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Clan Template
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Clan Template
Post Sango Uzunirah on Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:26 pm
The Clan
Clan's Name: (The name of the clan. If you belong to a clan, you must have its name in your surname. If it isn't the case, ask a mod to change your username.)
Clan's Origin: (Village from which Clan originated from)
Biography: (Clan biography)
Clan Members: (The members of the Clan. It has to be constantly updated)
Skills/Kekkei Genkai
Name*: (Name of the Kekkei Genkai)
Type*: (Element control, body mutation, doujutsu (eye technique), etc)
Stages*: (Stages it has)
Effects: (What it actually does)
Jutsus it Unlocks: (The jutsus your clan has or that are used with the KG. Use the Jutsu Template for this.)
Note: Items with * after are for Kekkei Gengai (KG) only.
Sango Uzunirah
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/58952
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Mpls / Vpn Zxr10 Fundamental Theory And The Configuration
For those of you not acquainted with the term, simply stated, a softphone is a software edition of the phone that operates on your pc, using the microphone and speakers to provide the voice sign and emulating the phone system on the screen.
TV channels like FOX, HULU, ABC, and NBC can only be accessed from the US, and with a o que é vpn link, you can seem American anyplace, and access these web sites. The exact same goes for other web sites that only US places are allowed to access.
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June 5, 2009
Christianity and war
I know there are at least two people who read this blog who actually know stuff about Christianity, and I'm wondering if you (or other people! people I don't know!) could help me with something I find confusing. I've read the New Testament, and I know a little about the early history of the Christian church, but I know more or less nothing about more recent theology. Jesus is very clear in the New Testament, mostly. "Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also." (from Luke, and also from Matthew.) He hangs out with lepers and prostitutes and tax collectors, and I don't remember a single instance in which he does anything violent (though I'm ready to be corrected on this). There's some talk of how God will judge people, but really nothing about how anyone should carry out that judgment now, and in fact various injunctions against judging, more or less on the concept that it's God's job to do that and we're not God. At least that's how I remember it, from my New Testament class seven years ago.
So obviously Tiller's murder raises some questions for me, but so do the Crusades and pretty much every war that any Christian organization has blessed or waged. What's up with that? How do Christian theologians justify war and retribution? There's plenty of bloodthirsty behavior in the Old Testament, so I can see where Jews are getting it. I know basically nothing about Muslim theology, but it does seem like there's not the same crazy pacifism in Muslim tradition. I mean, it seems like it's mostly a situation of "people will be people, no matter what the scriptures actually say," but I do wonder how the people who claim to buy into that scripture then square it with their own desires for violence and retribution. Especially if there are people who grapple with it in a serious and honest way.
Frank said...
While you're right that pacifism seems to be one constant in JC's message, the story of Jesus losing his temper in the temple can be construed as an instance of violence. And violence of questionable justification, considering that the moneychangers/animal sellers were supposed to be there to allow for pilgrims to fulfill ritual sacrifice prescribed by the Big Guy in Hebrew scripture.
Not saying that that story particularly can be/is interpreted as justification for violence, but as an example of how you can find support in the Bible for almost any argument you want to make, from the life of JC himself and more broadly elsewhere in the NT or OT. And a lot of neo-orthodox thinkers/believers look to the OT as much as to the Gospels. (I'm talking very narrowly about Catholicism here, not about broader Christian traditions.)
More recently, JPII wrote about "just war" in one encyclical. But I never read it (have you ever read an encyclical? Oi va voi, or translated into Irish, JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH!). So less able to answer that question.
North said...
The thing that struck me about the New Testament when I read it - having grown up with the Old one - was actually how unified it is. It's a natural outgrowth of focusing on one guy during the course of a fairly short life (where the OT is actually about a whole tribe and everyone they ran into over hundreds and hundreds of years, as well as their elaborate personal hygiene rules), but compared to the OT, the NT is a marvel of clarity and direction, full of fairly clear themes and instructions. I think that contrast is part of why I see the NT (and especially the life of Jesus) as so clear and particular, and why it seems weird to me me when people use Christianity to justify stuff that Jesus seemed pretty clearly against.
Jews, of course, do exactly the same thing - Talmudic scholars got rid of capital punishment pretty early by erecting very high evidentiary barriers to using it.
It still surprises me that neo-orthodox people focus on Old Testament stuff so much. Why that, and not Levirate marriage or the whole mixed-fibers thing? Why that above the whole direction of JC's life? (I know Jesus got rid of the dietary laws, but it seems just as clear to this non-Christian that he wanted to get rid of most violence.)
I have not read the encyclical. And with that recommendation, I'm not likely to. Also: since you brought up the whole moneychangers incident, I've had the Billy Bragg/Wilco/Woody Guthrie song 'Christ for President' in my head. All day. Thanks a lot.
THE FIRE BOSS (aka EFF BEE) said...
I also think "it's mostly a situation of 'people will be people, no matter what the scriptures actually say'," especially where 'people' includes -- ta da -- (private) governments.
Beyond that, I think the main factors are (1) an absolute worldview that divides phenomena into good and evil (which frequently becomes us vs. them) and (2) the duty to proselytize and convert, which is tied, eschatalogically, to bringing about the Kingdom of Heaven.
(2) is very present in the Gospels and NT generally. (1) can be read in, e.g., Matthew 10:34, "I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword":
However, I think the strict good/evil dichotomy gains its force more from later developments in church history.
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Exactly what is a definition essay?
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December 6, 2010
i looked up and ::WHABAM!::
Mildred and Bartholomew are back, people, BACK!
I'm absolutely thrilled. I had missed them for most of the spring because a silly-dilly Currawong had set up shop just in front of my balcony. Well, s/he (and the offspring) are gone and my rainbow-coloured joy-packers are BACK!
Welcome to summer!!
Kyle Duarte said...
Whatever, I see seagulls flying around all the time when it gets up to 10ºC!
Linzi said...
seagulls are nice. but 10 degrees is not.
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Design Institute of Australia
Show Summary Details
Quick Reference
(established 1983)
Formally designated as the Design Institute in 1983 this design promotional organization grew out of the Industrial Design Institute of Australia (IDIA) founded in 1958 by the Society of Designers for Industry (SDI). The latter was the first Australian professional design organization, founded a decade earlier in Melbourne in 1948. Members of the Interior Designers Association of Australia (also established in 1948) also joined the IDIA, followed, in 1965, by members of the Society of Industrial Designers Australia. In 1967 IDIA took on a more international orientation, becoming a member of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID, founded 1963). In the following decade, from 1979 to 1984, the IDIA published Design in Australia, edited by Ron Newman. In 1982 the IDIA took another step in terms of international visibility by joining the International Federation of Interior Designers/Architects (IFI) and, in the following year, was renamed as the Design Institute of Australia (DIA). Increasing its visibility and influence, in 1998 the DIA merged with the Australian Textile Design Association (ATDA) and the Society of Interior Designers of Australia (SIDA). Three years later the DIA awarded the ‘Selections’ awards for furniture and product design for the Australian Design Awards.
Subjects: Industrial and Commercial Art.
Reference entries
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FAQ Section
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Tag Archives: caffeine
The newest vaping trend — vaping caffeine
I’m not sure what to think of this, other than the less kids get hooked on nicotine, the better.
Because of the wild success of vaping (e-cigarettes), the latest trend in e-cigs is moving toward vaping caffeine.
Hey, if it makes vaping nicotine less popular, more power to them. Though I wouldn’t considering myself an expert in talking about caffeine, I have no doubt it is considerably less nasty than nicotine. The New York Times describes this as “Red Bull for the lungs.”
A typical cup of coffee contains between 95 and 200 milligrams of coffee. By comparison, caffeine vaporizers contains 2 milligrams of caffeine per puff, meaning you’d have to puff about 50 times to get the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.
Like nicotine e-cigs, the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t set any rules about caffeine vaporizers. In fact, it doesn’t appear the feds have even really studied it. (The FDA is working on final nicotine e-cig regulations … for like two years now.).
According to one writer who tried the caffeine e-cigs, the steam tastes like candy and little happened until the 10th puff. From the New York Times:
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Milgram experiment
The Milgram experiment (Obedience to Authority Study) was a famous scientific experiment of social psychology. The experiment was first described by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University in an article titled Behavioral Study of Obedience published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1963, and later discussed at book length in his 1974 Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. It was intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant's personal conscience.
The experiments began in July 1961, a year after the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Milgram devised the experiment to answer the question "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?" (Milgram, 1974)
Milgram summed up in the article "The Perils of Obedience" (Milgram 1974), writing:
Method of the experiment Edit
For the experiment, subjects were recruited by newspaper ads and direct mail to participate in a study at Yale. The experiments themselves took place in two rooms in the basement of Linsly-Chittenden Hall on the university's Old Campus. The experiment was advertised as taking one hour, for which those responding would be paid $4.50. Participants were men between the ages of 20 and 50, coming from all educational backgrounds, ranging from an elementary school dropout to participants with doctoral degrees.
The participant and a confederate of the experimenter, who would be an actor pretending to be another participant, were told by the experimenter that they would be participating in an experiment to test the effects of punishment on learning behavior.
A slip of paper was given to the participant and another to the confederate. The participant was led to believe that one of the slips said "learner" and the other said "teacher," and that the participants had been given the slips randomly. In fact, both slips said "teacher," but the actor claimed to have the slip that read "learner," thus guaranteeing that the participant was always the "teacher." At this point, the "teacher" and "learner" were separated into different rooms where they could communicate but not see each other. The confederate was sure to mention that he had a heart condition.
The "teacher" was given a 45-volt electric shock from the electro-shock generator as a sample of the shock that the "learner" would supposedly receive during the experiment. The "teacher" was then given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. The teacher began by reading the list of word pairs to the learner. The teacher would then read the first word of each pair and read 4 possible answers. The learner would press a button to indicate his response. If the answer was incorrect, the learner would receive a shock, with the voltage increasing by 15 volts with each wrong answer. If correct, the teacher read the next word pair. The subjects believed that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. After the confederate was separated from the subject, the confederate set up a tape recorder integrated with the electro-shock generator, which played pre-recorded sounds for each shock level. After a number of voltage level increases, the actor started to bang on the wall that separated him from the subject. After several times banging on the wall and complaining about his heart condition, the learner gave no further response to the questions and made no further complaints.
At this point many people indicated their desire to stop the experiment and check on the learner. Many test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment. Some continued after being assured that they would not be held responsible. Some subjects began to laugh nervously once they heard the screams of pain coming from the learner.
1. Please continue.
3. It is essential that you continue.
4. You have no choice, you must continue.
Results Edit
Milgram created a documentary film showing the experiment and its results, titled "Obedience", legitimate copies of which are hard to find today. He then produced a series of five other films on social psychology with Harry From, some of which touched on his experiments [1]. They may all be obtained from Penn State Media Services.
Before the experiment was conducted Milgram polled fellow psychologists as to what the results would be. They unanimously believed that only a few sadists would be prepared to give the maximum voltage.
In Milgram's first set of experiments, 65 percent (27 out of 40) of experimental participants administered the experiment's final 450-volt shock, though many were quite uncomfortable in doing so; everyone paused at some point and questioned the experiment, some even saying they would return the cheque for the money they were paid. No participant steadfastly refused to give further shocks before the 300-volt level. Variants of the experiment were later performed by Milgram himself and other psychologists around the world with similar results. Apart from confirming the original results the variations have tested variables in the experimental setup.
[2] Dr. Thomas Blass of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (who is also the author of a biography of Milgram, called The Man who Shocked the World) performed a meta-analysis on the results of repeated performances of the experiment. He found that the percentage of participants who are prepared to inflict fatal voltages remains remarkably constant, between 61% and 66%, regardless of time or location (a popular account of Blass' results was published in Psychology Today, March/April 2002). The full results were published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology (Blass, 1999).
There is a little-known coda to the experiment, reported by Philip Zimbardo. None of the participants who refused to administer the final shocks insisted that the experiment itself be terminated, nor left the room to check that the victim was well without asking for permission to leave, according to Milgram's notes and recollections when he was asked on this point by Zimbardo. However some of the particepants did seem to argue with the authority figure the out come shows that participants adminitered shocks beyond maximum voltage of 450 volts.
Reactions Edit
The experiment raised questions about the ethics of scientific experimentation itself because of the extreme emotional stress suffered by the participants (even though it could be said that this stress was brought on by their own free actions). Most modern scientists would consider the experiment unethical today, though it resulted in valuable insights into human psychology.
Six years later (during the height of the Vietnam War), one of the participants in the experiment sent correspondence to Milgram, explaining why they were "glad" to have been involved despite the apparent levels of stress:
"While I was a subject [participant] in 1964, though I believed that I was hurting someone, I was totally unaware of why I was doing so. Few people ever realize when they are acting according to their own beliefs and when they are meekly submitting to authority. ... To permit myself to be drafted with the understanding that I am submitting to authority's demand to do something very wrong would make me frightened of myself. ... I am fully prepared to go to jail if I am not granted Conscientious Objector status. Indeed, it is the only course I could take to be faithful to what I believe. My only hope is that members of my board act equally according to their conscience..."
However, not everyone went through the life-changing experience reported by some former participants. Participants were not fully debriefed by modern standards, and exit interviews appeared to indicate that many seemed to never fully understand the nature of the experiment.
Variations Edit
Milgram describes 19 variations of the experiment that he conducted in Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. In general, he found that when the immediacy of the victim was increased, compliance decreased, and when immediacy of the authority increased, compliance increased (Experiments 1–4). For instance, in one variation where participants received instructions from the experimenter only by telephone (Experiment 2), compliance greatly decreased; interestingly, a number of participants deceived the experimenter by pretending to continue the experiment. In the variation where immediacy of the "learner" was closest, participants had to physically hold the learner's arm onto a shock plate, which decreased compliance. In this latter condition 30 percent still completed the experiment.
In Experiment 8, women were used as participants (all of Milgram's other experiments used only men). Obedience did not differ significantly, though they indicated experiencing higher levels of stress.
In one version (Experiment 10), Milgram rented a modest office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, purporting to be run by a commercial entity called "Research Associates of Bridgeport" with no apparent connection to Yale, in order to eliminate the prestige of the university as a possible factor influencing participants' behavior. The results of this experiment did not greatly differ from those conducted at the Yale campus.
Milgram also combined the power of authority with that of conformity. In these experiments, the participant was joined by one or two additional "teachers" (who were actually actors, like the "learner"). The behavior of the participants' apparent peers strongly affected results. When two additional teachers refused to comply (Experiment 17), only four participants of 40 continued the experiment. In another version (Experiment 18), the participant performed a subsidiary task with another "teacher" who complied fully. In this variation only three of 40 defied the experimenter. [1]
See alsoEdit
References Edit
• Blass, Thomas. "The Milgram paradigm after 35 years: Some things we now know about obedience to authority", Journal of Applied Social Psychology[2], 1999, 25, pp. 955-978.
• Blass, Thomas. (2002), "The Man Who Shocked the World", Psychology Today, 35:(2), Mar/Apr 2002.
• Blass, Thomas. (2004), The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram. (ISBN 0738203998)Basic Books (2004)
• Levine, Robert V. "Milgram's Progress"[3]. American Scientist.
• Book review of "The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram". Thomas Blass. xxiv + 360 pp. Basic Books, 2004."
• Milgram, Stanley. Official website [4]
• Milgram, Stanley. (1963). "Behavioral Study of Obedience".[5] Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378.
• Milgram, Stanley. (1974), Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View (ISBN 006131983X). Harpercollins (1974)
• Milgram, Stanley. (1974), "The Perils of Obedience" [6]. Harper's Magazine
• Abridged and adapted from Obedience to Authority
• Miller, Arthur G., (1986). "The obedience experiments : a case study of controversy in social science". New York : Praeger, 295 p.
• Parker, Ian, "Obedience". Granta[7] Issue 71, Autumn 2000.
• Includes an interview with one of Milgram's volunteers, and discusses modern interest in, and scepticism about, the experiment.
• Wu, William, "Practical Psychology: Compliance: The Milgram Experiment" [8].
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-04-12, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
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Global Open Access: The Price of Knowledge
Various business models of research publishing and diverse ways of distilling research data determine the accessibility to publicly funded research. This subject is hotly debated. What are the stakes? The "pay to publish and read" business model is the main offer to researchers and society. This system has come under intense scrutiny in the past decade. Is it good for society if readers are required to pay subscriptions to access the results? The Office of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated that the world spends over US$ 2 trillion p.a. of tax-payer money to fund research which produces over 2.5 million peer-reviewed articles p.a. These articles are published in over 24,000 journals. Over 80% of these "fruits of research" are captured and (re-)sold by the subscription journals.
"Even Harvard, the university with the largest journals budget of all, cannot subscribe to all journals, and most other universities have far smaller journal budgets", says Steven Harnad, a pioneer of the Open Access movement.
In subscription journals, researchers hand over their rights to access their articles, provide these journals a free peer-review service, and often pay extra charges to publish their work - even then they are required to pay to read their own articles. The subscription model is therefore considered the most ingenious business model: peer-review service for free, ownership of priceless content at no charge, authors made to pay for extra publishing costs, authors compete with each other to give away their material and rights, and content sold back to the authors.
When a journal becomes popular with high impact, subscriptions rise as expected from a supply and demand market. Managing the submission and review process, processing the articles for publication, printing and distributing a high quality journal involves cost. But is the restriction of knowledge for society justifiable? Does it have a place in the 21st century information and knowledge society?
The dominance of subscription-based research access in the publishing industry has been mainly secured because of the need for researchers to "Publish or Perish". Established publishers provide a measure of quality, which is judged today by their Impact Factor. A journal's Impact Factor shapes researchers' choice of publisher because it gives greater visibility and automatic credit.
New journals are created for those articles that do not manage to get into the high impact journals, which has led to what has been called the "serials crisis". The serials crisis reached a threshold in the 80's resulting in worldwide protest by libraries. Open Access publishing models were thus born: "a digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions", says Peter Suber, Open Access project director at Public Knowledge.
Early Signs of Community Awareness
According to John Willinsky, Professor at the Stanford University School of Education and a major Open Access activist, the definition and the core principle of Open Access publishing lie in the following statement: "A commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it responsibility to extend the circulation of such work as far as possible and ideally to all who are interested in it and all who might profit by it". For Willinsky, the scholarly community should morally take an oath, as do physicians, that they must disseminate their research to the widest audience possible. Willinsky's ideal commitment for the way scholars should consider the value of their research, resulted in various major actions throughout the history of the global Open Access movement.
The scholarly publishing revolution by libraries took place in the context of a crisis and was helped by the Internet boom that allowed the sharing of information in a completely new way. Research libraries spent 2.7 times more for serials during 1998-1999 than during 1985-1986, yet purchased 6% fewer serial titles. Journal prices increased 215% between 1986 and 2003, while the consumer price index rose just 68%. This publishing state of emergency spurred libraries and researchers from different leading Open Access scholarly disciplines such as physics, mathematics, medicine, and neuroscience to reclaim their right to scientific literature by using innovative communications tools.
Between 1991 and 1998 researchers and libraries created a panel of online web-based repositories to archive research articles and provide access to all the international scientific community - among those, ArXiv ( the first Open e-print archive server, was set up in 1991. Open Access advocacy groups such as SPARC ( began to emerge. This was soon followed by Open Access journals and archiving initiatives. Most notably was the launch of the Public Library of Science (PloS, 2001; and Pubmed Central (2002; Since then, more than 2131 Open Access journals have been launched across many disciplines by researchers, foundations and companies. These are now listed in a Directory of Open Access Journals ( The research community has become pro-active in the way they want to see their research published.
The most recent actions in the history of Open Access that transported the movement beyond specialized scientific communities into the political arena, is a series of Open Access Initiatives during the early 2000's. The Budapest Open Access Initiative ( conference launched in 2002 by the Open Society Institute ( sponsored by philanthropist George Soros, led the way to international awareness and positioning in favor of the Open Access movement.
A Growing International Commitment
A growing commitment by the international community to tackle the issue of availability of publicly funded research results, and to minimize influence of commercial lobbies, has been formalized in community statements laying out a global wish, policies and guidelines. In 2002, UNESCO launched "Information for All" (, an intergovernmental program facilitating universal access to information and knowledge. Two additional statements in 2003, after the Budapest statement, declared the deepest possible support from the international scientific community for the values of the Open Access movement: The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge on the Sciences and Humanities (, and the Bethesda Statement on Open Access publishing (
On January 30, 2004 the OECD Ministers of Technology and Scientific Research endorsed the "Declaration on Access to research data from public funding" concluding that governments should enhance access to research data financed by taxpaying societies in order to establish and optimize a fair benefit between what the general public invests in terms of research funding and how freely they can access these results. Finally, The World Summit on the Information Society's Declaration of Principles repeated the support for Open Access from the international community. The principle states: "We strive to promote universal access with equal opportunities for all to scientific knowledge and the creation and dissemination of scientific and technical information, including open access initiatives for scientific publishing."
Despite the succession of all these historical and emblematic declarations promoting Open Access philosophy and further stressed by the involvement of the public policies, the conventional channel of research publishing still remains the dominant means of disseminating scientific results. Commercial actors still oust Open Access players in the market share, a situation that can be explained by different factors. Publishing habits and lack of knowledge of Open Access in the scientific world are among the reasons that sustain the gap between OA and traditional publishers. The OA publishing methods have to face publishing customs that, till today, firmly lie in the belief that only well established publishing houses with the most read journals provide good Impact Factors. This conviction is not completely wrong, especially for young researchers at the dawn of their careers, who are publishing their work for the first time. This is despite several studies showing that publishing in Open Access journals implies more article visibility and hence a higher "article impact".
Other studies such as the one carried out by the German Research Foundation and the one prepared by Key Perspectives Ltd for the UK JICS Scholarly communication group in 2007, also seems to indicate the lack of knowledge about Open Access in the scientific community and that awareness varies among disciplines.
What's next?
In addition to these handicaps, the Open Access movement also faces subtle pressures. The UK Ministry of Commerce for example, rejected a report drafted by the UK Scientific and Technical Committee of the Chamber of Representatives in 2004 to make Open Access mandatory to all universities and research councils. Were commercial pressures applied?
The Open Access movement still has a lot to do before making this publishing model a generality rather than an exception. Work needs to be done to inform members of the scientific community who are still not familiar with Open Access publishing and self- archiving. Most of all, the issue of availability of publicly funded research, that has now become a passionate topic of political debate, needs strong advocates. Scientific societies are in a key position to contribute to this global change, but in most cases are too grounded in 20th century traditions. Universities and libraries are leading the way as they exceed budgets far before they can obtain access to all the research needed. Governments and foundations are starting to require Open Access to the results of the research that is funded by them, but face opposing pressures from commercial interests. With the advent of radically new Internet technologies and a new generation of researchers who use the Internet as a key component of a laboratory, one wonders how long the Open Access Culture can be held back.
by Shamsa Abdulrasak
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Effects of Sankirtan
Prabhupada says that one time we should become like a child before the Lord. Spontaneously chant & dance, then you will find that a lot of dirty things are gone away from the heart.
Hari Naam Sankirtan
The only way to free ourselves from all the temptations and attractions of this material world, one should do the hari naam sankirtan. That is the only way.
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Ways to Fill Medicare Gaps
Filed under:
senior woman using tablet
Getty Images
Medicare covers the bulk of your medical expenses, however you ought to pay deductibles and co-payments for healthcare facility stays and doctors’ services; charges for doctors who charge more than Medicare pays; the expense of prescribed drugs and other expenses, consisting of dental; and care in an international country.
In lots of cases, medigap policies just fill holes in the protection Medicare presently provides; Medicare Advantage may offer additional services, such as vision or dental care. With that mix, you’ll normally pay greater general premiums than with Medicare Benefit however have less out-of-pocket expenses, and you can go to any doctor or center that is covered by Medicare.
Medigap policies are offered by personal insurance providers and be readily available in 10 standardized variations. The most popular is Plan F, for its excellent balance of defense and expense. (For details, see Medicare.gov’s Selecting a Medigap Policy.).
Every medigap strategy with the specific very same letter have to supply the same defense, however the rate can differ enormously by insurance coverage business– for example, from $ 1,529 to $ 3,667 a year for a 65-year-old Colorado male who purchases a Strategy F policy, according to Weiss Scores. Take a look at the methods with the most affordable premiums.
If you’re healthy, believe about selecting a high-deductible variation of Plan F (the only strategy that provides this option). For Plan N, the 65-year-old individual would pay from $ 1,081 to $ 2,419 a year.
You can compare expenses utilizing the Medigap Browse gadget at www.medicare.gov or at numerous state insurance coverage department websites (discover links at www.naic.org). Or, for $ 99, you can get a customized report from Weiss Medi & shy; area(Kiplinger readers have access to a 30-day offer of $ 49, ending Oct. 26, at weissmedigap.com/kiplinger).
Choose your medigap policy completely. In a lot of states, insurance coverage business can decrease you or charge more due to the fact that of your health if more than 6 months has actually passed thinking about that you signed up for Part B.
You’ll similarly have to get a Part D drug policy, which costs $ 33 a month, typically.
Medicare Benefit. The typical expense is $ 38 a month above the cost of Part B, although some strategies charge no premium beyond that of Part B.
The strategy can not offer less than would be easily offered through Medicare when it comes to security. If you head out of network, you’ll be limited to a network of centers and doctors and may have much greater expenditures (or no protection at all). You might likewise need a recommendation to see a specialist.
Search for techniques that include your crucial doctors in the network, and compare the out-of-pocket expenses for your regular health care and prescribed drugs (for cost rate quotes, use Medicare.gov’s Medicare Plan Finder gadget). Look at star ratings, which rank methods according to customer service (5 is the greatest rating). For finest values based upon common expenses for individuals in excellent, bad and reasonable health, go to www.medicarenewswatch.com.
You can alter Medicare Benefit policies throughout open registration (Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, 2015, for 2016) or anytime for a luxury policy.
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John Rammelt & Fredrik Söderström...
...write songs. Simply because we need to;-)
Recent Co-writes:
Michael Blair
Anders Dannvik
Daisy Hicks
Jeff Franzel
Alex Forbes
Andreas Johansson
...we have writen all songs for the Princess & Mr. Tom album
You can also listen to some other song demos...
...and please drop us a line.
Please write to 'john' or 'fredrik' AT 'rammeltsoderstrom' DOT 'com'
or contact Pyjama Records.
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Thursday, August 09, 2018
Perez Zagorin - Rebels & Rulers 1500-1660: Volume 1: Society, States & Early Modern Revolution - Agrarian & Urban Rebellions
Perez Zagorin's book was an enormous challenge for me to finish. This was not because it was boring or inaccessible, but because I found his conceptual framework completely unbelievable. In fact, on page 61 when he declares that "Early modern society was not a class society" I almost discarded it. Nonetheless, after a pause of some weeks, I did eventually finish the book because it covered some of the events I discussed in "Kill All the Gentlemen" and because I was interested to see where Zagorin's analysis would take him.
As far as I can see Zagorin is writing a polemic against historical revolution in general, and Marxists in particular. He writes, for instance, that:
The claim by Marxist scholars that the English and French revolutions were decisive events for the emergence of a capitalist order is far more a matter of faith than of historical proof or probability... The characterisations of the 'bourgeois revolution' are commonly vitiated by their verbal equivocations and mechanistic class analysis. When used by historians of Marxist persuasion, feudalism and bourgeoisie, for instance, tend to become terms of almost infinite elasticity designating widely divergent conditions and groups.
This is not the place to discuss the Marxist analysis of the transition from feudalism to capitalistic, though I would highlight that a number of different Marxist historians (eg Christopher Hill), have made very detailed cases for the emergence of capitalism out of the changes that took place in the English Revolution. Despite referencing some of their work, Zagorin is keener to dismiss it out of hand, rather than engaging with the detail.
Having dismissed the Early Modern period as being a class society, he introduces the idea that instead this was a "society of orders". But constantly, Zagorin has to recognise that whatever label is given to society, this was one were there were definite economic groups of people in a hierarchical structure. Then he ties himself in linguistic knots:
Above all, the political system was a symbiosis between crown and elites, in which the first as supreme received loyalty, obedience,m and service, bestowing in return material and honorific rewards upon the second. Above all, the political system was a symbiosis between crown and nobilities; and, speaking generally, it was a especially nobilities or aristocracies that, under supreme and absolutist kings, constituted the dominant and governing class (I use the term class here without any particular Marxist connotations) in the early modern states.
Elsewhere references to "rich and poor" etc suggest that the concept of class might be much more useful than Zagorin would admit. Clearly the author would like to have his cake and eat it. Class doesn't exist, except when it does. All this would be simply frustrating, if it didn't lead into a complete confusion about what revolution was and is. In particular the comparative analysis Zagorin between revolution might be useful when talking about the English, French and American revolutions. It breaks down when applied to events in the 20th century when circumstances were very different, so while he spends a great amount of ink trying to decide whether the category of "Great Revolution" is useful or not, he fails to illuminate much about what those revolutions actually were.
For instance, when discussing the English Revolution, he argues that these cannot have been class conflicts because figures from both the aristocracy and the middling classes fought on both sides with Parliament and the King. Marxist historians of the English Revolution have tackled this crude argument in a number of places, but it simply fails to understand the very nature of class conflict itself. No revolution, as Lenin pointed out "is pure".
There is an illuminating comment from Zagorin when writing about Hobsbawn's "Marxism obsession" with "the transition from feudalism to capitalism". It is, Zagorin says about Hobsbawm, almost as if this transition "embraced everything significant in European change". Even the non-Marxist reader must surly, at this point, answer "Well yes, that is the point". If you don't see the transition from a society of lords and peasants to one dominated by the bourgeoisie and the working class as embracing everything significant in European change, then I am not sure what you understand by the word change. Despite the amount of writing about Revolution in this book, it is clear that Zagorin doesn't understand what the Revolution means: the transition from one mode of production to another, that transforms everything about society in the process.
The first half of the book deals mostly with the conceptual framework that Zagorin is proposing for use in the second half which is a study of various agrarian and urban revolts in the period covered. The problem is that his framework is inadequate by any stretch of the imagination. In one place he declares that "Calvinism and Puritanism were religious, not political movements", but that is to deny that religion in this period was highly political. It was precisely because religion was intensely political that there were multiple revolts around religious, as well as economic, issues through this period. Oddly enough the peasants involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace or the Prayerbook Rebellion understood this better than Professor Zagorin.
The latter half of the book then looks at various risings, and while there is interesting historical material about the European revolts it can be mostly found elsewhere. The fundamental problem is that Zagorin's historical analysis begins from a dislike of Revolution and those who see it as being the motor of history, but his lack of clarity on what revolution is, fundamentally undermines the whole of Zagorin's thesis, and sadly this book.
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Experimental Animal Makato Blackshroud Blackshroud Blackshroud 1 Blackshroud 2 Fire Eye Fire Eye Underling 1 Fire Eye Underling 1 Bloodclaw Makato Fire Eye Makato Blackshroud Corpse Blackshroud Corpse Makato Bloodclaw Makato Makato Makato Willard Hardwit Guardian Member 1 Guardian Member 2 Willard Hardwit Makato Front Eye 1 Front Eye 2 Front Eye 3 Portal Center Wind Monument 1 Makato Stone Formation Front Marker Bloodclaw Makato Jibi Makato Makato Akuta Akuta Right Lieutenant Right Lieutenant Akuta Akuta Akuta Akuta Willard Hardwit Akuta Shinji Carsera Lau Akuta Enchanted Wounded Villager 1 Enchanted Wounded Villager 2 Enchanted Wounded Villager 3 Akuta Akuta Akuta Akuta Akuta Makato Wallside Marker Cabinet Crate Box Makato Forest Corps Member Red Monkey Akuta Willard Hardwit Forest Corps Captain Granary Soldier Profiteer Peasant 1 Peasant 2 Peasant 3 Hentar Mokdori Eastern Fence Western Fence Military Flagpole Black Powder Crate Hentar Mokdori Makato Makato Akuta Akuta Akuta Right Lieutenant Akuta Akuta Akuta Old Blacksmith Recruit Officer New Recruit Enlisted Recruit Uncle Lon Lanny Grave Villager Villager Bobe Ozro Zeik Callik Schad Hahk Iron Precipice Soldier Ashem Kuda Scout Animal Animal Animal Recruit Recruit Recruit Recruit Recruit Recruit Recruit Arena Quartermaster Recruit Ursid Quartermaster Wingar Quartermaster Camp Escort Ursid Quest Dispatcher Wingar Quest Dispatcher Gunslinger Follower Karstad City Gate Marker Blacksmith Camp Soldier King of Westholm King of Westholm Lord of Stonefall Lord of Stonefall Lord of Karstwald Fire Corps Lord of Emollion Lord of Emollion King of Eastbreden King of Eastbreden Lord of Star Velvet Lord of Star Velvet Lord of Tidewater Lord of Tidewater Staff Officer Lord of Snowpine Portal Array Marker Turret Marker Ausgyth Battle God Ausgyth Battle God Lord of Eventide Lord of Eventide Lord of the Barrens Enchanted Wounded Villager Lord of Kitland
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[November 20, 2006]
Today at work I cut the 0.025 sheet to length with the shear. However, it's max width is 24" and I had a 26" wide piece of sheet that needed to be reduced to 9 3/8". I saw that some other people just leave it 10", so that was what I planned to do. I got home and clamped it to the top skin and match drilled it. I was convinced it would work fine until the last drill hole. This is the lower tip hole, which if the sheet was 9 3/8", wouldn't need to be drilled. And it would of caused some edge distance issues. So, with the aviation snips in hand, I cut off 5/8" of the doubler. Done and done.
Next was the fun part -- to cleco on the top skin of the left wing. It took a while, but it was worth it. Next I made some brackets to secure the lower part of the wing. I wanted to have the skin on to do this because the lower spar could rock back and forth without the skin on. Now that the skin is on, I no longer have a parallelogram, but a rectangle. I used some 1.5" 1/8" thick aluminum angle and some scrap 1/8" sheet from work cut to 3" wide strips to make some attachments for the lower spar.
Next I tried to level and detwist the wing, but I got frustrated with the digital level and decided it was time to call it a night.
The doubler cut.
I marked a line on the bottom of the top skin at the setback that the doubler gets set to.
This is the hole on the lower tip that is close to the edge. The vertical line on the right is the 9 3/8" mark where Van's recommends it be cut at. I see now why 10" won't do.
Tada! It took quite a bit of work to get all those clecos in.
The sheet I "borrowed" from work. hehe.
This is the bracket for the lower root.
I don't have any screws, so why not rivet it?
After checking with Van's, the proper rivet is the AN470AD4-6.
I covered the top of the bracket with masking tape so I wouldn't scratch up the spar.
The tip bracket took some more creativity. I stole this clamping idea from Chad Jenson.
The root clamped in.
This is a shot at how close the doubler comes to the main wing spar. The pic is deceiving because the vinyl doesn't extend all the way to the edges of this sheet. However, there is probably 1/16" clearance.
This is what kills me, Van's says that the doubler should overlap the rear spar by 1" or so. Looks like 3/16" to me. From what I understand you don't want to follow what Van's tells you to do, because if you do make it overlap by 1", then you run into it interfering with the flaps somehow.
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
I'm a worst case senario
Hubby and I decided to look into alternative treatment. We're planning on driving up to Tempe, Arizona to check out Dr. Joe Brown. Here's a LINK to his site. He cured himself of cancer when they gave him about 30 days to live. That was approximately ten years ago.
My current doc/oncologist calls all alternative treatments done by quacks. He hardly answers our questions about other treatment possibilities and even interrupts us to where we can barely finish a sentence. My husband finally asked him not to make fun of us, that we're simply desperate and need answers. We're not doctors and know everything like he does. He didn't say that last sentence. I'm just frustrated, and so is Karsten. Anyway, he's a good doc, but he's overworked, which is why we keep running into all this miscommunication, having to postpone appointments, etc. And now he's suggesting more chemo and radiation.
Because he already gave me chemo that would "kill a healthy person," I'm refusing to do anymore. I mean, if that chemo didn't do the trick, why would another "brand" help? The chemo never helped the tumors. I will, however, do the radiation. I have a feeling it was the radiation that actually cleared the tumor in my head, and not the stem cells.
Here's why:
The doc said it would take a couple months to be able to see whether or not the radiation worked or not. We weren't able to wait that length of time, so we did the radiation, the chemo, and the full-body radiation, and then the bone marrow transplant (which I found out later was/is actually a stem cell transplant from an ADULT donor; they said they use the term bone marrow because "stem cell" has such a negative implication, where folks assume we're using embryonic stem cells, which I would NEVER do). Anyway, now that the transplant is done, I can see that the tumor in my head is nearly gone. But now I have a tumor on my spine?! Why would the stem cells attack the tumor in my head, but not in my spine? It doesn't make sense. So, that's why I think the radiation took care of the tumor in my head and not the stem cells.
Another reason I think the radiation took care of my tumor is because the stem cells are being suppressed by all these drugs I'm on. The doc is very fearful of graft vs host disease (where the stem cells might attack me), so he wants to prevent that, and he does that with these drugs. I kind of feel like the stem cells haven't even had a chance to WORK. But hey, I'm not a doctor, so who knows. I also think it could be these drugs that are causing my liver to skyrocket in enzymes. The liver biopsy tests came out negative for the graft vs host disease, but the doc felt certain I had it because of my liver enzymes going up. Isn't it possible my liver is acting up because I eat pills for breakfast, lunch and dinner?!
I say all this, but what do I know? My doc has 30 (yes 30) years of experience, while I have none.
I'm just in the worst position I could possibly be in. The alternative doc will want to up my immune system, but then we run the risk of my (the donor's) immune system attacking me (which this doc is aware of; he's had experience working with stem cell transplant patients). And what's especially scary is that graft vs host disease could kill me and could rear it's ugly head overnight. I could wake up with a major case of it. At the same time, these new stem cells are what we've counted on to kill the cancer!
What to do, what to do?
Although my doc suggested chemo, he only hooked me up with the radiation people. I don't know if that means he's not going to do the chemo, or if he's going to do it later. He hasn't communicated anything to us. Oh, and that meeting I told you he was planning to attend to talk to the whole oncology team about my case, he never made it to. Do you see my frustration? sigh
If I do nothing, this cancer will eat through my spine and make me lame from the waist down and eventually kill me. If I go with the alternative doc, I could get a bad case of graft vs. host disease, and that could kill me, OR it will get this new immune system working to where it attacks the cancer and not me, and I'd be CURED. Or, I could just go with the radiation treatments and hope/pray that works and see what happens and hope/pray that eventually my new immune system will kick in despite all the immune suppressant drugs (btw: I got cancer from immune suppressant drugs to begin with!) and kill the cancer.
What a mess I've become.
Monday, September 19, 2011
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
That’s what my friend said. I mean, after all, I was supposed to be cured of MS and cancer. Right? That was the plan. That’s why I ended up with this particular doc because he wrote the paper with the doc who uses this method to cure MS. It couldn’t be a coincidence, God must have brought us together. At least, that’s what I thought.
I don’t know a gentle way to put this, but my doc says the biopsy results on my spine show that I have cancer. The same stinkin’ cancer that was supposed to be wiped out. He said this was his worst fear because this type of cancer is “clever.” It knows how to hide and that’s what it did. The doc wiped out my entire immune system and I even have someone else’s cells and blood-type now, but the cancer managed to stick around. The doc is going to consult the entire oncology team tomorrow/Tuesday and decide what to do: chemo (a different brand, which will be outpatient) and/or radiation.
Yes, I’m being sarcastic. sigh
The worst was telling my kids. My POOR KIDS. I won’t even tell you how that went. It’s too painful.
I asked the doc what my chances are, and he wouldn’t give me a percentage. He simply said something along the lines of, sometimes he beats the cancer, and sometimes he doesn’t. Something like that. Anyway . . . .
I’m still trusting in God. I told my kids to do the same. That this life is temporary, and really, Satan just wants our souls, and he’s trying to get to them through me. I told them they’re to remain faithful no matter what happens. If they’re mad at God for allowing this, that’s okay because God can handle our anger (He invented the emotion for crying out loud), just don’t sin. I told them to talk to God about their feelings because He knows and He understands. But don’t blame God. Satan is to blame for this. Just REMAIN FAITHFUL TO GOD period. I told them if I don’t make it through this, I want us to be reunited in Heaven—so they better remain faithful. I guess, I’m saying the same thing to all of you who read this.
I’ll do my BEST to FIGHT this, but I’m tired and I’m angry and I’m sick of fighting. I’m tired of asking for all of you to pray for me. I can imagine you all are probably sick of praying for me too. You’d think God would be sick of hearing from all of us and just give us what we want. Ya know? You’d think He’d push us out the door and kick us off His door step and say, “Fine! I’ll heal her, just leave Me alone! Quit ringing my doorbell!” You’d think we were more annoying than those telephone solicitors. They’re the worst, aren’t they?
Anyway, please keep praying for HEALING. My kids would really appreciate it. As would I and my husband.
When I say I trust in God, know that I mean I trust He knows what’s best for all of us spiritually (well, and physically, of course). He is my God and deserves my (our) praise.
He was, He is, and He always will be!
I praise You my Father, my Lord, my Master, my Daddy. I long to be held by You. To touch You, to breathe in Your Majesty. I LONG for it!
But I humbly ask that You will allow me to stay longer on this earth for my kids. You know how much I hate it here, so I don’t ask to stay for selfish reasons. Unless begging to be able to raise my kids and teach them to love You is selfish?
No matter what happens, I will praise You. (I imagine that’s a good kick in the face to Satan, right?)
Then . . .
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank You for all You’ve done for me. Thank You. Thank You for my precious children. Please take care of them, guard their souls, teach them to love You (preferably through me, e-hem). Please God? Please? . . . Please . . . .
I love You, Lord. I love You so much. Hold me close and don’t let go.
Keep the faith, everyone. Please keep the faith. Cling to the Lord. He loves you. He loves me. And He loves my kids.
Now why do you delay?
Get up and be baptized,
and wash away your sins,
calling on His name (Acts 22:16).
