id
stringlengths 50
55
| text
stringlengths 54
694k
|
|---|---|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14472 | Advanced Search
Search Criteria
For example, Arcopedico AND boots would generate a result set that contain both words. However, for boots OR shoes, the result set returned would contain both or either words.
For example, "walking shoes" would generate a result set which match the exact string.
Brackets can be used for further control on the result set.
For example, Arcopedico and (casual or comfort).
Product information including brand, product name and product description containing keywords entered can trigger the search results.
Include Subcategories
Price From:
Price To: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14512 | Tumblelog by Soup.io
Newer posts are loading.
You are at the newest post.
Click here to check if anything new just came in.
Google News Meta Tags Fail to Give Credit Where Credit Is Due
Far be it for me to question the brilliance of Google, but in the case of its new news meta tagging scheme, I'm struggling to work out why it is brilliant or how it will be successful.
First, we should applaud the sentiment. Most of us would agree that it is a Good Thing that we should be able to distinguish between syndicated and non-syndicated content, and that we should be able to link back to original sources. So it is important to recognize that both of these are -- in theory -- important steps forward both from the perspective of news and the public.
But there are a number of problems with the meta tag scheme that Google proposes.
Problems With Google's Approach
Meta tags are clunky and likely to be gamed. They are clunky because they cover the whole page, not just the article. As such, if the page contains more than one article or, more likely, contains lots of other content besides the article (e.g. links, promos, ads), the meta tag will not distinguish between them. More important is that meta tags are, traditionally, what many people have used to game the web. Put in lots of meta tags about your content, the theory goes, and you will get bumped up the search engine results. Rather than address this problem, the new Google system is likely to make it worse, since there will be assumed to be a material value to adding the "original source" meta tag.
Though there is a clear value in being able to identify sources, distinguishing between an "original source" as opposed to a source is fraught with complications. This is something that those of us working on hNews, a microformat for news, have found when talking with news organizations. For example, if a journalist attends a press conference then writes up that press conference, is that the original source? Or is it the press release from the conference with a transcript of what was said? Or is it the report written by another journalist in the room published the following day? Google appears to suggest they could all be "original sources"; if this extends too far then it is hard to see what use it is.
Even when there is an obvious original source, like a scientific paper, news organizations rarely link back to it (even though it's easy to use a hyperlink). The BBC -- which is generally more willing to source than most -- has historically tended to link to the front page of a scientific publication or website rather than to the scientific paper itself (something the Corporation has sought to address in its more recent editorial guidelines). It is not even clear, in the Google meta-tagging scheme, whether a scientific paper is an original source, or the news article based on it is an original source.
And what about original additions to existing news stories? As Tom Krazit wrote on CNET:
The notion of 'original source' doesn't take into account incremental advances in news reporting, such as when one publication advances a story originally broken by another publication with new important details. In other words, if one publication broke the news of Prince William's engagement while another (hypothetically) later revealed exactly how he proposed, who is the "original source" for stories related to "Prince William engagement," a hot search term on Google today?
Differences with hNews
Something else Google's scheme does not acknowledge is that there are already methodologies out there that do much of what it is proposing, and are in widespread use (ironic given Google's blog post title "Credit where credit is due"). For example, our News Challenge-funded project, hNews already addresses the question of syndicated/non-syndicated, and in a much simpler and more effective way. Google's meta tags do not clash with hNews (both conventions can be used together), but neither do they build on its elements or work in concert with them.
One of the key elements of hNews is "source-org" or the source organization from which the article came. Not only does this go part-way toward the "original source" second tag Google suggests, it also cleverly avoids the difficult question of how to credit a news article that may be based on wire copy but has been adapted since -- a frequent occurence in journalism. The Google syndication method does not capture this important difference. hNews is also already the standard used by the largest American syndicator of content, the Associated Press, and is also used by more than 500 professional U.S. news organizations.
It's also not clear if Google has thought about how this will fit into the workflow of journalists. Every journalist we spoke to when developing hNews said they did not want to have to do things that would add time and effort to what they already do to gather, write up, edit and publish a story. It was partly for this reason that hNews was made easy to integrate into publishing systems; it's also why hNews marks information up automatically.
Finally, the new Google tags only give certain aspects of credit. They give credit to the news agency and the original source but not to the author, or to when the piece was first published, or how it was changed and updated. As such, they are a poor cousin to methodologies like hNews and linked data/RDFa.
Ways to Improve
In theory Google's initiative could be, as this post started by saying, a good thing. But there are a number of things Google should do if it is serious about encouraging better sourcing and wants to create a system that works and is sustainable. It should:
• Work out how to link its scheme to existing methodologies -- not just hNews but linked data and other meta tagging methods.
• Start a dialogue with news organizations about sourcing information in a more consistent and helpful way.
• Clarify what it means by original source and how it will deal with different types of sources.
• Explain how it will prevent its meta-tagging system from being misused such that the term "original source" becomes useless.
• Use its enormous power to encourage news organizations to include sources, authors, etc. by ranking properly marked-up news items over plain-text ones.
It is not clear whether the Google scheme -- as currently designed -- is more focused on helping Google with some of its own problems sorting news or with nurturing a broader ecology of good practice.
One cheer for intention, none yet for collaboration or execution.
Don't be the product, buy the product! |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14545 | My Best Friend, My Skates
The following is a journal entry from Clara Hughes.
My Best Friend, My Skates
I remember my first pair of speed skates more vividly than my first bike. Everyone remembers the excitement of getting their first bicycle. I felt like that child with my new skates - except, I was seventeen years old.
I bought them by selling my beat-up old car for $700. They were Viking Speed Skates, the kind the best skaters in the world used. They were second-hand but hadn't lost any luster. The shiny black boots with cream-colored leather trim and seventeen inches of blade separated by mirror-finished cups bound my feet like tight leather gloves. They were torturous because I lacked the bone-spurs and callous typical on the feet of seasoned skaters. Before this I rented a pair from the Winnipeg Speed Skating Club. They were an ancient edition whose support had long collapsed, causing an embarrassing case of ankle-burning. I could hardly wait to use the new pair. It was some time before I managed fluidity on those long blades, yet I still felt like a champion on my prized new skates.
It would be a decade before I made my intended return to the ice. I was lured away from speed skating by cycling. When my schedule allowed, I competed at long track competitions. My results were good enough to receive a $1000 Government Athletic Grant for speed skating. I decided to use the money to replace the second-hand pair of skates with new ones. Little did I know the sport would change dramatically over in the following years, leaving the $800.00 investment obsolete.
Before the 1998 Nagano Games, a new model of skates was introduced. Dutch skaters won European and World titles, smashing records with the 'Clap skate'. It is essentially a hinged version of the old skate, allowing more force to be applied with each stride. Skaters scrambled to adjust to the new technology in time for the Games. I could only laugh when thinking about my naivety in buying the new skates.
A year later I traveled to Calgary to skate 'for fun'. I wanted to try the Clap skate and hoped someone would have a pair for me to use. Because my feet are a common size it was easy to find a pair that fit. Skating was easier than I remembered; even with my rusty technique the Clap skates seemed more forgiving. Before leaving, although with apprehension, I bought a pair of the skates. It was not the $1300.00 causing this unease, I was nervous the technology could again change. I purchased the skates because they were difficult to find and, as luck would have it, the store had a pair that fit. I wanted to be prepared for the following year, when I intended to return to skating full-time.
Those skates carried me through my first Winter Olympics and the following two seasons. Inevitably, they began to fall apart at the seams. I had to get a new pair. During a World Cup in Holland I went to the Viking Factory for replacements.
The modern factory was located along the highway between Amsterdam and Heerenveen. Plastered on the stark-white walls of the waiting room were posters of famous Viking skaters. Gunda Neiman, Gianni Romme, and Bonnie Blair and other legends adorned the walls, decorated in colors of Olympic gold, silver and bronze. A TV in the corner played '100 Years of Dutch Skating', putting some of these images in motion. A wall-sized bulletin board overflowed with an abundance of pictures, calendars, and postcards. Incased in glass was the evolution of speed skating, shown by the different models Viking produced over the years.
I wanted the classic model, like my old skates, not the sleek new ones with the zip-up lace cover. After trying numerous pairs on, I found the perfect fit, seemingly made for my feet. Once again I felt, as I did over a decade earlier, the excitement of having a new pair of skates.
They were a gift from Viking, a sort of reward, I suppose, for remaining loyal in the age of molded, custom boots. As I promised to send a signed photo, a small token of thanks, I felt strange when imagining my picture on the waiting room wall amongst the icons of the sport. Part of me still feels like a kid with that first pair of skates, captivated by the sport for the first time. That I can feel this excitement and be one of the athletes on the wall makes me realize how lucky I am. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14569 | Banking and Payments for Gen Z
Regular price
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.
Generation Z, defined as customers born between 1996 and 2010, hold up to $143 billion in spending power, but haven't yet developed brand loyalties that dictate where they store and spend that money. For banking and payments providers, attracting these customers while they're young could lead to lucrative relationships throughout their lives, with value increasing as they age, earn more money, and expand the number of financial products they engage with.
Most Gen Zers haven't started using financial products beyond a bank account, which makes them a ripe opportunity for players in the space. As a result, many firms target millennials and Gen Zers together in a push to attract younger customers, but this could be limiting their ability to effectively capture the interest of tweens, teens, and young adults, because Gen Z differs from their older counterparts. As a group, they're more responsive to influence from friends and peers than they are to traditional advertising, less likely to remember life before the internet, and more open to a wider variety of financial service providers than other consumers.
Understanding what makes Gen Zers tick is critical for marketers, strategists, and developers looking to cater to these younger customers and build out a suite of products, tools, and services that they'll want to adopt. In this report, Business Insider Intelligence will use a six-point framework — developed based on industry research and conversations — to explain the core attributes that Gen Z values in a product. It will then explain how each of these attributes can be applied to banking and payments products, and offer actionable recommendations, strategies, and examples for how to implement them to grab younger customers ahead of the competition.
The companies mentioned in the report are: Affirm, American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Current, Discover, Instagram, Google, Grab, Greenlight, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard, PayPal, Uber, Venmo, Visa, Wells Fargo, Zelle
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• Gen Z's lack of financial services product adoption offers providers a long runway for growth. While two-thirds of Gen Zers have a bank account, many don't yet use debit cards, haven't aged into credit cards or loans, and aren't responsible for the bulk of their own spending. As they navigate life transitions, like going to college or getting a first job, there's ripe opportunity for providers to engage these customers.
• Gen Z is more interested in digital payments products and services than any other generation. While adoption of mobile wallets has been tepid among the general population and P2P apps, like Venmo and Zelle, are just now gaining traction among older users, Gen Zers are diving in head first: Over half use digital wallets monthly, and over three-quarters use other digital payment apps or P2P apps in the same time frame.
• To attract, engage, and retain Gen Zers, financial services firms must develop products that are social, authentic, digital-native, and educational, offer value, and evolve over time. This combination, which emphasizes key attributes that Gen Zers value, serve as a roadmap for developing offerings with features that appeal to these users in both the short and long run.
In full, the report:
• Explains why Generation Z represents a meaningful and urgent opportunity for financial services providers.
• Outlines a six-point framework for building services that can attract, engage, and retain Gen Zers.
• Offers specific strategies that banks and payments providers can implement to build products tailored to this generation.
• Evaluates examples of tactics that work in bringing Gen Zers into the fold and turning them into lifelong customers. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14572 | The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback)
The Picture of Dorian Gray Cover Image
By Paul-Thomas Ferguson (Introduction by), Alissa Rindels (Illustrator), Oscar Wilde
Wilde drew inspiration for this tale from an 1884 visit to an eccentric artist, as well as from the legends of Narcissus and Faust. The resulting novella is anenthralling character study that blends a discussion of the merits of artwith that brand of parodying critique of Victorian society for which Wildewould become famous. In the process, The Picture of Dorian Gray examinesthe moral implications of valuing physical beauty over all else.
Product Details
ISBN: 9781461149835
ISBN-10: 1461149835
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: June 15th, 2011
Pages: 248
Language: English |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14590 | 3 steps to open file with MP2A extension
Usually solving problems with MP2A file is simple – just install proper software and open the file. Read the guide and open MP2A file now!
MP2A File Extension
• File type Sound Format (MPEG-1 Layer II Audio Stream)
• File developer N/A
• File category Audio Files
• File popularity rating
• Star
How to open MP2A file?
There could be multiple reasons for which the system does not support given file. In the case of MP2A extension, it is probable that none of the installed programs support given file type. Therefore, user should undertake the following steps
Step 1: Install a program that supports MP2A files
If an application that supports MP2A files is installed on user’s system, but is not used to open such files by default, right-click on the file icon and choose "Open with" option from the menu. Next, select the proper application and check the "Always use the selected application to open this kind of files" box. The system will store this information in its registry and use the selected program to open files with MP2A extension by default.
Hint for Mac OS users
For Mac OS users the procedure is analogous – open the file menu by right-clicking on the MP2A file and choose "Information" option and select "Open with program" option. From the submenu select an application and click on "Change all" button.
Step 2: Find and download proper software
Inability to open MP2A files may also be related to the lack of any application that supports given file being installed on the system. Should that be the case, user needs to download and install one of the following applications. Once installed, the system will automatically associate newly installed application with MP2A files. If this step fails, see step 1.
Programs that support files with MP2A extension
Step 3: Check the MP2A file for errors
Sometimes, although relatively rarely, steps 1 and 2 might not lead to expected results. There can be several reasons for such situation to occur:
• MP2A file has been downloaded from the internet but for some reason it is incomplete. In such case the file should be re-downloaded and opened again.
• Structure of given MP2A file could be corrupted and as such the program is not able to open the file
• Storage medium on which the file was stored is damaged
• It is important to ascertain that the icon representing given file is not a shortcut a related MP2A file no longer present in the location to which the shortcut points
• If the user account has restricted access privileges it is advised to contact the system administrator or an IT expert
Similar file extensions |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14598 | Walking Through Time Activity: The Age of the Earth
Walking Through Time Activity: The Age of the Earth
By studying rocks, scientists have figured out how long the Earth has been around. And the answer is: a long, long time.
The earth is four billion, five hundred and forty million years old, and in that time, it’s been through a lot of changes. By contrast, people have only been around for two or three million years, a tiny portion of the Earth’s vast history.
Numbers this big are hard to imagine. So here’s an activity that will help.
You need:
• Sidewalk chalk
• A long sidewalk (You’ll need about 760 feet, so probably two city blocks. Do it in a park if you can, so that you don’t have to cross the street.)
• A grownup helper, if you do need to cross the street (You can also make this an indoor activity by drawing with a pencil on a ten-foot-long strip of paper. Instead of “pace,” substitute “centimetre”.)
Walking Through Time Activity: The Age of the Earth
In this activity, you will take a walk through time. You’ll see just how old the Earth is, and all the things that have happened over those many years. Every step you take will represent fifteen million years. Fifteen million years is already an unimaginably long time, but as you’ll see, it’s nothing compared to the age of the Earth.
At one end of the sidewalk, use the sidewalk chalk to make a mark on the pavement. This represents the beginning of the Earth’s history, 4.54 billion years ago, when the Earth formed out of clouds of gas and dust. The early Earth was very different from the way it is today. It was incredibly hot, there were no oceans, the air was poisonous, and there was no life.
Starting at this mark, walk seven paces along the sidewalk. Sometime around here, another planet crashed into the Earth, kicking up debris that eventually combined to form the moon.
Walk another three paces. Now the Earth’s surface has cooled down enough that water in the atmosphere turns to liquid and falls as rain. It rains for hundreds of years, forming the oceans.
Walk another twenty paces. This marks the beginning of a long period of asteroids (space rocks) hitting the Earth.
Walk another twenty paces. The long period of asteroid impacts has now ended.
Walk another twenty paces. This is the earliest point in time that everyone agrees there was life on earth. At this time, life only lives in the ocean. These early living things are far too small to see, and they’re made of simple cells, like bacteria are today. But we know they were there, because their growth caused tiny pieces of rock to form into big layered mounds called stromatolites.
Now for the longest walk yet: Walk another seventy paces. One group of living things, the cyanobacteria, has figured out how to get energy from the sun (like plants do today). But this process has a side effect: it produces a large amount of oxygen (the gas that we breathe). This is a huge change in the makeup of Earth’s atmosphere, and it’s the first time that living things had such a dramatic effect on the planet.
Walk another three paces. All that extra oxygen has now caused an extremely long ice age to begin: in fact, it’s possible that the entire Earth becomes covered in ice during this period.
Walk another twenty paces. The ice age has now ended.
Walk another twenty paces. Sometime around here, the first complex cells appear – the kind that plants and animals are made of.
Walk another sixteen paces. Sometime around here, these complex cells group together to form multicellular organisms – living things made of more than one cell. Notice that all life was single-celled for a long, long time. Even today, single-celled life is much more diverse than multicellular life. We just notice multicellular life more because it’s bigger – and because it includes us!
Walk another twenty-four paces. Up until this point, living things have made babies by making copies of themselves. But now, some living things have figured out how to make babies by combining their genes with each other. This is what people do: you’re not an exact copy of your mom or your dad; you’re a combination of the two. This is called sexual reproduction, and it makes evolution move faster.
Walk another forty paces. The earliest fossils of animals are from this time – a type of sea creature called sponges. And from this point on, things get action-packed.
Walk another four paces. Now an event occurs called the Cambrian explosion, in which many major groups of invertebrates (animals without backbones) appear at about the same time. These include members of the clam family, the insect family, and the starfish family. A bunch of really weird creatures appear around this time too, like Opabinia, which had five eyes and a long trunk with a claw on the end! (You can use the sidewalk chalk to draw pictures of some of these creatures if you like.)
Walk one more pace. Now the first backboned animals appear: fish without jaws. The first members of a group of insect-like sea creatures called trilobites appear as well. All animals and plants still live only in the oceans; there is no life on land.
Walk another four paces. Now the first land plants begin to appear. At first, they’re all small, like mosses.
Walk another two paces. Now some invertebrates have followed the plants onto land, to eat them. In the sea, the first jawed fish appear.
Walk another two paces. The first true insects and the first sharks appear, and so do a group of squid-like creatures with spiral shells called ammonites.
Walk another two paces. Now some backboned animals have followed the invertebrates onto land, to eat them. They would have looked like big salamanders.
Walk one more pace. Some plants have now evolved to grow from seeds, which have a protective covering.
Walk two more paces. At this point, all the world’s continents have fused together into a single supercontinent, called Pangaea.
Walk one more pace. This is the time of huge forests of trees, teeming with giant millipedes and dragonflies. When these trees fossilized, they became coal, which we still use for energy today. At the same time, the ancestors of reptiles and mammals developed eggs that could be laid on land, so that they no longer had to return to the water like frogs do.
Walk two more paces. This is the time of creatures like Dimetrodon, which looked like a big lizard with a giant sail on its back like a ruffled potato chip. Dimetrodon is often mistaken for a dinosaur, but it’s actually more closely related to you and me! Besides, dinosaurs hadn’t appeared yet.
Walk two more paces. This is the time of the biggest mass extinction in the history of the Earth, which was caused by volcanoes. Lots of groups of animals died out, including the trilobites.
Walk two more paces. The world has recovered from the extinction event, and the first dinosaurs appear.
Walk one more pace. Now the first mammals appear: animals with fur who feed their babies with milk. You’re a mammal!
Walk two more paces. The supercontinent Pangaea is starting to break up.
Walk one more pace. This is the time of giant long-necked dinosaurs, like Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus. At the same time, a group of small feathered dinosaurs learns how to fly. Today, we call them birds.
Walk two more paces. The first flowers appear.
Walk four more paces. The dinosaurs have continued to dominate through all this time. Now it’s the time of Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex.
But walk one more pace and everything has changed. A giant rock has fallen out of the sky, causing another major extinction. All dinosaurs except birds have died, and so have a lot of other creatures, including ammonites. Now that the big dinosaurs are out of the way, mammals are diversifying like never before. And now that ammonites are out of the way, bony fish are diversifying like never before.
Walk one more pace. India has crashed into Asia (I say “crashed”, but it was far too slow to see), pushing up the Himalayan mountains, the tallest mountains on Earth.
Walk one more pace. The climate has gotten cooler and drier. Forests are giving way to grasslands, where herds of hoofed mammals roam.
Walk two more paces, and that takes you to now. (Make a mark with the sidewalk chalk.) So much happened in that last step you took! The first people appeared. The Earth went through another ice age. People learned how to use fire, and spread all over the world, and invented writing and the wheel and the electric nose hair trimmer. In the grand scheme of things, we only just got here. And yet, we’ve already had an enormous influence on the Earth.
Look back. Can you still see the mark you made back at the beginning of the Earth? This is the biggest lesson the rocks have to teach us: The Earth is really, really old, and people have only been around for a tiny part of its history.
Walking Through Time Activity: The Age of the Earth
Don’t forget to follow us on TwitterInstagramPinterest, and Facebook!
Grant HardingContributor
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14599 | How does one remove the BIOS password (I know the password)? The reason I am asking is that the BOOT priority on my laptop is messed up in my BIOS settings and installation disks are not booting now, it goes straight to the OS (can't access the BIOS menu anymore).
Laptop: Samsung NP300E5X
OS: Ubuntu 18.04
Boot from CD/DWD and USB is not working currently. - main issue
sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup # will not work - system is not UEFI.
I can't enter BIOS pressing F2 before or after the password screen (right password). The F2 key is working fine - I can rename files with it, tested it as well here- w3keys, key-code 113 (F2)
UPDATE: 09/01/19
BIOS is not accessible w/ or w/o SSD. I was able to get into F10 (boot menu), it seems that having USB bootable inserted on system start + F10 did the trick (BIOS is still not available). However, the Boot Menu is empty with exception for "ubuntu" and App Menu is empty as well (image of the Boot Menu below). enter image description here
Screenshot of my SSD drive (it might be helpful). enter image description here
• @VitaliyTerziev you haven't understood what I said about removing the hard drive. I'm not suggesting what harrymc said about removing the hard drive. I toold you that what harrymc said won't get you into the BIOS. Try plugging the or a hard drive into another laptop and put windows on it. There are ways 2 have windows on a hard drive in such a way that it will still run when the hard drive is moved to another computer. Apparetntly Acroniis can. alternatively there is another way too after windows is already installed. Then when u have windows on there,put the hard drive in ur laptop. – barlop Feb 6 '19 at 20:53
• @VitaliyTerziev Also, if the file will run from a DOS boot disk then it's arguably easier. You can go to another computer, plug your laptop's hard drive(or some hard drive) into it. Boot the other computer into a USB dos boot disk. Then do format H: /s (Where H is the drive letter of the laptop hard drive). The /s means system. Then plug your laptop's hard drive back into your laptop or in place of the current hard drive in your laptop. See if it boots to a DOS prompt. If it does then great. Then take it out , copy the BIOS update EXE file on there and try running it. – barlop Feb 6 '19 at 21:01
• 1
@VitaliyTerziev The idea that putting a different hard drive in will let you F2 into the BIOS is absolutely ridiculous, please stop repeating that stupid idea. Do you seriously think that the BIOS can be so easily bypassed? Obviously if you put a new hard drive in and FLASH THE BIOS, then you may be able to get to the BIOS. But not just putting a new hard drive in. – barlop Feb 6 '19 at 21:26
• Have you tried F10 / FN + F10? – CraftyB Feb 8 '19 at 9:16
• 1
@VitaliyTerziev Ah, didn't notice. It's very clear now, I'll delete my old comment, and this one after you read it (might as well keep the comments relatively neat ;-) – Xen2050 Feb 11 '19 at 9:29
There are two courses of action that you can take. As others have said, flashing your firmware is an option, but it may not be enough. Flashing the firmware is writing to its flash memory, rather than the CMOS, which stores the actual user configurations/settings. A good option here would be to reset, rather than flash, your firmware. This is done by opening up the computer and removing your CMOS battery. (Also, a misconception: this is the UEFI, not the BIOS; those are two completely different things).
A little bit of background: the CMOS is a type of RAM that needs constant power to store its settings. If it loses power, then it loses its changes and resets back to its defaults, which are hardcoded into the CMOS itself. Removing the CMOS battery is basically resetting it to factory defaults, but it is more foolproof than resetting it from your UEFI, which you cannot do anyway.
The process may vary from computer to computer, and you may have to crack open your case with force on some newer laptops. Make sure you have a grounding wristband or at least ground yourself before opening up the case, because static electricity can damage your motherboard (grounding wristbands are super cheap, you can find one readily on Amazon for $5). When you find the UEFI chip(s), the CMOS battery is somewhere around; it is a circular, almost flat, silver cylinder. Take it out gently (making sure you are grounded before), and wait for 5 minutes before inserting it back in.
Some motherboards have fixed CMOS batteries, however. These motherboards will most likely have a CMOS jumper that can reset it. Around the CMOS battery, there should be a jumper named CLEAR CMOS, PASSWORD, or something similar. Set it to the "clear" position, then move it back to where it originally was. Not all motherboards have this, though, and if you can't remove the CMOS battery as well, then you're pretty much stuck and can't use this method.
Reference this for a detailed explanation and pictures.
• If it's a normal CMOS battery, make sure not to touch both sides of it at the same time and hold it at its edges when you have removed it, to not drain it. – Mikael Dúi Bolinder Feb 11 '19 at 9:50
• Make sure to remove the laptop battery as well, I had a laptop with easy access to the CMOS and tested the settings survived a CMOS pull if the laptop battery was inserted still. – FreeSoftwareServers Feb 11 '19 at 23:11
• See this thread Re: Removing CMOS to reset BIOS PWD. TLDR; It may not work and could break laptop. meta.superuser.com/questions/13568/… – FreeSoftwareServers Feb 11 '19 at 23:39
• Actually, I know of lots of anecdotal evidence of people breaking mobos because of attempting to remove the CMOS incorrectly. This, first of all, is anecdotal and is not based on real logic, just stories that may or may not be true. Second of all, CMOSes universally have an option to reset, whether it be removing the battery or using jumper cables like I mentioned in my answer. If they didn't, then every time a supervisor password was forgotten or a BIOS was flashed incorrectly, it would have to be taken to a store and time and money would be wasted. – Varun Narravula Feb 12 '19 at 17:58
I believe you have gotten the BIOS itself somehow in a bad shape. Perhaps flashing it again will reset it to default values.
The BIOS for the NP300 is for the NP300E5A model, with this direct download link. If you may give me your exact model I could be more specific, as the one I found may not suite your computer model. This BIOS update dates from November 24, 2011, version
The problem is that this BIOS is to be used with Windows and is distributed as an .exe file, so you will need a Windows environment for executing it.
You may create a bootable DOS USB using Rufus on Windows or UNetbootin for all major OS, then copy the BIOS update executable to the USB disk. You will need a DOS boot ISO file, you could maybe use SeaTools or find another one.
• 1
A)what do you mean when you say "you will need a Windows environment for executing it" AND yet you say "You may create a bootable DOS USB". How will the latter help in the case of the former? B)Furthermore, how can he boot off a DOS USB if he says "installation disks are not booting " implying he can't boot from any other drive? – barlop Feb 4 '19 at 23:06
• @harrymc you wrote "you can create a BIOS install USB as in my answer. If not, a repair-shop is the last solution" <-- Besides who are you to decide your idea is the final one. I guess you posted your non-answer to be final as well? And you do realise that a repair shop will often google problems and may even be reading suggestions here. There are people on this site that have worked in repair shops or been offered jobs in repair shops. Superuser would be a resource that they'd sometimes make use of. – barlop Feb 6 '19 at 16:32
• I'm not sure it's relevant. Have also a look at this one. – harrymc Feb 8 '19 at 18:35
On boot, you can try F12 or F8 or holding F10. (rather than F2)
Please see external link to discussion about various ways of getting into BIOS (source - ifixit.com).
Can't get to BIOS boot menu
• Please quote and cite the relevant information from your link. – Ramhound Feb 9 '19 at 0:34
I see you've tried it without the SSD/HDD which I'd hope would afford you more time to hit key to get into BIOS. Glad to see you've also tried Fn+F2, but without luck :(
Have you tried an external keyboard? I see another Samsung (Tablet) PC has you hit ESC repeatedly
It seems you only gave us part of the PC model, can you give us more details? I can attest the difficulty of getting into BIOS on some brands since it stumped me for 15-30min & I've been in the industry for over a decade.
The first answer with a superuser link suggest external keyboard & F10 amongst other things, please take a look at that.
Edit: Looks like that first answer no longer exists. It pointed to this superuser answer about trying Esc or F10, also with external keyboard & spamming those keys on the internal & external keyboard simultaneously. That page has another answer seemingly pointing out this issue & it may not be resolvable :( Thanks Samsung!
Another idea: remove the SSD/HDD as you really SHOULD be able to get into the BIOS/UEFI-setup regardless if that is connected. I'd also do a static discharge if you can: remove power cord, battery, hold power button 20sec, reconnect things & try again. If you can't do static discharge at least hold power button down to be sure you're getting a full shut down since many of Samsung's guides (link 1 & 2) mention doing something like this.
• 1
It is important to note that the order answers appear is not the same for everyone. If you are going to reference another answer, you should cite and quote the relevant information, you feel is important. This way if the answer is delete, the information is still visible, and anyone can click on the link and be taken to the answer itself. – Ramhound Feb 9 '19 at 0:36
• gregg, thanks for your answer, I've added images plus some more info which was discussed in comments only so far. I think my keyboard is working fine not sure if this will help, I've tried all possible combinations I think, ESC will send me straight to GRUB. – Vitaliy Terziev Feb 9 '19 at 1:02
• @Ramhound I was on a smartphone browser so I couldn't easily do that, but thanks for the reminder especially considering it seems that answer was deleted. -VitaliyTerziev: ESC MAY send you to GRUB, however BIOS/UEFI is in control before it hands it off to the first sector of the HDD (GRUB) so it very much is a timing thing that is getting harder with newer/faster PC's. Since that was the key for a Tablet PC guessing it might not help, but worth the try. You can always yank out HDD so it doesn't go to GRUB to also try – gregg Feb 10 '19 at 16:06
Not every laptop will erase password with battery remove. I've met lenovo, which has unknown bios password that cannot be reset, via unpluggin battery, main battery and a PSU power cord for a day. As their admin said (somewhere on lenovo support forums, sorry cannot remember a link): "that is done to prevent device theft". But I feel more that it is done to tivoify their hardware, so only them can control users. For example - to embed trojans (like "Windows Update" trojan program) - any updater is a trojan program, which remotely installs and runs desired software. And also to performsome kind of user spying - eg "what apps you lanch", "what games you play", "what payment systems you use", "how many money you have there", so on...
Nowadays that is given under a "Know-Your-Customer" sauce, and is tied purely to marketing/advertisements (Which I feel is a industry close to terrorism: terror/narcotics/ads has essentially same goals: "hard user GANG").
So sometimes you cannot remove bios without soldering iron: you may have to look at instrucitions like these, with your model. But better sell this piece of.. hardware, and buy yourself a good hardware which is "unlocked"by default.
Your Answer
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14600 | My PC, which I built over two years ago (and has been running fine the entire time) is now shutting off about a second after I try to power it up after going from the stock AMD CPU cooler to a Corsair H80i. I used arctic silver 5 thermal compound. All the fans are spinning, and I can hear the pump when it starts up.
Through my preliminary googling, it looks like it could be either my CPU is overheating instantly, or my motherboard doesn't detect a CPU fan, but I don't know how to find out which one it is.
On my MSI motherboard, 1 light comes on before it shuts off.
Any help troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated.
My PC's specs: AMD FX6300, 4x2gb Kingston HyperX Black ram, Nvidia GTX 770 2GB MSI Twin Frozr Kingwin 750w PSU, 2x1tb hard drives
EDIT: never mind, it works
• You could connect the old CPU fan. (Connect to the pins on the motherboard so it is detected. I am not suggesting to replace the new liquid setup. Just to make sure that lack of CPU fan detection does not trigger the shutdown). – Hennes Sep 30 '14 at 19:29
• Sorry to waste your time. I tried turning it on again and it worked without changing anything. And it seems to be turning on reliably, but thanks for the help anyway. – Fiberwire Sep 30 '14 at 19:48
• That PSU has an interesting method of being 'off' :) Anyway, I suggest posting the solution (trivial as it was) as an answer, waiting a but and then accepting your own answer. Without that the post will get bumped to the front page every now and then until there is either an accepted answer of sufficiently upvoted answers. Editing it as [solved] is a nice idea but not the way this site works. – Hennes Sep 30 '14 at 20:31
• @Hennes Oh, right. Will do. – Fiberwire Sep 30 '14 at 21:03
CPU does not overheat instantly, so most likely to be the fan speed sensor. BIOS might have an option to disable CPU fan checking; except you can't get to change it because PC shuts down... Connect the old fan just to fire it up and change the BIOS setting.
Actually, I think I found out the real reason it was turning off immediately. The PSU switch was on the wrong setting (I.e. off), which for some reason was letting it turn on for a second. I recommend against Kingwin PSUs.
Your Answer
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14604 | No relevant resource is found in the selected language.
To have a better experience, please upgrade your IE browser.
S1720, S2700, S3700, S5700, S6700, S7700, and S9700 Series Switches Common Operation Guide
Rate and give feedback:
Configuring Authentication for Telnet Login Users (AAA Local Authentication)
Configuring Authentication for Telnet Login Users (AAA Local Authentication)
The authentication mode must be specified on the device; otherwise, users cannot log in to the device through Telnet. The device supports non-authentication, password authentication, and AAA authentication, in which AAA authentication has the highest security.
To authenticate the Telnet users through AAA, enable the Telnet service on the device, set the authentication mode of the user interface (for example, VTY) to aaa, create a local account in the AAA view, and set the user access type and user level.
<HUAWEI> system-view
[HUAWEI] telnet server enable //Enable the Telnet service.
[HUAWEI] user-interface maximum-vty 15 //Set the maximum number of VTY login users to 15.
[HUAWEI] user-interface vty 0 14 //Enter the view of VTY users at level 0-14.
[HUAWEI-ui-vty0-14] authentication-mode aaa //Set the VTY authentication mode to AAA.
[HUAWEI-ui-vty0-14] protocol inbound telnet //Configure the VTY user interface to support Telnet. By default, switches in V200R006 and earlier versions support Telnet, and switches in V200R007 and later versions support SSH.
[HUAWEI-ui-vty0-14] quit
[HUAWEI] aaa
[HUAWEI-aaa] local-user user1 password irreversible-cipher Huawei@1234 //Create the local user user1 and set the password. The password is displayed in cipher text in the configuration file, so remember the password. If you forget the password, run this command again to overwrite the old configuration.
[HUAWEI-aaa] local-user user1 service-type telnet //Set the access type of user1 to Telnet. This user can only log in to the device through Telnet.
[HUAWEI-aaa] local-user user1 privilege level 15 //Set the user level of user1 to 15. After login, the user can run the commands at level 0-15.
[HUAWEI-aaa] quit
Updated: 2018-09-03
Document ID: EDOC1000057410
Views: 123053
Downloads: 13188
Average rating:
This Document Applies to these Products
Related Version
Related Documents
Previous Next |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14605 | No relevant resource is found in the selected language.
To have a better experience, please upgrade your IE browser.
Rate and give feedback:
Configuring the SNMP Trap Function
Configuring the SNMP Trap Function
Configuration Logic
After you enable the trap function of a specified module and specify the SNMP trap host (that is, the NMS receiving trap messages), the device sends an SNMP trap message to the NMS when the module generates a trap.
Configuration Example
1. Enable the trap function for the ARP module.
<HUAWEI> system-view
[HUAWEI] snmp-agent trap enable feature-name arp
2. Run the snmp-agent trap source command to configure the source address for sending SNMP trap messages.
[HUAWEI] interface loopback 0
[HUAWEI-LoopBack0] ip address 32
[HUAWEI-LoopBack0] quit
[HUAWEI] snmp-agent trap source loopback 0 //Configure the IP address of loopback 0 as the source IP address of sending SNMP trap messages.
3. Run the snmp-agent target-host trap command to specify the NMS that receives SNMP trap messages.
[HUAWEI] snmp-agent target-host trap address udp-domain udp-port 50000 params securityname user001 v3 privacy
Updated: 2018-09-03
Document ID: EDOC1000057410
Views: 123055
Downloads: 13188
Average rating:
This Document Applies to these Products
Related Version
Related Documents
Previous Next |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14613 | How do I duplicate/copy objects?
To duplicate an object, click on the object you’d like to copy, and click the copy icon on our toolbar.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut [Command] + C to copy and [Command] + V to paste for mac or [Control] + C to copy and [control] +V to paste on a PC.
Still need help? Contact Us Contact Us |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14615 | How can I tell the size of an image?
For Mac users:
• Open the file in Preview
• Visit "Tools"
• Select "Adjust Size"
• Select "Pixels" (next to width and height sections)
• The number of pixels in the width and height sections will appear
For PC users:
• Please visit:
• Upload your image
• You image width, height and size will show in the bottom left corner
Have more questions? Submit a request |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14642 | July 20th, 2006
And no I'm not related to *insert random name here* Allison either. At least, not that I know of.
This morning on the bus a woman tapped me on the shoulder and said "Excuse me, is your name Theresa?* You look just like somebody I knew when I was 6." To which my eyes went big and round at the thought of looking like someone who's 6.. So, after it was established that we didn't actually know each other, we started chatting. Turns out she's from a wee town down on the West Coast, and yes, she knows someone from Dargaville (Everybody knows someone from Dargaville. It's a Universal Law. I'm always amazed that a hicktown with such a small population has managed to spread its fingers so wide. Fairlie is the same).
So anyway, one of the things she said is that having grown up in a West Coast town, every time she smells coal smoke it reminds her of being a kid there - even when she was living in a huge city in England, one whiff of it and she'd be right back there, up to her knees in whitebait. It got me thinking, what smell does that to me? And the one I came up with was silage. ;-/ That acrid, sweet/sour smell that pretty much everyone in NZ has smelled at one time or another and gone "Phwor! What died?" Anyone out there have a nice smell that reminds them of home?
* This happens to me a lot. It's a Thing. Apparently I look like a lot of people. Never a 6-year-old before, though.
[EDIT] Someone on wellingtonnz just said I look like someone they used to know. Freaky.
Collapse )
Finally, thanks to the people who contacted me yesterday. Yes, the comments in that post struck a nerve and getting unexpected boosts was overwhelmingly awesome. You rock.. *smile*
Oh yeah, and I need more Pendulum. I only have one album. This will not do. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14643 | You in control vs. God in control
– Acts 2:36
Messiah: “a savior of a particular group or cause.”
Lord: “someone or something having power, authority, or influence; a master or ruler.”
For years I made Christ my Messiah (savior), but I didn’t allow Him to be Lord of my life. I knew if I died, I’d have gone to heaven. But I didn’t want to let go of how I wanted to run my life. After all, it was MY life… right? I wanted to be in control of my friends, my career, the people I dated, and even the mentors over me. All that did for me was lead me down a long, painful road that eventually made me want to submit every part of my life to Christ.
Jesus is to be our Savior AND Lord of our lives, not just one or the other.
Most people don’t want to believe in Christianity because they think they have to stop doing the things they consider to be fun. They don’t like the idea of having to submit to a God they can’t see. They don’t want “the big man upstairs” to “strike them down” the first time they mess up.
Let me be the first to say being a Christian is fun! Being a Christian doesn’t mean you’ll become a recluse and have no friends because you’re always at church. Something non-believers don’t understand is that once you become a Christian and submit your life to Christ, you don’t have a desire to do what the world deems fun. Since I became a Christian, I’ve been full of joy. Joy means that even through trials and hard times, I will remain at peace because my God, the prince of peace, lives within me.
Submitting to Christ is hard; it’s something I have to do daily. Submitting means I’m giving God full control of anything and everything that happens in my life.
I always found it funny to hear people say God is in the sky waiting to rain fire and lightening on us. God won’t “strike you down” as they say. My God is merciful, peaceful, generous, stern, loving, the prince of peace, and the lord of lords. According to Isaiah 54:10, God LOVES us and has granted a promise of peace to us – “the mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end; I will keep forever my promise of peace.” So says the Lord who loves you.” In Isaiah 9:6, it describes Jesus at birth – “a child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,” “Prince of Peace.” Does this sound like a God sitting in the clouds, spying on us and waiting for us to mess up? No, not at all.
When we completely submit to Christ and make him our Savior AND Lord, life finally begins. I remember who I was before I put my full trust in God… I doubted. I was angry. I was confused. I was hurt. I had horrible self-worth. I daily contemplated the point of life.
I still struggle on a daily basis, but I am continually drawn to my knees in awe of Christ and all Hes done for me. Even when I make a mistake or don’t trust His plan, He sticks by my side.
He doesn’t give up on us, so why should we?
Ask yourself, have you made Christ your Lord as well as Savior? If not, why aren’t you trusting Him?
2 responses to “You in control vs. God in control
1. Dear Taylor, I am having trouble getting this message to you; so will end this message now, and then simply send the second part in a moment. Norman
Leave a Reply
You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )
Google photo
Twitter picture
Facebook photo
Connecting to %s |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14652 | Facebook Places Vs. The Location-Based World
Let’s just pretend for a second that Facebook Places aka Facesquare is a charitable attempt on Facebook’s part to quell check-in fatigue by making nice with Foursquare, Gowalla, Booyah and Yelp (and not another attempt by Facebook to turn the world into this).
Because Booyah always throws people for a loop (“Who the hell uses MyTown?”) and Loopt’s 4 million users statistic always seems to shock people, we’ve posted this handy LBS comparison below. Water cooler tech forecasters should take note of Facesquare’s current lack of game mechanics.
As a wise TechCrunch commenter once said, “Just because you don’t use it, or have never heard of it, doesn’t negate its market share.”
Note: Data for all platforms except Facebook Places was last compiled in July 2010. Booyah has just released figures that sets their user base at 3.1 million.
For a hi-res image: Fidelman via Techpp. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14656 | What is a Reverse Image Search?
If you are interested in knowing about reverse search, then you are surely in the right place.
Today we will help you get the complete detailed information about reverse search image.
After reading today’s article, you will easily know about the complete details reverse search, which includes:
1. The need for reverse search
2. The use of reverse image search
3. The top picture finder tools
4. How to simply use the reverse picture lookup tools
The Need for Reverse Search Image
Now, first of all, let us talk about the need for the search image tool in this era.
You don’t know about the need of it until you read about it in detail.
There are many things in our daily life for which we need a reverse image search tool. For instance, if you are watching a movie, a season or strolling your Instagram feed and if you see a celebrity picture or scene that you immediately fall for then you must be tempted to know about him/her more!
How will you possibly explain the picture or the face of that person to the Google search engine or any search engine for that matter?
The answer is you cannot do it without the search image tool!
Consider a few more examples for the need of reverse search, if you are strolling down your Facebook page and if you see a picture of a meal that you immediately feel like cooking then how would you find out the recipes of it, well you can simply do so without the help of search image tools.
Let us look at another point of view of reverse search image tool’s need.
In professional business, say in content marketing or management, if you find a picture that needs to be posted along with your content in your opinion just because it relates to it or makes the content catchier then can you use it by just pasting it in your content? You certainly can’t without knowing about the ownership and copyrights of the image itself.
Take another example of the need for the tool in a personal capacity; today you must have seen and also experienced the sending and receiving of the pictures that have quotes on them.
Well, you can simply not extract text and know the complete details about it without the medium of reverse search.
These are some of the most common needs of the reverse search in our daily life.
There are millions of more uses of this tool, especially within the business fraternity but we will let you figure that out yourself.
And now we will move towards the other part of our article which will tell you about the use of the reverse search tool so that you can use it in the right way if it’s your first time.
The Use of Reverse Image Search Tools
What is a Reverse Image Search?
You must be wondering now how can you use the tool to get all the above-mentioned information in seconds.
Well, there are two ways in which you can make a reverse image search, and we will tell you about both of them one by one.
The first method is using the reverse image search engine and the second one is by using the reverse picture lookup tools.
So let us begin with the reverse image search engine by Google and others.
The reverse image search engine is easily available on your browser you just have to add the extension of images in the URL of the main search page, and you will be directed to the image search engine.
Now the use of the image search engine by Google is very much easy and you can simply do a search by using the following steps:
1. The first step after directing yourself into the search engine is to copy and paste the image into the search bar simply, and you can easily do so by right-clicking on the search bar to paste the image. This is the simplest way of doing so but people usually the second way that we are going to tell you about below!
2. There is a camera icon on the search bar right next to the mic icon. You can use that camera icon to upload the image directly in the Google search bar simply. We would like you to know that by just clicking the camera icon, a new window will open which will ask for your access to your gallery. Allowing the access will lead you to your gallery from where you can simply add the image you want to do a reverse search on! You cannot add more than one image! Now, this was the simple and reliable method of searching images that are available offline to you! For online images, you can use the next method!
