rapt studio execs during a surprise visit. "I'm not sure I believe that anymore. But what you do" sing along if you know the words "can change the world."

While Murphy might have set out to foreground the importance of diversity both in front of and behind the camera critical to the vitality and social relevance of the industry's output the series he's served up seems more invested in the importance of Hollywood itself.

Even the industry's tawdry side gets buffed to a peculiar sheen here. That all of the many sexual encounters depicted in the show are in some way transactional, whether or not cash is exchanged afterwards, is something most often played for light-hearted laughs, without so much as a whiff of critique or heaven forbid moral ambiguity.

It's telling that foreplay between Raymond and Camille, as well as Jack and his generous clients, only ever takes the form of shoptalk: in Murphy's Hollywood, there's just nothing more romantic than 'making it'.

True, Tinseltown is home to a long and rich masturbatory tradition (see: the Oscars), but I can't help but find this doggedly starry-eyed take a bit rich coming from a Netflix program especially one financed by what's said to have been the biggest producing deal in television history.

There's some irony in the fact that the rise of television was one of the primary factors in the sharp decline of studio-era Hollywood that began in 1948, less than a year after Murphy's gee-whiz kids catch their lucky breaks.

Hollywood is on Netflix from May 1.

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Netflix series Hollywood is romantic more than revisionist in its depiction of the industry's 'golden age' - ABC News

CLEVELAND, Ohio Architecture is the anonymous art. Aside from the occasional plaque in a lobby, most buildings dont come with tidy labels that describe who designed what and when.

But if you look closely, its easy to spot the differences between, say, houses designed according to a developers template and a bespoke dwelling designed by an architect for a specific client in a specific style.

This is certainly true of modernist-style houses designed by the late Cleveland architect, Jack Bialosky, Sr., who died April 14 at age 94. Bialosky founded the eponymous firm where his son, Jack Bialosky Jr., is senior principal.

Today the firm has 66 employees, with most in Cleveland, and a handful in New York, and is known for a wide-ranging body of work in a variety of architectural styles.

Its portfolio includes the traditional-looking Crocker Park lifestyle and office center in Westlake, the Van Aken shopping, office and apartment district in Shaker Heights, and more modern-leaning designs for the renovated Campus Center at Cuyahoga Community Colleges Metro campus and the new Cleveland Metroparks Edgewater Beach House.

The firm was smaller, with seven or eight employees, when Jack Bialosky Sr. led it from the 1950s to the 1980s.

On his watch, the firm designed significant projects including the 1954 Suburban Temple-Kol Ami in Beachwood, the 1976 headquarters for Progressive Corp. in Mayfield, plus headquarters buildings for Broadview Savings, and Leaseway Corp. (Under Jack Jr.'s leadership, the Bialosky has continued to design offices for the expanding Progressive campuses along I-271).

Nevertheless, Jack Sr. was known primarily for designing more than 60 single-family houses sprinkled across Clevelands East Side suburbs, with a strong concentration in Shaker Heights.

A map prepared by the architecture firm of Bialosky displays addresses for a curated list of 17 houses in Shaker Heights designed by Jack Bialosky, Sr.Bialosky

Theres a trio of big Bialosky houses along the east side of Eaton Road in Shaker Heights between North Park and South Park boulevards. Other examples are located farther east on those boulevards, and along Shelburne Road, Landon Road, Marchmont Road, and Hazelmere Road.

His clients included former U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, and philanthropist Joseph Mandel.

Collectively, the houses speak to the optimistic, utopian side of modernism and American suburbs in the postwar era. Bialoskys designs evoke the America of the Space Race and the bright visions of the 1964 Worlds Fair, not the America of race riots and protests over the Vietnam War.

With their clean lines, open plan floor layouts, abundant floor-to-ceiling windows and gently sloped gable roofs, the houses possess an earth-hugging humility, a serene clarity and a sense of restrained, quiet confidence.

The houses include numerous architectural references to the Prairie Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was a guest speaker at the Yale School of Architecture, where Bialosky earned a bachelors degree in 1949.

Those touches include deep, overhanging eaves and strong horizontal shadow lines created by low-slung, hipped roofs, in which all sides are angled.

The houses also stand out in the subtly inventive push-and-pull of their geometries, and in their sense of building craft.