Sunday, September 11, 2011
What I remember on September 11, 2001
I was living in Holland (the Netherlands) at the time and just happened to be watching CNN. I watched the entire thing unfold before my eyes. The newscasters went from reporting ordinary news to “this just in” and there were the towers. They showed the first plane hitting, and while they debated whether or not it was an accident or on purpose, the second plane flew into the next tower. Not long after that, I watched both towers go down. I couldn’t believe it. When I was eighteen, I’d stood on the roof of one of those towers, and those buildings (after collapsing) would have wiped out the entire center of Amsterdam. How could these “little” planes have such a huge impact?
What was especially disturbing during this time was the fact that I was outside the US and had to witness first hand (in my face) the reaction of the middle-eastern students and Islamic leaders. They were cheering in the streets!!! For days!!! And I won’t repeat the hateful things they would say. Gulp!
I was also concerned about our neighbor, wondering if they were also cheering about what happened because they were also Muslim and from Afghanistan. Of course, they knew we were an American family (our kids played together), so I was hesitant to knock on her door. A few days after the attack, she came to my door. She told me that she had family in New York and had no idea if they were safe or not because she couldn’t reach anyone. Anyway, she was suffering with us, and I felt ashamed for not having been the first to reach out to her. Later, it turned out her family was safe and all was well.
Months after the attacks, we still had to be careful, avoiding Islamic neighborhoods that had signs hung up on shop windows, saying things like: Yankees Go Home, etc. That was in Antwerp, Belgium. My husband made it clear that we were not to speak English outside the home (although, all the neighbors in our little village knew we were part American; my husband is Dutch; and we had three young children at the time). But we followed his orders. No more English outside the home.
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Discount Holidays
Roy Mustang sometimes dreaded that Fullmetal would never go through puberty. Oh, sure, he'd always have short jokes to piss the kid off with, but it was that voice that really got to him. That whiny, scrawny, bratty, 'I'm better than everyone and know exactly what I'm doing' voice that really got to him, especially when it was late, he had papers due the next morning, and Hawkeye had confiscated the coffee.
"Fullmetal," he interrupted. "Did you give me your report?"
Fullmetal gave him the tolerant look old ladies used on their cocker spaniels. "I gave you my report the minute I stepped into this office, Colonel." He pointed at Roy's desk. "It's there," he said, and raised his eyebrows. "Man, you're not losing it, are you, Mustang?"
Ah, yes. The thirty-page report, stacked proudly on top of all the others. Roy stared at it—he could see Fullmetal's messy scrawl even from here, good Lord he had told Fullmetal to type it up from now on—and felt very tired. "Not losing it," he said from between his teeth. "It's just such a small report, the others were obscuring it from my view."
Fullmetal twitched.
"Now what was it that you wanted? I don't think you're here for the pleasure of my company, for some reason."
Fullmetal huffed and looked away, drumming his automail fingers on his knee. "I have a favor to ask you," he said, voice just as tight as Roy's, eyebrows twitching—Roy had had to schedule him an appointment with a medic last month for his tension headaches. "A very... big favor."
Roy swallowed the obvious joke. "Yes? And what would that be?"
"Well—" Fullmetal leaned over and handed him a piece of paper. "I got assigned to do an investigation in Claremont tonight. But that's five hundred miles from here, and with the travel time plus the time spent there, I'd never make it back for...." He trailed off, sighed. "Christmas."
"And the significance of that is—?"
Fullmetal pursed his lips. "It's Christmas."
Roy hmmed and tapped the paper on his desk. "You worked last Christmas, too, and I didn't hear any complaints from you. Other than what's par for the course, I mean."
"I didn't complain! And anyways, yeah, I was on assignment last Christmas, but Al was furious. Made me promise I wouldn't work this Christmas. I mean, not that there's much I can do about it, but still." Fullmetal hunched his shoulders and looked up at the ceiling. "I thought I might ask, that's all."
"Fullmetal, are you asking me for paid leave tonight? When you've already given prior assent to being assigned elsewhere? Do I have this right?"
"It doesn't have to be paid leave," Fullmetal muttered.
Roy really wanted Fullmetal to go through puberty, because he was so damned small. He treated Edward like he was an adult because most of the time he acted like one, and because it made things easier on both of them to pretend that Fullmetal was older than he was. But when he had Fullmetal curled up on his couch like this, glowering up at the ceiling, looking like a kid who hadn't gotten a trainset for Christmas, well. It made Roy feel somewhat grinchish.
"Fine," Roy said, scribbling a note to himself on Fullmetal's assignment sheet. "I'll talk to the higher-ups. I know how frightening your little brother can be when he doesn't get his way. Almost as bad as you, actually."
Fullmetal sat up, blinked at him. He pulled a skeptical face. "Are you kidding me?"
"Give me that look for five more seconds and I will be."
Still, Fullmetal's eyes narrowed. He stood and turned in the direction of the door, casting a suspicious look back at Roy. "Fine," he said over his shoulder. "I'll just... be on my way then and pretend that you're serious, and giving me a vacation for Christmas. Okay? Sound good to you? 'Cause it sounds good to me."
Roy waved him off. "Merry Christmas, Edward."
The door slammed; Fullmetal hadn't wished him Merry Christmas in return. Only natural, Roy thought, skimming over his report and stamping it, then filing it away with the others. Kids were always so ungrateful.
Well, the doctor had said that Fullmetal had grown an inch last time he'd seen him. Maybe his body was just... easing him into puberty, very slow-like. Roy put his fingers on the bridge of his nose, squeezed and sighed. God, he sincerely hoped so.
For half an hour after he left Mustang's office, Edward kept expecting to be tracked down by Havoc or another of Mustang's minions and dragged back to the complex. And then Mustang would loom over him, fires burning behind him, grinning at Ed and taunting him about how short he was—"I heard you gained an inch, Fullmetal! What an amazing feat, your best yet! Well, I suppose child prodigies have to sacrifice something—equivalent trade, you know—"
"Are you looking for something, sir?"
Ed blinked and found himself staring into a shop window: a Christmas shop, with little elves and stuffed bears and tree ornaments decorating the window display. A grizzled old man with a salt-and-pepper beard stood in the doorway, eyebrows raised at Ed. "Uh," Ed pushed away from the window. "No, thanks, I was just... thinking about something."
"Are you sure? We sell everything here, if I may say so myself, if you're doing last-minute Christmas shopping." He smiled and tweaked the end of his beard.
Ed remembered that most of his last paycheck had gone to automail maintenance, and shook his head, regretful. It was his first Christmas off in three years and he'd planned on getting Al something nice, but some jerk had practically hacked his automail off two weeks ago. "I haven't got much money. Thanks, though."
"Our Christmas trees are on discount," the man said hopefully.
Ed paused. He turned around and looked back into the window, rubbing his chin, then slanted a glance at the old man. "What's your lowest price?"
The old man grinned and gestured him inside.
There were no lights coming from their dorm room, and the lock was stuck again. Ed kicked it twice, then leaned against the door and practically fell into the room when the knob gave way. "Damn," he muttered, kicking it shut, "I've gotta get that piece of shit fixed."
He heard a creak from the corner, and Alphonse was turning on the lamp and standing up. "Brother," he said, "you're late—what were you doing? The train leaves in barely an hour!"
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I forgot." Ed sunk his hands into his hair and shook out the snowflakes. "Brr, it's damned cold out there. And snowing."
"Snowing?" Al's voice cracked on the last syllable. While Ed peeled off his boots and looked around for the towels, he ran to the window and pulled up the blinds, peering outside. "Oh—!" He went still.
Ed hid his smile in a towel. "Nice, huh?"
Al sighed tinnily. "It'll be bad traveling, though. You won't be able to sit very close to me—I'll be cold. Trains never keep heated properly when it's snowing."
"Yeah," Ed said, "about that...."
"What about what?"
"About traveling, Al."
"Oh." His little brother was still gazing out the window; Ed could practically see the wistful tinge to his thoughts. He was thinking about Christmases at home, probably: Mom making popcorn strings for their tree, sipping hot chocolate with them, sitting next to them as they opened their presents.... "Well, what about traveling? Aside from the fact that we should have left half an hour ago?"
"Aside from that fact." Ed waved dismissively. "What if I told you that I wrangled a vacation out of Mustang? And that my trip to Claremont has been postponed? Ehhhh?"
Al turned around; he was clutching his hands, and Ed could hear in his voice that he was trying to be skeptical, trying not to get his hopes up. "Are you kidding? Why would Mustang do that? He's never that nice to you!"
"Damn, rub it in," Ed said under his breath.
"C'mon, brother, if that was a joke, that's mean."
"Hey, why're you always so suspicious of me?" Ed held up a finger. "Hold on a sec, lemme go get something." He towelled his hair off one more time, then opened the door and grabbed the bag he'd stashed outside. He got a good grip and began dragging it inside.
"Brother," Al whispered, "is that—?"
The tree was wobbly, but with a few kicks and shoves Ed got it to stand up in the corner by the window. "There—we—go," he said, breathing heavily, then shook out the bag. "Got a few ornaments, too. It would suck to have a naked tree, after all. You wanna help me put them up?—Al?"
Al shook his head, clanking a bit rusty. He sounded stuffed up. "Brother, I can't believe you... I can't believe Mustang gave you...."
"Tell me about it." Ed patted the tree, a little lost. "Hey, you're not going to cry, are you?"
Al sniffed. "I can't!"
"Aw, hell, Alphonse." Ed bit down on his knuckle, sighed, and went over to him. It sucked—having a little brother he couldn't hold, or at least hug, without it feeling weird—not that Al could feel it anyway. He knocked his knuckles against Al's breastplate instead and looked up into his face. (Sucked that he was so tall, too.) "I didn't screw it up or anything, did I? It's the tree, isn't it?" He glowered over at it. "I know it's small, but it was on discount. I admit it. I got us a discounted tree. But I didn't have much money! The ornaments really took it out of me. I tried to get nice ones, though... see, I got an angel and some, uh, snowflakes—"
"Brother." Al set a hand on top of his head and, when Ed blinked up at him, ruffled his hair. "I'm not upset," he said, a smile filling his voice. "I was just—overwhelmed. I didn't even think we'd be in one place for Christmas, I thought we'd be on a train. And the tree... it's beautiful. I can't believe you got one. Thank you. Thank you, brother!"
He removed his hand, and Ed smoothed his hair back into place and coughed into his automail hand. "I didn't get you a Christmas present, though. Didn't have enough cash, after the tree."
Al shook his head. "The tree is good enough."
Biting down on a smile, Ed looked over at the tree. "Well—good. What do you say we start decorating, then?"
He couldn't make hot chocolate like Mom, but he tried. Ed navigated his way carefully through the messy kitchen subset of the dorm room, then sat down next to Alphonse and blew on his cup. "Ahhh," he said. "Not bad." He thumped Al's arm. "Soon you'll be able to smell this, and it'll be the best thing you ever smelled. I promise you, Al."
"I believe you," his brother said. "And I trust you. Listen—can you hear the carollers outside?"
Ed cocked his head to the window. "Yup," he said. "Damn, is one of them tone-deaf or what?"
"I think it's very Christmasy."
"If an alto trying to be a soprano is your idea of Christmasy, hey, whatever floats your boat."
"Brother," Al sighed.
"Just kidding." Ed sipped his hot chocolate and gazed up at their tree. It wasn't big, but they'd strung the ornaments and the lights and it was the brightest thing in the room, and the warmest. He sighed and stretched his toes out to it. He liked the angel on top particularly; it reminded him of the one Mom had had, that she'd gotten from her own mother. It must have been in the house when they'd burned it down.
"I'm so glad you did this," Al said quietly. "Went to the trouble of getting off, and buying a tree, and...."
"Hey." Edward shrugged. "You wanted it, right? Anything for you."
"Merry Christmas." Al's voice was tremulous—but in a happy way. Ed could almost see the kid he'd been, opening up his favorite present and sitting there with a big smile on his face, trying not to cry.
He swallowed past the lump in his own throat and set down his hot chocolate. Getting onto his knees, he put his hands on Al's helmet and pressed his lips to the cool metal. "It's okay," he said into it, and wrapped his arms around Alphonse. "I'll make you perfect, soon."
Al's arms slid around him, carefully. "Even if you didn't, this is perfect, brother."
Ed laid his cheek on Al's helmet and smiled. "Merry Christmas, Al."
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Fully Homomorphic Encryption over the Integers
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Presentation on theme: "Fully Homomorphic Encryption over the Integers"— Presentation transcript:
1 Fully Homomorphic Encryption over the Integers
Many slides borrowed from Craig Marten van Dijk1, Craig Gentry2, Shai Halevi2, Vinod Vaikuntanathan2 1 – MIT, 2 – IBM Research
2 Computing on Encrypted Data
Storing my files on the cloud Encrypt them to protect my information Search through them for s with “homomorphic” in the subject line Cloud should return only these (encrypted) messages, w/o knowing the key Private Internet search Encrypt my query, send to Google I still want to get the same results Results would be encrypted too
3 Public-key Encryption
Three procedures: KeyGen, Enc, Dec (sk,pk) KeyGen($) Generate random public/secret key-pair c Encpk(m) Encrypt a message with the public key m Decsk(c) Decrypt a ciphertext with the secret key E.g., RSA: cme mod N, mcd mod N (N,e) public key, d secret key
4 Homomorphic Public-key Encryption
Also another procedure: Eval c* Evalpk(P, c1,…,cn) P a Boolean circuit with ADD, MULT mod 2 Circuit Encryption of inputs m1,…,mn to P Encryption of output value m*=P(m1,…,mn)
5 An Analogy: Alice’s Jewelry Store
Alice’s workers need to assemble raw materials into jewelry But Alice is worried about theft How can the workers process the raw materials without having access to them?
6 An Analogy: Alice’s Jewelry Store
Alice puts materials in locked glove box For which only she has the key Workers assemble jewelry in the box Alice unlocks box to get “results”
7 The Analogy Enc: putting things inside the box
Anyone can do this (imagine a mail-drop) ci Encpk(mi) Dec: Taking things out of the box Only Alice can do it, requires the key m* Decsk(c*) Eval: Assembling the jewelry Anyone can do it, computing on ciphertext c* Evalpk(P, c1,…,cn) m* = P(m1,…,mn) is “the ring”, made from “raw materials” m1,…,mn
8 Can we do it? As described so far, sure..
(P, c1,…,cn) = c* Evalpk(P, c1,…,cn) Decsk(c*) decrypts individual ci’s, apply P (the workers do nothing, Alice assembles the jewelry by herself) Of course, this is cheating: We want c* to remain small independent of the size of P “Compact” homomorphic encryption We may also want P to remain secret This is the main challenge Can be done with “generic tools” (Yao’s garbled circuits)
9 What was known? “Somewhat homomorphic” schemes:
Only work for some circuits E.g., RSA works for MULT gates (mod N) c*= c1 x c2 … x cn =(m1 x m2 … x mn)e (mod N) X c1 = m1e c2 = m2e cn = mne
10 “Somewhat Homomorphic” Schemes
RSA, ElGamal work for MULT mod N GoMi, Paillier work for XOR, ADD BGN05 works for quadratic formulas SYY99 works for shallow fan-in-2 circuits c* grows exponentially with the depth of P IP07 works for branching program MGH08 works for low-degree polynomials c* grows exponentially with degree
11 A Recent Breakthrough Genrty09: A bootstrapping technique
Somewhat homomorphic → Fully homomorphic Gentry also described a candidate “bootstrappable” scheme Based on ideal lattices Scheme E can evaluate its own decryption circuit Scheme E* can evaluate any circuit
12 The Current Work A second “bootstrappable” scheme
Very simple: using only modular arithmetic Security is based on the hardness of finding “approximate-GCD”
13 Outline A homomorphic symmetric encryption
Turning it into public-key encryption Result is “almost bootstrappable” Making it bootstrappable Similar to Gentry’09 Security Gentry’s bootstrapping technique Time permitting Not today
14 A homomorphic symmetric encryption
Shared secret key: odd number p To encrypt a bit m: Choose at random large q, small r Output c = pq + 2r + m Ciphertext is close to a multiple of p m = LSB of distance to nearest multiple of p To decrypt c: Output m = (c mod p) mod 2 2r+m much smaller than p
15 Why is this homomorphic?
c1=q1p+2r1+m1, c2=q2p+2r2+m2 c1+c2 = (q1+q2)p + 2(r1+r2) + (m1+m2) 2(r1+r2)+(m1+m2) still much smaller than p c1+c2 mod p = 2(r1+r2) + (m1+m2) c1 x c2 = (c1q2+q1c2-q1q2)p (2r1r2+r1m2+m1r2) + m1m2 2(2r1r2+…) still much smaller than p c1xc2 mod p = 2(2r1r2+…) + m1m2 Distance to nearest multiple of p
16 How homomorphic is this?
Can keep adding and multiplying until the “noise term” grows larger than q/2 Noise doubles on addition, squares on multiplication We choose r ~ 2n, p ~ 2n (and q ~ 2n ) Can compute polynomials of degree ~n before the noise grows too large 2 5
17 Homomorphic Public-Key Encryption
Secret key is an odd p as before Public key is many “encryptions of 0” xi = qip + 2ri Encpk(m) = subset-sum(xi’s)+m Decsk(c) = (c mod p) mod 2 Eval as before [ ]x0 for i=1,2,…,n [ r]x0
18 Keeping it small The ciphertext’s bit-length doubles with every multiplication The original ciphertext already has n6 bits After ~log n multiplications we get ~n7 bits We can keep the bit-length at n6 by adding more “encryption of zero” |y1|=n6+1, |y2|=n6+2, …, |ym|=2n6 Whenever the ciphertext length grows, set c’ = c mod ym mod ym-1 … mod y1
19 c/p, rounded to nearest integer
Bootstrappable yet? c/p, rounded to nearest integer Almost, but not quite: Decryption is m = c – (p x [c/p]) mod 2 Same as c–[c/p] mod 2, since p is odd Computing [c/p] mod 2 takes degree O(n) But O() has constant bigger than one Our scheme only supports degree < n To get a bootstrappable scheme, use Gentry09 technique to “squash the decryption circuit”
20 Squashing the decryption circuit
Add to public key many real numbers r1,r2, …, rt [0,2] sparse set S for which SiS ri = 1/p mod 2 Enc, Eval output yi=c x ri mod 2, i=1,…,t Together with c itself New secret key is bit-vector s1,…,st si=1 if iS, si=0 otherwise New Dec(c) is c – [Si siYi] mod 2 Can be computed with a “low-degree circuit” because S is sparse
21 Security The approximate-GCD problem:
Input: integers x1, x2, x3, … Chosen as xi = qip + ri for a secret odd p p$[0,P], qi$[0,Q], ri$[0,R] (with R P Q) Task: find p Thm: If we can distinguish Enc(0)/Enc(1) for some p, then we can find that p Roughly: the LSB of ri is a “hard core bit” Scheme is secure if approx-GCD is hard Is approx-GCD really a hard problem?
22 Hardness of Approximate-GCD
Several lattice-based approaches for solving approximate-GCD Related to Simultaneous Diophantine Approximation (SDA) Studied in [Hawgrave-Graham01] We considered some extensions of his attacks All run out of steam when |qi|>|p|2 In our case |p|~n2, |qi|~n5 |p|2
23 Relation to SDA xi = qip + ri (ri p qi), i = 0,1,2,…
yi = xi/x0 = (qi+si)/q0, si ~ ri/p 1 y1, y2, … is an instance of SDA q0 is a denominator that approximates all yi’s Use Lagarias’es algorithm: Consider the rows of this matrix: Find a short vector in the lattice that they span <q0,q1,…,qt>·L is short Hopefully we will find it R x1 x2 … xt -x x … -x0 L=
24 Relation to SDA (cont.) When will Lagarias’es algorithm succeed?
<q0,q1,…,qt>·L should be shortest in lattice In particular shorter than ~det(L)1/t+1 This only holds for t > log Q/log P The dimension of the lattice is t+1 Quality of lattice-reduction deteriorates exponentially with t When log Q > (log P)2 (so t>log P), LLL-type reduction isn’t good enough anymore Minkowski bound
25 Conclusions Fully Homomorphic Encryption is a very powerful tool
Gentry09 gives first feasibility result Showing that it can be done “in principle” We describe a “conceptually simpler” scheme, using only modular arithmetic What about efficiency? Computation, ciphertext-expansion are polynomial, but a rather large one…
26 Thank you
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Evolution: Games, dynamics and algorithms
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Presentation on theme: "Evolution: Games, dynamics and algorithms"— Presentation transcript:
1 Evolution: Games, dynamics and algorithms
Karen Page Bioinformatics Unit Dept. of Computer Science, UCL
2 Evolution Darwinian evolution is based on three fundamental principles: reproduction, mutation and selection Concepts like fitness and natural selection are best defined in terms of mathematical equations We show how many of the existing frameworks for the mathematical description of evolution may be derived from a single unifying framework
3 Summary of what will be discussed
Games, evolutionary game theory Key frameworks of evolutionary dynamics Deriving a unifying framework An application to Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem Relationship with Genetic Algorithms
4 What is game theory? Formal way to analyse interactions between agents who behave strategically Mathematics of decision making in conflict situations Usual to assume players are “rational” Widely applied to the study of economics, warfare, politics, animal behaviour, sociology, business, ecology and evolutionary biology The objective of each player is to maximise his/her score in the game. Maximising one players score may well not be consitent with maximsing anothers. Classical game theory looks at how a perfectly “rational” players will play the game. Rational means that the players try to maximize their scores in the game.
5 Assumptions of game theory
The game consists of an interaction between two or more players Each player can decide between two or more well-defined strategies For each set of specified choices, each player gets a given score (payoff) Expand on specified choices: player 1 plays strategy a, player 2 plays strategy b etc.
6 The Prisoners’ Dilemma
Probably most studied of all games Not enough evidence to convict two suspects of armed robbery, enough for theft of getaway car Both confess (4 years each), both stay quiet (2 years each), one tells (0 years) the other doesn’t (5 years) Stay quiet= cooperate (C) ; confess = defect (D) Payoff to player 1: Police have arrested two people whom they know have a committed an armed robbery, but they don’t have enough evidence for a jury to convict them. They do however, have evidence that the people stole a getaway car. They offer the suspects a deal. If neither of them confesses to the armed robbery they both get convicted of the theft of the car and do 2 years. If both of them confesses then they both share the blame do 4 years for armed robbery. If one confesses and the other doesn’t then the tell-tale gets set free and his mate does 5 years for armed robbery. So what should a prisoner do? R is REWARD for mutual cooperation =3 S SUCKER’s payoff =0 T TEMPTATION to defect =5 P PUNISHMENT for mutual defection=1 with T>R>P>S
7 The problem of cooperation
What ever player 2 does, player 1 does better by defecting: Classical game theory both players D Shame because they’d do better by both cooperating Cooperation is a very general problem in biology Everyone benefits from being in cooperative group, but each can do better by exploiting cooperative efforts of others
8 Trade wars and cartels Import tariffs - Should countries remove them?
Price fixing- why not cheat? As mentionned at the beginning, game theory is applied to many disciplines. The prisoners dilemma occurs in many walks of life. Here I mention just a couple of examples.
9 Repeated games In many situations, typically players interact repeatedly- repeated Prisoners Dilemma Strategies can involve memory, use reciprocity Tit-for-tat Pavlov What one player does in round 4 of the game can depend on what has happened in the previous three rounds.
10 Game theory and a computer tournament
Game theory says it is rational to defect in single game or fixed number of rounds Axelrod’s tournament- double victory for Tit-for-Tat First point is a repeat of what was said in “The problem of cooperation” Backwards induction
11 Evolutionary Game Theory
So how can cooperation be explained?
12 Evolutionary games John Maynard Smith- evolution of animal behaviour
Behaviour shaped by trial and error- adaptation through natural selection or individual learning Players no longer have to be ‘rational’: follow instincts, procedures, habits rather than computing best strategy. Games played in a population. Scores are summed. Strategies which do well against the population on average propagate. Phenotypic approach to evolution Frequency-dependent selection At one time it was thought that rational behaviour would prove optimal against “irrational” behaviour. This turned out not to be the case. Ecology: A scarcity of prey will cause predators to starve and their numbers to decline. Having fewer predators around will favour the growth of the population of prey which in turn will allow more predators to survive. But now higher predator numbers will cause the number of prey to decrease, bringing us full circle. Hence in ecological systems, numbers of predators and prey can oscillate in time, because of the effects that the levels of each have on the other.
13 Simple evolutionary game simulations
Everyone starts with a random strategy Everyone population plays game against everyone else The payoffs are added up The total payoff determines the number of offspring (Selection) Offspring inherit approximately the strategy of their parents (Mutation) [Note similarity to genetic algorithms.] [Nash equilibrium in a population setting- no other strategy can invade] Talk about darwin’s theory of evolution- the frequencies of genes and increase over time if they are associated with features which lead to the production of more offspring. So the proportion of the given feature within the population will increase over time, eg. finches with a gene for sharp beaks in an environment where such a peak is very important for accessing food. If the feature is behavioural, such as for instance the propensity to back down in a conflict (cf. hawk-dove game) then whether the gene is selected for depends on the make up of the population. Evolutionary game theory models this kind off evolutionary process. It can be used to show that the proportion of hawks in a population of hawks and doves will tend to fitness gain for winning territory/ fitness loss for getting injured (in our example 1/5). Here it implies that heavily in armed species, such as stags, which can potentially inflict mortal wounds on one another, very few individuals will escalate a conflict. Paradoxically in species of doves who under normal circumstances can’t do each other much damage, escalation is much more likely. Indeed when confined to small cages doves will often peck each other to death.
14 Evolution in the Prisoners’ Dilemma
Standard evolutionary game (random interactions) all Defect Modifications- spatial games: Interactions no longer random, but with spatial neighbours: Sum scores. Player with highest score of 9 shaded takes square (territory, food, mates) in next generation Some degree of cooperation evolves! Mention also proportional selection
15 Simulations of the spatial Prisoners Dilemma
75 generations Winner-takes-all selection No mutation Red=d(d last) Blue=c(c last) Yellow=d(c last) Green=c(d last)
16 Conclusions on Evolutionary Games
Game theory can be applied to studying animal and human behaviour (economics - evolutionary biology). Often traditional game theory’s assumption of ‘rationality’ fails to describe human/ animal behaviour Instead of working out the optimal strategy, assume that strategies are shaped by trial and error by a process of natural selection or learning. This can be modelled by evolutionary game theory. Space can matter
17 Evolutionary dynamics
18 General framework Quasispecies equation Replicator-mutator equation
Price equation Price equation Lotka-Volterra equation Game dynamical equation replicator Price equation Adaptive dynamics
19 The replicator equation
Replicator equation describes evolution of frequencies of phenotypes within a population with fitness-proportionate selection Eg. game theory, replicators like “Game of Life” Frequency of type i is and fitness of type i is then
20 The equivalence with Lotka Volterra equations
Lotka Volterra systems of ecology describe the numbers of animals (eg. fish) of different species and are of the form: where is the abundance of species i, its fitness and there are n species in total. Often these interacting species oscillate in abundance. There is a precise equivalence with the replicator system for (n+1) types given by the substitution
21 Replicator equation with mutation and quasispecies
Suppose there are errors in replicating. The probability of type j mutating to type i is We obtain a replicator equation with mutation: The equivalent with numbers rather than frequencies of types is When the fitnesses do not depend on frequencies, this is the quasispecies eqn. (Probably the case in most GAs?)
22 Quasispecies equation
Describes molecular evolution (Eigen) N biochemical sequences Biochemical species i has frequency yi Replication at rate fi is error-prone - mutation to type j at rate qij
23 Adaptive dynamics framework
Game consists of a continuous space of strategies (eg.) Population is assumed to be homogeneous- all players adopt same strategy Mutation generates variant strategies very close to the resident strategy If a mutant beats the resident players it takes over otherwise it is rejected Adaptive dynamics illustrates the nature of evolutionary stable strategies
24 Adaptive dynamics equations
Strategies are described by continuous parameters : Expected score of mutant against S is given by E(S’,S) The adaptive dynamics flow in the direction which maximises the score:
25 We can derive Price’s equation from replicator-mutator equation
Price’s equation from population genetics describes any type of selection. Suppose an individual of type i, frequency , has some trait p of value , so using the replicator equation with mutation we obtain This applies when the values of are const. [p is the expected mutational change in p.]
26 Price’s equation selection mutation
27 Price’s equation gives rise to adaptive dynamics
If we assume that the mutation is localised and symmetrical then we can neglect the second term in Price’s eqn. Assume population is almost homogeneous and fitness is differentiable then we can Taylor expand the fitness, obtaining cf. adaptive dynamics:
28 General framework Quasispecies equation Replicator-mutator equation
29 Fisher’s fundamental theorem
Suppose fitnesses of genotypes constant. Can consider f as the trait p and obtain (for symmetric mutation): Fisher’s fundamental theorem of NS In general, fitnesses of genotypes depend on environment. In game theory context, depend on the frequencies of other genotypes. Fisher’s theorem doesn’t apply- eg. PD
30 Generalized version where
We can use Price’s equation to obtain a generalized version of Fisher’s fundamental theorem: where This applies when the s depend linearly on the frequencies of genotypes- normally the case in evolutionary game theory.
31 Fisher’s theorem and GAs
In most GAs, fitnesses of particular solutions (chromosomes) probably fixed and so (except for the complication of recombination) Fisher’s theorem should hold: So for a GA with fitness-proportionate selection, no recombination and fixed fitness for a given solution, the average fitness of the population of solutions increases until there is no diversity left in the fitnesses.
32 Conclusions on unifying evolutionary dynamics
Unifying framework Different frameworks for different problems. We derive from Price’s equation a generalized version of Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection. The Price – replicator framework can also be applied to discrete time formulations and to formulations with sexual reproduction.
33 Relationship to GAs
34 Evolutionary games and genetic algorithms
Two-way interaction: 1) So far discussed computer simulations of evolutionary processes, eg. evolution of animal behaviour 2) Evolutionary computation, eg. genetic algorithms = computer science based on theory of biological evolution Evolutionary games very like genetic algorithms- but 1) Population size is usually quite large and may be few phenotypes: space well searched but not v. efficient. 2) Usually no recombination 3) Fitnesses depend on interactions Refer to Mark Herbster’s course. Ask students about course.
35 Genetic Algorithms Evolutionary models are computer algorithms which use evolutionary methods of optimisation to solve practical problems (cf. finding stable strategies in games rather than working out ‘rational’ solution)- eg. Evolutionary programming, genetic algorithms Evolutionary operations involved in genetic algorithms: selection, mutation, recombination: Explain selection and recombination
36 How evolutionary dynamics relates to GAs
GAs evolve by selection and mutation their dynamics can be (to some extent) described by the replicator equation with mutation (cf. unifying framework). The replicator equation describes fitness-proportionate selection. Ficici, Melnik and Pollack (2000) - effects of different types of selection (eg. truncation) on the dynamics of the Hawk-Dove game + relevance for evolutionary algorithms. Can lead to different dynamics. Must also consider the effects of recombination. Ficici, S.G., Melnik, O., and Pollack, J.B. (2000) "A Game-Theoretic Investigation of Selection Methods Used in Evolutionary Algorithms." In Proceedings of the 2000 Congress on Evolutionary Computation. Zalzala, A., et al (eds.). IEEE Press.
37 Incorporating recombination into the replicator framework
Do this by assuming that rjk;i = probability that when parent chromosome of type j combines with parent chromosome of type k, an offspring of type i is formed. No mutation, recombination after replication: [NB discrete-time version]
38 Adding in mutation Add in mutation. Assume, as before, is probability type i mutates to form type j ( large). Assume this happens after recombination. What we had before was What we have now is
39 The diversity of the population and adaptive dynamics
From Fisher’s theorem, see that no diversity of fitness in population no further increase in average fitness. However, because the variation in the parameters of the your system has become very small (population convergence), does not mean no further evolution. In the case of small variation, we can apply the adaptive dynamics framework which shows how the average values of traits (parameters) will change in time
40 Relationship: evolutionary games & GAs - Conclusions
Often evolution leads in the long run to ‘optimal’ solutions, like Nash equilibria. Ability of evolutionary processes to seek out optimal strategies has been exploited in computer science by the development of genetic algorithms and evolutionary computation for problem solving. Comparing with the use of computer simulations to study biological evolution, we see that there is a two-way interaction between biological evolutionary theory and computer science.
41 Relationship to GAs- Conclusions
Frameworks of evolutionary dynamics can be applied to GAs by modifying them to include recombination. Which framework is most informative depends on the individual problem, but we have shown they are equivalent. Eg. can look at detailed dynamics using the replicator-mutator framework Or we can look at a “converged” population using the adaptive dynamics framework. Looking further at the relationship between GAs and evolutionary dynamics could yield new solutions/ techniques for both.
42 Acknowledgements Martin Nowak (IAS, Princeton)
Terry Leaves (BNP Paribas, London) Karl Sigmund (Univ. Vienna) Steven Frank (Univ. California, Irvine) Peter Bentley (UCL) Christoph Hauert (Univ. British Columbia) Anargyros Sarafopoulos (Univ. Bournemouth) Bernard Buxton (UCL) To do: Look at Lande - quantative genetics stuff - G covariance matrix Stochastic dynamics Coevolutionary dynamics
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When capitalism is finally history
July 25, 2017
Luke Pickrell talks to Andrea Steves and Timothy Furstnau, the artists who founded and curated the Museum of Capitalism in Oakland, which opened in June.
"EMANCIPATORY POLITICS must always destroy the appearance of a 'natural order,' must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable."
These words of the late author Mark Fisher, printed on parchment paper in purple ink and an eye-catching font, were handed out to visitors at the opening of the Museum of Capitalism (MoC) in Oakland, California.
The museum's, whose stated mission is to "educate this generation and future generations about the ideology, history, and legacy of capitalism," opened in June with a series of multimedia exhibits created by artists, scholars and others, with more to come.
It has already hosted numerous events, including a presentation by the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) and a lecture on "How to do nothing" by local artist Jenny Odell. Upcoming events include discussions with Occupy Museums and the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project. Thousands of people, including students from high school and college classes, have passed through the museum since it opened in late June.
Oliver Ressler, Alternative Economics, Alternative Societies, 2003-08. On display at the Museum of Capitalism
Oliver Ressler, Alternative Economics, Alternative Societies, 2003-08. On display at the Museum of Capitalism (Brea McAnally)
To find out more about the museum's plans and goals--at a time when the threat that capitalism poses to human existence has never been greater, and an increasing number of people are seeking an alternative to the status quo--I stole a moment of time from Andrea Steves and Timothy Furstnau, the artists who opened the museum in June.
HOW WOULD you describe the content of the museum to those who haven't seen it? What are you trying to convey about capitalism and what are some of the ways you do it?
Timothy: The museum contains a wide variety of artifacts, artworks and exhibits created by a wide variety of artists.
The exhibits aren't organized into a rigid structure, but rather into an open layout that encourages the experience of thematic resonances between them. These different elements of the museum are intended to give impressions of how issues of class, race, gender, and ecology are linked to capitalism, sometimes in subtle ways, and how struggles around these issues might be seen as common struggles against capitalism.
Review: Exhibition
The Museum of Capitalism, June 18-August 20. (Open Wednesday–Sunday 12–6 p.m.; Fridays to 8 p.m.) 55 Harrison Street along the Jack London Waterfront in Oakland.
The exhibition also includes a special exhibition called American Domain, curated by Erin Elder, exploring land ownership in the United States; a library where visitors can study capitalism to learn more about some of the issues raised in the exhibits and the local groups working on them; and a gift shop where visitors can buy mementos of the museum in a familiar retail environment.
The text labels in the museum, and the framing of the project in general, use a "future anterior" tone that looks back on capitalism as if it is a thing of the past, giving visitors a chance to do what we like to call "pre-enactment"--exploring their cognitive and emotional attitudes towards capitalism and encouraging radical imagination in a way that does not deny current realities, but de-familiarizes them.
We hope this sheds light on the realities of capitalism and makes people feel more empowered to change them.
WHAT ARE your backgrounds as they relate to art?
Timothy: I don't think there was ever a time I decided I wanted to be an artist. This doesn't fit neatly into other career trajectories or categories.
I came to art through anthropology and linguistics. Art is where all of my projects were supported. There wasn't a careerist mentality. Art is the space we can operate in. Whatever it gets called doesn't matter.
Andrea: We don't make art as an end point, but in order to work through or make sense of something. We've always thought of our projects as having an ability to bring about change, whether that's a mental shift or a change in perspective.
A lot of our projects stem from ideas of justice and our desire to bring justice to the world. To paraphrase one of the artists on display in the museum: Art makes space for belief, and belief makes space for change.
Timothy: I was working the front desk of the museum and watching a group of people leave--I'm always curious about people's response to the show.
There was a group of people who were leaving, and they were in a daze, as people tend to be when leaving the museum because it can be overwhelming. Just as they were getting out the door, this one guy said to the other five: "It really is easy to take all that stuff for granted." That was such a nice thing to hear, because that's one of the feelings we are trying to provoke.
Andrea: It's about seeing the world as it is, and also as it could be. That's the idea of the project. It offers this moment of rupture in the way you see something--and in which you can imagine something different.
ARE THERE any artists that influenced your work or your life?
Andrea: I was trained as a sound artist and musician. One of the points of influence for me comes from working with sound, during which you spend a lot of time listening to things around you.
From my experience as a performer, I'm aware of the ways in which a visitor to an installation--an audience member--experiences a thing. I'm always thinking about the bodily experience and how something will unfold for someone. I'm always concerned with what someone will be confronted with upon entering a space, what will draw their attention, what will cause them to move.
I was influenced by the composer Pauline Oliveros, and in particular, the field she defined called deep listening, which thinks about listening and attentiveness to the things around you, and places an emphasis more on listening than producing.
I've always been interested in flipping the traditional audience-performer relationship, where the audience becomes part of the performance and part of the completion of the work. The piece isn't a piece until the audience participates.
Many of the artists in the show are also teachers and inspirations for us, and they tackled different topics in different ways.
HOW DID you come up with the idea for the museum?
Timothy: In a talk including Slavoj Žižek and John Holloway, Alex Callinicos said that, like the Apartheid Museum in South Africa, there might one day be a museum of capitalism. This was the inspiration.
Putting something in a museum historicizes that thing and gives it some force. It seems controversial in this country to historicize capitalism, because it's said to be ahistorical – something all-encompassing, like the air we breath.
The political question is interesting because it shouldn't be controversial to say that something historically specific won't last forever. That seems like a pretty sober claim to make, and yet it gets people all up in arms.
"Political" as a word gets thrown at things to attack them. We're told it's not good to be political, and that we should be quiet and accept the status quo. As an artist, you don't want to be put in the category of "political" because it's used to silence and dismiss the work you do.
WHAT ROLE can art play in politics and changing the world?
Andrea: I'm reminded of a quote in an Ian Alan Paul essay, in which he talks about how engaging in the struggle for justice is to knowingly fight for that which we, in some way, cannot know in advance.
When it comes to changing the world, art helps you imagine possible futures or scenarios that aren't necessarily known. What we are trying to do with the museum is wrestle with this idea that it's easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.
Some think it's incomplete if you don't say what comes next. But art can help you fight against something that might otherwise be hard to define. This relates to the initial question of why art.
We started this project not from a point of fully understanding what it means to say that capitalism has ended, or even what capitalism is. But we are embarking on a project to fight against something we know is unjust, even if we can't quite define it, and the project becomes a way of working through what we can't define right away.
Timothy: Art can bring awareness to an issue and serve as propaganda. It can also be embedded in social movements, like signs and banners, or through tactical media campaigns.
Right now, when the political discourse is so polarized, we are interested in art's ability to de-familiarize--which is a fancy word for making the familiar seem strange again. Art can cause a moment of rupture. It can shake up the framework and be disorienting so that the familiar can be reworked.
When you walk in the museum, there's hopefully something a little disorienting that you have to grapple with. Capitalism isn't over, but it's in a museum.
We're in a period in which you can give people lots of facts, but nothing gets through. We want to shake up the framework, and maybe in that process, things can come in and be assimilated. It can be hard to separate from an emotional attachment to capitalism, and maybe art can help us do that.
CAN YOU talk about the media attention for the museum?
Andrea: People want to talk about capitalism but aren't given permission. It's sort of a dirty word. As we've gone through the project, there have been people who have reacted strongly to the "c" word, or done verbal gymnastics to avoid saying it. But when you put it in the museum title, you can't avoid it.
Maybe I'm being cynical, but the media don't necessarily have an interest in the politics of the museum. They just know that saying the "c" word is provocative and can draw clicks.
WHAT WOULD qualify as a success for the museum?
Andrea: The emphasis isn't so much on achievement, but more so about working through something. It's about using the space to take in every interaction as its own possibility.
We've brought in groups, artists and many different perspectives, and this puts an emphasis on dialogue and collective thinking about a subject we aren't all experts on. Maybe this can be a space in which failure is acceptable, and in which we can experiment and sometimes fail. Some of these artists are doing things they've never done before.
Timothy: This is an experiment. It's not a finished product to bring to market. As was the case with Thomas Edison, each "failure" was just a step on the road to the light bulb. The museum isn't about reaching a certain quota of likes or clicks. We're looking to gain as wide an audience as possible from outlets you might not expect.
Andrea: Some people say the museum is too radical, and some say it's not radical enough. While this creates pressure, it means we are at least engaging people on both sides.
WHAT ARE your plans going forward?
Timothy: The MoC is a long-term project, but we don't know what the future holds because a lot depends on funding. We've been pretty nimble so far. There's been a lot of interest from people in other cities, and this is a theme that can adapt to different sites. It's fun to think about a MoC in Detroit or the Dust Bowl. The project is more of a framework that can support a bunch of different things.
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In this article we’ll look at some of the most interesting and some of the weirdest superstitions practiced around the globe.
Join us in this countdown:
To put purse on the table/chair.
It is believed that if you put the purse down on the floor, you’ll lose all the money inside the purse.