3. The Google search image engine will give you an option to make a reverse search on images by using the URL of the image on the web! You can easily copy and paste the URL of the image in the search bar, and the search engine will give you the best results!
Now you can use the same method of using the reverse image on your mobile too, but you must add one more step to the beginning of the search.
In mobile phones, you will not see the camera icon for uploading the images and so for that, you have to change the settings of your browser.
You have to enable the desktop view of the browser after which you will start seeing the camera icon.
All browsers have different settings and but you can easily find this option with a little navigation. In iPhones, you have to request safari for this option so it takes a few minutes for that to happen.
Now we will talk about the other methods of search image by a reverse finder.
Top Tools for Reverse Image Search
Here is the list of the top image search tools; you can use them to make the search image very easy and quickly.
Search Image by DupliChecker
The DupliChecker’s reverse image search is said to be the best tool for making a reverse image search.
You can visit duplichecker.com/reverse-image-search.php for more details about the tool.
Now the tool is a free tool and is easily accessible by anyone and everyone on the internet.
The tool is among the top ranks on Google, and you can easily access it from there. Now the tool has very special features.
The working procedure of the tool is very similar to that of the search engine and you can easily do searches by uploading the image on the tool or pasting the URL.
This tool is special because it secures your privacy. You can trust the tool with even your private images because the tool does not save your input data in its database.
Search Image with Search Engine Reports
Now search engine reports is another reputed platform for free and secure services.
You can use the reverse image search tool to check image plagiarism with this tool too.
The working procedure of this tool is quite simple, and even if you have no experience in the field of checking images with this method, you can still do it with the help of the tool by SER.
The tool has a very understandable interface, and you can use it like a pro, even if it is your first time.
You can check for an image if it is being used on another platform without permission or credits, and this is very important especially for content managers.
To use this tool, you don’t even have to register yourself with it, just navigate the tool and start uploading the images. you can also extract text from the images using this tool!
Results of Reverse Picture Lookup
Now we would like to tell you about the different kinds of information that a reverse image search engine could give you, or a reverse tool can give you for that matter.
Read about the details, and you will understand that the reverse tools are a very important part of our lives, especially in the modern era.
1. The search image will, first of all, give you the multiple images which are similar to the image that is posted in the search bar
2. Second of all, the search image tool will tell you about the exact size, the shape and the quality of the image
3. You can also download high-quality similar images with the help of the reverse tools
4. The tool will tell you about the original source of the image and also about the different locations where the image is posted
5. The tool will also tell you about the ownership of the image and to whom it belongs to originally
6. Then the tool will tell you about the copyrights of the image and whether you can use it somewhere or not with or without permission
Also Read: Parallax 2.5D – Easy Way to Put Life Into a Photograph
You may also like... |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14686 | Browse "Spies"
Displaying 1-4 of 4 results
Douglas Jung
Douglas Jung, CM, OBC, politician, lawyer, soldier (born 25 February 1924 in Victoria, BC; died 4 January 2002 in Vancouver, BC). Douglas Jung was a member of Force 136, a group of Chinese Canadian soldiers who fought behind enemy lines in the Pacific theatre during the Second World War. After the war, Jung became a lawyer in British Columbia and was the first Chinese Canadian lawyer to appear before the BC Court of Appeal in 1955. On 10 June 1957, Douglas Jung was elected as the first Chinese Canadian member of Parliament.
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeievitch Gouzenko, Soviet intelligence officer, author (born 26 January 1919 in Rogachev, Russia; died 25 June 1982 in Mississauga, ON). Gouzenko was a Soviet cipher clerk stationed at the Soviet Union’s Ottawa embassy during the Second World War. Just weeks after the end of the war, Gouzenko left the Soviet embassy with documents that proved his country had been spying on its wartime allies Canada, Britain and the United States, prompting what is known as the Gouzenko Affair. Gouzenko sought asylum for himself and his family in Canada. His defection caused a potentially dangerous international crisis that many historians consider the beginning of the Cold War.
Igor Gouzenko Defects to Canada
Jonathan Odell
Jonathan Odell, doctor, clergyman, spy, poet, politician (b at Newark, NJ 25 Sept 1737; d at Fredericton 25 Nov 1818). He was trained in medicine but entered the Church of England ministry. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14713 | Fitness Friday: Exercise as Medicine
Careful people, what I am pushing is more powerful than prescription drugs. When put to the test, exercise performs as well or better than prescription drugs in the treatment of heart disease, stroke, depression, and osteoporosis. It also beats out drugs when it comes to preventing diabetes.
Side effects may include more energy, a stronger body, and a sharper mind. And don’t worry about an overdose: the most recent studies show the more moderate intensity movement you pack into your day, the better your results will be. Diet is still the number one killer and public health concern but lack of movement ranks at #5, even higher than smoking!
Ready to boost your health and quality of life? Try these simple tips to add more movement to your day:
-Remember the “talk but not sing test”: Adding any amount of movement is a plus but, to get the most out of your workout, remember the “talk but not sing” test. Moderate intensity activity (the kind that is most studied and has shown the most benefit) is classified as straining to a point where you can talk but would feel winded if you tried to sing.
-Workout while you work: You may have heard the saying “sitting is the new smoking”, but actually it ranks higher than smoking in the risk-factor-for-disease hierarchy! Avoid sitting for long periods of time by taking movement breaks, walking while you talk on the phone, or investing in a stand up desk.
-Begin each day by moving your body: Movement is better than coffee when it comes to starting the day with a clear head and more energy. Exercise ignites the lymphatic system, which works to deliver nutrients to cells and remove waste.
For more fitness ideas head over to the Joyful Gym Rat page on Facebook or follow on Twitter!
T heard that sitting is the new smoking, so he decided to get out of his stroller and walk…….
%d bloggers like this: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14727 | This website uses cookies to function correctly.
Note to patients:
The website repeat prescription system is only available to existing users all new users will need to sign up for EMIS using the link below.
Online Patient Access
Change of Address
Change of Address Form
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14730 | JAMIE’S BLOG – YEAR 9 – DAY 104 :: trust there will always be more treats
15 Apr
Today would have been Pup’s 18th birthday…
And even though we miss him so much we are so happy to have had his love and high fives for seventeen years. It has me thinking about trust and love and the trust it takes to share a life with a dog. Being man’s best friend is kind of a misnomer. In many ways they are that and so much more, including comic relief, a welcome home greeter, a button pusher, a tail wagger and a constant reminder to look out for the little guys.
The trust between man and animal is so special, and the lessons our dogs teach us are so universal. If Pup were here today, I’m sure he would say just relax and follow the sun. There will always be more treats!
Trust me!
More tomorrow.
Want daily support in your biggest dreams and promises?
Join me!
Sign up for thepromisedaily.com
WordPress.com Logo
Google photo
Twitter picture
Facebook photo
Connecting to %s
%d bloggers like this: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14785 | Open DNS and others hijack failed DNS lookups. Some DNS services censor or block access to sites due to government or corporate coercion. Is there a list of preferred DNS servers, ones that don't censor or hijack the lookups that Tor exit nodes can use?
If there is no list of preferred DNS servers, can we build one?
I recommend building one of your own rather than sharing one.
You can run a non-logging DNS service (a recursive caching resolver) on the same system as the Tor node, or on another system netwise nearby. This can provide good safety and performance.
As you note, other DNS services can and often will log DNS queries, engage in typo-squating/hijacking, or be forced to censor and redirect names. Further than that, any central service used by many Tor nodes (and/or other users) allows an adversary to catch many users with a single operation to require/inject censorship or redirection.
In contrast, I can better ensure that a local DNS service will provide rational "straight up" DNS. I can make it start from the roots, avoid logging of any queries, and skip implementing any hint of typo-squatting on NXDOMAIN responses.
Further, controlling the upstream net or using courts to force many such local services to censor or redirect a name scales poorly, and is thus a greater work factor for an adversary, than is doing the same attack on a shared and widely used DNS service.
For my local recursive caching DNS resolver, I presently use unbound. Unbound is maintained by NLnet Labs, and is now the default system resolver in FreeBSD 10 among other OSes. BIND also works OK for this purpose; I used it previously but now prefer unbound's relative lack of complexity in code and design.
In either case, you will want to take care to not produce a promiscuous resolver and dDoS attack amplifier. Restrict the allowed DNS client list to your Tor node(s) and fellow travelers. One potential bonus: If you run IDSes that need to do their own lookups, have them use this resolver, and exempt this resolver from being watched by the IDSes (that's good citizenship for Tor). That way, the IDS' own lookups won't trigger IDS alerts which cause lookups which trigger IDS alerts which...
• So, in short, and if on something unixy: Install unbound and make your /etc/resolv.conf point to – weasel - Peter Palfrader Nov 1 '13 at 8:55
The WikiLeaks list is good. And then there's the JonDonym list.
http://www.opennicproject.org/ please keep in mind that by using a dns server you provide valuable information to the operator of the dns server, because the operator CAN SEE the requested lookups: : )
• 3
The DNS server does see all of the lookups performed on their servers. This can't be avoided. When DNS is resolved through Tor, it's of very little value. All the DNS server sees is the exit node. There's no way that they can determine where the request originates. – Herbalist Oct 27 '13 at 19:48
http://ORSN.org - Open root server network. Alternative root to ICANN. Specifically mentioned prism and government surveillance as key driver in project. Also mentions no logging policy.
US resolver:
Your Answer
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14790 | Kant and Capital Punishment (Take 2)
In a previous post, I responded to commenter Dudley Sharp‘s citation of a quote purporting to be from Immanuel Kant in support of the death penalty:
“If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death….A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral.”
Not being a philosopher but having read and thought a bit about Kant on my own, I doubted the provenance of the quote. In fact, it turns out it is from Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals. Kant did indeed believe in and argue for the morality of capital punishment.
This in itself, of course, does not solve the matter. Just because Kant thought the death penalty was moral doesn’t mean it is, in fact, so. But I want to take the argument seriously and consider it in terms of Kant’s ethics as a whole as I understand them. Again, I’m not trained as a philosopher, as is probably apparent to anyone who wondered why I doubted the original quote was from Kant. But bear with me. This is an important and useful line of thought with respect to justice generally. And by all means, if you think my reasoning is wrong, please explain why in the comments section of this post.
I’m coming back to this subject after a hiatus of several months because I’ve been reading Michael Sandel’s book Justicebased on his popular Harvard lecture course. I’ve just read his chapter on Kantian ethics, which reminded me of my own discussion of Kant. He’s very good, Sandel, at making such a complicated subject accessible. It’s worth watching the sixth lecture in the course if you’re interested in these ideas, especially if you find Kant intimidating, which is perfectly natural. For convenience, I’ve embedded the video below. (It’s about 55 minutes long.)
I’ll try to summarize what I’ve learned from Sandel so we can get to the heart of the matter quickly. In essence, Kant argues that humans are capable of reason and, therefore, are owed respect from other humans as a right. He acknowledges that we are also animal, subject to “inclinations” and appetites that impinge on our freedom to act rationally. To act morally, for Kant, is to act “autonomously,” which is to say, as free agents obeying the laws of reason rather than as slaves to our passions. As reasoning creatures, we are capable of acting, and therefore have a “duty” to act, autonomously; as animals, we act “heteronomously” (Kant’s coinage), prey to forces beyond our control, to peer pressure and suggestion, as well as to our unconscious desires, impulses, prejudices and inclinations.
As animals, our actions are contingent to situations: I’m hungry, I see an apple, I take the apple and eat it. Kant argues that at our most basic level of operation, we act on these “hypothetical imperatives.” (“If I’m hungry, I will eat an apple.”) This is a perfectly fine way of acting. It helps us survive. But for Kant, acting on hypothetical imperatives is not a “moral” way of acting. Neither is it moral to “do good” if the action is motivated by a hypothetical imperative. (“If I help this person, others will think well of me.”) For Kant, the only moral action is one that can be applied categorically, i.e., universally, in all situations as a law, without respect to one’s personal benefit. (“I will help this person because she is a human being and all human beings are owed respect.”)
Sandel very helpfully schematizes Kant’s ethics as a two-sided track of contrasts: on the one side, human being as rational being; on the other, human being as animal. The scheme looks like this:
Contrast 1 (morality): duty vs. inclination
Contrast 2 (freedom): autonomy vs. heteronomy
Contrast 3 (reason): categorical vs. hypothetical imperative
There’s a fourth contrast of “standpoints”– “intelligible” vs. “sensible”–but we don’t need to go into them here to focus on the implications of these ethics for capital punishment. They only deepen Kant’s point about the free agency of the moral actor, as compared to the unconscious slavery of the typical person following his inclinations.
Kant is considered a sort of founding father of universal human rights, and it’s not hard to see why. Perhaps his fundamental axiom is that all human beings are capable of reason, therefore, all human beings are owed dignity and respect. They must be treated, not as a means to an end, but as ends in themselves. Depriving a human of her rights, on Kant’s view, is neither rational nor moral because doing so cannot be justified categorically. There must always be a contingent, hypothetical imperative for depriving a human of her rights. If I lie to her, then I’m not respecting her humanity. I’m using her to further whatever agenda I have that I believe she will obstruct if she knows the truth. I have a duty to tell her the truth, even if I think she will use that truth for purposes that are not moral.
Sandel says that, according to Kantian ethics, it is not moral to lie to a murderer to prevent him from knowing where his prey is. It is, however, moral to deceive with a partial truth. (“I saw your potential victim somewhere else two hours ago.”) But the point is, we have a categorical imperative to be truthful to each other. All humans have a right to be told the truth, even murderers. Similarly, Kant argues that all humans have a duty to live morally and a right to be left to live. Suicide is immoral, on Kant’s view, because it violates this categorical imperative. The suicide is a surrender to the need to end the pain of living, but according to Kant, this is an abjuration of the duty to live a moral life.
So why does Kant believe it’s not the society that kills murderers but the one that seems to follow the categorical imperative not to deprive even murderers of life that is “immoral?” I don’t have a good answer for that, though I’ve seen one bizarre explication on another website, the notes to a class on ethics taught by Dan Gaskill at California State University Sacramento:
Wouldn’t the same kind of reasoning that prohibits suicide also prohibit killing a criminal?
Not according to Kant. Criminal actions, like any other actions, are associated with maxims. The maxims of criminal actions (theft, assault, etc.) are ones that endorse harming or otherwise violating the autonomy of others. For example, I will rob you when I have the opportunity to do so in order to promote my own interests. As rational agents, people who act on these maxims are endorsing them as universal law. They are saying, in effect, this is how people ought to be treated….
[T]he second formulation of the [categorical imperative] tells us that we ought to treat others always as ends, and never merely as means. By punishing a criminal, we are respecting his ends, because we are treating him in the way that he thinks people ought to be treated. Thus, we are not punishing him for our own benefit (nor for his benefit), but because it is in accordance with the principles that he has endorsed through his actions. For Kant, this would be a way of “sharing in his ends”….
“Of course,” the notes point out, “the Kantian justification for punishment hinges on the assumption that the punished actually chose their actions autonomously, using their own rationality. It depends, in other words, on the assumption that they were moral agents when they acted. If they were not moral agents; if instead, they were like wild animals, or they were insane, then Kant’s reasoning would not apply.”
And I have to add that this “loophole,” if you will, in the categorical imperative seems like a wild stretch to me to make Kant’s belief in the justness of the death penalty (based, perhaps, on his Christian beliefs, which may have been similar to the theological ones Dudley Sharp cites in tandem with the Kant quote), to make it seem rational rather than merely an inclination. Is it moral for any given person to kill a murderer, or is that just the state’s imperative? Does one have a duty to kill a murderer? Does one have a duty to punish any miscreant by “sharing in his ends?” If it’s immoral to lie to a murderer but moral to kill one, in other words, would it be moral to lie to a liar?
Sandel, incidentally, doesn’t address these questions in Justice (at least not in the chapter on Kant). It’s clear he admires Kant’s ethics, particularly as they relate to questions of human freedom and moral agency. Does he see the same hole I see here?
Again, I would appreciate some more perspectives on this. Help me out here! Please comment below or drop me line: [email protected]
7 thoughts on “Kant and Capital Punishment (Take 2)
1. Excellent post Christof, I will watch the video tomorrow because of the hour. You have reawakened an interest in Kant that I will have to follow. For several months machimon.wordpress.com has been inactive for various reasons. I’m taking a distance linguistics course from MIT, a Portuguese lit course from UM Dartmouth, and rereading “Atlas Shrugged.” I’m beyond the age when actually paying for knowledge would have any return on investment, but I’m glad there is so much material on line lately. Always a fan of your posts.
• Thank you, Carlos! Nice to hear from you. Is that MIT course you’re taking from the edX catalog? Are you enjoying it? Is it something you do at your own pace or is it scheduled? I’d like to try one of those online courses.
I know how it is with blogs. Sometimes they’re much easier to attend to than others! I look forward to seeing more your stuff.
Thanks again and best wishes.
2. A model of critical thinking, IMO. Well done. I had long been at odds with Kant’s vane-like justification of the death penalty, feeling that his line of thinking could be used to justify just about anything. Which IS problematic: do we want to rape, break limbs or take out eyes as punishment of those deeds? So far I had not been able to pinpoint exactly what my gut feeling was telling me, but you have brilliantly done so. Thank you!
• French:
I do not think that Kant ever considered the death penalty as a sanction because it mimicked the crime, but because it was deserved and appropriate for the rational murderer. Very different.
• Dudley,
Please explain how it’s rational for a society to disobey a categorical imperative not to kill even for a murderer. It’s inconsistent and a violation of straightforward logic. What possible reason dies Kant give for this violation in this special case?
• As detailed, for Kant the death penalty is an imperative.
Also search
Kant “death penalty” “stephen long”
Long is a Thomistic and Kant scholar
Leave a Reply
WordPress.com Logo
Google photo
Twitter picture
Facebook photo
Connecting to %s |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14793 | Trans4mind Home Page
Three Basics of Manifesting Your Desires
By Dr. Alan E. Fuller
At one point in time, I was posting back and forth with someone from an e-group I was a part of. The lady said that we don't create our own realities ... that negative things happen to positive people, and that we can't possibly create those negative things. She asserted that, if we were not in our "right minds," we might, but we wouldn't do that on a regular basis on purpose (such as a loved one's car accident or heart problems). While she has a point, she is somewhat mistaken.
Why is she mistaken? Because we do indeed create everything ... yes, even the negative. You may be saying right now, "I wouldn't purposefully create my loved one's car accident," or, "I wouldn't purposefully create my loved one's heart problems." And this may be true. But this is the difference: you purposefully create ... but you don't create on purpose all the time. In other words, everything in your world is created by you and has a purpose. But, you don't create everything on purpose. If we all created everything on purpose (or consciously, while being aware of our creation's purpose), then no one would be into the study of manifestation (simply because there would be no need for it). With that said ...
1. Know what you want.
The sad reality is that most folks DON'T know what they want. If you're not pursuing your dreams, the fact is (not chances are) that you will become one of the statistics adding to the ever-innumberable measure of folks who have lived unfulfilled lives. One point I want to make about this: remember that your peer-groups, friends, family, churches, employers, creditors, et cetera, will always want you to formulate your life according to THEIR wants, not yours. Not everyone has your best interest at heart. And what's more: only YOU can prevent forest fires. (I had to throw that in there ... sorry. But seriously ...) only YOU can fulfill your dreams. No one else is going to. In fact, no one else even has to BELIEVE in your dreams in order for you to fulfill them. First, take a sheet of paper and split it in half lengthwise with a pencil line. In the left-hand column, list everything you DON'T want. In the right-hand column, reinterpret that to what you DO want. (Only focus VERY BRIEFLY on what you DON'T want, as it causes you to emit negative vibes.)
2. Ask for what you want.
Once you're clear about your desires, ask for it! Can you imagine sitting in a restaraunt, reading the menu, making your selection, but not telling the waiter what your order is? It's the same way with the Universe. The chances of getting what you want are just about ZIP as long as you don't ask. It's okay to let other folks know ... but only those you trust ... for those you DON'T trust will all-too-often down-play what your desire is. They might say something like, "Oh, that might not be a good thing," or, "Don't you think that's kind of selfish?" I've often heard the phrase, "You're not asking for much, are you!?" And it's usually a very sarcastic tone. So be careful about the people you tell, but always always always ask the Universe.
3. Expect to receive it.
It's very important to develop the mindset that you always get what you want, that you always receive that for which you asked. If you embed within your brain a favorable expectation, it will reciprocate your desire. One age-old principle within Wicca, for example, is "Like attracts like." And the fact is: your subconscious mind knows no difference between reality and fantasy. If you tell it that you have "a," then it believes you have, "a," and consequently, IF YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT "A," your subconscious mind will always go to work attracting MORE of "a." Going back to the restaraunt, once you've placed your order, you have created the expectation within your mind that you'll get what you want. If the waiter doesn't bring that meal, you might send it back (as I often do). Why not put it into practice in all areas of your life?
One final caveat: a lot of self-help gurus these days will have you believe that you can get everything you want without ever having to pay a price. But rest assured, success (on any level and in any area) will always have a price. Be very aware of you are willing to "pay" to get what you desire to have. Why do I say this? Because it's true. I wanted a life partner relationship, and I have it. But I had to pay a price: I had to move out of my hometown to get it. Was I willing? You betcha'! I also have a thriving Manifestation/Self-empowerment Coaching business. Did I have to pay a price? Absolutely! I had to eventually start working only three days each week in order to make sure I had time to fulfill my Client obligations. And what's more, I had to be sure that, should the day come, I would be willing to hire an Accountant to do the taxes ... I sure as heck ain't about to attempt the darn things myself!
After all of this, if your life isn't serving you the banquet you want and love, just keep sending it back to the kitchen until it does!
Dr. Alan E. Fuller, also known as "Mr. Manifestation," has Coached hundreds one-on-one and in group settings to use universal truths to manifest the lives of their dreams, including reclaiming their radiance and boosting their business income.
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
More Success & Abundance articles |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14817 | Cornell Academic Calendar in iCal Format
The Cornell Academic Calendar is available for Oracle Calendar Users. The file used for this is an .ics file which can be directly used by iCal, and probably other software using the open iCalendar format.
Table of Contents
Quick Overview:
Nominally, the file is available from:
Ultimately you will have an .ics file which can then be imported into iCal for use.
More details:
You can access the Cornell Academic Calendar page at:
On that page you will find a section in the sidebar for Oracle calendar users:
From there you can download the file listed above from:
Save the file to your local hard drive and import it into iCal or other software.
On the Mac using iCal
You may be prompted to open the file directly in iCal when downloading.
Otherwise, double click the downloaded file. You will probably want to open it as a new calendar, separate from any others you may have.
You now have a local copy of the Cornell Academic Calendar as one of your calendars in iCal.
I have published my local copy so I can simply subscribe to it from my iPhone and other Macs I use.
I would include the subscribe link here for your convenience were it not for the requirement of an authorization for download.
I am looking into whether Cornell has any plans to publish the calendar so one can simply subscribe to it.
-- DickFurnas - 2009-08-18
Topic revision: r1 - 2009-08-24 - DickFurnas |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14819 | Tonnidae - Tun Snails
Tonnidae, the tun snails, have a broad, oval shaped shell with a large aperture. In the adult form, they lack an operculum. They inhabit soft substrate in shallow to deep tropical marine waters. When not feeding, they will usually bury themselves in the substrate leaving only the tip of their siphon exposed. They are carnivorous, feeding mainly on sea cucumbers (holothurians). They are represented by 2 species in Texas. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14820 | Name a seat
Help our Preservation Trust to refurbish our seats and leave a lasting legacy of your support - name a seat at the Tyne Theatre!
The plaque will remain on your seat for 10 years
To name a seat, please send your name and the number of the seat you wish to dedicate to or fill out the form below.
Cost per seat: £150
Seat can be paid in three instalments of £50 online, or in several instalments upon request. Please contact for instalment options.
Terms and conditions (seat naming)
Once you have purchased your seat, the donation is non-refundable. The plaque will be installed on your seat after the final payment if you choose to pay in instalments. The seat cannot be changed after the plaque has been installed. We will contact you once we receive a notification of your payment and confirm the details regarding your seat. Please note that seat rows A to D are occasionally removed when we have a large orchestra in – you can still name a seat on rows A to D but your seat will be removed for operas, musicals and other events with an orchestra pit.
• Charity Gift Aid Declaration
Use Gift Aid and you can make your donation worth more. For every £1 you donate, we will be able to claim an extra 25p from the Inland Revenue. To qualify for Gift Aid, you must be a UK taxpayer and what you pay in income tax or capital gains tax must equal the amount we will claim in the tax year.
Photo detail “Ready for Curtain Call” by Joe Sheridan
Stalls J15 Brendan Healy
Stalls L3 Don Irving
Grand Circle H21 Frank Lloyd
Grand Circle H22 Pat Lloyd
Grand Circle H23 Josie Lloyd Clements
Grand Circle H24 James Lloyd
Grand Circle H25 Laura Lloyd
Stalls K15 John-Paul Stephenson
Stalls D15 Charles “Neil” McMullen
Stalls H16 R. Heiskanen
Stalls G16 Sari and Seppo Salminen & Aslak
Stalls E16 Barry and Faga Speker Fund at The Community Foundation. Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.
Stalls W16 Chris Heatley
Stalls W17 Louise Keers
Stalls G15 Gitta and David Faulkner
Grand Circle A22 Hazel Rayson
Stalls F15 Michael John Bell
Stalls T15 Tyne Audio
Stalls L15 Marian Lane Theatre Dance School
Stalls D16 Meaghan Toole
Stalls K16 Betty Hodcroft
Stalls F16 Barbara Hunter
Stalls E15 Ellen Crossley
Stalls M16 Colin Hoggins
Stalls H15 Kim Robinson
Stalls J16 Jack Dixon
Grand A29 Emily Green
Site by Union Room. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14831 | I need to remove a target folder in all subfolders.
• What have you tried? – Nasir Riley Nov 22 '19 at 8:29
• Expecting it should be easy like rm -r target but no luck yet. – kio21 Nov 22 '19 at 8:31
• Looks like I'm enough with one level removal rm -r **/target – kio21 Nov 22 '19 at 8:44
based on comments on this question, it is better to fully use the wide functionality of the find command and skip piping altogether (also telling find not to descend into directory it's going to ask rm to delete):
find . -type d -name target -prune -exec rm -r {} +
Should work fine for you.
Sorry all, for posting an unsatisfying answer. Your feedback has been very informative.
Original answer:
With a little google-fu to list all subdirectories and pipe to rm:
find . -type d | grep -E '/target$' | xargs rm -r
Should work. Check whether find . -type d | grep -E '/target$' gives the expected output before you remove the folders! Better be save than sorry.
• 1
This would delete any directory that contains the string target in its name! For example, not-target. – Kusalananda Nov 22 '19 at 8:46
• Thank you so much @Kusalananda! I totally forgot about that.. The answer is now modified to use regular expressions and check for an end-of-line. – Pudding Nov 22 '19 at 8:51
• Why not use -name target with find? – Kusalananda Nov 22 '19 at 8:53
• And -exec, still with find... – Stephen Kitt Nov 22 '19 at 8:54
If you know you won't have more than a few thousands of these target directories, you may set the globstar and dotglob shell options in bash with
shopt -s globstar dotglob
and then use
rm -rf ./**/target/
This would delete any directory called target in or below the current directory. The slash at the end is crucial as the pattern may otherwise match things that are not directories.
The ** pattern is enabled by setting the globstar shell option, and matches "recursively" down into subdirectories. Since dotglob is also set, this would find directories called target beneath hidden subdirectories as well (just like find would do).
On macOS, the default bash is too old to support the globstar shell option, so there you may want to install the most recent bash using Homebrew, or switch to zsh (which currently is the default shell for new macOS user accounts).
With zsh, you'd do this operation with
rm -rf ./**/target(/D)
Where (/D) means "match only directories and include hidden directories". The ** glob is enabled by default in zsh.
With find:
find . -depth -type d -name target -exec rm -rf {} +
This would find all the target directories located in or below the current directory, and then call rm -rf with as many as possible of these at a time to delete them. The -depth option makes find do a depth-first search (we want this to avoid trying to search directories that we've just deleted).
This would be the command you would use if you were using sh as the shell (which does not have **), or if you have many thousands of such directories.
Even if you have a large number of target directories, you should still be able to delete them one by one with
for dirpath in ./**/target/; do
rm -rf "$dirpath"
although this would be slower than using find since you are calling rm once for every directory.
• As the poster specified the tag macos, there is a good chance that globstar doesn't work for them. Nonetheless a very full and interesting answer. Thank you! – Pudding Nov 22 '19 at 9:32
• @Pudding Thanks for the heads-up about that. I have modified the answer. – Kusalananda Nov 22 '19 at 9:36
Your Answer
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14850 | Listen to V101.5 on Amazon Alexa and Google Home
Amazon Alexa and Google HomeAmazon Alexa and Google Home
The new way to listen to V101.5 is on Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Just follow the easy to use instructions below and you'll be listening to Jacksonville's R&B & Throwbacks! in no time!
Amazon Alexa
Alexa, play V 101 Point 5 on iHeartRadio!
Google Home
Ok Google, play V 101 Point 5 on iHeartRadio!
Other Devices
Want to listen on your phone, TV, or other home device? Check out all the ways you can hear V101.5 on iHeartRadio.
Content Goes Here |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14861 | Tag Archives: EHP-OH900
Sundries GUM Earphones Come From Elecom In A Different Look !
Click to know about XCALGO Headphones
Continue reading
Elecom XCALGO Headphones – Easy To Use And Easier To Fold !
Elecom XCALGO is the new model headphones to fulfill your music thirst. This is fashionable, foldable and stylish audio headphones from Elecom are now fascinating the market. You can have this headphones in four various colors, they are , Black, White and Skull.
Click to know about 2 – in – 1 headphone from Sony
Continue reading |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14865 | Rick Steves' Europe
Special | 55m 46s
In his latest travelogue, Rick Steves journeys to Iran in the hopes of getting to know this ancient country -- a leader in its corner of the world for 2,500 years -- and to better understand the 70 million people living there. Shot in Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan, Persepolis and villages in between, RICK STEVES' IRAN details the country's rich artistic and cultural heritage.
Aired: 01/22/19
Expired: 09/30/19
Rating: TV-G
Video has closed captioning.
Problems Playing Video?
Distributed nationally by American Public Television |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14935 | Features/Flash Activities
From Sugar Labs
< Features
Revision as of 16:12, 29 November 2009 by RafaelOrtiz (talk | contribs) (How To Test)
Jump to: navigation, search
Flash activities
Allow developers to create activities using Flash tools.
Current status
• Targeted release: 0.86
• Last updated: July 6th 2009
• Percentage of completion: 100%
Detailed Description
Use Gnash to run Flash movies inside an activity window and through Gnash extensions allow movies interact with the Sugar desktop.
Benefit to Sugar
Flash developers will be able to create content for activities with the same tools and skills they are creating today. This will make broader the range of content available as Sugar activities.
This needs only changes in Gnash.
How To Test
Features/Flash Activities/Testing
On a machine that can run Sugar on a Stick, try the following instructions:
This is also bundled at
User Experience
More activities will be available and more tools will be available to develop new ones.
Distros need to package the last version of Gnash (v9).
Contingency Plan
None necessary, revert to previous release behaviour.
Release Notes
Gnash has been added to the Sugar Platform, meaning that authors of educative content can use Flash tools to create activities for Sugar.
Comments and Discussion |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14939 | I'm sure there was an option to deactivate the auto unlock on correct pin but i can't find it anymore.
How can i disable this, because it makes any pin useless. Brute force is easy if it auto unlocks the phone on a correct pin.
Where can i find this option? How to deactivate it?
EDIT: I want to have to press "okay" to check if the pin was correct and not the phone to instantly auto unlock if the correct pin is entered. At the current form it says "wrong pin" if i type in one number more that my pin is long. Therefore someone knows how long my pin is. He then only has to test all possible combinations for this length. That's not safe. A kid with some time could break that.
• Can you clarify what you mean by "auto unlock on correct pin"? How would you like the phone to behave when a correct PIN is entered? – Indrek May 7 '16 at 18:21
• I have clarified in the op. – besnep May 7 '16 at 19:56
• 2
How would you propose you could write something to hack it in milliseconds? Given apps on the phone cannot send input to other apps, and also that entering an incorrect pin too many times forces a time delay between tries? – Rowland Shaw May 9 '16 at 13:11
• @RowlandShaw: I just meant that i could theoreticaly write a program that could do that. Just about the logic what this programm has to do. Physicly i just could do that by Hand. Your delay on incorrect pins doesn't help much if i know how many combinations there are. – besnep May 9 '16 at 13:37
• 1
Well, for such a program to work, you'd also need to build an external hardware rig to enter the pin, and recognise whether the unlock was successful, as apps can't interact with the PIN entry. You'd also need to wait a few weeks after unsuccessful guesses – Rowland Shaw May 9 '16 at 13:46
There is no such option at present. Even with a registry hack I don't think it is possible.
I don't think MS will change this as it is supposed to be an easy way for login in desktop as an alternative to password (due to the convergence the same code is used for mobile).
Bruteforce is easy if it auto unlocks the phone on a correct pin.
I understand that you are concerned about your phone security. I would like to note that cracking a PIN in windows phone is not as easy as cracking PIN in Android due to the restricted access via USB and restrictions for apps.
Some things you could do
Step 1 :
You could ask Microsoft to include a picture password as an alternative to PIN. It is a part of Windows 10 and can be brought to Windows 10 Mobile. Several users have already asked for this in the feedback hub. I suggest that you vote for their feedbacks.
Step 2:
1. Go to Settings->Devices->USB.
2. Turn on Ask me before allowing other devices to connect to my mobile via USB
As far as I could see, this prevents me from accessing my system files from Linux when my phone is locked. It is not an exact solution for your problem but it could add an extra security.
The option is not there in Windows 10 Mobile.
However, Windows Mobile is already secured against random guessing/generation of passkey numbers.
After 5 tries, it locks down the phone for a minute. And another set of attempts id made again after that minute, it locks down the phone for even more time, making it harder by the second for a program or entity to keep on trying random passkeys. This applies to earlier versions of the Windows Mobile platform.
Windows 10 Mobile has an even more robust security system against that. After 5 unsuccessful attempts, the phone prompts you with a "captcha-like" challenge to prove that you are human, before giving you a chance to make other attempts, which could lead to subsequent locking out for some time if unsuccessful again, just like in the older versions of Windows Mobile.
enter image description here
So i can say the platform is pretty safe...!!!
Your Answer
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14961 | Building Your Novel's Spine: Structure for Speculative Fiction
Registration is closed for this event
A portrait of Alison Goodman
Alison Goodman
29 April 2018 - 10:00 to 4:00 PM
Alison Goodman
Trying to get a grip on your novel's structure? Finding the best beginning, middle and end is only the start. Get a firm grasp of traditional narrative structure - plot, pace, scenes, conflict, character goals, and an ending to remember in this hands-on workshop.
Learn how to manipulate classic storytelling to create an exciting and riveting narrative, with a focus on speculative fiction novels.
You will learn
• How to use a classic storytelling structure
• how to shape the inner and outer journey of your protagonist
• how to find the engine of your story and create forward motion
• hands-on scene building and diagnosis
• how to create a killer ending.
The workshop is presented in partnership with Speculate, The Victorian Speculative Writers Festival.
About Alison Goodman
Alison Goodman is the author of six novels including her most recent, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact, the second in the Lady Helen trilogy. She is also the author of EON and EONA, a New York Times bestselling fantasty duology that has sold into 18 countries. Alison's other novels are the award-winning Singing the Dogstar Blues, and her crime novel, A New Kind of Death.
Concession $ 135.00
Member $ 145.00
Non-member $ 195.00
Help spread the word
Please help us and let your friends, colleagues and followers know about our page: Building Your Novel's Spine: Structure for Speculative Fiction
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14963 | The Master
By: Steve Fite
They say to master a skill, you need ten thousand hours at it. And if you didn’t sleep and just constantly worked at your chosen skill, you’d have it mastered in a little under four hundred and seventeen days.
The human brain is funny. Touch a hot stove once, you’re a master at not touching hot stoves for the rest of your life. Be a master pianist? If you practice unfailingly every day for three hours, it would take you over nine years.
I mastered something today with eight days to spare. I started four hundred and nine days ago.
One thought on “The Master
Add yours
Leave a Reply
You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )
Google photo
Twitter picture
Facebook photo
Connecting to %s
Create a website or blog at
Up ↑
%d bloggers like this: |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14969 | Calculating SEM using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
I hope that the approach outlined above has persuaded you that the SEM is really simple concept, particularly if you think of it as the within-subject standard deviation. I hope you will also see that it is an extremely simple calculation to make if you format the data appropriately in a simple table.
You will, however, often see the SEM calculated using a technique called the analysis of variance or ANOVA for short. If you take the table of measurements from the 2 person data and perform an ANOVA you will obtain a table that looks something like this (depending on the spreadsheet or statistical package that you use, this analysis is included in the Excel spreadsheet that you could have downloaded earlier).
You can ignore everything else on this table apart from the value of 9.8 highlighted in green. This is the within groups mean square (MS) value and the SEM is the square root of this (which equals 3.1 just as calculated in the section above).
If you regularly perform ANOVA this may be a quicker way of calculating the SEM than I’ve suggested above. If you have a really good understanding of ANOVA then this might help you understand what the SEM represents. If neither of these apply to you then it is generally easier just to calculate the SEM as suggested above. (It should be noted that using ANOVA to calculate SEM can be particularly cumbersome for the time series data commonly encountered in gait analysis).
Next page: Confidence limits on the SEM. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14970 |
The closest color to #5a5e3f in the CSS4 color palette is darkolivegreen which has the hex code of #556b2f.
• This object was made by IKEA.
• There are 2 images of this object. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/14995 |
The unlimited Internet
On March 30th, 2016, there were already at least 4.62 billion websites indexed. Yet 75% of these websites are not active but parked domain names only. (Quora, 2017). With over 1 billion active websites nowadays. It still can feel a little challenging to measure the impact of your own individual website.
Google Analytics tracking code
That is where Google Analytics comes in handy. It has become an industry standard. This fast, free and flexible digital analytics tool, provides insight in:
• how many people visit your website
• from which device
• and regions
Google Analytics is not the only digital analytics tool, but it is by far the best tool to measure web traffic. Hotjar is a good alternative but still less known. To use Google Analytics for your WordPress site, you need to install a “tracking code” to your website. So, the chosen digital analytics tool can access your website to collect statistics.
A tracking code is:
“a piece of JavaScript code, inserted in one or all your specific web page(s).”
Install Tracking Code Manager
Google Analytics? Hotjar? Which digital analytic tool to choose? Why choose if you can have both? In WordPress, you can add any functionality, without having to edit the source code. Use the plugin "Track Code Manager" in WordPress to install both tools. In this way, you can combine and deploy many tracking codes at once and find out yourself which tool suits you best!
The Tracking Code Manager is:
“a universal plug-in. It helps to put in an unlimited number of tracking codes from any digital analytics tool.”
How to install the Tracking Code Manager in WordPress?
This plugin can be to manage different digital analytic tools in WordPress at the same time. You can install it as follows:
1. Login to your WordPress page with your login credentials.
2. Go to menu, choose “Plugins” and “Installing Plugins”.
3. Search the plugin “Tracking Code Manager”.
4. Click on “Download” and after that on “Activate”.
5. Go to “Settings” and choose “Tracking Code Manager menu” to put your tracking code in the plugin.
6. Insert all tracking codes, you want to add for WordPress. Such as Google Analytics or Hotjar.
7. Select the option “Position inside the code”.
8. Then chose where to add this specific tracking code:
in the header or body of the HTML-page.
9. Click on “Save” to save the tracking code and start measuring.
TIP: You can display code on all pages or on specific pages and post.
Google Analytics WordPress
Install Google Analytics Pageviews in WordPress
Interested in the popularity of your WordPress web pages? Install “Google Analytics Page views” on your WordPress site. Over 50% of all websites worldwide use it to measure their web traffic:
1. Register a Google Analytics Account.
2. Copy the Google Analytics tracking code, at the end of the process.
3. Login to your WordPress page with your login credentials.
4. Go to menu, choose “Plugins” and “Installing Plugins”.
5. Search the plugin “Google Analytics Pageviews
6. Click on “Download” and after that on “Activate”.
7. Go to “Settings” and choose “Post Pageviews”.
8. Insert the Google Analytics tracking code (API-token generated from Google Analytics).
9. Within WordPress, choose “Posts” in the menu.
10. Click on “Setting the displayed information” and select “Views”.
11. Configure from the new “Post Page views Setting sub menu”.
Install Google Analytics Dashboard in WordPress
Do you want to see real-time statistics, inside your WordPress dashboard? The Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress plugin is the right plugin. It enables you to track your WordPress website using Google Analytics tracking code:
• Number of visitors
• Acquisition channels
• Traffic sources details
The tracking code is customizable and allows advanced data collection.
How to setup Google Analytics Dashboard in WordPress?
Watch this video to setup Google Analytics Dashboard in WordPress:
After installation:
• Click the option “Set All information provided” in the upper right corner. Choose only the information you want to include in your reports to see.
• Click “Feed Google Analytics
• Place the block as shown in the video. Move it anywhere on the Dashboard.
TIP: This article covered the most common ways to install Google Analytics for WordPress. You can find similar Google Analytics plugins within your WordPress Dashboard. Under Menu- Plugins- Search Plugin.
More information
Article rating
Average rating: 4.9/5
Votes: 7 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15030 | What You Need To Know about Cryptocurrency for Your Boring Business w/ Joel Comm
mrsdesireerose,social media,small business,marketing,marketing to military families,marketing for military families,social media marketing,Desiree Martinez,smm,what is cryptocurrency,what is bitcoin,cryptocurrency explained,blockchain technology,bitcoin cash,cryptocurrency news,crypto news,bitcoin news,how to trade bitcoin,bitcoin tutorial,is crypto dead
What the heck is Cryptocurrency? How can your business be using Cryptocurrency? What are you missing out on! Today we talk with Co-Host of The Bad Crypto Podcast and best-selling author, Joel Comm about all thing Crypto.
Continue Reading → |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15051 | Invention of Wheel - Sumer
The revolutionary invention of the wheel
In today’s world, technology is developing at an unprecedented rate. The latest gadget today is tomorrow’s antique. As a result of this rapid development of technology, we often take things for granted. One of these is the wheel. Take a look around, and you will see wheels everywhere, be it as tyres, or in everyday machinery. The wheel has even been imbued with symbolic meanings, most famously, perhaps, as a metaphor for the never ending cycle of life.
One may be tempted to think that the wheel is just a humble or even primitive invention compared to some of the fancy gadgets that we have today. Nevertheless, the wheel (specifically as a means of transportation) was actually invented at a relatively late point of human history. The oldest known wheel found in an archaeological excavation is from Mesopotamia, and dates to around 3500 BC. This period was known as the Bronze Age, which is a relatively late chapter in the story of the development of human civilisation. By this time, human beings were already planting crops, herding domesticated animals, and had some form of social hierarchy.
A Mesopotamian wheel
A Mesopotamian wheel. Photo source .
One of the reasons why the wheel was invented only at this point in history is due to the fact that metal tools were needed to chisel fine-fitted holes and axles. This leads to the next reason – the wheel was not just a cylinder rolling on its edge. It was a cylinder that was connected to a stable, stationary platform. This wheel-axle concept was a stroke of genius, but making it was a challenge. The ends of the axle, as well as the holes in the centre of the wheels had to be nearly perfectly smooth and round. Failing to achieve this would result in too much friction between these components, and the wheel would not turn. Although the axle had to fit snugly in the holes of the wheels, they had to have enough room to allow them to rotate freely. Given the complexity of the wheel-axle combination, it may be unsurprising that the wheel was not initially invented for transportation purposes. Instead, it has been claimed that wheels were first used by potters. Remember the 5,500-year-old wheel for Mesopotamia? It seems that it was a potters’ wheel (the use of wheels for pottery making may date even further back into the Neolithic). It seems that the use of wheels for transportation only happened 300 years later.
Pottery Wheels
The earliest wheels are believed to have been used for pottery making. Photo source .
Although the world’s oldest wheel has been found in Mesopotamia, the earliest images of wheeled carts were found in Poland and elsewhere in the Eurasian steppes. Some have suggested that due to the immense challenge that the invention of the wheel posed to mankind, it probably happened only once, and spread from its place of origin to other parts of the world. However, others believe it developed independently in separate parts of the world at around the same time. For example, The Ljubljana Marshes Wheel is a wooden wheel that was found in the capital of Slovenia in 2002 and was dated to 3150 BC. At present, the birthplace of the wheel is said to be either in Mesopotamia or the Eurasian steppes. Although Mesopotamia has the oldest known wheel, linguistic evidence is used to support the claim that the wheel originated in the Eurasian steppes.