The Arsham Residence at 2767 Landon Rd. in Shaker Heights is long, lean and low, with hipped roofs recalling the Prairie Houses of Frank Lloyd Wright.Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

Bialosky was fond of having the vertical joints filled between the long, slender Roman-style bricks he preferred, all the better to emphasize the sweeping horizontality of his designs, as in the Arsham House at 2767 Landon Road (so named, like other Bialosky houses for its original owners). He also enjoyed contrasting the horizontal lines of his houses with upper stories cladded with vertical panels or battens of wood, as in the Siegler Residence, at 2744 Sulgrave Road.

The Kangesser House at 2670 Courtland Boulevard in Shaker Heights features a folded rectangular form, deep overhanging eaves and clerestory windows in gable ends.Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

He carved clerestories in the gable ends of his Kangesser House at 2670 Courtland Boulevard, admitting daylight from an unexpected part of the house. And, as with many of his designs, the Kangesser House has a folded, rather than a simply rectangular shape.

It is widely observed that after World War II and the rise of suburbia, houses often eliminated porches in favor of backyard patios or decks that gave them an inward focus, turning away from the public realm of the street.

Thats true of Bialoskys houses, many of which are set low on their sites behind landscaped berms or rows of trees whose trunks etch decorative patterns against the smooth planes of his facades.

Neither boastful nor overtly opulent, the houses dont advertise the wealth of their inhabitants, which is exactly how Jack Sr. and his clients wanted it, according to Jack Jr.

The Blumenthal Residence at 2755 Eaton Road has a rambling layout, a ground floor cladded in brick, and a second floor sheathed in gray clapboard siding. Though large and spacious, the house is set behind a berm and screens of trees, emphasizing privacy.Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

Part of the explanation for the general spirit of restraint was that the early decades after World War II represented a valley between mountainous levels of socioeconomic inequality prevalent during the 1920s and again today.

In the 1920s, Clevelands wealthy lined Shaker Boulevard in Shaker Heights and Fairmount Boulevard in Cleveland Heights with richly ornamented, neo-Tudor or neoclassical mansions that openly flaunt the wealth of their owners.

Bialoskys houses embody an entirely different spirit, even though Shaker Heights was reputed to be the wealthiest suburb in America during the early 1960s.

In addition to the generally lower level of inequality at the time, there was an ethnic twist to the more modest, recondite spirit of Bialoskys houses.

A lot of the clients were Jewish and part of this was a desire for assimilation, Jack Jr. said. It was, in his words, about being quiet.

Jack Jr. described his father as an atheist who was nevertheless proud of being Jewish, and who prized ethics based on the 10 commandments of the Old Testament and the golden rule. He taught Sunday school at the Suburban Temple-Kol Ami, where he and his late wife, Marilyn Bartow Bialosky, where founding members and trustees.

The Spitz Residence at 2681 Wadsworth Rd. in Shaker Heights has a pergola and terrace extending from a ground floor sitting room, framed at the top with a horizontal beam that separates the brick ground floor and the clapboard second floor.Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer

It was part of Jack Sr.s make-up that he never promoted himself or advertised his work, his son said.

He thought other people should put you forward; you shouldnt put yourself forward, Jack Jr. said.

Accordingly, assignments for houses propagated from one satisfied client to another.

What sold them on Bialoskys architecture was that it communicated qualities of spaciousness and light and possibility.

Randy Curtis, a business appraiser who grew up in a 3,800-square-foot Bialosky House on Marchmont Road in Shaker Heights, was so compelled by the architecture of the house that he bought it from his parents in 1991 and lived there with his wife, Beth, until they downsized to a home in Mayfield in 2018.

The Marchmont house faces north toward the street and south toward the 6th green of the Shaker Country Club golf course, a view Bialosky framed with floor to ceiling windows.

It was wonderful, it was wonderful, Curtis said, repeating the thought for emphasis. You had a feeling of wide-open space, of being free, he said.

Yet from the street, the Marchmont house expresses a sense of humility and modesty that Curtis also finds deeply appealing.

Over on Hazelmere Road, Ayesha Bell Hardaway, an assistant law professor at Case Western Reserve University, said she was instantly struck by a 4,000-square-foot Bialosky house when she first saw it while house shopping 15 years ago.

It had an open floor plan, which I still love, she said. When you walk in you dont feel cramped. I feel free and peaceful.

By balancing freedom and restraint in a modernist idiom, the houses of Jack Bialosky Sr. continue to give pleasure to new generations of residents. They also summarize the spirit of an era in a way thats worthy of deep, ongoing appreciation.