1. CHINA
The number related to ‘4’
The numbers- four, fourteen, twenty four etc are considered evil due to their very close pronunciation with ‘death’ in Chinese.
The tilted windows
19th century farmhouses had tilted windows as it was believed that the witches cannot fly through them with their flying broom.
1. EGYPT
Leaving a scissors open is considered bad in Egypt. While it is also believed that a scissors below the pillow prevents nightmares.
Casting spell on wife
In Zimbabwe, men cast a spell on women to prevent her from doing adultery.
1. JAPAN
Covering your belly
It is believed that ‘Raijin’ will take away your belly button if you sleep without covering your belly.
No Empty Cans
Empty buckets and rubbish bins are considered as bad omens in Russia. This is the reason that the cleaning man keeps his mop in the bucket after finishing his work.
1. SPAIN
Twelve Grapes
Eating twelve grapes at the midnight on New Year’s Eve is believed to bring wealth and fulfillment.
Good and Bad Manhole Covers
People of Sweden pry to avoid walking over the manhole covers. They are marked as ‘K’ and ‘A’. If you step on a wrong manhole, three hearty slaps on the back can counter the bad omen that it brought.
Spilling Water
Water is believed to bring fluidity and tranquility in life. Thus before going for any important task, it is considered good to throw water behind the person.
So, these are some of the weird superstitions in the world.
You know any other weird superstitions? Share them with us.
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Tri-Norinyl Warnings and Precautions
Before using Tri-Norinyl, warnings and precautions concerning the safety of the contraceptive should be discussed with your healthcare provider. For example, make sure your healthcare provider knows about any of your existing medical conditions, such as depression, gallbladder disease, or high blood pressure, as Tri-Norinyl can make these conditions worse. Also, Tri-Norinyl may not be suitable for people who have heart disease or a blood clotting disorder.
Tri-Norinyl: What Should I Tell My Healthcare Provider?
You should talk with your healthcare provider prior to using Tri-Norinyl® (norethindrone/ethinyl estradiol) if you have:
Also, let your healthcare provider know if you:
• Smoke cigarettes
• Are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant
• Are breastfeeding.
(Tri-Norinyl is equivalent to Aranelle™ and Leena® birth control pills. The information in this article also applies to each of these medications.)
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61 is the first work out of my artistic research on the phenomenology of sound, or the phenomenology of listening, and was developed during a residency at Overtoon. The installation researches my own history as a listener. In 61 I am working with the recordings I made in my parental home a couple of years ago. The house itself has disappeared since then.
In those last months of the house, I recorded all the sounds I could get my hands on. 61 works with recordings of room tones - the signature background sounds of a room - and a special surround sound setup, using normal and hyperdirectional speakers. The hyperdirectional speakers are mounted on moving pan/tilt units, thus creating a continuously moving grid of sound. It explores how a house - my house, your house, our house - sounds. Which role does sound play in making us feel at home? What does 'a home' sound like, what does your home sound like? How much is this background sound part of our own history, our own identity? How has it contributed to the person I am today, or the person I will be tomorrow?
stills from a showing at STUK, pictures by Joeri Thiry and Stijn Demeulenaere.
61 - room tone study
61 is an installation with a delicate balance between the room tones of 61, the different kinds of speakers and the space where the installation is exhibited. This delicate balance doesn't survive the transition to the web. The track above plays a stereo study of the room tones used in 61. You can watch a trailer from the presentation at STUK here.
I dedicate this work to my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters who made this home, my first home, the magical place it was. Thank you Moeke, Vake, Sofie, Sigrid, Kristoff, Thomas, Joachim and Sander.
On the occasion of my residency there, STUK did a small interview with me about the installation. You can watch that interview here. On the occasion of the The State Of Things exhibition, a review appeared in Agenda Magazine. You can read that review here.
A lot of people helped in the production of 61. Thanks to: Aernoudt Jacobs, Christoph De Boeck, Saartje Geerts, Karlien Vanhoonacker, Gilke Vanuytsel, Jitske Vandenbussche, Olivier and Vincent from Culture Crew and the technical crews of STUK and Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek.
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ONLINE COACHING is a shared effort by both you and I. To maximize your results, best results come from individuals who are going to commit and put their best foot forward. Are you willing to adhere to the program, follow direction, and reach out when you need to have the best experience possible?
Are you willing to invest $250-$650 per month on your training? I offer different packages depending on your needs and budget. We'll create the right program for you
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Plant-based diet
Top 10 excuses for not eating more plants
Top 10 Excuses
Have you stopped to consider what it means to eat a "plant-based" diet? I think for most people, the concept means that you become a vegetarian. And that often seems to be where the thought process comes to an end. Apart from a handful of people who are driven to cut animal products out of their diets, most people are not willing to turn their backs on steak and chicken wings. But, does it have to be an all or nothing approach? Isn't it possible to eat a bit less meat and a lot more veggies? Can you not supplement your "plant-based" diet with animal protein?
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Saturday, March 7, 2009
How Emery feels about her Daddy
Copy this note, ask your child the questions and write them down exactly how they respond.
Emery at 4 years old.
1. What is something dad always says to you?
"I love you"
2. What makes dad happy? When I kiss him
3. What makes dad sad? When I hit my brother
4. How does your dad make you laugh? He tickles me.
5. What was your dad like as a child? Mmmm...he was in a family.
6. How old is your dad?'re 17 and daddy's 18.
7. How tall is your dad? Big
8. What is his favorite thing to do? Play with me, sometimes though, because he needs to work.
9. What does your dad do when you're not around? Ummm...I don't know.
10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for?Uh, I don't know.
11. What is your dad really good at? Games, like Old Maid.
12. What is your dad not very good at? Umm, he's not very good at speaking spanish.
13. What does your dad do for his job? Uh, he works and he gets more money.
14. What's your dad's favorite food? Oatmeal
15. What makes you proud of your dad? Uh, I don't know.
16. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be? He could be Ord, from Dragon Tales.
17. What do you and your dad do together? Go to dates.
18. How are you and your dad the same? We both like to sing.
19. How are you and your dad different? We have different hair, because mine is kindof white and his is kindof brownish.
20. How do you know your dad loves you? Cuz he gives me lots of kisses when it is before bedtime
21. Where is your dad's favorite place to go? To the movie theaters.
Dione said...
Rochelle said...
THat's cute. Funny every one of these that I have read, the kid says hair color is the difference (or sameness) of them and their dad.
Kristin said...
This is adorable, Britt!
Susanna George said...
This is so sweet! I can tell that Jake is a fabulous Daddy.
Sarah Turley said...
So I just tried to do this...darn kid wouldn't respond. Maybe I should wait till he can talk. haha
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Happy Birthday Louise Nevelson!
Posted by in Art History | 0 comments
Louise Berliawsky Nevelson, a Russian born American artist, was born on September 23, 1899 in Kiev, Russia.
Nevelson is known for her abstract expressionist “crates” grouped together to form a new creation. She used found objects or everyday discarded things in her “assemblages” or assemblies, one of which was three stories high. “When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created,” remarked Nevelson.
Louise married Charles Nevelson after she graduated from high school in 1918, and together they had a child named Myron Nevelson. Louise and Charles later separated in 1931.
Nevelson died on April 17, 1988 in New York, New York.
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xyzReptiles: A Brief History of Boas and Their Place in the Pet Trade
Mar 22, 2017
On the Web
by Editor in Chief
On the Web - xyzReptiles explains why boa constrictors are so popular in the pet trade and what makes them unique.
check it out@ On the Web
• AB Dragons
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Friday, April 27, 2012
Be Realistic
As any writer, I've had my share of rejections. Maybe, even more than my share. The thing I love about it is being able to complain to my friends who reinforce why I'm in the game. They tell me they love my writing, to keep pushing, keep going. Sometimes, it's what I need. Sometimes, their words are air.
Then, sometimes I come across the neigh-sayers. The ones who say, "You're not Stephenie Meyer," "Maybe you're done trying?" and things like that. Most recently, I'd gotten the advice to, "Be realistic. Maybe this just isn't for you."
B*tch, what'd you say?
*This is such an awful picture, lol*
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Literally. Why?
Firstly, I believe in my writing. I believe in it because in middle school, people would steal my notebooks to read the crap I'd jotted on the sides of my notes. Because in my high school English class, I'd gotten encored after the poetry unit. In my creative writing class, people would fall silent after I'd share. In my other classes people would steal my notebooks that were now only used for poems and rambles. I'd lose the notebook for a couple days while it cycled through friends, and eventually get it back with, "That was really, really good. I liked this one the most."
In college, I got my first publications. At the end of college I started attending my first writing conferences.
And on February 15, 2011, I entered the agent game with a mediocre novel that got a full manuscript request the night of my birthday (which is in April, in case you missed that blog :) ). It got rejected, of course, because sucked (see Confessions of an Immortal Heart. It needs lots, and lots of work). I was told, "I couldn't connect with the characters."
Then I read at my first open mic night, in front of other professionals and friends. And after I finished my set, which I cut short due to fear and feeling like I was suddenly ill equipped, I was asked to come up and read everything else I'd decided not to read.
You gotta take the punches,
And keep rollin'
Now, a little more than a year later, I'm starting to understand the difference between showing and telling more than ever before. There's still a disconnect, and I'm still getting rejected.
And I'm still going.
Because I'm getting bites, which tell me that my ideas are there, they're marketable, they just aren't being articulated well enough, and that's my fault, because I haven't mastered my craft yet. It doesn't mean that I'm a bad writer, or that I should give up.
I am being realistic. I LOVE the novels I've written; the characters, the plots, the reasons I wrote them. I'm still getting requests, just not acceptances, because there is still work to do.
I won't give up.
1. Replies
1. Thank you :) If you're in the same rut, I hope you push through, too!
2. I am querying at the moment. Not easy, especially with all the waiting we have to do. But today, fantastic news happened to a friend who'd been waiting for a very looong time to get pubbed, and I think it fueled me to stay in the game because the wait is worth it. Even the rejections are worth it. :D So keep pushing forward!
3. First of all, I'm so happy to hear about your friend!! That's awesome!
And I agree, the wait is worth it, and the rejections are worth it, too. Recently I've gotten some stellar feedback which has told me I'm not ready...YET, but I will be... :)
Good luck in the query game!
2. Never stop writing, no matter what. I don't say it enough, but I'm proud of you for continually pushing through rejection and disappointment.
3. Writing is too intangible for some people. You don't get up and go anywhere and clock in or anything like that, so they just can't get it.
4. Very nice. I'm glad you continue to push through the disappointment. It's a great story of encouragement. Best of luck to you!
5. Love this post. It is just what I needed to hear (read) right now!
New follower =)
1. Well thank you for the follow!
And I'm glad the post helped, I think every writer needs a push every once in awhile :)
6. I believe in your story too and can't wait to read it again someday.
1. whoops. meant to comment on the current post. :)
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No tusks about it, losing Lindsey Buckingham would be a crippling blow to any band.
But Fleetwood Mac have built a career out of shedding guitarists, from Bob Welch to Dave Mason – so, in a sense, it was business as usual when the group booked a massive tour without their longtime frontman.
Questions still linger about the revamped Mac, which features Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House's Neil Finn alongside the remaining Rumours-era crew. Will they blacklist all Buckingham material? If so, how they fill the gaps? (We won't even approach the subject of a new album, which they've teased as a possibility.)
Their North American tour launches tonight in Tulsa, Okla., so let's take a closer look at their set list dilemmas and figure out five perfect tracks.
"Oh Well"
This rabid Peter Green-penned rocker appears to be a lock: The band reportedly rehearsed it for the tour (among 60 or so total tunes), with Campbell handling the vocal, because Finn found it "too bluesy." Without Buckingham in the lineup, it makes sense to re-approach the band's earliest days – and since the group has played it onstage more than 600 times, "Oh Well" is one of the few Green-era cuts that Stevie Nicks die-hards could pick out of a late-'60s lineup.
If the revamped Fleetwood Mac want to be taken seriously, they should take any opportunity to differentiate themselves and avoid becoming a traveling greatest-hits box set. And if they're already paying tribute to Peter Green, the sextet should tip their collective hat (or perhaps just John McVie's ubiquitous baseball cap) to their former singer-guitarist Bob Welch, who fronted the group during its most underrated period of the early '70s. A slice of jazzy soft-rock from 1973's Mystery to Me, "Hypnotized" would offer Finn an silky counterpoint to Campbell's gruffer "Oh Well." Plus, it would be a classy move to salute the late Welch, whom the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curiously snubbed from the band's 1998 induction.
"Over & Over"
When Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2014, ending a 16-year hiatus from the lineup, fans were satisfied just hearing her belt signature hits like "You Make Loving Fun" and "Say You Love Me." Now it's time to dig deeper. "Over & Over," the atmospheric opener from 1979's Tusk, is a logical next move: It's a perfect vocal harmony showcase for their four singers, and Campbell could surely cook up an original take on the song's droning, wave-like slide-guitars. Plus, it's been too long anyway – this one's been collecting dust since the 1980 Tusk tour.
"Sisters of the Moon"
The stormy "Sisters of the Moon" is a creative peak in the Stevie Nicks songbook, and Fleetwood Mac know it. They've kept the epic fan favorite in semi-regular live rotation since Tusk – including numerous spots during their 2015 tour. With their new twin-guitar lineup, this one's a natural pick: Finn can ring out those thunderclap chords, allowing Campbell to go wild on the solo.
"Crystal" would surely shimmer like a "clear water fountain." The hypnotic art-folk ballad first appeared on Buckingham Nicks' self-titled 1973 album before Fleetwood Mac reworked it two years later as an organ-laced deep cut on their self-titled LP. It's a Nicks original, but Buckingham sang lead on both versions – perhaps now, 42 years after it was last performed live, is the logical time for her to reclaim it.
Fleetwood Mac Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide
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The Three Kingdoms
The three regions of the Universe and the elemental planes. The Elemental planes are not shown on the universe map below because they lie between the three kingdoms in parallel universes.
The Lower Kingdom
The lower Kingdoms can be reached from Morashtar via planar gateways which access these realms, if these portals can be found and reached. Artificers can learn powers which unlock gates to certain planes.
A vast cavernous kingdom that can be as horrid as it can be beautiful, which has cities, lairs, fortresses and keeps of all sizes scattered throughout its network, with a vast desert above, and the abyss at its basin, which Acheron's Pit descends into. This kingdom is actually part of the Acheron Nebula which is at the center of the universe. It is however connected to the Lower Kingdom and upper kingdom by gateways and by the throats of the Lower and Upper Kingdoms via access of the abyss. See Acheron Page.
The underworld of the Sidhe, the Fomor, the Firbolg, and the Danu, many of whom live between Morashtar and Annwn. This is a medieval world of castles, citadels and villages set in a majestic landscape of dense forests, mountains, meadows and gardens all alit in an ethereal glow of light and shadows. The gods of this realm assume animal forms as often as not and they and many other inhabitants make it their aim to riddle and test any outsider who enters their domain. Annwn, Pwill, O'Braugh and Belorian are a few who reside over the various regions of this Kingdom which includes Tir na nOgh (Pwill), Morgal Eshvah (O'Braugh) and Azlymeth (the Crystal Kingdom, Belorian). Arawn Pen Annwn is the high king of Annwn.
The Dark Realms - Nemen
This is gateway world of Oblivion; A world of mist and dusk covered entirely by the ruins of vast ancient cities, where all manner of dark spirits dwell. Beneath the endless rubble and mazes created by the broken walls, stairwells, partially intact towers, chambers and keeps, lies a network of tunnels, conduits and caves which interconnect in a labyrinth called Galgamesh (Underworld of the Lost). Only a few creatures, who have lived in this vast maze for centuries out of memory, know their way around the world under and can show others the way out. These creepy inhabitants tend to require a test of anyone they even consider helping to escape, which usually involves finding them a specific tribute.
"Find me a body and I shall show you the way out."
"How do I find you a body? Moreover, how when I am lost in this place?"
"That is for you to figure out."
If one finds their way to one of the twelve Gateways of Oblivion and steps through it, they will find themselves swallowed up in the great nowhere and held suspended in time. If retrieved from this state a year or a thousand years later, only a moment will have lapsed for the one suspended defined by the time it took to step into the gate and be pulled out again; mere seconds. No aging occurs while held suspended in time. Locating someone in Oblivion is extremely difficult (LoD 1205) without the person who entered having an anchor placed previous to entering the void (LoD 345). There are those who seek oblivion as a means of traveling into the future via an anchor set to pull them out at a particular time.
The Dead Realms
A world where swamps, dead forests, marshy lakes, dried grass and dead plants dominate the landscape, with shadowy castles, villages, and citadels of a medieval age which change little throughout the ages. In this realm, not only is all plant life dead or reflected as spirit flora, but all things living are dead, undead, spirit, or the living dead. If the living remain in this realm for too long, it will kill them and make of them a wraith, phantom, living dead, zombie, or some other creature of the dead. -10% Start HP damage per day (If HP is 1000, -100 per day). The Solemn Forest is the region most enter into when arriving here. The most dangerous and yet most fascinating place is the Necropolis Capital, a citadel of tomb-like keeps with a vast undercity catacomb beneath. The castle at the center of this city of the dead has many towers and chambers and is resided over by a powerful lich king. There are 'Life Springs' in some of the kingdoms if they can be found, which restore a small amount of life, but they are usually well guarded and difficult to get to. These springs are made up of the life energy of spirits and are where life drained from the living goes. They look like normal springs but a mist rises from them which has a subtle glow of spectral energy which gives off an equally subtle hum. In time (2 d6 days) these springs recharge after being consumed. +50 health.
Upper Kingdom
A Kingdom which presents itself to inhabitants and visitors alike as their ideal world, only within that ideal world are the resident angels they cannot control. The presiding God Yajmha, who counts himself the only true God and creator, is rarely seen, and takes any social form he chooses, usually a handsome young man which fair hair and dark skin, for his true form is Leviathan, which Haman is in just the belly of, as the Morning Star's true form is Acheron.
A Kingdom of great halls, keeps, walled in gardens, farms, forests, and fields on scattered islands in a deep blue sea, where great forests lead into Annwn. Home to the gods of the seasons, cycles, and crafts; including the major gods Dagda, Lugh, Rhiannon, Bel and Arianrhod.
A garden paradise with beautiful keeps and homes formed of the trees, rocks and plants here, as these elements weave together to form wonderous structures whose splendor enhances rather than clashes with the beauty of this kingdom.
Aegores (ay-jor-eez), an independant part of those vast regions Leviathan controls beyond his interior region, is named after a presiding God named Aegorius (A-jor-ee-us), also called Aegius, who is subject to Leviathan's laws. Aegores knew exactly how to walk the line without being rejected by the great and wise coi-like monster in the heavens. When an angel named Joshua was spat out in his true form by the eternal flame, it was Aegius who offered Joshua a path to his spectral Kingdom, and there offered Joshua the opportunity to serve the voice in himself, to serve what Aegius considered God. Through Joshua Aegius has offered all the fallen Tsetar a home in Aegores.
Aegores is a kingdom of air, light, and many elements all coelescing in an atmosphere not unlike yet unique from the plane of air. A small world surrounded by floating islands and continents of land, where many ages long past the planet had been broken into pieces in a war between various god, Aegores has many climates despite its size, and its stone and marble cities are each a jewel on the landscape. One can leap off the edge of this world where there are cliffs, even massive cliffs where chunks of the world were broken off, and find themselves floating off into the low gravity well of this small world, whose gravity is low because of its size. Anything from botanical gardens, great towers and keeps, beautiful glades and lakes, ice capped mountains, shining cities, bridges made of floating rocks and boulders like stepping stones, or just scattered chunks of rock can be found floating around the edges of this world, some miles away from the planet itself, others a stone throw away. Each of this world's climates remain the same all year long, with only a ten degree temperature variation in each climate which occurs between daylight and twilight. It never gets completely dark on Aegores which has three suns, accept once every 500 years when two of the three suns align, and the entire planet grows dark every 1000 years when all three suns align and the largest floating continent eclipses them. M'Tagra is the temperate wilderness of Aegores which lies between all other regions on the main continent, which makes up more than one half of Aegores landmass, the rest islands and small continents scatter around the sea of Emanua, or the land masses floating around the planet..
Middle Kingdom
The Kingdom of Planets
Solar Systems and Inhabited Planets
Terran System: 2. Earth
Leonese System: 3. Morashtar and 4. Cirsuil
Antares System: 5. Antares
Nova System: 6. Congoril and 7. Mortares (Darkstar)
Meridian System: 8. Arcannus and 9. Kaelvas
Sudasoto (Dark Nebula) System: 10. Ardennia and 11. Kovos
Interstellar travel to all the planets is possible from ancient Stellar Gates on Mortares or from just one such gate the Mortares erected on Morashtar. One can only return via these gates from one of these gates or with a Mortares Gate Talisman. There is a lever which sets to 12 locations. 10. is Annwn, 11. is Tuatha, and 12 is Plane of Storms.
If one does not know how to operate the gate, and understand the meaning of the gate symbols, the gate will deliver the traveler to a random location. Roll 2 d6 for destination. Roll of 10-11 and gate malfunctions. Roll of 12 and gate malfunctions to deliver traveler to one of the elemental planes. Roll 2 d6 and go to plane in order listed, counting first plane listed as number 2. If 12 comes up on a planar roll, gate delivers traveler to Acheron.
The Planar Dimensions
The Shadow Realm
Nazadun: a vast primordial forest kingdom which lies between the Dark Realms, Shadow Realm, and the Dead Realms that is accessible from all three planes. This seemingly endless twilight forest is broken only by paths, occasional meadows, widely scattered castles and villages, and the great citadel of Aamedgar which rises up from the peaks of the Esschelan mountain range. Nazadun is a haven for shades, vampires, demons of darkness, wraiths and other dynamic spirits,
Morgaith: a shadowy kingdom which lies at the very center in the depths of the shadow realm. This seemingly endless darkness is broken by braziers and everburning torches fueled by firevents which draw fire from Shivardda, the plane of fire. Paths, roads, meadows, scattered castles and villages, and the great citadel of Nathroamir, named after its immense watchtower, which rises up from the central axis of this circular city, looms on the horizon against the sea of Nathandor (Black Sea) and the plane of Strife, a vast field which surrounds the castle where many battles have been fought. Far to the east, swallowed by the penumbra of this land, are the peaks of the Jagged Tooth Mountain range. Morgaith is a haven for shades, vampires, demons of darkness, wraiths and other dynamic spirits.
Plane of Light
Solendor: This is a plane where almost everything gives off some kind of light, the plants, the rocks, the beasts, and even the soil, and where stairways of light rise up out of the gossamer forests; great peaks thrust up covered with a glowing pale grass where great towers, shrines, and keeps of white stone stand. Four suns and eight moons rise and fall over this land which is never dark. The Levimancers of Solendor are friendly, cheerful people who love to entertain and celebrate all of life's wonders, but they can turn deadly if they, their people, or their territories are threatened. Many animals here have eyes, claws, or tails which can burn with lazor light to defend themselves and some can even spit a radioactive or ultraviolet liquid so potent that it can burn right through flesh and bone causing extreme sickness or even death. Creatures here are immune to the dire effects of radiation.
Plane of Fire
Shivardda: Canyons sculpted into bizzare shapes by lava, dead forests, volcanos, and lava fields make up the main landscape of this Kingdom. Stone bridges and dirt or rock pathways lead around and above the magma bubbling up from the ground in many places. In the Infernal Desert; firestorms can be encountered when pockets of heat reach their peak. Fire elemental creatures, hell raptors, fire beasts, and demons resistant to heat and fire live here. A very harsh plane which damages anyone who has no heat or noxious gas resistance, the damage increasing when one gets too close to volcanos, lava pools or vent. There are oases to be found here where cooler temperatures and water can be found. There is even one forest (Delcaris) where the central part of the woodland is still alive, albeit this humid jungle boasts some dangerous beasts and people.
Plane of Water
Anuardda: (an-war-dah) An underwater world with sprawling underwater cities, with deep sea rifts which can reach tremendous depths where its leviathons live, or where vast shallows with white sand bottoms stretch for miles around patches of land too small to call islands. Though this plane can be explored by landlovers, exploring its inhabited regions requires water-breathing capabilities or apparatus.
Plane of Air
Anmath Nual: A planar kingdom where islands, towers, keeps, villages and even cities float in the air with vast bridges between some locations, whereby to reach other areas, one must be able to fly or be capable of surpassing expanses, some great, others small. All creatures which lives here can fly, people and animals alike, and some beings and plants as well even float through this ethereal atmosphere, including fish which swim in an ocean of air. This world is a actually a great bubble with the bits and pieces which make up anything with mass (living or element) floating around within it atmosphere of air. Each mass has low gravity, whereas larger masses have more gravity, enough to hold things down. Even the largest masses can be lauching points into the air if one pushes themself off in a leap with enough force. Heavy boots worn by some of the people here help prevent them accidentally floating off a land mass if they should jump too high. The largest land mass is only fifty miles across. Many of these floating islands are named after key features, such as Mountain Garden, Waterfall City, Lakeland, Dune Desert, Tall Tree Forest, Foaming Water Canyon, Boulder City, etc.
Plane of Storms
Grymoria: A vast Kingdom of Ice where snow, ice, glaciers, ice-caves, and snowcapped mountains dominate the landscape. Almost any creature one encounters here can spit, throw, infuse, sling or command ice elements.
Ymllaadri: A great Kingdom of Tempests by a sea including many islands where high winds, pouring rains, hail storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, crashing lightning and thunder, ball and aural lightning, dominates the climate. Any creature met here is likely able to spit, throw, infuse, sling or command various storm elements if not all of them. The Sounding Sea of Ymllaadri meets with the ice fields which indicate the beginning of Grymoria. Within the Sounding Caves of Ymllaadri, is the Chamber of Gateways, a cave where there are passages which lead to all the elemental planes, including Ymlladdri itself. Symbols (which are easy to decipher), are carved into the stone above each tunnel, revealing where each passage leads. An obvious clue to where each tunnel leads is the elemental conduit one must pass through at the end of each passage (much as one can see through it to the plane it will enter) to leave the cavern and enter the other plane.
Plane of Earth
Talyss: A world of canyons, deserts, rock mountains, dirt, sand and stone where all structures are carved out of stone and earth. Terramancers and many earth elementals inhabit this plane.
Talgeard; the Plane of Flora
A Kingdom of botanical gardens, orchards, wilderlands, jungles, grasslands, and forests where sentient plants called Talgeardians dwell. There are many insects, including a race of insect people called the Virosians which the Talgeardians have symbiotic relationships with. In this world the lives of plants are valued more highly than the other beasts and people who live there, whereby the consumption of animal flesh is accepted and killing all but carpet plants is considered murder. Only eating the fruits of plants is acceptable, and then ONLY if the seeds are preserved. All structures are formed of live plants which are woven and twined together, while the hollows and roots of immense trees also provide homes for this world's beings. The Talgeardian Verduremancers who dwell here are very tricky and not be thought of salad brains at all.
Acid Plane
Imdgrys: (eem-day-grehs) All within this plane is damaging but for the stone paths. The rain, the dirt, the acid breathing--spitting--spraying animals, the vegetation, the water sources, all here eat away at anything it contacts but those things which evolved on this plane to resist acid, and that which is capable of resisting acid.
Spectral Plane
Mantizor: The 'otherside' of whatever world you step out of, where other elements beside the spectral ether and telekinetic energy have no sway and all countours seen and felt are substantial only because of a telekinetic field which defines surfaces. Only by finding phased areas called conduits can you leave the spectral plane and reenter the world it edges, or enter 'dark conduits' which lead deeper into the spectral plane beyond the middle kingdom. There one might find the Fortress Citadel and Kingdom of Santoriz, named after the great spirit Santor, ruler also over Mantizor. There is also Nisi, Elephant Lord of Escongrinn, the jungle and grasslands territory of the spectral plane.
Time Plane -- Krodos
Krohnastos: This is a gateway world which brings one into the Universe where time travel is so much the norm that if something is done to alter history a new time line is NOT created, rather the entire universe and all worlds affected shift to accomodate the changes. Simultaneously this is also where all time lines created in other universes appear, whereby there are countless reproductions of the same universe, many of which do not last at all long relative to others owed to the fact that alternate timelines, particularly accidental ones, have a tendency to collapse far more readily than stable 'drafted' and 'origin' time lines.
The people of this world are called Kronesians. Their natural life span is anywhere between 180-200 years of age. Some of these people, the 'travelers' in particular, those who time travel and manipulate time, are immortal through cloning via a seven day process which also clones the memory and personality of each predecessor. This process can be sped up by time manipulation techniques. The moment a clone has 'matured' to replace a dead clone; a new clone 'injection' is placed in stasis to be activated when the death of its antecedent has been confirmed. Clone Injections are a gel containing genetic materials and memory receptors which are injected into a cloning environment stasis field (CESF) to produce a clone. The advantage to cloning is that one's mind and will is their own, the disadvantage is that they are still prone to disease and rare genetic defects, and should something happen to their 'cloning vault' they will be unable to replicate should they perish. Most clones travel WITH a spare clone injection in the event something happens to their vault. The last disadvantage is the slight chance of a 'duplicate clone' occuring, which can happen if a confirmed death was not actual. Duplicate clones are legal IF they are registered. Rogue duplicates on the other hand are illegal for security reasons. Clones tend to beat aging by chronomantic techniques (reverse aging and the like). Other clones may be perfectly content with the natural process of aging as a matter of pride. The more times a clone survives to die by old age, the more respected he or she is by other clones.
The second process of immortality is achieved via nano-technology whereby a 'carrier' is injected with self-replicating nano-droids which are perpetually repairing any damage to nano-carriers and building replacement nano-droids as they are needed or destroyed. The advantage to nano-carriers is that injuries, disease, toxins, genetic flaws and the very process of aging is eliminated; The most obvious disadvantage is that time travel is extremely difficult for carriers to achieve, much as they are traveling with a vast colony of microscopic androids inside of them. The only way a nano-carrier can become a traveler is to use a nano-canister, a special transfer device which transfers the nano-droids inside of them into the canister which is designed for transporting nano-droids en-mass through time. Once a destination is reached, the nano-droids can be transfered back into the body. The transfer causes some great amount of discomfort much as the body is so well adapted to accomodate the droids. Another disadvantage is in the fact that the millions of nano-droids within a carrier develope a colony or collective mind which acts an alter-ego and personality, a price many are willing to pay for immortality.
A person here may be a Rah (high commander) one moment and a pauper the next and not even be the wiser for it. Others might be quite keen to the change. Some races here have a time sense ability which makes them aware of shifting time events, while others do not share this trait. A person, place or even a species here may exist one moment and not the next; or important events in history may be completely rewritten, although owed to strict time manipulation laws these sorts of drastic occurances may not happen as often as one might believe.
Time travelers are required to attain 'Time Stamps' for one, a tattoo which identifies someone as a 'traveler', and to become a legal traveler one must pass rigorous tests before being issued a time travel stamp. The penalty of breaking the 'law of existance', the 'law of imperitives' or 'traveling without a stamp' is erasure and in extreme cases as with the elimination of a leader or species, erasure with no chance to 'reoccur' ever again.
It is dangerous to be a 'rogue traveler' here. If outlanders seek a visa they are treated with respect and granted a temporary stamp in the form of a bracelet. Outlander travelers are otherwise dragged to a Processing Center if caught by a Kronesian officer and if any laws were broken an outlander waits here until they stand trial in a 'time courte'.
True oracles or diviners are aware of Krodos, and by being able to tap into the nuances of time here, they are able to predict the future, present and past.
Contents by JD and Sparky © Copyright 2008
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Welcome to Truck Simulator Wiki!
Truck Simulator Wiki is a collaborative encyclopedia for everything related to SCS Software truck simulator games, including Euro Truck Simulator 2, American Truck Simulator and many more!
This wiki was created in January 2013, and currently contains 1,175 articles. Everyone is welcome to edit!
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29th November, 2018
Euro Truck Simulator 2: Beyond the Baltic Sea has arrived!
7th November, 2018
Special Transport DLC for American Truck Simulator can be purchased now!
5th November, 2018
The Volvo VNL is now available in American Truck Simulator!
4th October, 2018
American Truck Simulator - Oregon has launched!
17th September, 2018
Download the new update 1.32 for ETS2 and ATS and buy Krone Trailer Pack!
Euro Truck Simulator, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator, as well as their sister titles, are truck simulation games created by SCS Software. Titles usually differ in the place simulated, e.g. both Euro Truck Simulator games are in Europe.
The players (often referred as "truckers" in this wiki) can drive trucks around different cities and countries (or states), picking up and delivering cargo. As the truckers successfully deliver cargo, they earn money and ranks, allowing them to do more things, such as delivering more valuable cargo, buying access, or buy garages and hire other drivers to work for them.
This wiki is a Work In Progress, so contents might change. If you want to contribute, feel free to read the layout guidelines, or leave a message in the forum :)
Main Pages
Game Concepts
Simulation Games
Want your community included? See how!
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Oh, glorious Cartoon Brew
It just came to my attention that Cartoon Brew blogged the Animation Tag Attack yesterday. How awesome is that? Calling our work "remarkably fresh and sophisticated" on top. Don't just sit around go check it out!
UPDATE: It seems the coverage of our little pet project is picking up. Several smaller blogs are starting to blog us and some bigger fish are joining in as well. As for instance the all-knowing Dekku over at noFatClips, Ehrensenf online tv (from 1:08) - even Norwegian radio P3 did a small featurette on us.
I must admit that I am extremely happy with this much positive press after just 4 episodes + there is a growing interest from some really skilled people to be part of the project. Hourray for the internet! Imagine having done this back in the era of the videocasette...
1 comment:
Max said...
HURRAY for the internet indeed man! There's no end to the possibilities! Well done for getting this out there Christen. Great stuff.
Let's make some pure 'just for the love of it' Art!
ooooOH yeeeaa
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Bill Acton :: Acts 12 - Persecution, Peter, Prison, Power
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Sermon Outline for Acts 12
Persecution, Peter, Prison, Power
1. The Events in Acts 12
1. The murder of James the Apostle by Herod – Act 12:1-2
2. The imprisonment of Peter – Act 12:3-5
3. The deliverance of Peter – Act 12:6-11
4. The prayer meeting – Act 12:12
5. The death of Herod – Act 12:20-23
2. The Murder of James
1. The murderer: Herod
1. He is known as Herod Agrippa
1. Not the one before whom Jesus appeared
2. The father of the Herod before whom Paul will later appear
2. He is opposed to Christ
3. He is a cunning politician
2. The victim: James – Act 12:2
1. He is the brother of John
2. He is the son of Zebedee
3. He was on the Mount of Transfiguration – Mat 17:1
4. He was the first Apostle to die
3. The execution
1. His head was chopped off with a sword – Act 12:2
2. It was commanded by Herod
3. It pleased the Jews
4. The timing
1. The year - 44 AD
2. The Passover season - Spring time
3. The Imprisonment of Peter – Act 12:3-11
1. Herod commands the arrest of Peter
1. A matter of political gain
2. A strategic time – Easter / Passover
2. Peter is secured in prison
1. He is chained to two soldiers on guard
2. Special guards are assigned to around the clock duty – Act 5:19
3. Peter is sleeping in prison
1. He has been there before
2. He is not afraid
3. Yet he is surprised
4. The Supernatural Deliverance of Peter – Act 12:7-11
1. The angel of the Lord appears
2. He is in charge
1. The guards are helpless
2. The chains are no problem
3. He directs Peter
1. Tells him everything to do
2. Helps him out of the prison
5. The Very “Human” Church – Act 12:13-17
1. Peter at the door
2. Rhoda answers the knock
1. Rhoda’s problem
2. The cautious recognition
3. The answered prayer
6. The Death of Herod – Act 12:21-23
1. The execution of guards
2. The pride of man - playing God
3. The weakness of man - worshiping Herod
4. The sovereignty of God
1. Herod dies a horrible death
2. The folly of those who defy God
3. The tragedy of those who give God no glory
4. The blinded, distorted, twisted, pride of men who attempt to live without a sense of dependence upon God
7. The Marvelous Results – Act 12:24-25
1. The Word of God grew and multiplied
1. Despite all the opposition
2. Paul and Barnabas are being trained for their future ministry
2. The certainty of justice
3. The indestructibility of the church
8. The Prayer Meeting – Act 12:5
1. James is murdered
2. Peter is delivered
3. The difference – Act 12:5
1. But prayer was made
1. The difference in weapons
1. Herod – sword
2. Church – 2Co 10:3-5
2. Prayer
1. To build dependence
2. To participate in the sovereignty of God
2. By the Church
1. Not by the government
2. Not by the world
3. The unique calling of the Church
3. Unto God
1. They called upon the Lord
2. They did not trust in anything or anyone else
4. Without ceasing
1. They were persistent
2. God delayed the answer
1. The people learned
2. Peter learned
5. For him Peter
1. The definite request
2. The direct answer
9. The Purpose of Recording the Events of Act 12:7
1. To reveal God’s sovereign determinism
1. Over Rome
2. Over Herod
3. Over Jews
4. Over persecution of the Church
2. To reveal God’s inclusion of His people in carrying out His purposes
10. God’s People Participate in His Sovereign Determinism
1. God’s predestined plan will be fulfilled
2. God’s plan includes the participation of His people
1. The prayer
2. The evangelism
3. The serving
3. Can Peter be released from prison if the church does not pray? Yes
Will the Church pray? Yes, God wills it
4. God has willed to use the prayer of His people as the means to the end
5. Prayer – any participation by God’s people is our great privilege and opportunity and involvement with God
6. Since God determines everything, why pray?
1. Because He commands it
2. For our good
3. For our learning
4. For dependence
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Sunday, February 11, 2007
New this, updates that, teaching yada yada
It's been a few days because I didn't have anything to say. I know that hasn't stopped me countless times before but whatever. ('Whatever', of course, is the universal cop out for the absence of a clever punchline.)
Let me catch you up on the latest in my FASCINATING life. In tonight's edition: a new kombucha review (yippee!), updates on my "dance" class, and cool stuff with teaching, etc.
Alas, it's unfortunate that I resume my kombucha reporting w/ an unfavorable review. You know I have such high hopes. To catch you up, in case I don't know you, I LOVE kombucha. It makes the world look a little rosier. Anywhoo, a while ago I established a rating system for assessing the quality of different kinds of kombucha. Read this.
Today's pick: Carpe Diem kombucha.
Carpe Diem, I like your intentions. Drink positive! Eat positive! Live positive! Who could argue w/ that? I positively wouldn't. Plus, you're foreign -- you know I'm a sucker for accents. Sadly, for all your international intrigue and wholesome personality, your kombuch doesn't stand on its own. Dear CD, I haven't had a Coke in a couple of years. Wanna know why? Because I like my sugar in solid form so at least I'm getting something (a full belly) out of the rush. Your drink? The healthy set's Coke -- heavy on the fructose and light on the kombuchose. So, without further ado...
Buzz Factor: 0. Dude you didn't even get a 1. And, I gotta tell you, it's pretty hard to score a zero here. I haven't had more than fruits, veggies, and nuts for almost three weeks. I'm an empty vessel! I could have got more buzz off grape juice. Sheesh.
Taste: 2. You're too sweet. I'm willing to acknowledge that my taste buds might have shifted since this cleanse thing I've been doing. Naw. You're just too sweet.
Un-sliminess: 3. Good job! You have redeemed yourself. Kinda.
Total: 5
Here's a picture of the stripper shoes I am wearing for my dance class. Can you believe?! I have to wear them around the house to break 'em in. I've been trying to talk Dre into taking the classes w/ me with little success. Until she put the shoes on. She was giddy with her new height. So maybe they'll do the trick.
I've signed up for Level 2 which starts in two weeks. Okay, so you know that the REAL Level 2 (in Montana) is like my favorite place in the world to be. This is *nothing* like that. This Level 2 has the sassy moniker "The Outlaw Sessions". Wow I feel so dangerous.
Taught my first class at the new super bad ass Equinox today. It's swank, folks, for sure. And, the coolest part? I'm teaching a meditation class there starting in two weeks! As you may know, I totally dig meditation. I'd marry it but since I'm already betrothed to yoga, it'll have to be my mister. What's the male equivalent of mistress? Doesn't matter. The point is, I feel like it's Christmas. With presents.
Once again, I'll say it: I am SO blessed.
Anonymous said...
Slime factors are always to be considered!
I am a freak when it comes to consistencies of things.
I have the Carmen Electra stripper dance exercise DVDs. A gag gift of sorts. However, it is works then it works!
A-Lo said...
dang - i wish we wore the same shoe size! i've been searching all over for a pair like this. :-)
(laughing hysterically over here picturing you walking around your place in these -- HA!)
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(Toggle Theme) (Size Up) (Size Down)
The Final Front
Most would have considered the past decade or two one of the most exciting periods in humanity's history, and the reason why was obvious.
But I didn't quite see it that way. Those extraterrestrial visitors hardly felt like "aliens" to me.
They just felt like more of the same.
Maybe I was just getting old.
As a young girl, I was more thrilled than anyone I'd ever known about the prospect of making contact with alien lifeforms. I would have (figuratively) killed for it to happen in my lifetime. Those remained very vivid memories even in my thirties.
But looking back on that time, I had trouble figuring out what excited me so much. And I wasn't sure if that was just because "well of course aliens are exciting, how can you expect me to explain why?", or because I'd forgotten how that felt.
I should get to the point. First contact did happen in my lifetime, when I was a teenager. And it sucked.
I thought I'd be happy with anything. Even if aliens had literally come here to enslave and/or massacre humanity, I'm pretty sure I would've been ecstatic as I perished.
But the Xynniax were just sooo... boring.
Whoever's reading this - you probably know the Xynniax. They're basically humans with purple skin and varying numbers of limbs, heads, eyes, etcetera - a lot of them even have the same number of those as humans. I can easily picture my teenage self saying "That's so predictable," as I'm pretty sure she did.
What really got to me was how seemingly no one else even bat an eye, the Xynniax included. Alien lifeforms visit us from a distant planet and they're nigh-identical to humans? Gee, that's funny. Guess we won't question that at all.