Although the wheel has revolutionised the way early human beings travelled and transported goods from one place to another, the wheel was not a perfect invention. For instance, camels were a much more efficient form of transportation in the desert environment when compared to the wheel. It has also been claimed that between the 2 nd and 6 th centuries A.D., the camel supplanted the wheel as the primary mode of transport in the Middle East and North Africa. Nevertheless, the wheel was still used for domestic purposes, such as for irrigation, milling, and pottery making. This shows the various uses of the wheel, and its importance to mankind. I guess we ought to change our perspective about the wheel, and not view it as a basic invention by ‘primitive man’. Instead, we should view it as one of the great achievements of human society.
Featured image : A depiction of an onager-drawn cart on the Sumerian "battle standard of Ur" . Photo source: Wikipedia.
By Ḏḥwty
Bellis, M., 2014. The Invention of the Wheel. [Online]
Available at:
Gambino, M., 2009. A Salute to the Wheel. [Online]
Available at:
Slaughter, J., 2014. History: Invention of the Wheel. [Online]
Available at:
Wikipedia, 2014. Wheel. [Online]
Available at:
Wolchover, N., 2012. Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel. [Online]
Available at:
The Trees are around. The fruit is round. The mug is round, why is called Ovaltine?
It should be obvious that roughly uniformed logs were used as rollers very early. It seems an obvious step to reshape one into 2 circles on end of shaft. & then attach to a travois etc. Would work If not too much weight.
For Ancient Egyptian theywere not in need with chariots to built pyramids they inventé the sledge it was more practicle on sands than wheels! This is what make them genious! Why the need wheels and they have sledges? Sledge iS another remarkable invention ! Regards
Ezekial was alive somewhere around 500,BC, even Abraham was only about 2,000 BC.
The Bible was not written down until the Babylonian captivity around 500BC, all the stories before that were by word of mouth for 1500 years from the time of Abraham until the Babylonian captivity.
Could someone put it into context for me--the time frames for the invention of the wheel in 3500 BC and the story about Ezekial's wheel in the Bible in Genesis. Wasn't this story written long before 3500 BC??
Next article |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15056 | If you fancy yourself a weather expert or you're obsessed about cloud patterns and movements or you simply enjoy earth's view from space and seeing how things evolve around this blue planet of ours, you can now do so from Google Earth. The app has added a new cloud animation layer that represents the last 24 hours of weather patterns across the globe.
The cloud data comes from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and is based on a 40MP image composited from seven satellites. Each hour a new image is sent to Google, which then compresses it, adds shadows, transparency, and creates a smooth video animation at a rate of one frame per second, where each frame corresponds to one hourly image. The video is then laid over Earth and Google says it'll only load the parts it needs as you zoom and move around the globe, thus speeding up the process.
Animated clouds were first implemented on the web in June, and they're just now making their way to the Android and iOS apps. To see them, you need to go to Map Style -> Turn on Animated Clouds, and enable that. Then go back to the app and zoom out to space to look at the earth.
You'll find the feature in Google Earth v9.2.53.6 (and possibly earlier versions when it was slowly rolling out). It's available on the Play Store and APK Mirror.
Google Earth
Google Earth
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15112 |
#43916 by PointsWell
Wed Jul 12, 2017 2:04 am
This has been raised here https://www.awareim.com/forum/viewtopic ... ist#p37853
I had been looking at DISPLAY MESSAGE ASYNCH as a means to providing feedback to the user on background activity that is going on as well as in situations where changing a setting would trigger the creation of another object in the background.
Unfortunately DISPLAY MESSAGE is an illegal call in a BO Rule which is where I would need it to be called from.
It seems like there is value in a NOTIFICATION method to provide a popup to the user to show that things are happening in the background.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15115 | Tuesday, July 31, 2007
They're using metaphors to make up for what the Mattel god denied them.
[ Source: Didn't You Hear... ]
The Fate of Spider-Pig?
This is my belated review of The Simpsons Movie.
Fanboy ranting aside, I must say that The Simpsons Movie marked one of the better movie-going experiences I've had in a while. In addition to the Marge Simpson mask that I left the theater with, I can happily report that the film gave me a good 80 minutes of laughter — plus one moment of genuine concern when Julie Kavner surpassed the usual limitations of cartoon voice acting and, for a moment, really made me think Marge had decided to leave Homer forever.
I'm writing this now, when most of my readership has gone out and seen The Simpsons Movie, in hopes that I'd hear what you all thought. Though it amounted to as much as I could have hoped for from such a film, I have a few small critiques:
• The lack of Mr. Burns. Easily my favorite character on the show, Mr. Burns's unabashed evil is something I look forward to. He has perhaps an even smaller role than even Flanders, which is a bit of a shame.
• Other marginalized characters: Agnes Skinner, Moe, Apu, Patty and Selma, Groundskeeper Willy, Kirk Van Houten, Mrs. Krabappel, and Santa's Little Helper.
• General focus on the Simpson family at the expense of the supporting characters. I realize that though I've laughed more at Homer than anyone else, the supporting roles make the show — especially the ones I perceive as either "predators" or "prey." And some of the ones who received airtime instead? Very strange. Lindsay Naegle? Really?
• Total absence of Rainier Wolfcastle, as near as I can tell. Of course, President Arnold Schwarzenegger is basically the same character. But… you know.
• And what, for the love of God, happened to poor Spider-Pig (a.k.a. Harry Plopper)? Did he die with the collapse of the Simpsons' home? I need closure on the character whose theme song has been stuck in my head all weekend.
• Lamely, I read somewhere that the movie's creators tried to work in every character who has every been depicted as a resident of Springfield and therefore tried to catch as many non-speaking background characters as possible. Is it just me, then, or did I see Astrid Weller — Isabella Rossellini's character from the episode in which Homer makes outsider art — at a disproportionately high frequency?
Ralph Wiggum, however, appeared in precisely the amount he needed to. And Dr. Nick Riviera joining the likes of Maude Flanders, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Snowball II and Bea Simmons? A very welcome touch.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Mario Athletic
Some pretty cool stuff, I suppose, in this high-speed clip of some Super Mario World acrobatics.
The Return of Jumpman
He shall jump again. And die again. And probably swing a hammer again.
There's an awesome article up on ArcadeShop.com about one of the better Mario-related fan projects I've come across — a homebrewed sequel titled Donkey Kong 2: The Return of Jumpman. Jeff Kulczycki of ROMHACK has apparently gone through the considerable effort of creating a full-on sequel to the original arcade Donkey Kong, complete with four new levels. From what little is glimpsed in the screenshots, the game plays more or less like the original game, just with more bells and whistles. The best part: The revamped ROM goes on sale on August 20 at ArcadeShop.com.
Some screens of the new levels:
the foundry
the mixer (note the "pies" from the original game)
the crane
and the incinerator
In short: too cool.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Small Feet, Big Steps
We took Dante to the beach near the Bacara today. Nothing could better describe the afternoon that the following photos.
You may notice the large black birds in the last few frames of the slideshow. (Well, technically, the last two are me, shirtless, attempting to wash sand off Dante at the showers and getting my torso clawed in the process. But the birds are damn close to the end, let me tell you.) The birds, which Spencer thinks may be cormorants of some sort, squatted on rocks at the edge of the beach, looking juts a little like unpleasant old women, perhaps those who cluster together and do sinister things in Greek mythology. They didn't seem the least bit intimidated by my presence and only set out for the ocean when they felt hungry.
Despite their shiny wings, the cormorants — or possible pseudo-cormorants — walked to water instead of flying. Their gait struck me as rather odd, so I shot a video of one returning back to the rocks. Here it is, in three installments.
Don't get me wrong. Dante was by far the start of the outing. But there's something just slightly creepy in the way that those birds walked, almost as if they were poorly mimicking how humans move.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Where the Bloodbath Happens
Until I saw them without international martial artists hopping around in front of them and clobbering each other, I never realized how beautiful these backgrounds to old Capcom fighting games really were.
In order: Dan's Thailand stage from Street Fighter Zero 2, B.B. Hood's wartorn ghetto stage from DarkStalkers 3 and Ryu's dojo from Street Fighter II.
[ More: The Sigil of Slateman ]
Friday, July 27, 2007
My Own Private Boing Boing
I nearly forgot. In order to relay information to readers without actually having to post, I've started a Google Reader account, which provides me with a public page to display items I choose to share — that is, posts that I re-post without actually posting them. Does that make sense?
In any case, do look at the link — or even subscribe to the feed, if you like — if you're interested in reading some of what I've been reading.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The The (Not the Band)
Not to gloat, but I have a pass to see The Simpsons Movie tomorrow — that is, a full day earlier than the general public. In looking at film's title on the ticket itself, however, I noticed its verbal awkwardness.
Being the translation of the TV show The Simpsons into a film, it poses a problem. The "the" at the beginning of the show's title — which, in my experience, is more often pronounced, as opposed to just saying "I'm watching Simpsons" — has to vanish. Though it's technically correct if you're speaking the title as it's used on the show, you should probably refrain from calling it The The Simpsons Movie, even if it is The Movie version of The Simpsons. And you sure as hell can't say The Simpsons Show Movie or The Movie Version of The Simpsons or even The Simpsons' Movie. I guess you could just treat the title The Simpsons like it's a unit, modifying Movie, but even then I think it's curious that the internal italics of the original TV show title get absorbed by the italics of the movie title when the TV show is ostensibly being referenced in the movie title.
It would have been so much easier if they just called if The Simpsons: Viva Rock Vegas.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Pre-Paid Envelope of Shame
With a heavy heart, I pushed my current three Netflix rentals into the mailbox. You see, I have not watched them. They have sat on my desk for a full month, two of the discs never even having been removed from their protective sleeves. In theory, I would have happily watched any of these films, yet somehow none sparked any interest in me once they actually arrived. "Hey, how about another episode of Twin Peaks?" came so much more easily.
Goodbye, The Fountain. Your association with Darren Aronofsky apparently wasn't enough to help me through the first thirty minutes, whereupon I asked myself "What the fuck is going on?" Then, with you still playing, I took a shower and before I returned and popped out the DVD partway through some emotional delivery by a bald Rachel Weisz. Eventually, I settled on watching Cartoon Network.
Goodbye, The Painted Veil. Though I love Naomi Watts and would probably pay admission price to see her perform in any role, I never felt like allotting the time or emotional energy needed to slog through her trip to the disease-ridden Far East. I blame Edward Norton's infuriating neutral face, which I always read as "Aw shucks" no matter what accent he's speaking in. Oh, and also that I didn't want to catch weird Asian diseases somehow.
Goodbye, Sherrybaby. Though it's an established fact that Maggie Gyllenhaal is good, I don't want to see her lose her heroin baby. Or whatever this movie was about. I'll just assumed the baby comes back to her through a time machine.
I suppose I can tack them onto the bottom of the queue and revisit them in the three years it will take me to watch 276 more movies.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Some Things, Apparently, Cannot Be a Band Name
Figured I should probably post which bands names were, in fact, fake. They are as follows:
• Onion Knight (a relic from my childhood playing Final Fantasy)
• The Show-Me State (my disguising of a real band, The Maple State)
• The Missing Ellsworth Arm (my Peyton Place reference)
• Vilma (my attempted substitute for Milke)
• Hattie Naggasoulou (my attempted substitute for Josephine Oniyama)
• Cats Don't Dance (a Disney knock-off animated movie)
• TwoKnights (pure Drew)
• Industrial Soap Dispenser (nickname for Spencer)
• Curse de Alley (a CD Aly burned for me)
• Joe, Paige & Audrey (minor characters from Ellen, if I remember correctly)
• Malo Malo (the Latin joke)
• Bamboo Shoots (my joke on The Friendly Fires)
• The Concentric Circles (probably is actually a real band, just not on this album)
• Bindhi & Benday (as someone pointed out, a joke I like making)
• Chikorita (a Pokemon)
• The Blueheads (The Bluetones plus the Lemonheads)
• Blankedy-Blank (should be a band, really)
• Cuddle Mobster (pure Drew)
• The Resurrected Grandma (again, pure Drew)
And these are the real ones:
• PenKnifeLoveLife
• Flood of Red
• Jack Afro
• The Fleas
• The Friendly Fires
• The Permissive Society
• The Wombats
• Texas Radio Band
• Granby Row
• Milke
• 52 Teenagers
• The Great Northwestern Hoboes
• Josephine Oniyama
• The Mono Effect
• Driving By Night
• Sally Suicide
• Bricolage
• New World Record
• Lesser Panda
Anything Can Be a Band Name!
As part of my pursuit to hunt down songs new, rare, endangered, potentially dangerous, possibly fanged, and undeniably exquisite, I found a phenomenal 54-track album titled Unsigned and In the City 2006. I recognized exactly one of the featured artists, yet I can safely report that the album was well worth the ten bucks it cost to download on iTunes. In fact, I'm enjoying it vastly more than the new Spoon or White Stripes albums I downloaded last week. There's something about the freshness of a new band and the manner in which escapes the kind of expectations you attached to a group you already know… It's hard to put into words, but perhaps best explained by having you recall the joy you feel when you come across a new band with the. greatest. band name. ever. You know? The two work similarly, at least inside my head.
In any case, the band names glimpsed on this CD's tracklist are roundly good. I've decided to list some of them below, along with a number of fakes, and have the brave venture guesses which ones are real and which ones phony.
Or, you know, you could always just Google them.
• Onion Knight
• The Blueheads
• Blankedy-Blank
• PenKnifeLoveLife
• Flood of Red
• Cats Don't Dance
• The Show-Me State
• The Missing Ellsworth Arm
• Arms Bend Back
• The Friendly Fires
• Vilma
• Jack Afro
• The Fleas
• The Permissive Society
• The Wombats
• Texas Radio Band
• Hattie Nagahana
• Joe, Paige & Audrey
• Granby Row
• Milke
• Malo Malo
• Bamboo Shoots
• Curse de Alley
• Cuddle Mobster
• 52 Teenagers
• The Concentric Circles
• Two Knight
• The Great Northwestern Hoboes
• Bindhi & Benday
• Chikorita
• Josephine Oniyama
• The Mono Effect
• Driving By Night
• Industrial Soap Dispenser
• Sally Suicide
• Bricolage
• New World Record
• Lesser Panda
EDIT 8.19.2007: I finally posted the answers, backdated for proximity's sake.
The Can-Do Girl
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Moe, the girl who survived a kangaroo attack in Sydney and whose Independence Day arrival back in California was celebrated by me with eye-puss fireworks, has asked me to burn her CDs of music I listened to during the period in which she was gone. I have made three CDs, each burned by theme. These are the CDs. They represent what I've been listening to listening to for the last year and a half or so.
1. Bees - "Chicken Payback"
2. Chromeo - "Needy Girl"
3. Le Tigre - "I'm So Excited"
4. Stephen Malkmus - "Kindling for the Master"
5. Orange Juice - "Blokes on 45"
6. Stellastarr* - "My Coco"
7. Grand National - "Cherry Tree"
8. The Slits - "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
9. Goldfrapp - "Satin Chic"
10. The Greens Keepers - "Lotion"
11. DataRock - "Computer Camp Love"
12. Professor Murder - "Free Stress Test"
13. CSS - "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above"
14. CSS - "Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex"
15. April March - "Chick Habit"
16. Of Montreal - "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger"
17. Architecture in Helsinki - "Do the Whirlwind"
18. Apples in Stereo - "Same Old Drag"
19. I Am the World Trade Center - "Love Tragedy"
1. Animal Collective - "Leaf House"
2. The Magnetic Fields - "When My Boy Walks Down the Street"
3. RJD2 - "Smoke and Mirrors"
4. Eisley - "Telescope Eyes"
5. Andrew Bird - "Skin Is, My"
6. Teenage Fanclub - "Cells"
7. Belle and Sebastian - "Meat and Potatoes"
8. Mike Doughty - "I Hear the Bells"
9. The Presets - "The Girl and the Sea"
10. Neko Case - "Margaret vs. Pauline"
11. Mates of State - "Along for Ride"
12. The Knife - "Heartbeats"
13. The Ditty Bops - "Short Stacks"
14. Bill Callahan - "A Man Needs a Woman or a Man to Be a Man"
15. Menomena - "Wet and Rusting"
16. Klaxons - "Gravity's Rainbow"
17. The Decemberists - "Mariner's Revenge Song"
18. The Good, The Bad and the Queen - "History Song"
19. The Polyphonic Spree - "Lithium"
1. The Fiery Furnaces - "I Lost My Dog"
2. Louis XIV - "God Killed the Queen"
3. Spoon - "I Turn My Camera On"
4. The Coral - "Pass It On"
5. The Replacements - "Alex Chilton"
6. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Me and Mia"
7. Need New Body - "Show Me Your Heart"
8. Aqueduct - "Growing Up With GNR"
9. Nada Surf - "Indochine"
10. Bishop Allen - "Empire City"
11. The New Pornographers - "The Jessica Numbers"
12. The New Pornographers - "High Art, Local News"
13. The Marbles - "Magic"
14. The Features - "The Idea of Growing Old"
15. Dogs Die in Hot Cars - "Lounger"
16. Dogs Die in Hot Cars - "Godhopping"
17. The Decemberists - "The Sporting Line"
18. M. Ward - "Right in the Head"
19. Cold War Kids - "Hang Me Up to Dry"
20. Amy Winehouse - "You Know I'm No Good"
21. The White Stripes - "Icky Thump"
Fumio Yamaguchi
So many disappointed people using the internet nowadays.
Orange Smile
Hannah leaves good thank-you notes, it turns out.
And then the back:
Sunday, July 22, 2007
"You Cannot Beat Us"
Oh, Jesus.
Bowser has looked scary before, but never this disturbing. I only know what the YouTube clip tells me: "It was aired in Australia or something." And that's reporting I'm not going to question.
Heavy-Handed Symbolism
It's bad when it starts to sound like a book.
Art imitates life, at least most of the time, but when my life started sounding like something I might read in a book — a book I wouldn't especially enjoy — I realized I had made some mistakes.
"Drew toiled away as an editor at a newspaper, where he spent his days reading what other people did — some other person's actions recorded into a news story which in turn reported who died, who arrested whom, who was elected, who was interviewed. On occasion, he'd edit a story that someone else wrote about something a third party wrote at a different newspaper. It wore on Drew, but he himself never left the office. No, he was held prisoner by his leather desk chair, his flat screen monitor and the humming overhead fluorescent lights. Somehow, their power combined to trap him in his windowless corner, his eyes darting from side-to-side until they stung."
And so the book would have read, this book that I wouldn't have liked, not only because I don't need a retread of how my working day plays out but also because where the book would be going next would just make me want to put out my eye with a freshly sharpened No. 2 pencil.
"It was at that point, then, that Drew realized that his work as an editor did more than earn him a paycheck; it came to define his very existence. For when the workday ended, he made no more effort to enjoy the world around him than he did while on the clock. He'd merely go to his house and perform a slightly more casual version of his job, reading the writing of others and only occasionally jotting down anything himself. Even more seldom would he actually offer anything of value, anything that gave insight into himself or the world he lived in, which day by day grew smaller and smaller. Drew wasn't living life. Drew had no story to write. Drew was merely reading and editing reports of the lives of others."
What a shitty book!
It's a book that does not deserve to be written, much less read. But as I drove home last Friday night, I realized the comparison was apt. Had I read a book about a boring, unsatisfied character who spent his days editing the stories of others because he had no story of his own to write, I would have accused the author of implementing some heavy-handed symbolism. But it's not symbolism, really, because this proposed scenario is accurate, and those cute little tricks authors use to further convey their story's meaning don't work in the world beyond the written page. Yes, I said it. I'm no atheist, but I don't believe life unfolds using literary devices like foreshadowing, callbacks, rising action, falling action or symbolism. I really am an editor and I am jealous of the people whose articles I edit, as they're going out and existing in the world and I'm merely sitting at my desk, existing in my office, perhaps waiting for the occasional email or phone call to be returned from someone interesting but never really doing much myself. And I really hadn't been writing about myself or anything that I could even attempt to make interesting.
Then I drove home.
Solo drives home are sacred to me, in the same sense that long showers and darkened movie theaters are. It's in spaces like these that I can filter out the distractions of "I wonder if he's updated his blog" and "Sure, I'll check my email again" and "I wonder if someone voted that I was hot or not" and really think, provided I've already shouted myself hoarse from "singing" along to the hits of New Order. Just me, my thoughts and a small number of stimuli that keep me too busy to get bored but idle enough for my mind to wander. It was during one of these drives a few months ago that I realized how much joy video games had once brought into my life and that putting a joystick in my hand might put a smile on my face. Shortly thereafter, the Wii arrived and brought with it a chance to toy with exciting new and nostalgic old technologies. Ask the roommates. If I'm not whipping a Wiimote around, I'm Dixie Kong again, for the first time since before high school. (Unlike ten-year-old Drew, however, I play in moderation. That helps.)
The Friday drive prompted me to solve my current symbolism problem in a similar ways. First — and this one relates right back to my sacred space problem — is to start going to the movies again. I haven't been since Paris, Je Taime, even though there's little in the world that makes me happier than stepping into a movie, even if it's one I don't particularly enjoy. It's almost better that way — talking about what a colossal failure it was makes for a better story anyway. If movie-watching is my religion, than a multiplex is my cathedral.
Second, I need to get back into music. I mean, I still listen to it, but there was a period early in college where I had taste in music that was a good five steps ahead of that of my peers. Some bangs-and-glasses hipster would be going on about some band and I could turn and tell them, "Oh, I had their album in pre-release. I got it through the paper. And did you know they're playing here? Tickets are sold out." I was a terrible snob about it. It was awful. But it was also so much fun, you know? Anyway, That's not so much the case anymore. When Moe got back from New Zealand, she asked me to burn her some CDs, "to hear what everyone was listening to while I was gone." Everyone — as in, the populace. The populace! Clearly, my tastes have grown generic. On that note, I'm making a promise to myself to get back into the swing of new and cool music and once again be that guy who hears about stuff before the unwashed masses do, just for the satisfaction of knowing I picked correctly. (I'm also going to cut back on the music snobbery, I'd wager aging hipsters stand a better chance at being decked than their young counterparts.)
Finally, in order to become an interesting protagonist, I need to do something. Change. Interact with other people. Advance the plot in a way that other characters won't. That's a rule that would seem to apply to literature and life both. I've been sedentary for too long here in Santa Barbara, both in the sense of not leaving the city often enough and not making the time I spend here any more worth anyone's attention. Now, when Spencer and Aly suggest that we head north or south — or even east, for that matter — I won't cop out with "I'm really burnt out from the work week," the excuse that's become my personal motto. A great deal exists between Los Angeles and San Francisco that I haven't seen and that I should see or should at least give a second look. And as more and more former regulars flee Santa Barbara to bigger cities, I have more reason — and means — to make a weekend of such a trip.
That's the plan, at least for the moment. Get out and do rather than sit home not. If all else fails, I'll just drive home and re-think it. At least then I could write about that.
Monday, July 16, 2007
It's-a Death
Call me morbid, but I get a kick out of seeing Mario's great many Super Mario 64-era deaths.
The best: being near death, shot out a cannon, and drowning upon impact with the water. Those Italian-accented blub-blub-blubs just sound so funny.
Qterplix Herself
I am glad my New York friends get to do New York things.
Tomorrow I hope Sanam gets a brusque, foreign cab driver, stars in a Broadway show and then hits a home run for the Yankees.
Blogger Yuckwhoa
A spam email that just showed up in my inbox bore the title "BOGR YQO." In my elementary school days, this phrase was sometimes used a code for "Fuck you." If you spell the original curse in all capitals, the letters can be fairly neatly disguised into "BOGR YQO." I even remember it being spoken as an in-lieu-of curse, as "Bogger Yuckwhoa." The email itself, however, was blank. A Google search of for the phrase yields nothing the likes of which I remember. Now I'm trying to find if this phrase meant something to clever, falsely polite children everywhere or if it was limited to strange kids growing up in Hollister.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Theme of Top Man
Two emails I just sent that are proof I should not write to long-lost friends when I am tired. The first one was to Dave, to whom I have not spoken in some time. He knows why.
I signed onto MySpace because my email told me I had a message there from "Dave." I guess I forgot for a second that you're too cool to have your own space and, thus, deleted your profile. Needless to say, it wasn't you. The Dave in question did have exciting information about a place for me to meet exciting "girlz" in my area. I'd recommend you contact him, but his profile has probably been obliterated by the MySpace police already.
I guess what I'm asking is this: do YOU know where I can meet exciting girlz in my neighborhood?
Happy lobsters,
The second one ran with the subject line "Hi Meghan."
Hi Meghan (see email subject).
I thought of you three times recently. Once when Marcy and Moe and Taryn and a lot of other people were in town for the 4th. Don't feel bad for not showing up. It was nice to see Marcy and Adam. Moe is freckly now. Also, Katie was there and when I hugged her hello a bee that had apparently been sitting on my shoulder stung her on the cheek. Just like old times! Anyway, the whole thing was a mess for me, since I had an eye infection that started oozing that morning and I had to get antibiotics from urgent care. Don't get me wrong. Urgent care is great. It's just that the particular antibiotics they put me on came with the proviso that I shouldn't drink alcohol or be in the sun. You know, because nobody wants to be drunk and in the sun on Independence Day.
The second time I thought of you happened when I hired a new intern. Her name is Sheena. It's really weird, but she could totally be your sister. Only her name is too unusual. She's like a perfect combination of you and my friend Erika. Do you know Erika? Erika with brown hair? Did you and Erika somehow have a miracle baby together and name her Sheena and make her work for me at the paper? Because that would explain a lot.
Finally, I thought of you because I recently discovered a song that you should download. It's called "Lotion" and it's by The Greenskeepers. It's really catchy, if a little dark, but you of all people would get a kick out of it. You should really download it right now. It was on the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack, I think, or at least featured on the show, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.
In case you're wondering why I CCed Jill in this email, it's because I had initially wanted to email her as well, but now I am tired as today has been long and very trying. So instead of writing her an email, I'm sending her this one. Do you think Jill will like this? I think she will. I mean, she'd probably rather I had written her her own email, but like I said, I'm tired.
Bye, Meghan! Hope to hear from you soon! You're like a hundred times cooler than Jill.
As the letter implies, I did not, in fact, write Jill an email.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
El Barto lives, and that makes me happy.
Worth the click, especially if you have any love for The Simpsons.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Japanese Horror Movie Hair
Having seen The Ring, The Grudge and Pulse in both their Japanese and American incarnations, I've noticed that the Japanese practitioners of filmic fright tend to make liberal use of flowing black hair to ratchet up the scary. In the shower, in darkened hallways, in bed — everywhere the cast of a given Japanese horror movie goes, they see black hair snaking around, foretelling their own imminent demise. A new film — known variously as Ekusute, Exte or Extensions — has fun with this motif. It centers on haunted hair that terrorizes the Japanese salon-going public. The heroine: Yuko, a hairdresser, played by Chiaki Kuriyama of Battle Royale and Kill Bill fame. I really wanted this film to be a comedy, but there's apparently playing it straight. Too bad. At the very least, I'm happy to see somebody else has noticed that this is a trend.
The Legend of Zelda... Fitzgerald?
News to me: Shigeru Miyamoto named the titular princess of the Legend of Zelda games after Zelda Fitzgerald.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Encyclopedia Drew and the Case of the Troublesome Tang
If you pick up a copy of this week's Independent, you might notice an item in the news briefs section that mentions the horrible sulfur stench that's been so tenaciously clinging the area around East Cabrillo Boulevard. (The same subject is addressed in a longer IndyNewsFlash item that went up on Tuesday, in case you're interested.) When the article came across my desk in an earlier form, the reporter had referred to the stink — which, it turns out, is emanating from stagnant water at the bird refuge being steamed up by last week's heat wave — as being a "problematic pong." Confused, I asked three nearby editors if they were familiar with this word — independent from the prefixes "ping," "beer" and "early video game sensation" and instead to mean "a bad smell." No one had, though we could all guess what it meant given its context.
I went to the dictionary and found olfactory sense of "pong" missing from the abridged Webster — that version being the one you don't have to pay for — as well as from the American Heritage Dictionary. Dictionary.com had it, finally, defining it as I imagined it might be and giving its origin as "obscure."
Good to know it exists, I decided, and curious how it somehow escaped my notice for twenty-five years, but I felt it should be substituted with something the average newspaper-reader would know. Statistically, if four people who work at the paper had never heard of it, four randoms who just read said publication might not either. Worse yet, I worried it might be mistaken for a typo for "pond," since it was a body of water that made the stink to begin with.
Though everyone concerned agreed that the alliteration of "problematic pong" should be preserved, but I lost the ultimate vote and the chosen replacement was "troublesome tang." I am not particularly happy about this, in part because I felt "offending odor" worked just as well but also that olfactory sensations are not the first one might associate with the word "tang." Add to that the infinitely worse pairing with "troublesome," and I at least get an immediate mental picture that's very disturbing. Of course, if one really did have a troublesome tang, bad smells might a major factor in that trouble. I just hope I wouldn't have to print a news story about it.
In any case, if you read the brief and wondered why the hell that phrase in particular was chosen, I thought I'd offer an explanation.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
The Jewel-Encrusted Taj Mahal of Fax Machines
He was insistent, the little prick. I became frustrated.
He would have none of it.
Oh, and eFax can suck it.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
A Frog in the Salad Back
Because, you see, there's a frog in the salad bag.
Chocolate Milk Computer
My renewed blogging effort will include more stories about myself, I've decided. For whatever reason, you're getting this one today.
A few years back at one of the Daily Nexus's summer retreats, I ended up speaking with one of the new Artsweek editors. Keeping in mind that a Nexus weekend retreat consists of a beach house and the kind of drinking that leads to — at best — meandering, pointless sentences and — at worst — meandering, pointless sex , I was in no state to interact with other humans. Talk we did, however. Whatever she said — I remember the texture of the floor beneath me but not her actual words — I interpreted it as "My mother can't tell the difference between her computer and chocolate milk." Astounded, I told this new editor that her mother must be the dumbest person on the fact of the earth. Literally — to be lump chocolate milk and a computer into the same mental category requires a dried Wasabi pea brain. I went on and on, explaining the idiocy of this girl's mother before she stomped away, apparently offended that I stated the obvious by commending her mother for having evaded natural selection so far.
The next morning — following Excedrin and coffee, I'd imagine — someone who had been party to that conversation approached me and asked about its rather bad end. What had actually transpired, it turns out, is that the Artsweek editor had said that her mother often said "Yoohoo" when she meant "Yahoo," as in the search engine. How many drinks it took to warp that into "My mother can't tell the difference between her computer and chocolate milk," I guess I'll never know. To this day, I'm still delighted at the idea of a college student having an embarrassingly stupid mother who tried to drink her computer and check her email in a frosty choco-dairy treat.
The girl didn't last long. By the end of that fall quarter, she decided the school paper wasn't for her and I never saw her again. I don't know if my drunken accusations had anything to do with her premature departure, but I'd like to think she had to leave college to care for her mom after a horrible accident involving the family PC and a bottle of Hershey's syrup.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Mexican Breakfast
I had never heard of the song "Walk It Out" until I saw the below YouTube clip. I also had no clue who either Gwen Verdon or Bob Fosse were. But my ignorance didn't stop me from appreciating its wonderful mishmash of pop culture.
Amazingly, the clip wasn't altered to match the new song. In addition to matching the beat and lyrics surprisingly well, the new song is about exactly the same length as the original. For comparison's sake, here's the original.
As you can see in both versions, the original track is titled "Mexican Breakfast." Whatever that's supposed to mean, it makes me think of some awful euphemism for a sex act, like "Dirty Sanchez" or "Rusty Trombone." As in, "And then when she was getting out the shower, he gave her a Mexican Breakfast. She totally had to take another shower."
My simultaneous fascination with and revulsion to the Wikipedia should be no surprise to longtime readers. I love the idea of so much information being collected in one place, and the site makes for some top-notch procrastination. (Example: I look up Katharine Hepburn to find out whether she's related to Audrey, jump from there to a page on venereal disease, and then from there to Venus (mythology) to the category page for sexuality in Ancient Rome to Priapus to a page for a low budget movie I've never heard of called Scarecrow Gone Wild.) However, I can't help but become frustrated that a page exists for something called Scarecrow Gone Wild in an encyclopedic work and that if I chose to edit the page, my work would likely be undone by some low-functioning, home-schooled twelve-year-old in Kansas who watches the page and started the page and filled it with his unique take on punctuation. ("Scare Crow gone Wild is good movie, it was released in 2005.")
What I'm getting at is that I still use the Wikipedia, but I don't contribute anymore. Recently, I've come across a wonderful new term that helps express one of my two frustrations with the site: Wikigroaning. Coined by Something Awful in a June 5 article, the word refers to the act of exposing the Wikipedia's lameness by contrasting one article with a similarly themed article that is longer despite being completely more frivolous. For example, Something Awful offers this as the first comparison:
I don't care how many Star Wars fans exist, it's laughable that this social construction that figured so importantly into hundreds of years of western history would merit less of an explanation than a fictional class of warriors from a movie series that has existed only since 1977. I'm not surprised that the Jedi Knight page is longer. I just think it sucks.
While the original article on Wikigroaning and its sequel, Wikigroaning II: The New Batch, cite a great many showdowns in the article length-versus-inherent frivolity battle, I decided to try a few of my own.
And now let's all let out a collective guttural noise expressing our frustration with the Wikipedia. And, following that, let's all go there and see what other articles jump out at us as being excessively long.
Milton Thunderstamp
Interesting ways people have been finding my blog lately.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Too Many Springfields
Interesting note. Though this article from the Ventura County Star and others like it note that fourteen different Springfields are currently vying to be the one that hosts the premiere of The Simpsons Movie, Wikipedia states that the United States has exactly 34 states containing a place named "Springfield."
That's including the West Springfields and North Springfields and the like, as well as Springfield Townships. As for modifier-free Springfields, there's twenty-three. (In Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, to be specific.) And there's another three in Canada, even.
This website showcases the various American Springfields as represented by old-timey postcards, and I like that.
My Elastic Eye
So of course the moment I take a blogging hiatus something interesting happens to me. I'm actually lucky I can actually type this at all, considering that my left eye stood a good chance of pussing over, spreading to its mate and blinding me to the fact that my entire face had quickly become a pulsating mass of shiny orange goop. Yes, I'm choosing to mark my return to blogging with a story of the eye infection from outer space and how it ruined my Fourth of July.
A brackets break:
[ Just so you all now, this post discusses the various awful things that can drip from faceholes. If you're squeamish, stop reading. In fact, I may henceforth only discuss dripping faceholes on this blog, so go ahead and delete the bookmark, drop my URL from your Blogroll and forget I ever existed. Furthermore, I may use the adjectival form of "pus" to describe my former condition. In print, that looks like this: "pussy." I realize that assembly of letters more often forms a different — and one would hope unrelated — word, but please understand my intentions. When I refer to my "pussy face," I'm trying to relate that my eye is oozing and not that my face resembles a vagina. Because it doesn't. ]
For the past month, my left lower eyelid has been sporting a fashionable red bump. I call it my pussy problem. (Read it right, kids.) I like it. It's such a conversation starter. Co-workers don't hesitate from asking after it. "Is it a pimple?" "It looks like a stye." "Maybe something bit you." Or, as I understood them: "Why don't you wash your goddamn face?" and "What's wrong with your body that your glands don't work?" and "You associate with vermin and I therefore won't associate with you." Not content to just be a bump, however, the entity — a small demon or elf, I'm guessing — continued to morph into all manner of embarrassments. First, it scabbed over. Then it flaked. Then it leaked small globs that dried onto the ends of my eyelids. Then it made my eyes bloodshot. The last of these was particularly hurtful — not physically, but psychologically, as everybody who saw Knocked Up now thinks that one only gets pink eye from having slept on a farted-on pillow and therefore having ingested fecal matter.
Another brackets break:
[ At this point in the story, you might wonder why I didn't seek medical help early into my ordeal. Ha. That's the kick in the shitter, let me tell you. While I happily signed onto the Independent's healthcare plan the moment I racked up enough months in order to qualify for it, I've found navigating the medical bureaucracy to be exactly as difficult as the stereotype implies. Damn it, Michael Moore, you were right. The doctor I requested as my primary physician refuses to return my calls. I won't say my healthcare plan's name, but let's say it rhymes with SchmealthNet, and I'm now not sure that the "net" mentioned in the name refers to any kind of protective network of doctors. Instead, I'd guess it's the kind of net that one uses to capture rabid dogs or crazy people and lock them in a cage so they can die in isolation. ]
The morning of Independence Day — which this year was marked by a wonderful reunion of college friends, some of whom haven't set foot on State Street since graduation — I walked in to the bathroom and noticed that my upper eyelid now appeared puffy and red. "Gracious! The horrible face disease has overtaken another section of the battleground that is my face," I said to myself. Perhaps foolishly, I pressed the upper lid to see if it felt tender and inflamed. It did. However, the cause of the puffiness was not just the inflammation, but also that a reservoir of orange puss has accumulated there overnight. (At this point, the situation took on the name "the puffy pussy problem." Again, please read it correctly.) Upon the pressure from my finger, it gooshed out, besmearing my eye and horrifying me in ways I haven't known since my nosehair incident.
Panicked, I called the nearest urgent care center, explained that my eye was going to fall out and left, so pleased to have been able to see a doctor that I didn't realize my shirt was inside-out. I've been to this particular facility before — for yet another emergency that involved my head's contact with cement in a sudden and surprising fashion — and had high hopes. The pretty Russian doctor lady, however, only explained that I should probably see an ophthalmologist as soon as possible and that her help would be limited to a prescription of a simple antibiotic. On top of the fact that scoring an appointment with an eye doctor through my healthcare plan seemed about as likely as getting one with a alchemist, the antibiotic I received came with the following stipulations: "You should stay out of the sun as much as possible and avoid alcohol." Since I received this information on the morning of the Fourth of July, she might as well have told me that the medicine would cause me to instantly die if I saw fireworks.
I made the feeblest attempts at meeting my college friends — who, of course, were drinking on the beach — and as a result ended up throwing up at a restaurant. Because, you know, I didn't have enough fluid escaping my body already. The friends left town, I stayed in and sulked.
In the end, Spencer helped me get a referral for someone who could actually help me. Ironically, he prescribed an antiseptic balm. Essentially, I'm fighting goop with goop now. My eye will stay in my face, presumably seeing things and hopefully aiding me in future blogging efforts, which I'm resuming as of today.
A third and final brackets break:
[ Yes, the blog is back on. Sorry for the delay, but I needed to escape from work stress and I think I've done that now. I'm back, and I brought Brenis with me. And yes, I see in irony in restarting this thing on July 8, 2007 instead of the previous day. Rather than striking on the most numerologically auspicious in recent pop culture memory — seven-seven-seven — I chose the day after, which should be the numerological equivalent of a slot machine result of diamond-diamond-lemon. I have some semblance of a game plan and a renewed zest for polluting the web with my meandering, typo-ridden sentences. Suck it, Lady Luck. ]
Oh. Um, hi. Well. That's the end. I hadn't thought of writing any more. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15174 | wizard101 walkthrough part 39: clothing collecting
First published at 04:35 UTC on February 17th, 2019.
Originally uploaded to youtube on March 23, 2010.
Youtube description:
Sorry for the wait, I hope you like it! Note: if you want me to do a shout out for you, leave a comment telling me you want me to do one for you, or from you to one of your fri...
SensitivityNormal - Content that is suitable for ages 16 and over |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15187 | Texas Discipline laws & HR compliance analysis
Texas Discipline: What you need to know
Progressive discipline is a policy in which the severity of the penalty increases each time an employee commits an infraction. Generally, a progressive discipline scale begins with oral reprimands, followed by written warnings, suspensions, and, finally, discharge. Progressive discipline procedures are most often found in collective bargaining agreements and in the public sector, but they are becoming increasingly common in the private sector.
There are two major problems with having a progressive discipline procedure in an "at-will" employment relationship. First, it can be time-consuming to administer the steps and generate all the accompanying paperwork. Second, a progressive discipline procedure can, under certain circumstances, transform an otherwise at-will employment relationship into a contractual one.
If a disciplinary procedure is promised. The Texas courts are fairly conservative in upholding the concept of at-will employment. Still, employers should be extremely cautious about allowing anyone in the organization to make any promises, whether oral or written, regarding terms and conditions of employment to an employee or applicant.
Employee handbooks. In keeping with a strong presumption in favor of the at-will standard, the Texas courts have generally held that promises contained in an employee handbook or policy manual do not create a contract of employment, especially when the handbook contains a disclaimer.
However, an employee handbook may modify that relationship if it expressly limits the employer's right to terminate an employee (Williams v. First Tennessee National Corp., 97 S.W. 3d 798 (TX Ct. App. 2003)).
There is additional information available.
Read more about Discipline |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15192 | Intended for healthcare professionals
Letters Front line care for back pain
Front line musculoskeletal care
BMJ 2011; 342 doi: (Published 20 June 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;342:d3683
1. Nicolas J Snelling, doctor1
1. 1Royal United Hospital, Bath BA1 3NG, UK
1. nicolasjsnelling{at}
Having trained as an osteopath and then as a doctor, I agree that training in medical school for the management of back pain is poor1 and that physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors could provide a useful service to the NHS because they spend much longer studying musculoskeletal pain syndromes.
However, these clinicians are trained …
View Full Text
Log in
Log in through your institution
* For online subscription |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15213 | This is just a quick update to announce another update to my Drop-Down Controls project. By request (and because I always enjoy a challenge), i’ve added custom DataGridView column types for the ComboTreeBox and GroupedComboBox controls. This means that you can now use these controls from within a DataGridView, taking advantage of the automatic support for… Continue reading
Using WCF for IPC in Media Center Add-Ons Last time, I gave an overview of the design of my network browsing/copying add-on for Media Center. In this instalment, we look at how to use Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) as a means of interprocess communication (IPC) between the interactive and background portions of the add-on. Recall… Continue reading |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15275 | Jump to Navigation
Helping Medical Malpractice Victims Throughout Oregon And Washington
In order to determine if you have been the victim of medical malpractice, you should ask yourself the following questions:
• Has your insurance company questioned the appropriateness of specific procedures, tests, or diagnoses?
If you would like to speak with one of our experienced lawyers at Case & Dusterhoff, LLP, we will to answer your questions and help you with your recovery. Call us at 503-607-8218 / 800-658-0167 (Toll Free) or send us information online.
Bold labels are required.
Contact Information
Privacy Policy
A full service law firm aggressively meeting your legal needs |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15297 | Account Navigation
Account Navigation
Currency - All prices are in AUD
Currency - All prices are in AUD
Loading... Please wait...
Chaosium Inc.
Organized Play
Chaosium Cult of Chaos Gamemaster Program
Embrace the Chaos and Join Us in the Cult of Chaos!
The Cult of Chaos is Chaosium's official Gamemaster program for Game Masters and Keepers running demonstration games and games at events.
If you are a store or convention seeking GMs to run Chaosium games, or require further information please contact
Members run games at local game shops, events, conventions, or online to introduce new players to awesome Chaosium games including Call of CthulhuRuneQuest, HeroQuest Glorantha, and Mythic Worlds, along with our board games Khan of Khans and Miskatonic University.
Our Gamemasters should be knowledgable with current editions of our rules, settings and games that they play, and to be able to answer basic questions about Chaosium games. The Cult of Chaos spreads fun and good will throughout our growing community!
The Perks
While Cult of Chaos members should be, above all, motivated by the desire to have fun rather than material rewards, we'll reward you with $3.00 in store credit at for running a public event (in a game store, at a convention, online etc).
We'll also periodically offer the Cult of Chaos special rewards, previous rewards can be found in our library at BRPCentral.
Please Join Us!
And check out our handy resources and get ready to run our Organized Play campaigns like A Time to Harvest. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15302 | Loading... Please wait...
Chess Endgame Software Buyer's Guide
The chess endgame is the one phase of the game that nearly everyone hates to study but most players are bad at playing. I don't think that's an accident - one leads to the other.
Every Chess Player Should Study Endgames
No exceptions, no matter how strong a player you might be. I've known Class A players who excel at tactics (and thus win most of their games in the middlegame) but who couldn't play an endgame for beans; if a Class D player could survive into an endgame against 'em, the D player would win every time.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of available chess training material regarding endgames. That's because a chess writer can bang out a book or CD on an opening about ten times faster than he can write an endgame book or CD. And it's also a question of economics: opening training materials sell far more copies than endgame tutorials. As I said, almost everyone hates to study endgames.
Chess Endgames For Beginners
There's a very special training DVD available on the endgame, special because it's suitable for any untitled chess player (that is, any player below the Expert rating classification). It's called Chess Endgames 1: Basic Knowledge for Beginners and contains material for everyone on it: novices the whole way up through Class A. It covers all of the common endgames as well as a few oddball cases that might crop up along the way. If you learn this material (and learn it well), you'll be unstoppable in the endgame.