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Appreciating the modernist houses of architect Jack Bialosky Sr.: space, light, and the quiet modesty of subu - cleveland.com

Everyone is freaking out about the stock market.

But if youve never invested before, or if youre a millennial, we have a secret to tell you: For you, this is the financial opportunity of a lifetime.

What the stock market crisis means for you is that stocks are now up for grabs, at prices you might never see again, or at least not for another decade or two.

In fact, you just missed what was probably the best day to buy stocks, but its probably not too late to get in the game before the market rallies.

So while youre stocking up on toilet paper, consider that maybe its also time to stock up on stocks, if youll pardon the pun.

In this article, well walk you through your first steps as an investor, show you how Seeking Alpha can help, and explain how you might turn this bear market from a snarling grizzly into a fuzzy teddy bear.

Yes, now, when people are panicking, selling stocks, and pulling their retirement savings.

Now is the time to remind ourselves of the golden rule of contrarian investing, a famous quote attributed to Baron Rothschild: "Buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own."

While we're hoping this quote doesn't literally come true, the meaning behind it is definitely applicable to the crisis we're living through.

Everything looks apocalyptic right now, but the inevitable truth is that eventually, however long it takes, the market will go back up again.

How do we know that? Well, we dont know 100%, but its a safe bet. Heres a graph showing the S&P 500 throughout the turbulent 20th century:

See? What comes down must eventually come up even after disasters like 9/11.

So how to find the best stocks to buy before the inevitable recovery? Keep reading, and well help you get started.

No, not at all. But you can definitely start a wish list.

The first piece of advice we can give a beginner investor is: Buy stocks if you want, but s-l-o-w-l-y. If youve decided on a certain stock, dont spend all your money on it, thinking youll make a quick buck. Instead, buy a small amount, wait, and if the price is still down and you think its a good investment, then consider buying more.

For a young investor, there's something else that's on your side: time. As you can see in the above graph, the S&P 500 was on an upward trajectory for most of the past 90 years. If youre in it for the long haul, your stock portfolio might double, triple, or quadruple in value throughout your life and possibly a lot more.

Welcome to the club! Millions of investors use Seeking Alpha to catch up on market news, to discuss ideas (OK, argue) with fellow investors, and to use advanced tools previously available only on Wall Street to research stocks. Were with you all the way!

To actually buy your first stock and start building your portfolio, youll need to open a brokerage account. This isnt at all as intimidating as it sounds here are some online brokers that are great for beginners.

Newbie investors sometimes choose to invest in index funds, not individual stocks. This means you instantly buy stocks of multiple companies if its the S&P 500, the most commonly known index fund in the United States, that means youre buying a part of 500 large companies chosen by the fund. This is a great way to get started, but in this article, well talk about doing a little bit more than that with our investing strategies.

Whatever you do, theres one little word you need to repeat to yourself when starting to build your stock portfolio: diversify, diversify, diversify. This means not investing simply in one stock or even in one industry, because if that company or that industry suffers, your money will be at risk. By investing across multiple industries, you mitigate that risk.

Seeking Alpha offers investors many different features and tools. The first thing we recommend that you do is create an account and start following stocks that interest you. These can be index funds like the S&P 500 or individual companies you find interesting or cool, like Apple (AAPL) or Tesla (TSLA). Follow whatever and however many stocks you want you can narrow them down later. Youll start to get email alerts on these stocks: news, articles, and other mentions. You can customize the alerts you receive by clicking on Settings. You might want to choose the daily digest version of one email a day.

For any stock youre interested in, youll be able to drill down and explore different data: not just news and articles, but also financials like the companys income statements and revenue, earnings reports (where the company reports on the quarter or year it had a great way to understand the companys present and future).

If youre already invested in stocks, you can go ahead and add them to your Seeking Alpha portfolio. This will give you a more detailed and precise look at your investments.

Besides the basic features of Seeking Alpha, we can offer you two methods: the DIY method, and the guided method.

Heres how we make it easy for you.

Lets talk about DIY first.

Many investors prefer to do their own research when it comes to stocks, and for them, investing is a hobby as well as an income stream. If youre ready to learn more about the stock market and get to know the companies youre investing in, doing your own research might be the right path for you. And hey, lots of people are trying their hand at DIY everything these days, from baking bread to cutting their own hair.

Investors who do their own research use a variety of tools and methods to make the best possible decisions. Want to take up the challenge of DIY-ing your stock research? Seeking Alpha can simplify that challenge for you. You dont need to be an analyst to invest, but Seeking Alpha provides you with high-quality products and tools developed and used by Wall Street analysts.