It didn't end there, of course. The Xynniax were part of a trade federation - aliens had a "trade federation"! - which led to the arrival of many more alien races. None of them caught my interest in the least.
It got to the point where I willfully ignored everything going on between the humans and aliens. It all looked like trade agreements and junk, so I didn't think I was missing much. I had Hazel to fill me in if there was ever anything important.
Right, I should talk about Hazel. My wife essentially managed to get in on the ground floor of this brave (boring) new era of space exploration, eventually working her way up to a pretty high-ranking position in the field.
Incidentally, while one might assume such a job would mean Hazel spent a lot of time out in space, she deliberately avoided long missions for my sake (not that I wouldn't understand). She had really good job security, it seemed.
Anyway. Through her, I could know a lot about new discoveries being made and new technologies being shared by aliens to humans. I only really cared to know the latter; people were gradually incorporating it into their lives anyway, and as a freelance programmer it kind of behooves me to be up to date.
Yes, there was a definite influx of technology - and as a result, publicly-available space transportation was a reality close at hand. So one day, Hazel told me she could use her connections for us to go on a test tour of any planet I wanted.
Whether that was a mistake or not, I still don't know.
I was on my tablet, scrolling through the site Hazel had linked me. It wasn't yet public, but once it was launched, people would be able to reserve trips through it. Hazel said we wouldn't be going through the site, but rather, it was just convenient for seeing what our options were.
As I looked at each one of those options, a few questions kept coming to mind. Would Hazel like to go here? Would I like to go here? Why was she asking me, anyway? Nothing seemed appealing, least of all the cheesy postcard-style photos of the planets' native races.
All of a sudden, as I tapped to go to the next page, it failed to load. The internet had gone down.
I silently fumed as I switched over to the wireless sketchpad app to talk to Hazel. It was an ancient thing I'd thrown together years and years ago, but we still felt it was the best way for us to communicate, since I was so bad at sign language.
Now, I wasn't sure what I was intending to say to Hazel, but I certainly said something.
"Hey, how long have we known each other?"
"Almost two decades, Ver. =)"
"Right. I'm not mad at you, but why did you ask me to pick the planet for our trip?"
"Oh, well! O.O I didn't want to force anything you wouldn't like, you know?"
I bluntly wrote, "Well I don't like any of them."
Again I was wary of sounding rude, so I decided to explain further. "It's not your fault. You just know I'm pretty disenchanted with alien planets. =("
I thought on it some more. "And I was just thinking. People were always terrible at predicting the future. It was always fun to look back and laugh at how wrong they turned out to be."
"So why did they become so accurate all of a sudden? Why does it all feel like a sci-fi movie from decades ago?"
"Aliens, space travel, it just feels cliché now that it's here. When I was a kid, I always wanted something different and exciting for humans to learn about. I still want to believe that's out there."
"But I'm sorry to say that none of these planets have that."
I stared at my messages, surprised at how suddenly impassioned I got. Hazel still hadn't sent a reply.
"Oh but the internet went down so I didn't look at all of them yet."
I heard Hazel come in from the other room just as I finished scrawling my addendum. She patted me on the back and sat down next to me.
"It's okay, Veronica. =)", she wrote. "I kind of figured you'd say that. There is another option."
"What option is that?"
"Bring Your Wife to Work Day! =D"
I looked up from the tablet at Hazel's face. It was pretty "=D"-ish, actually.
"*Unofficial, I assume?"
"Official as I can make it. ;)"
I sighed, rather exaggeratedly so Hazel could see. "I'll come to keep you company. But I still don't feel like I'm going to be impressed."
She reached over and squeezed me. "You might be surprised."
"I don't have to wear anything special, right?"
"I'm running this whole thing, so no, I wouldn't make you do that."
"I meant, like, something I HAVE to wear. To be in a spaceship."
"Obviously I would have told you about that by this point. =)"
I looked up from the tablet to remind myself that yes, we were in space already, then quickly looked back down.
I was incredibly nervous, and I couldn't pin down the exact reasons why. But clearly being in space was one contributor. Maybe it was for the best that aliens were lame, I thought, because it seemed impossible for me to get used to this.
The ship was plenty comfortable, all things considered. There was breathable air, regular gravity, soft sofas like we had at home... but something just felt off, and I couldn't feel as safe as I did at home, even with Hazel's many guarantees.
She was aware of this, of course, and tried to take my mind off the suffocating vacuum of space for which no amount of separating steel would be enough. She shook my shoulder and pointed out one of the windows.
I walked over. Not too far from the ship, I could see strange white creatures with long ears slowly propelling themselves through the cosmos, leaving some kind of trail behind them.
"What are they called?", I signed to Hazel.
She wrote on her tablet and showed it to me. "Spacedust bunnies!"
My palm met my face. "Of course they have a human-oriented pun name," I mumbled to myself.
"Look," she explained upon seeing my disgust, "they're just bunnies in space. They didn't make up the name."
The name wasn't the only problem I had with it, of course. I groaned and went back to sit down.
Hazel came over to me with a blanket not long after. "What for?", I asked.
"You should probably get some rest."
I took the blanket and laid it over myself, but just as Hazel turned away, a sudden realization made me freeze up.
"Where... are we going?", I squeaked aloud.
Somehow, I hadn't even thought to ask. But if it was far enough that Hazel recommended I go to sleep... that was cause for concern, I felt. I hurriedly pushed the blanket aside and went to sign the question to Hazel.
I found her at the ship's controls. I didn't know anything about how to pilot one of these things, but as far as I could tell, she was sort of... casually leaning on them so as to steer us left.
I was startled by a surprisingly loud feminine voice from a place I couldn't identify. "Captain, please stop casually leaning on the controls."
That didn't stop Hazel, of course, so I tapped her shoulder. She turned to me, but seemed to guess my question and made sort of a dismissive gesture.
I thought about it and realized, if she really had full control of the ship from those, it seemed to me that our course should be getting drastically changed leftward. But it didn't seem to be.
The booming voice spoke again. "Captain, please stop trying to steer left. It's not working."
I sighed, and wondered if the people who made this ship had the deaf in mind at all. It seemed an especially weird oversight considering Hazel's rank.
But at any rate, since the computer seemed to be taking the ship on a set course, everything appeared to be fine, even if I was unsure what Hazel was doing exactly.
At least until red sirens started flashing.
"Captain, you are clearly incompetent or dead," the computer voice boomed. "The crew is encouraged to replace their captain with a less braindead one."
Hazel looked up with what seemed like mild annoyance, whereas I was now freaking out. I shook Hazel's shoulders - harder than intended, since I was shaking so much myself.
"This is perfectly normal," she signed, before slamming a hammer I hadn't noticed her carrying onto a nearby console and sending sparks flying.
"That's not normal!!", I screamed.
I felt the ship lurch - and I think I was lucky to pass out right then.
I woke up lying on one of the sofas, with Hazel's arms and a blanket around me. As I staggered to my feet, she gave me a smile and a thumbs up.
I stumbled over to my tablet, trying to get my head in order. I tried to think about what I should say to Hazel - "what the hell are you doing?" was floating around the top of my mental list.
But as I sat down, I must have woken up a bit more, because I felt overwhelmed by space again. Nothing was really different from earlier, per se.
Yet after the noise and chaos which I could only imagine continued after I passed out, the deathly silence was particularly unsettling.
When I did finally open the app, I found Hazel had left some messages already.
"Two things: First of all, I'm very sorry. =( Things didn't go exactly as planned. But it's all okay now, so I hope you can forgive that mishap. =)"
"The second thing is that I really mean it - we'll be okay. I can get us back home anytime you want; now, even. But also, we have supplies to last for months. So we're safe to explore for a good while."
I stared at the word "explore." I was so rattled, I'd actually thought it said "explode" at first, but luckily Hazel wrote very neatly and I second-guessed myself first.
I supposed it made sense. I didn't know a lot about Hazel's job, but she was supposed to be some kind of space explorer. Although I questioned how "safe" her job status would be with this kind of behavior.
I tried to calm myself and lifted the stylus. "Was breaking the computer really necessary?"
"Yeah, actually. =| It wouldn't let me steer off-course."
"Why did you need to go off-course?!"
"Because the course was set for somewhere you probably would've found boring. =( I was going for a surprise, but it got messier than intended. I promise it won't happen again."
"Are you sure you won't be fired for this?"
Hazel didn't seem to think that was worth answering, just making a slight chuckle in response.
Even though the ship was being kept at a reasonable temperature, I shivered and held the blanket around me tightly.
"All right, Hazel, I'll go with this," I wrote. "But as you can probably tell, I'm still more than a little afraid."
Hazel wrote out a message, then hugged me right as she sent it. I looked down at the screen mid-hug.
"Afraid is the last thing you should be. =) I know what I'm doing."
Hazel told me I hadn't been out for long, so her recommendation to get some proper sleep still applied to both of us. That was easier said than done, however.
To be honest, I was rarely good at getting myself to sleep, period. Even in my own home, some nights felt downright oppressive, and out in uncharted space the feeling was greatly amplified.
The sheer silence in particular was bothering me. So I decided to talk to myself, figuring it wouldn't wake Hazel.
"It's weird how silence is relative," I said to the ceiling. "It doesn't mean nothing's there, or even that nothing's making a sound."
"And space is... very silent, of course. But I always knew there was something else out here. ...Even if I was disappointed in what it was."
I turned slightly toward Hazel. "Still, you never know what else there might be, right? I'm glad you believe that too."
"...Of course I trust that you know what you're doing. But I'll just have to hope - or wish, if that's what it takes - that we can find what I'm looking for out here."
After I said that, Hazel seemed to softly smile. I wondered if I might be bothering her after all, and decided to stop talking and try to get to sleep.
It went surprisingly easily - because somehow, I was feeling better already.
I heard the sound of my tablet vibrating as I woke. I had no idea what time it was. Not the time at home, nor what time it was "supposed" to be according to the ship's lighting. So that felt weird.
I checked for messages.
"Rise and shine! =D We found a new planet, so I sent a probe to fly over the surface."
You can just "send probes"? That seemed... wasteful, I guess. Aren't those supposed to be expensive?
It made me wonder where this "vacation" was in the grand scheme of things. Finding a new planet in some distant section of space Hazel wasn't even supposed to steer into...
Goddess, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was actually really exciting.
I looked around for Hazel and saw her at a console. She was watching a screen, which showed -
I saw it right away. It was... it was...
I didn't even know what to call it. And I loved that.
It was nothing like any animal we knew of back home, humans included, and it was far from being any combination of them either. To most, it would seem more like a disgusting pile of goop than a living creature, but I knew better.
"What do we know about this creature?", I clumsily tried to sign to Hazel - actually, I just pointed to the screen to express the latter part.
"Absolutely nothing," Hazel replied, smiling.
So it was a completely unexplained alien species, and we were likely the first of any other race to see it. This was almost too much for me to handle, but this time in a good way. I hadn't been particularly mad at Hazel, but this would have completely made up for it.
As my mind slowly caught up to accepting that this was really happening, I reached for my tablet. "What do we even do first?!"
"I'd like to leave as much of that up to you as possible. =)"
That had me feeling overwhelmed again. "What if I accidentally do something stupid?"
"...Well, I reserve the right to talk you out of anything that seems like a bad idea. But hey, we both know you're not stupid."
I thought about the possibilities, although I was limited by my lack of knowledge regarding what was feasible. I threw out many ideas simply because I didn't want to suggest them and get an embarrassing - if surely very kind - explanation from Hazel about how nonsensical they were.
I felt the vibration again. "Maybe you could come up with a name?", Hazel proposed.
I stared at the creature on the screen again for a while, but just shook my head. "That doesn't feel right," I wrote. "I can't just make up a name for her whole species after mere minutes thinking about it."
Hazel looked surprised, and I noticed she hesitated for a second. Then she just wrote "Well, take your time. =)"
I wasn't sure what that was about. And I didn't feel like all the time in the world would give me the right to name an alien species, so I assumed she meant to take my time in deciding what to do in general.
But eventually I just gave up. "You've encountered new species before in your job, right? What do you do then?"
Hazel's face lit up, and she quickly tapped on her tablet. Moments later, she spun it around toward me, holding it between her palms with a wide smile like she was posing for an ad. The screen read:
"My First First Contact: A Guide for the Rookie Explorer"
Since I was useless at coming up with my own way, we decided to do things by the book. Specifically, this was the very guide the Xynniax used for us; though maybe it had gotten some human contributions since then, I wasn't sure.
While Hazel had the book open on her tablet, we wrote messages on mine and passed it back and forth, much like how we conversed before I came up with the app.
""Step 1: Establish that you mean no harm." <- Excuse me?"
"You don't mean any harm, do you, Ver? =)"
"No, but... how?"
"Xynniax Universal Translator. Give me a sec."
She switched programs. "Okay, say something in some other language."
"I don't know any other languages."
"You shouldn't admit that, you're a programmer! ;)"
I looked up at her with a glare, and she giggled to herself... so I could forgive it. "Yeah, yeah. I meant natural languages."
"Then just say something to be translated into Xynnian." She fiddled with the settings on the program.
"...Something," I said, covering my mouth in a fake yawn so Hazel wouldn't know I had made that lame joke. The tablet then spoke in that alien language I'd heard from time to time - like everything else, I always felt it sounded too much like one of ours.
"I don't know if that was accurate, but whatever, I'll assume it worked. Still, how does this help"
As I was writing, Hazel quickly reached over for the tablet, so I stopped writing and handed it to her.
She handed it back. "I just realized! You do know another language, liar! =) Say something in sign language."
I looked her in the eyes, but she didn't break out into laughter or anything to suggest it was a joke. I signed "Are you serious?" in the general direction of Hazel's tablet, then moments later heard it repeated aloud by... some generic, androgynous voice.
"Whose voice even is that?", I asked. Hazel shrugged, then I realized I was asking the wrong person and blushed with embarrassment.
"I guess that is kind of impressive," I wrote, "but how can we possibly expect it to know a totally new language?"
"We can always try. It has a pretty good track record."
I was honestly hoping it didn't work, though. If it did, what I was hoping would be an exciting journey of discovery could turn out to just add more onto the pile of childhood dreams crushed by irrational happenstance.
But it was also a quandary. Now that I was thinking about it, basic communication could be troublesome to establish, so having it from the outset could make the rest so much easier and less prone to misunderstandings.
So... I wasn't sure what I wanted. It might be nice if the translator worked, but at the same time...
I looked up and noticed Hazel had picked up her tablet, and was typing something on it. Then she put it down and wrote on mine.
"I just broadcast a peaceful message. Let's wait and see if they respond."
I stifled a laugh at that. "Now you're just being presumptuous," I wrote. "There is no possible way they have the same kinds of communication protocols."
Hazel looked at the message and decided not to reply. Then I thought about it. Communication protocols... Maybe I could check.
"Is this configured to broadcast to the planet now?", I asked.
She nodded.
"Ping," I said aloud.
Moments later, there was a chime. "472 ms," the androgynous voice said.
Oh, come on, I thought.
"Hello! ;'p; Are you flapping meat in your mouth?"
I stared at the first message from the aliens, then shook my head.
"This thing's broken," I wrote.
Hazel shook her head vigorously. "It's working fine! I think that's an emoticon. =) And maybe it doesn't know certain idioms?"
"Idioms are a part of language too! You can't have a "universal translator" that just ignores them! What would this one even mean?"
Hazel sighed a bit, as if she had wanted me to figure that out myself, then wrote her theory. "They're probably asking if you're fluent in their language."
It seemed more probable than literally asking if that was how we spoke - how would they know? But on the other hand... "If that's an idiom, does that imply they speak in a similar way to us, with a single mouth? ...By flapping meat?"
"Never mind that, at least for now. I think this proves the translator works well enough."
I shrugged, not entirely convinced of that myself yet. "...So what's next, then?"
"Well, answer the question, obviously. =) But after that, step two in the guide is "request to talk to their leader.""
"Of course it is," I muttered.
The conversation went on, and the translator seemed to hold up surprisingly well. There was no reason to believe theirs was an existing language already known and supported, so I really didn't understand how it was working. But it was something I was willing to accept.
The particular alien who got the message turned out to be something of a tinkerer whose main hobby was building... well, things that picked up our broadcast, obviously.
While they wouldn't admit it, it seemed they were also somewhat of an outcast, and was one of rather few who believed there were other lifeforms out there.
So... I made an alien's day, I guess. Not a bad start.
Before we could bring the conversation to the leader question, they asked us something else.
"You're in a ship above the planet, right? Could you come down here so I can see you? ;'O;"
I looked toward Hazel, the look in my eyes implicitly asking "Can we?"
"Do you want to?", she asked.
I thought about it. It hadn't been lost on me that we had found someone so much like me out here. Granted, a younger, more hopeful version of me, but the point still stood. I couldn't deny that I wanted to meet them a little.
But I wrote to Hazel: "Maybe later, if we can actually survive down there. I think talking to their leader is more pressing right now."
Once I'd written that, I typed out the next message to the alien. "I'm not sure yet, but I'll try. Until then, do you have some sort of leader I could talk to?"
The reply came slower than usual, because it was a long one.
"You mean Princess Zalastra?! O';OOO;; I'd never be able to get anywhere near her, in any sense, ever! Her outfits are just too pretty!"
The message went on and on about how regal and beautiful the princess was and how the alien thought themselves a loser who could never get in contact with her - but I sunk deeper into resignation the further I got.
They had a "princess." Even way out here, with aliens who used emoticons like... like that, there was still that notion of "female." And just like all the other aliens, I could only assume it was paired with "male."
It. Didn't. Make. Sense.
Something had to be going on here.
The very end of the message stuck out at me, though.
"...But I'll try for you, because you're my friend! =) (That's how you do it, right?)"
I started writing to Hazel. "1. Why do they have a princess? 2. Did you teach them that in your first message?"
I handed the tablet to her, then got it back. Under the first question, it looked like she started writing something, then crossed it out and wrote "Why not?" Under the second, she just wrote "=)".
That didn't help at all. I was confused and conflicted by all of this, and if even Hazel didn't have the answers...
I just wanted to go home. So that's what I told Hazel.
She nodded, sent a final message to the alien, and closed the translator. Then she sent me a message:
"I'll explain everything when we get back. It's about time I do."
"So what do you think it is, Hazel?"
It was a night nearly two decades ago. Hazel had invited me over to her house to play. Unfortunately for her, something else was occupying my mind that day, so I wouldn't shut up about it.
Scientists had spotted some kind of space junk slowly approaching the planet. "Space junk" was all they called it, and the approach wasn't even a dangerous one - it was hardly news. But it was to me.
"The last couple times this happened, they said it turned out to just be a bunch of rocks. But I bet those "rocks" were really some alien's trash! If this one turns out to be a probe, then they'll see!"
I handed the notebook to Hazel, but she just looked at my message and smiled at me. I pushed her to answer my question, but soon gave up on it and laid back down on the grass.
Since I was so convinced the junk was an alien probe or something of that nature, I felt I had to watch the stars to keep a lookout, as they'd surely arrive any minute now.
All of a sudden, though, it struck me that Hazel probably didn't care. She didn't seem to have any opinion on the matter.
I sighed, sat up, and picked up the notebook. I decided I'd explain myself to Hazel; we were already getting to be very close friends, and I wanted to make sure she understood.
"Okay, I know it's not very likely. Maybe it'll just be junk like all the others were. If aliens haven't come here yet, there's basically zero chance they ever will. Which probably means they don't exist at all."
"But what else can I do but believe? Sometimes I just feel like there's no place for me here. There needs to be something different out there. There has to be a place where"
As I went on writing, I felt an increasing urge to cross it all out. I also couldn't decide whether to write "where I belong," or "where we belong."
Before I could make up my mind to do any of that, Hazel quickly sat up and grabbed the notebook.
"I saw a shooting star!", she wrote. "Did you make a wish?"
Ugh, I thought - just when I hadn't been looking.
But then I realized the more important thing: that Hazel had seen what I'd written. I blushed, but tried to hide it and act like I didn't realize.
"Yeah, I kind of did," I wrote. "I hope it counts."
"I'm sure it does. =)"
We made it safely home, and were once again looking up at the stars.
I wasn't sure what this conversation was going to be about. I tried to get a least a little bit more info out of Hazel on the way back, but she wanted to save it for a full, proper explanation.
It had, apparently, been one in the making through all our years of friendship and marriage. So I could stand to wait a little longer, she said.
I was snapped out of thought by Hazel's first message since we got home. I sat up and read.
"You remember making that wish all those years ago, right? How you wanted it to be an alien probe? ...Well, so did I, if only because I knew it would make you so happy. I believed it with all my heart. And to our surprise, it turned out to be true."
"Yeah," I wrote, reminiscing. "Too bad the aliens were such a disappointment, though."
"I'll get to that later. But I think I can say with certainty, after all this time, that I made that wish come true."
I gave Hazel a puzzled look, and she just kept writing. "You told me yourself that a) you had expected the same thing on previous occasions and been met with disappointment, and b) you found it unlikely your hopes were reasonable."
"But that time, you told me about your wish. And that time it came true. (And there was, in fact, no shooting star - sorry.) I saw the connection there, and I've been confirming it ever since."
Hazel gave me a pause to take this in, though then added, "Not to imply our relationship was founded on that. You're a wonderful woman in any case. =)"
I wanted to be sure I was reading this right. "So you're saying you can grant my wishes by... what, believing they're actually true?"
"Yes, essentially. Neat, huh? =)"
Kind of an understatement, Hazel.
"There's certainly something special about the two of us, though I don't believe it's limited to us. It's everywhere if you know where to look, all the way back to our world's creation."
"...You mean the story of the Goddess? How so?"
"Well, let's start with us. We'll call you the "starter," since you make the wishes. And I'm the "ender," because I confirm them."
She illustrated this with little doodles of our heads and an arrow from me to her; wholly unnecessary, but undeniably cute.
"From what we know about the Goddess, she was the only survivor of a world she herself ended. ...That makes her both."
She again illustrated this, with the arrow both coming from and pointing back to the Goddess. Not sure what her depiction of the Goddess was based on, though.
"As such, the Goddess could simply grant her own wishes. That was how she made our world. But then she let the world create itself."
Hazel seemed to pick up on the fact that I was completely lost on that last part.
"Never mind. I'll stick to more relatable examples. =) You were disappointed by the exact results of your granted wish. I think this is because your wish, like most wishes, was too vague."
"You thought you would be happy with any aliens, right? Thus, while your wish was granted, all the details were left ambiguous. The ones who shaped that ambiguity... were the first humans to come into contact with them, or so I believe."
I stared in shock at the message. "You're telling me all those aliens are so humanlike because humans expected them to be that way and the universe said yes?"
I sighed. "Well. That explains too damn much. Isn't that kind of like quantum mechanics, then? Not determined until it's observed or whatever?"
"...If you want to think of it that way. But be aware you seem to have, to some extent, reality-shaping powers. So be careful with ideas like that. =)"
It was starting to make a surprising amount of sense for something that had baffled me for years and years. I wondered how long Hazel had kept this to herself.
"Why did you never tell me about all this before?"
"Looking back on it now, I probably should have. But I was determined to use my knowledge to make your dreams come true... not fully realizing how you might have changed."
"You said you wanted to find something new and exciting out there. And I figured, if we had made aliens exist once, we could do it again."
"Yet getting to know you over the years since, I came to realize you appreciated comfort and familiarity. It seemed contradictory that your deepest desire would be for something totally alien."
"But when the opportunity for this trip came up... I just wanted to see if it would work. So I took you out there to see what you really wanted, unfortunately ignoring your boundaries in the process. ...Though I'm not sure what to make of the results."
I'd been thinking deeply as I watched Hazel's messages come in, and finally I had a reply. "I wasn't wishing for "anything but this," necessarily - I was wishing for "somewhere to belong." And that's something I already found in you."
Hazel smiled, put down her tablet, and hugged me.
I wasn't done writing, though.
"But you know, as much as it freaks me out that we apparently wield the very power of creation? We already drastically changed the course of human history by creating aliens."
Hazel picked up my stylus and added, "And those ones sucked. =)"
"Then today, we literally made a friend."
Hazel gave a thumbs up.
"So I'm starting to see the value out there," I wrote. "It's a big universe. We'll have lots of planets to vacation to."
She looked at me, and I knew what she was thinking: "I thought you didn't like any of those?"
I shook my head with a grin. "Not those, Hazel. I'm talking about the ones we're going to make."
Story List
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Magma Cavern Pit
PMD BRT Walkthrough - Magma Cavern Pit walkthrough, Pokemon list, hints and guide.
• Take stairs leading down to B2F. Meet Charizard and Tyranitar.
• Proceed to B3F. Meet Alakazam and watch an ensuing scene.
• Defeat the Boss, Groudon. First have your partner Pokemon attack Groudon while you throw Gravelrocks toward Groudon. By throwing a Gravelrock, you can inflict 20 damages to Groudon. When your partner Pokemon's HP gets low, throw Oran Berry to it. If you have no Oran Berries left, order "Get Away" via Tactics so that your partner can evade. Then it's time for you to attack Groudon by yourself and defeat it.
• After defeating the boss, return to Pokemon Square.
Pokemon List
Species of Pokemon you encounter in Magma Cavern Pit.
Pokemon Type
Onix Rock/Ground
Steelix Steel/Ground
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From Wikipedia, de free encycwopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Ishq (Arabic: عشق, ‘išq) is an Arabic word meaning "wove" or "passion",[1] awso widewy used in oder wanguages of de Muswim worwd.
The word ishq does not appear in de Quran, which instead uses derivatives of de verbaw root habba (حَبَّ), such as de noun hubb (حُبّ). The word is traditionawwy derived from de verbaw root ʿašaq "to stick, to cweave to" and connected to de noun ʿašaqah, which denotes a kind of ivy.[2] In its most common cwassicaw interpretation, ishq refers to de irresistibwe desire to obtain possession of de bewoved (ma‘shuq), expressing a deficiency dat de wover (‘āshiq) must remedy in order to reach perfection (kamāw).[1] Like de perfections of de souw and de body, wove dus admits of hierarchicaw degrees, but its underwying reawity is de aspiration to de beauty (aw-husn) which God manifested in de worwd when he created Adam in his own image.[1] Iswamic conception of wove acqwired furder dimensions from de Greek-infwuenced view dat de notions of Beauty, Good, and Truf (aw-haqq) "go back to one indissowubwe Unity (wahda)".[1]
Among cwassicaw Muswim audors, de notion of wove was devewoped awong dree conceptuaw wines, conceived in an accending hierarchicaw order: naturaw wove, intewwectuaw wove and divine wove.[1] The growf of affection (mawadda) into passionate wove (ishq) received its most probing and reawistic anawysis in The Ring of de Dove by de Andawusian schowar Ibn Hazm.[1] The term ishq is used extensivewy in Sufi poetry and witerature to describe deir sewfwess and 'burning wove for Awwah'. It is de core concept in de doctrine of Iswamic mysticism as it is de key to de connection between man and God. Ishq itsewf is hewd to have been de basis of 'creation'.[3]
Traditionaw Persian wexicographers considered de Persian ešq and Arabic ʿišq (عشق) to derive from de Arabic verbaw root ʿašaq (عَشَق) "to stick, to cweave to". They connected de origin of de root to ʿašaqa (عَشَقَه), a kind of ivy, because it twines around and cweaves to trees (Zamaxšari, Tâj aw-'arus).[2]
Heydari-Mawayeri suggests dat (ʿišq) may have an Indo-European origin and may be rewated to Avestan words such as iš- "to wish, desire, search", and uwtimatewy derive from *iška. The Avestan iš- awso exists in Middwe Persian in de form of išt "desire".[2]
As a word in different wanguages[edit]
In de most wanguages such as Dari: eshq; in Pashto: eshq; in Somawi: caashaq or cishqi; in Turkish: aşk and in Azerbaijani: eşq, in modern Persian as ešq or eshgh عشق, it witerawwy means "wove".[2]
Some schowars objected to de use of de term 'ishq' due to its association wif sensuaw wove but despite de winguistic, cuwturaw or technicaw meanings, Sufis bewieve dat 'ishq' can onwy be associated to de Divine.[4]
The word ishq referred to traditionaw ghazaws and Indo-Persian witerary cuwture[5] and has made its way to many oder wanguages which were infwuenced by Sufism. Some of de most notabwe wanguages which have dis word are Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Arabic, Sindhi, Saraiki: عشق, Turkish: aşk, Azerbaijani: eşq, Bengawi: ইশক and Punjabi: ਇਸ਼ਕ.
In Persian, Ishq construed wif de verbs "bākhtan باختن", "khāstan خواستن", "sanjīdan سنجیدن", "rūīdan روییدن", "nishīndan نشاندن", etc.[6] In Persian, "Āshiq عاشق" is de active participwe (wover), "Mā'shūq معشوق" is de passive participwe (bewoved), and "Mā'shūqah معشوقه" conveys a vuwgar meaning, whiwst in Arabic it is de femawe passive participwe of "Mā'shūq معشوق".
In Urdu, Ishq (عشق) is used to refer to fervent wove for any object, person or God. However, it is mostwy used in its rewigious context. In Urdu, dree very common rewigious terminowogies have been derived from Ishq. These terminowogies are Ishq-e-Haqīqi (wove of Truf), Ishq-e majāzi (wove of God's creation i.e. a human), and ishq-e rasūw / ishq-e Muhammadi (wove of de Messenger / wove of Muhammad). Oder dan dese, in non-rewigious context, ‘ishq is a synonym for obsessive wove.
In Turkish, Aşk is commonwy used to express wove, passion or adoration, uh-hah-hah-hah. The Turkish version repwaces de 'q' wif a 'k', as Turkish wacks voicewess uvuwar pwosive, and de wetter 'ş' wif de cediwwa denotes de "sh" sound, /ʃ/. In comparison wif Arabic or Urdu, (wike Persian) de word is wess restrictive and can be appwied to many forms of wove, or simpwy romance. It is common in de wyrics of Turkish songs.
Ishq is awso sometimes used in Hindi wanguage movies which often borrow more formaw, fwowery and poetic words and wanguage heaviwy from Urdu and Persian, uh-hah-hah-hah. The reguwar Hindi word for wove is pyar. In Bowwywood ʻIshq' (इश्क़) means wustwess wove.[7] In Arabic, it is a noun, uh-hah-hah-hah. However, in Urdu it is used as bof verb and noun, uh-hah-hah-hah.
In Modern Arabic de usuaw terms used for romantic wove are habba and its derived forms hubb, habib, mahbub, etc.[8]
In Sufism[edit]
In rewigious context, Ishq, divided into dree kinds, is a very important but rader compwex concept of Sufi tradition of Iswam.
Ishq-e Majāzi[edit]
Ishq-e Majāzi (Persian: عشق مجازی) witerawwy means "metaphoricaw wove". It refers to de wove for God's creation i.e. wove of a man for a woman or anoder man and vice versa. It is said to be generated by bewoved person's externaw beauty but since it is connected to wust, it is against de waw and considered unwawfuw. Hence, in Faqr, de term Ishq-e-Majazi is directed onwy towards Ishq-e-Murshid.[9] This wove for one's Murshid eventuawwy weads to wove for Muhammad and eventuawwy for God, upon which one dat understands Ishq-e-Haqeeqi is in fact de source of aww 'metaphoricaw wove'.
Ishq-e Rasūw or Ishq-e Muhammadi[edit]
Ishq-e Rasūw (Persian: عشق رسول) means "wove of Muhammad," an important part of being a Muswim. In Sufism, however, de Ishq-e-Majazi changes its form to Ishq-e-Rasoow and de intense feewing of Ihsq is devewoped for Muhammad. Everyding form of creation which exists is in fact de swave of de Creator. Since Muhammad is de most bewoved to Awwah, de true Lover feews Ishq-e-Rasoow tiww "de Prophet becomes dearer to him dan his wife, wives, chiwdren, house, business and everyding ewse". (Sahih Bukhari and Muswim)[10]
Sufis firmwy bewieve dat de souws of de entire creation were created from de souw of Muhammad. Hence, de purified souw of de Lover craves to return to him. This is experienced at de wevew where de Lover witness de refwection of aww de attributes of God widin Muhammad.
Ishq-e Haqeeqi[edit]
Ishq-e Haqīqi (Persian: عشق حقیقی) witerawwy means "de reaw wove" i.e. "de wove of God". It refers to de bewief dat onwy God is worf woving and He is de onwy one who can return His creature's wove for Him.[11] The inner subtwety whose wocus is de heart is onwy fewt by de true seeker of God oderwise dere is no difference between a beast and a man because even a beast has five senses whereas de sixf i.e. de inner sight is onwy additionaw to de human, uh-hah-hah-hah.
"And dose who truwy bewieve, wove Awwah intensewy."[12] (Aw-Bakra 165)
See awso[edit]
1. ^ a b c d e f Arkoun, M. (1997). "ʿIs̲h̲ḳ". In P. Bearman, Th. Bianqwis, C.E. Bosworf, E. van Donzew, W.P. Heinrichs. Encycwopaedia of Iswam. 4 (2nd ed.). Briww. p. 119.
2. ^ a b c d M. Heydari-Mawayeri On de origin of de word ešq
3. ^ Mohammad Najib ur Rehman, Hazrat Sakhi Suwtan, uh-hah-hah-hah. Day of Awast-The start of creation. Suwtan uw Faqr Pubwications Regd. ISBN 9789699795084.
4. ^ Ghazzawi, Aaron Spevack, Feduwwah Güwen, uh-hah-hah-hah. Ghazawi on de Principwes of Iswamic Spirituawity: Sewections from de Forty Foundations of Rewigion Annotated & Expwained. SkyLight Pads Pubwishing. ISBN 9781594732843.
5. ^ Ghazaw Notes: Ishq
6. ^ STEINGAS, Francis Joseph. A Comprehensive Persian-Engwish Dictionary, عشق, Asian Educationaw Services, 1992, page 850.
7. ^ Ghazaw Notes: Ishq
8. ^ M. Heydari-Mawayeri On de origin of de word ešq
9. ^ Mohammad Najib ur Rehman, Hazrat Sakhi Suwtan, uh-hah-hah-hah. Ishq-e-Majazi (Metaphoricaw Love). Suwtan uw Faqr Pubwications Regd. ISBN 9789699795183.
10. ^ Muswim, Bukhari. "Hadif of Hazrat Mohammad pbuh".
11. ^ Mohammad Najib ur Rehman, Hazrat Sakhi Suwtan, uh-hah-hah-hah. Ishq-e-Haqeeqi (Divine Love). Suwtan uw Faqr Pubwications Regd. ISBN 9789699795183.
12. ^ 7 Renowned Transwations, Arabic to Engwish Transwation, uh-hah-hah-hah. "Aw Baqarah (The Cow) 165".
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How to Send Emails That Gmail Users Won’t Block
In September, Gmail added a “block sender” feature to their web interface and mobile app. Now, when you get an email from a sender you’re not comfortable with, you’ve got options. Instead of marking the email as spam, unsubscribing, or manually setting up a filter to remove it from your inbox, you can block that sender from your inbox with one click.
This is great news if you love to keep your own inbox tidy. But what does it mean for you as an email marketer? I’m here from MailChimp’s deliverability team to help you out.
When you click “block sender” in Gmail, a filter is created that sends all future emails from the sender’s address directly to your spam folder. Just like with other filtered messages, the sender is not directly notified. The tab heading in Gmail’s settings menu has changed from just “Filters” to “Filters and Blocked Addresses,” which associates these 2 actions together.
But just because “block sender” is separate from Gmail’s “report spam” feature doesn’t mean it affects a sender’s reputation any less. In fact, since clicking “block sender” means that a sender’s messages will now automatically go to spam, we can expect that a sender’s Gmail reputation will get worse the more they’re blocked by recipients. Marking something as spam in your inbox feeds into Gmail’s global spam-filtering algorithms for other users, and Gmail weighs user-reported spam heaviest when filtering spam.
So, how can you prevent your subscribers from clicking “block sender” on your campaigns? Start by thinking about why someone would use the block feature in the first place. Maybe they don’t trust a sender’s opt-out process, or maybe they don’t trust the sender anymore because the content isn’t what they expected. Maybe they’re overwhelmed by the number of emails they receive from a single sender. Maybe they don’t remember who the sender is or where they signed up for the emails in the first place.
You can avoid causing subscribers this kind of confusion by following some basic email marketing best practices. In other words, check yourself before you wreck yourself:
• Before every send, ask yourself if your subscribers know who you are and if they expect this specific kind of content from you.
• Pay attention to your unsubscribes to make sure your subscribers aren’t accidentally receiving multiple emails from you.
• Frequently prune unengaged subscribers to avoid sending to people who have blocked (or might start blocking) your campaigns.
• Include an “update profile” option in your campaigns so subscribers can select how often they’d like to hear from you
This new “block sender” feature might seem like a bad thing for email marketers, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, if it gets you to be more deliberate in putting together your campaigns and managing your lists, it may even lead to better emails and better subscriber engagement overall. And with the holidays quickly approaching, now’s the perfect time to reevaluate what you’re sending and check your list (twice).
[Originally posted here, but due to MailChimp’s rebranding in October 2018, the MailChimp blog was removed.]
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Fairy Dream Blasters - Production Update #3
Guess what? new characters from the "Fairy Dream Blasters" development process are now revealed!:
Captain Comet AKA "RainbowShine"
RainbowShine is a graceful creature. He's everything a Fairy should be. He's brave, he's chivalrous, he's courageous, but most importantly- he's FABULOUS! Appearance and aesthetics are very important to RainbowShine. He'll never go on a mission without looking his best. Unlike the rest of his crew, he's not cynical or bitter and he can't wait to jump into action. He's probably the most capable warrior, and the only crew member that actually cares about performing his duty.
Sunny AKA "Supernova"
One would expect the only female Fairy of the group to be sweet and full of grace. But Sunny, codename "Supernova" is quite the opposite of that. She's crude, rude, has no interest in personal hygiene. Extremely unpleasant for a so called "graceful" magical being, she's proud of her sloppy demeanor. She's the scientist of the group, the brain, the idea person, the genius (a rather smelly genius unfortunately). She's resourceful and knows the solution to just about every problem. Too bad she's so jaded and unmotivated that she prefers to express her inner (and outer) couch potato by watching TV all day and eating marshmallow nachos. Work is such a drag!
Expect more info about our upcoming "Fairy Dream Blasters" short soon!
All "Fairy Dream Blasters" is designed by 10 Forward's Jose Hernandez
To check out the previous Fairy Dream Blasters production updates:
Fairy Dream Blasters production blog update #1
Fairy Dream Blasters production blog update #2
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Day 1: Garden Route
Depart for the historic town of Stellenbosch for wine tasting and a tour. After lunch in Franschhoeck continue via Grabouw and Elgin to the coastal haven of Kleinmond.
Overnight: Beach House or similar.
Day 2: Garden Route
Depart for Swellendam, and then over the Tradouw pass to Oudtshoorn. Lunch at an Ostrich Farm and then visit the Crocodile Farm.
Overnight: Eight Bells Mountain Inn.
Day 3: Garden Route
Drive to George and board the Outeniqua Choo-tjoe stream train to Knysna. After lunch continue via primaeval forests to Plettenberg Bay.
Overnight: Crescent country House.
Day 4: Port Elizabeth
Travel via the Tsitsikamma forest, with lunch at the coastal park and then on to Part Elizabeth for a brief city tour before arriving at the airport at approximately 6.00pm.
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Migraine – Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
Migraine is a headache that causes a throbbing sensation on one side of the head. Headaches that are felt during migraines also vary, often accompanied by nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.
Migraine is an intense headache, sometimes weakening a person’s physical condition. The most common types of migraines are those who have aura (classic migraine) and migraine without aura (general migraine).
Migraine can be started in childhood or it may not occur until early adulthood. Women are three times more likely to experience migraines than men. Family history is one of the most common risk factors for migraines.
Causes of Migraine
What causes migraines? Researchers have not identified the exact cause for migraines. However, researchers have found several factors that can trigger this condition. This includes changes in brain chemistry, such as decreased serotonin levels.
The factors that can trigger migraines include:
• Bright light
• Extreme weather such as very hot or very cold
• Changes in air pressure
• Drink alcohol or caffeinated drinks
• Foods such as cheese, salty foods, or processed foods
• Eating additional foods, such as aspartame (artificial sugar) or monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Eat foods that have tyramine additives, which are found in soy products, fava beans, hard sausages, smoked fish, cheese, and Chianti wine
• Excessive stress
• Loud noise
• Physical activity
• Eat late
• Lack of sleep
• Consumption of certain drugs, such as oral contraceptives or nitroglycerin
• Inhale unusual odors
If you have a migraine, your doctor may recommend making a journal that contains daily activities. The journal contains daily activities, what foods are eaten, and what drugs are consumed before migraines occur so that they can help identify triggers.
Symptoms of migraine
What are the symptoms and phases of migraine? Symptoms of migraine can begin 1-2 days before the headache itself. This is known as the stage of prodormal migraine. These symptoms include:
• Food cravings
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Yawning often
• Hyperactive
• Irritability
• Stiff neck
Some people may also experience aura after the prodromal stage. The aura can be visual disturbances such as seeing flashes of light, motor such as twitching in some parts of the body and speech disorders such as difficulty speaking clearly. Following are the forms of aura in migraine:
• Difficulty speaking clearly
• Feeling tingling in the arms and legs
• See flashes of light
• Seeing a form of shadow that doesn’t actually exist
• Temporary visual loss
The next stage is known as the attack phase. This is the most acute or severe phase when the actual migraine occurs. Symptoms of an attack phase can last from 4 hours to 3 days. Symptoms of migraine can vary from person to person. Some symptoms may include:
• Feel dizzy or faint
• Increased sensitivity to light and sound
• Nausea
• Gag
• Pain on one side of the head
After the attack phase, a person will experience a phase of postdrome. During this last phase, a person will often experience changes in mood and feelings, which can range from feeling happy and very happy, to feeling very tired and apathetic.
Migraine Risk and Complications
What are the risks associated with migraines? Migraine headaches can cause risks and complications, both from the headaches themselves and from medications given to help relieve migraine symptoms.