Another great trainer for endgames is Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. This is from his best selling book which is now in it's fourth printing. Russian International Master Mark Dvoretsky is perhaps the most respected chess instructor in the world today. His latest work, Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, is sure to become a classic on one of the most difficult and subtle phases in chess. It covers all the most important positions required for endgame mastery, from elementary king-and-pawn endings to complex rook or queen endgames that have baffled even top grandmasters.
Chess Endgames For Intermediate and Advanced Players
Your next step after the Endgames for Experts DVD. Rustam Kasimdzhanov analyzes the type of practical endgames which tournament players encounter on a daily basis. We are talking here about endgames which are still full of life, endgames which in the final analysis must be played out over the board. Using selected games of his own, he shows the importance of understanding positional factors such as an advantage in space, piece activity, pawn weaknesses, strong and weak squares, pawn majorities, passed pawns, etc.
Don't overlook the 14 volumes series on endgame: Chess Endgames by Karsten Mueller. The advanced DVDs study piece endings such as Rook and Knight, Rook and Bishop and Double Rooks. This series will show you the very important aspects "coordination" and "harmony of the pieces" can be studied well in those chess endgames and help to improve the practical play.
This Chess Endgame Training page will show you the endgame software which ChessCentral offers.
Chess Playing Software
Chess Openings Software
Chess Tactics Software
Chess Positional and Strategy Software
Chess Endgame Software
How to Play the
Sicilian Defense
ChessBase Tutorials, Queen's Gambit &
Queen's Pawn Game
Chess Tactics -
from Basics to Brilliance,
Chess Endgames 1: Basic Knowledge for Beginners
See all King's Pawn (1.e4)
Opening Software
See all Queen's Pawn (1.d4)
Opening Software
See all Tactics and
Strategy Software
See all Chess
Endgame Software
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15332 | Thursday, December 29, 2011
ABC's The Movie of the Week
Dennis Weaver in Duel.
Crosby as Dr. Cook.
Seven in Darkness (1969)
Gidget Grows Up (1969)
Honeymoon with a Stranger (1969)
The Ballad of Andy Crocker (1969)
The Immortal (1969)
Wake Me When the War Is Over (1969)
Along Came a Spider (1970)
Carter's Army (1970)
Crowhaven Farm (1970)
Night Slaves (1970)
Run, Simon, Run (1970)
The Love War (1970)
Tribes (1970)
Brian's Song (1971)
Dr. Cook's Garden (1971)
Duel (1971)
In Broad Daylight (1971)
In Search of America (1971)
Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (1971)
The Birdmen (1971)
The Devil and Miss Sarah (1971)
The Feminist and the Fuzz (1971)
The Point! (1971)
The Reluctant Heroes (1971)
A Great American Tragedy (1972)
Goodnight, My Love (1972)
Moon of the Wolf (1972)
That Certain Summer (1972)
The Astronaut (1972)
The Longest Night (1972)
Madame Sin (1972) with Bette Davis & Robert Wagner
The People (1972)
The Screaming Woman (1972) with Olivia de Havilland
Women in Chains (1972)
A Cold Night's Death (1973)
A Summer Without Boys (1973)
The Cat Creature
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Female Artillery (1973)
Go Ask Alice (1973)
Isn't It Shocking? (1973)
Satan's School for Girls (1973)
Shirts/Skins (1973)
The Girl Most Likely to... (1973)
The Girls of Huntington House (1973)
The Man Without a Country (1973) with Cliff Robertson
The Night Strangler (1973)
The Third Girl from the Left (1973)
Men of the Dragon (1974)
Get Christie Love! (1974)
Hit Lady (1974)
Houston, We've Got a Problem (1974)
Killdozer (1974)
Locusts (1974)
The Mark of Zorro (1974)
The Morning After (1974)
Thursday's Game (1974)
Winter Kill (1974)
1. Rick, I didn't have TV when this series was on but did manage to catch a few of these. One I recall in particular is "The Failing of Raymond" with Jane Wyman as a teacher and Dean Stockwell as a psychotic former student (before he became typecast in such roles). Wasn't "The Cat Creature" shown on this series too? It was a semi-remake of "The Cat People" and even had Kent Smith in a cameo (Gale Sondergaard and John Carradine too). Checking both of these on IMDb, I noticed they had some impressive casts, although I didn't know who many of these actors were then. I saw the longer version of "Duel" a year or so ago and really liked it. You could tell that frequent "Twilight Zone" writer Richard Matheson wrote it.
2. I can't believe more people didn't comment on this well written article, Rick. I don't have a lot to say since I'm not very familiar with what happened on network TV in the 70s, but you do a nice job of giving the background information. Perhaps you should do something on interesting miniseries from the 1980s--I remember most of those, like North and South and War and Rememberance. I'm sure there were more, but those are the ones I remember.
3. R.D., yes, THE CAT CREATURE was indeed a Movie of the Week. It had an impressive pedigree (pun intended) with the screenplay being written by Robert Bloch (who wrote the novel PSYCHO) and the directing chores going to Curtis Harrington. The latter was one of those promising filmmakers who never achieved much success. However, he did direct the unusual NIGHT TIDE with Dennis Hopper as a sailor infatuated with a woman who claims to be a read mermaid. Some more CAT PEOPLE influence, perhaps?
Kim, perhaps the Cafe will do a month on miniseries one day. The 1970s and 1980s were their heyday with ROOTS, SHOGUN, THE THORN BIRDS and others being produced.
4. Oh, I forgot The Thorn Birds!!! Babs would be so mad!
5. Art without a venue becomes madness and waste. ABC's Movie of the Week provided a platform for the release of creative inspiration from gifted artists and immediate and nostalgiac memories for its viewers. Once upon a time, Tuesaday night was a time of magic.
1. Beautifully written comment! You certainly have a way with words.
6. I remember one very good MTV movie about a high school senior who got in trouble for writing an anti-war editorial, the title of which was "Springtime in Saigon" or something to that effect. Wish I could remember the title of that one...
Great blog - arrived here via Ed Gorman's blog post today.
7. Excellent article. I absolutely loved The Reluctant Heroes as an 11 year old. I think I might be glad that it isn't available on DVD because I'm sure it wasn't as good as I remember.
8. I'm still scarred by seeing "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" when I was 10 years old. I still rate it as the most terrifying movie I've ever seen (and that includes "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist.")
9. Do you rember a tvm of the week were a girl was go up the stairs to her apartment a man was following her and killed her while her roommate was looking threw the peep hole crying and drunk and couldn't help her. I think it was in the 1970 movie. Thank you.
10. Can you tell me the name of the movie where a old man and his Grandson are trying to escape the US to Canada so he could get some medicine?
11. Hi 3 superb telemovies have been left out of your list : DO YOU TAKE THIS STRANGER ? Starring Gene Barry, Lloyd Bridges and Diane Baker. SILENT NIGHT LONELY NIGHT with Lloyd Bridges and Shirley Jones and 5 DESPERATE WOMEN with Stephanie Powers and Robert Conrad..
12. Thank you so much for writing this terrific article Rick! I was born in 73' and absolutely love films from that era. I'm a sort of nostalgic kinda gal but am just now discovering these beautiful little gems. Thanks to your well written article I now have a terrific place to start my made for TV film journey. I'm starting with When Michael Calls right after this message! :)
13. Some made-for-television films of the 1970s you omitted are: "The Devil's Daughter," "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (Dir. by Dan Curtis, with Jack Palance)," "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," "Mr. & Mrs. Bo Jo Jones," "Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic," "She Lives!," and "Summer of My German Soldier. I know at least a few of those ("Bo Jo Jones," "Devil's Daughter," and "She Lives!") were "ABC Movies of the Week."
Thank you for providing the name of the catchy theme music for "ABC Movie of the Week." We'll assume there are no Hal David (or other composer's) lyrics to accompany that Burt Bacharach melody of "Nikki." Of course, just because viewers didn't hear theme music with vocals doesn't necessarily mean there were no lyrics. The theme of ABC's "Bewitched," for example, included lyrics by Howard Greenfield (ex-songwriting partner of Neil Sedaka) to accompany the Jack Keller tune.
14. I assume by serious drama you titled "That Certain Smile" you meant "That Certain Summer," the first TV film to deal with the subject of homosexuality, which starred Hal Holbrook, Scott Jacoby, and Martin Sheen.
1. Indeed, that is the film I meant. Thanks for catching a crucial typo that many readers missed. I have corrected it in to the post now.
15. I'd also love to see these done for DVD. Maybe an entire box set of all.
Why not start a campaign to get TCM to do so?! If it grows to a big enough number of people, they may take notice. Maybe start it on Facebook or I'd be 1st in line to sign!
16. Hi ! I am searching for a made for TV movie from the seventies. It was set in a isolated research post, I *think* I remember snow and ice. Anyway, the staff start seeing trusted friends and cherished loved ones and family members there, some of whom are dead. It turns out, they are *not* mass hallucinations, but alien invaders who are using the research staff as test subjects,reading their minds and then taking on the appearance of those the humans trust the most. They will then will move on to take over Earth. I saw it as a teen and remember that it scared the snot out of me. Does this sound familiar?
I would be very grateful for any help in finding the title : )
17. What was the song Linda Ronsteadt sang for one of the movies of the, Movie of the Week series?
18. I searched, but no luck. You might try here though;
19. You can watch this on youtube posted by someone
named curtis johnson who also has other great
movies like Masterpiece of Murder with Bob Hope
and a few others I had been looking for years.
I love the old network movies of the week and
it's ashame most aren't on dvd!
20. Yeah ! I found the Chris Johnson videos on youtube and they look great ! Thank you : )
21. dearrick29- Dr.Cook's Garden starring the one and only Bing Crosby is as good as you remember it- it's a shame that its never been released legally- but you can find bootleg copies of it from several dealers-for years it was only from a local network broadcast and was all but unwatchable-but it aired on the sci-Fi channel sometimes in the 80's-and some-one recorded it- so a vary good copy is available- just look for crosby dr.cook, garden dvd and you shold be able to find it- the lowest price for it is from a dealer $6.99 plus $3.75 shipping.
Lonnie Reeves |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15339 | Melvin and Associates PLLC MyLegalAffairs™
Legal Document Review Service
Service Price Buy
Legal Document Review Varies by complexity of document
The Legal Document Review Service makes it easy to obtain an attorney's advice on your existing legal document.
Examples of How You Can Use the Legal Document Review Service:
• You are seeking an uncontested divorce, and your spouse provides you with a Marital Separation Agreement (MSA) prepared by his/her Attorney. You need legal advice/guidance on the terms set forth in the MSA.
• You are considering a job offer that requires you to sign a non-competition agreement. You need an attorney's advice on the terms/content of the agreement.
To determine if the Legal Document Review Service is right for you, feel free to use the Support link on this web site to provide a brief summary of your situation. An attorney will respond.
How It Works:
The legal advice provided in conjunction with the Legal Document Review Service is limited to questions and/or issues surrounding the review and revision (if applicable) of your legal document. If extensive legal advice is needed and falls beyond the scope of this offering, and/or your situation materially changes, an additional fee may be required.Your Attorney will promptly inform you if/when this is applicable. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15340 | Pumps that follow the above relations are called similar or homologous pumps. In particular, when the n variable CH, which involves force are equal in the series of pumps, the pumps are said to be dynamically similar. When the n variable Cq, which relates only to the motion of the fluid are equal in the series of pumps, the pumps are said to be kinematically similar. Finally, when corresponding parts of the pumps are proportional, the pumps are said to be geometrically similar. The relationships of Eqs. (4.30) and (4.31) are called similarity, affinity, or scaling laws.
Considering the power P and the efficiency n as the dependent variables, similar dimensional analyses yield the following similarity relations:
pw3aD5a pooD paldl na = n = nc = ••• = n (4.33)
where CP is called the power coefficient. Note that the efficiencies of similar pumps are equal. The similarity relations also apply to the same pump which, in this case, the subscripts a, h, c,—, and n represent different operating conditions of this same pump.
The power P is the power given to the fluid. In plots of characteristic curves such as Figure 4.8, however, the brake power is the one plotted. Because P bears a ratio to that of the brake power in the form of the efficiency n, the similarity laws that we have developed also apply to the brake power, and figures such Figure 4.8 may be used for scaling brake powers of pumps.
Equation (4.17) expresses efficiencies in terms of heads. Letting Phrake represent brake power, hhrake may be obtained from Phrake as follows:
Equation (4.20) is a special case of this equation.
From the equations derived, the following simplified scaling laws for a given pump operated at different speeds, o, are obtained:
Was this article helpful?
0 0
How To Bolster Your Immune System
How To Bolster Your Immune System
Get My Free Audio Book
Post a comment |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15414 | The wait is over.... Your favourites are back in stock, and better than ever...
Ying Yu Jade Facial Roller yur004_yingyurollers_jadefacialroller_double_sizedproduct_800x960
Massage your way to younger looking skin with the natural healing properties of Jade - one of the best (and least expensive) at home anti-ageing remedies you can add to your routine. This facial roller is like a workout for your face, toning and firming facial contours while also eliminating puffiness, increasing bloodflow, and aiding in lymphatic drainage. Use the larger side for your face, and the smaller one for the sensitive (small) areas around your eyes. Tip: Make sure to pay attention to the jawline, as it has a tendency to hang on to stubborn toxins, which can lead to face bloat and breakouts (ick!).
thp007_therapie__himalayandetoxsalts__refill500g_800x960Himalayan Detox Salts (Refill 500mg)
Lemongrass, Juniper, and Geranium.... ahhhhh... If relaxation had a smell, this might be it. These super calming pink salts work hard to restore your body's natural equilibrium by balancing out positive/negative ions. The high amethyst content makes it perfect for a digital detox - counteracting all the electromagnetic energy absorbed after a long day in front of a computer, or even an eventful day on Instagram. Developed by world renowned aromatherapist Michele Roque O'Neill
Lip 20 Moisture Therapy & SPF
Anti-ageing, plumping, moisturizing.... and it prints money. Well, it does everything but print money. This remarkable formula is strikingly different than other lip plumbers in that its effects are gradual (which means they are also more sustainable) - rather than irritating lips to look puffed up, it utilizes Hyaluronic Acid Filling Spheres to attract and retain moisture in the lip tissue resulting in fuller, younger looking lips Plus, there is built in sun protection. And... it comes in a variety of sheer tint colors as well... Lucsious lipped celebrity fans include: Eva Longoria, Goldie Hawn, Jennifer Garner, Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Beckinsale.
juno_new_800x960_1Juno Transformative Lipid Serum
Sunday Riley Don't be dull...Or let your skin be either. Skin care (and now cosmetics too) superstar Sunday Riley has done it again. If your'e looking for an intense radiance boost, look no further. This concoction of nourishing oils absorbs into skin quickly to hydrate while also balancing oil production leaving you with a healthy glow. Packed filled of Vitamin C, Essential Amino Acids and Omega-3, 6 & 9 - it also shields you from UV rays, and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Blake Lively and Drew Barrymore both have Juno to thank for their luminous complexions!
Regenerating Collagen Gelvc76001_collin_regeneratingcollagengel_50ml_sizedproduct_800x960_2
Collin Collagen is the main culprit in the aging process.. or rather the lack thereof. As the main component in our connective tissue, it is responsible for the strength and elasticity of our skin. However, as we age, we produce less and less (...tear...). Many anti-ageing products simply encourage the production of it on the skins surface, but Collin goes deeper using something called Micro Collagen which is absorbed on a basal level. This of it as a swift kick in collagen maker!
kva009_kevynaucoin_themascaracurling_800x960The Mascara - Curling
Kevyn Aucoin Doe-eyed Make Up master, Kevyn Aucoin, has left his legacy intact with this brilliant mascara. It's everything you want in a mascara.. .nothing more... nothing less. The formula is wet, making it a breeze to apply, and it can be layered for added volume and curl, without the danger of clumps. Its long lasting - won't smudge or smear (even if you get a little weepy).
Reversible Lip Linerdwp003_duwop_reverse_lipliner_sizedproduct_800x960
DuWop Genius invention for anyone over 25!! Lovely lipped Scarlett Johansen and Jennifer Garner prepare their pouts with this stuff. Colourless matte, lip liner designed to stop lipstick or gloss from bleeding into the tiny lines around your mouth. This of it as a color barrier. It also contains kombuchka which hydrates and fills in the evil lines that lurk around your lips, plumping them up to their early twenties levels (or at least closer to them). |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15482 | Dunkirk 1940 'Whereabouts Unknown', by Tim Lynch
Dunkirk 1940 'Whereabouts Unknown', by Tim Lynch
Dunkirk 1940 'Whereabouts Unknown', by Tim Lynch, subtitled 'How untrained troops of the Labour divisions were sacrificed to save an army'
Book published by Spellmount in 2010, 224 pages. Hardback with Dust Jacket (N4583)
Brand New Book
From the inside front fly leaf: They called it 'the slaughter of the innocents'. The barely trained and poorly equipped men of the Labour Divisions were never meant to fight, but when the German blitzkreig sliced through the Allied armies in 1940, they were all that stood in the way of the annihilation of the British Expeditionary Force. While the Allied generals bickered amongst themselves, all command and control lost, their men died to buy precious time as the main army fell back towards Dunkirk. Long after the last of the rescue ships reached home, the men of the Labour Divisions fought on.
That summer saw a thousand small acts of heroism, from the officer with multiple wounds who refused to leave his command, to the lone infantryman who held off a German panzer with a single anti-tank gun; refusing to surrender, he died at his post, alone. Based on original research, official reports, diaries and personal accounts, Dunkirk 1940 reveals the crucial and largely forgotten heroism of the amateur soldiers, in particular those of 137th Infantry Brigade, during the chaos and terror of the fall of France.
Condition New |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15484 | [ muh-jawr-i-tee-mi-nawr-i-tee, -nor-, mahy-, -jor-- ]
/ məˈdʒɔr ɪ ti mɪˈnɔr ɪ ti, -ˈnɒr-, maɪ-, -ˈdʒɒr- /
relating to a population in which more than half represent social, ethnic, or racial minorities, and in which fewer members of the more socially, politically, or financially dominant group are represented: majority-minority public schools.
Words nearby majority-minority Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Examples from the Web for majority-minority |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15488 | Can't receive emails from Wordpress/Gravity Form
August 30, 2013 3.8k views
Hi. I have Gravity Forms installed on my website which uses Wordpress. However, none of the form results are being sent to my email address '' or any gmail address. Does it have to do with Google SMTP or any SMTP issue? In the forums, I saw that it might help if I install an SMTP Wordpress plugin so I did. But I need the following info. I asked Support but they said they can't help me. Can anyone please point me to the right direction? Specifically, I need to fill these fields out: Host SMTP Secure None SSL TLS Port SMTP Authentication No Yes Username Password Thanks in advance.
1 comment
1 Answer
Did you set up a SMTP mailserver on your droplet? You usually don't need to do that, just install an MTA and use php's mail() function (you can configure Wordpress to use that instead of SMTP).
Postfix usually works perfectly out of the box:
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive sudo apt-get install postfix -y
Have another answer? Share your knowledge.
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15542 | Rory Sutherland on Alchemy
Nov 11 2019
Alchemy-1-199x300.jpg Author and Advertising Executive Rory Sutherland of Ogilvy talks about his book Alchemy with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Sutherland makes the case for the magic (yes, magic!) of advertising and branding in helping markets work well. This is a wide-ranging conversation on consumer choice, public policy, travel, real estate, and corporate decision-making using insights from behavioral economics and decades of experience in the world of advertising.
Robert Frank on Economics Education and the Economic Naturalist
Author Robert Frank of Cornell University talks about economic education and his recent book, The Economic Naturalist. Frank argues that the traditional way of teaching economics via graphs and equations often fails to make any impression on students. In this...
Armin Chosnama
Nov 11 2019 at 10:23am
Re Austin to San Antonio. There is a luxury bus line that takes you between the large Texas cities. It’s much more expensive than Greyhound (the cost is about the same as flying Southwest). The time is about the same as flying, after you account for the full cavity searches and various security theater at airports. You get free food and wifi and large comfortable seats. They’ve solved the train problem in the US.
Nov 11 2019 at 5:25pm
Thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking, could’ve easily listened to another hour with Russ and Rory.
I believe the main lesson from the interview was that humans are complex and individual, and what causes us to respond to stimulus is informed by context – as evidenced by the numerous examples and counter-examples. On the other hand, Rory’s job is to sway the greatest number of people to buy his brand, while Russ’s is, in some respect, to predict this behavior. It’s psychology and macroeconomics.
I’m a scientist, and I came away with a little more respect for marketers and their level of sophistication. Thank you!
Zsolt Balasy
Nov 12 2019 at 3:25am
Im halfway through. Best podcast Ive heard in years. I hear a lot. I usually stop and mentally note if I hear something worth noting. In this case I stopped noting soon as I couldnt keep 2 minutes rolling. I’ll take those notes the second time I listen to the episode.
Nov 12 2019 at 6:52am
I loved this episode and I also greatly enjoyed Rory’s latest book. I believe there are some very deep insights in it that are easy to forget about. Thank you so much for sharing.
Following up on Rory’s suggestion, I would love to see Ole Peters invited too!
Nov 12 2019 at 12:43pm
Loved this episode. It really probed into a lot of interesting areas.
One quibble – It’s become all too fashionable to lampoon economics for its on the surface assumptions regarding human behavior. Fine, they are ridiculous, but by and large, they work in the aggregate sense.
I just get a feeling that the more the mass public scoffs at economics, the more they engage in time honored myths that economics should have destroyed.
Ed Kless
Nov 12 2019 at 4:49pm
Rory Sutherland is fantastic! Having interviewed Rory myself I kept laughing whenever Russ couldn’t get a word in edgewise (a great phrase that) when Rory was on a role as the same thing happened to me. Listening to Rory is drinking not from a firehose but Niagra Falls with parentheticals ensconced in tangents ruling the day.
Hugh McCann
Nov 12 2019 at 5:12pm
‘Yes Virginia There is a Magenta’. Regarding Mr. Sutherland’s comment about the color magenta not existing in reality – I found the following interesting article which gives a bit more of an explanation. It seems that the correct explanation is that magenta is just not a single wavelength in the spectrum like many other ‘colors’ – but ultimately it is our brain’s perception of color that counts – whether from a TV or a print ad from T-Mobile.
Russ – I have listened weekly since 1996 – this was excellent – I wish this had lasted two hours. I gets my vote for best of the year!
Nov 12 2019 at 8:14pm
Quarter of the way in and it’s just truisms followed by cliche. Aside from the Houseman interview, I haven’t been terribly impressed with the podcast episodes since Cowen was. They’ve mostly been long-winded, and that McAfee one was a bit embarrassing given how accepting and unquestioning it was. I hope the next episode gets a little more interesting.
Gregg Tavares
Nov 13 2019 at 2:54am
A minor aside. If you live in Japan you learn that to take the bullet train you do NOT buy a ticket in advance. Given there are trains every 5-10 mins you just show up at the station and purchase a ticket for the next train. It’s one of my great joys in life to decide at 6pm I’d like to visit a friend in Kyoto and just take the subway to the bullet train station on get on tt next train and be there by 9pm
ps: unless it’s one of the few times a year it’s too busy like say New Year’s
Nov 15 2019 at 5:37am
Additionally, non-reserved tickets/ cars are cheaper than the reserved. You are still guaranteed a seat on the train. If you have a reserved ticket, and miss your train, you may ask about taking a later non-reserved train. That has worked in the past.
John McCue
Nov 13 2019 at 10:12am
Utterly delightful (once I became accustomed to the poor sonics). To echo someone above, when it ended I felt that I could have easily listed to another hour of your conversation.
Charles Fox
Nov 13 2019 at 3:45pm
It is not an arbitrage if you cannot hedge all of the risk.
Nick Ronalds
Nov 13 2019 at 7:09pm
You’re absolutely right, but over the years I’ve decided to accept the reality that the word “arbitrage” is rarely used in its pure, economic sense, but loosely, to include what should technically be called “convergence plays”, i.e. spreads.
Daniel DeKlotz
Nov 13 2019 at 5:34pm
Thanks for another great episode!
I’m curious about this Chesterton’s fence concept. on its face, it seems to be the counter-argument to another concept discussed on EconTalk: cargo cult. While cargo cult issues skepticism over keeping a policy on the basis of its dubiously assumed positive associations, Chesterton’s fence issues skepticism over throwing out a policy on the basis of dubious purpose.
So the question at the bottom of this is: suppose I have a policy in place with dubious origin and associations. It is associated with positive outcomes, but I don’t really understand how it works. How do i decide whether it’s a cargo cult or a Chesterton’s fence?
I guess maybe these concepts aren’t truly in conflict, and the more fundamental point is the same: don’t keep or discard anything without understanding it better.
Nick Ronalds
Nov 13 2019 at 5:42pm
Agree it was an enjoyable podcast and Sutherland is one of those irrepressible intellects whose inability to turn it off is mostly delightful. I laughed out loud when he said “a flower is just a weed with an advertising budget”, and was surprised when it turned out to be an apt illustration of a serious point.
However, I agree with the above comment that taking the principles of economics too seriously is not a major ailment in public life. A firmer grasp of of such principles as comparative advantage, thinking on the margin, the role of specialization, and the importance of the unseen as well as the seen (a.k.a second-order effects) wouldn’t be bad medicine for intellectuals, politicians, and others lacking the appreciation of the subtleties Russ and Rory understand well. Seems to me that disparaging the lack of realism of economics is common, to some extent driving out more conventional economic reasoning.
Olga Kramar
Nov 18 2019 at 4:25pm
Thanks for another great podcast! I was listening to this one while doing the ironing, in Phoenix, when I heard that your guest didn’t understand why someone in Phoenix would use a dryer instead of a clothesline. With 40 years of doing household laundry under my belt, I can tell you why, aside from the HOA prohibition and social stigma: it’s a LOT more work! Hanging and securing each item of clothing on a line takes a huge amount of time compared to tossing the entire wash load into the adjacent dryer. Furthermore, as I discovered while living in Switzerland decades ago, where because of the unfavorable climate they had drying rooms with clotheslines where one hung the wet laundry and turned on the heat, making it a de facto Arizona desert, all the items needs to be ironed. Many people employed an ironing lady to do all that ironing. Contrast that with a dryer where most items come out wrinkle-free enough to wear. I won’t even get into the allergist’s warning about all the pollen that attaches to outdoor line-dried clothing and linens. I hope that answers your question about why desert dwellers use dryers. I also have a pretty good explanation from a housewife’s perspective about time of day we run appliances, but this post is plenty long already.
Carl von Ende
Nov 20 2019 at 3:01pm
A question: I find 2 books by Sutherland w/ the title “Alchemy” on Amazon Books, both published on May 7, 2019. The first is “Alchemy: “Things Which Make No Sense,” published in the UK? by W.H. Allen. On Amazon, it ships from the UK from a different book seller. The second is “Alchemy: The Dark Art & Curious Science of Creating Magic Brands, Business, and Life,” published by William Morrow. It ships from Amazon. Amazon says they are often bought together. Does anyone know if they are the same book just published in UK vs. US, or are different books? Since they are both 384 pp., I suspect the former. I would like to know before I order one, or both. Thanks very much.
Rob Fuller
Dec 1 2019 at 8:54am
These are almost certainly the same book. Books are often published with different sub-titles (and sometimes even different titles) in the UK and the US. I doubt that they are “often bought together” – that sounds like a mistake on the part of Amazon’s algorithm.
Doug Seaman
Nov 21 2019 at 4:18pm
Loved this episode! I’m trained as an engineer, now working in sales and business development. I’ve occupied both worlds, and have a healthy respect for both.
Clock Spire
Nov 22 2019 at 3:41pm
[Note to Clock Spire: Your comment was not published because you gave a false email address. Please email us at from your legitimate email address if you would like us to consider publishing your future comments.–Econlib Ed.]
Rob Fuller
Dec 1 2019 at 8:59am
This was one of the best ever episodes of Econtalk. Since the episode with A. J. Jacobs, I’ve been keeping a notebook with one key takeaway each time I listen to a podcast or read a good article. But in this case it was impossible to select one point – I’ve written down half a dozen of Rory Sutherland’s insights that I want to remember.
Comments are closed.
This week's guest:
This week's focus:
Additional ideas and people mentioned in this podcast episode:
A few more readings and background resources:
A few more EconTalk podcast episodes:
* As an Amazon Associate, Econlib earns from qualifying purchases.
TimePodcast Episode Highlights
Intro. [Recording date: September 16, 2019.]
Russ Roberts: Today is September 16, 2019, and my guest is Advertising Executive and author Rory Sutherland. He is the vice chairman of the Ogilvy Group, U.K., and writes the Wiki Man column at The Spectator. His latest book, which is the subject of today's conversation, is Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense. Rory, welcome to EconTalk.
Rory Sutherland: It's a great joy and honor to be on this. I think they say this in the British talk radio: 'Long time listener, first time caller.'
Russ Roberts: Yeah, we say that in America too.
Rory Sutherland: Okay.
Russ Roberts: Now, I found myself in a peculiar position reading your book. It takes a lot of cheap shots at economists. Some of them deserved, of course. But, there is a great deal of insulting of economists and exalting of the insights of Behavioral Economics and Psychology, two fields that I am somewhat skeptical of. But I liked this book a lot anyway. I would describe it as a book to help you think outside the box, and in particular, to become aware of what motivates others as well as yourself. And in that sense it's very much in the spirit of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments. The book helps you look--
Rory Sutherland: That's high praise. I wasn't really expecting that. Thank you very much indeed.
Russ Roberts: The book helps you look below some of the lazy models of economists that focus exclusively on monetary incentives and thereby ignoring much of the human experience, if we are not careful. Is that a fair summary?
Rory Sutherland: Yes. I think--
Russ Roberts: Maybe an overly generous one.
Rory Sutherland: I'll be honest. Part of the reason for the cheap shops at economists is that, if you work in marketing or advertising, it's worth remembering that the assumptions of economic models, which is that people have perfect information and make decisions in an atmosphere of perfect trust, are creating a kind of fantasy world where marketing and advertising needn't exist. You know, if everybody knew simply what it was they wanted and how much they're prepared to pay for it, and that their desire for the object was independent of context or meaning. Then patently in such a world, you wouldn't need any marketing activity at all. Things would simply sell themselves.
And so, if I have a certain animus towards the economists, it's not really towards you or towards eminent economists. It's towards the extent to which a kind of shallow economic thinking has permeated Business School curricula, for example, and has enabled people to treat what is something which exists in economic theory as a default decision-making frame.
And that seems to me extraordinarily dangerous. I mean, apart from the else, once you get into understanding human perception, it's very, very clear that human perception is not remotely objective, and therefore, the assumption that you could only improve the world by more consumption, for example, rather than more meaning seems to me deeply dangerous.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I would say that some of your view on economists is something of a straw man. I think, certainly, most good economists understand that people have imperfect information, are imperfectly rational. And, you know, I think the difference in our profession right now--this is not the focus of your book, but it's worth mentioning--are the people who think that, because of those imperfections, we need some top-down intervention. Or, rather on the other side, those imperfections are often smoothed out by markets; and, despite the irrationality of individuals, life works surprisingly well through the market process. And I'd say you're pretty aware of that, despite--
Rory Sutherland: Oh, no, no, no: There's very little that's anti-free-market in the book. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that one of the things that annoys me about in economics is that it likes markets for the wrong reason. Which is, that it likes free markets because they're notionally efficient, whereas I like markets because they're inventive. And, the two narratives--you know, it's a perfectly--you can understand why free market people leapt on this idea of efficiency through competition. In fact, competition seems to be deeply wasteful if you look at it in a short time horizon. What's magical about markets, of course, is that they solve problems through a process of kind of market-tested innovation.
Russ Roberts: Yeah: trial and error.
Rory Sutherland: Trial and error. It is, absolutely trial and error. But it's a bit more than that too, because I think one of the extraordinary things markets do--which, I think this is one of the reasons I'm uncomfortable about economics trying to model itself on Newtonian physics--is quite often what markets find is more than one solution to the same problem. And I think if you approach business problems with the mentality of someone who is trying to make it look like physics, then one of the dangers is that you're always trying to optimize something or find the single overarching solution that works for the average. And in many cases, I think markets and business do something much more ingenious than that. They solve the same problem for different people in a different way.
Russ Roberts: I think that's quite deep. I actually want to go back to the first thing you said though, which I really love, which is that--and it's a problem I think with economics education--is that we often teach our students what makes markets great is that they're "efficient." And, that's usually summarized by some jargon-filled statement like maximizing the sum of consumer and producer surplus.
And then another group of economists comes along and says, 'Oh, but that's only on the blackboard. They don't really work that way.' And my answer is, 'Well, of course, they don't.' What a horrible and foolish idea it would be to assume that they literally do that at every moment.
It's a tool. And if you take the tool as a perfect description of reality, you will be grossly misled.
If you take it as a general point that markets allow people to exchange with one another in ways that are mutually beneficial, and then add your point, which I think is very deep and so often forgotten in the classroom and in casual conversation, which is that it's inventive. It's not just: we're sitting around in a room swapping stuff. New stuff's getting created, customization is being allowed. People are being given the chance to find what works for them as opposed to what works, as you say, for the average. And that profusion of choice and experimentation is what makes markets really delightful.
Rory Sutherland: And actually, the process of invention does not only apply to goods themselves but to the marketing and presentation of those goods, by the way.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, we'll get to that. I think that's another part of the book that's very--
Rory Sutherland: In the process of writing the book, I became quite Austrian on this topic, but the idea from that Ludwig von Mises' quote that 'there's no useful distinction to be made between the value created in the restaurant by the man who cooks the food and the value created by the man who sweeps the floor'--I mean, I'd extend that to the man who designs the menu or the man who designs the signage. Actually, in order to create an enjoyable eating experience, food is only part of that, and context, expectation, a whole load of psychological factors are just as important.
In fact, and I occasionally go in and mischievously kind of write the opposite of a Harvard Business case study on things like Uber, where I argue that Uber is very largely a brilliant psychological innovation which changes the nature of waiting. So that if you can watch a car approach, the experience of waiting 10 minutes for a car is inordinately less frustrating than if you're in a state of ignorance. And that's as significant to Uber's success as anything to do with kind of scale or economies or the standard kind of narrative that you get in a conventional business school write-up.
Russ Roberts: Yeah. It's a fantastic example, and you talk about it in the book. With respect to Uber, when I would describe Uber, say, to my parents who hadn't tried it, I would tell them how great it was--you don't have to call anybody, you don't have to pay--and you talk about how the non-exchange of money directly is an important part of the experience also. But after I'd summarize all those things, I'd often say with utter delight and way more exuberance than the other things, 'And while you're waiting, you can see the car getting closer!' And I realize from your book that that is not just like, 'Oh, that's pleasant.' It's an enormous part of what makes the product attractive, even to the point where, as you mentioned in a number of examples, it may not even be accurate, may not be true. It could just be a little thing--
Rory Sutherland: [?, crosstalk 00:09:24] up but it still works.
Russ Roberts: It could be screenshots, photo-shopped or whatever, but it's really comforting to see that. And it's two things, of course. One is: Okay, you can see it getting closer. The other part, of course, and this is, I think, the deeper part, is that the variance is visible. When you're waiting for a cab, you think it's going to be 10 minutes. But there is this haunting fear in the back of your mind, or my mind, and I thought I was abnormal, turns out there's two of us, me and you, a haunting fear in the back of your mind that, 'What if it's 25?' And the Uber--eight minutes for your driver--
Rory Sutherland: Even worse, 'What if they canceled me?'
Russ Roberts: Exactly, and I don't know.
Rory Sutherland: I said something very similar to British Airways, which is, when you have a departure board, if you can give any kind of estimate of time of departure, even if it's slightly pessimistic, it is inordinately better than the single word 'Delayed,' in terms of our psychological wellbeing. 'Delayed' effectively makes me think, 'It's probably canceled but they're trying to break it to me gently.'
Russ Roberts: Yeah. Well, when I'm on a plane and we're sitting and there's some uncertainty--sometimes it's a repair, sometimes it's a traffic issue in the control tower--but a lot of times they'll just say, 'We're on hold right now. We'll keep you posted.' I'm thinking, 'That's not good. Just give me a range, even. Give me an idea. Give me some idea of what's going to happen.' And reading your book reminds me and forces me to understand that most of that is about my absurdly human need for control, which I sometimes think I'm the worst one in that area, but turns out, as I said, there's two of us. You also have this issue. There might be three.
Rory Sutherland: And there's an interesting point by Luca Dellanna, which I think is called something like The Control Heuristic, which suggests that a very deep part of human motivation is attempting to maintain a sense of certainty. We have an incredible human urge, we really, really hate being in a position of uncertainty. Which may explain weird behavior economic findings, which is that, you know, people prefer known bets to unknown bets. What was it--this great fallacy, isn't it, named after the chap who published the Pentagon Papers?
Russ Roberts: Daniel Ellsberg.
Rory Sutherland: The Ellsberg paradox, isn't it?
Russ Roberts: Yeah.
Rory Sutherland: Now, interestingly--I don't know if you've come across this guy at the London Mathematical Laboratory, but a guy called Ole Peters and a bunch of collaborators are arguing that in a non-ergodic environment where utility is to some extent multiplicative, not additive, variance reduction, of course, is perfectly rational.
Russ Roberts: And it's true. I know his name. I've been told to interview him.
Rory Sutherland: You must interview him, yeah. He crops up in the book, because I'd always have this vague hunch that things like sunk cost bias and, indeed, loss aversion, under certain circumstances couldn't really be described as a bias--because, first of all, evolution would have corrected them surely if they'd been that consistently bad. And so there's something there, which is, if you think about it--if you think of fortune as being intertwined and path dependent, then the avoidance of significant misfortune is a perfectly rational fear.
Russ Roberts: No'nd--I think this is--I think many of us have trouble with who are analytical. And it's certainly a problem that economists have. You don't call it this in the book, but the way I would call it is an obsession with expected utility and expected[unexpected?] with the average outcome--which you do talk about--and a mis-appreciation of the costs of the downside.
And, one example in the book, which I just love and I think it's extremely--it's trivial on the surface and very deep actually--which is: If you ask 10 people to hire one person for your company, you get an extremely different result than if you ask one person to hire 10 people. In both cases you're going to get 10 new employees, but they're going to be a very different mix. Explain that.
Rory Sutherland: Yeah. So it seems to me that when we make a single hiring, our instinct for variance reduction is very, very high, or blame avoidance, you might say, in a corporate setting. And so we're going to make a very conservative hire. If you have 10 people, you're going to go much wider and you're going to look for complementarity rather than conformity. At a very simple consumer level--I make no apology, by the way, for looking at trivial consumer behavior: my argument being, you know, nobody criticized Darwin for looking at finches' beaks.
Russ Roberts: Fair enough.
Rory Sutherland: The very, very small trivial things can be highly revealing of far more significant things.
And a very simple example is, if I forced you with your available resources to buy one house, you'd probably buy a pretty conventional suburban house, not too close to work, not too far away. If I gave you the option of buying two houses, what you certainly wouldn't buy is two suburban houses that were very similar. You'd possibly have a crashpad right next to your place of work and a place on the beach.
And similarly with cars. One of the problems, I think, for car manufacturers is that when two- and three-car households became the norm, the saloon car[?sedan?], which was the kind of default catch-all vehicle, suddenly became vastly less popular. People wanted more extreme cars.
And the same thing happens to mid-market retail. When people shop more frequently, they go up market and down market more and the mid-market retailers get squeezed.
And so understanding that dynamic seems to be important, particularly with hiring, if you want to actually create diversity without quotas, if you simply change the choice architecture within which people appoint employees. And interestingly, talking to a large consulting firm, they said that their graduate intake, which they hire in groups, is spectacularly diverse, and their partnerships, which they appoint one at a time, is fairly conformist. I think it looks a bit like front row of the Nuremberg Rally in terms of ethnic diversity.
That might be partly explained by simply the mode in which we're choosing. And it'd be perfectly natural, on anything, for humans to have that as an inbuilt instinct. In diet, for example, you know: the more choice you have available, the more you're going to eat widely; and all sorts of things, like foraging behavior, I think you'd probably find the same thing manifesting itself.
And it struck me as a really interesting point, which is just that we tend to be blind to the affect that choice architecture has over the choices we make. We seem to have evolved, in fact, a kind of 'make the best shot we can.' Daniel Kahneman, I think called it, 'What You See Is All There Is,' or WYSIATI.
And I mentioned this because one of the things I discovered in this is it takes quite a lot of mental effort to spot when the design of a choice path on something like a website is actually stupid. And the example I cited, I think in the book is, most airlines sites will ask you, 'Where do you want to go? When do you want to go? And what class of travel do you want?' Now, if you're a business traveler, you can answer those three questions. Asking consumers what class of travel they want before they know the price difference is, when you think about it, utterly insane. I mean, if it's £5 more going in business class, I'm sitting at the front, right? If it's four times as much, I'm going to be in 23D or whatever. But, as a consumer, to ask that question--and consumers don't go, 'That is a stupid question. I do not have enough information to make a decision.' They simply go, 'I better put "Economy" down.' Because this was actually costing one airline we worked with, about 15 million pounds a year--was the fact that people put 'Economy' down. Because, you can't really, as a consumer, pay for business class or premium economy until you know the ratio of that price to the economy price.
Again, an economist would say that the amount you're prepared to pay to travel in premium economy should be a fixed amount proportionate to length of flight. I don't think it is. I think it's actually a proportion of the economy price we're happy to pay, but we'll have that argument separately.
But the interesting thing to me was that, you asked that question. They were simply presented with the economy prices; they booked an economy ticket, and in many cases, they weren't thinking, 'Well, this is absolutely stupid. I need to go back now and check the business class price.' People don't do that. What was actually happening is airlines were throwing away premium revenue by asking a question before people have enough information to answer it.
And the strange thing is consumers react to that by going, 'Well, I'm just going to make the best fit to this. I'll put Economy down for now.' And it's very interesting that we don't actually say, we very rarely say, when asked the question, 'I need more information to answer it.' I think that's what Kahneman spotted when it came to making recommendations about who to hire and so forth.
Russ Roberts: So I just want to mention one British-ism, which is a saloon car.
Rory Sutherland: Oh, sorry. Sorry.
Russ Roberts: I was going to say, in America, I think it's a sedan.
But it brings up a point I want to expand on, which is the change--I've talked about this before on the program--as people acquired more televisions, as we got wealthier and a house had more than one TV, in the early days of television, the whole family would gather around the single TV set. Everyone would watch it. That eventually changed. A lot of people had enough money to--and the price of TVs fell in real terms so that people could have more than one television.
And so what happened is, is that people could watch their own shows. And this simple change changed radically what was available to watch. Because, in the old days, you had to make something that was neutral enough that no one would veto it. Then suddenly you could customize material to what people wanted to watch. And as you say, you get highbrow and lowbrow and you get everything in between, but you don't just get the middling choice, the average sort of dull choice. And that's happening across the economy all over the place, but especially in digital entertainment.
Rory Sutherland: It's a little more complicated than that in a funny kind of way, in that the sudden arrival of the large flat stream plasma TV slightly recentralized viewing again because you gathered in the place which had the massive television.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, that's true.
Rory Sutherland: And then what happened, of course, is people got an even bigger television and they moved their old television into the second room. Now what happens, by the way, if you're in the television manufacturing market, is you have a huge problem because people's main television is now so huge that there isn't really a second room where it belongs in a British household. And so you've hit a kind of weird stalemate where it's very difficult to get people to upgrade their televisions.
But that's a fascinating thing. It's very similar I think to something I mentioned in the book, which is Nassim Taleb's idea of minority rule, as well. That, if you think about it--I always have the recommendation: Unless you're by the sea, don't open a fish restaurant because there's always one person who doesn't feel like eating fish out of any party of six.
Russ Roberts: It's a bit of a strong recommendation.
Rory Sutherland: No, no, no. But if you think about it, one of the reasons pizza is so successful as a food is not only that people love it; it's that very few people veto it.
Russ Roberts: Correct. I agree with that.
Rory Sutherland: And so, well, I mean, it's a notable phenomenon. For example, all of New Zealand lamb is actually halal simply because there's an asymmetry of choice in that non-Muslims aren't particularly bothered by eating halal food--technically devout Sikhs are an exception to that, but I'll park that one--whereas Muslims will only eat halal food. So therefore, for purposes of simplicity, you make the entire supply halal.
Russ Roberts: As long as the costs aren't too high.
Rory Sutherland: And so now that's an interesting one, which is that your point in television is that you have to make something that was broadly acceptable to everybody.
And of course, if you think about it, I always described that as, in restaurant terms, there's what you might call McDonald's versus KFC [Kentucky Fried Chicken]. McDonald's, broadly speaking, unless you're vegetarian or vegan, everything on the McDonald's menu is kind of reasonably acceptable to you. There's nothing that is wildly polarizing like chicken on the bone, for example, or very highly spiced foods, which some people don't like. Whereas, KFC is slightly differently. In a sense, it's much more authentic as a fast food but it has that slight discriminating thing, which is, it's harder to find a large party who will all agree to go there because there'll always be one or two rejectors.