Lets look at some of the ways you can use Seeking Alpha Premium to make smart, informed investing decisions the easy way.

Ratings: The Pop Charts of Stocks

Just like movies, songs, and video games, stocks have top-10 lists of their own. At Seeking Alpha, we make it easy for you to find the top rated stocks. This way, if you want to invest in top stocks, all you need to do is check out the stocks included in these lists. All the hard work has been done for you by experts and analysts.

Heres a screenshot of the Top Tech Stocks. Just by looking at the ratings on this screen you can get a sense of which stocks investors are most bullish on, meaning the ones they think are the best buys at the moment. By looking at this list, you can get a sense of which stocks investors recommend most right now.

If you want to get into the nitty gritty, you can differentiate among three different ratings on Seeking Alpha:

Quant Ratings An overall rating for each stock based on objective data, generated by comparing each stock with the rest based on over 100 metrics.

Sell-Side Ratings Wall Street analysts ratings on a particular stock. These ratings are provided by analysts whose job it is to research companies and report on a given stock's expected performance. Seeking Alpha collects all the analyst data from third-party sources and assigns an aggregated rating from Very Bearish (sell) to Very Bullish (BUY).

Author Ratings Seeking Alpha authors rate the stocks they write about every time they publish a new article, from Very Bullish (BUY) to Very Bearish (sell). We aggregate every authors rating within the past 90 days and combine it to create the overall Author Rating.

Articles by investors, for investors

If youre interested in finance, youre probably already reading articles on various finance publications and thats a great first step. Keep doing that!

The bad news is that the stock market is not an exact science: No one knows exactly what will go up or down, nor by how much or when. Everyone writing an article or an opinion about a stock is human, prone to bias and confusion just like you. Of course, a lot of writers are very confident about their analysis, and its up to you to know that youre making the right decision. Thats why its important to hear both sides of the argument, and read what the bulls and the bears have to say about a stock before you decide to invest. With all the different talking heads yelling at you to buy this stock and sell the other, its really hard to know who to listen to.

The good news, however, is that Seeking Alpha can help you identify trustworthy advice at a glance. On any article on Seeking Alpha, you can see a history of the authors ratings of the stock, overlaid on that stocks price chart. Below, for example, you can see how the authors rating of Apple changes over time: from a long period of bullishness as the stock goes up, and then a lowered rating a switch to bearishness just before the stock begins to go down.

News dashboard and stock alerts

Even under normal circumstances, its absolutely vital that investors are aware of any sudden changes in their portfolio. BUT this doesnt mean youll necessarily make decisions based on these changes. In fact, some investors wont touch their portfolio even when things seem dire and more often than not, thats the best decision they can make. But you should still be in the know. After all, its your money!

The Seeking Alpha Premium news dashboard comes with powerful filters to find the most actionable news. Some of these are tailored to investing styles and goals, such as dividend investing and value or growth investing. Other filters give you an at-a-glance understanding of the markets: Top News, Trending News, Politics and Market Pulse.

The news dashboard is a great tool for filtering out the noise and focusing only on the news that matter to you and your portfolio.

Notable calls

Notable Calls are actionable investment ideas from fund managers and other Wall Street pros, sourced and summarized by our news analysts. Notable Calls offer subscribers a daily dose of alpha-generating ideas. Combined with contributor articles, Notable Calls makes Seeking Alpha the most comprehensive and valuable source of investing ideas available anywhere.

If you want a little extra guidance, Seeking Alpha's Marketplace is where you can get more specialized help navigating the uncharted waters

What is the Marketplace? Its where seasoned, expert investors offer their guidance to new investors or those who simply prefer a bit more hand-holding. These investing experts have created their Marketplace service according to their own area of expertise. Some will focus on industries such as real estate, metals, or biotech. Others will focus on a certain investing style or goal: dividend investing, value investing, or various predictive models.

Each Marketplace service offers a curated, VIP experience: exclusive real-time investing ideas, direct contact with the services leaders, and a community chat room for in-depth discussion.

Lets take a little tour of the Marketplace.

Youre looking at the top services currently listed on the Seeking Alpha Marketplace. But there are 168 services to choose from, so how do you find one that suits you?

First, you can sort by popularity or review score to get a sense of which ones Seeking Alpha users like most. Alternatively, you can use the filter to find services according to price or theme (such as dividend investing, tech stocks, ETFs), or narrow down which ones have mentioned a specific stock.