Sometimes migraine headaches can last a long time, occur anywhere from 3-15 days or more in a month. Because headaches affect the ability to think clearly, sufferers may experience difficulties at school or at work.
Consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as paracetamol in high doses or for a long period of time can cause erosion of the stomach wall and gastric bleeding. Taking drugs for more than 10 days a month for more than three months can cause excessive headaches.
Medications prescribed for migraine are drugs that stimulate serotonin increase. In the long run, consumption of this drug also results in a side effect known as serotonin syndrome. These medicines include:
• Duloxetine
• Fluoxetine
• Paroxetine
• Sertraline
• Sumatriptan
• Venlafaxine
• Zolmitriptan
Too much serotonin can cause hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, agitation, diarrhea, and a fast heartbeat. In some cases, this condition can be life threatening. As usual, make sure to take this medicine according to a doctor’s prescription.
Other steps you can take at home to reduce migraine pain include:
• Lie in a quiet place, dark room
• Massaging the scalp
• Place a cold cloth over the forehead or behind the neck
• Many prevention techniques, such as avoiding headaches if you really know what the trigger is
Treating Migraine
How to treat migraine? There is currently no single drug for migraine. Treatment is intended to prevent and reduce symptoms that occur.
Lifestyle changes that might help reduce migraine frequency include:
• Get enough sleep
• Reduce stress
• Drink lots of water
• Avoid certain foods
• Regular physical exercise
Some people also find that special diets can help, such as gluten-free.
Consider seeking further treatment if the changes above do not relieve symptoms or frequency of migraines. Treatment of migraine symptoms focuses on avoiding triggers, controlling symptoms, and taking medication.
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The Dead
The dead need no fancy materials
The dead need no embellished robes
The dead need nothing other than your memory to live on
They will live on until your memory fades
They will live on until the story ends
But it will never end, and those worth remembering are never forgotten.
The dead do not need flowers, do not need huge empty halls, do not need well made coffins.
We hold them with us in our memory, in our soul. And through that they live with us.
Cherish the present, don't dwell on the past. Don't worry too much about the future. You'll miss an opportunity in front of you if you blind yourself to times past and future.
RIP loved ones.
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Saturday, July 30, 2011
RAMBLINGS: Meet the amusing friend.
There's this friend of mine who amuses me till no end. Unintentionally. Sometimes, it annoys me but when I look back on it, I find it so funny. I used to have a massive crush on him because he looked like Benjamin Heng. But not anymore though. I think. Well, it's an on-off thing. He's really quite blur.
Here's how last night's MSN conversation went (Edited to cut the story short.).
Friend: Hey. You were wrong.
Friend: The school is kind. They added the modules for me.
Friend: Haha.
Me: What was I wrong about?
Friend: Hm.
Me: Lol.
Friend: You said they wouldn't.
Me: I did?
Friend: I think so.
Me: Lol. I'm pretty sure I didn't. I know the school is kind.
I know the school is kind because I emailed them to death about my Entrepreneurship class last semester. It clashed with one of my lectures but I was adamant about taking it. Back and forth, our emails went like ping pong balls and they gave it to me eventually. And I dropped it after like 3 days.
Haha. Anyway, it's amusing because he's really tall and doesn't look blur and he's older than me. But he's like... Haha. I don't know man. It's cute. Haha. I'm so amused.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
The Unfairness of God
Below is the message I shared at Good Shepherd on Sunday morning. I hope you are able to hear God speaking to you through it. One of the texts for the message is embedded in the message (Exodus 16), but I also used Matthew 20:1-16 - The parable of the workers in the vineyard. That passage can be found here
Our scripture passages this morning are not paired together by accident. They share a few common themes. Primary among them is that they both tell stories about complaining to God. The gospel passage comes in the form of a parable, but like many parables it isn’t that hard to imagine them playing out in real life.
In the gospel passage the workers that have been working the longest see that the master has given those that had only worked one hour a full day’s wages. The long time workers suddenly expect to be paid more than what they had agreed to. They are disappointed to receive the same wage as all the other workers.
The workers go as far as claiming that the master (God) is being unfair! Of course he is. But not to them, all the workers got exactly what they were promised, he is a good master. His unfairness comes from what he promised to the late-coming workers, giving them far more than they deserve.
What I think we need to understand about this parable is that none of us are those first workers. The ones there from the very beginning, the ones that worked all day through – remember these were 1st century workers, not 21st century ones, there was no lunch hour or 15 minute breaks. - Those ‘deserving’ workers had been there from the beginning with the master and had never stopped working during the day.
Can any of us really say that we fit into that category with our master and our God? I know that I can’t. So we must realize who we really are in this story – one of the undeserving workers (it doesn’t matter which ones) that are undeserving recipients of God’s grace.
When we start looking at and coveting the gifts and blessings that others around us receive, we run the risk of forgetting the blessings and gifts – all undeserved – that God has given us. The reminder from this parable for us this morning is to trust in the master that keeps his promise to all of us and offers us that which we do not deserve, and not to be so caught up in comparing our blessings or our level of ‘deservedness’ to others.
This morning’s other text, Exodus 16:2-15, deals with another problem and another case of God demonstrating his unfairness for our benefit. The Israelites are not comparing themselves to other people, but instead complaining about the situation they are in as a result of following God.
To get the whole story of the Israelites, I am also going to be reading selections from the rest of the chapter as well as doing a very quick summary of what has happened in the story so far – a sort of ‘previously on . . . .’ .
So the story so far:
Exodus 1:8 tells us that after the Israelites had lived in Egypt for some time in relative peace, "a new king [pharaoh] arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." That pharaoh oppressed the Israelites, and their cries for help reached the ears of God.
We read in Exodus 2:24-25, "God heard their groanings, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them." God called to Moses from the burning bush and sent him to demand that pharaoh allow the Israelites to leave Egypt.
A series of confrontations between Moses and pharaoh, in which God demonstrated his power over the Egyptian gods, culminated in the death of all the Egyptian first-born. Afterward, the Israelites left Egypt and began their journey to the land God had promised to their ancestors (Exodus 6:7-8).
No sooner had the people left Egypt, however, than they began to grumble against Moses and God. When they reached the shores of the Red Sea and saw that the Egyptian army was pursuing, they cried, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exodus 14:11). As we talked about last week, God intervened, allowing the Israelites to cross the Sea in safety. Exodus 15:1-21 records the people's joyous celebration of their miraculous deliverance.
Only three days later, the people were thirsty, having found only bitter water and they grumbled again, saying, "What shall we drink?" (Exodus 15:24). God provided fresh water and they continued on their journey. And here is where we pick up our reading for this morning:
1-3 On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company of Israel moved on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The Israelites said, "Why didn't God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You've brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!"
Did you catch where we are in the time line – the 15th day of the second month. 45 days into their escape from Egypt – even less time removed from their miraculous passage through the Red Sea. 45 days and already the Israelites are drowning in their sorrows. Less than two months removed from lives of captivity – lives of slavery so harsh and cruel that their children were being killed – and they are already looking back, across the sea to ‘better times’.
The Israelites are crying out "If only we had . . ." Words of regret in the present, of fear for the future. "If only . . ." they say again and again. But just a few short months ago, the Israelites cried out to God in their oppression under pharaoh. God sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead them out of their oppression. God guided them through the first perilous days of their journey to freedom.
God provided water when they felt they could go no further. At every juncture, God was there. According to Exodus 13:21-22, "The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day . . . and in a pillar of fire by night . . . Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." So, when God hears the people’s grumbling it would be very understandable, or we could say fair, for God to be upset, even angry at the Israelites lack of trust, lack of gratitude and lack of, well faith. But as we continue the reading listen to how God responds:
4-5 God said to Moses, "I'm going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day's ration. I'm going to test them to see if they'll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration."
Instead of greeting their complaints with anger, which would have been the expected and ‘fair’ response, God immediately states that he will continue to provide for every need that the Israelites will have – including the need for food.
But, God makes clear that there is a catch to this provision. The catch is played out in two almost contradictory ways: first, the Israelites must only take enough manna for that day – they must not store it or try to ‘stock up’ on it. Second, on Fridays they must collect and make enough to last through the next day’s Sabbath.
You see God was calling them to live by faith, trusting in him to continue to provide for them. We often tend to think of faith as an noun – it is almost like a possession, faith is something we ‘have’. But this is not the Hebrew understanding or usage of the word. For the Israelites faith was a verb, an action, something they did. And God was calling on them to act and live in faith. God was calling them to actively trust in his unfair provision for them– to live their faith in him every day.
And that is why every seventh day God commanded that humans stop, individually and as a community and put aside their daily chore of gathering bread, and marvel at God's care for them. In the wilderness, God forged a relationship with the people that called them to trust God to provide for their every need, not just for today, but for tomorrow as well. Continuing at v. 6
6-7 Moses and Aaron told the People of Israel, "This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, he's listened to your complaints against him. You haven't been complaining against us, you know, but against God." 8 Moses said, "Since it will be God who gives you meat for your meal in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, it's God who will have listened to your complaints against him. Who are we in all this? You haven't been complaining to us—you've been complaining to God!" 9 Moses instructed Aaron: "Tell the whole company of Israel: 'Come near to God. He's heard your complaints.'" 10 When Aaron gave out the instructions to the whole company of Israel, they turned to face the wilderness. And there it was: the Glory of God visible in the Cloud.
Moses has Aaron tell the people to ‘come near to God’ because from the very beginning what God wants, what God desires from the Israelites and from us is a relationship. The Glory of God that was ever present with them in the wilderness, a cloud in the daylight and a ball of fire at night. It was a constant visual reminder that God was, quite literally with them.
11-12 God spoke to Moses, "I've listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: 'At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you'll eat your fill of bread; and you'll realize that I am God, your God.'" 13-15 That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). They had no idea what it was. 15-16 So Moses told them, "It's the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God's instructions: 'Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent.'" 19 Moses said to them, "Don't leave any of it until morning." 20 But they didn't listen to Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It got wormy and smelled bad. 31 The Israelites named it manna (What is it?). It looked like coriander seed, whitish. And it tasted like a cracker with honey. 32 Moses said, "This is God's command: 'Keep a two-quart jar of it, an omer, for future generations so they can see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness after I brought you out of Egypt.'" 35 The Israelites ate the manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle down. They ate manna until they reached the border into Canaan.
The manna found in the desert was a gift to our ancestors in faith and it was a test. The gift was food for the journey; the test was of faith in God's promise of good provisions.
God providing the manna and the quail for the Israelites has always been the most interesting aspect of the story to me I have often wondered if there was any way to explain the miracle.
Well, I was quickly able to find a well documented natural phenomenon that occurs in the Sinai Peninsula (which, as it turns out is located between Egypt and ancient Israel). A type of plant lice punctures the fruit of the tamarisk tree and excretes a substance from this juice, a yellowish-white flake or ball. During the warmth of the day it disintegrates, but it congeals when it is cold. It has a sweet taste. Rich in carbohydrates and sugar, it is still gathered today and baked into a kind of bread (called mana). The food, though, decays very quickly and attracts ants and other insects.
As for the quail, apparently migratory birds flying in from Africa or blown in from the Mediterranean are fairly common and are often exhausted enough from their flight to be caught easily by hand.
So, you see. The Manna and the Quail were not really a response by God to the complaints of the Israelites. Rather they were part of God’s divine plan – from the very beginning – to care for and provide for the Israelites while they labored in the wilderness of the desert.
If you begin to take away the (quote, unquote) miraculous aspect of this story – God raining down bread and providing quail out of nowhere – the level of God’s provision actually increases and becomes more profound. In the setting up of the world, he made allowance to provide for His people as they struggled through the wilderness. At the beginning of time, during the formation of the world God was thinking of His people. God was thinking of the Israelites and God was thinking about you and me.
The kind of God that would do that – set up a naturally occurring source of sustenance for the Israelites from the beginning of time. That kind of God is not a reactionary God, only stepping into our lives or getting involved at the bleakest moments with a miraculous turn. No the God that would order the world to provide in this way – our God - is a God that is a presence in our daily lives and a God that desires a connection with us every day.
God doesn’t go about making a show, he has no interest or need with such things. Instead all that God does, whether obviously miraculous or seemingly ordinary is done because he loves us and is done with the purpose of showing that love and grace and bringing us into a relationship with God.
With a God like this – one that is so unfair to our benefit, giving us much more than we deserve - the only question that remains is – why would we doubt, why would we worry? Why would we ever lack trust in a God that not only knew that his beloved people would be hungry and thirsty in the desert, but a God that also was able to provide the food and water that was needed.
We are blessed to live in a world where we are surrounded by conveniences and products to meet ‘needs’ that we don’t even know we have – but yet we are still plagued by worry and doubt about so much. We wonder how we will get by in this new, more volatile economy. We wonder how we will continue to pay all the bills when we pay $4 a gallon for gas and the price of everything seems to be rapidly rising.
We wonder, and in our wondering we eventually find ourselves in the middle of the wilderness. A wilderness where we are filled with fear, where we doubt that we will be taken care of or that we will make it through this time of trial. We find ourselves standing in a desert, thirsty with no water in sight and hungry with nothing to eat.
God invites us into the wilderness and allows us to be there so that we can begin to understand his care for us. Too often in our world, surrounded by all that ‘we’ have made and that ‘we’ have provided we lose sight of God working in the everyday rhythms and patterns of life. And we begin to see only ourselves.
God invites us into the wilderness so that we can experience God’s love, care and providence. It is only in the wilderness of our lives, where our eyes are opened to the needs that we have, needs that we can’t fulfill on our own. It is in the wilderness that these needs are clearly separated from the passing ‘wants’ that change by the day and don’t really satisfy.
And just like it was for the Israelites it is in the wilderness that we can most easily and clearly see and feel God’s presence working in our lives and through all of creation.
The Israelites spent 40 years in the desert slowly learning the lesson of trust in God – They remained in the wilderness until they began to fully trust in God – a whole generation had to pass before that transition could be complete.
How long are we going to remain in the wilderness of not really trusting on God? Of wishing for anywhere but where God has placed us? Of not seeing God working in and through all of creation to care and provide for us?
Manna from God, in whatever form it takes in our daily lives, is God's promise to provide for us; it is God’s promise to give us more than we deserve and be unfair to our benefit; it is up to us to gather the manna during the days it is given and to trust in God that it will be there again tomorrow. God provides and cares for us always – but often we must go into the wilderness to see it.
1 comment:
1. it is estimated it would take 300 boxcars full of food to feed them in the wilderness. imagine that. plus the fact their shoes never wore out either.
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April 06, 2012
Geek of the Week: Meet Mason
What's your name?
Mason Miller
Ed. note: Mason's the coolest 13-year-old I know.
Where are you from?
Originally: Columbus, Ohio
To me, being a nerd/geek means someone who is passionate about something that they love (Also, they are often extremely handsome XD).
What are 2–5 things you're particularly passionate about?
I am passionate about:
Swimming (I know, not that nerdy.)
Video games
Why are you passionate about these things?
I am passionate about these things because they are my favorite things to do and I'm good at them.
Do you have any special or hidden talents?
My special talent is annoying people really, really fast.
Ed. note: I have a feeling one of Mason's parents had a hand in this answer.
Star Trek 2
Ed. Note: Unfortunately for all of us excited about it, this movie won't be out until 2013.
"Surfin' Bird"
What are three websites you like to visit every day?
@therealretweet—I have more followers than my parents combined.
Ed. note: His name comes from PVP, the online comic. Mason is the character ReTweet.
Any additional comments or thoughts?
Gibson the Wondermutt is my big sweetie.
Mason's bonus questions:
Are you thinking of working toward a nerdy career once you've finished school?
Yup. I am interested in graphic design and would like to make video games or movies.
What do your friends think about all the nerdy things you enjoy?
My friends really don't care. Some of them have played D&D with me. We all like to play video games.
Thanks, Mason, for being a Geek of the Week!
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Eye of HorusHeader
The Clarity Logo
The logo is the mirror image of the Egyptians 'Eye of Horus'. The form is called the Udjat eye representing the eye of the falcon god Horus that was torn from his head by the storm god Seth. It is the composite of the human eye and the markings of the falcon eye. It is used as an amulet against injury and is traditionally used by Egyptian doctors to sign prescriptions or letters. The eye without the markings simply means 'seeing', 'vision' or 'insight'.
Relationship to Computers
Elements of the eye are also used to represent fractions of the power of 2.
Copyright 2000-2009© Tom Addis and Jan Addis
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Order of Battle: Kriegsmarine DLC Review
order-of-battle-kriegsmarineBy Jeffery Renaud @ The Wargamer
Kriegsmarine is the latest expansion to Artistocrats’/Matrix Game’s Order of Battle: World War II (OoB) series, not surprisingly taking the setting to the high seas as – surprise! – Germany in WWII. Not that the game has heretofore lacked a naval aspect; indeed, it could be argued that, in a Second World War game that features a U.S. Pacific setting and U.S. Marines, not to mention their Japanese opponents, it could hardly avoid introducing navies before this iteration. Thus, one may wonder just what this expansion adds – but as it happens, that’s what we at Wargamer are here to tell you, Dear Reader!
Read The Review Here
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There are many times when we need others to come together in prayer with us for needs in our lives. Here at Crossroads, we would be honored to be there for you and help lift your needs up in prayer to the Lord, or spread your praise reports to give Him the glory.
We call this email prayer chain “Wings of Prayer.” Be assured that whatever prayer request you send or call in will be taken before the Lord by this faithful group of people. It is completely free and anyone can join who wants to pray and uplift each other in a time of need.
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Glossary of juggling terms
• cascade
• fountain
• half-shower
• IJA
• Juggler's World
• multiplex
• numbers juggling
• reversing
• shower
• shower-box
• In a more reasonable order,
The cascade is the easiest juggling pattern with an odd number of balls; every throw is from one hand to the other, at the same height.
The fountain is the even-number counterpart to the cascade; now every throw returns to the throwing hand. This separation into two halves is what leads disappointed onlookers to complain that it isn't "really juggling four". (What is it, then?) Note that this pattern has two variants, the synchronous and asynchronous fountain. ("The fountain," without adorning adjective, is taken to mean the asynchronous version.)
The shower is the pattern most often learned by those who are unfortunate enough to learn in isolation from other jugglers. The dominant hand makes a high throw to the weak hand, which claps the ball back into the dominant hand. Since one hand does almost all the work, it is much more difficult than the corresponding cascade or fountain.
It is extremely regrettable that "shower" is also the fairly standard name of the most common passing pattern (which these authors prefer to call a "2-count"). Not only is the 2-count more precisely described thus, and wholly unlike one person showering, there is needless confusion introduced when trying to describe the perfectly natural passing pattern that mixes the two.
a reversed [whatever]
A reversed pattern is the "same" pattern (in particular, has the same siteswap) but with the balls caught in front of the body and thrown from the outside. This is a bit more difficult, because the most dangerous point in the arc - the place where the balls might collide - occurs longer after the juggler lets go of the ball.
(Unfortunately "reverse" is also often used to refer to left-right reflection of an asymmetric pattern, such as a shower. We have tried to call this "backwards" the few times that it is relevant in this tutorial, as in "to shower 4 backwards".)
A half-shower is a pattern in which each hand throws at its own fixed height, but the lower throw is not so low as to be actually handed off. This pattern is usually done half-reversed, that is to say, with the high throws caught inside and thrown outside. (Otherwise it is called an inside half-shower.)
To multiplex is to throw several balls at once from the same hand, not necessarily all to the same height. It is much easier to juggle many balls through multiplexing (enough so that the IJA does not count multiplexing records in the same category as non-multiplexing records). One hears the phrases "a multiplex," "a multiplex throw," and "a multiplex pattern" (one containing a multiplex). The picture at right is the earliest known depiction of a left-handed multiplex by a Cyclops.
The shower-box (or simply box; in German it is known as the viper) is a very common three-ball trick, in which one ball is never thrown up, the defining characteristic of a baby-juggling pattern.
numbers juggling
Numbers jugglers are not (necessarily) siteswap aficionados, but those hardy souls pressing the limits of human capabilities to track many objects at once. There is one living 10-ball juggler, a few 11-ring jugglers, and a couple dozen 7-club jugglers.
The IJA and Juggler's World
The International Jugglers Association was founded in 1947, and publishes the magazine Juggler's World quarterly.
A sample batch of cool patterns
Return to "Juggling By The Numbers" Main Page
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my food site is weber_cam
June 11, 2004 is a site that shows, among other things, how often a particular web address (blog, link, etc.) has been linked by others, providing some indication of its popularity. There's a nifty sub-category on it called Book Talk. This is a list of books ranked by popularity. Pretty high in the list is Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. It's a fun book about mistakes people like me make ALL THE TIME. I thought it'd be a good read. Its It's an aid I desperately need.
The reviews of books from Technorati are done by people who aren't professional and usually have absolutely nothing to gain from their review. They're just providing free opinions. So it's not the authoritative NYTimes book review. Who cares. Everyone gushes over this book. But one of the best reviews I found was by Josh Abraham at Yankee Pot Roast. The piece is absolutely hilarious. It will brighten your rainy Friday.
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October 13th 2010
Venting Your Spleen
Proverbs12:18 (NIV)
‘Well I just told him…. I let him have it… I really vented my spleen.’ How often have we said this or heard this from someone? There are two questions that spring to mind. Do you really feel better having ‘vented your spleen’ and where did the expression ‘venting your spleen’ come from? According to the website www.englishclub.com the phrase originates from ‘The spleen is an organ in the body near the stomach. In European medicine from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century, the spleen was thought to be the source of the “humours” that caused the emotion of anger. Therefore one could expel anger by “venting the spleen”.’ In physiological terms what would a vented spleen mean—quite simply if not dealt with swiftly by surgeons—death. Another vernacular expression is ‘you are doing my head in’. The latter has equally devastating effects if taken literally!
Returning to the first question—do you feel better having vented your spleen? Have you reached a peaceful amicable understanding with the other person? How do they feel? Are they glad that you vented your spleen? I suspect the answer to all these questions is ‘No’. So what do you do when you are hopping mad? You may have been provoked or just in a bad humour—not the type that were supposed to emanate from your spleen! There simply has to be an outlet for all that pent-up anger!
King Solomon, reputed for his wisdom, advised, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). In the hot and dusty middle-east how did Jesus advise his followers when discussing ill humour? In Matthew 5 Jesus gave a code for living. The chapter is brim full of how to deal with situations. In verse 37 Jesus says “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’ be ‘No’.” What? I hear you say ‘the next thing He will tell us is to do is to turn the other cheek!’ Obviously this man Jesus was not human—oh yes He was and He is also the Son of God. He knew human reaction and He knew the answer.
To follow Jesus’ advice we need His help. When the blood pressure rises and the words of retort spring to the tongue circumventing the mind, pray. Yes—pray! Ask the Lord God Almighty to curb your tongue and soften your heart. The Holy Spirit will give you the calm response or perhaps the courage to have no response at all—maybe even a smile. With God all things are possible … and your spleen will remain intact along with your head.
Jesus, thank you so much for your infinite wisdom. You have given us a more excellent way—you are that way and we choose to follow you. Help us to live at peace with our fellow man by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Study by Irene Wilson
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22nd November 2013
Amaze The Crowds
Galatians 3:28 (NIV UK)
There has been discussion in the news recently of the continuing class divide in the UK, but have you ever heard of Perpetua and Felicitas? Theirs is a poignant story of how Christians die for their faith, and of how in Christ social barriers break down.
The setting is Carthage, North Africa, around 203 AD. Perpetua was of noble birth, and Felicitas was her slave. History records that they were imprisoned for being Christians in a society that was hostile to them. Such events happen also today: Christianity is listed among the persecuted faiths of the twenty first century.
Typically captured Christians were executed unless they denied their belief in Christ. Felicitas was pregnant and a decision was made to delay execution until the baby was born. After the child was delivered and given away, both Perpetua and Felicitas were taken out into the arena where spectators could watch their death. They were gored by bulls but did not die immediately, and gladiators were sent out to finish them off. What was amazing to the crowds was not to so much that they were willing to die for their allegiance to Christ. Rather it was that, just before they were struck down, both women, each from a different social class, held on to each other in Christian unity and love. In Christ, as Paul pointed out, there is neither slave nor free.
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, some of his readers would have been shocked with the idea that we are “all one in Christ Jesus”. “How ridiculous!” the average citizen would have thought, “Do you mean that, because of this Jesus person, there should be no racial, gender, or class discrimination?” Yes, that is exactly what Paul meant.
How should this affect us? The biblical teaching has not changed. Also, today people are wary of, if not outright hostile to, Christ and his followers. They may not be surprised that we stand up for what we believe: after all, they’ve seen it before. What may amaze them, however, is that we treat everyone, friend or foe, male of female, irrespective of ethnic, religious and social background, with the same love and respect. Just like the onlookers were taken aback by how the noble Perpetua and her servant Felicitas accepted each other, so those around us can be astonished at our Christian love expressed abundantly and impartially to all.
Let others know, through how we include them, that Christ died for all, and that, in him, we all become one, heirs together of life and the children of God.
Father, help us to stand up and be counted as faithful followers of your son. Help us to break down the barriers that divide us, and to become one in Christ Jesus. In his name.
Study by James Henderson
ancientbibleAbout the Author:
Email: [email protected]
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An essential practical book, for all chess players, from one of the world’s greatest grandmasters. Rather than attempting to cover every theoretical possible endgame position, Paul Keres deals with the basic types of position into which all other endgames will eventually be resolved. He examines these in great detail and, in so doing, reveals the fundamental principles of the endgame and the main ideas for each player.
It is not by memorising moves but by understanding the basic positions that a player, of whatever rating, will most improve his endgame play. For this reason, Keres does not simply point out the best move; rather he explains the positions in such a way that the reader’s understanding will lead, almost automatically, to the best move.
About the Author
Paul Keres (1916 – 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world’s top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s and runner-up in the Candidates’ Tournament on four consecutive occasions. Many chess historians consider Keres one of the greatest players in history, and the strongest player never to become world champion.
Practical Chess Endings
Auteur: Paul Keres
Pagina's: 352
Fabrikant: Batsford
Jaar: 2018
Type: Paperback
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Get the Apache and PHP Version Info
by jeremyjones on March 9, 2011
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If you are developing PHP code for a website you might sometimes want to check which version of Apache or PHP will be running the website. This is particularly true if you use some functionality that was included at a particular revision of the software or if you want to avoid security holes that were present in an older version. There are two simple ways to get this information using phpinfo() or the SERVER_SIGNATURE:
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Both of these will return a lot of extra information to just the Apache and PHP versions. One way to reduce the amount of information is to split the array returned by $_SERVER and only keep the parts you are interested in. This approach is shown in the following example:
// Splits the output into an array
$ar = split("[/ ]",$_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE']);
// Loops through the array
>for ($i=0;$i<(count($ar));$i++)
// Gets the Apache Version
>case 'APACHE':
$Apache_Ver = $ar[$i];
// Gets the PHP Version
>case 'PHP':
$PHP_Ver = $ar[$i];
As well as the Apache and PHP information obtained in the example, this approach can be used to obtain information about the software running on the server.
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BMW DXC Steering Angle Sensor Calibration
The Steering Angle Sensor must be recalibrated after various repair work is performed, such as a wheel alignment or coding/programming of the DXC module. Incorrectly calibrated sensor may illuminate DSC, DME/DDE, SRS and 4x4 warning lamps. In most cases it is not necessary to replace the steering angle sensor.
If the fault code 6E3E is stored in the DXC module, follow the procedure listed in this bulletin:
1. Turn steering wheel to straight position
2. Perform coding sensor alignment in LWS
3. Perform coding sensor alignment in DSC
4. Clear faults in all ECUs
5. Switch off the ignition and wait for a minimum of 1 minute.
6. Switch on the ignition and start the engine.
7. Check the fault memory.
8. If the fault is eliminated, no further action is necessary, otherwise repeat the procedure up to 3 times.
Due to some software issues, the DXC warning may still be displayed after the adjustment is performed.
NOTE: If the steering angle sensor cannot be adjusted after 3 attempts, the sensor must be replaced.
BMW X3 E83
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The Catastrophe Of You And Me by Jess Rothenberg
They say Brie passed away from a broken heart, literally. After boyfriend, and supposedly love if her life, Jacob, tells Brie that he doesn't love her, Brie's world ended. She suddenly finds herself as a spectator at her own high school memorial service, watching loved ones, best friends and those she barely knew, mourn her passing.
Where do souls go when they are no longer bound to this earth? The pizzeria. Brie finds herself in her local pizzeria, on a plain parallel to her previous life. Where local children who also lost their lives... Wait. For what? Brie hasn't a clue, until the charismatic, and no longer living, Patrick, guides her through the afterlife.
Patrick, with his bright smile and Top Gun inspired pilot jacket, shows Brie the afterlife isn't all bad, starting with the very person who broke her heart, Jacob. Working from the Dead and Gone handbook, Brie learns how to relive her memories, cast revenge with those that have hurt her, and an alternate future her revenge has created.
A lying best friend, a cruel and unkind boyfriend, a broken family, a tortured soul, a cheating parent and attempted suicide, nothing is what it seems. With Patrick by her side, Brie needs to learn to forgive, or she may never know the truth as to what lead to her heart breaking or why Patrick has been waiting in limbo.
The Catastrophe of You and Me was a beautifully written story of loss, acceptance and living in the moment. Brie tells the reader her story, starting from the moment her heart broke, and she passed away. Surprisingly, there are far more poignant, witty and heartwarming moments than sadness and grief. The concept of a novel depicting the afterlife, didn't sound entertaining, but thankful I didn't trust my own judgement, it was worth the chance and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Catastrophe Of You And Me
Written By Jess Rothenberg
Published 02 / 02 / 2012
400 Pages
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© Diva Booknerd. Design by Fearne.
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Analytics Inside Logo: DRIVEN Partner
Reducing Hospital Readmissions with Big Data Predictive Analytics
Presented by guest speaker Michael Covert, CEO of Analytics Inside and Big Data expert, examines how Healthcare Providers are finding ways to use Big Data for predictive analytics to reduce readmission rates and improve operational efficiency while complying with regulatory mandates. He goes into detail about building a deep learning architecture using Cascading and Driven. 60-min webinar
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Home / Politics / Did President Obama Protect Hezbollah From Drug Investigation?
Did President Obama Protect Hezbollah From Drug Investigation?
Hezbollah Iran Obama Connection
Poltico.com recently released a bombshell article about their investigation into how the Obama Administration appears to have blocked a US agency’s investigation that was linking terrorist group Hezbollah’s use of drug trafficking and money laundering to finance their global terrorist operations. Apparently the agency was being too good at linking high level Iranian officials to the terrorist group and this threatened the Iran Nuclear Agreement that was a major objective of the Obama Administration.
You can read about the investigation here: https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/
Did a President of the United States of America really use his executive powers to protect a terrorist organization just to accomplish a political goal? It would be naive to not think that politics are a factor in many decisions that might be considered distasteful. That is the real world even if we wish it were not the case. But protecting one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world and helping it maintain its financial capabilities (and thus it’s ability to perform terror acts) is beyond the pale. How many people have died at Hezbollah’s hand since Obama’s actions? That is blood on his hands and on the hand’s of Americans as whole. If this is proven to be true, former President Obama and members of his adminstration directly involved with protecting Hezbollah should be prosecuted.
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Defining Who Is a DACA Dreamer
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ESP - Disk 1080 SHQ
Karel Velebny
Jiri Stivin, alto saxophone, flute, recorder; Karel Velebny, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, vibes; Ludek Svabensky, piano; Karel Vejvoda, bass; Josel Vejvoda, drums.
1. The Uhu sleeps only during the day (07.26)
2. Joachim is our friend (11.31)
3. Beetles on the head (05.04)
4. Waldi on the castle steps (08.54)
5. Andulko safarova (05.06)
Recorded Germany 1968.
Design and layout (front cover reproduced above) by Miles Bachman, Michael Sanzone & Fumi Tomita.
Go to list of ESP - Disk recordings or to Independent Recording Labels Page
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Tag Archives: slideshow
Morphing Modal Window
I have used this but I am really excited to try it. I will post back here when I use it. Modal windows are used to display related content, by hiding [...]
FancyBox is a tool for displaying images, html content and multi-media in a Mac-style “lightbox” that floats overtop of web page. It was built [...]
Bx Slider
This is definitely my favorite slider. I find you can do almost anything with it. Even though it has tons of options and configurations, it still fires [...]
Anything Slider
A fully customizable slider. The panels can contain anything you want… videos, html, iframes, images… the sky is the limit. It has some built [...]
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As long as shape and available dimensions allow, black locust is a versatile applicable wood species due to its properties (strength, workability, stability, natural resistance).
For outdoor application black locust is qualified for general construction wood (in case of larger dimensions it is glued), for ground care and landscaping, for playground equipment as well as for vehicle construction, doors and windows, gates and fences and terraces.
For indoor application black locust can be used for stairs, parquet as well as furniture. Due to its high dynamic strength it is qualified especially for high quality tool shafts as well as for gymnastic and sports equipment. Similar to ash and beech, black locust is notably suitable for bending wood.
Moreover, black locust is used for fences and poles in farming, winegrowing and orchards. Still today it can sometimes be found in traditional industries like wheelwright’s workshops (production of wheels, wagons and farming equipment) and as mine timber in mining.
Generally, black locust can also be applied in veneer production. However, due to the low availability of high quality logs it cannot be found often. A large share of small dimension black locust timber is not applicable for other purposes. Thus, in Hungary mainly, black locust is used as raw material for pulp- and paper industries, particle- and fibreboards and firewood.
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99 102 45 41 89 88
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Baby care
Baby care
Last news
Recommend a specific
Recommend a specificconsidered once daily fountain and after each feeding of a more or less duration, 3-4 tablespoons (volume determined by the size of wet spots).
However, remember that the regurgitation is normal if a child on his background often sends defecate and gaining weight well. In this case, the regurgitation to some extent can be called protection from overeating as a need for an infant sucking is not the same saturation. A child who had eaten, but wants to suck, can turn, burp too much and continue sucking. Expressing
Expressing a need for young mothers to maintain lactation. Decanted Vat must usually both breasts for 10-15 minutes each. Do not try to save the milk for the next racking, pulling it, and spend this procedure possible cha School.
If you can effectively express your hands, the manual racking can be better than even using a breast pump. Recommend a specific mo del breast pump does not make sense, since mothers are the advantages and disadvantages of all types. The principle of operation is the same breast pumps - creating negative pressure tion. If you have the opportunity, then you can hire a clinical electric breast pump.
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Ввести код:
• Some soon
• Recommend a specific
• On the "one" - the fingers
• Of course, a bag or a cup of juice
• Per serving: 154 calories, 6 g protein, 15 g hydrocarbon
• Should not forget
• Win a light
• If you touch a toy, comfortable
• Head circumference
• To get an idea
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Thursday, 16 May 2013
The FA are super cereal about racism
Thousands of years after racism started, the FA have declared they are to bring in a minimum five game ban for doing a racism. It's taken a while.
Maybe one day racism will be eradicated, like smallpox. Until then, thank goodness we have organisations such as the Football Association to keep order. After royally fucking up the Luis Saurez and John Terry situations, they thought they should probably make some rules. Under the new plans, if a player is to commit one racism, he will receive a 5-game ban. If he is to commit a second, it's a 10-game ban and if there is a third case, then you are locked in a room with Jamie Redknapp and forced to listen to him talk about Liverpool for three days.
£4m has been invested into making a racism detector, which apparently can detect a racist remark from up to three miles away whilst it's still in the perpetrator's brain. Clubs can now be charged if two of their players make discriminatory remarks against ethnic origin, religion, race, colour, sexual orientation, ability, disability and even Titus Bramble. The times they are a-changin'.
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Articles & Posts
A systematic approach to examining Two Salvations & Restitution
Eph 1:9,10 – “restoring the whole creation” – Weymouth
Acts 3:21 – “times of restoration of all things… spoken by … all His holy prophets” NKJV
Salvation Can Only Come Through Christ
John 14:6 – “I am the way, the truth, and the Read more…
Who will occupy the land of Israel in Paradise earth?
The Bible teaches that the land of Israel was promised to Jacob and his descendants forever and that the land of Israel will be the center of Gods kingdom on earth.
Afflicted with anti-Semitism the traditional churches developed “Replacement Theology.” Some early church theologians wrongly concluded that Israel as a people was eternally rejected by Read more…
Will the wicked get an opportunity to repent in Paradise earth?
Read more…
Have People Received Final Judgment for the Past 6,000 years or will they have an Opportunity for Judgment and Restitution on Paradise Earth?
Although many Christians believe that people will be judged based on whether they accepted Christ before they died, the Bible actually teaches that people will be judged based on their behavior, progress and decisions during the Millennium.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And Read more…
Will Present Unbelievers Serve and Worship Jehovah on Paradise Earth?
Yes. The Bible teaches that present unbelievers will have an opportunity for future judgment based on their response to Christ’s Millennial Kingdom on Paradise earth. At that time, most of them will accept Jesus and they will worship and serve Jehovah.
Phil 2: 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the Read more…
Rev 22:17 – “the bride say, “Come!”… Whoever desires, let him Read more…
Will Jehovah Bless ALL People?
Acts 2:18 – “on My menservants and… maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” NKJV
And so God poured out His holy spirit upon the Church “in those days” on Pentecost.
Acts 2:17 – “in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on ALL flesh” NKJV
Read more…
Does Jehovah want to Save ALL People?
1 Tim Read more…
The Read more…
Are the Great Crowd the same as all the people in Paradise Earth?
Just as the Anointed 144,000 (the Little Flock) are selected “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9 NWT), so are the Great Crowd (Rev 7:9). Neither of these two groups are the world, but they are both taken “out of” the world. This larger group (the world) from which these Read more…
Should we really want to be on earth rather than heaven? Does the Bible give us that option?
All of the wonderful Jehovah’s Witnesses that have come to my door have expressed no desire for a heavenly hope. Their desire is to be on Paradise Earth forever. And what could be wrong with good food, a nice house, domesticated wild animals and beautiful scenery?
The problem is the difficulty in Read more…
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College of Winterhold Quest: Revealing the Unseen
You'll receive this quest at the conclusion of the quest Good Intentions.
When you track down Mirabelle Ervine (usually found in the college courtyard or in the Hall of Attainment) and ask her about the Staff of Magnus, she'll tell you that researchers from the Synod recently came to the college looking for it, and that they were next planning to search through the dwarven ruins at Mzulft. She'll then suggest that you hurry over to Mzulft so you can claim the staff before they do.
You'll find Mzulft far to the south of the college, near the town of Windhelm. Just inside the entrance to the ruins (Exit A), you'll discover a Synod researcher named Gavros Plinius dying on the ground, and he'll mumble something about a crystal, the Oculory, and another researcher named Paratus before taking his last breath. You'll need to loot Gavros' corpse for the Mzulft Key, which will allow you to proceed farther into the ruins.
To reach the Oculory (#6), you'll have to follow a mostly linear path through Mzulft and the Boilery, fighting dwemer automatons -- including spiders, spheres, and even a centurion (#3) -- and falmer soldiers along the way. The falmer soldiers won't drop much, but if you loot all of the automatons, then you should end up with a nice collection of soul gems by the end.
Near the Oculory you'll come to a pair of locked doors. To open the first one (#4), you'll need the Mzulft Observatory Key, which you'll find in a chest guarded by a centurion (#3). The centurion is tough, but it won't be able to fit through the doorway of the room it's in, and so you should be able to stand far away and ping it with spells or arrows until it dies.
At the second locked door (#5), you'll meet Paratus Decimius. Paratus will tell you that Gavros left the Oculory to fix a Focusing Crystal, but that he must have run afoul of the falmer on his way back. You'll find the missing crystal on a falmer in the room to the east (#2). When you show it to Paratus, he'll escort you to the Oculory (#6), which he'll explain is a machine that "collects starlight," and he'll tell you that it needs to be focused.
To focus the Oculory, you'll have to do three things:
1. You'll need to activate the "dwarven armillary" (the gizmo holding the crystals in the center of the room). This will allow light into the chamber and cause three beams of light to emanate from the Oculory.
2. You'll need to attenuate the Focusing Crystal by heating it up and / or cooling it down. You'll have to use spells for this, but you'll find a Spell Tome: Flames and a Spell Tome: Frostbite on the table behind the control panel (#7), just in case you need them. The idea for this stage is to heat up / cool down the Oculory to move where the beams of light are pointing. There are three rings in the dome that makes up the ceiling, and you'll need one beam of light to be pointing at each row. This might sound complicated, but it's not. If you equip Flames in one hand and Frostbite in the other, then it shouldn't take you too long to move the beams to the right place.
3. You'll need to adjust three mirrors so the beams of light reflect back into the Oculory. To do this, you'll need to press the buttons on the control panel (#7). Each button will rotate one of the rings in the dome above you, which will also move one of the three mirrors. There isn't any trick or puzzle to this; you'll just need to press the buttons until the mirrors are in the right place.
Once the Oculory has been focused, Paratus will get all excited -- for a few moments at least, before he realizes that something is wrong -- and then he'll yell at you that an object at the college (the Eye of Magnus) is causing interference and disrupting his work. When you talk to Paratus and try to calm him down, he'll use the Oculory to display a map showing objects of power in Skyrim, and two locations will light up: the college and Labyrinthian. Paratus will then speculate that the Staff of Magnus must be in Labyrinthian.
Note: Paratus will also threaten to tell the Synod that the college is hiding objects of power. Nothing will become of this (Paratus won't ever leave Mzulft), so it won't make any difference if you kill him to keep him quiet.
As you make your way out of Mzulft, you'll run into Nerien of the Psijic Order again. He'll warn you that "trying times are ahead," and he'll encourage you to return to the college. When you get there, you'll discover (in the Hall of the Elements) that Ancano has raised a magical barrier around the Eye of Magnus and is keeping the mages out. Arch-Mage Aren will then ask you to help him and Mirabelle knock down the barrier, but you won't actually need to do anything. Aren and Mirabelle cwill get the job done by themselves.