And by the way, that applies extraordinarily to comedy and political correctness, Because, if you think about it, it would be very, very hard--it's one thing to say, 'All right, we're going to set up a restaurant, and obviously people who come here will be happy to eat some of our food.' What I think political correctness is sometimes demanding of comedy is that you can't serve any food to which someone somewhere might be allergic. Now, if you think about it, that restricts what you can serve to an extraordinary degree.
Now, I would say of comedy, 'Look, you've come to a comedy club, you have to accept that the context is different in a comedy club and that people would accept things said in a comedy club, which wouldn't be acceptable in a job interview. And therefore your standards of kind of anal fussiness need to vary according to context.' But the universalism of political correctness more or less says, regardless of any context, no one can say anything in any space where, even theoretically, someone might object to it.
Now, that seems to me, when you think about it, an extraordinary curtailment of free speech. Because, if you imagine the same parallel applied to food where people went into restaurants and said, 'You're serving peanuts here'--by the way, I've always found it weird that airlines do serve peanuts.
Russ Roberts: They're cutting back, they're cutting back.
Rory Sutherland: I like peanuts. But I'm happy to forgo peanuts for the duration of a flight, on the grounds that I totally sympathize that someone who may have a fatal anaphylactic shock doesn't want to experience that at 35,000 feet.
So in some cases, I regard that as a bit weird, but at the same time, I don't think you can demand of airline food that you can't serve anywhere on the plane anything to which anyone on the globe might be sensitized, because that seems to me, utterly, you have to ask the question, 'Well, where does that end?'
Russ Roberts: So, I want to take another example from the book which I loved, which is related to this, this idea of choice and variety and also consumer uneasiness. You gave the example of just ordering the Economy seat because it's just the safer choice. But you have a wonderful example, later on you say,
Many apparent paradoxes of consumer behavior are best explained by similar mental mechanisms. A few years ago, we discovered that men were reluctant to order a cocktail in a bar, in part, because they had no foreknowledge of the glass in which it would be served. If they thought there was even a slight chance that it would arrive in a hollowed out pineapple, they would order a beer instead.
I loved that line. You say,
One remedy was to put illustrations or pictures of the drinks on the menu. Some trendy venues have since solved the problem by serving all cocktails in mason jars. The same sort of mental calculus explains why it is so difficult to get people to move their current account from one bank to another paying a higher rate of interest or to shift their broadband provision. A 1% chance of a nightmarish experience dwarfs a 99% chance of a 5% gain.
And I just think that point about avoiding the worst case scenario is extremely important and it goes back to our point about probabilities.
Rory Sutherland: I think--excuse me--it's very often a non-ergodic environment. And it's perfectly rational in my view. If you think about it in very childish mathematics, 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 is a bigger number than 1 x 3 times 1 x 3 times 1 x 3. If you're adding, variance doesn't matter. If you're multiplying, it does.
It's also worth remembering that in a non-ergodic environment, two or three bad outcomes in a row are significantly worse than spaced misfortune.
There's a wonderful case--which it's very hard to say without swearing, because I know it's a family show. There's a guy, I may not mention him in the book, called Francis Fulford, and his family have occupied the same, I think, it's 10,000 acres in Devonshire that was given to them in something like 1240. And he's inherited this, and the family still owns it, and they still own the house there by direct descent over about 800 years. And they asked him how on earth he'd managed this achievement. And he points up to the ancestral portraits and says--he's a very sweary man, so I can't report him verbatim. He said, 'Well, if I go back to my ancestors, we've had loads of idiots. We've had drunken idiots, we've had gambling idiots, philandering idiots, idiots who get in prison for treason,' he said, 'But we've never had two in a row.'
Russ Roberts: Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.
Rory Sutherland: And he spoke, I think, to that very central fact in misfortune that, of course, when we appear to be irrational, worrying about a downside outcome, we're not just factoring in the risk of that outcome but the risk that it's accompanied by several other downside outcomes.
In fact--one of my weirder things; I don't think Ole Peters dreamt for a second that he'd be used to justify this, and I apologize to him if he doesn't like it--but one of the arguments I make is that we use brands very heavily as a form of variance reduction in making purchases.
Russ Roberts: Absolutely. For sure.
Rory Sutherland: Well, I don't think when we buy a Samsung television, I don't think we actually think this is guaranteed to be the best television in the world that I can buy with $600 or $1,000, simply because no manufacturer can be that good forever. But what I think we are paying a premium for is the fairly reliable certainty that however good it turns out to be, it won't be dreadful.
And if you think about it, two other driving human behaviors, which are habits and social copying, also make perfectly good sense once you accept the fact that people are trying to reduce variance of outcome.
And so I suppose it wouldn't be a surprise if the human brain that evolved always to accompany every question with a kind of unspoken, 'What's the worst that could happen?' And obviously, you're ordering a drink--it's a drink you rather like the sound of; and you order it and it turns up in a hollowed out coconut. Well, you now have to enjoy 20 minutes of ridicule from all your friends.
Russ Roberts: Shame, yeah.
Rory Sutherland: That will outweigh any possible enjoyment you might've had from a more adventurous drink.
One thing, by the way, at the risk of being irrelevant: There are things that you see with behavior which have always baffled me, which is, when you think about it, the martini is an extraordinary macho drink. I mean, it's basically a neat spirit with a bit of an olive in it. Now, there's nothing remotely kind of effeminizing the drink as it stands. Yet strangely, it's served in a glass where, unless you're auditioning for the next James Bond film, no guy can stand at a social event comfortably holding a martini glass and not feel slight social awkwardness. So one [?crosstalk 00:29:23] to bind that glassware with that drink is a mystery to me.
Russ Roberts: But we know the answer to that.
Rory Sutherland: Go on.
Russ Roberts: It's in your book. It's the same--it says the same idea of many examples that you give. It's that, 'I'm so comfortable in my masculinity, I can hold this glass.'
Rory Sutherland: You think it's costly signaling?
Russ Roberts: Yeah.
Rory Sutherland: Yeah. It's a hell of a cost, isn't it! But, I think costly signaling might be the only possible explanation: that it's something that you have to be extraordinarily self-confident in order to do it.
Russ Roberts: But I'd also add that for most of us, we've never thought about that. And the habit of that martini glass is so safely ensconced as a James Bond/Sean Connery thing, we're okay.
Russ Roberts: But I want to come to what seems to be a counter-example to your story, which is Starbucks. I'm a semi-coffee drinker--meaning I have a cup of coffee every once in a while. My wife is a serious coffee drinker. My sons are very serious; my daughter very serious. When they go into a Starbucks, it's actually a little bit like--I was going to say it's like a surgeon going into an operating room and knowing what everything is for. That's not quite true because, for them, Starbucks is a little bit of an easy environment.
But when I go in, I don't know what any of the things on the wall are. There's a macchiato, there's a frappuccino, there's an Americano, there's a Cortado, and I have no idea. Like you say, half of those are going to come in the equivalent of a hollowed out pineapple, and I'm not going to like 'em, either, which is another negative. So I just get a cup of coffee.
Rory Sutherland: Your problem will be solved. Don't worry. You'll only have to wait. Your problem will be solved when the United States discovers the flat white.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, no, we have that. We have that. That's on the list. I don't know what that is exactly. It doesn't sound good either, by the way.
Rory Sutherland: Because you didn't have to stipulate size. It's just a micro-foam topped large Cortado effectively, I suppose; it's probably the best way to describe it. Less milky than the Cappuccino, far less milky than the Latte, and with micro foam on top rather than froth. And it is a pretty good, what you might call fullback default in the coffee-ordering stakes because there are no followup questions when you order a flat white [?Australian lingo?]
Russ Roberts: But it's not just the followup. It's the complexity. I think there's a faux sophistication that Starbucks is selling for the customer who goes in and can navigate the complexity of those choices. In other words--
Rory Sutherland: I mean, there is a thing which of course, Freud called the Narcissism of Small Differences.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, there we go.
Rory Sutherland: And there must be a little bit of that going on with oat milk and other forms of, you know, lactose free dairy.
That the extent of making stipulations serves to suggest yourself highly sophisticated. And, I mean, having said that, of course, it's worth remembering that we still cope making those choices even though, I think someone calculated that the number of variants you could order at a Starbucks is more than 80,000, if you took every single combination of flavoring and size and base coffee.
Now of course, if you presented Starbucks coffee like a Chinese restaurant menu numbered one to 80,000, none of us would be able to choose. But we'd do it by, I guess, out of elimination by attribute. And we'll probably choose hot or cold. I mean, the order could vary, hot or cold, milky or not, big or small, and we'd kind of go through some sort of checklist and arrive at something which is at least tolerably close to what we wanted.
Russ Roberts: Fair trade versus incredibly exploitative. [?] because of [?] the incredibly exploitative Colombian bean.
Russ Roberts: There's a great life hack in the book, which--you don't present it that way, but you have a couple of life hacks I really like. I love your point that if you want everything in your kitchen to be dishwasher safe, just put everything in to start with and whatever survives is okay.
Rory Sutherland: Is dishwasher-safe by definition. Dishwasher Darwinism. Can't go wrong.
Russ Roberts: I love that.
But there's another--there's a bunch--I think, deeper one, and a little more practical. You're talking about perception versus reality, and that makes it sound like it's a trick. It's not a trick. It makes it sound deceptive. It's not deceptive. You say the following:
Making a train journey 20% faster might cost hundreds of millions, but making it 20% more enjoyable may cost almost nothing.
And I think, unbelievably--again, on the surface, it seems kind of obvious and simple. It's not. I think it's quite deep. So talk about that. And I can tell you're a big train lover.
Rory Sutherland: No, I mean, it's interesting, because, in a sense I became accidentally famous from a kind of joke I made at a TED [Technology, Entertainment, Design] Conference, which was merely to say, if you have a £6 billion budget to improve what was then the London-to-Paris Eurostar train journey, the six billion was spent effectively on a faster track between London and the Channel Tunnel. And, my only argument was there was a hedonic opportunity costs there. By assuming that all of that money had to go into journey time duration reduction, you are making an assumption about what benefited humans. Which I think suffered very badly from quantification bias. It's very, very easy to quantify and model time and duration.
Now, I'm not suggesting, by the way, that speed doesn't matter at all, but I'm suggesting that speed matters in a very nonlinear way.
I was in Austin, Texas and I discovered--I wanted to get into San Antonio and I discovered that there was one train a day to San Antonio from Austin, and it made the 85-mile journey in something over three hours. Which is--you know, I mean, the Donner Party will be faster than that, you know, for chunks of their trip. Now, I'm not suggesting that there isn't room for improvement there in speed. I think there's huge potential to join two city pairs like that in the United States with a reasonably fast rail service so you could do it in an hour. Okay.
If you think about it, I mean, Austin is what? The 11th largest city in the United States. San Antonio is the seventh, I think.
So I said, jokingly, 'Look, putting WiFi on the trains,' which would have cost literally 0.1% as much money, 'would probably have had as great an effect on people's inclination to go by train rather than by aircraft.' And then I joked and said, 'Well, actually, you could take a billion dollars of your budget, hire all of the world's top male and female supermodels and get them to walk up and down the train handing out free Chateau Petrus to all the passengers,' and not only would you have saved £5 million pounds, but people would ask for the trains to be slowed down.
Russ Roberts: Exactly. I love that.
Rory Sutherland: You must remember, cruise ships, if you think about it, liners used to compete for the blue ribboned. Okay? Suddenly, Boeing and the jet engine essentially made the blue ribboned as a transatlantic metric irrelevant. And so, Cunard, to some extent, invented the cruise ship industry because they said, 'We basically can't sell on speed anymore. We have to find some other comparative strength.' And what advertising does, of course, is it focuses you on the comparative strength rather than the comparative weakness. An advertising campaign that said, 'The Queen Mary, it's so fast,' would be a ridiculous advertising campaign.
Russ Roberts: Or, 'We made it 5% faster. Come try us out.'
Rory Sutherland: Essentially, what that means is you're getting worse value for money. Because, I'm paying for the trip as much for the journey as for the destination.
So, what advertising does is it affects what we pay attention to--the original Latin is about that. And then what we pay attention to becomes, in our minds, more important because we're paying attention to it.
And so advertising can perform this kind of alchemical trick of turning--literally--turning a weakness into a strength by telling a different story about it. That would be Avis, for example, 'We're Number Two, so we try harder.' If you think about it very simply, 'We're number two in rental cars,'--Avis is Number Two in rental cars--is an ad for Hertz. Certainly in, you know, 1960, if you were thinking about availability of cars, number of outlets, the ability to service obscure airports, that's a Hertz ad. But you add four words that say, 'So we try harder,' and make the distinction about customer service and effort rather than about scale, and suddenly you've turned a weakness into a strength.
Russ Roberts: 'With a name like Smuckers, it must be good jam.'
Rory Sutherland: Brilliant. Exactly. I'd forgotten that one actually. And we had 'Reassuringly expensive,' was the Stella Artois' lager brand in the United Kingdom. And Salman Rushdie, would you believe it, when he was a copywriter for Ogilvy, wrote the line, 'Fresh cream cakes. Naughty but nice.' So he obviously understood this effect.
Russ Roberts: But I want to stick with trains for a second because it comes back to our point about control.
You have a minor suggestion in the book, which is particularly apt for trains, and particularly apt for trains in the United Kingdom. And I think in the United States, it's incredibly frustrating that you show up in the United States and it works like this. You have a train that leaves from Penn Station at a certain time. If you miss it, you're cooked. Which is odd, because unlike San Antonio to Austin, New York to Washington, trains leave every hour or more often, and yet for some reason your ticket for that one train is crucial. And yet there are empty seats on a lot of trains that are going from those two cities during the day. And it induces--
Rory Sutherland: In yield management practice, if someone turns up early and goes and sits in an unoccupied seat, you're actually improving the capacity of the line.
Allowing people to travel late is slightly dubious, because obviously, you don't want that to happen because you're selling a perishable good, which is a train seat.
But if--and I had the bizarre experience of being in Houston on a continental flight back to London; and I had a 24-hour layover in Houston. I just said, just for interest, 'You got any capacity on the flight back this evening?' And they said, 'Oh yeah, we've got loads.' 'Oh, brilliant. Okay, I'll go back this evening. How much is it?' '$6,000.' Now, I quite enjoyed my 24 hours in Houston. I rather like the city, in fact.
Russ Roberts: Fabulous city, isn't it?
Rory Sutherland: Absolutely wonderful place. And actually, some of the best meals I've ever had, too. Fantastic.
But, the interesting thing, to me, was that if you had those seats--and they were patently being going to be sitting empty because 30 people weren't going to turn up in the next 25 minutes and [inaudible 00:40:47] business class seats on the Houston to London flight--why wouldn't you at least meet me halfway and say, 'Well, we'll tell you what? Pay $300, and you can go now.'
And so there's something about pricing--and, by the way, there's also something about pricing, which I think is ridiculous, which is: if you do miss your train, the fact that the value of your ticket immediately goes to zero, I think humans perceive as an injustice.
Russ Roberts: But it's worse than an injustice. It induces this anxiety, that you point out. And people would be happy to pay a little bit more for a more flexible ticket.
Rory Sutherland: Strangely, by the way, it's even like that on the Japanese Bullet Trains where there is a train leaving for Kyoto pretty much every five minutes. And they demand that you absolutely specify in advance which train you're going on. Now, that's partly because of allocated seats. But in an age of mobile phone apps, you'd think you'd be able to switch trains pretty much with three or four clicks on a mobile phone screen.
Russ Roberts: Well, I'm going to turn tables on you here because I want to make sure we get in a reference to the Chesterton Fence.
Now, I've mentioned the Chesterton Fence. I knew nothing of the Chesterton Fence until a few months ago. Now, it's become, though--it's soon going to, I think, be a revised version of the EconTalk drinking game, if there is one, because it seems to haunt me. It's a beautiful and deep idea: This idea that if you come across a fence that seems to have no purpose, the fool, the reformer says, 'Oh, well, this doesn't have a purpose. I'll just take it down.' Whereas Chesterton points out, 'You know, there's a reason it's there. It may not be obvious, it may not be obvious to anyone alive even. But, it may have turned out that there's a good purpose it serves that it stuck around for so long, and when you tear it down, you're going to find that out and you'll be sorry.'
So I do want to raise the possibility that even though these ideas would seem to improve train travel, the fact that they haven't been implemented suggests that maybe there's a cost to them that you and I haven't thought of.
However, I would also point out that in the United States, and I suspect in the United Kingdom and probably in Japan: they're not very competitive. And so, the ability to expect that trial and error will lead to an evolutionarily satisfactory structure for the travel is maybe not so reliable.
Rory Sutherland: There's also a thing, however, which I suppose you could almost say is the obverse of the Chesterton's Fence, which is: I don't know if you're familiar with this extraordinary Soviet-era problem-solving methodology called TRIZ [Russian acronym, Theory of Inventive Problem Solving].
Russ Roberts: No.
Rory Sutherland: I think it was someone called Altshuller [?Genrich Altshuller?] who was a Stalinist era scientist who was tasked with looking at problem solving. And unfortunately, some of his problem solving caused him to suggest that Stalin era politicians could do slightly better, which earned him, as a reward, 25 years in the Gulag.
But, one of his interesting observations is a thing which we occasionally call in my business, lateral category analysis, which is: that problems have mostly been solved somewhere else, but no one's transferred them from one domain to another.
And so there is something very strange.
I mean, one of the interesting things is, now, is biomimicry: that quite often you can study really obscure pieces of nature and you can discover solutions to physical problems. The strange beak of those Japanese bullet trains I just mentioned is modeled on the kingfisher, because an engineer who was very keen birdwatcher notice that when kingfishers dived into water, they barely created a ripple. And so they borrowed that actually to stop the trains making a hideous noise when they went into a tunnel, which was disturbing nearby residents.
And so interestingly, if you think about it, there are categories where, for example, the airline industry, which is highly competitive; it has solved the problem very well, and the rail industry has yet to catch up.
I mean, it's strange that just before I came on, I posted a tweet to ask French people why the French motorway system doesn't think of charging differentially by the time of day? So you have a flat fee for traveling between, say, Callais and Lyon, which doesn't vary whether you go at 2:00 in the morning or at peak time. And that seems an extraordinarily missed opportunity to me to borrow yield management from the airline industry and apply it to French motorways.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, there might be a cultural reason for that; but, who knows?
Rory Sutherland: And there often is. Yeah, that is true.
Russ Roberts: It could just be they haven't thought of it, which is--in economics, the oldest economics joke in the world are the economist walking down the street with someone and says, 'Look, a $20 bill,' and the economist says, 'Don't bother picking it up. If it were really there, someone would've picked it up already.' But of course, someone has to be the first person to pick it up, and so sometimes there are $20 bills lying around and entrepreneurs pick them up. In less competitive environments, they can sit around for a little bit longer.
Russ Roberts: Rory, I want to talk about your marriage.
Rory Sutherland: Blimey.
Russ Roberts: Well, you say in the book,
If you want a simple life unladen by weird decisions, do not marry anyone who has worked in the creative department of an advertising agency. For good and ill, the job instills a paranoid fear of the obvious and fosters the urge to question every orthodoxy and to rail against every consensus. This becomes tiring, especially when the same willfully perverse thinking is applied to everyday household decisions.
And I just want to confess that as an economist, I can ruin a lot of movies for my wife, and I have--where I'll say, 'That's not the way it really works.' Or, 'That wouldn't have happened in the real world.' Most movies that have some application of economics are deeply troubling to an economist. I'm just curious if there's any--why you wrote that sentence or that paragraph.
Rory Sutherland: I'm sure you could ruin most movies by actually taking an economist with you. I remember doing it once. I think it was the late 1980s film, Betty Blue, by pointing out that their decision to open a piano shop in a remote area of France was patently ridiculous--
Russ Roberts: Yup, there you go--
Rory Sutherland: since the catchment area or the likely market within that catchment area for buying a grand piano probably enables them to sell at most one every year. So that was me being the economist ruining a romantic French art house movie by pointing out finding out the eminent economic foolishness of trying to sell a declining product in a completely inappropriate location. So yeah, we can all do that.
Now, it's interesting in that that thing which is instilled on you if you work at a creative department at an ad agency, what you are encouraged to do and the muscle in your brain that gets very heavily exercised is the business of looking at everything the opposite way around. Of course, in a sense, a lot of problems are solved that way. Our communities in the bath[?] is a case of stop fixating on the crown and look at measuring the volume of stuff that isn't crown, for example. That actually TRIZ makes this point that, in fact, a very common problem solving technique is simply to focus on not-x rather than x.
And so it does instill in you, even in your private life, a slight obsession with looking at everything backwards. The worst case of which was of course just after we'd had young children, my wife sends me out to buy a wide slice toaster and I come back with a bread slicer arguing that what we need isn't a wider toaster, it's narrower bread. Now, for all sorts of reasons, this was a totally ridiculous thing to do. I mean, having two very young children around with a sort of effectively a circular saw device sitting in the kitchen was never going to be the best idea to begin with, but it does force you to do that a lot.
And of course, it's an interesting question, which is--I mean, I was asking people about this just the other day, 'How should you use the London Tube Map to buy a house?' And there are two answers to it in a way, 'I want to buy a house near the Tube,' or 'Everybody else uses the Tube Map when deciding where to live in London. So what I've got to do is actually look at what isn't on the Tube Map.' And, in many ways, if you think about it, South London--without becoming a sort of London transport bore at this point--South London's rail network is very, very well supplied with trains, none of which appear on the Underground Map. And you can probably buy insanely undervalued property next to a railway station south of the river, which is actually half the journey time into work versus, say Fulham, which is on the Tube. Okay? And the reason you're getting that bargain is partly because you're using a different model of choice to everybody else. And so you're looking for what's undervalued.
And I think there's something really interesting as a general rule about this with all models, and I would include economics in this, that when you develop a model of something--okay. There are a few cases, there are a few paradigms in the world, like Newtonian physics, where what's true is universally true regardless of context or time or setting. Okay. With a lot of models, the more people start using them, the more you'll find gains, not in looking what the model tells you, but in looking what it leaves out. I think there's enormous potential to--I often call what we do 'the science of knowing what economists are wrong about.' If you've got a decision to make and you say--this was in KFC Australia, actually--'We've got a product that isn't selling. What would an economist do? He'd drop the price.' And I said, 'Well, try doing the opposite. Try putting the price up.' Weirdly, when you put the price up, demand went up.
Now, that's surprisingly common, particularly when you have a decision in a menu environment where we partly use price to navigate. I'd argue that people go to fast food restaurants, if you like, for two slightly opposite reasons. One of them is in search of a bargain, and the other one's in search of a treat; and if you price something right in the middle, it fulfills neither of those two criteria. Okay. So you can make the mistake of pricing something too low.
Now, an economist would never even look there because dogma suggests that that's impossible. And so I've always argued that all maps--and the map is not the territory, as we all know--all maps through overuse create distortions in behavior. And the opportunity may come in actually saying: What's really interesting here isn't while it's on the map, it's to look at what the map leaves out because that's where the market opportunity lies.
Russ Roberts: Well, that's a very nice insight. I want to come back to your South London point though, which is that the natural economist's response to that is, you're suggesting--and the jargon for this in economics, which I'm sure you know--is there's an arbitrage opportunity. That's another way to summarize your point: that there's some potential gain that has been unexploited. And of course, it's another way of saying there's a $20 bill laying around. You're arguing that there's housing in South London that is relatively inexpensive--relative to its value, relative to its proximity to things people value--which of course could be true. It would be certainly true if everyone used the Metro Map--the Tube Map--and they were unaware of that other set of--simply unaware. Which could be. It's not that they don't--
Rory Sutherland: Well, I can more or less prove that, in fact, because there was a case where they took a set of railway lines, which had existed for about 25 years and had been called Silver Link Metro. And they made it into a kind of circle, and they called it the Overground, and they added it to the London Underground Map.
Russ Roberts: Oh, nice.
Rory Sutherland: When those lines appeared on the London Underground Map, usage went up by 400% in the first month alone. So, what you've done was absolutely extraordinary, if you think about it. You've created something like three billion pounds' worth of infrastructure, mostly with ink or with the digital equivalent.
And so there is an extraordinary opportunity, I think in many cases, to look at choice architecture, to say at what point is a choice creating--I'll give you a lovely example of this, actually. There's a website called, where a man who's more enthusiastic about railways than is strictly healthy gives you advice on how to make rail journeys across Europe. And one of the reasons this website is so vital is because he gives you advice from a human perspective, whereas an algorithm gives you advice where it assumes that time minimization is the greatest objective.
Russ Roberts: The only thing you care about.
Rory Sutherland: The only thing that matters. And so nearly every single website will tell you to get to Bordeaux from London by going into Paris and out again. This means you've got to change stations, get a taxi, which isn't easy in Paris for various reasons, and also you've got to get all your luggage into a cab and haul it to another station. You can change at Lille, which involves a 1-hour 20-minute wait and a slightly slower train, but that involves a walk of maybe 50 to a hundred yards. Now, the reason his website is so essential is he tells you that. Whereas, the algorithm never will.
And so one of the things that really worries me is that: Are markets partly intelligent because human decision-making is messy, and markets can then aggregate preferences from a whole bunch of people who've come up with problems from a different angle? When you actually make choice uniform by dint of forcing everybody to go through the same set of questions in the same order, do you actually make markets stupider--because the distortions of the question-asking process become more and more widespread? And I have argued that the London Tube Map should actually vary at random every couple of years to encourage people to experiment with different journeys.
There are huge behavioral biases there because--you know, there is a really interesting point there, which is that I've heard that you can't sell a house in the United Kingdom for £825,000. And that's because the property websites have increments of 50,000 at that point in the price range, and people will either search at £850,000 and go high-low, or they might be starting at £800,000 and going low-high, but neither of those people will discover an £825,000 house. So you've ended up not with a price demand curve but with a price demand ziggurat--
Russ Roberts: Yeah. Well, that's quite interesting--
Rory Sutherland: which is kind of weird. And actually, what you actually need, is you need different property websites which encourage you to choose property using--I live in this extraordinary kind of grade-one listed house partly because architectural quality comes very low down the list of parameters people use when searching for property. So, I see that as a kind of decision-making arbitrage, essentially.
Russ Roberts: Well, I think the general point, which I think is quite interesting, is that we get into grooves of habits, certainly on the web and certainly in real life, grooves of habits of--I would call them, you use the word algorithm, right? Some algorithms are specified and some are just habits--the things I do in a natural order without thinking about it for a second after a while. And you're suggesting that sometimes you want to shake that up. Sometimes those habits need shaking up, and there are gains to be had. They are not necessarily--if the algorithm is created from the top-down, it may ignore some crucial parts of the human experience that might emerge from the bottom-up.
Rory Sutherland: Yeah. So I have two ways in which I'd improve the property market. One of them would be, I'd demand that property websites threw up random wildcards which didn't always meet your criteria precisely, but forced you to compare in a slightly more weird and random way. In a sense, mimicking what used to happen. Because, how did you find a house in 1978? Well, there were no websites.
Russ Roberts: You drove around.
Rory Sutherland: You drove around, you looked for signs, or you went into a town and you happened to see a property in the window of a realtor--I hope I've got the vocab right there--an estate agent, as we call them.
Russ Roberts: We call them a realtor.
Rory Sutherland: Or you might've discovered from a friend that some guy called Dave was thinking of selling his house. But there were all sorts of ways in which you discovered it. And weirdly, the market composed of lots of messy decisions may be a better market overall than one that's made up of a lot of neat but uniform decisions.
Russ Roberts: Yeah. Another way to think about this is the role of filters, right? We're so used to filters on the--an obvious example is Airbnb. I'll choose how many bedrooms I want, whether I want to share with someone or not share, have the whole house to myself, etc. And that's a very normal way to simplify the 80,000 choices that are available at Starbucks or elsewhere. Milk/no milk; white/dark; sweet/not sweet. Etc.
But what you're saying, one way to say what you're saying is, is that sometimes there's things we care about that we don't have a filter for or they can't be objectively listed.
Rory Sutherland: No; I mean, there isn't a Parker Score for architecture as there is in wine, for example. And so as a result, this quantification bias--I think it's sometimes called, isn't it, after the minister of defense in the Vietnam War?--
Russ Roberts: McNamara.
Rory Sutherland: McNamara. The McNamara effect, where you obsess about what happens to be measurable--in that case, the kill count--and you design a wholly inappropriate, in fact, counterproductive target, simply because it's the thing that you can measure not because it's the thing that matters. And I can see that happening more and more, and it concerns me a little bit--
Russ Roberts: Yeah, I know. Great point--
Rory Sutherland: because you can be left thinking you've made a wonderfully intelligent decision because at every point in the journey, you made what seemed like a decision that reflected your preferences. But the real preferences you may have were never even asked about it in the first place. And so it's rather like if you could imagine a market in which cars--let's say there was a formula for buying a car which we all used, which would be something like, fuel economy divided by acceleration multiplied by whatever it might be --number of seats.
Russ Roberts: Number of cup holders.
Rory Sutherland: That is the American heuristic, emphatically.
Now, if you have that, actually what would happen is: in the first few years, it might be quite a useful mechanism. Over time, car manufacturers would game the system and cars would become terrible, because the cars would increasingly reflect the algorithm or formula that was used to decide not the myriad and various preferences of car owners, which encompass everything from aesthetics to comfort to goodness as what[?]. And so cars would be truly awful under such a situation.
It always bothers me actually, because economists, because they have this efficiency fetish, they love turning things into commodities. And I hate commodities. So commodities actually, totally inhibit innovation. They destroy brands and they also destroy trust. Because if you think about, part of the value of a brand is that you have reputational skin in the game that's attached to the thing you make.
Russ Roberts: Carry on.
Rory Sutherland: And as a result, once you actually have certified beef, for example, it's in everybody's interest--I mean, this is what the Soviet Union discovered to a great extent, where they had targets for factories. And the Soviet Union resisted having any kind of branding because they thought it was un-Marxist. And so, essentially, every rivet-making factory was targeted only by the quantity of rivets it made. So the incentives--since all these rivets were being poured into a central warehouse--the incentive was to make as many rivets as you possibly could while at as low a quality as possible. Stalin himself actually complained about the metrics problem because all the chandeliers in the Soviet Union were absurdly--indeed, dangerously--heavy because lighting factories were actually measured on output by weight, not by any other useful kind of measure.
And so I think in our urge to computerize things, we're actually turning businesses and markets into something a little bit quasi-communist, in that we're attempting to measure the quality of something using objective means. And, the problem of that is that the objective means, first of all, make the system easy to game. And secondly, they create a kind of stasis, a kind of stagnant uniformity, because once something is certified beef, what incentive do I have to produce better beef or indeed beyond the meat? Okay?
Now, if I'm a brand, I produce better beef and I'm rewarded, because people enjoyed the beef last time and they seek out Sutherland's Beef second time round. If we're all buying certified beef, economists love that because it looks so gloriously efficient and you have those lovely economies of scale.
But actually the consumer interest is being lost, as is the incentive to innovate, as is also the fear of cheating.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, that's a huge point that you make in the book very well.
Rory Sutherland: Actually, it's precisely because my name is attached to something. Samsung cannot afford to make a terrible television, okay, because the cost to their reputation and their ability to charge a premium would outweigh the short term gain of selling televisions to a few gullible people. Once you destroy that feedback loop in the interest of scale--I mean, one of the reasons why banking was so trustworthy in the 1950s, if you take the era of It's a Wonderful Life, okay? Not only did the bank manager know all his customers and all his customers know him, there's a missing link there, which is: All his customers knew each other because he served a local area. And he knew that he only had to cheat one person or maybe two, but I give him the benefit of the doubt with one, but he only had to get caught out cheating two fairly trivial customers and his reputation was toast throughout the town. Game over. Okay?
Now, we don't understand this because economics basically assumes away trust. No one looks at the dynamics of trust and how they really work.
So: One, the value of intermediaries is completely disparaged by economics because you see them as an inefficiency.
In fact, in informational terms, intermediaries serve a very important purpose because there's a difference between 10 people buying from someone once and one person buying 10 times over time. And so the intermediary knows that his long-term interest is served by square-dealing with the customer.
Now, that doesn't apply if you--this was the extraordinary thing that happened, I think, in the Marseille Fish Market where they tried to replace fish dealers with a centralized auction system. Now, the fish dealers opposed this, unsurprisingly. But so did the buyers. The restaurants didn't want it either. They wanted to buy from their guy, repeatedly, in a series of ongoing mutually beneficial exchanges rather than buying centrally something that was certified stake. Or self-skate, rather. You see what I mean?
Russ Roberts: Absolutely. And let's--
Rory Sutherland: Because they realized that actually, over time, relationships have a value. Because, you are essentially seeking to maximize over time the positive-sum game of the relationship. Once you make everything a one-shot transaction, it looks more efficient than an economic model, but actually once you factor in the informational costs, it's not a good idea at all.
Russ Roberts: Well, let's close and talk about advertising in general. I grew up mostly in the 1960s and 1970s as a young person, and we were told, of course, that advertising was wasteful. It was deceptive, and it was a horrible business. It was obviously a way that we tricked people--people like you--tricked others into buying things they didn't need.
And I've never accepted that idea. Certainly, as an economist, I always assumed it had some value, and one of the values, of course, we've talked a lot about, which is the brand, and that creates a trust a worthiness.
But, the other part that you emphasize in your book, which I love, is that--and you alluded to it earlier when talking about the restaurant and the sign and the menu--is that the advertising doesn't just tell people the product exists. It tells us something about the product. It's not just information: it changes the way we experience the product. So, talk about that.
Rory Sutherland: Yeah. So, I mean, in the book, I use this phrase, which I assume someone must've used before, but it appears they haven't, at least I've Googled it, which is--advertising is very, very old. I mean, a flower is effectively a weed with a marketing budget. And the reason that advertising is necessary by plants is that the bee can only discover whether there's a worthwhile supply of nectar available in the plant by actually visiting it, and there is a mechanism that is necessary that delivers a reliable signal of promise of the presence of nectar, of which large petals and a variety of other signaling tools, are merely one form. And so the very fact that advertising is an upfront cost is a reliable indicator of seller confidence, because if the flower wasn't expecting the bees to come back for a second visit, it wouldn't pay it to grow these huge great petals. The investment in petals only make sense in the context of widespread repeat visits.
Actually, before I talk a bit more about that, I mean, I'll give a big shout out and high five to Robert H. Frank for this, which is, I think there's a really important question, which is that looking at economics through the eyes of an engineer is a rather dangerous practice, but actually looking at human economic behavior through the eyes of a naturalist is a much more valuable frame of mind; it's a much more useful paradigm, I think, to understand complex human behavior. And Robert Frank, I think, his book, The Economic Naturalist, was a real eye-opener for me in this because it taught me there's more than one way of looking at these things.
And it's worth noting, by the way, that if you think about it, if you are attempting to create an economics that's like physics, which has universal context-independent, time-unchanged laws--okay, now, that only works in a very narrow field of human activity. If you're designing an aircraft, to some extent, that approach, where the definition of success is not remotely dependent on human perception or human interpretation, okay, then that approach kind of makes sense.
Now, I'd argue that it's an incredibly dangerous approach to try and overlay on anything where humans are involved. For one thing, if you take my point about rising property prices in London, people can respond to the fact that their house price is going up and up and up in London in one of two ways. They can either take the gains and move out, or they can stay put in the hope of future gains but also for fear that if they do move out, they'll never be able to move back. And I think you see basically both opposite behaviors manifested in London in response to, I didn't say, an increase in property and rent prices.
Now, if you genuinely have a stimulus which can lead to opposite behaviors in human beings, then your hope of actually--the very project of economics is fundamentally doomed, I would argue. Because--now, here's an interesting case. Okay. I imagine--I don't know enough about meteorology to make this claim definitively--but if there were some sort of step change in the climate or--what do they call it in complexity theory?--they call it, it goes through a phase transition. Okay. And if something happened about the movement of, for example, the Gulf Stream changed in the Atlantic, right, meteorologists would change their models in response. I think that's probably right, isn't it? Okay. What they previously knew and were confident about would have to change.
And I would argue that any science of economics has to acknowledge the fact that actually, depending on context, circumstances and indeed the habits and the behavior of other people, models actually have to adapt and change all the time simply because, in different circumstances, people behave differently.
And so, it seems to me--I mean, I'm taking a very extreme view here--but I'm not sure that economics isn't trying to model itself on the wrong kind of science entirely. All together, I nearly said, but that could have been an airplane gag, so I'll park that.
Russ Roberts: Well, I happen to agree with you, but except--there's a big 'except' there. So, I accept the fact that economics is wrong to pattern itself after Newtonian physics; I think it's wrong to see itself as a science. And I'm glad you mentioned Robert Frank's book, The Economic Naturalist, which, there's an episode, goes back quite a ways, but you can find it in the archives and we'll put a link up for it to this episode. That books about puzzles. Why are things the way they are? Why is women's dry cleaning more expensive than men's? And there are different answers to that. Some people think women are exploited by market powerful dry-cleaners who are sexist. As an economist, I find that to be an unacceptable answer and I think there are other answers. But, even those other answers, that as blouses are made of different material than men's, they are more prone to damage, they might take longer. There's other answers about the size of the thing that the pressing is done on: It turns out that a woman's blouse is not dry-cleaned in the same way that a man's shirt is. There's a lot of--it gets extremely complicated--
Rory Sutherland: And of course, to men, 90% of their clothes are semi-disposable.
Russ Roberts: Yeah, compared, say, to a woman. Well, there's 1,000 differences, and what the economist tends to home in on, correctly or not, is incentives and the opportunity costs of various choices.
Now, a good economist understands that monetary incentives aren't the only thing that matters. There are pride, ego, reputation. A bad economist just says, 'Well,' as you point out and you give the example in the book, 'Well, we'll just bribe people to do what we want. We'll just lower the price.' Now, we also understand as economists that if I insult the guy who's trying to buy my house, I'd be an idiot if I said, 'Oh, it won't matter because I'll just lower the price and that will compensate for the insult.' A lot of people, when you insult them, just say, 'I'm not buying that house at any price.' And that's not irrational.
Rory Sutherland: I've got a case exactly like that.
Russ Roberts: Of course.
Rory Sutherland: I didn't buy a house because the guy tried to rook me for the fridge.
Russ Roberts: So, it would be foolish to apply economics as a Newtonian science, like in Newtonian physics. At the same time--so it's an art. And it's an art that's complicated by the context, culture, ego, will, all kinds of phenomena, agency, responsibility, pride, reputation. But, it's still a good idea to keep incentives in mind.
So it's foolish to apply economics blindly, but it'd be foolish to not ever look at it, if we define economics as that sort of incentive-driven thing. But I want to come back--
Rory Sutherland: So--
Well, you can respond to that. Go ahead.
Rory Sutherland: No; I mean, there is a vital thing which is what people care about. I just gave a little tip the other day, which I said, 'If you run a small coffee shop, close at 5:00, but hover by the door for three or four minutes. If someone runs up desperate for a coffee, make a big show of unlocking the door and let them in and serve them, and you've got a customer for life.'
Russ Roberts: Yeah, exactly.
Rory Sutherland: Equally, if you allow someone into your shop at two minutes past 5:00 or even two minutes to 5:00 and then say, 'Sorry, we're closed,' you've probably lost someone for the next 10 years. I've boycotted two shops for precisely that reason.
And so, the thing is that humans respond to emotion. Emotion is derived from meaning, and meaning is derived from context as much as it's derived from any kind of objective measure of circumstance. And so, the same thing can be both an act of generosity or an insult.
Bourdieu, the anthropologist, makes this point: that if you give someone a present, it's generally considered to be generous. It can be so generous a present that people are actually wary of accepting it because of the obligation it imposes to reciprocate. Equally, if you return a present, it's not actually a gift, it's a massive insult.
And so, we're so context sensitive in terms of our behavior that the attempt to create, what you might call, a single line mapping between the environment and behavior, seems to me to be doomed.
And yet--I want to clarify once again--what I am saying is that where advertising can be magical is in the same way that a television is magical, which is: TV manufacturers don't bother to produce the whole spectrum of colors because they know that human or higher primate vision is only sensitive to three. We have three types of cone in our eye, and by stimulating those three types of cone at different ratios, you can generate the whole visible spectrum of color in the human head in addition to, by the way, colors that don't exist in physics--of, like, magenta--which don't exist in reality.
And so, since what we care about and what determines our behavior is a product of perception, and since perception, for evolutionary reasons, has not evolved to give us anything like a close approximation of reality or objectivity, then designing things around stories is as important as designing things. If you [?] the story you're attached to something is as important in giving it value as the thing itself. Does that make sense?
Russ Roberts: Yeah. I love that.
Rory Sutherland: I love Raj Chetty's work on what happened in Denmark when they reduced the tax break for pension saving. And, what it revealed is that the majority of people just carried on saving as before. There was a small group of people who didn't, but they were super rich people with financial advisors who, let's face it, didn't need help from the government anyway.
And so understanding those things is, I think, is--understanding that actually objective reality passes through kind of black box process before it starts affecting our behavior. And therefore, understanding, partly through experimentation, partly through theory, what is going on in the black box--which I think is what someone like Uber, as we mentioned earlier, did--is as much a source of value as necessarily trying to have more cabs on the street so they arrive sooner.
And yet strangely, two things are strange, we tend to regard any kind of perceptual hack as cheating--
Russ Roberts: Not real--
Rory Sutherland: It's not real, it's not valid. Okay. The second thing, which is stranger still, is that government in particular will resort to economic incentives or law--i.e, compulsion or bribery or fines--before they'll even try persuasion.
So, what I'm emphatically not--I'm not going to go up anywhere and say incentives don't matter. I mean, the central lesson of economics is that incentives matter and they affect behavior, and I wouldn't for a second want to go into any behavioral change challenge without having incentives as part of my armory. Okay. But at the same time, what's strange is the order in which people of varying expertise are allowed to both define problems and then propose solutions to them.
Now, I always argue that persuasion is the one you should try first; then you should probably try incentives, and then you should try compulsion. But government, by dint of the particular armory it has and the fact that, as Richard Thaler said, I think, 'Washington is essentially a place run by lawyers who occasionally take advice from economists.'
Now, here's a very philosophical way of looking at things. There's a wonderful thing about persuasion, which is: If you have a good reason not to be persuaded, you can ignore persuasion.
Now, I for a long time believed that it's silly--we should encourage people, just as a general behavior, to put their dishwashers, washing machines and tumble dryers on late at night where it produces less carbon than if you did it during the day or in the early evening. Okay? Right. By the way: there's an interesting parallel here, which is the American reluctance to dry their clothes out of doors, even in really hot climates, is a weird one to me, but it has social stigma attached as well--
Russ Roberts: Yes, it does.
Rory Sutherland: I've been told. Yeah. Yeah. So it seems a bit weird to me that people in Phoenix are putting their dump clothing in a tumble dryer in the first place. But let's park that for now. Okay?
Now, interestingly, if you try and use law or incentives, they're going to be a blunt tool. Let's say you vary the price, so you make it very expensive to put your tumble dryer on at, let's say, 6:00 in the evening and it's quite cheap at 1:00 in the morning. Same for the washing machine, same for everything else.
Now, the problem there, which is there will always be a group of people who have perfectly good reasons not to comply--in that case, people who work the night shift. You don't want people leaving their home at 10:00, leaving a tumble dryer on, which might catch fire. Similarly, people who live in an apartment where their neighbors sleep directly below their washing machine won't be making any friends if their washing machine goes into the spin cycle at 3:00 AM, okay? It's a behavior you'd like lots of people to adopt but not people who have a good reason not to.
Now, the second you legislate, unless you legislate in an incredibly complicated way, okay, you're going to unfairly penalize people who have a perfectly good reason not to comply. The second you add that to the price mechanism, so that people who work nights suddenly find themselves paying double to dry their clothes--
Russ Roberts: It's unfair--
Rory Sutherland: it's unfair. Okay?
Now, the glorious thing about persuasion and indeed, social norms is that people who have a good reason not to comply don't get vilified. It's perfectly well accepted and you're free to continue as before.
On the other hand, people who have a very good reason--I try to encourage the tax system to work where you're nudged to donate some of your tax rebate back, because my argument is, it's much easier to get people to actually take less of a windfall than it is to get them to actually write a check for some extra money.
Now, the nice thing about that system, okay, is, let's say if you were to--I don't know what your tax rebate is, but let's say your tax rebate is a few thousand dollars, and your children have left home, and you're a reasonably prosperous tenured professor, as I hope you are. Okay?
Russ Roberts: Sorry, I'm not a tenured professor. But that's okay. I'm a mere Fellow at the Hoover Institution. But I have a good deal.
Rory Sutherland: That's fine. Roughly speaking. If you could have a car sticker where you said, 'I gave 50% of my tax rebate back to,'--in the United Kingdom, it might be the health service, for example, okay--there will be slight pressure on, I think, the wealthier members of society with fewer calls on their money to do that. There will be no pressure on a 25-year-old with three kids to do that.