What happens inside the Marketplace service?

Once youre in, youll receive some Getting Started materials, which will introduce you to everything the service includes and how to make the most of it. Then you can start reading the latest reports, previews for the upcoming week, and more exclusive materials. Youll also gain access to the group chat, where you and your fellow investors can ask the Marketplace leaders any questions you might have and get answers daily.

Heres the best part: Most Seeking Alpha Marketplace services offer a free trial that opens access to all of this before you commit so you can even try several before you settle on one.

For newbie investors, a time of crisis in the markets can be a great time to get started. Prices are down, emotions are up, and the future is uncertain but full of possibilities.

Ever since the market started feeling the effects of the coronavirus, people of all ages and walks in life have been wondering what would happen to their investment portfolios, retirement funds, and bank accounts.

The coronavirus will be defeated, humanity will prevail, and the markets will rally eventually. Its always darkest before the dawn. While everyone else panics, use the opportunity to start treading the waters of the stock market after all, it waits for no one. And were here for you every step of the way.

Want to do your own stock research, the easy way? Were offering a free trial of Seeking Alpha Premium - no strings attached: click here to start yours.

Prefer a little more hand-holding? Click here to explore the Seeking Alpha Marketplace and find your first investing guide.

The rest is here:

New To Investing? You're Just In Time - Seeking Alpha

Provided by CBS Minnesota

Coronavirus:Latest News|Community Resources|COVID-19 Info|Download Our App|CBSN Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) Gov. Tim Walz announced Friday that retail businesses could reopen their doors this week with one caveat: They have to do delivery or curbside pickup options.

That does mean that about 10,000 Minnesota retailers are able to go back to work.

Primp Boutique has several locations throughout the Twin Cities and is reopening its doors for curbside pickup. Owner Wesley Uthus said customers will fill out a form online for what they want to order, and can even have the option book a FaceTime appointment with a stylist.

Its been really challenging, Uthus said. Trying to figure out how do we still provide that experience and how can we do that with curbside in a way that still feels personalized and still feels like Primp, she said.

Golden Rule Gallery in Excelsior is offering customized Mothers Day gift boxes.

READ MORE: Retail Businesses, Including Pet Groomers, Prepare For Curbside Service

For us, its going to be just me working with my 4-year-old in tow, owner Erin Duininck said.

Customers can go online to chat back and forth with the owner to design the perfect gift with what she has in store. Although difficult, she supports the business changes to slow the spread of COVID-19.

I have staff to worry about, Duininck said. I have really vulnerable friends and family so its not worth it to me.

Mall of America said select stores there will have curbside pickup offered as well. The orders would be picked up in the North Lot.

CONTACT US: Do you have a story about the COVID-19 pandemic to share with us? Please contact us here.

Read more:

Coronavirus In MN: 10,000 Retailers Able To Return To Work Monday, But Curbside Or Delivery Only - msnNOW

On Monday, Gov. Mike DeWine revealed the states layered economic reopening plan, starting this week with hospitals and dental offices, continuing Monday with factories and offices, and moving on May 12 to many of the retail and service firms currently deemed nonessential. But some business categories will remain closed for now, including salons and barber shops, restaurants and bars. Many are small businesses at risk of never reopening but that may have the most trouble maintaining social distance.

The plan DeWine originally announced included mandated masks at reopened businesses. On Tuesday, he appeared to back off that. On Wednesday, the state clarified that face coverings would be required at reopened businesses with certain exceptions, but that customer masks would not be mandated.

The plan as yet has no provision for child care. And, asked about employees with underlying conditions that could make them vulnerable to lethal COVID-19 infection, DeWine said he hoped employers would provide the needed accommodations.

Yet those suffering from ailments that render some especially at risk -- including asthma, diabetes, chronic lung disease, severe obesity, serious heart disease, kidney disease or being immunocompromised -- may include a sizable number of Ohio workers.

if these employees fear that going back to work will expose them to COVID-19 from which they could die, and their employer isnt accommodating, they appear to have little recourse but to comply with the bosss orders, be fired, sue or quit. In court, theyd likely have to prove that their employers put them in danger knowingly and that they had no recourse but to refuse to work in those conditions.

Does that sound wrong? To many, it will. But could it be equally wrong to carve out a health- or age-related exception for such employees, putting them in a different category and requiring different treatment by their employer?