When the barrier goes down, Aren and Mirabelle will confront Ancano, but Ancano will trigger some sort of magical explosion, knocking everybody away, and then he'll put the barrier back up again. You'll end up with Mirabelle, and she'll ask you to look for Aren while she deals with the barrier. This request will end the quest.
1 - Book
On the stone bed here you'll find the book The Lunar Lorkhan, which will increase your Alteration skill by 1.
2 - Falmer
Inside this chamber you'll encounter a few falmer. One of them will drop a Focusing Crystal.
3 - Centurion / Chest
4 - Locked Door
To open this door you'll need the Mzulft Observatory Key (#3).
5 - Locked Door
Paratus will open this door for you.
6 - Oculory
7 - Control Panel
1. Front entrance.
2. Doorway between Mzulft and the Boilery.
3. Doorway between the Boilery and the Aedrone.
4. Back exit. You'll need the Mzulft Observatory Key (#3) to open the door here.
Main Quests
College Quests
Companions Quests
Daedric Quests
Dark Brotherhood Quests
Imperial Quests
Stormcloak Quests
Thieves Guild Quests
Other Side Quests
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• The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 – Tools made of light
• 2018 Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo
STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to two researchers from the United States and Japan for advances in discovering how the body’s immune system can fight off the scourge of cancer. The 9-million-kronor ($1.01 million) prize will be shared by James Allison of ...
• HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan joins the AETDEW as an Honorary Fellow
HRH Princess Sumaya has accepted an invitation to become an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Engineering and Technology of the Developing World (AETDEW), based in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
HRH expressed her admiration of the work of the AETDEW and its attempt to ...
• IAS Vice President Dr N M Butt honoured
IAS Vice President Dr N.M.Butt, was honoured as Notable Alumnus- Physics of the University of Birmingham, UK out of a total of 24 Alumni of Physics listed over a period of 118 years since the establishment of the University in 1900.
Dr. N. M. ...
• PISA Worldwide Ranking – average score of math, science and reading for some OIC Countries
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2015-2016
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study by OECD in 70 nations of 15-year-old students’ scholastic performance ...
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Home > Articles > Home & Office Computing > Mac OS X
Design and Install the Perfect PC—On Your Mac
📄 Contents
1. Don't Get Down, Get Virtual PC
2. Installing Virtual PC for Mac
3. Going Off Script
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Macintosh people don't want to give up their Macs just to use Windows software once in a while. With Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac, they won't have to. John Traenkenschuh takes us step by step through the (relatively) painless process of installing this revolutionary software to emulate a Windows PC on your favorite Mac.
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Suppose your company has graphic artists on staff who need to use Macs for creative purposes, but your office email system is a Windows product. Or your CEO is a Macophile, but the travel expense application is a Windows product.
What's a company to do?
Some companies actually give each worker two computers. Others force folks to share a common PC, like peasants working with a communal baking oven. This practice is expensive—consider the time wasted on waiting—and it's an employee demoralizer.
A better option is virtualization—emulating one type of hardware on another. A Mac user with a virtual PC can spend most of his time in the programs that are most familiar and useful to him, but also access the PC software he needs occasionally. Virtualization also gives you more "computers" for the money because the two machines—one physical and one emulated—can share peripherals such as memory, CD-ROM drives, and so on.
Don't Get Down, Get Virtual PC
Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac (we'll call it "Virtual PC" for short) is the one and only virtualization product for the Apple architecture. Virtual PC creates a virtual Intel-based architecture on your Mac so that you can use it to install Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, or any other fun operating system you want to try.
Core Requirements
What's it take? Of course, you'll need hardware that meets Virtual PC's basic requirements. That's a long list to repeat in this article, so let me just state that I'm doing this installation on my iBook 1.2 GHz G4 with 768MB of RAM and a Tiger's roar. As when dealing with any manufacturer's minimum requirements, I suggest you over-provision when setting up your environment. A G3 could work with enough RAM installed, but eventually you'll want the extra processor power. And, yes, Virtual PC will support the G5, for those of you fortunate enough to have one.
In addition to the hardware requirements, you must have a legal copy of whatever operating system and applications you intend to run on your virtual machine. Happily, several versions of Virtual PC come with Windows 2000, Windows XP Home, or Windows XP Professional at a special bundled price. (Why use software illegally when the bundled price makes honesty easy?) However, if your company has an enterprise agreement for XP that makes the bundle costly, you can install Windows without using bundled XP. The Virtual machine doesn't need "special" versions of an operating system to run that operating system.
Now, let's be honest regarding games. Emulated hardware can't perform as efficiently as a real PC running Windows XP. If you're planning to install DOOM 3 on a Mac running Virtual PC, you may be in for disappointing performance. But other Windows apps that require less processor power should run fine on your Virtual PC. The Mactopia site provides more information on Virtual PC, its requirements, and what types of applications will run on your new emulated Windows system.
Enough talk—let's install. Pop that bad boy CD in the drive now!
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• 🔖 Save To Your Account
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In Music We Trust >> Frontpage
December 15, 2018
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The Distillers
The Distillers 7" (Hellcat Records)
By: Alex Steininger
Hellcat's latest signing, and first 7" release, The Distillers crank out powerful, adrenaline-charged, give-it-your-all punk so fast and vigorous you won't no what hit you. And, what's more, the front person of the band is female. Not that females can't rock, because they can, and they're damn good at it too. But, Brody Armstrong leads this trio through some of the best new punk rock I've heard. Her voice is like a female Tim Armstrong - all the fury and spite unleashed with every word. "Old Scratch," "LA Girl," "Colossus USA," and "Black Heart" will all hit you from behind and kick your ass. Here is a nice slab of punk vinyl. I'll give it an A-.
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Enterprise Interoperability
Enterprise Interoperability
Edited by
Bernard Archimède, ENIT (Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tarbes), France
Bruno Vallespir, University of Bordeaux, France
ISBN : 9781786300843
Publication Date : May 2017
Hardcover 244 pp
130.00 USD
Interoperability of enterprises is one of the main requirements for economical and industrial collaborative networks. Enterprise interoperability (EI) is based on the three domains: architectures and platforms, ontologies and enterprise modeling.
This book presents the EI vision of the “Grand Sud-Ouest” pole (PGSO) of the European International Virtual Laboratory for Enterprise Interoperability (INTEROP-VLab). It includes the limitations, concerns and approaches of EI, as well as a proposed framework which aims to define and delimit the concept of an EI domain.
The authors present the basic concepts and principles of decisional interoperability as well as concept and techniques for interoperability measurement. The use of these previous concepts in a healthcare ecosystem and in an extended administration is also presented.
1. Framework for Enterprise Interoperability.
2. Networked Companies and a Typology of Collaborations.
3. Designing Natively Interoperable Complex Systems: An Interface Design Pattern Proposal.
4. Software Development and Interoperability: A Metric-based Approach.
5. Decisional Interoperability.
6. The Interoperability Measurement.
7. Interoperability and Supply Chain Management.
8. Organizational Interoperability Between Public and Private Actors in an Extended Administration.
9. An Inventory of Interoperability in Healthcare Ecosystems: Characterization and Challenges.
About the authors
Bernard Archimède is Professor at the ENIT (Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tarbes) in France.
Bruno Vallespir is Professor at the University of Bordeaux in France.
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Navigation Tree Movie Star Techno Star Culture Star History Star
Iudyce Techno-Star
Describe by Shadow-light
A glance into the source of future's technology
List of contents:
Chapter 1 :
Assisted Intelligence and Protection units
Military Scout Unit
Nurture Assisting Unit
Spidyc Ware
Probing instruments
Sociological Computers
Sentry Grid
Gold Mind Antenna
Solar Cube
Satellite Defense Grid
Goal Seeker
Chapter 2 :
Specification of Bio Chemical Cores
Propulsion of Scout units
Contact to Brain
Self regulating core
Energy sources: Proton layers
Photon shield
Space point of Identity
Natural Creation
Destination based product
Photon energy source
Space ships and form factor
Chapter 3 :
Gravity Pulsars
Gelbased printing
Ozone layers
Atlantis computers
Error retention
Assisted Intelligence and Protection units
( Science Fiction; Idea )
This company is expert in units that assist
our intelligence
and protect us against diseases, injuries and other hardship.
Devices that are an artificial an chemical machine that reacts by an
aided intelligent core. A core made of life tissue of small life forms.
By using a safe method of engineering there is a guarantee that it works at 70 percent effectiveness.
These devices, with a core of artificial intelligence can assist in tasks that need an intelligent proces of understanding or methodology.
By placing the device in the arm pit, it is invisible for others to see. But it can work effectively.
The device creates a web of thin alloy sinews throughout the body.
Sinews which are the basis of a electronig and photonic sphere that surrounds the body with a force field.
Which surrounds the body with a border to bacteria and viruses.
The device needs no external energy, because it runs on the bodily contact and body warmth.
These devices come in three kinds. The first one protects from all diseases and injuries done to the body.
The second one gives enhanced intelligent services. Cooperating with the body to give memory, mathematical and translation functions
The third one giving all artificial services to the entity using the device.
Military Scout Unit
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
Wondered how a war is being won.
Wanting a miracle to fullfill that small covert war.
Imagine there is a solution, a solution that brings maximum effort, and minimum visiblity.
A military scout unit is like a sphere of 15 centimeters round.
An orb that can float in the air, and moves itself without sound.
This orb is a state of the art technology item.
A surrounding field of plasma gives itself the gift of being invisible.
The surrounding magnetic field gives the cloaking of all radiomagnetic sensors.
It is directed by a communication method that is able to
move it five kilometres as a distance of the controller.
This military scout unit, as a new way
of winning conflicts.
Nurture Assisting Unit
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
The future begins at this current moment.
The future of science, is making its entrance right today.
The future which holds the science by which human civilisations can live easy and happy.
The nurture assisiting unit, it is a device that aids the child in its education.
It aids the child to learn, at a pace three times faster.
The nurture assisting unit. It has an implant in the scull,
by which the external unit contacts the person.
This unit, is a little metal box, the size of a play card. and being fixed near the head.
This unit, at each age of the person having it activated, gives online advice, gives online lessons.
Because this unit knows what the holder thinks and feels, it is able to
give its influence at a speed that is surpassing all kinds of other education.
This unit gives the holder, a child, the power to grow up to an adult person.
A person which for example speaks twelve languages.
A person for example, which has several professions.
These are examples which are imagined today, but what holds the future.
Spidyc Ware
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
A specific computer program, designed to work.
Work in the broadest range of what a computer program can be used for.
A computer program able to use a series of complementing algorithms to ensure a superb outcome.
This program, as designed by our lead programmers gives safety and protection for all means its used for.
Spidyc Ware: A new future stepping into our time.
Use this software for all needs which has to be more than 98 percent effective.
A program with quantum particles with single purpose ranges, made to be used by the possible hardware compliants.
A program being used for highprecision tasks.
A program, as being used, brings you to a future.
A program which is the step following the Artificial Intelligence.
A program not called artificial, but imitative Intelligence.
Imitating the cells of our own brains, but placed as algorithms in a computer.
A computer that is placed in your, company, home, university or other governmental department.
A computer the size of your hand, or to the size of a truckload.
Use this software for your intelligence tasks, not by artificiality but by Imititation of Real intelligence.
Probing instruments
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
With the need for patented technology, it is a border of how much use you can have from invented technology.
We name that technology as strange tech. A visible object with functions that are not easy understandable.
You can say that strange tech holds all inventions done by us in a certain period, or even in a future period.
If time travel would be available. the tech from the future is strange tech too.
If humans would travel through space, the human family would be much larger with several characteristics utilized for the place they live.
The human family as on earth has maney features.
Name the humans from outer space, extra terrestial.
When we look at all the technology and science that we have a look on, a glance of unknown functions.
Our firm, spidyc, gives the instruments to refactor any invention or technlogy.
The probing products use our state of the art intelligent cores to not only scan it for known parts,
but also to let the probe learn which significance and meaning the analysed product has.
The probing products are ranging from simple inspection of what materials a object is made,
to a complex instrument that can peer through an outer shield and apoint the parts with their functions.
A probe for a new era in time, a time of prosperity not bound to any claim on power or technology.
Sociological Computers
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
When our society evolves into the future, with new ways to communicate,
new ways to create labor and consumer products.
There will be the problem how we form the society to give its inhabitants a basic level of necessity food and shelter.
When human mankind don't have to work very hard for its needed lifeluxery.
A sociological instrument is the computer to be able to give the numbers to what kind of goverment,
what kind of labor strucutre, what kind of education, kind of culture and religion is best
to form a civilisation or society that ensures the good health, wealth and happiness of its citizens.
The sociological instruments use the modelbases calculation method.
Which is in short a way to have very many human models, as little parts of an algorithm that imitates a human person,
with its interesting points, like cultural and religious preferences.
Very many of these models make one metamodel that is used to design a new society able to
have good forms in it ensuring wanted outcomes of the calculation.
A sociological computer is made of both hardware and software.
Because meta model has a lot of parts making the result it needs a computer able to do
calculations based on a paralel scheme.
The calculations have as a restriction that each time it is used the conditions have an unpredictable outcome.
Sentry Grid
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
A good defense in a country is usually made of instruments which can neutralize any incoming problems,
or is able to predict when a danger is entering the region or crossing a border.
To make military able to respond in a measured time.
A good defense of the united states was a range of sattelites above the earth,
which they built during nixons presidency.
A new kind of defense, as we already have seen in terminator as the famous skynet.
This new defense system is named Sentry-Grid.
a form of decentralized units that form a biochemical protection.
If a classical weapon is fired, it creates a border of silicate around the incoming weapons thus neutralizing it.
It consists of the backfiring and the silicate forming unit.
The sentry grid is a cost-effective, bio-neutral defense method.
A sentry grid consists of several parts, each against a threath.
when guided missiles are used for example with laser pointing,
a defense weapon is used which creates a spectrum ligtth cloaking the important object.
When a laser beam goes through a spectrum cloak, it is for the guiding system not anymore processed.
A second threath is a weapon based on gps sattelites, which gives it a goal to reach.
The defense against it is a system of sattelites creating a elektromagnetic noise, making the gps information
not obvious anymore.
The third threat is on the ground of military infantry and tanks.
This threath is neutralized by a border of high frequency waves.
Giving all human persons in military enemy the feeling that they want to run away.
Thus giving them the urge not to attack.
This weapon is patented an not openly available.
Gold Mind Antenna
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
In the near future when experiments are done with being telepathic.
They invent an antenna which is made from gold.
Attached to the head with a wire into the brains there is a antenna which can make
the bearer the agent of telepathic communication.
If you think the message and send it by thinking about the antenna, to a receiver.
The antenna made of gold, is the best way to make the message
without loss of information be send to a receiver.
The gold antenna, keep close eye on the magazines. it will appear in it in a couple of years.
Solar Cube
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
A solar cube is a combination of best practises on solar technology.
The cube holds the key to a home improvement of decentrilized energy grid.
As it has several layers of combined discoveries it is able to deliver
for the home its appointed to a grid of energy
capable to ensure the needs fulfilled.
The top layer of the grid, is a layer with a honey comb structure.
It transfers photonic beams to a layer of electrons being radiated to the second layer where
a layer of hydrogen stores the current of electricity to ensure the peak of energy being stored instead of wasted.
The third layer is a special engineered layer of capacitor based alloy's.
the third layer when surged levels the energy to the strength needed for the appliances
to have a current flow that does not fall out.
The fourth layer is the long term store of energy.
Where energy is created the largest problem for a energy compliant
is to store it without loss of quantity.
This fourth layer is made of a classified material that is patented,
so it is not disclosed which chemical structure its made of.
A solar cube, a new way to sustain energy.
for each home, for each appliance.
Satellite Defense Grid
( Science Fiction ; Idea )
Expensive words. A technlogy that is only used and invented by the super rich countries.
For example in Atlantis a large military organisation ensures the supremacy of the nation.
A sattelite is not very state of the art, but the usage for it is.
A satellite to communicate via internet of via phone is common knowledge.
To use a satellite for location on geopositional devices us already ten years old.
In the eight hundred-eighties the president of atlantis started a military weapon usage to
counter incoming projectiles by satellite.
A satellite with laser beam is capable of firing on missiles.
What kind of laser device it has, is not known to normal people.
But when an engineer would invent it a couple of important requisitions are needed.
The beam has to be strong, to be able to diminish electrical circuits.
The beam must be able to pass long distances.
The beam must be able to point a target.
The satellite grid, a network of satelittes which ensures the safety of Atlantis.
Goal Seeker
( imaginary weapon)
Imagine a weapon that destroys all incoming missiles.
And it can destroy them at four hundred miles.
It vanishes the incoming missile by a pulse.
A pulse that both scrambles the electric machine in the missile,
and can vanish any other dangerous substances in it.
This weapon is a combination of light, which vaporize the contents.
And the second part of the combination is a pulse like a laser
but made of electromagnetic waves.
When the point of such a weapon is directed at an incoming object.
It destroys it without bad side effects.
the beam such a device uses, must have a method to be aimed directly to the vector.
this weapon, ought to exist when technology gets more and more advanced.
Imagine such weapons must be able to point in miliseconds.
Its software would be a masterpiece. In both speed and targetting precision.
A military appliance at least. to expensive for other purposes
Specification of Bio Chemical Cores
Origin of Intelligent Architecture
Units which need the size of a playcardbox, with the strength to endure a life time of using, have need for a strong form and less-failing algorithm.
Units which has the size that its helpfull for a human without having to worry about how to wear it, if others see it, or if it fails during life and
is not reparairable.
The bio-chemical core is from a special substance.
A substance made of insect life tissue.
By the long and deep research a core of life tissue gives a fault-tolerance and effectuous back box algorithm that
is able to fullfill the tasks for whiche these units are created and designed.
The biochemical core, needs a nutrition to function without the need to have costly minerals to feed it.
The parts in the core that are made from insects, live much longer as normal insects, because it
is chemically changed, and shielded with certain patented alloys
The biochemical core gives the intelligence to these units to fucnction with more that 98 percent effectiveness.
The core gives the functions to the units to behave good and able to be effect the purpose the unit is for.
Propulsion of Scout units
The propulsion is for the scout unit a requisite to functioning.
It has to be small, and to be resistant to weather and roughness.
The propulsion, is a patented way of travelling and moving, so its undisclosed scientific technology.
The quadracopters have the four rotors who moves the plane,
the unit has six rotors which are invisible behind a shield.
With a certain archictecture the rotors are able to move the unit in all different ways its needed to.
Contact to Brain
The units which have to do with communication to the brain need a way to contact it,
and to be able to be removed at will.
A small device of five milimeters is being injected in the upper part of the brain,
And the unit which is needed must be placed near it.
The implanted device works as an antenna to read out the thoughts and to put in the impression of what is to be known.
This contact gives the holder the intelligence, or the iq to be very smart.
In humans the vision and hearing sense is made by a water field, converting the impulses to a certain level and frequency.
To ensure that communication is done in a way not harming the person it is leveled through a water field.
A water field can be as small to fit in the brain contact.
But it can also be made as an external unit, when there is need for a large communication signal.
A water field, is made to convert the electrical signals to the human agent.
When there is a water field in use, the human agent can also at large distance pick up the signals
broadcasted by the water field.
Depending on the scale and the size of the water field, imagine a whole world being
in use to communicate by the water field.
With custom technology every human with a brain contact can be an agent.
With two reasons for a water field. One to contact a unit to the brain,
another to provide a way of telepathic communication between living and sentient beings.
Self regulating core
the part most difficult is the core that is acting as if its intelligent.
By metal there is no way to design an artificial intelligent core.
Not because its weak slow or single, but because its not variable.
The core used in the spidyc devices is a self regulating core.
A biochemical unit that utilizes the task itsmade for.
Learning with every decision, learning with every event that happens.
The self regulating core is made from tissue derived from insects.
But the core does more as a normal insect does.
It creates its core at every event in a part again.
Which results in a core that enhances and speeds up with every day its active.
Think of the core as a black box, that writes its own application, on a hardware core
that can change with the need for intelligent behaviour.
The unique product, the probes of spidyc are made of superb technology.
it probes a couple of base-materials
The first base material is metal in all its formula's
The second base material is petroleum and all its derivates like plastic and chemical combinations.
The third base is silicate and carbon elements used in all kind of products.
The fourth is force fields, elektromagnetic, photon-active beams, radiography and several other patended forms.
The fifth is photonix recombination of light emmiting sources.
Which is in short how you perceive an object, when its not activated by visible light beams, it renders invisible.
With the methods to artificially create such effects.
These are a couple of examples in what way an object or more objects can be probed using advanced probing technology.
Energy sources: Proton layers
A good device has an energy source which never depletes.
A good device had a kind of energy that is robust and protected against all circumstances where its used.
A good energy source which has all the good qualities and all the good functions is a proton layer substance.
As it is used in a layer of asynchronius hexagons, and has a shielding on the outward of carbon and ozone thin layer.
Because its made of proton layers the energy source is dependent on the spectrum of radio-waves.
As its made of a proton layer, with a fixed size and order the creation of energy gives the instruments in which its used
a good and stable energ source.
Photon shield
We all live in the light of our solar system with at its core our sun, solaris.
Because we have day light we can do a lot without artificial lighting.
The way light works is for a large part still a mystery.
A couple of decades ago we invented the laser beam.
A straight linear beam that has one light frequency.
The next step towards a world of civilisated science is a shield made of the visible part in light.
A light beam with a visible frequency is seen by us humans as a linear form, or a form in which the object is made.
imagine that a light beam confronted with a second beam, multiplies the energy in those beams to a combined spot or region.
This giving the light a form and intensity whereby either you don't see the object at all, or see the object as a bright sphere not
This has a theory behind it that is made of several assumptions.
Light is a wave with an intensity, frequency and velocity.
Light is an object, each particle in a medium that is a substratum through the universe.
If light travels through that substratum and is blocked by an object of any form, it creates the visible resemblance of that object
by light, visible to the observer.
When that substratum, is filled with an object that has no energy to block the light it renders invisible.
There are other theories as well which have the practical meaning that
at certain experiments light can have different roles making it either visible, invisible, large intense or blacksorted.
The photon shield, can be either a intense light blocking the view on the object behind it.
It can be a shift in substratum making the shield and the object invisible.
It can substract two light beams, making it semi-visible in a different way.
Space point of Identity
Imagine that in space a planet has a kind of identity based on both how the form is based in vision and other qualities.
But with an identity on coordinates too.
An adress where the planet is always pointed to
. An adres is like an ip adress for computers, but then it is the point where the planet can always be found.
When you would want to travel through space, you would be able to choose the identity spot,
and when going sub space step out at the right point.
Each planet, orb or space object has an adres.
Even our planet earth, a point of adres where when travelling through space
you can step in or out.
If you would use this identity method,
it is very easy to habitize new planets.
For it is easy to travel by coordinates in subspace.
when this travel method is available,
sub space movement of ships or rockets is a safe way of going from a to b.
subspace journeys as is the theme of many movies.
But almost no one has done it for real.
Adres identity is an idea that has been thought of by many.
But is only appearent in the computer world.
May our human race, choose with dignity to use such methods.
Leaving those worlds unvisited who do not like contact with us.
Natural printing instinct
As we as humans can use tools, and objects to aid us in the life of a society.
We use tools to create food, build homes, and organize our world.
As we see in animals a more simple way of using tools.
But if we compare us to a fictive kind of creatures.
They might have the source of printing life or dead tissue
. With the byproduct that its sustainable in its essence.
Imagine you could as easily print a book, as you would eat.
You for example meditate on an object. a statue of a god like vishnu.
And with a activation you create it in front of you without
needing computers, printers or any tool.
Now imagine that a creatrue of life, blood and form can do that
with its own body.
It can create by meditation or by thought objects.
It is also possible to create a kind of data carrier.
A data carrier already filled with information.
But printing as easy as printing a simple statue.
Printing of complex organisms as easy as a statue or data carrier.
Now imagine that in the time God according to the bible created humans
like his own. Would he have used a natural printing ability,
in his own power to do.
God making us, with his knowledge not even as an outside tool,
but as easy as giving someone a handshake.
As easy as blinking with the eye.
God was a superior being, having the ability to 3d print and differen molecule structures.
And giving it consciousness of its own.
Destination based product
When our ability to use quantum particles for our enhancements is getting
easier to make computers. make electronic devices.
Making life easier.
With the use of a quantum computer,
the way to code a program changes from the inside out.
instead of writing lines of code,
instead of using product cycles to make a new prototype.
The quantum computer works clockwise round.
You give the result, a description on what you want and how you want it.
You show the features and form of the product.
And the quantum computer, creates the program.
Destination based coding.
By a quantum computer.
In a while after thats possible,
the same is possible with the 3d printer.
Not just plastics but full scale.
give the input form of a complex radar system,
and the quantum printer creates the exact copy of the radar system.
Ofcourse i have no knowledge of radar systems, its just an example of a usage
of quantum computing and quantum processing.
Photon based energy source
Everyone knows when the day is starting that the sun comes around
the corner. showing its silver and orange light to a new day.
Daylight is the end of spooks and bad imaginations.
Daylight gives form to a controlled and productive day.
But photons as part of daylight gives a form of energy not
only giving warmth to the body, or light in our eyes.
As the nuclear bonding creates energy.
And nuclear splitting creates energy.
A photon beam,in an amplifier can create a beam thats
able to create energy.
photons as particles.
When a current is superceded its creating a flash and a wave of energy.
Catching the wave is able to support all electric needs.
The form factor of a Spaceship
When we believe the science fiction novels,
space ships have all kind of fancy forms.
From second handed fighter planes to superslim ships.
When a space ship is designed you ask three questions.
first; Which purpose does it have.
Second: which conditions is it bound to.
Third; Is cheap the best solution.
A purpose can be, its needed for recognance, or its needed for material transport.
or its needed for protection by weaponry.
The second, conditions can be: its has to fly near the sun,
so its needed a form that can withstand heat.
condition can be its needed for a flight of hundred years.
A condition can be its needed to hold human life to evacuate to a distant solar system.
The third, how cheap can it be.
Sometimes you choose cheap when the money which is needed is not there.
The budget often makes the choice how good it can be a secondary one.
three examples:
When a ship penetrates the atmosphere it able to protect the inner for
grave gravity, heat of flying and landing support.
second example,
when a space ship is only needed for space travel,
you do not need a slim or aerodynamic form.
it can even be a cube, because no air, no wind is there.
Third example.
when its a pod without life on board you do not need air,
or lifefunctions on board.
Gravity Pulsar for movement
On earth we have the gravity as a constant field making our bodies,
as well as all other to return at ground.
When you jump you don't feel gravity, but your body reacts to it.
When a plane rises from the earth, it needs energy to fullfill the
take off from the surface.
When we need a rocket to travel through the atmosphere,
it needs extra energy to escape gravity.
In the future we will be able to manipulate gravity waves.
giving objects the feature of nullyfing it.
Imagine a space ship with a gravity sail.
It uses gravity not to be bound to earth but to escape it by the sail.
The theory it that when a antimatter had opposite features, it has a new way to aid us in science.
Now imagine a gravity sail can be used to counter gravity,
and by the size of the sail, a small or large ship can
sail from earth to the solar system where no gravity is.
Another function is like having ships or stations
floating above ground. with a sail not needing any energy.
submit to the first cruise in the air, floating a year above ground, from
the old to the new world.
making castles go up in the sky. making a living for
those who can afford.
Gel based printing
Currentday printing is with plastic wire, and a melting head.
which can print 3d articles. plastic.
Other uses are more complex and not consumers product.
There are a couple methods which have advantage.
Example: A cube of gel, 20 by 20 centimeters.
by a head consisting of three laser beams.
with heatsignature lasers.
The crossline of the lasers heat up a square of one tenth milimeter in the cube.
that square become solid. Plastic alloy.
A second example is the gel cube made of a two component substance.
when heat activates the two component to merge, it heats it.
Afterwards the fluid gel can be washed away,
and you have the solid product.
For being sure, the printing method is about the range of squares to be
lit up. not just one square.
it works the same as printig a document of one page with full page of text
Ozone layers
Ozone, everyone knows what it is, where it is and whats it for.
It is the substance with molecule similarity as oxygen.
It is above the earth in the stratosphere.
And it cleans the light from harmfull radiation.
Ozone has the three oxygen formula.
The method to clean air can be used for other purposes as well.
It can be used to store data in a mesh of ozone molecules and carbon molecules.
A second usage is to store electric current.
Because its tribased, it can be used with a catalyst to
create a temporal overkill or over-pressure.
Its a short term energy saver.
The third its useable to clean water.
Atlantis computers
As the myth of atlantis is in our books.
As everyone sometimes dreams of a superior civilisation.
Atlantis which according to scriptures was punished because of its
Atlantis as i give sight on one of its secrets.
As computers we use electrical based parts, and materials.
With copper wires, silicate chips. And other kinds of metals and materials.
In Atlantis they had the art of science as the basis for their shining time.
In Atlantis they used technlogy as a basis of public domain insights.
When an inventor created something new, he was awarded by their society
so he could live and support himself, and the invention was property of
the society.
Because of that rule, they were able to rise fast and good in their science.
In our western world, we have the drawback that science is patented by inventors,
which obstructs the use of it in the whole of asociety.
One part of the computing in Atlantis was the basis of light technology.
Imagine that a computer made of jewelry was able to compute at multiple and increased speed and precision.
A computer made of ruby's, sapphire, diamonds, with the use of light which beamed through the parts.
Even as a artfull peace creating colors it was a beauty.
But as a computer, it was superior.
May our civilisation once be good enough to invent these computers.
Compared to our technology is the use of atomic time diagnosis, a first step
towards that beautifull use of technology.
Error retention
In our world of binary programs,
In our world with bio technical science
We see in our race to make dna as a language understandable.
That we read out all dna of all living known creatures.
The humans have 99 percent in common with each other.
but still we see at the faces of our family and friends
different looks and forms.
In our race to use dna to change the characteristics of our offspring, or our family.
We see that the code when we change it, does change the look,
but we don't know if there are bad sides of it.
A small tip of the veil is that in dna a different coding error retention is
visible. its in natural dna hidden by the patterns that by real intercourse and offspring.
When we would manipulate dna in humans at a regular scale,
we will see that the error retention code in our dna
will change the characteristics, when the generation after generation will be in change.
These dna retention, if we would have a simple explanation,
is to ensure that manipulating dna will not have a long life.
Nature is not fooling us, its just saving its own code.
When we would unlock the error retention code,
its possible that we know enough about the building blocks of life,
then the error retention code would be an obstacle we can overcome.
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Skepticism, Religion Archive
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
John Gray Misrepresents New Atheists in Vox Interview
John GrayI like Vox in general, but it recently published an interview with John Gray criticizing New Atheism. Now, I'm not enamored with the label of 'New Atheism', but I suppose that if I had to choose where my views mostly align, New Atheism would be it. Now maybe I'm not as closely aligned with New Atheism as I suppose, but I have to say that many of Gray's criticisms, and those of the interviewer, Sean Illing, just don't reflect my own views at all.
I'll start by giving my own understanding of New Atheism. Because the existence of gods is an objective question, the best tool to try to determine whether or not any gods actually do exist is science 'loosely defined'* - the systematic and rational study of evidence. Despite some apologetic waffling, most people actually do approach religion looking for evidence - written scriptures, archaeological confirmation of their scriptures, miracles of the divine directly interacting in the world, etc. But I think most people fail in the systematic and rational evaluation of such evidence (and since religions are mutually contradictory, most people are necessarily wrong).
My disagreement with the Gray interview started with the headline itself, "Why science can't replace religion: John Gray on the myths the New Atheists' tell themselves." This is a theme that he repeated throughout the interview - science replacing religion. But that's not the New Atheist position. Yes, science is great at what it does - answering objective questions. It's by far the best method humanity has developed for this purpose. And that does conflict with many of the objective claims coming from religions. But, addressing objective claims is science's only purpose. Science has nothing to say on right or wrong, beautiful or ugly, awe-inspiring or mundane. For those types of concerns, we turn to other fields - ethics, philosophy, art, etc. Setting up the debate as science alone vs. religion is a false dichotomy. (I've written about this in much more detail on Quora, including some passages I lifted verbatim for this paragraph.)
Moving on to the article itself, I'll start with a quote from the introduction, from Sean Illing.
Although they were right about a lot of things, the New Atheists missed something essential about the role of religion. For them, religion was just a protoscience -- our first attempt at biology and history and physics. But religion is so much more than a set of claims about the world, and you can't fully understand if you don't account for that.
Illing is making the New Atheist position seem much less nuanced than it is. Of course New Atheists recognize that there are a huge variety of approaches to religion and varying beliefs among the religious. When it comes to other religions outside of theism, some New Atheists actually embrace them. There are plenty of atheists in Unitarian Universalist church pews. Some atheists even practice non-supernatural versions of more traditional religions such as Buddhism (including Sam Harris, one of the 'Four Horsemen' of New Atheism). It's simply misrepresenting the New Atheist position to say that they see religion as simply a protoscience with no other roles.
New Atheists do tend to focus their criticisms on more literal forms of Christianity, but that's because a) New Atheists tend to live in places where Christianity is the dominant religion, and b) literal forms of Christianity tend to be the more harmful versions in those places (other brands of harmful religion just don't have the same influence in those places). Paraphrasing what I've said before, if religion was all soup kitchens and homeless shelters, or even just spaghetti dinners and Christmas bazaars, New Atheists wouldn't have nearly as much to get worked up about.
Moreover, it's the fundamentalist religionists who are making "a set of claims about the world", so of course New Atheists are going to respond. And to be clear, fundamentalist Christians aren't some fringe group. Somewhere around 38% of Americans are creationists, and many of them push to get creationism taught in schools. So, with only so many hours in a day, of course I'm going to focus my criticisms on those types of religion, rather than more innocuous or nebulous religions that don't so clearly contradict reality or cause as much harm in society.
Something as ancient, as profound, as inexhaustibly rich as religion or religions can't really be written off as an intellectual error by clever people. Most of these clever people are not that clever when compared with really clever people like Wittgenstein or Saint Augustine or Pascal -- all philosophers of the past who seriously engaged the religious perspective.
This seems to be a standard complaint from religiously sympathetic philosophers - New Atheists don't take religion seriously enough. If we did, we'd grapple with the profundity of it all. But yes, smart people from the past really can be mistaken, no matter how much serious thought they've given to problems. Geocentricism was respectable up until the Copernican Revolution in the 1500s. That's millennia of serious, very intelligent philosophers having such a profound mistake about something as simple as the motion of celestial bodies. So I don't think it's hard to imagine they could be wrong about religion, as well, considering the societal pressure and the motivated reasoning of wanting to avoid Hell, and especially considering trying to make sense of the world in a pre-scientific age.
These New Atheists are mostly ignorant of religion, and only really concerned with a particular kind of monotheism, which is a narrow segment of the broader religious world.
Now, maybe Gray is comparing New Atheists to PhD philosophers, but New Atheists tend to be more knowledgeable of religion than the general public. Here's an article describing a poll from a few years ago, Survey: Atheists, Agnostics Know More About Religion Than Religious. Atheists on average knew more about the diversity of religions than believers (e.g Christians knew very little about Buddhism), and atheists even had better knowledge of the Bible than Christians as a whole (but not quite as good as white evangelicals).
I can't resist quoting this statement. It's not wrong, per se, but it does seem like a stereotype of an overly-wordy philosopher:
If Darwinism is right, and I think it's the best approximation we have to the truth about how humans came into the world, then all aspects of the human animal are shaped by the imperatives of survival.
That's like calling heliocentricism the best approximation we have to the truth about how celestial bodies move in our solar system, or a NASA created globe the best approximation we have to the truth about the geography of Earth. I mean, sure, everything we know about the universe is an approximation at some level, but in normal conversation, can't we simply say that certain things are just true? Couldn't he have just said something like, "Since we evolved..."
A bit later, he was making arguments in line with the headline.
There's this silly idea that we have no need for religion anymore because we have science, but this is an incredibly foolish notion, since religion addresses different needs than science, needs that science can't address.
And then this:
That's where religion steps in.
But why religion? Why not secular philosophy? Or ethics? Just because people claim that religion addresses these other issues doesn't mean that it addresses them adequately or gives good answers. Heck, there's no guarantee that there even are satisfying answers to some of these questions no matter how you want to address them.
Genesis is not a theory of the origins of the world. It's not obsolete, primitive science. It's not a solution to the problem of knowledge. Religion isn't like that. Religion is a body of practices, of stories and images, whereby humans create or find meanings in their lives.
I get a bit tired of hearing this style of argument, let's call it the Philosopher's Religion, that religious believers of the past were all these sophisticated philosopher types who 'obviously' didn't take their scriptures seriously on a literal level, and that it's only modern day simpletons who corrupt scripture and take Genesis at its word, or even New Atheists misrepresenting the religious to try to make them look more primitive.
Let's take a look at what Saint Augustine had to say about some of the claims of Genesis - one of those 'clever' deep thinkers Gray mentioned earlier in the interview.
He also wrote extensively about Adam and Eve in formulating his views on Original Sin. And he clearly saw Adam and Eve as two real-life people. (more info - Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas on Original Sin and Augustine's Literal Adam)
So, it seems that Saint Augustine was taking the general history from Genesis pretty seriously. Granted, he thought the seven days were metaphorical, but only because he believed God created the universe in an instant. And yes, ancient theologians did have varying views of the degree of metaphor vs. literalism in interpreting the Bible (and not necessarily mutually contradictory, if they thought the Bible could be interpreted on multiple levels), but it's not like theologians who took the Bible as literal truth were a rarity. (I actually cover a bit about the age of the universe and how many theologians accepted a 6,000 - 8,000 year age in a Quora answer.)
The point is, plenty of very smart people throughout history have interpreted the Bible fairly literally, as an actual history of Earth and civilization. Without outside context, there's no obvious reason not to. I wish people like Gray would quit insisting that the 'Philosopher's' interpretation was the original, widely agreed upon view.
There's no doubt that religions have contained many ideas that have caused humans harm. There's not the slightest doubt about that. All human institutions cast a shadow which comes from the evil they carry within themselves.
[skipping ahead a bit]
At the same time, we should remember that many of the secular religions of the 20th century condemned gay people, for example.
Homosexuality was illegal for most of the time that the Soviet Union existed. Doctors who performed abortions in communist Romania could be sent to prison, and in some cases even subjected to capital punishment. Many of the worst features or the worst human harms inflicted by monotheism have been paralleled in the secular religions of modern times.
So ideas do have consequences. All we can do is try to embody these traditions as much as possible. There isn't some form of life, not even an imaginary type of pure liberalism, that is free of these terrible consequences.
Gray's point about 'secular religions' is a good one, but also one that New Atheists would agree with. When looking at the example of Soviet Russia, the problem was the authoritarianism and forced dogma. Lysenkoism is an oft-cited example of how rejection of evidence can lead to horrible outcomes. So yes, New Atheists promote critical thinking and following evidence. They tend to be skeptics first, and the atheism is just fallout from following the evidence. If you merely reject gods but don't follow the critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning, you may be an atheist, but not really part of New Atheism.
Moving past secular religions, Gray's observation that secular institutions have done bad things is entirely unremarkable. That's human nature. The question is not whether all the ills of the world are attributable to religion, because they're obviously not. The question is whether religion is a positive or negative influence on balance, remembering that it will depend on the particular religion. (And even this would only a consideration for how vigorously atheists should criticize different religions - it doesn't change whether or not they're true.)
Let me put it another way. Many secular pursuits are a blank slate as far as morality. They'll take on the morality of the society around them, but they're morally neutral. Religions propose to define morality. They're not neutral. They don't just take on the morality of the surrounding society, but also shape that morality. And when you have a set of scriptures like the Bible, there are a lot of distasteful moral lessons. I mean, do you really think there would be anywhere near as much discrimination against the LGBT+ community without Christian 'morals'?
So yes, as humanity increasingly leaves behind traditional religion (e.g. 5 key findings about the changing U.S. religious landscape), members of society will have to ensure that we don't simply let religion be replaced by non-supernatural alternatives. But given the numerous studies on the topic (e.g. Secular Societies Fare Better Than Religious Societies, I don't think that's something we need to be overly concerned about.
I think you've put it very closely to the way I put it in the book. Most forms of organized atheism are attempts to fashion God surrogates. In other words, one of the paradoxes of contemporary atheism is that it's a flight from a genuinely godless world.
I'm most interested in the atheists who've seriously asked what it's like to live in a godless world. Not to construct some alternative God, like reimagining humanity as some collective agent that manifests itself through history or science or some other redemptive force.
I'm not really sure how Gray thinks atheists should be responding to a godless world. Are we supposed to be more solemn once we realize there's no god running the universe and looking out for us? Going around in a funk because we're on our own and there's no cosmic justice? Or are we supposed to be happy once we realize there's no cosmic tyrant who can condemn souls to Hell on a whim, or for the crime of doubt? It really all depends on your viewpoint and which conception of god(s) you're considering.
And what about that last sentence? Many people I know would like for all people to work together to try to make a better society. It's a goal, an aspiration we hope to accomplish. And yes, we often talk about 'society' as a collective, and we'll use collective terms like 'zeitgeist' in our discussions of society. Are New Atheists supposed to ignore these social aspects of humanity and become misanthropes, and leave all that social cooperation to the religious? You can recognize that groups have collective behaviors and emergent properties without pretending there's anything mystical or 'redemptive' about it.
I don't know what more of a reaction there should be to a godless world other than saying that the universe is what it is, and it's in our own hands to fashion society how we want it to be.
I think we should regard religions as great works of the human imagination rather than pictures of the world intended to capture what is empirically true. Any atheism that fails to do this will invariably miss what is most essential and enduring about religion, and probably make the mistake of smuggling religious assumptions into their secular alternative to religion.
I would challenge Gray to visit First Baptist Church here in Wichita Falls on a Sunday morning and poll the parishioners about their religious beliefs. Would they be okay with describing Jesus as merely a 'great work of the human imagination'? Does it matter to them whether the crucifixion and resurrection were 'empirically true', or would it be fine if those were metaphorical myths built up over the years? I'm willing to bet a very large sum of money that these religious people actually do care a great deal about the empirical truth of their religion.