Russ Roberts: And it would depend--you wouldn't expect to see it on a minivan in the United States.
Rory Sutherland: No, in a battered minivan--you wouldn't expect that person to have rebated a significant amount. Nor would you reasonably demand it of them. But equally, if you just come back from your fifth cruise of the year, I think we might say, 'To be honest, I think Russ could have given a tiny bit of his tax rebate back to something.'
Russ Roberts: Well, first of all, you have to know that in America, the taxes don't work the way they do in the United Kingdom--
Rory Sutherland: No, I know.
Russ Roberts: so it's a little bit trickier. But the significance of your rebate, of your tax refund is a little different.
But I think what I would do in that case, I'd just put my tax return on my car and then people could see not only how much I earned but how much I actually paid so they wouldn't feel so angry about my not giving the rebate.
But the point is--I think the more interesting point you're making is this idea that norms have a flexibility that legislation doesn't. And it's an unappreciated point.
Rory Sutherland: So, I mean, as I said, I suppose you're probably right, which is that the whole book is really about Chestertonian fences in that it's about behaviors which actually may have a value even though it's very difficult to make sense of them when looked at through a very narrow lens. And so in a sense, I suppose, it's a conservative book in that sense, in that it believes that you should pay regard for long established things--
Russ Roberts: Traditions--
Rory Sutherland: even if you don't fully understand them. Don't chop people's appendixes out willy-nilly because there probably is a function, as they later discovered.
Russ Roberts: My guest today has been Rory Sutherland. His book is Alchemy. Rory, thanks for being part of EconTalk.
Rory Sutherland: It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed.
More EconTalk Episodes
Search Econlib |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15543 | Daily chart
What is the most dangerous drug?
Some drugs classified as highly dangerous are less harmful than alcohol or tobacco
Graphic detail
WHY IS ALCOHOL legal but many other intoxicants not? That question is the subject of a report published today by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an independent group of 26 former presidents and other bigwigs. They conclude that, as far as the scientific evidence is concerned, current drug laws have no rhyme or reason to them. The commission blames the UN’s drug classification system, which sorts some 300 psychoactive substances into “schedules” according to their harms and benefits. Some, such as morphine, have medical uses. Others, such as psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms), are used mostly recreationally. Drugs without any apparent medical utility are automatically placed in the most dangerous category—and subjected to the strictest criminal penalties—regardless of the risk they pose.
The flaws of the UN’s system have been evident for years. In 2010 a group of British drug experts ranked 20 popular intoxicating substances on 16 physical, psychological and social harms, including those done to non-users, such as crime and family breakdown. Alcohol came out as the most harmful, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Psychedelic “party” drugs, including ecstasy, LSD and mushrooms, were deemed mostly benign—with harm scores less than half that of tobacco—despite being lumped with cocaine and heroin in the UN’s classification system. This ranking is not without its own idiosyncrasies, many of which reflect how drugs are currently used and regulated. Alcohol’s position at the top is partly the result of its widespread use, which causes greater harms to others (crack cocaine is considered the most harmful drug for the user). Drugs such as heroin, meanwhile, would be ranked lower if users could always buy an unadulterated dose, and did not have to resort to sharing needles.
Designing laws for drugs that are consistent with their dangers and benefits requires predicting how drug markets will respond. Difficult as that may be, it is the way forward, argues the Global Commission. The zero-tolerance approach adopted by many governments has led to a host of social problems, including soaring prison costs and ill-health. “It is past high time to accept the fact that a society without drugs is an illusion,” the report argues. Regulating drugs in a more sensible manner would make them safer—and not just for those who take them.
See also:
Magic mushrooms, illegal in most places, may have therapeutic uses (June 8th 2019)
“Sin” taxes—eg, on tobacco—are less efficient than they look (July 26th 2018)
The right way to do drugs (February 13th 2016)
Reuse this contentThe Trust Project |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15574 | Blogs, Books...
The Leadership Genuis of Julius Caesar
The Leadership Genuis of Julius Caesar
What comes to mind when you hear the term, "Caesar"?
Iron Fist?
Yeah, Julius Caesar was probably all of those things in one way or another. In the book, The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar, author Phillip Barlag emphasizes the unexpected characteristics of mercy and restraint shown by the man who essentially coined the term "ruler".
Of particular note, Barlag makes the point (over and over again) that Caesar used his Power but seldom resorted to Force.
Using Force is when you exercise a positional authority to get your way. This might be through physical force, intimidation, or monetary control (think -- get all A's or no college tuition for you).
Power is more about influence.
A true leader has someone following them.
If you're not getting your way, consider Power, not Force.
It's a quick read (or listen), check it out at Amazon.
Share this Post:
Posted by encouragework
Call us today at 973.448.0070 or email us at
Sign Up Now! |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15595 |
Moderator: igrr
User avatar
By jeffie_3
RichardS wrote:New website that is dedicated to Everything ESP releated!
Signup to add your ESP8266 or ESP32 project to the site for the world to see.
I signed up and never got an email to verify my account. I tried to sign up again. It would not let me. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15607 | The Brahui are a group of tribes who live primarily in Baluchistan and Sind provinces of Pakistan. Their numbers have been placed at anywhere from 861,000 to 1.5 million in Pakistan with about 200,000 in Afghanistan and 10,000 in Iran. Brahui is a Dravidian language and, as such, is distinct from the languages of the neighboring Pathan, Baluch, and Sind peoples. It is reported that many Brahui are bilingual in Baluchi and that Brahui contains numerous loanwords from Baluchi and Sindhi. The heart of Brahui territory is the district of Kalat, in Baluchistan. Politically, the Brahui are best described as a loose confederation of tribes, which was ruled from about 1700 to Pakistan's independence in 1947 by the Ahmadzais dynasty. Tribal membership is based on patrilineal descent and political allegiance, although both membership and alignments are somewhat fluid. Tribes are governed by the sadar, a hereditary chief, who today plays the role of intermediary between the largely rural population and the national government. Since independence, the Brahui have been slowly drawn into the national political and economic systems, though these integrative processes are far from complete.
The traditional economy for many Brahui was based on pastoral nomadism, with a shift to transhumant pastoralism beginning about 100 years ago, and more recently a shift to settled agriculture. As nomads, they dwelt in tents made of goat hair, and lived chiefly on the products of the herd. From March to October they grow cereals, fruits, and vegetables; in November they move south to sell cattle and handicrafts, or work as seasonal laborers. Many have settled on irrigated land in Sind.
The Brahuis are nearly all Sunni Muslims. Some of them take multiple wives, and divorce is unusual. Men prefer to marry a brother's daughter. Women are not strictly veiled. The men are often armed with rifles, swords, and shields.
Swidler, Nina (1984). "Brahui." In Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey, edited by Richard V. Weekes, 177-180. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Wilber, Donald N. (1964). Pakistan: Its People, Its Society, Its Culture. New Haven: HRAF Press.
Also read article about Brahui from Wikipedia
User Contributions:
nazir shakir brahui
Report this comment as inappropriate
Dec 1, 2012 @ 9:09 am
Brahui government start from 1410 A.D to 1948A.D
Basicaly Brahuis are not pastrol @ nomadic peoples but those r very high category cultural @ historical peoples.
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15611 | Saffron Roasted Cauliflower with Olives and Sultan |
Posted on
23 June 2015
Francesa Verrucci
Saffron Roasted Cauliflower with Olives and Sultan
Saffron Roasted Cauliflower with Olives and Sultan
1 medium head cauliflower, divided into florets
1 large red onion, sliced
50 g sultanas
70 g green olives, pitted and cut in quarters (half if small) lengthways
½ tsp saffron strands, crushed and infused in 3 tbsp of boiling water
3 tbsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
flat-leaf parsley, only leaves, roughly chopped
Tahini sauce
75 ml tahini paste
75 ml water
40 ml lemon juice
1 cloves garlic, crushed
Serves 2 to 3
• In a large mixing bowl, toss together all the ingredients except the parsley.
• Transfer the mix into a baking dish, on an even layer, cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven, carefully lift off the foil and stir. At this point you can cover again and finish off cooking for another 20 minutes or, if you like a more browned cauliflower return into the oven without the foil (in this case you have to check every 10 minutes and, if necessary, give the mixture a stir if you don't want it burns).
• The cauliflower is ready when tender but not too soft.
• Remove from the oven, if necessary lift off the foil covering, and leave to cool down a little before stirring in the chopped parsley.
• Taste, adjust the seasoning if necessary and serve warm or at room temperature.
• I like to serve it with some tahini sauce: you can drizzle a little on top or serve it in a bowl so that your guests can help themselves according to their liking.
• How to make the tahini sauce: in a bowl whisk together tahini paste, water, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of salt. The mixture should be creamy, if too thick add more water. It is also possible to blend ingredients using a food processor.
Cooks Note
Join the Conversation |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15637 | Because she’s one tough cookie.
Amy Adams may be a five time Academy Award nominee, but even she had her moments of doubt (and we’re not talking about that awesome movie she did with Meryl Streep).
The actress recently answered fan questions for Buzzfeed. When asked if she ever lacked confidence she reflected on her early days of acting when everything definitely wasn’t so easy.
So how exactly did she get through it all? A great support system, she says.
So when your friends tell you that you’re awesome, believe them! Got it? Good!
[related_post themes=”flat”]
Categories: Celebrities |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15767 | Overlay Control Center "Stuck" ????
Hi Folks. This is the first time this has happened, but I seem to have somehow got my Overlay Control Center (OCC) in the top left hand corner of my workspace. It was previously docked on the LHS but somehow I've double clicked and dragged it so that it has become un-docked and the top bar of the OCC is hidden/off the screen so I can't grab it and drag it back into view and re-dock it (see attached screen grab).
Any ideas on how to fix this as I'm stumped....???
Cheers, /al
• Just to be clear, the OCC is stuck in upper LH corner of Windows desktop as per attached screen capture... (I'm running Windows 7 and GM V18.2). I've tried everything I can think of to move it, bit I'm stumped...
• Ice Age MarkIce Age Mark Global Mapper User Posts: 311Trusted User
If you're familiar with doing such things, you might be able to go into the registry, where the location is remembered, and edit it to somewhere within your screen. Then reopen.
Good luck,
• Hi Mark,
Sorry, I don't understand what you are saying...? Do you mean I should edit the registry via the Windows Registry Editor? I'm not sure I'd be confident enough to do that without messing up my whole computer. There must be another way...?
edited October 2019
Hello there,
I don't know any other way, but maybe BMG support knows some secret. Even reinstalling GM will likely (though I'm not sure) not work unless you delete the entire GM registry. The installer will try to save your old settings from there for you, including the problem CC location. Plus you will lose every single custom setting, etc. It's a real PITA. You 'shouldn't' be able to wreck your whole computer just by editing the GM part of the registry. If you get brave:
Close GM before you edit the registry, otherwise when you do so afterward, it will just "remember" the old problem values, and you will have to start over.
Type regedit in your RUN window or command line. Navigate the file tree to find this place:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Global Mapper
In 'Global Mapper' will be a giant list starting with 3D settings. It's alphabetical, so scroll to the 'c' part and find "ControlCenter_Left" and "ControlCenter_Top". Each one has a binary number followed by an integer in parenthesis. The ones in parenthesis are the screen coordinates of the top/left corner of the CC. If this is the problem, yours should be a value that is offscreen.
Change these to a value that is near the center of your screen. Close the registry, and reopen GM. The CC 'should' be near the center, so you can then proceed and put it back where you want it.
Best of luck,
• Hey Mark,
I really appreciate your help and your very well explained instructions - thanks for taking the time!
Unfortunately no joy, as I modified the CC values multiple times with multiple re-boots and nothing changed, see attached screen grab with modified CC registry values (same as I have on my laptop where i run another standalone V18.2).
I'm completely stuck. i can still use GM, its just a pain having the CC outside (left) of my work area... Maybe I'll see if the boffins at Blue Marble can help - though I think they no longer support V18.2 :-(
Cheers buddy,
• bmg_bobbmg_bob Global Mapper Programmer Posts: 2,081
Try deleting one or both of these keys from the registry (you may only have one -- I can't remember exactly which version added the second one.) They contain information about toolbar and pane locations that is stored automatically by Windows. This should restore default locations for all toolbars and panes.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Global Mapper\Settings
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Global Mapper\Workspace
The "Workspace" key has nothing to do with Global Mapper workspaces.
To be safe, you ought to back up your Global Mapper registry by right-clicking on the Global Mapper entry in the tree on the left, and choosing Export. This will create a .reg file. If you need to restore your registry, double-click that file in File Manager.
• Hi Bob,
Deleting the \Workspace sub folder was the answer. Many thanks!
• CarrickCon, maybe so try it?
Sign In or Register to comment. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15793 |
In Germany, meanwhile, the major sellers of diesel vehicles—not only VW Group but also Mercedes, Opel, and Fiat—have agreed to modify 5 million newer diesels now on the road to reduce their emissions.
They'll also offer four-figure trade-in bounties to encourage owners of the dirtiest diesels still on the road, those sold under Euro 4 rules before 2009, to trade them in for scrapping and buy a newer vehicle.
DON'T MISS: VW, Mercedes, Opel, Fiat launch buybacks of dirtiest diesels in Europe
VW alone used its "defeat device" software in 11 million diesel vehicles globally, and if every one of those had to be bought back on the same terms as in the U.S., it would likely have bankrupted the company.
Similar numbers likely apply to the other European makers, including those like PSA Peugeot Citroen who haven't yet signed onto the modification-and-bounty program.
That program was developed by a German panel on the diesel crisis with members from both government and the German auto industry.
Volkswagen TDI 'clean diesel' television ad screencap
Volkswagen TDI 'clean diesel' television ad screencap
Assuming European automakers follow through on their commitments, the general consensus among industry observers and analysts is that Europe's car industry (centered in Germany) has largely dodged a bullet.
Or as Bloomberg put it in a headline two weeks ago, the "diesel drama" fizzled as makers escaped more costly fixes.
The fact that Greenpeace activists scaled a building to protest the meeting that led to the announcement (requiring a last-minute change of venue) indicates some disappointment in the outcome.
CHECK OUT: Merkel rejects electric-car quotas for Europe: 'not well thought out'
But how confident should German makers be about continuing along the same path in the future?
The country's chancellor, Angela Merkel, told a reporter she forsees "the end of the road" for cars with combustion engines, even as she pushed back against the idea that Germany should ban the sale of such cars after a specific date.
Commenting on the agreement, a columnist for the British business newspaper The Financial Times writes that nonetheless, "Germany's carmakers face their iPhone moment" (subscription required).
Tesla Motors production line for Tesla Model S, Fremont, California
Tesla Motors production line for Tesla Model S, Fremont, California
It will come as Tesla Model 3 production ramps up, with Audi, BMW, and Mercedes squarely in the California company's sights.
A modern luxury sedan has perhaps 30,000 individual components, Goldman Sachs estimates, while a Model 3 likely has 6,000 to 7,000.
That simplicity has led German automotive unions to press hard for in-house manufacturing not only of electric cars but also the lithium-ion battery cells and modules that go into their battery packs.
Otherwise, they fear, as many as one-third of all current auto-industry jobs could vanish over time as simpler electric cars require fewer people (and more automated electronics fabrication equipment) to build.
Ten years ago, German makers were gearing up to launch their "clean diesel" vehicles into the U.S. as more fun-to-drive alternatives to unexciting hybrid vehicles.
2008 Toyota Prius
2008 Toyota Prius
Now, after the VW diesel scandal that's still working its way through the German legal system, all of them have accepted the inevitability of battery-electric cars, driven in part by the shock of the 2012 Tesla Model S.
In other words, the pain for German makers (and to be fair, the industry at large) is not yet over, and far more disruption lies ahead.
Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15805 | Grace to You Resources
Grace to You - Resource
Recently it seems as though there have been many difficult tragedies that have occurred in our church family. It wasn’t but a few weeks ago, we were with a young couple in our church, the Niednagles, who are dear friends to our family, and they lost their previous little Steven. Just a little newborn baby they put down at 7:30 and by 10:30 he was blue and died on the way to the hospital.
Two friends of mine that I went to high school with died of cancer. One lived three weeks after diagnosis. The other lived eight weeks after diagnosis and left behind a family of Christian people, struggling with the reasons for all of these things.
I was in the hospital last night with Tom Ellison from our congregation who was rushed into surgery the night before because there were some very confusing kinds of infection in his spinal column and he’s very challenged, of course, to get through all of this and suffering greatly with pain and things like that.
People have asked me numerous times in dealing with all of these things, why do you think the Lord is letting this happen? People asked me that when I recently went through an illness. What is the Lord trying to say to you? What is the Lord trying to teach you? Do you really understand what the purposes of God are in this? In fact, somebody asked me that on the telephone just two days ago.
Now, we have had a number of funerals in our congregation, as some of you know, who have attended them, and families have been bereaved. And life is full of those difficulties. This morning we had elders’ prayer for dear Bud Busby, been a part of our church for many, many years. In fact, he was here before I came and he’s still here. He’s having a surgery in a week. They're going to remove part of his esophagus where they found cancer and they've radiated that, and now they're going to go in and take that section out.
And the question always come up, why do bad things happen to God’s people? Isn’t being a Christian some kind of an insulation? Shouldn’t we expect that if God’s on our side, those kinds of things aren't going to happen in our lives? What is God’s purpose in all of that? And why is it happening? And how are we to view that? Those are very important questions. People asked me that when a few years ago Patricia broker her neck and they told me she didn't have much of a chance to live. And people were saying, “What do you think the Lord is going to teach you through this?”
Well, we all face that in life. We all face that. That’s just the way it is. Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward, the Bible says. As sure as sparks go up off of fire, trouble’s going to come. We all understand that and we know that. The longer we live, the more of that we accumulate.
And it’s very important for us to get a perspective of that and answer the question, what is God doing? And so, I want to do that this morning. And in order to do that, I want you to open your Bible to Hebrews chapter 12. I want to go to the Word of God this morning. Hebrews chapter 12, and to what must be, for many Christians, a very familiar portion of scripture that speaks directly to this issue, I think.
Now I confess to you that the passage is so important and the issue is so important that I can’t cover it all this morning. I’m going to give you an introduction this morning and I think it will be a very helpful one. I trust it will be. And then next week we’ll look more tightly to the text itself.
But I want to read the text to you and it really begins in verse 5. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5. The writer of Hebrews says this, “And have you forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline” – or the training or the chastening – “of the Lord, nor faint when you're reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. And he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline, or chastening that you endure. God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom is father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of Spirits” – that’s God – “and live. For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Now, this is really very foundational for us to understand the issues of life. And since life is filled with trouble, this passage answers what is a very profound and important question. Why do bad things happen to God’s people? Now, let me get a little bit of a running start here.
This book is addressed to Hebrews; that is to Jews. A community of Jews that constituted a church. They had come to understand the gospel. The Messiah had come and had died and risen from the dead. And they had believed that and the church began. No sooner did the church begin than persecution followed. After all, they came out of a Jewish background. They would been unsynagogued. They would have been put out of their synagogue. They would have been alienated from family, alienated from friends.
If they were employed by Jewish employers, they would have lost their job. They might have lost the normal issues of life in terms of where you go and what you buy and who you interact with this, because if those were Jewish contacts, they would have been isolated. They might even have suffered some other forms of persecution and alienation.
And so, these people in this community of Jewish believers are starting to feel the heat of what it means to identify with Jesus Christ. And the writer of Hebrews wants to put a perspective on that. He wants them to understand that there’s a process going on here. And it’s not one that should surprise them. It’s really an age-old process. In fact, back in chapter 11, he talked about heroes of faith.
And the writer of Hebrews sort of gets a running start into the 12th chapter and he reminds them about Jewish and even pre-Jewish, all the way back to the time of Adam and his son Abel. He talks about Abel’s faith and Enoch’s faith and Noah’s faith. And then the Jews began with Abraham. Abraham’s faith and Sarah’s faith. And it keeps coming down to verse 20, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses, and down to even a harlot by the name of Rahab who was a Gentile. And then others among the Jews, verse 32, Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets.
Now, all of these are people of faith. All of this is sort of like the hall of fame here in chapter. All the great heroes of faith. Those who believed God. And in every single case, where they believed God, they suffered the condemnation of the world. In every case, when they took a position on the side of God and his truth and his Word and his person, they suffered some condemnation from the world, in various ways.
It’s all summed up starting in verse 33. This group of people “conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, particularly in Daniel’s case, quenched the power of fire” – in other words, they were burned like the three friends of Daniel – “escaped the edge of the sword. They were made strong in their weakness. They became mighty in war. They put armies to flight.”
And some of them literally were killed and experienced the resurrection. They were tortured. It says in verse 36, “They experienced mocking, scourgings, chains, imprisonments” – verse 37, “They were stoned. They were sawn in half. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goat skins.” Apparently, wrapped in those kinds of skins they would attract, by the scent of those skins, some wild animal that would then eat them.
“They were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated.” “They wandered,” verse 38, “in deserts, mountains, caves, holes.” Welcome to the family of faith, folks. Anybody want to sign up? I mean that was the point.
When you enter to the family of God, you're going to receive the condemnation of the world to one degree or another. He’s just reminding them of that. He’s just saying look, this is kind of how it is. And in chapter 12 verse 1 he says, “Now, we have this great cloud of witnesses.” This group of people I've just identified, and they are witnessing to the validity of the life of faith in spite of its difficulties.
And that brings us down to verse 5, and he identifies what this is. From the standpoint of the world it’s persecution. And from the standpoint of the person who’s suffering it, it’s pain. But from the standpoint of God, in verse 5, it is called the “discipline of the Lord.” “The discipline of the Lord.” And he’s saying to them, you're not the only people to go through this. In fact, you're not the first people to go through this. This kind of goes with the territory.
Some of the people in this congregation we know from reading the Book of Hebrews, were genuinely converted to Christ. They genuinely embraced him as Messiah. They were true Christians but they were feeling the pressure of this persecution and alienation; this condemnation by the world that they were formerly a part of. And it was pushing them back toward Judaism. And some of them were tending to sort of renounce Christ and go back. Others of them were sitting on the fence sort of teetering on the edge, believing the gospel was true, but afraid to embrace it for fear of the fact that they too would be alienated.
Now, the Lord doesn’t take away the prospect of persecution. The Lord doesn’t say it’s going to be mitigated somehow. He just defines it. From the world’s view, it’s persecution. From your view, it’s pain. From God’s view, it’s discipline. And we want to understand it from God’s view, don't we? I mean that is the way to understand it.
So, the phrase that I want you to grasp in this text is in verse 5 right there kind of in the middle of the verse, “The discipline of the Lord.” “The discipline of the Lord.” We want to understand the issues of life from God’s perspective. We want to understand them from his viewpoint. And this is where we learn about his discipline.
Let me talk about the word “discipline.” Do some of your Bibles say “chastening?” I’m sure they do. Let me give you that word. It’s the word paideia. It is the word from which we get, for example, pedagogy which basically is a form of educating children. It’s a word that means to educate. And pedagogy would be to educate children. It’s the word from which we get the medical term pediatric.
Paido, which is the original Greek term for children. It is not a word loaded with negative connotation. The word chastening sounds pretty negative. It almost sounds vicious. It certainly sounds like a synonym for punishment. But the actual Greek word paideia, is a very broad word. And that’s why the translators in the New American Standard that I’m reading translated it discipline because it embraces both the positive and the negative, not just the negative. It’s a broad word. It basically means to train children.
And training children is a combination, isn’t it, a balance of the positive input – showing them truth and virtue and character, and on the other hand, giving them enough pain to cause them to be redirected away from things that are bad for them, things that are wicked, things that are evil, things that are destructive so that they associate those things with pain. They understand there’s a price to pay for those, and they don't want to pay the price. Thus, they avoid it.
But the word pidea, or chastening, or discipline, I suppose we could sum it up by saying, refers to whatever efforts are made toward children to cultivate their soul. Whatever efforts are made toward children to cultivate their soul. That would involve teaching them truth and virtue. That would involve correcting mistakes and curbing passions. That’s what the word basically means.
Whatever effort is made toward children to cultivate their soul, and that would involve teaching them truth and virtue, correcting mistakes, and curbing passions. It would have a positive aspect and a negative aspect. It would include instruction and it would include punishment. It includes all of that.
It does not have the idea only of punishment. It does not have the idea only of corrective measures which are designed to eliminate evil in the life and encourage what is good. It has also the idea of instruction with what is right. It is the full orbed term, parents should use in the process of rearing their children. A loving parent disciplines, trains, rears his child both to love what is right and to hate what is evil.
Now, the Lord is doing this in our lives. The writer of Hebrews is saying you have to look at all of this from God’s perspective and see it as training. And see it as training. I mean it would be not unlike any kind of rigorous training. Training for those people who have to do rigorous tasks in the military, training for those who have to do rigorous tasks in an athletic endeavor, training for those who have to do rigorous tasks such as going into space. We've all been aware of that this week. Any of those kinds of things involve positive input, and also warnings of what would violate and become destructive. And that’s how training is. It’s a positive and negative balance.
Now, in the training that the Lord brings into our lives, there are several reasons that he does that. I had three when I got here this morning. I thought of another one in the early service and I’m going to include it. That’s always kind of fun, you know, when it just kind of pops in there. But I want to show you four reasons why the discipline of the Lord occurs in your life as a Christian. Four reasons.
Now, before I look at those four reasons, I want to make a – sort of a very clear distinction here. There must be a sharp distinction made between divine punishment and divine discipline. Alright? Between divine punishment and divine discipline. Let me say this as clearly as I can. God’s people can never be punished for their sins in the full sense, in the judicial sense, because God has already punished Christ fully for our sins, right?
He bore in his own body our sins on the cross. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. He paid the penalty in full and therefore, Romans 8:1 says that “We are no condemnation” and never will be. So, when we're talking about divine punishment or divine chastening or divine discipline, we're not talking about that judicial punishment of our sins, which relates to our salvation. We're talking about a discipline and a chastening and a punishment that relates to our sanctification.
God has already punished Christ for all our sins, which takes care of our eternity. But God has to punish us for our sins here in time in this world to conform us more and more to holiness and righteousness, which is to bring us into greater blessing and usefulness. Those are two things you have to keep distinct.
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son has cleansed us from all sin in the judicial sense. Our sins are paid for. They're completely covered. And neither the justice of God, because it’s already been fully satisfied by Christ bearing our sins, nor the love of God, will ever permit him to again exact payment for what Christ has already paid for. Did you mark that out?
So, when you are chastened, and when you are punished by God for sins in this life, it is not because Jesus somehow didn't bear all the punishment for your sins. It is not related to your justification; that is your standing before God. That was accomplished in Christ. It’s related to your sanctification. That is your personal righteousness so that you can enjoy his blessings and be useful to him. That distinction needs to be made.
To put it another way, in punishment related to our salvation, God is judge. In discipline related to our sanctification, God is a loving Father. In punishment related to our salvation, the objects are sins to be punished, the price to be paid. In discipline the object really is holiness, to conform the believer to purity. In punishment, condemnation is the goal. In discipline, righteousness is the goal.
Now, let’s look at four reasons why the discipline of the Lord happens in our lives. And I want to tell you, before we go into this, this is a very personal thing, for the most part. A very personal thing. And even that is to say, I can’t look at you and say, “Oh, I know why the Lord’s doing that to you” unless I know something flagrant about you and I’ll point that out.
But in many cases, this is something you have to deal with in your heart. And sometimes, while certainly not clear to everybody around you – it may not even be too clear to you, as we’ll see – but these are the reasons that we have to work through in understanding the discipline of the Lord.
Reason number one. Retribution. I’m going to use the word retribution. It means punishment. Retribution. The first reason the Lord would discipline you like a father would discipline a child, is because you've sinned. And sin is bad for you. sin harms you. Sin can devastate your life. It can render you useless in the service of God. It can forfeit God’s blessing. It takes away your joy, your peace. It produces shame, guilt, worry, fear, anxiety. And a loving father doesn’t want you to have that.
As a loving father punishes a child not to hurt the child but to help the child, he punishes the child not to produce long-term pain but short-term pain and long-term correction. So, God punishes sin in the life of a believer for positive purposes. We have sinned and we need to be dealt with. That’s one of the reasons we get disciplined.
And frankly, when you're going to work your way through these things, struggles are going on in your life, maybe you've been told you have cancer. You have a disease. Maybe you're struggling in your marriage. Maybe you're fighting off the pain of a partner who left you and maybe left you with a child.
Maybe you're married partner had an affair with somebody. Maybe you were planning to marry somebody and she turned away from you and you're in the forlorn situation of having unrequited love. Maybe you're struggling with a death in the family. I don't know what it is. All of those kinds of things. And you start to take a look at why is this happening with me? You start with this. You start with this.
Look into my own heart. Look into my own life. Is there sin there? Could this be corrective in my life? Could it be that a loving father is trying to show such consequence in my life as a result of my sin pattern that I need to correct that? Now, that was the case with David. Remember the great king of Israel, David? A remarkable man, credible man, very brilliant, a songwriter, a sweet singer, a harpist, a great leader, a noble king. A man who had gained not only the esteem of his people, but he had been the man that God had identified to be the king of his theocratic kingdom – the nation Israel.
David had everything a man could ever have. He had it all. Sitting in his palace one day, and his palace was higher than the rest of the houses around him, he looked out and saw a woman sunbathing on the roof of her house. And he desired that woman. Her name was Bathsheba.
The story, of course, is known to everybody. He worked out a way in which he could get that woman. Came together with that woman. Actually, she became pregnant as a result of that union, so he committed adultery, violated his own marriage, his own vows to his own wife. Violated the nation. Violated his role as a king.
And more than that, he worked it out so her husband, who was one of his most dedicated soldiers, fighting a battle on the behalf of great King David, would be put in a place in the battle where he would be compromised, left alone to the will of the enemy. And Uriah became the victim of the plotting of David so that he was actually killed in battle. David was responsible not only for adultery, but murder. Murder.
And then the floodgates of chastening opened up. And the Bible says, about David, the most amazing thing. God said to David, “The sword will never leave your house.” Never. You're going to need to learn that you can’t conduct yourself like that and expect no consequences. There will be consequences to that behavior that’ll go on through your life.
The first consequence that came immediately was the baby died. The child of Bathsheba died. And you remember, David bemoaned that. And in his sorrow, he made a pensive statement. He said, “He cannot come to me but I shall go to him,” which was full of hope. He knew that little baby, that little innocent life was in the presence of God. That was a little bit of God’s grace extended, of course, to him, even though that was an illegitimate child. God does take care of all little ones. But David mourned the loss of that baby.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, coo after coo after coo came against David and the sword really never went out of his house. And the worst of all the coos was the one led by his own son, Absalom. Absalom tried to overthrow his father and take his throne. And Absalom eventually was riding fast through the forest and killed himself when he ran into a tree. And as you know, he was hanged there.
And David cried, “Oh Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, my son.” David suffered the terrible pangs of guilt. It says in Psalm 32 that David said my life juices are dried up. It affected his blood flow. It affected his saliva. It affected his nervous system. His whole body convulsed in the anxiety produced by the guilt and the shame and the sorrow of his sin. And his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth, and as long as he didn't confess his sin, he suffered through all that agony. His whole body ached from head to toe. Finally, he burst forth in confession.
In Psalm 51, he writes a similar Psalm and cries out to God against whom he has sinned, in penitence. He got the message. He really got the message. He became a faithful and a righteous man. He became the friend of God. He wrote more Psalms than anybody else. He became the sweet singer of Israel. He became a man after God’s own heart. But it took some tremendous and immense correction. And that’s where, whenever something happens in your life, that’s where you have to start. I mean that’s the right place to start, isn’t it?
Take that self-examination. Is there some sin in my life? You remember Job? I mean talk about having it tough. Job is a very wealthy man, one of the wealthiest men in the East. He lives during the time of the patriarchs; time of Genesis. Job may be the first Bible book in terms of writing. May be even have written before the Pentateuch – Genesis. Talking about men in the patriarchal times. One of them was Job. Very wealthy. Lots of land. Lots of crops. Lots of animals. And lots of children. And one wife.
And all of a sudden, everything goes. He loses it all. Loses absolutely everything. Loses all his crops. Loses all his animals. Loses all his children. The only thing left is his wife and she is just cantankerous and adds to his pain. He lost it all.
And then he lost his health. And he’s sitting in a pile of ashes, scraping scabs off with a broken piece of pottery to sort of relieve his misery. And the question comes to his mind – this is a man of faith. This is a man who believes in the true and living God. This is a man who has served God with his whole heart. This is a man who’s been absolutely obedient and faithful. This is the good man. This is the best of men at the time.
How do you know that? Because in Job 1 and 2, Satan went to Heaven. And Satan says to God, look God, you don't have anybody who’s faithful to you, if you don't give him all kinds of riches. If you don't bless him and pour out all this stuff on him, they're going to curse you. And he says that’s not true.
God says, no it isn’t and I’ll show you. There’s Job. He’s a man of faith. He’s a righteous man. He’s very wealthy. I’ll let you go and take away everything he has but his life. Everything away but his life, and his faith will not fail. We’ll Job didn't know that. Job never read the first two chapters of the book that bears his name. It wasn’t written until long after he was gone. He didn't have a clue. He never knew what was going on up in Heaven. He didn't know God and Satan were trying to make a point.
He’s just down here, and everything has gone wrong in his life. He doesn’t know. So, the first thing he does is look at his heart. He does a self-examination. He comes out and he says, look God, I think everything’s okay. I've confessed my sin. I’m working through the issues of my life. I want to serve you. I love you. I’m trying to be a good man and obedient man and I don't know of any sin in my life that I’m hanging onto. God, I think everything is okay. And he’s sort of scratching his head.
So, some of his friends come over and they feel so sorry for the guy. The guy’s absolutely in desperation. And it says for seven days they did nothing but sit in silence. His friends, three friends, just sat there in dead silence, just commiserating. Just sympathizing. Just probably going hum, just you know, hum.
At the end of seven days they broke their silence. And as soon as they opened their mouth, all wisdom left. The first thing they said was oh, Job, you've got a lot of sin in your life. We know. We have a good theology. Our theology is if you've got problems, you've got sin. Well, sometimes. But Job said, “No, I don't.” They said, well you better check again. So, his friends add to his pain because they keep accusing him of something that isn’t true.
And so literally, they ran that man – they ran that man through weeks of personal inventory and he came up with nothing. It wasn’t that he was sinless. It was that he wasn’t holding out some sin. He was willingly yielding his life to the Lord. He wasn’t like David. David did inventory and he knew he sinned.
When a believer is smarting under the rod, you might have to say, “I brought this upon myself.” God is correcting me in love. He’s not smiting me in wrath. He’s correcting me in love. That’s where you start. Retribution. And David knew it the rest of his life. It never went away. But don't get stuck there. When you do that inventory, you've got to move on.
There were certain things we didn't allow them to do. there were certain places we didn't allow them to go. There were certain people we didn't allow them to fellowship with. And the children would see that as a hardship.
Did you ever have your children say to you, “Why not? Everybody else.” Boy, I heard that one. “Ah, come on Dad. So, and so is going to do it, and so and so’s going to do it. Why can’t I do it?” I mean even down to never stepping off a curb, because we lived on a busy street and was just preventative care and protection of the children to say, “Don't ever step off that curb.” And occasionally, when they were little and stepped off the curb they got spanked. And so, you could see them run full speed and just come to a grinding halt when they hit a curb.
It was almost like this was – you know, they would know they were truly liberated in life when they were old enough to step off a curb. You know, that was sort of like the adult rite of passage. You know?
But you do that because you care. Right? You do that because you love your children. And that’s preventative. The apostle Paul knew that. As David is an illustration of God’s discipline for retribution, Paul is an illustration of God’s discipline for prevention. I don't find anywhere in the New Testament, and I pretty well have searched the scriptures with regard to Paul. I don't find anywhere where we see God bringing some punishment into Paul’s life for some sin that he harbored.
Boy, he wasn’t perfect, but he really did deal with the sin issues in his life. But he suffered. He suffered. I mean we saw it, didn't we, in Second Corinthians. He was beaten. He was shipwrecked. He was beaten with whips by the Jewish leaders. And he was beaten with rods by the Romans and he was stoned and left for dead, and he was hated and despised and he was thrown out of town and he started riots and they tried to kill him. And you know all that.
Was that for sin? In Second Corinthians 12, verse 7, Paul says this, “That God gave me a thorn in the flesh.” He uses the word for a stake, like a spear. God literally rammed a spear through my flesh. That’s very painful. God impaled me, if you will. God gave me immense pain. And it tells why in that verse. Second Corinthians 12:7. It says, “To keep me from” – do you remember it? “Exalting myself.” Hum. Now, that’s not retribution. That’s prevention.
God brings things into our lives to prevent us from the sin of pride. You get to feeling self-sufficient. You get to feeling almost omnipotent, able to control everything in your world. And God will bring something into your life just to humble you, just to prevent you from being overly proud. After all, Paul had had many visions, many revelations he says in that chapter. He had even gone to Heaven. You remember he was caught up into third Heaven. Saw things he couldn't talk about and things that he really couldn't explain, and he was forbidden to speak. It was an incredible thing that God allowed him to see.
He had numerous occasions after the ascension of Jesus Christ and after his conversion, seen the ascended Christ who appeared to him on the Damascus Road and several other times. And Paul says, because of those revelations which could make me proud, the Lord had to bring pain and suffering into my life in order to humiliate me.
And I think sometimes you've got to go there. After you've looked at the retribution issue, you've got to look at the prevention issue and you've got to ask yourself, is the Lord just trying to make me remember that I don't have another breath unless he gives it to me? Do I need to be reminded of the fact that I’m not in control of my life? I’m not the master of my fate. I’m not the captain of my destiny. I don't call the shots. It’s God who gives me the right to live. In him I live and move and have my being.
Do I need to be reminded that in the truth I’m nothing? And as Paul learned, “When I am weak, then I am strong and his power is perfected in my weakness.” When I have come to the end of myself. When I have nowhere to turn, and I cast myself on the mercy of God, then I’m just the kind of person that I need to be.
I really do believe God brings those strictures into our lives. God brings discipline and difficulty into our lives and trouble and trauma to keep us from feeling that prideful sort of invincibility that we can easily gain. He wants to make us feel dependent on him. He wants to protect us.
And I think the Lord sometimes just brings in discipline to wall us off from something we might otherwise have done that would have been against his will. Who knows what ways he protects his children. Who knows? He knows. We don't know.
And Paul, you know, in Second Corinthians 12, he said, “I prayed three times for the Lord to take that spear out of my body” – to remove that pain and three times the Lord said no because you need to be humbled. Three times the Lord said, it’s better for you to have this in your life because it’ll prevent you from being proud and thereby, being useful and forfeiting blessing.
So, all through Paul’s whole life – I mean from the time of the Damascus Road where he became a preacher of the gospel, until his head was chopped off in Rome by a Roman soldier and he was executed. All through his whole entire life and ministry he suffered, didn't he? And I think all of that suffering was not – it’s not designated in the New Testament as some kind of retribution for this man’s sins. It is more often defined as some kind of prevention. It kept him humble who, otherwise, would have been very proud. And he was remember prior to his conversion, a very, very proud man. Wasn’t he?
There’s a third purpose in God’s discipline. Not unlike a human father. And that’s education. Retribution is one. Prevention is two. And education is three. How can I say this in a way that you’ll understand it? I really believe that if you don't suffer in the vicissitudes of life, you're not going to experience God. There are tremendous lessons to be learned.
You can read the Bible and it says certain things. You know that when you go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, you know, I’ll be the Good Shepherd and I’ll be there and that’s all fine. That’s words on paper, and we believe them in our minds. But it’s not until you go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death that that’s personalized. Right?
If you've been in the valley and death has cast its shadow over you and you've come through and out the other side into the sunlight, you can read the 23rd Psalm and it’s not just words on a page. All of a sudden, it grips your heart because you've been there.
If you say that the Bible says, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus” and you're like William Carey and you're sitting out in India and you've got a sick wife and you've got three little sick boys and you're sitting in India with nothing to eat and no money and you're pleading with God to provide the next meal. And God sustains you, and you never miss a meal in 35 years of missionary work. And somebody says to you, “My God shall supply all your needs” is that theology or is that experience? If you never have that experience, then that theology never grips your soul.
And when you go in and you find your little baby has died of crib death, and that precious little treasure is blue and you know the life is gone, then you're going to find out whether God is able. Aren't you? Then you're going to find out whether God can give you peace that passes all understanding. Peace for which there is no human explanation.
Whether God can turn your sorrow into joy. Whether God is enough. If you ask a couple that’s never had that experience, “Do you think God is sufficient?” they will smile and say the Bible says he’s sufficient. I believe he’s sufficient. You ask the couple that lost the baby, “Is God sufficient” and they say, “The Bible says that and I have experienced his sufficiency.” And one of the reasons that God takes us through these issues in life is so that we may experience his sufficiency.
And the great illustration of that is back to our friend, Job. Job is down here on earth and everything has gone wrong. And his friends give him such stupid advice. And he can’t get any advice out of anybody that’s worth anything. And his wife just says, “Curse God and die.” That’s no help. They're telling him he’s the problem. She’s telling him, God’s the problem. No answer.
And God never tells him what went on. He never knows – his whole – he never knew till he got to Heaven. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't know why it was happening. But you know what? He lost everything. All his children. everything. He lost everything. And eventually lost all his friends because they got sick of telling him stuff that he didn't listen to. He was absolutely all alone. Everybody was on the other side. His wife. His friends. Everybody. He was absolutely alone and he never knew why this stuff was happening to him.
And you know, I just remind you, that it’s not up to you to know why it’s happening. It’s up to you to know who it is that cares enough about you to be doing it. We may never know why, in every case. Oh, you may, if you go through the retribution and you see a sin in your life. It may be prevention. But you may not know all of that because you may not know what the Lord is preventing since it’s prevented. You may not know.
But what did Job learn? There was never a time when God said, “By the way, Job, I’ll tell you what’s going on. I had this conversation with Satan. And I’m doing this to make a point to him.” He never told Job that. Never. Never.
And finally, in the end, do you know what he does say to Job? Shut up, Job. Don't ask any more questions. Who are you? Who are you? Were you around when I created the world? Who are you? Just be quiet. Don't say anything. And Job apologizes for his questionings. And then this is the cap at the end of the book, at the end of the story of Job, which is so incredible.
Job says this and here’s the great lesson of the Book of Job. Job looks at God and he says I don't know any more now than I knew when it started except I know this. “I had heard of you with the hearing of my ears” – and there wasn’t any written scripture at the time. He says I heard about you, God. Who you are was told to me. What you were like was told me.
I heard that you were the true and the living God, the creator of Heaven and earth and all that is in them. I heard about you that you were a God of righteousness. That you were a God of mercy and justice and all those things. I heard of that with the hearing of mine ear. Then he says this, “But now my eye sees you.” What happened to Job? A personal, private education. He was tutored by God.
Is God able to sustain a man when he loses everything he has? Job will give you an answer. What’s his answer? Yes. Is God able to allow you to overcome the bad advice of your friends and misdiagnosis of your problem? Yes. Is God enough when you're sitting there with a terribly painful, excruciating disease that goes on and on and on without relief? Is God enough? Is there still a place for peace and joy and trust and confidence in your heart? And Job’s answer is yes. And he never, ever would have known that if he hadn’t experienced it.
And then in the end, he says, “I repent in dust and ashes.” God, forgive me for ever questioning. And you know what he was saying? I didn't like the trip, but the end is worth the trip. The end is worth the exercise. In this sense, I now know God personally.
You asked me, could God sustain you in the losses of life? Can God sustain you when your children die? Can God sustain you when your wife turns against you? Can God sustain you when you lose everything, including your friends? Can God sustain you when you become embarrassed, when you become a laughing stock, when you're mortified to even be seen by anybody because of the horrors of your condition? Can God sustain you through that? Answer: I now see you, God, in a way I never, ever knew you before. That’s what we said earlier, isn’t it? If you don't go through those times, you don't know God can sustain you.
And he also had a new sympathy for others, Job did. And Paul says the same thing in First Corinthians 1 when he says, “God brought me through all my suffering in order that I might be able to teach you how to suffer.” So, I became educated so I can help you. But the real education is in the pain itself.
That’s part of the discipline of the Lord. You know he’s there. You know he’s able. That’s part of the training that he wants to do in your life. And Job is an illustration of that, as Paul was an illustration of prevention. As David was an illustration of retribution.
I told you I've been reading this biography of William Carey, which has captivated my mind. I've been thinking about going to India as a missionary. It’s just incredible. The story – listen to this. William Carey goes to India. He has a third-grade education. He’s a shoe – he’s a cobbler. He repairs shoes in England. He’s at the low, low rung, you know, on the social ladder.
He goes to India where, of course, he runs right into a cast system and he’s even lower than the lowest cast because he’s not Indian. He goes to India and terrible, difficulty there. But he decides he’s going to translate the Bible. Before he’s done, 34 years later, he’s translated the Bible into 18 languages, none of which he knew when he got there.