So, did Ohio choose aright in leaving it up to employers -- and employees -- to choose? Should any special accommodations be made for the highest-risk among us? Or, if none, will it forever be a taint on our generation that we left the most vulnerable to suffer the consequences, up to and including death, so that the rest of us could get back to work?

Our editorial board roundtable weighs the goods and bads.

Jarvis DeBerry, cleveland.com columnist:

When businesses reopen, some folks with pre-existing conditions might be forced to choose between employment and a higher risk for illness. While some employers might be inclined to be understanding, employees shouldnt be put in a position to have to prove their vulnerability. If reopening now is too dangerous for the most vulnerable, then its too dangerous, period.

Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:

Fairness is an ideal we should, and mostly do, all strive for. But there are circumstances when an ideal must yield to practicalities. This is one of those circumstances -- remembering, always, to apply the Golden Rule whenever possible.

Ted Diadiun, cleveland.com columnist:

Theres no point in dancing around the edges here: As government tries to manage the reopening, whether quickly or cautiously, there will be a significant cost in human life. This has all been about slowing the infection rate not preventing it. Most of us will eventually get infected. So, line up, lawyers: Your times coming.

Lisa Garvin, editorial board member:

Without widespread public testing, any plan to reopen the economy will be a crapshoot. While I applaud Gov. DeWines measured approach, making masks voluntary is a serious misstep. Yes, people need to get back to work, but If were going to be serious about a sustained economic recovery, workers need protection from the public.

Victor Ruiz, editorial board member:

This is certainly a difficult situation, and while I believe that most employers will do right by their employees, we cannot assume that all will. With that said, the government does bear a significant share of the responsibility to ensure that all citizens are safe, and that employers can easily meet all of the requirements.

Eric Foster, editorial board member:

Child care has to be prioritized. DeWine understood that when he allowed for temporary licenses to serve essential workers. Opening up businesses has to correspond with opening up child care providers, as well. As far as high-risk employees, employment lawyers have suggested there exists some legal protection if they chose not to work due to coronavirus concerns.

Mary Cay Doherty, editorial board member:

Existing laws protect all employees. Ohio has mandated coronavirus safety protocols. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission includes coronavirus concerns in its Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines. And unemployment or Social Security Disability could be temporarily modified for workers who cannot perform the essential functions of their jobs. Although the coronavirus is novel, health issues in the workplace are not.

Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, cleveland.com:

Short of ordering employers to make accommodations that might not be feasible or economical, Ohio could have done more for high-risk workers -- for instance, setting up a hotline; mediation on a voluntary basis; or highlighting employers potential legal liability when at-risk workers must interact with customers not required to wear masks.

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this editorial board roundtable to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.

View original post here:

In reopening Ohio, what about those at highest risk of dying from the coronavirus? - cleveland.com

In an exclusive video shared with The Telegraph today, the Duchess of Sussex delivered coaching advice to a young British womaninterviewing for an internship. Its part of Meghans role as a patron for the charity Smart Works, who are delivering virtual employmentcoaching sessions for womenduring the coronavirus crisis.

Much besides the advice shes giving, Meghan seems to have mastered the art of Zoom groom, wearing a simple v-neck jumper and make-up that looks polished without being too overdone.

Like all of us right now, Meghan hasnot been able to see her hairdresser while in lockdown. This might be why shes sporting two braids on either side of her hairline, that look extremely youthful - but that aside,her make-up is particularly well done.

Meghan has nailed the perfect Zoom make-up look, says celebrity make-up artist Ruby Hammer, who has done Meghans make-up a few times before. (The first time was for one of Meghans first dates with Prince Harry.) Here she shares with us how she thinks Meghan did her pre-video make-up, and the simple tricks to mastering make-up for the camera.

Her face looks glowy and stress-free, says Hammer. It definitely looks like shes done her own make-up, as youd expect right now, but she knows what works for her. Hammer suggests using a combination of tinted moisturiser with a heavier concealer under the eyes. Rubys favourite base for a light glow is the Radiant Tinted Moisturiser by Nars, 31 - and her one golden rule is to make sure you take some of the product down to your neck, especially for video.

As for concealer, Hammer likes the new Stila concealer, fittingly called the Pixel Perfect Concealer, 18. Her skin finish looks similar to how she had her make-up on her wedding day, says Ruby. Its light enough so you can see her freckles, but its not too made-up. Meghan has beautiful skin because shes so clean living, and that means she doesnt tend to need much concealer or base.

Read more here:

The secret behind the Duchess of Sussexs polished Zoom beauty look - Telegraph.co.uk