I think we have to own up to it, because the danger of thinking that science can provide values has been demonstrated many times. What often happens is that science simply validates the ruling values of the time, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, those were racist values.
Refer, again, to what I quoted from myself up above. Science neither defines nor validate values. It's an attempt to determine objective truth. Values come from other parts of humanity outside science.
Aside from the many mischaracterizations of New Atheism in this interview, what always gets me about views like these is the conception of what religion should be, the Philosopher's Religion as I termed it up above. Gray's not just criticizing New Atheists, he also seems to be implying the 'right' way to be religious. Granted, there are plenty of people who view religion in this more metaphorical, values-only way, but it's not the mainstream view of the masses. Most religious people actually do literally believe in gods and spirits and all the other supernatural elements. Sure there are emotional reasons that motivate people to accept religion, but people aren't accepting the purely emotional reasons and then rejecting all the empirical claims. They take their holy books at least somewhat at face value. They don't see the claims as 'as great works of the human imagination'. They really, honestly believe that many of the events described did indeed literally happen.
But even then, the emotional answers that religion gives aren't always the best answers available. As I've said numerous times throughout this response, there are better approaches than religion to these more subjective aspects of our lives, such as philosophy, ethics, and art. Do you really want people getting their ethics from books written thousands of years ago by anonymous authors with unknown motivations? Or would you rather they did a little bit more applied thinking on the issues?
Image Source: BBC
*That definition comes from the evolutionary biologist, Jerry Coyne. Speaking of which, he's written his own response to this interview. I purposely avoided reading it, though, until I was done with this response, to make sure I wouldn't be biased by what he had to say. But if you want to ready what Coyne had to say, you can follow this link:
John Gray and Sean Illing go after New Atheism for the bazillionth time, but offer no new (or incisive) arguments
Monday, April 30, 2018
Annoyed at Headlines - Star Trek Wasn't Prophetic on Brain Death
Starfleet LogoI know that science reporting ain't what it used to be. And even in the 'old days', when newspapers had decent sized science departments, headlines could be misleading. Still, the reporting on a recent study has irked me enough to become a cranky old man and call it out here on my blog.
Here are a few examples of the coverage. Pay attention to what those headlines are implying.
Here's how Vice summarized the findings of the study.
[Jans] Dreier works at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, one of Germany's leading university hospitals. In February, the 52-year-old and his colleague, Jed Hartings, published a study that details what happens to our brain at the point of death. It describes how the brain's neurons transmit electrical signals with full force one last time before they completely die off. Though this phenomenon, popularly known in the medical community as a "brain tsunami," had previously only been seen in animals, Dreier and Hartings were able to show it in humans as they died. Their work goes on to suggest that in certain circumstances, the process could be stopped entirely, theorizing that it could be done if enough oxygen is supplied to the brain before the cells are destroyed.
About 2/3 of the way through that Vice article, you find the following interview question and answer with the study author.
So how did you find out that an episode of Star Trek had predicted your findings 30 years ago?
My colleague, Jed Hartings, brought it to my attention after watching the scene and noticing how similar it is to our work. My best guess is that the creators of Star Trek must have found research at the time that detailed a similar process in animals. The first person to research these sort of brain waves was a Brazilian neurophysiologist who conducted studies on rabbits in the 1940s. All we've done is show it in humans, which has taken this long because medical research in general is an incredibly slow process.
So in reality, this is a process first studied in the 1940s. The big innovation in this study is that it was done on human subjects, rather that non-human animals, but it shouldn't be a shock at all that human brains function the same as other mammal brains. So, Star Trek's writers back in the '80s were just using an already known phenomenon in their script. You could praise the writers for getting the science right (because they didn't always), but it's not like they made some profound prediction that science is only now catching up with.
All this isn't to say that the new study isn't fascinating. Of course it's interesting to do this study on actual people instead of other animals. But it doesn't sound like it found anything that wasn't already expected.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
The Real Story of the Resurrection (maybe)
For Easter weekend, I'm going to recycle a relevant answer I recently wrote on Quora. The question was, If Jesus wasn't resurrected, where did his physical body go? Below is my answer, with a few edits.
I just finished reading Bart Ehrman's book, How Jesus Became God : the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, and Ehrman makes a good case for the empty tomb story being invented in the decades after Jesus's death, not one of the earliest Christian beliefs. In other words, there's no need to explain a mystery of what happened to Jesus's body, because there's no credible story of it ever going missing.
The earliest Christian writings in the New Testament are the seven authentic letters of Paul. Paul doesn't discuss an empty tomb in any of his writings, nor make any mention of Joseph of Arimathea. The empty tomb story doesn't show up until the gospel of Mark, which was written decades later.
Ehrman also points out that it would have been very unusual for the Roman authorities to allow a criminal who had been crucified to have a decent, private burial. The "exception that proves the rule" was that crucified criminals were allowed to be taken down during celebrations for the emperor. The author who documented this (I believe it was Philo) made a point to say that it was an unusual occurrence for such celebrations, implying that it was very uncommon, otherwise. And Passover was a Jewish holiday, and one associated with Jewish unrest towards Roman authorities, so it seems unlikely that Pilate would have made an exception in Jesus's case.
Ehrman thinks that the resurrection came to be believed originally because a few disciples and apostles had visions of Jesus after his crucifixion. Ehrman makes some attempts to stay neutral on whether or not the visions were true, but he also cited some studies showing that somewhere around 1 in 10 people claim to have had visions of deceased loved ones. Such visions aren't uncommon. In fact, doing some research on my own, I found an article about these "post-bereavement hallucinatory experiences" (PBHEs). Per the headline, Six in ten grieving people 'see or hear dead loved ones'*. (Just to be clear, these visions of the disciples were likely private visions by a few individuals, not the extensive interactions of the gospels.)
So, a plausible scenario is that Jesus was arrested and crucified in Jerusalem by the Roman governor, Pilate, because of Jesus's claims to be king (whether Jesus was talking literally or implying something more heavenly wouldn't have made much difference to Pilate). His corpse was likely treated like any other crucified criminal's - possibly left up for a period as an example, possibly with his final remains going into a mass grave. Jesus's closest followers, meanwhile, would have fled back to Galilee, and not been in Jerusalem to see the ultimate fate of Jesus's body. In Galilee, a few had visions of Jesus, and became convinced he had been resurrected. From there, legends grew up around Jesus, including the story of a specific grave subsequently found empty.
Of course, not all scholars agree with Ehrman, even among non-Christian scholars. Personally, I find Ehrman's arguments persuasive, but we're talking about an event 2000 years ago, that wouldn't have been particularly noteworthy to most people when it happened, and where the people for whom it was significant would have been illiterate and not making written records of what they saw (those written records wouldn't come for at least a few years later with Paul, and many years later with the gospels). I doubt we'll ever know for certain the exact details of what happened.
I'll add that Ehrman's interpretation makes Jesus's story incredibly heart breaking, which is especially poignant nearing Good Friday when the crucifixion is commemorated. At least in the orthodox version, Jesus was fulfilling his destiny and doing what he'd come to Earth to do. And in the mythical Jesus hypotheses, the whole crucifixion story may be made up, anyway. But thinking about an actual human preacher, arrested, tortured, and crucified, while his followers fled in fear back to their hometowns, is a very, very sad story.
*If you have access (I don't), here's the study that article was about:
For a good bit more detail, but still far short of reading the book, here's an article on Huffington Post:
How Jesus Became God
And here's an interview with Ehrman on NPR:
Friday, February 9, 2018
Response to Email - The New Lord's Prayer
Praying HandsI recently received the type of chain email that I couldn't resist responding to. It was titled "new Lord's prayer....awesome", but it was really a play on Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, not the Lord's Prayer. At any rate, it was all about how students supposedly aren't allowed to express themselves religiously in schools any more (and for good measure it threw in some of the sinful things they are allowed to do).
Just to give a taste, here is the first stanza of the poem. The full email can be found below the fold.
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd
This poem simply doesn't reflect the law. Here's an article from the Washington Post explaining the issues:
Can students pray in public schools? Can teachers say 'Merry Christmas'? What's allowed -- and what's forbidden.
For something more official, here's the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education:
Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
In fact, here's a short excerpt from the DoE page:
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment requires public school officials to be neutral in their treatment of religion, showing neither favoritism toward nor hostility against religious expression such as prayer. Accordingly, the First Amendment forbids religious activity that is sponsored by the government but protects religious activity that is initiated by private individuals, and the line between government-sponsored and privately initiated religious expression is vital to a proper understanding of the First Amendment's scope. As the Court has explained in several cases, "there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect."
In shorter terms, teachers, principals, and other government employees can't push religion while on the clock and representing the government (though they're free to do so on their own time), while students are perfectly free to exercise their religious rights, including praying or reading the Bible.
Invariably, there will be isolated incidents of schools not understanding the law and restricting students' rights, but these are usually curtailed pretty quickly. Multiple examples can be found on the ACLU's website. It's just that cases of government employees overstepping the law by improperly endorsing religion are far more common than government employees overstepping the law by restricting the free practice of religion.
ACLU Defense of Religious Practice and Expression in Public Schools
I'd also note that events like See You at the Pole are not rare. You can go to their Facebook page to see photos of students from all across the country gathering to pray on school campuses. Here are some photos specifically from Old High here in Wichita Falls. And here's a photo from my high school Alma mater up in 'liberal' Maryland. And on a personal level, at all of the high school graduations I've been to in recent years for nieces, nephews, family friends, and my daughter, there's always been at least one student speech religious in nature or including a prayer.
Finally, here's an open letter from an evangelical Christian as food for thought (on World Net Daily of all places), Why I'm Against Pre-Game Prayers. Basically, he was in a community where Buddhism was the predominant religion, so a Buddhist prayer was recited at the Friday night high school football game. It gave him a completely different perspective on what it's like to not be part of the majority religion when prayers are offered at public school events.
Image Source: Wikimedia
Continue reading "Response to Email - The New Lord's Prayer" »
Friday, September 29, 2017
Creationists' Weird Concepts of Hyper-Evolution
Note: This entry adapted from Quora.
While some creationists may be of the sort convinced by the saying, "The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it," many more want to show that the their beliefs are rational and supported by evidence. In this search for rational explanations, many of the more intellectual creationists actually do accept evolution in certain forms, though they'll often refuse to say so. For example, here's an example from Answers in Genesis, Speciation, Yes; Evolution, No. The title says it all. The writer comes out and says that certain phenomena that are part of evolution actually occur, but then denies that this is 'evolution'.
It even included this figure:
AiG 'Adaptation', not 'Evolution'
Image Source: Answers in Genesis, Click to embiggen
It looks almost like the branching pattern you see in mainstream biology textbooks, with the big difference being that they've decided to stop going back any further than the 'kinds' that were created in the Garden of Eden.
In fact, for creationists who take the Noah's Ark story seriously, and have given any thought at all to what it would take to fit representatives of all the world's animals on the ark, it becomes very obvious that there's no possible way to fit every single species. So, they focus on the word 'kind', claiming that kind is more akin to families instead of species, and that Noah only had to take representatives of the different kinds. Then, once the flood waters dried up, the descendants of those rescued animals would go on to 'adapt' (not evolve, of course) into many new species.
Here's another example from Answers in Genesis, this one from the page, Reimagining Ark Animals.
AiG - Cat 'Adaptation', not 'Evolution'
Image Source: Answers in Genesis, Click to embiggen
Yes. Creationists are proposing that all living cats have a common ancestor.
And here are a few photos people took at The Creation Museum:
AiG Horse 'Adaptation', not 'Evolution'
Image Source:, Click to embiggen
Image Source: - Creation Museum Part 5
AiG Dog 'Adaptation', not 'Evolution'
Image Source:, Click to embiggen
These particular creationists are proposing some rather large 'adaptations' over the generations.
Granted, it does get a little hard to explain creationist rationale since it's not always fully coherent. For example, in that first article I linked to (Speciation, Yes; Evolution, No), the writer says that this type of adaptation is possible thanks to a large gene pools with already existing variation. In fact, I'll include one last figure to show the claim:
AiG 'Adaptation', not 'Evolution'
Image Source: Answers in Genesis
And creationists are very fond of saying that no new information can be created through genetic mutation. But look at the types of adaptation Answers in Genesis was proposing for all those animals after the flood. Even with clean animals that had 7 pairs instead of just 1 pair, there's no way their genomes would have had all the variation necessary to produce the varied offspring Answers in Genesis is claiming. And the time scales they're proposing (remember - the flood was only a few thousand years ago) are far more rapid than anything from actual science. It's almost funny that the creationists who deny 'evolution' so vehemently, go on to propose this type of hyper evolution.
But even with this hyper evolution, creationists claim that adaptation can only go so far, and that animals of a certain kind will only ever go on to have descendants of the same kind, as if there's some kind of magic stop sign in the genome.
Anyway, many creationists don't actually deny certain evolutionary principles. In fact, many creationists amp those principles up to 11 to deal with other inconvenient facets of creationism. But, they'll steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that it's 'evolution'. I mean, one breeding pair of cats evolving into lions, tigers, ocelots, bobcats, jaguars, and all the other cats in a mere 6000 years is perfectly reasonable. But a common ancestor between cats and dogs would just be silly.
Selling Out
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I Remember Two Things from Religion Class
Our fifth grade text book for religion class had a poem in it that I remember. I guess you'd call it a poem. It said:
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love when I feel it not.
I believe in God even when He is silent.
It said it was found on the wall of a Nazi prison camp. That, and the story of Moses crossing the desert are the only things I really remember from religion classes, and I went to Catholic grade school and Catholic high school until the middle of junior year. That's a lot of years of regular religion classes without a lot to show for it. What did we talk about all those years? I have no idea.
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Ambuscade (40)
From Project Seven Years War
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Hierarchical Path: Seven Years War (Main Page) >> Navies >> British Navy >> Ambuscade (40)
Origin and History
The ship was captured from the French on April 21 1746.
At the end of April 1747, the ship was part of vice-admiral Anson's squadron which intercepted a French convoy of 38 sails off Cape Finisterre (Spain).
• 1759: captain Richard Gwynn
The frigate was sold to privateers in 1762 along with the Kingston (60).
Service during the War
On August 18 1759, the frigate was at the victorious battle of Lagos.
To do: campaigns from 1760 to 1762
In 1762, the privateers who had just bought the frigate from the Royal Navy, organised a raid on Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Their squadron, under the command of Robert McNamara from the East India Company, consisted of the Lord Clive (60), the Ambuscade (40), 2 Portuguese ships transporting 500 foot, and 5 storeships. On November 2, the squadron sailed from Rio de Janeiro towards the mouth of the Río de la Plata but soon abandoned the project because of the strong resistance of the Spaniards. On January 6 1763, during a second attempt, the squadron came under the fire of the Spanish coastal defences. The Lord Clive (60) was lost and the Ambuscade (40) was severely damaged but managed to return to Rio de Janeiro.
Technical specifications
Guns 40
Gun deck ???
Quarter deck ???
Crew ???
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Comments on: The dot-xxx debacle Blog, news, books Thu, 12 Oct 2017 08:56:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Peter Rock Thu, 11 May 2006 06:10:57 +0000 News from BBC.
Ultimately, I think Seth nailed it:
when everyone across a political spectrum, from civil-libertarians to censors, agrees that something is a bad idea, and its only major proponent is the organization which wants to make money off it – that’s a pretty good indication that it’s a bad idea.
By: ACS Mon, 08 May 2006 20:17:37 +0000 I strongly oppose the creation of .xxx precisely because it would then be easy and tempting for someone to make a law requiring all “adult material” to be registered under .xxx. Such a law would be a very bad thing for all the usual free speech reasons.
I dont understand they would still have freedom of speech (just try and take it away). This seems to me to be a form of organisation of compilation of materials rather than censorship.
In any event the porn industry is not known for compliance with legislative instruments dictating thier operations and it would be likely to fail from a practical point of view rather than a legal one.
By: Peter Rock Mon, 08 May 2006 12:10:34 +0000 Peter Herndon,
My statements require no understanding of Kant. They do not require belief in Him or the Bible as His word. Although Wikipedia and common usage of “vice” may not agree with me, I’m not trying to prove a technicality. I’m simply saying that if someone has a destructive relationship with something, the key to the ending of destruction lay in the observer, not the observed. I’m not trying to argue a system to spell out what it means to act morally. Following any system or code of morality is destructive.
Robert said:
I disagree with the blanket statement given by Peter Rock
Unfortunately, I have not made myself clear. I don’t advocate blankets for any use other than keeping one warm on a cold night. I too am a parent of a very young child. Obviously, each situation must be seen for what it is and a decision made based upon circumstances. I’m not going to let a baby stick her hand in the fire because I believe in some “liberal” parenting system. However, I can honestly say that I will never bar my child from looking at pornography. But let’s make this clear from the start – this does not mean I will be bringing home a stack of explicit magazines for my child to look at nor will I be adding such bookmarks to my browser. The fact is, by the time my child is old enough to be curious about such things, my child will be old enough to engage in a discussion with me. Although I have confidence that my discussion will (either immediately or eventually) lead to my child discovering the vapidity of pornography, that is not important. What is important is to make sure the child is compassionately and thoroughly questioned yet given the ultimate decision to behave how he or she wishes. In the case of pornography, I believe a combination (conversation/restriction) is contradictory and sends the wrong message to a child.
By: Seth Finkelstein Mon, 08 May 2006 00:46:18 +0000 Andrew: The most spectacular failure of a whitelist idea was the domain: (“Two years after the USG mandated childsafe second level domain opened for business, it hosts, one can hardly say boasts, a scant 21 live websites.”)
You can read about the history of one system on The Net Labelling Delusion Saviour or Devil
Search for “CyberYES” to read about one commercial whitelist which might still exist, though not a big seller itself.
The basic problem is that all the proposals work off a model which is empirically wrong. It’s something the writer thinks *other* people should want, but they don’t. It’s very roughly:
Censor: “I want ‘X’”
Civil-Libertarian: “Here’s ‘Y’.”
“But I don’t want ‘Y’. I want ‘X’”
“According to what I view you want – or deserve – you should be happy with ‘Y’”
“I told you, I don’t want ‘Y’. I want ‘X’”
“But according to my analysis, ‘Y’ fits your needs”
“I’ll say it again: I DON’T WANT ‘Y”. I WANT ‘X’”
[Here: X == targeted material marginalized as much as possible. Y == A personal blacklist or whitelist]
Branko: Again, whitelists have been available for a long time. It’s not like the debate is going to advance from where it is now.
By: Branko Collin Sun, 07 May 2006 21:38:36 +0000 Andrew, sandboxes lack of success may be explained by the fact that using them requires action by parties that feel that they shouldn’t have to do anything. I doubt parents and puritans feel it is their task to keep the internet “clean”. (Not my opinion, btw.)
Another reason may be that the internet tends to be leaky. To given an example: the boss at a part-time job once asked me to rid his home computer of porn (that he had not put there), because his kids kept running into it. Turned out he had spyware on his pc, so that when their kids visited the wholesome websites that would fall inside the whitelists or outside the blacklists, they still got confronted with pornographic pop-ups. I had the difficult task of telling him that his kids might run into porn no matter how clean his pc.
(Of course I also told him about the dangers of downloading and installing stuff willy-nilly.)
By: Branko Collin Sun, 07 May 2006 21:13:45 +0000 Seth, thanks, it’s clear now. :-)
Unfortunately, I did not make that argument. I wish to use the mere presence of whitelists (whether they are useful or not–and I agree that “not” is the more likely answer) as a strategic tool to ward off any attempts to limit free speech under the emotional argument of “won’t anybody think of the children”.
I don’t care whether whitelists actually get used or not. I just want to be able to say, “I’ve done my bit, now if you folks” (whether it’s parents or puritans) “don’t wish to use the tools I’ve given you, that’s your problem.”
A cynical position? Undoubtedly. We put speed bumps in the road based on the cynical position that drivers won’t adhere to the law.
By: Andrew Sun, 07 May 2006 18:00:30 +0000 Seth,
Can you give (or point me to) some examples of the failures of the blacklist -> whitelist sequence (aside from .xxx) over the last decade? I’m fairly new to this debate and don’t know what you are referring to.
Also, why is it that, regarding the sandbox, “NOBODY WANTS IT”? If Kurt and Tim think it’s a good idea, and concerned parent Robert feels children’s “internet safety” is an issue that needs to be addressed, why are there no customers? Is it a defect in the marketing strategy? To extend the sandbox metaphor, are they marketing the boxed-in, sanitary features of the sandbox and not the things that make sandboxes fun, like buckets and shovels and dump trucks? Or is it a case of the public misrepresenting what they want in regards to “internet safety”?
By: Seth Finkelstein Sun, 07 May 2006 14:48:07 +0000 It’s not “fortified positions” so much as “insulated from practice”. That is, the top-level policy people keep putting forth the same vague points, without incorporating where they’ve been tested and failed.
I didn’t want to seem to be harsh on you while making the point, that the argument that concerned parents can use whitelists, hasn’t worked politically. What I mean by rarified debate is roughly this sequence:
“Proposal: – Let’s have a blacklist” (e.g. xxx domain, which is a particular poor implementation)
“Blacklists might be tools of government oppression”
“But I’m a *parent* worried about THE CHILDREN!!!”
“I’ve got a great idea – a whitelist
“Yeah, a whitelist is a great idea”
This sequence doesn’t change. I can’t figure out how one gets the debate to incorporate the past decade’s practice with blacklists and whitelists.
By: Branko Collin Sun, 07 May 2006 10:43:48 +0000 Seth, I don’t know if you’re arrogant, I just don’t know what the phrase “rarified debate” means. I wasn’t commenting, I was asking. Do you mean a debate that keeps repeating itself among a small group of debaters with fortified positions?
If so, I fear I am not a member of that core group and don’t quite understand which argument I have raised that’s been proven not to work the past ten years.
By: Seth Finkelstein Sat, 06 May 2006 21:33:58 +0000 Branko: I might be being arrogant here, but it’s my view that many of the policy debates are conducted among a very small group of people, who basically only talk and listen to each other, about very abstract proposals. So sentences like “That idea was proposed, and tried, and failed, and failed again, for the following reasons …”, are almost useless to write. The reply, if there is one, will be, “But it’s a *good* idea”. And it is. In theory. But the theory is wrong.
Whitelists and blacklists are a case in point. They aren’t original ideas. They’ve been implemented in various ways almost since the start of the Net. This information just doesn’t seem to make it into the policy debate, because it’s too empirical.
By: Branko Collin Sat, 06 May 2006 20:56:12 +0000 What is “the rarified debate”?
By: Seth Finkelstein Sat, 06 May 2006 18:34:49 +0000 Branko: That argument hasn’t worked for the past ten years (to oversimplify a little). One of the problems with the rarified debate is that it tends to focus on what the arguer thinks should work, even though it doesn’t (no offense intended).
By: Branko Collin Sat, 06 May 2006 15:22:06 +0000 Nobody wants it.
That’s what’s so great about it; anytime somebody comes up with the won’t-somebody-think-of-the-children argument, you can counter with “it’s not my fault you’re not using .kids”. Much better IMO than allowing an “.xxx”, only to see it outlawed out of existance.
By: Seth Finkelstein Fri, 05 May 2006 20:34:29 +0000 Kurt, Tim: The “sandbox” idea has been around for ages. Sigh. The sad fact:
Whenever anybody tries to market a “sandbox”, it has essentially no customers. This has been borne out for a decade.
It’s a tribute to the insularity of the upper-level debate that it’s so completely disconnected from the reality of what’s been tried and failed :-(.
By: Tim Wu Fri, 05 May 2006 19:54:26 +0000 The .kids domain is actually I good idea, I think…!
By: James Day Fri, 05 May 2006 18:31:55 +0000 Kurt, define “child”, “harmful” and “child harmful” please. Now find definitions that all people from ultimate liberals to the most restrictive religious fundamentalists will agree with, including agreement on the appropriate ages for each piece of material. Next, work out what happens to a toy or book or whatever store with material covering all age ranges and religions. Finally, sort out what happens when the parents start screaming that the place they want to go to isn’t in .kids because it has some material not suitable for that domain and doesn’t want the criminal or civil prosecution from doing what they are demanding.
Net result: .kids.religious.fundamental.religion1.age1-3, .kids.religious.fundamental.religion2.age1-3, .kids.dissentingbutnotfully.fundamental.age1-3 etc. domains.
By: Kurt Fri, 05 May 2006 17:51:10 +0000 Instead of trying to turn all the Internet into a kid-friendly sandbox (except for .xxx, which will be blocked), just make a domain, and only allow kid friendly sites to set up in there, with stiff penaties for “child harmful” material under the domain as part of the getting-your-domain-name contract.
Whitelisting is much easier for all concerned. It’s a simple idea. I do not understand why it has not happened. This lets the politicians claim to be “doing something” and “thinking of the children” without creating trouble elsewhere.
By: James Day Fri, 05 May 2006 16:38:18 +0000 Matthew, once there’s a law requiring adult material to be under .xxx, that’s where Wikipedia would have to be, since it contains material for adults that not all adults want for all children of all ages. The target audience for Wikipedia is adults, not children. Will be interesting to see what those who want .xxx make of one of the leading reference resources of the internet age being forced into .xxx and schools allowing .xxx acces so they can still get to it. :)
(adult material: pictures of human and animal genitalia in sexuality and physiology articles and the frescos from Pompeii, for example. Possibly now or eventually clear material illustrating various acts, though I don’t think that’s present today)
By: Seth Finkelstein Fri, 05 May 2006 13:31:34 +0000 Robert, as a practical matter, bona-fide porn sites *already* include a range of notices to facilitate them being blacklisted. ALREADY. Better than the .xxx domain.
The .xxx is a useless idea in part because it offers no benefits. It’s worse, technically, than existing blacklisting and self-blacklisting techniques.
By: Robert Fri, 05 May 2006 13:03:00 +0000 I think I understand the free-speech et al. arguments being made against dot-xxx domain creation, but I also try to see this from the standpoint of being a dad.
My daugher is just 2 years old, and for the next few years part of my job as a parent is precisely to control what she sees, what she eats, when she goes to bed, and so on. Parenting involves setting boundaries and then allowing freedom within those boundaries; but when the kids are young those boundaries have to be set close and moved outward gradually.
So I disagree with the blanket statement given by Peter Rock above that “You protect another by bringing about critical awareness through honest dialog and human interaction.” There is a lot that is true about this statement, but it also leaves out a lot, namely the fact that with young children, parents often have to simly lay down the law (and explain — through honest dialogue — why the law is the way that it is). As the child grows older, and proves that s/he can handle more freedom, then you can give them more freedom. But first come the boundaries.
I’m not suggesting my 2-year old is surfing for porn behind my back (she’s more into the Wiggles website). But the dot-xxx seems to be a simple way to alert parents about the content of a web site and then take the actions that appropriate for parents to take. And it seems like it prevents inadvertent access by anybody to a porn site (like the infamous web site) who does consider porn to be a vice.
Again, there are good arguments both for and against, but the parenting point of view is important here.
By: Peter Herndon Fri, 05 May 2006 12:52:01 +0000 Before I start, let me note that I consider myself “liberal” in the sense described by my little addendum to my earlier comment. I am arguing these points both to clarify the argument, and just because I enjoy playing devil’s (or is that _D_evil’s? ;) advocate.
Peter, you wrote that pornography is not vice, and that the term “vice” describes an individual’s relationship with, in this case, pornography. Wikipedia and common usage both disagree with your definition. Vice is not a relationship to something that exists, it is a “failing or defect” of virtue in a person. Pornography both graphically represents people engaging in acts of the “vice” lust, and is intended to incite that same vice in the viewer. As such, pornography is not vice, agreed, but it is vicious. And those who create and disseminate pornography are engaging in vicious acts.
Your argument that vice is a relationship begs the question, in that it presupposes the liberal viewpoint that different people may have different relationships to e.g. pornography. Unfortunately, the conservative viewpoint is that all people have the same “relationship” to pornography, whether or not they admit it to themselves or others. And that relationship is lust, which is a vice.
In order to get around this one, you need either to argue successfully that morality is relative, rather than absolute (and *that’s* a philosophical black hole you do not want to touch — c.f. Kant); or that lust and/or “vices” in general are not morally wrong; or that pornography does not inspire lust.
Good luck with that, let me know how it goes.
My own thoughts on the matter are that personal freedom of choice, and the responsibility for those choices, should trump others’ desires to eliminate sin in other people. Couched in religious terms, God gave us all free will, and gave us responsibility for our thoughts and actions. While He also commanded that His followers proselytize, He did not say that one person should interfere in another’s life and prevent them from sinning. In part, because sin is intent, rather than action. If you fully intend to commit a sin, e.g. killing your wife, but are denied the opportunity, e.g. she was run over by a bus earlier this morning, you are just as guilty of murder as the person who succeeds in such actions.
Since sin is intent, one person denying another the ability to manifest that sin in physical action doesn’t prevent the sin anyway, so the only reason to disallow the physical action (assuming the sin is one in which no harm comes to others, such as lust) is to prevent the possibility of temptation. Yet, preventing temptation itself goes against God’s will, by denying others the opportunity to “just say no” to sin, denying them the exercise of their free will.
Of course, this argument is vulnerable in the assumption that intent is enough to be sin. If one instead believes that only actions are sinful, and that intentions are not, then my argument falls apart. However, I’m fairly certain that the Bible mostly supports my premise. Not that the Bible isn’t self-contradictory, it is, but — mostly. Unfortunately, this all presupposes a Christian theological backdrop. While that presupposition works well in the context of the United States and the neo-cons, it certainly doesn’t hold water in the larger picture.
When you remove religion from the argument, though, you are left with a couple of classic problems. If you base my argument above, that freedom of choice trumps banning vice, on non-religious grounds, you are forced to ask why. Why does freedom of choice trump legislating morality?
If you answer that question with the utilitarian notion, that individual freedom to seek out the best life provides the greatest good for all, then one falls prey to the classic utilitarian problem: what is a “good”? How does one rank an individual good against another?
If you answer that question with morality grounded in something actual, you’d best be prepared to defend that grounding. If you instead answer with an ungrounded morality, well, then you’re re-doing Kant’s work, which has too many logic problems to stand as written.
*shrug* I don’t have an answer yet. I don’t know anyone who does know the answer of how to base morality on reason.
By: Seth Finkelstein Fri, 05 May 2006 12:49:19 +0000 As I put it – when everyone across a political spectrum, from civil-libertarians to censors, agrees that something is a bad idea, and its only major proponent is the organization which wants to make money off it – that’s a pretty good indication that it’s a bad idea.
The only people in favor of .xxx are the people who want to make money selling the domains.
By: Matthew Skala Fri, 05 May 2006 11:25:03 +0000 I strongly oppose the creation of .xxx precisely because it would then be easy and tempting for someone to make a law requiring all “adult material” to be registered under .xxx. Such a law would be a very bad thing for all the usual free speech reasons.
By: schomsko Fri, 05 May 2006 10:46:03 +0000 Great commend by Peter.
This reminds me on the movie “Walking Tall” with “The Rock”. But if you try to walk tall in real life, it ends up like in Dave Chappelle’s show “When keeping it real goes wrong”.
By: Peter Rock Fri, 05 May 2006 10:31:38 +0000 Peter Herndon says:
Instead, the issue is legitimacy. In the minds of those who feel that vice [...] is wrong, to give that vice a recognized home is to legitimize the vice.
And that is irrational. Like Tim stated, this mindset often feels that – “to admit [pornography] exists is to condone it” That just doesn’t make sense. A key point here is that pornography is not vice. Pornography is pornography. Vice may or may not be a descriptor of one’s relationship with pornography. To equate pornography or drugs or junk food as “vice” is to imply that the issue lay in the observed rather than the observer.
The drug example in the U.S. is another debacle. Going to “war on drugs” is absurd. Money funneled into fighting the selling and use of drugs is better spent on education programs.
Is that not simply obvious or have I completely lost my mind?
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Shikantaza in Yoda’s cave
What’s in there?
Only what you take with you.
It occurred to me that entering the haunted cave on planet Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back is like shikantaza meditation, which translates literally as ‘just sitting’. They both seem to be situations in which you cannot avoid facing yourself. The challenge is to bring your attention to whatever is present with you in the moment without getting caught up in a habitual reaction, such as decapitating your delusion with a laser sword. After this experience, Luke learns that the fear he felt in the cave was only projected onto Vader, really it was deep inside himself. The deeper connection between these characters is also hinted at. A skilful scene.
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Goodbye Virgin Media Mobile
Today I'm getting a PAC code from Virgin Media Mobile and transferring my number to another network provider. The reason for this is the changes Virgin Media Mobile made to their Pay As You Go Big Data & Texts tariff and the reduction of the data allowance on the tariff.
The "Unlimited" data allowance with every £10 topup is gone, replaced by a 1GB data limit. This isn't enough on the device I use that number in, as I stream podcasts while on the go to it.
I'll be switching to Three UK who offer 300 minutes, 3000 texts and All You Can Eat Data for £15 per month. It is slightly more expensive but I have had good experience with Three UK with my contract SIM cards and their data service in Edinburgh is excellent.
Hello again!
So long Virgin Media Mobile. I hope to see you change your tariffs again. If the changes are good I might be back, but for now I'm off to Three.
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Out of doors Bolster Pillows
Pillows and BolsterAs a person that considers herself thrifty, you could be shocked to know that I have probably the greatest luxury bedsets round. That is as a result of I like spending somewhat bit more on the things that I exploit quite a bit. I’ve slept on many different comforters in my life and beneath I’ll offer you my insight into those that will give you the most effective nights sleep.
Justin1213 – thanks! and I’m sorry to listen to that the pain is lingering. Unfortunately, it is fairly frequent for sciatic pain and interference with walking to final for a time, even after regaining mobility. How long the size of time is, varies from affected person to patient. Recovery usually starts with mobility – so you’re doing great! Be patient, and stick with the mild workout routines/stretches, and avoid these things which put strain on the sciatic (poor posture whereas carrying/lifting/turning, and many others.) Good luck!
There are numerous sorts of pillow accessible available in the market. Tasseled pillow, fringed pillow, tufted pillow, decorative bolster pillows and so forth are few varieties used for adornment. Pillows are one of the best and cheapest ways to present any room a quick makeover. If you are bored together with your bed room, simply strive altering the pillows or add new pillows for a contemporary look.
Personally I avoid chiropractors, especially if the cause of ache just isn’t known. I do know there are good ones on the market, however I once saw one for my sciatica as a teen, and his manipulations managed to tear tendons, cause excessive deep bruising, and made the problem a lot worse. If it your sciatica has a smooth-tissue trigger, then a physio/osteo could possibly suggest some options. If the nerve is compressed inside the spine or by the bulging discs, you need to converse to your doc/surgeon. The reason for the sciatica needs to be discovered (or at least, the spinal causes dominated out), before you can successfully sort out it.
Do the same factor to the aspect. Maintain the edge of the chair along with your right hand, to prevent you lifting your right shoulder. Protecting your chin tucked in, lower your left ear to your left shoulder. Carry your left hand and rest it gently over your head, fingers touching your proper ear. Do not press down, just feel the burden. Maintain for 10 seconds and repeat the entire train on the other aspect.
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Declaring that His work had been completed 100% to His satisfaction and that the results would soon begin to manifest, Meher Baba dropped His body on January 31st, 1969. According to His longstanding instructions, His human form was buried in the Samadhi (Tomb-Shrine) He had had prepared for it in the 1940s, atop Meherabad Hill outside Ahmednagar, India (about two hundred miles northeast of Bombay (Mumbai). Since 1969 pilgrims from around the world visit Meher Baba’s Samadhi for the opportunity to bow down and to imbibe the atmosphere of His Love and Presence there. “Following the dropping of My body, I will remain as if physically present for about 100 years, and a little more.”
Meher Baba’s passing away ushered in yet another phase in His multi-faceted Advent. With the God-Man’s physical death, external connections with Him are no longer possible—not for another seven hundred years, as Baba often stated, until the Avatar comes again. External connections, however, are not the purpose of the God-Man’s work; they are only the means through which He sets it in motion. He comes on earth as Man to refresh the example of the highest ideals of human life, and to reawaken mankind to the possibility of establishing internal connections with God, the Divine Beloved in every heart.
Through the God-Man, God comes to love, and serve, and suffer, for in His unlimited universality, He alone can give to Creation the internal push required to true its course. In His lifetime on earth He sows the seeds of selfless love where they must inevitably blossom and flourish, and He leaves behind His message and His example: in this age, an unparalleled abundance of information about His life stands as profound, compelling testimony to His Reality. Most important, He leaves behind the promise of His eternal presence within and the possibility of drawing ever closer to Him and ultimately realizing Him by remembering Him with love and following the guidelines He has left for all seekers and lovers of God everywhere.
For additional information about Meher Baba:
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mySoftware [Updates]
rssFeeds [Syndicate]
Welcome to the support section.
Part One: Motif XF Local Control
There are two fundamental types of record scenarios when using Motif XF via firewire with Cubase: MIDI recording and Audio recording. It always comes down to these two categories of recording. MIDI, as we all know, is a series of coded messages that represent music and musical performance gestures. It cannot be heard. A MIDI tone generator must interpret MIDI data. The tone generator will convert the messages into audible sound. We will start our discussion with an explanation of the MIDI function “Local Control”. It will be important to understand why this parameter is necessary, and then we will get into a discussion of the audio equivalent, if you will.
The MIDI scenario – Local Control
It is fairly standard operating procedure when recording MIDI to an external sequencer (like Cubase) to operate with the LOCAL CONTROL of the XF in the OFF position. LOCAL CONTROL is what sends your key presses directly to the XF tone generator, or not, thus the term “local”. In normal operation you will press an XF key and the XF tone generator responds. However, when recording OUT via MIDI, you turn LOCAL CONTROL = OFF, this means that the key press information goes OUT via MIDI first, traveling via Firewire in this case, to Cubase, where it is received by an active MIDI track which will echo, or Thru, the signal back OUT on a specific MIDI PORT and MIDI channel to the appropriate tone generator.
This allows the controller keyboard to be used to trigger virtually any tone engine or module, internal or external, that you have in your system. It separates, in this instance the Motif XF key bed from the Motif XF tone generator. The keys become just a “controller” and the rest becomes just a tone module.
If you select the PORT (Motif XF Main) and MIDI Channel 1, for example, the key press information will trigger the sound in PART 1 of the Motif XF.
If you select PORT (Motif XF MIDI OUT) and MIDI Channel 1, the key press information will trigger the device connected to the MIDI OUT jack of the Motif XF – say you have a VL70-m module connected via MIDI to the MIDI OUT jack.
If you select a PORT that feeds a VST Instrument, then the key press information will trigger the VST Instrument you have selected in your computer.
Local Control being OFF turns your Motif XF keyboard into just a controller. It can trigger any device in your setup, on any port, on any channel. All this is determined by the currently active track in Cubase. If you select a channel number 1-16 on the track’s Track Inspector, it will not matter what MIDI channel you are actually sending from the Motif XF. All “re-channel-ization” of the MIDI signal is done in Cubase by the currently active track’s Track Inspector.
If you do not turn Local Control to OFF, when recording MIDI to an external sequencer, you will create a situation where you will have double signal. You will hear the Motif XF (directly) being triggered normally, and you will hear whatever the Track Inspector is set to trigger.
If this happens to be back to the Motif XF you run a real risk of a MIDI loop (stuck notes, strange behavior, even system crashes… oh, Mac’s don’t crash, they just shut down, sometimes).
The Audio scenario
It is fairly standard operating procedure when recording Audio to an external sequencer (like Cubase) to operate with LOCAL CONTROL = ON. This is because you want the key presses to trigger the tone generator of the Motif XF and you are interested in capturing the actual audio that is generated by this action.
There are exceptions to the above two situations and there are many variations as well. But that is as simple and as basic an explanation of the Local Control parameter as we need so far.
As you can imagine it can get more complex. What if you are doing MIDI and Audio simultaneously? What about if you are sending MIDI to the XF from Cubase, and at the same time returning audio from the XF to Cubase? Are you going to be “playing” during the operation? Or are you just playing back data and printing audio tracks? How does this impact the setup? The following parameters are there to allow you the utmost flexibility in how you work.
What we will discuss now is that when you are using the Motif XF via firewire, it is handling both MIDI and audio in both directions simultaneously. Sometimes it is easier to wrap your head around analog cabling because you can physically follow the signal flow. But in the digital world, there are virtual connections that carry signal to and fro. These virtual connections do, in fact, follow the same exact rules as the analog cabling – so signal flow is very important. The basic theory is this, the signal moves from one device to another and then back again in a specific flow. Where you are going to be monitoring (listening) is what we will be determining. This signal flow theory is very important because at different places along the path, what you hear can be quite different.
PART TWO: Motif XF Firewire Monitor Setup
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Nick's Gaming Blog
Watcha Playin, Guvnah? (May 2012)
‘ello poppit, it be your wee old uncle–” Fuck it, I can’t even do accents on paper.
It’s about that time. Actually, it is that time. That time when we talk about the hobby I’ve invested the most time and money into, and however exactly its managed to make me yearn for the days of old when every Star Wars game was unrepentantly shit, yet I played them all to death. Yes, even The Phantom Menace.
Oh boy. Oh boy. Just...umm...I mean, like, I know it's 1999 and all, but LOOK. AT. THAT. HAIR.
It’s also that time where I give you the opportunity to share what you’re playing…provided your comment doesn’t get swept back out to sea with my daily dredging of spam.
Well, for starters I got my hands on Fez, a game which is both resplendently cute and infuriatingly difficult. We’ve probably all encountered this sort of title from time to time; the ones where your frustration with the overly-precise platforming, cheap AI tactics, or logically-unfounded puzzles is pacified by a soundtrack or visuals that make it impossible for us to stay angry for very long. Fez just so happens to possess both a tranquil chiptune score and some of the most adorable 8-bit visuals…which is convenient because the platforming has me juxtaposing profanities in a way that’s tragically reshaping the English language and the puzzles have left my bedroom looking like “the shack” in A Beautiful Mind.