He became the greatest living scholar in Sanskrit because Sanskrit’s the basic language for all those other Indian languages and dialects, as Latin would be for the Romance languages. So, he works for years and years and years and translates the Bible into Sanskrit. And then out of Sanskrit into all these languages.
And then he decides that if he’s going to get the Word of God out, he has to build a printing operation so they get a printer named Marshman from England. He comes over and they build this printing operation. They bring in all these reams of paper that they're very difficult to get. They got the presses rolling. They've made the type out of lead now and they've got it all set up in all these various languages. And they're characters – not just English letters. So, it’s a very arduous task to do all of this in all these languages and they're starting to spread the Word of God everywhere.
They build this big printing operation. They've got, I don't know, up to 200 people working there and thing is going great and the Lord has made it all happen. And inside the building are many of the original translation sheets that he’s worked on – his original translation work. It’s all in there. And one night a fire comes and burns the entire thing to the ground and all the letters of lead melt. And all his life’s work, original copies of all of that, are gone forever. Irreplaceable.
Now, what are you going to do in reaction to that? It’s like a Job experience. Isn’t it? Do you know what they did? They all got together and they praised God because they were about to see God put himself on display. You ask William Carey, well, why did that happen? He says, “I don't know. Maybe God had a conversation with Satan and he’s trying to prove the point again. I don't know.” He doesn’t know.
To the end, he didn't know why. And who would know why that happened? And why would God, who could prevent such a thing allow such a thing? But in the end, it worked out to the furtherance of things. When they began to put it all back together again, within a year it was at full operation. And they were printing Bibles and sending them everywhere.
Every missionary who’s ever gone anyplace in the world of there is dependent upon those guys’ work, who worked around William Carey. But all I know is they all got together and had a praise service because they were about to see the hand of their God on display. And they saw God do things that if they hadn’t had the fire, they never would have seen him do, which was a tremendous education in knowing their God.
Fourth point. This is the one I just thought of this morning but it’s important. Anticipation. Anticipation. I think you'll understand this. Sometimes the Lord brings discipline into our lives just to loosen us up from the planet and to increase our anticipation of Heaven. You know, the more you go through in this life, the sweeter Heaven becomes?
I wrote a book on Heaven. No teenager bought it. Teenagers aren't ready to go to Heaven. They want to get married and they want to do their thing. But us older folk, we bought it. We're ready. You know who buys a book on Heaven? People who are ill and anticipating it. People who are older and really understand that Heaven isn’t down here, and they're anxious to go, and people who have people they love already there.
That was John in Revelation. He’s the illustration of anticipation. He’s preaching the gospel and they throw him out of the church. They take him on a ship and they haul him over to a place called Patmos which is a rock. I mean I've been there. It’s a rock in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s just a rock, and not a very large rock. And it was a place where they exiled prisoners. It was a prisoner. And they did some rock crushing and some work there. And he was there as a prisoner on the Island of Patmos. And he was there suffering. It was a great suffering.
And when he was there, things weren't going well. It was in the mid-nineties of the first Century. The church was floundering and weak. There were seven churches in Asia where John was. Five of them were rife with sin. His heart was really discouraged. Persecution everywhere. Christians being killed. The apostles had been martyred. It wasn’t going very well. It didn't look like they were going to conquer the world with this Christian message. And now, John’s sitting on a rock as a prisoner. It’s really tough.
And in chapter 4, what does the Lord do? He speaks from Heaven and he says, “Come up here, John. I want to show you what you have to look forward to.” And any persecuted group of believers understands that. Certainly, the Hebrews would have. That’s anticipation. And you know, at the end of the Book of Revelation, after God unfolds all this stuff that’s true of Heaven and all that’s going to come out of Heaven onto this earth in the end of the age, John at the end of the Book of Revelation, sums everything up. Jesus says, “I’m coming quickly.” What’s John’s response? “Amen.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Get me out of here. Anticipation.
I think that as you go through life and you accumulate all the struggles and the vicissitudes and the issues and sorrows and pains of life, Heaven becomes all the sweeter. Doesn’t it? And we, according to Romans 8, “Wait for the redemption of the body.” First Corinthians 15, “We long for this perishable to put on imperishable, for this mortal to put on immortality, for death” – or the dying process to be swallowed up by life. That’s anticipation.
So, when bad things happen to good people it may be retribution. It may be prevention. It may be education. It may have no other purpose than to get you where Job was, to be able to say, “God I knew about you intellectually, but now I know you intimately and personally.” I knew about you – print on a page in a Bible, and now I know you because you've touched my life intimately in the process of this sorrow. And it may be anticipation. It may be just to loosen you up down here. It may be just to get your feet off the ground a little bit and have you to anticipate the glory which is to come.
You say how do I know all those things? Well, where did I get them all? Where did I get all that? Where does the story of David come from? The story of Job come from? The story of Paul come from? The story of John? It all comes out of the scripture. Look back at the text and we’ll close with this.
In Hebrews 12 verse 5 he says, if you don't take suffering this way, if you don't accept the fact that God is disciplining you, he says this, “You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you at sons.” He says, look, have you forgotten the exhortation? And what is the exhortation? He says it. “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor faint when you are reproved by him.” Where did he get that? Proverbs 3:11. Proverbs 3:11. He wants the reader to remember the words of Proverbs 3:11. Have you forgotten what the Bible says, he said?
If you want to view your troubles from God’s viewpoint, you've got to look at scripture. If you look at your trouble from the standpoint of the world around you, you could say, well, it’s persecution or its germs or it was that accident. That car hit me and that person did it to me, or whatever. And if you look at it from your own viewpoint, it’s my pain. It’s my sorrow. If you want to see it from God’s viewpoint, you go to the scripture.
So, he says, look, you've got to go back because you have forgotten what the scripture said. And the scripture said that you're going to be disciplined. Don't think of it lightly. And don't faint when it comes because God is at work. Notice this is so wonderful. The writer’s appeal is to the Word of God. And the Bible is the final authority. It’s the court of appeal for every issue.
And when you want instruction and you want to understand life and you want to understand its good and bad elements, you go to the Word of God. There’s a verse I love in Romans 15:14. It says this. “Whatever things were written before” – that’s the Old Testament – “Whatever was written before was written for our learning.” Whatever is written in the scripture is for our learning that we, through endurance and comfort from the scriptures, might have hope. Boy, what a great statement.
You want to be able to endure through your suffering? You want to be able to have comfort through your suffering and maintain your hope? Through the scriptures. So, you turn to the scripture for hope. Turn to the scripture for endurance. You turn to the scripture for comfort because the scripture speaks.
Look at verse 5. It is addressed to you as sons. I don't know if you view the Bible that way. I don't view the Bible as a – sort of a book just thrown down here for whoever. I really read this book in a very personal way. I hope you do. I see this book as God’s gift to me. I see this book as addressed to me as his son, as his child. It speaks to me. It’s for me so that I can interpret the issues of life.
And he says to these Jewish believers, he says, “Have you forgotten the scripture?” You go back. You'll find there endurance, you'll find there comfort and you’ll find there hop because you'll find there instruction, as we've given you this morning, about what God is doing through this. And it’s all for your good and your glory, ultimately, in eternity.
Well, that’s the introduction. Next Sunday, we’ll get into the message. Pray with me.
Father, how wonderful it is to have a rock to stand on, an anchor for our souls in your truth. We just – we grieve over those people who go through all the sufferings of life just losing people in death and accidents and suffering the trauma of broken love and lost children and divorce and the devastating results of sin and all the sadness and all the sorrow that fills the world. And they just have nowhere to go. They have nowhere to turn.
It’s just a mystery. It’s just darkness. It’s just pain. And sometimes they strike out in vengeance trying to somehow alleviate the suffering, but it just doesn’t come. And then, Lord, we just grieve over such people and we can only pray that they would come to the knowledge of the truth, to know you.
We thank you Lord that we know you and that when we see things happening we don't see them from a human viewpoint. Not someone else’s and not ours. We look at them from your viewpoint. And so, we embrace the suffering of life. We embrace the pain of life for its retributive effect on us as it chastens our sins and brings us pain that causes us to want to avoid any of that in the future. It drives us back toward righteousness.
And we thank you for that suffering in our lives that prevents us from being proud and self-sufficient and self-confident. For that part, which educates us in the personal dimension as you come to us in our pain and you provide all we need, and you sustain us and we know you in personal, intimate ways that we would never apart from that.
And we thank you for the way in which our suffering causes our hearts to reach out to the glory which is to come, the wonders of Heaven. To know that we will live there with no sorrow, no suffering, no tears, no crying and no death forever – in fullness of joy, in your presence. How we long for that.
And Lord, we are but unworthy sinners who have been graced with this blessing of being your children and receiving your loving discipline. Thank you for it. We know you bring it out of love, for all the right reasons, to accomplish your purpose in our life, that which will produce in us the greatest usefulness to you, and the greatest joy and fulfillment for us. Just as we do our own children, you bring us discipline out of love. And we thank you.
In Christ’s name, Amen.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.
Publisher Information
Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time
Since 1969
Back to Log In
Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time
Since 1969
View Wishlist
Cart is empty.
ECFA Accredited
Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time
Since 1969
Back to Cart
Checkout as:
Not ? Log out
Log in to speed up the checkout process.
Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time
Since 1969 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15828 | The spinal cord begins at the base of the brain and extends into the pelvis. Many of the nerves of the peripheral nervous system, or PNS, branch out from the spinal cord and travel to various parts of the body.
Information from the senses travels through the nerves of the PNS to the spinal cord and then to the brain for processing, and commands from the brain travel down the spinal cord and then to the appropriate part of the PNS, where nerves transport the instructions to the appropriate body part where action is needed.
To facilitate this process, the spinal cord is divided into two kinds of pathways called tracts. Ascending tracts carry sensory input from the body to the brain, and descending tracts carry commands from the brain down to specific tissues and organs.
The spinal cord is also essential for reflex function. Reflexes are the body’s way of coping with stimuli that require an immediate response. For example, jerking away from something hot or sharp is a reflex action. It happens immediately because instructions come from the spine (rather than the brain) to avoid injury.
The spinal cord, like the brain, has two major layers of protection. First are the vertebrae of the spine, and underneath those are three layers of tough membrane called the meninges.
The meninges surround both brain and spinal cord and are filled with a liquid called cerebrospinal fluid. The fluid has several functions, and one of them is shock absorption.
The spinal cord can suffer physical damage that can hamper or even halt communication between brain and body. If the spinal cord is severed, the part of the body below the damage is cut off from the commands of the brain, which causes paralysis.
The spinal cord can also be afflicted by disease or disorder. Among these is the birth defect spina bifida, which is the incomplete development of the central nervous system, including the spine. This can affect movement of the legs, incomplete sensation, or loss of bladder control.
The spinal cord can also be damaged by tumors. Whether cancerous or benign, they can put pressure on the cord and impair sensory or motor function. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15865 | Honest Auto Tech
Sunday, February 17, 2019
What is Automobile Engine Cylinder Cubic Capactiy (CC)
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the new article on Automobile Engine Cylinder Cubic Capacity.
Everyone gets confused what is CC of vehicle if engine is multi cylinder is every cylinder is of same capacity or what is the capacity of each cylinder.
What is clearance Volume and compression ratio ?
The volume contained in cylinder above the piston from its top dead center (TDC) position is called clearance Volume, Vc and the volume swept by the piston corresponding to its stroke length is called stroke volume or swept volume, Vs.
Bore and Stroke of Piston
Total Cylinder Volume = Clearnance Volume + Swept Volume
The ratio of cylinder volume to clearance volume is called Compression Ratio
Therefore, compression ratio is,
r = (Stroke Volme + Clearnance Volume )
Clearance Volume
What is Automobile Engine Capacity ?
The term “cc” stands for Cubic Centimeters or cm³ which is a unit to measure the Engine's Capacity or its volume. The unit of measuring the volume of a hollow cube having size 1cm X 1cm X 1cm. Engine Capacity is also known as ‘Engine Displacement’. It is the displacement of the piston in the cylinder from Top Dead Centre (TDC) to the Bottom Dead Centre (BDC) in engine cylinder to complete its one cycle. The Engine Capacity is also measured in Liters.
The Engine Capacity is the combined capacity for all cylinders of the engine added together. For example, if a three-cylinder engine has a capacity of 1200cc or 1.2L, that means all the three cylinders can together accommodate a maximum of 1200 cubic centimeters or 1.2L of the volume of air (or the air-fuel mixture) in them. If the engine has only one cylinder, then that lone cylinder will accommodate all of the 400cc or 0.4L of air inside it.
For eg.
• If Engine has an capacity of 1200cc it means capacity of engine is 1.2 ltr.
• If Engine has an capacity of 400cc it means capacity of engine is 0.4 ltr.
The Engine cc plays important role in Performance it affects on the factors such as Power and Torque. Smaller the CC then lesser the Engine Capacity and greater the Efficiency.
An engine with higher capacity intakes more air into the cylinder. As the volume of the air grows, the fuel system also proportionally increases the quantity of fuel to the engine. As the amount of the fuel for burning increases, it also increases the power output. Hence, in simple words, the power output of an engine is directly proportional to the engine capacity in the engine design.
Supplying more fuel to the engine increases its power and also its fuel consumption. As the volume of the cylinders increases, the power output also increases. But eventually, this reduces the mileage. Hence in that context, the mileage of the car is inversely proportional to the engine capacity in a conventional design. The manufacturers keep upgrading the petrol engines and strike a balance between power and mileage to achieve both performance and efficiency.
How Engine Volume (CC) is Calculated ?
To calculate the volume of an engine you can use the formula-
V = π/4 x (D)² x H x N
V = Volume
D = Bore Diameter
H = Stroke Length
N = No. of Cylinders
No comments:
Post a Comment
Featured Post
Diesel Engine vs Petrol Engine. Why diesel is more efficient?
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15879 | Microaggression: The New Workplace Bigotry
Ask any African American professional what a white person should never say to or about them and invariably the response will be: "You're very articulate." Why, you ask? Because such a statement assumes that African American professionals generally are not in command of "the King's English," a sentiment that would rarely be associated with a white professional. It is a contemporary way of saying: "You're a credit to your race." No less insulting, racist, or unacceptable as if the person had been called "the n-word". This seemingly trivial slight is a form of bigotry called a "microaggression" -- a small act of non-physical aggression based on bias and stereotypes, usually against someone racially or ethnically different than the perpetrator. Microaggressions are the negative assumptions we make about people that limit their humanity and value. As progressive as many workplaces are, we might be surprised that our everyday interactions are filled with microaggressions that undermine our self-worth and productivity.
A stark example of microaggression can be found in CNN's recent interview with embattled L.A. Clippers Owner Donald Sterling. While ostensibly attempting to apologize for his racist comments, Sterling refers to African Americans as "the blacks," a phrase embedded in the lexicon of racism, and of "owning" the players. He talks about "those AIDS" in referencing HIV-AIDS. Of Magic Johnson, a pillar of the African American community, he says: "I think he should be ashamed of himself. I think he should go into the background. But what does he do for the black people? Doesn't do anything...I just don't think he is a good example for the children of Los Angeles." Sterling -- a white racist -- sought to discredit an African American icon in the eyes of the African American community, a tactic often used in the Jim Crow South. In doing so, he proffered a series of microaggressions that in a work environment would negatively impact employee engagement, organizational climate, output, and the bottom line.
Women are subjected to microaggressions when they are sexualized by their male colleagues, judged harshly by female colleagues, or subjected to standards different from men. Barbara Walters, who became the first woman co-anchor of an evening news program in 1976, recalled that Harry Reasoner, her co-anchor at ABC News, refused to accept her and instead subjected her to demoralizing ridicule. Nearly forty years later, women are still burdened with workplace misogyny. Following a recent interview with General Motors CEO Mary Barra, NBC's Today show host Matt Lauer was roundly criticized for asking Barra if she could be a good mother and effective CEO of a major company. In suggesting that Barra could not balance work and motherhood, Lauer made a judgment about the competence of female executives that would never be made about male executives, like him, who are celebrated for being power players in boardrooms and great fathers at home. He advanced an erroneous and bigoted narrative that women are inferior to men. In doing so, he demeaned working mothers and damaged his own credibility on such issues.
Even more insidious, however, is when microaggressions are in play long before one enters the workplace -- when hiring managers make judgments about a person's qualifications and fit for a given job prior to giving fair consideration to the person's candidacy. These microaggressions are more than blind spots, as some suggest; rather, they are attitudes and perspectives that must be changed. Microaggressions can inhabit entire sectors, such as Silicon Valley where reports indicate Hispanic and African Americans makeup 6 percent of the technology workforce, compared to more than 12 percent nationally.
Google recently attributed its poor workforce diversity demographics to "unconscious bias" that cause hiring managers to unwittingly give preferential treatment to candidates who fit a given profile. As a result, Google's U.S. workforce is 3 percent Hispanic and 2 percent African American. But Google fails to reveal that underlying unconscious bias is a series of microaggressions that individually may seem innocuous, but as a whole are detrimental to the company. To counter public condemnation of its diversity numbers, Google is offering free computer coding lessons to women and minorities, but it has done nothing to find work for the 20,000 fewer African Americans, employed as computer programmers and systems analysts since the end of the Great Recession in 2011. Google has, in effect, eliminated those workers from its consciousness, in what may be its greatest microaggression of all.
Microaggressions diminish and stigmatize people, contributing to a $450 billion to $550 billion per year loss in U.S. workforce productivity, according to Gallop. The good news is that we can cure microaggressions by being self-reflective, empathetic, and willing to address our biases and their impacts on others. We must own up to the fact that microaggressions are harmful. Here's the safe bet and most proper point of reference: if we would not assume something about, or say something to, a straight white male professional, we probably should not do or say such a thing to an African American, a woman, LGBT member or any other group. Here, the standard must be equality of respect in the workplace. We should accept nothing less. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15880 | Home Remedy for Rabbits Eating Hostas
Hostas are decorative, flowering perennials often used as landscape plants. These plants are especially attractive to rabbits that will eat all the leaves and even the stems. If it is a new, young plant, rabbits may eat it down to the roots. Often, the destruction that rabbits cause ends up with the death of the plant. You can protect the plants from the devastation that rabbits cause, but it may take some persistence and creativity on your part.
Rabbits love to eat young hostas and new plant growth.
Step 1
Sprinkle your young hosta plants with baby powder. It will coat the leaves and make them unpalatable to the invading rabbits. You must reapply this if it rinses off, which is likely to happen in the rain or if the plants are watered by a sprinkler.
Step 2
Shake garlic salt over older plants. Even though you may miss some of the leaves on larger plants, the odor will repel the rabbits and stop them from eating your hostas. Reapply if the plants are watered or rained on.
Step 3
Place sweet gum seed pods in a circle around hosta seedlings. These seed pods are small round balls covered with spikes. If you don't have sweet gum pods, gather some evergreen holly branches -- or other prickly branches -- and encircle the plants with those. Rabbits will not want to cross a spiky barrier to reach your young plants.
Step 4
Plant garlic and wormwood plants around the area of your yard containing the hosta plants. Rabbits don't like the smell of either of these plants and will avoid areas that contain them. If you use them as a border for your garden or yard, the rabbits will tend to stay away.
Step 5
Fence around your hostas with rabbit-proof fencing. Chicken wire works well, as long as you use plenty of support. Make sure there are no holes underneath, so the rabbits can't sneak in.
Cindy Quarters
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15891 | IDT’s Fast CMOS Technology (FCT) logic family has been designed for use in standard TTL-logic applications. Our fast CMOS devices feature the highest speed logic available and the lowest power dissipation in the industry. The fast CMOS family consists of a variety of products including bus interfaces, buffers, multiplexers, transceivers, and other devices. There are two output configurations available, the industry-standard High drive and the low-noise Balanced drive. All devices come in several speed grades.
Download: Military and Aerospace Product Overview (PDF)
About Fast CMOS Latch and Transparent Latch
A basic CMOS latch circuit has two inputs (SET and RESET) and one output. The device may either be active-high or active-low, which defines whether a logic HIGH or logic LOW signal will trigger the CMOS latch.The purpose of the CMOS latch is to monitor the SET input, and once triggered, change and hold the state of the output until it has been reset by the RESET input. In other words, the CMOS latch latches ON once a change of state has been detected on the SET pin (even if just for a moment), and will remain in the ON state until a change of state is detected on the RESET pin.
CMOS latches are designed to be transparent latches because they allow the outputs to follow the inputs as they are transitioning from low to high (or high to low depending on the architecture); it is an immediate change. So, when several transparent latches follow each other (using the same input signal), the signals can propagate through all of them at once. IDT’s low-power fast CMOS latches are ideal for temporary storage of data. They can be used for implementing memory address latches, I/O ports, and bus drivers.
Note that CMOS latches are similar to flip-flops, but the word “latch” is primarily used for storage elements, while clocked devices are referred to as “flip-flops.” In addition, latches are typically triggered by the voltage level, while flip-flops are typically triggered by the voltage change (or edge). That is, when a latch is enabled it becomes transparent, while a flip-flop's output only changes on a single type (positive going or negative going) of clock edge.
About Octal Buffers
An octal buffer is a standard logic device containing eight identical buffers. The high-impedance inputs significantly reduce current loading to input drivers while the octal buffer outputs offer improved drive and switching noise performance. IDT’s octal buffers (line drivers) are built using an advanced dual metal fast CMOS technology and are designed to be employed as a memory, and address drivers, clock drivers, or bus-oriented transmitters / receivers for improved board density. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15922 | Ariana Grande skipped the Grammys, but she gave fans a fabulous look at the princess-like ball gown she would've worn
ariana grande ariana grande
Ariana Grande is an award-winning singer.
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
• Ariana Grande skipped the 2019 Grammys on Sunday, but shared a series of photos on Instagram of the princess-like gown she would have worn to the event.
• The singer showed off images of her wearing a custom-made, pale blue Zac Posen dress and laying on a floor.
• She also had her hair in her signature high pony and accessorized with a sparkling necklace.
Ariana Grande wasn't present at the 2019 Grammys on Sunday, but she still showed off photos in her custom-made, strapless dress.
The 25-year-old singer took to her Instagram during the award show and shared multiple photos of herself in a princess-like pale blue gown designed by Zac Posen.
"when @zacposen makes u a custom gown it doesn't matter if you're singing or not," she captioned one photo. "thank u."
when @zacposen makes u a custom gown it doesn’t matter if you’re singing or not 🌫 .... thank u 🖤
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on Feb 10, 2019 at 5:49pm PST
Grande wore her hair in a signature high ponytail, done by hairstylist John Liu. Her makeup was done by Rokael Lizama, who has worked with the singer in the past for her music video looks. The "Thank U, Next" singer also accessorized with a sparkling necklace and earrings.
In two additional photos, Grande looked like a literal sleeping beauty as she posed on the ground. Look at the images below.
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on Feb 10, 2019 at 5:50pm PST
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande)
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande)
Here's a look at the outfit from head-to-toe.
just a surfin boy @zacposen
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on Feb 10, 2019 at 6:12pm PST
And here's a closer look at her jewelry.
A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande)
Grande was supposed to perform at the Grammys, which were held at Los Angeles' Staples Center and hosted by Alicia Keys, but she pulled out at the last minute. After Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich told the AP that Grande "felt it was too late for her to pull something together," Grande hit back on Twitter.
Read more: Ariana Grande slams the Grammys for 'lying' about why she won't perform and says the show 'stifled' her 'creativity and self expression'
In a series of tweets, the "7 Rings" singer accused the producer of "lying" about her reason for dropping out.
"i've kept my mouth shut but now you're lying about me," she tweeted. "i can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken. it was when my creativity & self expression was stifled by you, that i decided not to attend. i hope the show is exactly what you want it to be and more."
Variety previously reported that Grande felt "insulted" by producers when they refused to allow her to perform her new song "7 Rings." According to Variety's sources, the producers said that they would allow Grande to perform single as part of a medley, but insisted that they choose the second song she would play.
In another tweet, Grande said that she "offered three different songs" to perform.
"it's about collaboration. it's about feeling supported. it's about art and honesty. not politics," she said. "not doing favors or playing games. it's just a game y'all.. and i'm sorry but that's not what music is to me."
Despite being a no-show at the Grammys, Grande took home the award for best pop vocal album for "Sweetener," which was released in August 2018. It was also her first Grammy win ever. She reacted to her win with several tweets.
"F---," she wrote. "I know I'm not there tonight (trust, I tried and still truly wished it had worked out tbh) and I know I said I try not to put too much weight into these things ... but f--- ... this is wild and beautiful. Thank you so much."
"But mostly thank y'all for being my main source of joy and inspiration always," Grande added.
More: Grammys 2019 Ariana Grande Singer Style |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15924 | 10 foods you should avoid reheating
microwave microwave
Using a microwave can save you time and money.
Rebecca Block/SpoonUniversity
Leftovers can be a lifesaver when it comes to a quick office lunch or a no-fuss evening meal. There’s something so satisfying about popping a plate of last night’s dinner in the microwave for a fast and easy way to fill your belly.
Unfortunately, reheating certain dishes can put you at risk of food poisoning or worse. Here are a few foods you should never reheat for safety reasons.
You should think twice before warming up leftover potatoes.
Mashed potatoes in the crock pot — free up your stove space
reheating mashed potatoes can cause bacteria to form.
Paul Howritz/ Shutterstock
Reheating mushrooms can give you an upset stomach.
Reheating mushrooms can give you a stomach ache.
Lisa Xu/SpoonUniversity
According to the Independent and the European Food Information Council, reheating mushrooms is a big mistake.
Mushrooms contain proteins that can be damaged by enzymes and bacteria if not stored properly, e.g. left at room temperature too long. Reheating and consuming mushrooms that have deteriorated in this way can give you a stomach ache.
If you really must reheat mushrooms, the European Food Information Council recommends warming them to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
You probably shouldn’t reheat your chicken.
Reheating chicken needs to be heated up to at least 175 degrees.
US Department of Agriculture/Flickr
You’ve probably heard that heating up leftover chicken can dangerous. Though it isn’t strictly true that reheated chicken will lead to food poisoning, getting the process right is tricky.
Lydia Buchtmann, spokesperson for the Food Safety Information Council, told SBS that it’s technically OK to reheat chicken. However, you need to make sure that every single part of the chicken has reached a temperature of at least 175 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure dangerous bacteria are killed. The only way to do that is with a cooking thermometer. Furthermore, you need to make sure cooked chicken is kept below 42 degrees Fahrenheit at all times if you plan to reheat it, and you should toss any cooked chicken that’s been around for more than three days.
If you don’t happen to carry around a meat thermometer and don’t know the exact temperature of your lunchbox and fridge, reheating chicken might be more trouble than it’s worth.
Eggs can quickly become unsafe to reheat.
Scrambled Eggs
Eggs shouldn't be left out for more than two hours.
robynmac / iStock
If your plate of scrambled eggs is cold by the time you butter your toast, it’s fine to pop it in the microwave for a minute or two. However, the Food and Drug Administration advised that reheating eggs that have been sitting around for even a short while can be dangerous.
According to the FDA, you should never leave eggs or dishes containing eggs out of the refrigerator for more than two hours or more than one hour in hot weather. This means that it’s definitely not okay to reheat a casserole that was left out for serving at a party or a slice of quiche brought home from a restaurant. Bacteria such as salmonella can multiply rapidly in egg dishes and lead to serious food poisoning.
Reheating cooked rice can lead to bacterial poisoning.
turning rice into sharp kitchen knife video youtube
Rice can be contaminated with bacteria.
As the BBC reported, cooked rice can be contaminated by a bacterium called Bacillus cereus. Though these bacteria can be rendered harmless by heat, they actually make spores that are toxic and heat resistant.
Eat cooked rice as soon as possible without letting it sit around for hours at room temperature. If you absolutely must reheat rice, make sure every part of the dish is piping hot. This probably means microwaving the dish once, taking it out for a thorough stir, and then popping it back in the microwave for another round of heat.
Breast milk and baby food shouldn’t be zapped in the microwave.
baby food
Microwaved baby food can hurt the baby.
Though breast milk and baby food can be warmed up for your child, it shouldn’t be reheated in the microwave.
Registered dietitian nutritionist Susie Garcia told Bustle that microwaves can heat food unevenly, resulting in hot patches that can burn a baby’s sensitive mouth and throat. If you need to reheat breast milk or baby food, do so in a hot water bath on the stove.
You should be extremely careful when reheating seafood.
seafood farm to table restaurant
Seafood needs to be immediately frozen before being reheated.
Trio's Restaurant/Facebook
Seafood is always best enjoyed fresh, but is it safe to reheat? The answer depends on how the seafood was stored.
According to the FDA, fresh seafood that was caught and immediately frozen should be safe to reheat. However, fresh or cooked seafood that has spent any time at room temperature might be harboring bacteria that can cause foodborne illness. Reheating may not kill these bacteria, and it can be hard to know how seafood was previously stored if you are buying it fresh.
The FDA also recommended that seafood should be discarded if left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours in cool weather or one hour in warm weather. Bacteria can grow rapidly on seafood at any temperature between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spinach may not be safe to microwave.
Spinach can be covered in nitrates which heated up can be carcinogenic.
Nillerdk/Wikimedia Commons
Leftover spinach is probably no one’s favorite snack, but there might also be a health reason to avoid nuking these leafy greens in the microwave.
Business Insider reported that nitrate in spinach can be converted to nitrates and then to nitrosamines by reheating. Some nitrosamines are carcinogenic and can affect the body’s ability to carry oxygen. These findings had been backed by the European Food Information Council.
Don’t reheat anything from a buffet.
A girl helps herself to a buffet at a fast food restaurant in Harlem in New York December 16, 2009. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly
Buffet dishes can be breeding groups for microorganisms.
Thomson Reuters
Buffet dishes left out for hours at room temperature are breeding grounds for dangerous microorganisms, according to the FDA.
Bacteria multiply quickly on non-refrigerated food. Though most professional catering companies and restaurants follow strict food safety guidelines to prevent food-borne illness, buffets at office parties or home gatherings are obviously not as strictly controlled. This means that bacteria on buffet food could already be at unsafe levels, and reheating may not kill the germs completely.
If you’re hosting a buffet-style party, never add fresh food to an already-filled serving dish and discard any perishables left out at room temperatures for more than two hours in cool weather or one hour in warm weather.
You should use caution when reheating oily foods.
french fries
Reheating oils can lead to toxic fumes.
Aly Weisman/Business Insider
Different oils have different heat tolerances, according to Livestrong. If you heat an oil past a safe level, it can produce toxic fumes.
Foods with a lot of oil shouldn’t be tossed in the microwave, as the high heat may cause the oil to smoke and produce these dangerous toxins. If you're going to reheat it, it's best to cook it low and slow in the over — or not at all.
Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.
SEE ALSO: Easy food you can make in the microwave.
FOLLOW US: INSIDER is on Facebook:
More: Features Microwave reheated food Freelancer |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15926 | 3 amazing cities to catch the Northern Lights
The polar lights in Tromso region, Norway.
The polar lights in Tromso region, Norway. Photo: V. Belov/Shutterstock
North America was abuzz last week when word got out that the Northern Lights would be making an appearance in parts of the continental U.S. The rare event got a lot of attention—the Midwest is a far cry from the Arctic Circle, after all.
The Northern Lights (formally known as the aurora borealis) occur when the sun's electrically charged particles interact with the earth's magnetic field. The result? A dazzling display of light that illuminates the velvet sky. If seeing the lights is on your bucket list, experts say that October to March represents the best time of year to catch a glimpse.
Since the far-reaching lights are visible above the northern hemisphere's magnetic pole, more than a few cities are in its path. Countries like Greenland, Iceland, Canada, and Russia are all on the list.
Before you head north, read up on three cities known for their spectacular views of the Northern Lights.
1. Fairbanks, Alaska
Odds of catching the aurora borealis are high in Alaska, particularly in the city of Fairbanks. Experts say that since weather conditions have to be just right to glimpse the lights (a perfect blend of darkness and clear skies), guests who stay in Fairbanks for three nights have an 80 percent chance of witnessing the phenomena.
About 100 kilometers northeast is the Chena Hot Springs Resort—a place where aurora chasers of all stripes congregate, hoping to steal a peek of the elusive Northern Lights. As the name implies, travellers can take a steam in an outdoor hot springs lake bordered by massive natural rock formations and towering forest all around. All this rests beneath one of the greatest shows on earth; the Northern Lights dancing above.
Aurora Borealis near Fairbanks. Photo: Roman Krochuk/Shutterstock
2. Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
What better place to view the Northern Lights than an area that's been coined the "auroral oval?" Jukkasjärvi, located under 20 kilometers from Kiruna, is especially known for attracting those on a pilgrimage to see the lights. The village is also home to the famous Icehotel.
Half art exhibition/half resort, this winter wonderland is literally made of natural snow and ice from a wild river near the Arctic Circle. Through the hotel, guests can even experience the aurora from above with Northern Lights flights. Since Jukkasjärvi is a relatively small village, travellers can also venture out into the area's vast wilderness for a more intimate viewing of the lights.
northern lights over a cabin in Sweden. Photo: Jens Ottoson/Shutterstock
3. Tromsø, Norway
Tucked above the Arctic Circle, Tromsø is a bonafide aurora hotspot. Because it's impossible to predict exactly when the lights will appear, those wishing to catch a glimpse are often left to kill time outdoors. Tromsø is the perfect place to do so.
With loads of winter-themed activities to choose from, visitors will find plenty to do while waiting for Aurora to begin her dance. The city boasts everything from snowmobile safaris to dog-sledding adventures—all as the Northern Lights rain down from above. Those hungry for a behind-the-curtains look at the phenomena can also drop in on lectures hosted by local expert researchers.
Read more: Photo tip: Aurora borealis (Northern Lights) in Iceland
Buy a book: Insight Guides: Scandinavia |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15941 | Connect with us
Exit Planning
Advisors: How to Create Sufficient Post-Exit Income
Advisors: How to Create Sufficient Post-Exit Income
Business owners have always sought, with varying degrees of success, to create a stream of income after we exit our companies that matches the income we enjoy while owning them. Today, the difficulty of that task has increased exponentially for three reasons.
1. The growth of the S&P 500, including dividends, has averaged 4.25 percent in this century and the current yield on the Treasuries is 1.8 percent. This means investment growth and income has remains stubbornly low. So today’s post-exit investment income is far lower than pre-2000.
2. Earnings multiples that buyers are willing to pay for businesses worth a few million dollars (and less) do not seem to have risen as much as multiples for businesses worth $5,000,000 and more.
3. Life expectancies for you and your spouse have risen.
Our post-exit income streams have to last a lot longer than most of us anticipated, so it is very difficult for owners to exit their companies and maintain their pre-exit lifestyles.
Recall Larry Dykes from the prior post. His company’s valuation of $2,500,000 was based largely on a multiple of its pre-tax earnings of $500,000 to $750,000. As a mature business with no debt and little need for cash flow to fund growth, these pre-tax earnings could be distributed to Larry as “S” distributions. Upon a sale of the business for $2,500,000 cash, Larry could expect, after taxes and costs of sale, proceeds of $1,800,000. Once he invested the proceeds, Larry could withdraw 4 percent per year—a rate currently deemed reasonable by most financial planners.
Larry’s income stream from his sale proceeds is less than $75,000 a year—a tenth of the stream available to him pre-sale (and that’s without considering Larry’s pre-exit salary of $250,000 which he will not receive after he exits).
Larry and his wife lived on $300,000 annually. To maintain that lifestyle post-ownership, they would need capital of approximately $7,500,000. Even at that, the additional pre-tax earnings of up to $750,000 would no longer be available
Small wonder then that many owners feel compelled to continue in their businesses beyond their hoped-for exit date.
How Can You Create Sufficient Post-Exit Income?
1. Prepare for your inevitable exit by investing the excess distributions you receive today from your business. Larry was able to invest $250,000-$400,000 a year—the after-tax amount of the earnings that could be distributed to him.
2. Focus on growing business value and cash flow. Engage in an exit planning process with skilled advisors. As part of that process you will focus on methods, tools and designs to increase transferable value. A side benefit of this process is that your role will likely change—for the better. Your day-to-day “hands-on head-down” efforts must give way to a “head-up hands-off” if the company is to have full value without your leadership. I find that owners find much greater enjoyment in doing what they do best, rather than doing what they believe they have to do.
3. Accept that you may have to remain in the business longer than you planned. Prepare yourself and your business for this reality.
The longer you wait to accumulate outside wealth, grow business value and carry on as usual, the longer you will remain in the harness.
The alternatives to tackling the task of creating sufficient post-exit income are:
1. Remain in the business indefinitely.
2. Exit and reduce your lifestyle.
The consequences of staying in your business or exiting it are dramatic, but the great thing about being an owner is that the decision is yours.
The reality for most successful owners is that only way to achieve our aspirations is to bring grit and determination to tackling the challenges we face and to create a strategy to overcome them.
Continue Reading |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15976 | Carbon spoiler BMW F80 M3
8 Products
Seen 8 of the 8 products
Here you will find all carbon spoilers that are suitable for the BMW F80 M3 3 Series sedan
Forgot your password?
• All your orders and returns in one place
• The ordering process is even faster
• Your shopping cart stored, always and everywhere
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/15989 | T3 Video Tutorials
Basic and Advanced Joomla video tutorials about T3 Framework
Joomla template layout configuration video tutorial
T3 Framework makes it easy when it comes to layout configuration. This video will be about Layout configuration. The visual of layout configuration in back-end allows you to configure your Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3 templates layout easier and faster. Watch and see!
Video Transcript
Hi, this is Peter from JoomlArt. Today we will be talking about the T3 version 3 Framework for Joomla.
This is a 2 part video series about layouts. The first video will be about Layout Configuration, and the second one is about Layout Customization.
So let's start with the Layout.
There are 3 main parts in this tutorial.
1. Layout Overview
2. Layout Configuration
3. Exporing layout files
Ok, now let's check out the layout overview.
Each layout is built up from multiple blocks. One block can contain one or many module positions. The customization can be operated from any level: layout or block.
The layouts they are very flexible, you can change from 3 columns to 2 or full width. The base with elements are from 1 to 12 and this can be configured depending on each layout.
We can go with combination of 3-6-3, 8-4 or simply 12, it's up to you.
Ok, now we're going to move on to Layout Configuration.
First we’re gonna go to Template Manager, this is under Extensions at the top of your screen. We're gonna choose a template. In this tutorial, we’re gonna use JA Mitius template. Ok. Now let's go to the Layout tab. Let's scroll down. Here's the list of all the layouts on the site, select the layout for the Home menu.
There are 2 parts to this Layout Customization: the Module Positions and the Responsive Layout. We're gonna start with the Module Positions.
The Module Positions allows you to change the structure of the layout. You can change any module position that you want. For the spotlight block, you can set the number of positions to assign to any module position. If you don't want to publish any position in the front-page, just assign to "None". Always remember to save your settings. When saved, go to the top of the screen and see in the green bar, “Style successfully saved”.
The Reset Position button allows you to reset module position tab to default settings while Reset All resets all settings in the layout including the responsive layout settings. So let's check in the front, ok the front-end looks pretty good.
Just in case, we can save the layout in case you make any change that we want to come back to, so we're gonna name this example default-cloned, then save.
So we’re gonna move to Responsive Layout, the top of the screen to the right of the Module Positions. Here's the supported layouts. There are 5 layouts and you can configure the theme one by one: Wide, Normal, Xtablet, Tablet and Mobile.
Ok, let's try Xtablet layout, the layout for iPads. We can disable any position in the layout simply with one click of the mouse. We can resize the positions inside any spotlight block, just drag and drop within the base of 12. Can disable the positions that may not be displayed well in the layout. Ok let's check the front-end in XTablet or iPad. You can see here, the front page is displayed absolutely with what we’ve just configured.
The last part in this tutorial is Exploring Layout Files.
Each layout has a separate PHP file, the files are located in template/template_name/tpls. We have 6 layouts by default and one cloned layout so we have 7 total layouts and here are 7 PHP files. Please note that our settings in the back-end for layout are not saved to PHP files, they are saved to ini files. The ini files are located in template/template_name/etc/layout. As you can note, only layouts that have been changed here will have an ini file. The files also include the change settings. We can actually change the settings of layouts from the files but we generally don't recommend that for users, let's give it an example.
In the first position: block 1, spotlight 1, you can change that, can set the default with span 6 to span12. Now we go back to the Layout settings panel and refresh and we see that it's changed in the back-end successfully. You see that the position-2 has been changed to -1 and the span has gone from 6 to 12.
Remember to stay tuned for the second part of this video. This is one of many videos for T3 version 3 Framework. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16032 | Peter Moore Wishes Sony Would Hurry It Up
Thought we were kidding when we said Peter Moore bleed neon green? Nope! After getting some strange Wii analogies, Moore's back to moan and groan about Sony's Home. Says the former Xbox employee:
Yeah, I just wish it [Home]would ship. I [previously]questioned it a little bit, whether I'd want to wander around there. Phil Harrison showed me a demo — it's very cool, but let's go already. And so I'm disappointed that it's been pushed back a little bit again. But I really hope it gets going and becomes that portal to the PlayStation Network and we can utilise it. But boy, I just wish we'd get going.
Yeah, totally Peter. It doesn't matter if it's not ready or undercooked. Consumers will deal with it! Stuff breaks, right?
Moore "Disappointed" [GamesIndustry][Pic]
Be the first to comment on this story!
Trending Stories Right Now |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16073 | Psychologist and author, Carol Gilligan, became widely known in the 1980s for her book, “In a Different Voice.” In her work on the moral development of women she countered a prevailing criticism of their supposed inferior moral development to men. She pointed out that “women’s construction of the moral problem as a problem of care and responsibility in relationships rather than one of rights and rules ties the development of their moral thinking to changes in their understanding of responsibility and relationships.”
Now Dr. Gilligan with Naomi Snider, a Research Fellow at New York University, has published a new book that asks, “Why Does Patriarchy Persist?” which examines her earlier points in a broader context. They ask why patriarchy, a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, and social privilege, persists in the face of #MeToo and a seeming political revolt by women. How is it possible that even those committed to gender equality somehow participate in a system they consciously oppose?
The answer in this new book proposes a psychological reason for patriarchy - that it is a defense against loss. Specifically, a psychology of loss comes into play when a fear of vulnerability, rejection or betrayal leads people to seek safety in detachment from others. This work apparently involves studies of the reaction of babies when the connection to their mothers is interrupted. Reactions to the loss of connection go through stages of protest, despair and detachment which mirror what happens when young men and women begin to display stereotypical male and female behaviors such as the detached heroic male and the selfless, overly nurturing female.
The authors suggest that our cartoon male and female behaviors derive from pathological attachment styles leading to detachment, the loss of intimacy and genuine emotion. It is interesting to find a psychological theory about the reason for patriarchy connected to attachment theory which has played a large role in thinking about child development and child care in recent years. John Bowlby, the British psychologist who introduced the theory of attachment, described it as an innate need to form a strong bond with a caregiver that has an evolutionary basis.
It is the interruption of this bond that appears to be at issue here with detachment as the end result of attempts at repair. Yet development requires an ability to separate from and move beyond this initial bond in the service of achieving individual identity. Developmental theories have described a process by which boys and girls accomplish the separation from mother by identifying with the parent of their own gender. Boys identify with the masculine traits of their fathers, girls with the nurturing traits of their mothers - in both instances traits as defined traditionally by the culture.
Earlier feminist writers have pointed out that the boy’s task in separating from the mother is to define himself not only as a different person, but a different kind of person. To develop a distinct identity the boy sets himself in opposition to the mother and all that is feminine, cutting off a sense of continuity and empathy with others.
Attachment theory has loomed large in various discussions about development and in advice given parents. Now we find attachment theory implicated in a psychological theory of patriarchy. One conclusion emerging from these theories is the lasting importance of both fathers and mothers in the care of infants. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16075 | Short frenulum
What is a short frenulum?
The foreskin is a membranous line, more or less thick, which is located under the glans and connected to the skin of the penis.
Typically, a short frenulum causes traction of the glans down. It does not really prevent the foreskin from retracting. A too short frenulum is a real handicap for young adults during sexual activities. Indeed, if a rather narrow brake is fragile and when the erection is strong enough, it can cause pain to the brake during penetration. The frenulum can crack or even tear with bleeding.
Discomfort from a torn frenulum may last for a few days after more intense sexual activity. It eventually heals after a few days of abstinence. But, unfortunately, often, the dynamic is repeated when resuming sexual activity.
In other young men, if the frenulum is wide and solid, it does not break but causes an impression of painful traction erection, sometimes responsible for some premature ejaculation.
Can this problem be detected in children or teenagers?
This abnormality can sometimes be detected in children during spontaneous erections. It is then possible to treat it preventively before puberty. Otherwise, it is up to the teenager or the young adult to consult. Although it seems embarrassing at this age, we prefer to talk about its advantages than its disadvantages. Do not hesitate to consult because it is a common urological problem and the treatment is rather simple.