The only thing that’s missing is me forgetting the baby I put in the bathtub. And I never forget about babies that I’ve left in bathtubs. That’s because if you leave them alone, they stand a chance of escaping its rapidly-filling confines and really messing up your life.
What’s Fez about? Well, it involves a little dude named Gomez who in a Deadpool fashion, is more than aware that he lives in a 2D world. But rather than being a self-aware side-scrolling platformer. However, by virtue of Gomez’s titular hat, he’s been graced with the ability to discover the fact that he’s been LIVING IN A WORLD OF LIES…or one that, in a less melodramatic fashion, actually possesses three dimensions.
“So it’s a game with three dimensions,” you say. “Big deal.”
Well, this is where it gets tricky. The game effectively works like a 2D title, with the caveat being that Gomez can “cycle” a room, taking control of the “camera,” if you will, allowing Gomez to access areas, or gain a new perspective otherwise unobtainable. I know, still doesn’t make much sense. Hell, I’ve shown people how this functions within Fez and the look I usually get is indicative of “brainsplode.” Bottom line, this makes for some crazy hard puzzles. For example, you might need to “line up” a series of blocks…and they may look lined up from one angle, “shifting/cycling” the room will reveal that, from a 3-D perspective, they aren’t.
Fez is a High Def game with an 8-bit's a really spiffy old-school looking game...if that makes sense
But most puzzles are harder than this. Way harder. The universe has its own alphabet and numerical system, along with some twists in how one should write/read the language. Yes, the game does have a Rosetta Stone of sorts, but I’d venture to say that it’ll be lost on anyone under the age of twenty. Yet perhaps what really has me crawling to GameFaQs with my tail between my legs is the fact that, much unlike Portal, puzzles don’t have a clear-cut beginning or end in Fez. You’ll come across drawings and diagrams toward the beginning of the game that won’t become relevant until much, much later, and you’ll frequently stumble upon puzzles that can be tampered with, but really shouldn’t be, as you lack the knowledge or insight to solve them. In that sense, it’s a lot like Riven or Myst (Riven especially, because even resorting to the “plug-and-chug” still requires enough of an understanding of the puzzle to effectively attempt such).
If all this puzzle/adventure gaming lexicon has you confused, just know that Fez is a lot like a small child. Sure, it’s cute and adorable, and will likely charm its way into even the chilliest of hearts, yet it’s also entirely capable of things, twisted illogical actions that will inevitably result in one’s walls being coated with Sharpie or feces…and the worst part is that you don’t even get to choose which one.
Other than Fez, I’ve taken a liking to Driver: San Francisco. Sure, I know it’ll raise eyebrows to suggest that the best part about a game titled Driver is that it fails to place itself within the very narrow confines that that “Driving” genre has self-imposed upon itself. Yes, past titles like R Racing Revolution and Need for Speed: The Run have attempted to begrudgingly shove a plot into the proceedings of their respective games (The Run does a better job, of the two) but racing titles have usually stuck by the “bread and butter” cliche plot: you’re an “up-and-coming” rookie driver looking to take the championship/win ALL teh trophiez/gain the previously unattainable respect of women who undoubtedly understand (and validate, for that matter) motor racing as an allegory for virility.
Don't worry, you won't be exiting the car in this installment.
Games that don’t utilize this structure (either deservedly or not) end up criticized for focusing on an unessential aspect of racing games. All that time spent on crafting a story/plot could have been better spent adding more tracks, sprucing up the car models with 33.41% more polygons, or ensuring that every car engine sounds exactly like it should, according to these critics of convention. Sometimes, they’re right; a flimsy plot is used to gloss over the fact that the gameplay just isn’t that good. Yet this emphasis on plot as a disingenuous distraction shouldn’t always be viewed as the goal. Some developers are interested in injecting an actual story into a driving game, and Driver: San Francisco is proof.
But how did Driver: San Francisco accomplish this? Probably by deciding that Driver: SF wasn’t going to be all about racing, but more of a sandbox GTA title where you just never end up leaving the car. If they had you in the role of an underground street racer, you’d probably be limited to, well…underground street racing, and the occasional running from the cops. On the flip side, if they had you playing a police officer, you’d be restricted to car chases. Rockstar’s Midnight Club series already has the former locked down, and Need For Speed’s Hot Pursuit the latter…and while imitation is flattery, it doesn’t always translate to income.
Driving in first person is fun, if ineffective. However, certain challenges must be completed in first person, so you can't ignore it outright.
So how do you limit yourself to vehicular-based gameplay (Driver 3 already toyed with the notion of opening the driver’s side door and got a half-baked Grand Theft Auto) and still get mission variety and avoid the typical “rookie racer trying to win it all” cliche? Well, Driver:SF went and gave their protagonist the ability to “hop” into any car on the road; think of it as a sort of rapid-fire bodily possession. If you can see the car (with few exceptions) you can take control of the driver. You’re probably wondering just how this wonderfully odd ability was bestowed upon you. Well, you’re a hotshot driver named Tanner that happened to fall into a coma while chasing a criminal. And, of course, when one falls into a coma, weird stuff happens. Them’s the rules.
Once you’re done mulling over the “science” behind this ability…one which even the game’s characters admit they have no clue how it works…you can observe how the mechanic shines. You’ll jack into police officers trying to recover stolen cars originally intended to be auctioned for charity, a wife trying to keep her pet arachnid-bitten husband’s heart rate up while racing him to the hospital, or assisting kids over their head in an underground street racing gang, trying to earn money for college. In turn, completing several of these missions unlocks a campaign mission; it’s padding for the campaign, but it makes one feel benevolent, and allows for some of the zanier scenarios in the game.
Amazingly enough, that’s pretty much all I’ve been playing for the past three weeks. That sort of downright addictiveness hasn’t really been seen since Dead Space 2 or Alan Wake: American Nightmare, at least on my behalf.
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/60024
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Tag: Levitation Photography
Project 365
Day 145/365: Levitation Secret Spell
In the light I see, In the dark I am blind. In the world I walk, In the circle I fly.
Next call to your spirit guide or God to aid you.
Then clear your mind the feel the feather float in your open hand and lift with it and now you levitate.
Helpers to the Spell – Performed at dawn – Performed outside –
Add your own components and touch to the spell (it is just a guideline)
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• my 2010
Accossato Indonesia
Accossato Gas Control
Part No. PBM-20160901-101034
Brand Accossato
Category Motorcycle Parts
Model Handlebars & Controls
Type Other Type
Price Call Buy
The ergal gas control are divided into products gases ACCOSSATO racing as fast as traditional ergal and those provided as spare. Ergal gas control by Accossato are divided into two types a universal model in which the shifter is always the same while only changing the cables and a special Ducati developed at birth with the mechanics of Ducati Sterilgarda when pilots were , Xaus and Max Biaggi. The shortcut is ACCOSSATO Ergal CNC and is used by:
Trophy Kawasaki Ninja 600 and 1000 organized by the team Platini Lorenzini Team World Championship Supersport Foret BMW in World Superstock Championship with Ayrton Badovini and Daniele Beretta Borciani Guandalini Racing Team and with the Barons.
And many others!
The Ergal gas control comes with three wheels to allow you to change the speed the same as a single wheel for your specific model Ducati, the wheel of the latter is desmodromic. The colors of these commands is to supply titanium for the universal and the specific black Ducati.
The range of gas control by ACCOSSATO area complete with dual cable control for motorcycles and 4-stroke single cable and off-road motorcycles.
• Probike
Today's Special
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Monday, September 19, 2011
Grooming Linux for Market Share
I'm not really sure where this article would fit. I guess it could be considered a rant. It could also be considered humor. It certainly won't be technical. Stay tuned...
I've long believed in the "Third Way". You do too, most likely. I'm sure you have used the phrase "The truth is in the middle". In this case I'm using it figuratively. When you have two dominant schools of thought with fans on either side, rabidly baring teeth and growling, they are both wrong and they are both right.
With Computers, specifically Home Computers, no matter what you do you are both wrong and you are right.
In the beginning there was the tinkerer. The tinkerer built machines of a handful of electronic parts, plugged it in, and hopefully it wouldn't explode. If it didn't explode you would end up with an Apple.
Coming later there was a plan. The plan was to grab everything that you had sitting around, make a big pile of it all, rearrange it into something useful. Since all the parts worked, you had something that would be an IBM PC.
The Apple was known as the "Walled Garden". They had a theory that as long as you stay in the Walled Garden, all will be well and no naughty things will get you. Live there and they will take care of you improving things along the way. There are benefits, and as long as you like what they are doing, the gardeners would keep you happy.
But the Walled Garden has it's problems. It tends towards a stifled experience since you are limited to how the Gardeners want you to act within the Garden. Don't bring in outside Beverages or you may kill the flowers.
Sure, it's an analogy but I'm on a roll here... walk with me, I need to go to the store and get some butter and some milk.
Outside of the Walled Garden is a more "Open Approach". When IBM built the original PC they wanted to make it open. They sold it with two Operating Systems and it was up to you to chose what you wanted. Eventually that solidified and the market determined we'd all use DOS and creativity allowed a new business to be created.
But as time went on, some folks decided that DOS wasn't the best way and they decided a more open Walled Garden would be made. Windows was created as well as it's sister OS/2. OS/2 was better at the time but due to it's not being marketed well, it failed. There was also a nasty little argument and sibling rivalry happened to kill the old way of doing things.
Now Microsoft's Windows is on around 86% of the computers, Apple's OSX is on around 6%.
Hold on you say, that isn't 100%, what's going on here? Sure, there are still some DOS machines around, some folks refuse to change, and there are even some of those early weird operating systems around. Together that's still only around 2%.
So there is a third way - remember that?
The other 6% of the market is something that "BROADLY" could be called Linux. That is inexact, there are a lot of smaller Linux-Like operating systems that are out there but they are the vast minority of the 6%. They include proprietary things like Unix which all the hoards of Linux and BSD are designed to look like and some other truly interesting things but they don't really hold significant market share.
That third way of Linux (And BSD and All The Rest - Lets use "Linux" as shorthand here since that's generally how I say it) is the last Bastion of Creativity in the Operating System World.
Ok everything to this point has been "setting" in this little play.
So you've decided to try out linux but which one? There are hundreds of Linux-es out there that all can be tinkered with to suit what you want it to be. Linux offers you the opportunity of freedom. It is a Free Operating System. It will run your old computer as well as your new one (as long as you have the right hardware). It will run your Phone as easily as your laptop or your Mainframe (IBM went into Linux in a BIG way on those Mainframes).
Linux is also the best place for someone to tinker. You could literally rewrite the entire system from scratch if you wanted to. If you didn't want it to be rewritten you could change every single aspect of what you're doing. It's up to you.
It also has gotten so that it passes the Grandma Test. Download a file, burn to a DVD and put it in any PC as well as most Macs and it will start and present you with a familiar desktop.
So what's the problem? Well it's only got 6% of the market. I have four machines here that run on Linux. It's a great way to make an old computer live again. One of those machines was a Dumpster Dived computer that is around 12 years old and it runs faster than some of the faster machines I've seen today. It just doesn't run all of the software I need.
So how do you fix it? Well here's the thing, you have to depend on the Comic Book Guy. The Comic Book Guy Effect is the Problem, not the Solution. If you look like this guy then you're the problem.
Ok, being catty is never a good way to discuss things, but if you're a fan of The Simpsons, you'll recognize what I'm talking about right off. This guy spouts things like some article is "Clearly Superior" or "Worst Thing Ever" in a condescending tone, doesn't look like he's "left Mom's Basement" in years, and needs some social skills.
You see if you are trying to tell the world that there's something new and exciting, looking like this guy in the picture that I got from Wikipedia, does not help.
Yesterday I had to laugh at exactly this situation. It was a beautiful sunny South Florida day. 90 Degrees, Brilliant Sun, warm with gentle breezes off the ocean. I was hot in my white T Shirt and cargo shorts. I went to the Fort Lauderdale CompUSA at 2PM on Sunday, September 18, 2011.
I wouldn't be so judgmental if I didn't see the "Clearly Superior" effect of bad marketing laid out in front of me so unselfconsciously. You see, this is what is holding things back.
I walked into the store and was looking wide eyed at some equipment that I wouldn't mind having, while knowing that there's a replacement coming to the stores in a couple weeks.
Yeah I read too much for my own good, what of it?
I saw going past me in a washed out grey streak the poster child for "Get out of your Mom's Basement" followed by "Grizzly Adams". "Mom's Basement" had a picture of Tux the Penguin, the Linux Mascot on the back of his washed out and formerly black T Shirt. Tux makes me smile and I thought there goes someone who uses Linux.
Then he turned around and I realized what the phrase "Unwashed Masses" truly meant. You see in the 90F heat, this guy was dressed in that overly worn T shirt in black over black jeans. Hot and sweaty and unshaven, "Mom's Basement" needed a shower. His compatriot was a similar character. Looking like Grizzly Adams and needing some more Grooming, they made the perfect stereotype of the 2011 definition for:
Ok, so there's room for everyone at the table. It's a big buffet and everyone is welcome. We NEED geeks. These are the folks who solve the hard problems. They will fix your PC and make it better. Don't ask them to explain what they did or you're in trouble.
And that in a nutshell is what seems to be holding back Linux. It CAN be difficult. It IS being worked on so it passes the Grandma Test - remember that? These Geeks are writing some amazing software that you will never think of but it makes the world go around.
However, would you hire them? Would you want Grizzly Adams in your posh office whether or not he runs the computer in the back room? Would you want to be the person to tell "Mom's Basement" that like I overheard the 7th grade Gym Teacher say "Showers are Mandatory" when he boomed into the gym at Heritage Junior High oh so many years ago?
Most likely he'd end up back in Mom's Basement writing some more amazing code that will get used somewhere, and make the Third Way a little more palatable to the general public.
Why did this stick in my head so well?
Well as I stood looking at the prices on the Hard Drives for my laptop which were too high, I'll look online later, I heard the two of them talk. It was one condescending comment over "THOSE people who use (gasp) Mac or worse! Windows!" after another.
You see people use their computers for different reasons. If you're not actually doing graphics or writing the worlds next War and Peace, you can use anything you like. You could write emails on a phone or an iPad or a desktop computer. Grandma does not need a gamer's rig of the latest barn burning hardware, she may be best off with an older laptop plugged into the TV so she can see it. Dad may only want to get on Facebook or play a few online games and catch up on The Scores. Dad's going to be tougher to deal with because if that Dad doesn't know what he wants, some person in a big box store is going to sell him more than he needs and make the store a bigger commission.
Computers are like shoes. We all have different needs and different uses. After a while our new shiny thing will stink just like the year old running shoes that you left on the back porch because you stepped on something rude that some fool didn't pick up from Fido.
Being condescending and rude never works. Especially if you're making yourself out to be the Poster Child for the Third Way with Tux on your back.
So for now, I have some things to do on my Windows machine. I wrote this on my 12 year old laptop that was discarded that runs Linux. Later on I want to get onto the Mac OSX desktop and see if a file is there. They're all good, they all have their strengths and weaknesses.... and I even showered today too since I got out of Mom's Basement years ago!
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/60066
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Retroist Atari 7800 Podcast
Retroist Atari 7800 Podcast
Welcome to the Retroist Atari 7800 Podcast. On today’s show I start off by talking about how my Atari buddy and I kept waiting for the Atari 7800 and how a love for Atari turned him against Nintendo and into the arms of Sega. Then I talk about the Atari 7800 console. I talk about its development, release, re-release, the company who made it, the people who bought that company, the peripherals, the games and much more.
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Listen and download the Retroist Atari 7800 Podcast
The Retroist
Editor/Podcaster at Retroist
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/60091
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2005 Saturn Vue
Contact your local police immediately if you see it!
Good news! The missing women have been found:
Random Article from the Archives
Saturn Retailers Support the Community by Selling Pictures of Hope Greeting Cards
Saturn Logo
Greeting cards from Pictures of Hope – a Linda Solomon Project – are now available at various locations. The greeting cards feature photos taken by at-risk children who participated in photography workshops at six different organizations around the country. One-hundred percent of the card sales will benefit the six organizations where the photography workshops were held.
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The Future of the Deep Sea: Undiscovered Wonders at Risk
Date: December 15, 2017
Source: Marine Conservation Institute
Author: Kelly Martin
You’ve probably heard the saying that we know less about the deep ocean than we do about the surface of the moon. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we have explored less than 5% of the ocean to date, so the saying is pretty accurate. However, as technology improves and scientists are able to learn more about the deep, they begin to more clearly understand its ecological value.
Unfortunately, improved technology is also allowing humans to exploit deep ocean resources in ways that could be extremely damaging. Last month, Japan became the first country to successfully mine the deep sea on a large scale. A company called Nautilus Minerals is also now licensed to mine Papua New Guinea’s seafloor, with extraction set to begin in 2019. These developments could usher in a new era of deep-sea exploitation.
Continue reading here.
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Posted on Categories Mining ScienceTags
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/60097
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Nexrad Doppler Effects
There is a massive psyop against the truth... that industrialists and the military destroyed the natural precipitation cycle and put holes in the atmosphere decades ago.
They have replaced natural weather with geoeingeering, injecting metallic nanoparticles (frequency controllable components) into the atmosphere which are activated by the global nexrad doppler radar/phased array network (find the ripples in the clouds or unusual shaped clouds which remain static in the sky).
These intelligent nanoparticles (which are attracted to sunlight once activated - piezoelectric) then combine with the water vapour in the atmosphere, a mix of power plant water vapour from over 60,000 power plants worldwide and clouds created using the nexrad dopplers again, "orgone" tech originally developed by Wilhelm Reich.
This research was then taken underground after he was jailed and his lab/research "burned" (black ops) then his work was furthered at the HAARP facility (now closed) before being deployed in the global nexrad doppler/phased array grid, which amplifies its power using a klystron to send pulsed frequencies and create heterodyne frequencies and gravity waves into the sky to create/stop tornadoes, freeze the atmosphere with ice nucleation, whip up the jet stream and manipulate the cloud cover in ways you wouldn't imagine but study it long enough and soon a static looking sky scene becomes much more menacing....
Geoengineering: Orgone Intro 1
How Nexrad HAARP Works: Turning Natural Storms into Biblical Floods
Geoengineering: Nexrad Sequential Heterodyne Wave Generation
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/60098
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Relationship Picture Quotes
Quotes With Pictures - About Relationship
The Trick To Forgetting Someone
By J. Johnson, picture courtesy of SearchQuotes December 6, 2016
relationship, advice, life lesson, moving on Quotes
No matter what I do I always forget to forget you.
Read the rest of this article »
Don't Fall For Words
By J. Johnson, picture courtesy of SearchQuotes November 22, 2016
relationship Quotes
Don't fall for words.
A lot of times it is best for us to judge the character of a person by their actions instead of just by their words and what they want you to believe. When we look at the actions of a person we look at the real heart of them, because usually the actions a person commits are the actions closest to their hearts.
Read the rest of this article »
Don't Let These Walls Stop You
By J. Johnson, picture courtesy of SearchQuotes November 5, 2016
life lesson, relationship, personal growth Quotes
Don't let these walls stop you.
In different instances in our lives it is easy to stop pursuing a relationship that we know that if we put a tad bit more effort towards would blossom into a heavenly flower of infinite beauty, because of the walls that one or both parties is putting up. Sometimes people that have been hurt in the past or whom are afraid of giving someone a chance because they never want to be hurt, choose to put walls up in order to prevent this from happening.
Read the rest of this article »
You Were Born To Be Important To Someone
By J. Johnson, picture courtesy of SearchQuotes October 26, 2016
relationship, life Quotes
Every one of us is going to be a special person to someone we meet in our lives. That doesnt necessarily mean that you are going to grow up and find your Mr or Mrs. Right at the perfect age of 25. It may mean that by following your dreams or goals that you set up for yourself in life that you inspire a nation to do the same. It may mean that as a single father or mother, the most important subject(s) of your life your children will look at you as a superhero.
Read the rest of this article »
Deciding When To Let Go
By J. Johnson, picture courtesy of SearchQuotes October 20, 2016
letting go, love, moving on, moving forward, relationship Quotes
Its really hard to decide when you're too tired to hold on, yet, you're too in love to let go.
Ever been in this position? A lot of us have and it is a very difficult position to be in. It is hard to hold on to something that you know is weighing you down, and preventing you from living a healthy positive life, but at the same time it is hard to just let go of someone that you hold so dearly to your heart. There is no right or wrong answer to this equation presented in many of our lives, and everyones situation though similar, is different and unique.
Read the rest of this article »
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global_01_local_1_shard_00001926_processed.jsonl/60101
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March 2, 2006
Our non-arbitrary universe
Tags: , , , , , .
island said...
My understanding from the physics is that the anthropic principle is "entropic" in nature. That is to say that we are here because intelligent life is physically necessary to the thermodynamic process... to help the universe evolve by way of particle pair creation, since this directly affects the symmetry of the universe... e.g. "anthropic-flatness".
The defined physical need necessarily makes the anthropic principle a "biocentric" principle, life will be every bit as common in our universe as the need for it demands.
We may actually be the mechanism for a big bang, depending upon which cosmological model is actually in effect.
George said...
What I'd really like to see in particular is more work done to explain how the universe is conducive for the existence of consciousness, and what relation, if any, this has on the quantum realm.
In my mind, the universe is friendly to 3 distinct things that are inter-related: it's biophilic (friendly to life), infophilic (friendly to information storage and proliferation), and cognophilic (friendly to consciousness).
island said...
I think that information storage is necessary to efficient information processing, which is the effect that you get from a *near*-flat yet expanding universe, as opposed to a wide-open expanding universe.
As a biocentric principle, the AP extends to a specific "layer" of galaxies that exist on the same evolutionary "plane" as we do. This is per the requirement that we occupy a special place and time in the history of our universe, we are actually far from alone on that "nitch".
Commonality and continuity in the evolution of the same basic raw materials indicates that sentient life in our universe will be on about the same level of technological development as us, as well.
So the prediction is that "ET's" radio signals haven't been enroute any longer than ours have, and when they all do finally hit home... "contact" is going to be one hell of a lot bigger than Jodi Foster ever dreamed about.
Nobody will be in contact with everybody at once, but everybody will come into contact with somebody at about the same time, and the universe will become "self-aware"... of itself when this happens... so to speak.
There's an interesting comparison to be made between the large scale structuring of our universe and neurons in a human brain, although that may simply be an artifact of commonly linked phyisics.
If the anthropic principle is true for a good physical reason, then it is highly-probable that human evolutionary theory is linked to the evolutionary process of the universe.
island said...
I'd like to elaborate on the following and hopefully spur a little more conversation:
The trick is to find the mechanism that enables both, and that's what my previously linked stuff was about:
The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that "god" doesn't throw dice
This effect of particle creation on the gravity of the universe describes a mechanism for evolution that humans contribute to by way of what is known as, "asymmetric transitions"... which is the same mechanism that enables a human evolutionary leap in self-orgainization theories that depend on far-from-equilibrium dissipative structures, like humans, and black holes.
George said...
What you're describing is a gross violation of the Copernican principle (ie that we're living at a special time in the development of the universe). Adding to this problem is the fact that the conditions for the existence of life in the universe have been set for quite some time now, and the median age of planets in the universe are somewhere in the 6.4 +/- 0.7 Gyr range [Ward, Brownlee].
That being said, the idea that we live in a special time is referred to as the phase-transition model of the universe, and by consequence, a phase transition in the development of complex life and intelligence.
I recommend this:
On the importance of SETI for transhumanism:
island said...
Actually, the observed universe is a gross violation of the copernican principle, as it is a fact that we have no stability mechanism that explains the flatness of our universe which is what the anthropic principle is all about and it is also the reason why string theorists are now leaning toward using it to choose the correct vacuum state from the "landscape". The Copernican Cosmological Principle does not account for the large scale structuing of our universe, whereas, an Anthropic Cosmological Principle does, regardless of the fact that science has essentially given up on a stability mechanism that explains it... e.g., there is no practical model for turbulence generated structuring from the expansion process. The anthropic principle is the only explaination, but it's special significance gets lost in an infinite sea of possibilities in string theory. This is not the case if there is only one finite universe... the implications of "specialness" are magnified to the Nth^.
I'd recommend this:
And these ice-breakers:
A Phase Transition sounds about right, as long as it works via the natural conversion of negative energy in order to reverse the normally destructive consequences of the second law of thermodynamics.
Thanks for the link...
Jonathan Hartley said...
Another interesting aspect of the fine-tuning hypothesis is that it implies all universes which are ancestors of our own were able (if past tense is appropriate) to successfully reproduce, even under presumed conditions of substantially different cosmological constants. This implies that either: (a) universes which don't seem capable of supporting life as we know it are still able to utilise some sort of fall-back mechanism, with which they manage to reproduce without the assistance of intelligence, or else (b) Even universes which are vastly different from our own manage to somehow evolve intelligences, presumably instantiated by means vastly different from our own biosphere. I'm imagining sentient patterns of vibration within a cosmic ocean of sub-atomic particles, or other such unimaginable sort of far-out stuff.
RLWemm said...
This anthropomorphic and wish-fulfilment argument conveniently ignores the fact that the universe is overwhelmingly, in fact astronomically, geared towards against the development or maintenance of life. The universe is not teeming with life, but teeming with events non-conducive to life. It would be much more logical to argue that earth life has evolved in spite of incredible odds against it and is doomed to extinction anyway.
Tommer said...
I like to summarize this as "evolution began at the big bang".
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Tuesday, 3 April 2012
We went through the creativity killer
Back to black.
I always envy how the westerners could be so colourful in high school.
Although if I had to choose and outfit everyday for high school,
I would probably have a to pop 2 panadols everyday,
and have stomach problems by the age of 20,
but I think the rules in school kill the creativity.
Why so?
I came from schools that were really strict with our appearance.
in primary school
Spot me!!
I think it's quite tough. =p
*Leave a comment and tell me which one do you think is me.
In high school,
our hair cannot be longer than 3cm under the ear.
That's when you wish your ear reaches a little longer down.
Our fringe weren't allowed to touch or be longer than our eyebrows.
I feel sorry for those who have high eyebrows.
Same group of people,
but in high school.
We all went to the same school so you can see what the girls in our school looked like.
Try and spot me again.
the best hairstyle for my school's hair rule is Cleopatra's,
but shorter.
We can't wear any sort of necklace,
or accessories of any kind.
When I went to France,
I stayed with a "foster family"
and their children get to wear whatever they want to school.
The boys just wore pullovers and jeans
but the girl was more of a goth fan.
Though she didn't wear black lipstick,
her outfits were practically black all over.
She wore ripped black leggings to school sometimes.
And I find that really cool.
They get to wear chained bracelets,
I don't know if that's allowed,
but that's what they wore to school.
One of the boys had long hair,
and the other one used to have long hair.
I bet there are students who dye their hair there now and then
since there are natural blonds, red heads and brunettes,
the school can't restrict hair colour to just black.
They can wear make up to school.
I think it's nice to have the freedom to express themselves through clothing
or hairstyles/colour.
I thought there would be more freedom as I grow older, but
Even in (public) uni we can't wear what we want.
If we wear skirt or shorts,
there will be people staring at us like
if they concentrated enough,
it will make the attire miraculously grow longer and cover up our legs.
Same goes for sleeveless.
I don't see the offence.
Legs are not in any way connected to sexual stuff,
dirty minds, on the other hand
connect anything to sexual stuff.
A banana is a fruit,
if your mind is dirty enough,
a banana could mean something else to you
and girls cannot see them
because it might cause them to have sexual thoughts.
If you're Malaysian,
you probably know what the cough is for.
It's not logical to be all wrapped up
when we stay in a hot country like this.
I'm not saying that you should disobey what your religion tells you,
I'm just saying
Don't judge others by the rules of your religion.
What I want to say for this post is:
What is wrong with expressing ourselves through clothing?
I know there must be boundaries,
but some rules are just meaningless, a waste of money and time.
Take the school rule of having short hair for instance.
It is a waste of money because I have to cut my hair every month.
Luckily hairdressers in Butterworth don't charge like the ones in KL.
If they charge RM20 for a haircut,
I might go broke for attending high school
and I won't get the chance to go broke for attending uni.
Forever a loan.
what does attire have to do with knowledge?
The limitation to attire and hair styles is a creativity killer in a way.
We can't come out with different ways to tie our hair,
different ways to dress up,
how to mix and match,
how to reuse old clothes and make them look trendy again.
it's a challenge to creativity at the same time.
We become creative in finding loopholes in the rules
and make things go our way
without being caught.
that's what J_Fish has to say~ Au Revoir~
p.s. If we don't get to go crazy with our look in school or uni,
we won't be able to do it at work.
Unless you work with a fun company who doesn't care what you wear.
1 comment :
1. sorry i didnt read each and every word of ur post... too long =X
but anyhow, i cant recognize which one is u laaaa. haha that's why they said girls change 360 degree after 18years old!
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April – 2016 – Simpleology Blog
Monthly : April 2016
in News
How to Live the Perfect Life in an Imperfect World
I used to find those words of 19th century child prodigy William J. Sidis eccentric. Silly even.
“Da Vinci himself was a social wizard. Sidis was just weak,” I pronounced at 14.
Later in life, as the voices of others (friends, family, fans, frenemies) began to drown out my own, I understood. Everyone has an opinion. One of the great catalysts of genius is the habit of valuing one’s own thoughts. Far easier to do this in seclusion.
At one particularly low point I drove for hours and hours listening to As a Man Thinketh over and over again. It’s one thing to know, intellectually, the power of your own thoughts. It’s another to know it in your bones. My bones needed to know.
And it worked. It snapped me out of my funk and gifted me the confidence to create with conviction once again.
This is why As a Man Thinketh is our 2nd instalment of the Simpleology Passive Mastery™ Series.
It’s the perfect message for this new technology. Let our mind-bending audio tech push your belief in yourself to the level of “unconscious competence.”
Simpleology Passive Mastery™ Series: As a Man Thinketh <— free download
P.S. ”My mind has been shifted in a way I just can’t explain.” That’s what one of your fellow Simpleology enthusiasts had to say about our first instalment of the Passive Mastery™ series. And he’s far from alone. We may be on to something here …
Discussion8 Comments
1. Mark Joyner says:
StagedMoves Hey Denise, thanks for the kind words. We don’t use subliminal technology as we’re not convinced of their efficacy … Looking forward to hearing how this affects you!
2. Richard Muccillo MDDCM says:
Excited over this –thank you
3. Jude Hiri says:
WOW looking forward to learning from all of these bonuses :) TY
4. Thank you for these bonuses! Wonderful to have an audio version of As Man Thinketh!
5. Gulia Beck says:
Thank you for everything – your genius brain, your huge heart and all your bonuses – but the main bonus for us is your presence in our life, Mark!
6. Jess Brown says:
Thanks for the awesome bonuses, Mark! :)
7. Donald Christie says:
just join simpleology!
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A heroic whistleblower in the long, sad mess of clergy sexual abuse
Phil Saviano remembers a similar line when he first told Boston Globe reporters there weren’t just one or two priests molesting a handful of children. Saviano knew of nearly 30 priests, if not more, with dozens of victims. And the Church was covering it up. He remembers how one editor took it all in, then called his boss to say: We’re gonna need more reporters. This is so much bigger than we thought.
Not long after that, stories of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up burst onto the front page of The Boston Globe. It turned out there were scores of criminal priests, hundreds of victims. The abuse spanned decades. Cardinal Bernard F. Law . . .
Read full article here
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This document is for one day in the future, if I find myself with a team of iOS devs and i need to get them to follow some ‘best practices’ when it comes to manual memory management, or hopefully some others out there in the world will find it useful.
• Keep memory management code to a minimum
• Avoid writing retain or release yourself
• Use properties instead
• Use autoreleased static constructors, eg: [NSArray array]
• If you have to use alloc/init, autorelease on the same line
• Use ARC for any new projects
Use properties for everything you need your Here’s how I suggest you declare properties, in your header:
@interface MyClass
@property(retain) NSMutableArray* myArrayProperty;
Notice I don’t bother with ‘nonatomic’ properties. I don’t see any value in typing that unless you’ve got high-performance-critical code, in which case you should probably be re-thinking your algorithm or dropping down to C. Keep the typing to a minimum so we don’t all have RSI when we’re old.
And in your class, lay things out like this:
@implementation MyClass
@synthesize myArrayProperty;
- (void)dealloc {
self.myArrayProperty = nil;
[super dealloc];
Notice how the dealloc is directly underneath the synthesize declarations: this is so that whenever i create a property, i’m reminded to nil it out in the dealloc. Setting the properties to nil gets the synthesized setter to release any value if necessary. Important: if you don’t use the ‘self.’ then the synthesized setter won’t be used.
One thing worth noting, is that if you’ve got Key-Value Observers, they’ll be notified as you set these properties to nil and be passed a half-dealloced object, which will probably cause crashes. So if you’re using KVO, do the following instead: [myArrayProperty release]; myArrayProperty=nil;. Having said that, I’ve never found a need for KVO, and recommend against it for this issue. I personally prefer NSNotificationCentre.
If it’s a controller, I don’t really worry about how this exposes all my properties publicly. However, for business logic classes, it’s probably worth declaring the properties in a private category in the .M file instead of in the .H, so that they’re not externally accessible:
// Privates
@interface MyClass()
@property(retain) NSMutableDictionary* someProperty;
@implementation MyClass
@synthesize someProperty;
- (void)dealloc {
self.someProperty = nil;
[super dealloc];
One more thing to keep in mind is that, for simplicity’s sakes, I exclusively use synthesized properties. I’ve simply seen too many bugs in hand-coded getters/setters.
Static constructors
Any static constructors, eg ‘NSArray array’ will return for you an autoreleased object. I always use these in preference to an [[[ABC alloc] init] autorelease], because generally they are cleaner and involve less typing. Plus you don’t have to think about when the value can be released, it’ll just get picked up by the autorelease pool after your function is done with it.
If you want to keep the value around for the duration of your class instance’s existence, do something like this:
self.myProperty = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:a, b, c, nil];
Alloc / init
As the saying goes: ‘if you init you own it’. Some classes don’t have static constructors, and you’ll have to resort to allocing/initing instances yourself. In these situations, I always recommend autoreleasing immediately after init'ing, that way i can treat them the same way as I do the static constructor instances. Also, if they’re on the same line, i don’t need to look down the code to see where it is autoreleased.
self.myProperty = [[[Something alloc] init] autorelease];
For any IBOutlet properties, I recommend usually using ‘assign’ properties, for these reasons:
• You don’t need to worry about releasing them if the view gets unloaded and reloaded due to low memory
• You won’t need to release them in your dealloc
• The view will retain them for you so you won’t need to retain them
Although it has been pointed out to me that in the following cases, you may wish to make them ‘retain’ properties:
• Some IBOutlets may not be views, and thus not retained by their superview
• If you ever access an outlet property when the view is unloaded, you’ll have a dangling pointer crash
If you decide you need to make them retain properties, you’ll have to nil them out in both the dealloc and the viewDidUnload methods.
For new projects, ARC is definitely the way to go. Some libraries that you wish to include won’t be ARC-compatible yet, which is fine: you can disable ARC on a file-by-file basis for those.
To do this, open up your project node in the project navigator, select your target, go into the build phases tab, then expand the ‘Compile Sources’ section. Select all the files you need to disable ARC for, then press enter, and type -fno-objc-arc into the box that appears.
If you follow these principles, you should be able to keep your memory-management code to a minimum, and focus on the task at hand. If you ever see a ‘retain’ or ‘release’ anywhere, you’re probably making more work for yourself than you need to. Keep it simple!
Chris Hulbert
(Comp Sci, Hons - UTS)
iOS Developer in Sydney.
Get in touch:
[email protected]
my resume
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Sunday, January 8, 2012
An Itemized Tour of the Most Terrifying Playground in the World. EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!
Let's talk about playgrounds. Some playgrounds I like. Some playgrounds upset me.
Playgrounds I like include the following features:
1) Fences
2) Clear sight lines
3) Small areas
4) Few people
5) Easy parental access to all play structures
6) Fun playground equipment
Team Stimey went to a playground today that had exactly one of six of those features. Team Stimey Junior had a blast because that one positive feature was fun playground equipment. Team Stimey Senior had a heart attack because the rest of the park seemed ACTIVELY DESIGNED to aid kidnappers and kids who tend to meander off.
It was difficult to take a photo of the whole playground, because it is huge, which was awesome for the munchkins, but terrible for me. I do have this professionally marked up and annotated photo that can give you an idea of what we're dealing with here.
I felt too lazy to use the Type tool in Photoshop. Sorry.
Shoot. I used numbers up above too. Listen, I'm sorry that I have two lists of six in this post. You are just going to have to deal with them. God, Stimeyland has gotten confusing.
1) There is a long, raised wooden boardwalk dividing the playground. Note the fence, presumably to keep kids from jumping off of it, but effectively forcing parents to walk all the way around if they need to chase a quick, agile child. There are also child-size openings in the fence under the boardwalk. More on that later.
2) Off that way is the sandbox, the baby swings, and some bouncy toys. Also off that way is easy access to the untamed forest bordering the playground. I get that the park designers probably did this to keep little kids separated from bigger, rampaging older children. To that, I say, thank GOODNESS no little kids have OLDER SIBLINGS. Or that there aren't sensory seekers who will hang out in the sand, leaving their more active siblings wandering unsupervised. You know, in theory.
3) Swings and giant web climbing structure. Giant.
4) HUGE slides that start on one side of a raised area that has a fence/ladder system clearly not designed for adults and that let out on the other side of said barrier. Even the little kid slide is set up this way.
5) Other playground equipment. This was home to this spinny thing that Jack loved and on which he made friends with more than one girl who was interested in helping him spin as fast as he could. That was my favorite thing in the park.
6) Giant synthetic mountain. Honestly, pretty goddamn awesome. But also kinda perilous. Plus, the entire backside of it was not only (naturally) blocked from view, but provided a perfect unsupervised escape route for curious kids who like to check out what is happening in other, less populated parts of the park.
Enjoy your tour? I'd like to highlight some of the more stressful aspects of this park that brought out the neurotic parent in me. In my photos, I tried to include as few random people as possible, but it was difficult considering how crowded it was. Fortunately Alex was there to actually watch the children while I wandered around documenting how hard it was to watch your children.
It was also, like, 65 degrees, so we ran into every local friend we had who also decided to go to the park yesterday. Hello? January? Where are yooooouuuuu?
So. Let's start with that boardwalk, which not only divides the playground in two, but eliminates clear sightlines, so you can't stand in one place and watch all of your children. Other than the obvious, I have a couple of issues.
I know! Let's teach kids to play in drainpipes!
Jack loves that damn tube. And it's the last place you're ever going to look for him. It also provides a way for kids to quickly and invisibly dart to an entirely different part of the park. Yes, there is access for adults to squinch by as well, but that access also allows children to get under the boardwalk where you CANNOT REACH THEM.
Oh, hi, Sam. Running from me much?
Shortly after I took that photo, he scooted out of a small hole on the other side of the boardwalk. It was upsetting.
Honestly, at some point, I just gave up on Sam. I figured that he was the least likely to wander off or be kidnapped. Sorry, Sam. You're one of my very favorites, but this is the cost of competence.
Next, let's discuss the division between the top of the slides and the bottom of the slides. That division is a fence atop a six-or-so-foot cement wall that has grooves etched into it for kids to use as ladders.
To be fair, the slides are kinda super awesome.
I managed to capture Quinn in a demonstration of these ladders for you.
Step one: Climb the unclimbable ladder grooves:
Note the girl next to him that needed assistance.
There was a lot of that. It's a weird system.
Step two: Squeeze through the child-sized fence hole at the top.
Seriously. Not a lot of adults are getting through that.
At least without embarrassing themselves.
Step three: Change your mind at the last second and decide that you'd rather wander around unsecured on the DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! side of the fence.
What six-foot drop?
Speaking of Quinn and danger at the park, should we take a moment to discuss fashion dangers? Because, come on, Q-ball. GQ isn't going to come calling if this continues.
Second-hand karate pants are bad, but he HAS found
the only way to make Crocs cute.
Moving on to the giant web structure. I can't really nitpick about this one too much because it falls squarely in the fun playground equipment category, but I am always terrified that my kids are going to fall and then ricochet all the way to the ground.
Then Jack climbed even higher and started jumping. True story.
Fortunately, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue was there.
Although they may have just been watching their own kids.
Speaking of watching your own kids, there was some sketchy parental supervision going on as well.
Dear lord, THAT doesn't seem safe, kid in the green shirt.
Oh. Hi, Sam.
Christ, kid, use your hands!
Oh. Hi, Jack.
Oh, and let us not forget the dangers of not thoroughly considering who you will marry and who will then proceed to post embarrassing photos of you all over the internet a mere twelve years later.
Hi, Alex!
I don't have a whole lot to say about this next photo of the synthetic hill, but I thought you should see it. Also, I saw an older kid doing multiple cartwheels down it, which was terrifying to watch.
I did enjoy Quinn's shadow here though.
At some point Jack took a break on the top of a REAL hill. I took this next photo to demonstrate the woods directly adjacent to the park and how easy it would be to (a) wander off into them, or (b) hide in them and wait for an unsuspecting child to take a break on a real hill.
Remain vigilant, people.
Let's move on to the little-kid part of the park, which, incidentally, is the only place my kids were harmed. There were three injuries sustained, all by Jack. First, he pinched his fingers in the swing for disabled kids. (And then it took me a while to figure out how to unlock it and get him out.)
Plus, he kept trying to kick me. Seriously. Remain vigilant.
In terms of real injury, however, I am about to show you the most dangerous item of playground equipment at this park. Jack was injured TWICE. Those of you with nervous constitutions may not want to look.
I know. It's almost like they're ASKING for a lawsuit.
Jack banged his tooth on it and then he fell right off of it when he was sitting on its forehead. That last may have been off-label use, however.
Park designers: I am available to consult. Really. Call me.
1. You are going to raise a seriously neurotic child.
2. Well, thank God for your fresh, thorough, and knowledgeable assessment of my parenting. I take it all back.
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