What are the possible treatments?
Generally topical creams or flexibility exercises are not very effective. The treatment is typically a frenectomy that is often required. This intervention has several synonyms either a frenectomy or a frenuloplasty.
Request an Appointment
Cancellation of appointment:
Change of appointment:
Thank you for your understanding.
Attach a file |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16076 | Excision of Genital Lesions
This procedure generally has to do with sebaceous cysts on the penis or scrotum.
First the skin is disinfected, and then local anesthesia is given. The skin is incised and the cyst is dissected and excised. Minor bleeding is sometimes controlled using electrocautery. The skin is closed with absorbable sutures. Taking Tylenol as needed is sufficient to relieve the post-operative pain. Avoid showering and physical exertion for 24 hours after the procedure. Baths are permitted after 48 hours.
What is a sebaceous cyst?
A sebaceous cyst is a cyst in the form of a ball that is hard to the touch, which develops under the skin.
Are sebaceous cyst a severe health problem?
A sebaceous cyst is benign and harmless to health aside from a moderate risk of infection. Excision is usually performed for aesthetic reasons.
Request an Appointment
Cancellation of appointment:
Change of appointment:
Thank you for your understanding.
Attach a file |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16079 | Getting the Deal Through: Franchise 2020
Getting the Deal Through: Franchise 2020
The following In House Advisor guidance note provides comprehensive and up to date legal information covering:
• Getting the Deal Through: Franchise 2020
• Jurisdictions covered
• Questions
Click here to download the latest Franchise 2020 report, published by Getting the Deal Through.
Jurisdictions covered
The following jurisdictions are covered in this report:
Australia; Canada; Chile; Finland; France; Germany; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Russia; South Africa; Switzerland; Thailand; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States
The set of questions relating to the topic of Franchise 2020 and answered by the guide for each jurisdiction covered include:
1. What forms of business entities are relevant to the typical franchisor?
2. What laws and agencies govern the formation of business entities?
3. Provide an overview of the requirements for forming and maintaining a business entity.
4. What restrictions apply to foreign business entities and foreign investment?
5. Briefly describe the aspects of the tax system relevant to franchisors. How are foreign businesses and individuals taxed?
6. Are there any relevant labour and employment considerations for typical franchisors?
7. How are trademarks and know-how protected?
8. What are the relevant aspects of the real estate market and real estate law?
9. How widespread is franchising in your jurisdiction? In which sectors is franchising common?
10. What is the legal definition of a franchise?
11. Which laws and government agencies regulate the offer and sale of franchises?
12. Describe the relevant requ |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16083 | 5 Breathing Exercises To Relax Your Mind
5 Breathing Exercises To Relax Your Mind
It might not sound very important, but learning how to utilise our breath is essential to the health of our body and mind. Think about it: we take care of our body by providing it with nourishing foods, so why don’t we bring the same nourishment to our body using our breath? Breath is necessary to our life just as food is necessary to our body, so it makes sense to ensure that we are aware and conscious of it.
Managing your breath has a positive impact on your sympathetic nervous system, taking it from an elevated fight or flight response to a calm response of the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system controls your rest, relax and digest response. Continued deep, controlled breathing exercises teaches your body to engage the parasympathetic nervous system, resulting in low blood pressure, less stress, and an overall relaxed feeling.
As Sheila Patel, M.D says in her article Breathing for Life: The Mind-Body Healing Benefits of Pranayama“Deep breathing can help calm and slow down the emotional turbulence in the mind.”
The Exercises
1. Nadi Shodhana or Alternate Nostril Breathing
This exercise is brilliant if you’re feeling worried or you need an energy boost. Nadi Shodhana is said to clear the channels and lower your heart rate. You might feel a bit odd doing it at first, but I can assure you, it feels good!
The Technique:
1. Hold your right thumb over your right nostril and inhale deeply through your left nostril.
2. At the peak of your inhalation, close off your left nostril with your third and fourth fingers, then exhale smoothly through your right nostril.
3. After a full exhalation, inhale through the right nostril, closing it off with your right thumb at the peak of your inhalation.
4. Continue this for as many breaths as you like. Your breathing should flow effortlessly while your mind gently observes your flow of breath.
This exercise helps harmonize the left and right hemisphere of the brain and ensures that prana (force of life) flows smoothly. Here is the Chopra Centre’s guide to Nadi Shodhana breathing.
2. Sama Vritti or Equal Breathing
This breathing technique is very simple and can work anytime, but it’s been found to be super effective before bed. This exercise will introduce some balance to your breathing which will do wonders for your body and mind. It keeps your mind focused but calm, reduces stress, and calms the sympathetic nervous system. It’s also a useful technique if you have a presentation coming up or a big day at work looming. This exercise is ideal to do for a few moments before the event to just balance and ground yourself.
The Technique:
Inhale for a count of four, then exhale for a count of four. Inhale and exhale through the nose. As you get used to this exercise you can gradually increase the amount of breaths from four to six to eight.
Check out Dr. Robin Burzin’s article on how simple breathing calms your mind.
3. Complete Belly Breath
This one is ideal if your mind feels non-stop and overactive. It brings your focus within and allows you to learn how to control your breath and anchor yourself. As Thich Nhat Hanh says “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
Check out this article How to Breathe Correctly for a more extensive guide about similar breathing exercises.
The Technique:
You can do this one laying down and sitting. I prefer to do it laying down because I can really feel my belly expanding, like I’m supported by the earth.
1. Get into a comfortable position and place your hand on your belly, relaxing your abdominal muscles.
2. Inhale deeply, feeling your abdomen rise. This breath expands your lungs so you should feel your rib cage expand and your collarbone rise.
3. At the peak of inhalation, pause for a breath (or longer, if you’re a pro!) then gently exhale with ease and fluidity.
4. To ensure any air left in your lungs completely gone, contract your abdomen muscles slightly.
You can do this exercise anytime you wish. I find it’s an awesome one to do after some yoga, especially during savasana. If you don’t do yoga, this one is excellent at the end of the day or when you’re feeling tired and want to feel supported.
4. Ujjayi or Ocean Breath
I love this breathing exercise. It really allows you to let go of all the problems of the day. It is absolutely ideal if you feel angry or frustrated as it’s extremely cleansing.
Pronounced “oo-jai”, many say this breath allows cooling pranayama to flow, which immediately settles and refreshes your mind.
The Technique:
1. Inhale deeper than you normally would.
2. With your mouth closed, breath out through your nose while constricting your throat muscles. You’ll know you’re doing it right when your breath sounds like waves in the ocean – hence the name ocean breath!
This breathing exercise can be tough to get the hang of. Sheila Patel says that, if you are having difficulty, then something you can do is to try exhaling the sound “haaaaaah” with your mouth open. Next, make a similar sound with your mouth closed and feel the air come through your nose. Once you’ve got the hang of it on the exhale, try it on the inhale using the same method.
Practise this exercise for 5-10 minutes in the morning and evening. It’s an excellent way to start the day. You can even set an intention for the day while using this breath in the morning, and in the evening you can allow this breath to wash the problems of the day away.
5. Mindful Breathing
This exercise is excellent if you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed. By bringing your attention to your breath, you allow your mind to become still and peaceful. It’s a chance to give your mind a rest and then carry on the day feeling refreshed and energized.
The Technique:
1. Sit comfortably.
2. Inhale deeply through your nose.
3. Exhale through the mouth.
4. As you inhale and exhale, bring awareness to how the in-breath and the out-breath feel.
For beginners, I recommend doing this for five to ten breaths. It doesn’t sound like much, but the aim is to become aware of the aliveness of the breath and the vitality it gives to you and your body. If mindful meditation sounds like your cup of tea, then Thich Nhat Hanh has some excellent meditations you can do.
All of these breathing exercises can be done for three minutes or three hours — it’s up to you. It’s suggested that beginners start off by practising controlled breathing for a few moments and then gradually increasing the time. Eventually, you’ll find yourself unconsciously incorporating these exercises into your daily life. This will lead to improved overall health, a quieter mind, and a better way to approach the stresses of life. For more breathing exercises and tips, read Jordan Shakeshaft’s article 6 Breathing Exercises to Relax in Ten Minutes or Less
Ensure that you remain aware at all times of how your body is feeling. If you start to feel light-headed or uncomfortable, stop for a while and proceed with a less intense breathing exercise.
Remember: don’t pressure yourself. You can’t do breathing wrong!
“You are breathing in, and while breathing in you know that you are alive.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
More by this author
These 9 Amazing Things Will Happen When You Show People Who You Really Are 5 Breathing Exercises To Relax Your Mind 10 Inspiring Life Lessons We Can Learn From Wayne Dyer A Man Discovers That His Wife Has Been Cheating For 10 Years, But He Isn’t Angry When You Start Doing Yoga, These 7 Things Will Happen
Trending in Health
Read Next
Last Updated on January 21, 2020
The Best Way to Create a Vision for the Life You Want
The Best Way to Create a Vision for the Life You Want
Why You Need a Vision
How to Create Your Life Vision
What Do You Want?
Some tips to guide you:
• Remember to ask why you want certain things
• Give yourself permission to dream.
• Be creative. Consider ideas that you never thought possible.
Some questions to start your exploration:
• What are your secret passions and dreams?
• What would bring more joy and happiness into your life?
• What do you want your relationships to be like?
• What qualities would you like to develop?
• What are your talents? What’s special about you?
• What would you most like to accomplish?
• What would legacy would you like to leave behind?
What Would Your Best Life Look Like?
A few prompts to get you started:
• What will you have accomplished already?
• How will you feel about yourself?
• What does your ideal day look like?
• What would you be doing?
• How are you dressed?
Plan Backwards
• What’s the most important choice you would’ve had to make?
• What would you have needed to learn along the way?
• What important actions would you have had to take?
• What beliefs would you have needed to change?
• What habits or behaviors would you have had to cultivate?
• What type of support would you have had to enlist?
Featured photo credit: Matt Noble via
Read Next |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16105 | .Prayer Service Church Website Banner
Our Response to God’s Love
Everything about us belongs to God. When we give of our time, talent, and treasure for the sake of others, God rejoices. Our generosity is an expression of our gratitude to God. When we give, we grow in our faith and trust in God’s abundance. Thank you for your generous gifts to Lord of Life!
Ways to Give:
Give directly from your bank account or credit card, use the Give+ app or text 346-444-9456.
Bill Pay or Donor-Advised Charitable Fund
Your bank’s Bill Pay option creates no fees for the church and allows your bank to send a check to Lord of Life directly from your account. Write your envelope number (if you have one) in the “account number” section and your designation (General Fund, Capital Campaign, etc.) on the memo line. If you direct a donor-advised charitable fund to send a check to Lord of Life, be sure their accompanying letter specifies your name and designation for the contribution.
In Person
We take an offering at each worship gathering. If you want an envelope that has a number assigned to your name, contact the church financial director at 281-367-7016.
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs)
Individuals 70 ½ or older that are making a required minimum distribution (RMD) from an individual retirement account (IRA) can specify that all or part of it be given to the church as a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). Talk to your IRA custodian about the process for making a QCD and potential tax benefits.
Gifts of Stock
There can be tax benefits from gifting appreciated stock to Lord of Life. Contact the church financial director at 281-367-7016 before you initiate a transfer or sign your stock certificates.
Legacy Giving
You can make a legacy gift with a bequest in a will or with an IRA or life insurance beneficiary designation. If made through the Lord of Life Mission Endowment Funds, your contribution will support the church’s ministries long after your death using income and capital appreciation from Endowment Fund investments.
Thrivent Choice
Members who own Thrivent Financial products can contribute to the church with Thrivent Choice Dollars.
Where to Give:
General Fund
This is Lord of Life’s primary operating fund. The General Fund provides money for staff salaries, to pay the mortgage and utilities, and to support the ministries of Lord of Life in our local and global community.
Capital Fund
The Capital Fund supports priorities established by a Capital Campaign, such as debt reduction and special facility and outreach projects. The recently-completed “Welcome One Another” capital campaign raised over $1.5 million that was used to expand and renovate the church, pay-down the mortgage, and support a variety of outreach ministries.
Mission Endowment Funds
With your contribution – either now or upon your death with a bequest or beneficiary designation – to one or more of three Endowment Funds, you leave a lasting legacy that supports Lord of Life’s mission in perpetuity using income and capital appreciation from fund investments.
Designated Giving
Through designated giving, you can support a specific ministry or need in Lord of Life. The money is combined with other funds donated for a similar purpose and kept in a restricted account until used. One such ministry is the “Pastor’s Discretionary Fund”, which is money used by our pastors to meet the urgent financial needs of congregants and others in our community. Other examples include local food pantries, Global Barnyard, Music, etc.
Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest
If you wish to directly support the broader mission of the ELCA, Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest provides several options for contributing.
Questions? Call the Financial Office at 281-367-7016 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16122 | Lesson 60 – الدَّرْسُ السِّتُّونَ
Annuller particles (/inna/ and its sisters)- الحـُرُوفُ النَّاسِخَـةُ (إنَّ وأَخواتُها)
/inna/ and its sisters with the dual and the sound plural noun – إنَّ وَأخواتُها مع الاسم الْمُثَنَّى وَالجَمْع
• We are still in lesson sixty of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
• We now clearly understand what /inna/ and its sisters are, what their meanings and their function are, and why they are called annullers.
• We also understand that they change the subject to the accusative case, so if the subject is a singular noun it will be originally signed with /fatħah/ on its last letter. we are going to learn about the dual and plural subjects in this part In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing).
1- The dual:
We learnt in lesson 17 that the dual is a noun ending with (
انِ /āni) in the nominative case, and (ينِ /ayni/) in the accusative or genitive case. It indicates two units of the countable singular noun, as shown in the following examples:
• We also learnt in an earlier lesson that the subject and the predicate of the normal nominal sentence are in nominative case, so both of them are signed originally with /đammah/ if they are singular. If any or both of them are dual they will be signed with /alif/ instead. Consider the following examples:
The two boys are active
الوَلَدانِ نَشِيطَانِ
The boy is active
الوَلَدُ نَشِيطٌ
The two students are hardworking
الطَّالِبَانِ مُجْتَهِدَانِ
The student is hardworking
الطَّالِبُ مُجْتَهِدٌ
• When /inna/ and its sisters fall in the beginning of the nominal sentence the subject is changed to the accusative case. If the subject is singular it will be originally signed with /fatħah/ on its last letter, while if it is dual it will be signed with the letter /yaa’/ before its final letter. The /yaa’/ is the sign of the accusative case of the dual noun, while the penultimate /alif/ is the nominative sign. Consider attentively the following examples:
Indeed, the two students are active
إِنَّ الوَلَدَيْنِ نَشِيطَانِ
/inna al waladayni nashīŧâni/
Indeed, the student is active
إنَّ الوَلَدَ نَشِيطٌ
/inna al walada nashīŧun/
Indeed, the two telephones are broken
إنَّ الهَاتِفَيْنِ فَاسِدَانِ
/inna al hātifayni fāsidāni/
Indeed, the telephone is broken
إنَّ الهَاتِفَ فَاسِدٌ
/inna al hātifa fāsidun/
The two planes may fly
لَعَلَّ الطَّائِرَتَيْنِ تَطيرَانِ
/laξalla aŧ ŧâ’ratayni taŧīrâni/
The plane may fly
لَعَلَّ الطَّائِرَةُ تَطيرُ
/laξalla aŧ ŧâ’ata taŧīru/
But the two teachers are good
لَكِنَّ المُعَلِّمَيْنِ جَيِّدَانِ
/lākinna al muξallimayni ğayyidāni/
But the teacher is good
لَكِنَّ المُعَلِّمَ جَيِّدٌ
/lākinna al muξallima ğayyidun/
The two rooms may be clean
لَيْتَ الغُرْفَتَيْنِ نَظِيفَتَانِ
/layta al ghurfatayni nađhifatāni/
The room may be clean
لَيْتَ الغُرْفَةَ نَظِيفَةٌ
/layta al ghurfata nadhīfatun/
• The sound plural (masculine and feminine)
We studied in earlier lessons the sound masculine and the sound feminine plurals. We learnt that the sound masculine plural (
جمع المذكر السالم) is ended with (ـونَ /ūna/) in the nominative case, and it is ended with (ـينَ /īna) in the accusative or genitive case.
See the following examples (for revision purposes):
The teachers came
حَضَرَ المُعَلِّمُونُ
I saw the teachers
رَأَيْتُ المُعَلِّمِينَ
I went to the teachers
ذَهَبْتُ إلى الْمُعَلِّمينَ
• We also learnt that the sound feminine plural is ended with (ات /aat/). It is signed with /đammah/ on its final /taa'/ in the nominative case, and it is signed with /kasrah/ in each of the accusative and the genitive case. Let's see the following revision examples:
The female teachers came
حَضَرَتِ المُعَلِّماتُ
I saw the female teachers
رَأَيْتُ الْمُعَلِّمَاتِ
I went to the female teachers
ذهَبْتُ إلى المُعَلِّماتِ
• We also studied in this lesson that the noun of /inna/ and its sisters is always in accusative case, and the predicate is in the nominative case, so if any of the noun (subject) and the predicate is a sound plural we will use the suitable signs mentioned above, instead of the regular signs of the singular noun. Consider the following examples of sound plural sentences with /inna/ and its sisters:
Sound feminine plural
Sound masculine plural
The female racers are winners
إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقَاتِ فَائِزَاتٌ
/inna al mutasābiqâti fā'izātun/
The racers are winners (won)
إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقِينَ فَائِزُونَ
/inna al mutasābiqīna fā'izūna/
The racer (runner) is a winner (won)
إنَّ الْمُتَسَابِقَ فَائِزٌ
/inna almutasābiqa fāza/
If only the female workers are skilful
لَيْتَ العَامِلاتِ مُتْقِنَاتٌ
/layta al ξāmilāti mutqinātun/
If only the workers are skilful
لَيْتَ العَامِلِينَ مُتْقِنُونَ
/layta al ξāmilīna mutqinūna/
If only the worker is skilful
لَيْتَ العَامِلَ مُتْقِنٌ
/layta al ξāmila mutqinun/
As if the female writers are creative
كَأَنَّ الكاتِبَاتِ مُبْدِعَاتٌ
/ka'anna al kātibāti mubdiξātun/
As if the writers are creative
كَأَنَّ الكاتِبِينَ مُبْدِعُونَ
/ka'anna al kātibīna mubdiξūna/
As if the writer is a creative
كَأَنَّ الكاتِبَ مُبْدِعٌ
/ka'anna al kātiba mubdiξun/
The female farmers may be happy
لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعَاتِ سَعِيداتٌ
/laξalla az zāriξāti saξīdātun/
The farmers may be happy
لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعِينَ سَعِيدُونَ
/laξalla az zāriξīna saξīdūna/
The farmer may be happy
لَعَلَّ الزَّارِعَ سَعِيدٌ
/laξalla az zāriξa saξīdun/
If only the saleswomen are trustworthy
لَيْتَ البائِعَاتِ أَمِينَاتٌ
/layta al bā'iξāti amīnatun/
If only the salesmen are trustworthy
لَيْتَ البائِعِينَ أَمِينُونَ
/layta al bā'iξīna amīnūna/
If only the salesman is trustworthy
لَيْتَ البائِعَ أَمِينٌ
/layta al bā'ξa amīnun/
Indeed, the female engineers are clever
إنَّ المُهَنْدِسَاتِ بَارِعاتٌ
/inna al muhandisāti bāriξātun/
Indeed, the engineers are clever
إنَّ المُهَنْدِسِينَ بَارِعُونَ
/inna al muhandisīna bāriξūna/
Indeed, the engineer is clever
إنَّ المُهَنْدِسَ بَارِعٌ
/inna al muhandisa bāriξun/
• You may now clearly notice the difference between the declension of the singular and the declension of the dual or the sound plural when they fall as a noun of /inna/ and its sisters (subject), and when they fall as a predicate.
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16145 | Funda Tracta
1991 - Gubbio (Italy), foundations of the Palazzo dei Consoli, exhibition: Etica all’arte
Materials: travertine, rope, supporting structure in iron.
Dimensions: m. 13,6 x 1,5 x h 8.
Funda tracta, a net cast out in order to create a powerful dialogue with the space in an enormous room in the foundations under Palazzo dei Consoli. The six elements of travertine recall the ancient measurements of the Roman terminus. While the net that surrounds them refers to an ancient tradition that places the existence of a fish market in this place. This central part of the incursion, instead of suggesting the idea of a suspension, appears rather settled in the inferior part of the curve formed by the twelve thick ropes of coconut fibre as if supporting the collected weight; the ropes, attached high up on the wall, fill the space with their thick materiality and yet altogether light to the eye, while the light that falls from above designs shadows on the ground, creating another type of dialogue with the space chosen for the installation.
Laura Iamurri |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16149 |
Forget About the Apples: This Is the Trendy New Way to Apply Blush
No need to disrupt your RBF.
Getty, design by Betsy Farrell
Quick show of hands: Have you even *touched* blush in the past few months? Except for a few particularly rough mornings on which nothing but Benetint or the brightest Lilah B. lip-cheek duo could save me from being misidentified as patient zero of a walking-dead disease, I haven't, and I suspect it's been the same for you. (That Glossier Haloscope, man.) But as tans fade and skins dry—and the Spring 2017 collections finish walking—pink powder is on my mind, particularly this out-of-the-ordinary application.
Seen at Chanel and Kenzo, eye rouge—what we shall call pigment swept in a C shape from the top of the cheekbone to temple—reads painterly but strong but animé-esque, all at the same time. It's not fuchsia eyeshadow, in name or in practice. Nor is it this look, exactly, seen at a previous Chanel défilé and discussed ad nauseam in our blush application manual.
It's a Statement versus a Wash of Color. It's concentrated versus a top-of-the-cake dusting. It hasn't got much blending, so it's like a knife-swipe of red across the face.
Of course, for the real world, you might want to consider using both a lighter hand and a lighter shade—or not. Because this fall, when you're feeling washed-out, what could say "I'm alive" louder than this?
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Beauty |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16160 | Masimo - Halo Index
Halo ION
A Comprehensive, Personalised, Continuous Patient Score
Halo ION allows clinicians to aggregate trend data from multiple physiologic parameters into a single, continuous patient score which is configured according to hospital protocol.
• Creates a continuous patient score according to hospital protocol by examining key characteristics of multiple parameters for more personalised care
• Displays the relative contribution of each parameter, helping clinicians better assess possible causes of patient deterioration as defined by hospital protocol
• Automates the process by which clinicians assess patient status, reducing cognitive overload and streamlining workflows
Automate Workflows with Halo ION
Halo ION integrates values from hospital protocol, including acceptable parameter limits and relative parameter importance, to automatically calculate a continuous, cumulative score, which may help clinicians assess patient status.
Masimo - Automate Workflows with Halo ION
A Comprehensive, Personalised, Continuous Patient Score
Halo Index uses available Masimo parameters and is scalable to include additional information from the patient record. Each parameter’s significance is weighted and combined into the Halo Index — a single displayed number with a range from 0 to 100 that provides a cumulative trending of global patient status. An increase in a patient’s Halo Index may indicate the need for clinicians to more closely assess the patient.
Masimo - An Automated, Personalized, Continuous Patient Score
Masimo - Product Information, Halo ION
Product Information
Masimo - Brochure, Masimo Automation Platform
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16176 | Dan Williams
Interaction, User Experience Designer... and DJ :)
bw.jpg - Black/White DJ Image Dan Williams
Personal Networking
Connect on Linkedin
Connect on Facebook
Connect on Myspace
Company Profile
Coming Soon Chubby Networks
See our work on Behance
Follow us on Twitter
Latest Social Networking Projects
Music Events and Promotion Candy
Random Quotes of Interest
Music is the expression of experience from the soul - Tears of Technology
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo Da Vinci
The best way to predict the future, is to invent it - Alan Kay
They don't want me. They don't want you if your ideas don't correspondto their propagangda... - Bill Hicks
Death is viewed as optional; it results from a failure of an organism to solve its living problem - Alexai Sharov on the philosophies of Pragmatism
Am I jumping the gun, Baldrick, or are the words 'I have a cunning plan' marching with ill-deserved confidence in the direction of this conversation? - Blackadder |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16196 | We operate on Personal Standard Time.
Our Call-24 automatic teller lets you do your most important banking when you need to most any time. As long as you're within reach of the phone, you're ready to bank.
Dial 316.683.1423 and you can quickly and easily:
• Check your balance
• Check your latest five transactions
• Make a payment or withdrawal
• Transfer money between your accounts
• Check your credit limit and get advances on VISA® and Line of Credit
• Get info on your loan payments, checks cleared, YTD interest, or payroll deductions
There is plenty of other stuff you can get done as well, like change your PIN number, use our loan calculator or transfer a VISA® balance. Go ahead, put 316.683.1423 on speed dial.
Sign Up
Before you can use the Call-24 service you'll need to set up a PIN (personal identification number) that you'll use exclusively for electronic services, including Call-24, Mobile Banking and Online Banking. Once your number is entered into the system, it's a secret that only you know. Only you can access your accounts. As long as you keep your PIN confidential, your online privacy is always protected. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16202 | Pollen Allergies
What are pollen allergies?
Pollen can cause significant irritation and inflammation in people who are allergic to it. Pollen can be inhaled by humans and animals. For those with an allergy, pollen triggers the antibody immunoglobulin E, which creates mucus and leads to symptoms such as congestion and sneezing.
What is hay fever?
Hay fever is the most common name for pollen allergy and is most commonly caused by grass pollens, although other pollens can also trigger the symptoms. The symptoms are caused when immune system reacts to pollen in the body to produce histamine and other chemicals.
Around two in every ten people have this allergy and it is thought that more than 10 million people in Britain suffer with hay fever. You are more likely to suffer from hay fever if you have a family history of allergies, or if you suffer from asthma or eczema. Most people develop hay fever in childhood or when they are a teenager, although it can be triggered at any age. Many people find, however, that they grow out of the condition and suffer less from the symptoms of hay fever as an adult.
Hay fever symptoms can include frequent sneezing, a runny or blocked nose, itchy eyes and an itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears. As a sufferer, you may also experience the loss of your sense of smell, facial pain, sweating and headaches - although these symptoms are less common. Asthma sufferers may find that their symptoms get worse when suffering from hay fever and may experience a tight chest, shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing.
Different types of pollen
Treatments for hay fever
Although there is currently no cure for hay fever, most people are able to relieve their symptoms with treatment. The most effective way to prevent hay fever is to avoid exposure to pollen but this is almost impossible, particularly during the summer months. Instead, many people rely on antihistamines, which can prevent the allergic reaction from happening, and corticosteroids, which reduce any inflammation and swelling caused by the pollen allergy. Eye drops can also help. Over-the-counter treatments should be sufficient to ease your hay fever symptoms, but if you are experiencing more severe symptoms, you should speak to your GP.
Related pages
Download the Met Office Weather App to keep up to date with pollen levels |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16211 | Picture of the day, September 5, 2019
Ready for some off-shore adventure, Becky, Elaine and Capt Ange of Venus Charters confirm their sea legs are a go
Leave a Reply
Better Than Sex Key West, a desert restaurant |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16217 | Nootropics for social anxiety may help to promote a healthier social mindset. Nootropics for social anxiety may help to promote a healthier social mindset.
Have you ever avoided the gym because you feel people are staring? Have you avoided a party because of nerves? Maybe you've skipped a class or activity that involved public speaking. If you’ve experienced debilitating social anxiety symptoms that interfere with life activities like these, you know how hard it is to overcome. Some nootropics for social anxiety might make it a little easier.
In this guide, we will discuss the some of the symptoms of social anxiety and outline which brain-boosting nootropics may be most helpful to counteract them.
Symptoms of Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is characterized by irrational fears, feelings, and negative physical reactions in social situations. There are two types of social anxiety:
1. Generalized Social Anxiety: Anxiety that occurs in every social situation a person encounters
2. Non-generalized Social Anxiety: Anxiety that is specific to certain social situations. For example, a person might be terrified of public speaking.
These two types of anxiety characterize different levels of social anxiety. However, they can both be identified by the same symptoms:<1>
• Irrational fear of being judged or rejected by others in social settings
• Fear of speaking in social settings
• Avoiding social settings all together
• Excessively overthinking conversations and actions before and after the fact
• Fear of failure
• Hypersensitivity
• Sweating
• Trembling
• Nausea
Is Social Anxiety More Prevalent in Women?
Statistics show that girls from puberty to age 50 are two times more likely to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder than men. When it comes to social anxiety specifically, women are also slightly more prone to experience symptoms than men. In fact, being a woman is a known risk factor for social anxiety. Other risk factors include:
• childhood trauma
• extreme shyness
• being poor
• family history
• elevated cortisol levels
Why Do Women Experience Social Anxiety More Often?
Women tend to experience social anxiety more often for multiple reasons. For example, they experience more hormone fluctuations due to menopause and menstruation, along with other biological and societal influences. In addition, the fight-or-flight response may last longer and be activated more quickly in women than in men.<2>
Social anxiety may also have something to do with the amount of glutamate and glutamine found in the brain. Those with social anxiety disorder have shown to have higher levels of glutamate and glutamine in some cases.<3> Regardless, anyone suffering from social anxiety may be able to soothe symptoms and avoid perpetuating more issues by taking the right nootropics.
Why Should You Seek Help for Social Anxiety?
Social anxiety has been linked to a variety of other issues including alcohol and drug abuse, depression, using healthcare resources in excess, and bad quality of life. While it may seem minor, social anxiety could be affecting your life in more ways than you realize.
If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of social anxiety on a regular basis, especially panic attacks, talk to your doctor first, and consider taking the right nootropics for an extra source of natural support.
Below, we’ll discuss what to look for and what to avoid on your mission to soothe your social anxiety with nootropics. Keep in mind, however, that therapy may be the most logical first step if you haven’t already consulted a psychologist or psychiatrist.
The Worst Nootropics for Social Anxiety
Before we get into the best nootropics for social anxiety, you should learn which to stay far away from. Women with social anxiety disorder should avoid nootropics with certain supplement ingredients because they have shown to heighten anxiety symptoms. Here are the major nootropics to avoid in this case.
Caffeine's limitations as a nootropic are especially evident in those with social anxiety issues.
Caffeine is present in various soft drinks including coffee, tea, and sodas. It can also be found in supplements meant for weight-loss and other purposes. However, if you’re already struggling with social anxiety, consuming caffeine in any form might worsen your symptoms.
• Studies show that caffeine intake may cause heightened symptoms of anxiety in those who are more sensitive to such symptoms (including women). It may even do so at lower doses, depending on the individual’s sensitivity levels. Specifically, women may want to consume less caffeine because they are more prone to symptoms of anxiety.<4>
In general, don't forget to pay attention to caffeine withdrawal, as well: It often has symptoms that mimic anxiety. However, it really depends on your individual brain and body.
Racetams are synthetic nootropic ingredients created in a lab. There are four main racetams, each with its own brain effects and benefits:
1. piracetam
2. aniracetam
3. oxiracetam
4. phenylpiracetam
While racetams (as well as synthetic noopept and phenibut) may relieve certain symptoms associated with generalized anxiety in certain people, anyone with social anxiety should probably avoid them. Similar to coffee, racetams may heighten symptoms of social anxiety with their harshly stimulating effects. Regardless, there isn’t enough evidence out there to support using them for social anxiety symptoms.
Mind Lab Pro® uses Stimulant-Free Ingredients: Social anxiety marks just one reason why Mind Lab Pro® is 100% caffeine and stimulant-free -- to ensure zero of the negative side effects associated with synthetically made and modified stimulants.
Mind Lab Pro® Nootropics for Social Anxiety
Some nootropics in Mind Lab Pro® help support a more relaxed, social mindset.
No Mind Lab Pro® ingredients that have proven to reverse social anxiety, specifically.
However, the following Mind Lab Pro® ingredients are supported by research demonstrating their potential to help with anxiety, mood and relaxation -- which form an effective stack to buy for social anxiety support.
Mind Lab Pro® nootropics may help with social anxiety by:
• Moderating cortisol levels associated with stress and anxiety;
• Regulating neurotransmitters for better brain chemical balance, associated with calm relaxation;
• Tuning your brain waves to a more calm and relaxed state
Let's take a look at the most promising Mind Lab Pro® ingredients for social anxiety concerns:
Phosphatidylserine (PS)
Phosphatidylserine may help soothe social anxiety by counteracting stress in the body. Specifically, phosphatidylserine has proven to reduce the effects of exercise-induced stress caused by cortisone release in males.<5> When it comes to women, PS may lead to a decrease in symptoms of anxiety and more interest in socialization for the elderly.
PS achieves these two anxiety support activities in a similar way: By slowing the production of cortisol, which the body might be producing in excess in reaction to stress factors. High cortisol levels can create blood pressure concerns, which may contribute to social anxiety symptoms as well.
More on Mind Lab Pro® Phosphatidylserine.
Bacopa Monnieri
Bacopa Monnieri is an adaptogen herb that may help balance the mood in stressful situations -- nicely complementing the anti-stress effects of PS. Studies on Bacopa Monnieri show it has the potential to help improve symptoms of anxiety with prolonged use.<6> It also has shown to have little to no side effects, making it extremely safe. However, more research should be done to determine whether consuming it can specifically soothe any symptoms of social anxiety.
More on Mind Lab Pro® Bacopa Monnieri
Rhodiola Rosea
Rhodiola rosea is an herbal adaptogen that may also help women soothe symptoms of social anxiety. While it is known for reducing stress and improving performance under stress, it has also shown some promise for reducing symptoms of stress associated with generalized anxiety.
Specifically, rhodiola rosea has proven to reduce self-assessed generalized anxiety scores significantly when administered to those experiencing symptoms.<7> Keep in mind, however, that general anxiety is somewhat different from social anxiety.
More on Mind Lab Pro® Rhodiola Rosea
L-Theanine is one of the main amino acids in green tea. It is often used for relaxation and has proven anti-stress effects <8>. For example, it may decrease stress in the brain and body by reducing the arousal of cortisone and slowing down heart rate.<9>
L-Theanine is also known to activate Alpha waves in the brain, supporting broad-spectrum effects all tied to relaxation and mood enhancement. Studies show it can help to reduce anxiety and balance blood pressure in reaction to stressful situations.
More on Mind Lab Pro® L-Theanine
Vitamins B6, B9, B12
B vitamins are essential nutrients necessary to maintain myriad healthy body and brain functions. One study shows that essential B vitamins (along with fatty acids and zinc), may be helpful in reducing stress and anxiety related to menopause and premenstrual syndrome in women. Researchers suggested the B-Vitamins might work on stress by decreasing secretion of salivary cortisol. Specifically, nootropic vitamin B6 has been suggested to help soothe symptoms of anxiety in elderly women.
More on Mind Lab Pro® B6, B9, B12
Social anxiety can hold back quality of life. However, you don't have to suffer. There's a lot you can do to promote a healthier social outlook, safely and naturally -- including smart supplementation with the best brain-boosting nootropics.
Mind Lab Pro®, the Universal Nootropic™, uses all natural ingredients -- diverse brain boosting nootropics that are 100% caffeine-free. This approach allows Mind Lab Pro®'s "social nootropics" to take full effect without triggering anxiety side effects that are commonly associated with stimulants.
1. Anxiety Disorders. National Institute of Mental Health.
2. Facts. Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
3. Pollack MH. High-field MRS study of GABA, glutamate and glutamine in social anxiety disorder: response to treatment with levetiracetam. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Apr 1;32(3):739-43.
4. Nawrot P. Effects of caffeine on human health. Food Addit Contam. 2003 Jan;20(1):1-30.
5. Michael A Starks et al. The effects of phosphatidylserine on endocrine response to moderate intensity exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2008; 5: 11.
6. Sokołowska L, Bylka W. [Bacopa Monnieri - activity and applications in medicine]. Wiad Lek. 2015;68(3 pt 2):358-362.
8. David J. White et al. Anti-Stress, Behavioural and Magnetoencephalography Effects of an l-Theanine-Based Nutrient Drink: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Trial. Nutrients. 2016 Jan; 8(1): 53. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16230 | Investigators mull new Google internet protocol – Mobile World Live
Investigators mull new Google internet protocol
30 SEP 2019
Google faced scrutiny from US antitrust investigators over concerns its planned adoption of a new internet protocol could give it an unfair advantage in accessing consumer data, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
The House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee penned a letter on 13 September to Google seeking information about the move, including whether the protocol will be used for commercial reasons. Sources told WSJ the plan has also drawn the attention of the Department of Justice, which received complaints about the change.
The protocol in question would encrypt requests sent to a key internet service known as the domain name system (DNS), which translates a website’s text domain name into a numeric IP address.
Google said the shift to an encrypted standard will boost internet security and user privacy, making it harder for hackers to snoop on websites and steal user information. It initially plans to rollout the new protocol to one per cent of users on its Chrome browser.
Fellow internet browser developer Mozilla recently announced it will also move users to a new encrypted DNS standard.
However, rivals expressed concern they will lose access to user data, and that Google could push Chrome browser users to switch to Google services that support the protocol.
In a letter to politicians on 19 September, a group of ISPs argued that since a majority of global internet traffic flows through Chrome or Google’s Android operating system “Google would acquire greater control over user data across networks and devices around the world” and “could become the overwhelmingly predominant DNS lookup provider”.
The tech giant denied the latter, noting in an emailed statement to WSJ it has “no plans to centralise or change people’s DNS providers to Google by default. Any claim that we are trying to become the centralised encrypted DNS provider is inaccurate”.
Manny Pham
Read more |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16232 | Posts Tagged: Psalm 46:10
7 Liberating Facts for Testing Your To-Do List
7 Liberating Facts for Testing Your To-Do List
Celebrated images of strength and hotness, Wonder Woman and Superwoman, both products of DC Comics, are boot clad, cape waving testaments to woman power.
From their perfectly-proportioned physique to their super hero prowess, Wonder Woman and Superwoman influence the female race, generation after generation. As does the notion that we can do everything and anything with aplomb and precision. Women of all ages—women like me—attempt to fill the boots of the imaginary Everything Woman, our cape looking more like a tunic. (more…)
3 Effective Ways to Overcome Overwhelmed
3 Effective Ways to Overcome Overwhelmed
Frustration and irritation will bubble just beneath the surface of our shuddering emotions, and if left unattended they will build steam and erupt into a full blown geyser. Perhaps today you’re battling the emotional boil that can come with feeling overwhelmed.
That was me. Frustration formed an underground spring out of I don’t even know what.
When we allow something—albeit a seemingly small disappointment or delay—to simmer inside us, it doesn’t take much else to switch the simmer to boil. (more…)
Get to Know Mona
Stay Connected
Let’s Open God’s Word Together
Invite me to speak >
Connect with Mona on Facebook > |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16237 | Saturday, September 12, 2009
Chapter 11--The Song of the Goddesses
Chapter 11
12:30pm Monday Afternoon.
The time came to work the spell and go to Heaven. Belldandy and the others went out into the courtyard where Skuld put the finishing touches on the magic circle. She was quite proud of her creation and didn't hesitate to let anyone who stood still long enough know how proud she was. While it looked deceptively simple, there were highly sophisticated calculations that went into it's construction. It featured sub-circles around the edges for the goddesses and a larger space in the middle for Keiichi. Around the edges of the sub circles and the circumference of the entire circle were runes of a language Keiichi had never seen before. The circle was charged with power and even a human such as Keiichi could not fail to notice it.
Peorth cautioned Keiichi, “Whatever you do, don't step on any lines entering the circle, and once you get into the center, don't move and don't talk, we're going to need our best concentration and can't afford distractions. Focus all your energies and attention on our song. Nothing else. It will feel a little uncomfortable as the spell progresses, but you should be able to handle it. Now can I have a kiss for luck, Hmmmmm, Keiichi???” She slid uncomfortably close to him and he stole a glance at Belldandy. Bell saw what was going on and waved at him. “I guess that one little kiss won't hurt, Peorth.” That's all that she needed to hear. She grabbed Keiichi and laid a real smacker on the lips. “Thanks, cherie, Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.” She tipped him the wink and took her place in the circle, hips swaying provocatively under her tiny bikini bottoms.
Keiichi took great care to not touch any of the lines as he entered the circle. When he got into the center, he turned to look at each of the goddesses as they took their places also. Belldandy was in front of him. Skuld was to his right, Peorth was slightly behind him on the right, Urd was in the same position on his left and Lind was directly to his left. He took one last look at Belldandy. She looked at him with eyes of pure love and confidence. He smiled back at her. With a flash of light, Belldandy, Urd and Skuld changed into their formal goddess robes. The very same robes that each goddess wore the first time they met Keiichi. Belldandy's, a long white with blue and gold sawtooth trim. Urd's, a royal purple, and black and gold trim. Skuld, a pink short skirt and jacket with red buttons and a cape.
The courtyard was silent as night as the goddesses started the spell. Belldandy with her angel Holy Bell, led off with a rich golden soprano. Peorth came in next with Gorgeous Rose with a crystal clear alto, Lind came in third with Cool Mint and Spear Mint with a deep smoky tenor. And while they weren't required to sing, Urd and Skuld lent their angels World of Elegance and Noble Scarlet as well as their highly competent alto and soprano voices, respectively. The harmony of the five goddesses was exquisite. Keiichi felt himself being quite moved by the experience. His mind emptied itself of all thoughts and just concentrated on the beautiful harmonies these goddesses were singing all for his benefit. Lind's powerful tenor was clearly not the voice that one would associate with a goddess who fought demons and hellish creatures. Belldandy's and Skuld's sopranos were in perfect pitch as well as Peorth's and Urd's altos. Keiichi could feel the first hints of the spell working deep within him. There was a feeling of lightness that began in the pit of his stomach and radiated out towards his limbs.
A dome of power began to form over the circle and its inhabitants. The pitch and intensity of the goddesses song began to rise as the harmony remained in sync. Keiichi could see that all the goddesses forehead marks were glowing with a powerful blue-white light. He could see the runes of the circle mixing with the runes of the spell spiraling round and round over his head. His mind started to expand, wanting to break free of the constrictions of working in three dimensions. It began to hurt his head, but Keiichi continued to concentrate on the song of the goddesses. All five goddesses were singing with looks of joy on their faces.
Their song becoming more and more complex as the spell went on. His mind continued to change and reconfigure. It kept straining against the mental bonds that held it back. The pain in Keiichi's head grew until it matched the worst headache he'd ever had. It felt like someone drove a chisel into his head with a hammer. Still he kept focusing on the song, that beautiful, powerful song. The dome of power grew brighter. Almost blinding in intensity. Each goddess's marks grew brighter and brighter. The song was nearing its crescendo. Each voice scaled higher, the harmonies remained tight and precise. Suddenly at the point where Keiichi could stand it no more and he feared that his head would explode, he felt something give way in his mind. It was almost an audible snap, and the pain suddenly disappeared. But now his mind was working much differently now. He could actually understand what the goddesses were singing. Every word. He looked up at the runes floating over his head and he could read and understand them. At this point, the harmonies of the goddesses slowly started to become disjointed. Notes started to go flat, parts were missing. The goddesses tried desperately to pull the unraveling song back together. There were looks of surprise and worriment on each goddess's face. The dome of power began to lose its structure as well as it's intensity. The goddesses forehead marks started to flicker, and one by one went out. The dome gave one final powerful flash and then collapsed, the runes disappearing into the sky. Keiichi and the five goddesses passed out all at once.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Chapter 10--Song of the Goddesses
Chapter 10
10 am Monday Morning.
Sunday passed without incident. Skuld and Urd were once again engaged in one of their running battles to control the television. This time instead of a game of Goddess Poker they decided to go out into the courtyard and throw Skuld-bombs at each other and whoever got blown up lost TV rights for the day. Banpei and Sigel, the female robot Skuld built from a old junk shop's welcome doll, who kept avoiding Banpei's advances, were chasing each other around the temple. Sigel kept shooting her rocket punch at the amorous robot, and he kept dodging them. Keiichi was working on his computer which burned out yet another hard drive. This was the third one in three months. And Belldandy was once again in the kitchen looking through Western homemaking magazines trying to find a new delicacy to serve Keiichi. This was the morning that Lind and Peorth were to show up to help Belldandy to cast the spell and escort the gang to Heaven. But no one knew the exact time they were to arrive, so they kept themselves busy until they showed up.
It was a little after noon when it happened. Belldandy was in the kitchen preparing lunch, when she suddenly tensed up. There was a familiar stirring of energy in the air. Urd ran into the kitchen and said “You felt that, right?” Belldandy answered “Yes, the gate's opening.” Both sisters dropped what they were doing and hurried outside into the courtyard.
They stopped next to Skuld who pointed into the sky towards the west. The clouds in the sky started to turn a purplish blue and the winds kicked up suddenly. All three goddess sisters stared at the sight, the winds blowing their long hair wildly. Lightning bolts flashed in the distance and an opening developed in the clouds. The center of the opening rippled and shimmered like the surface of a pond.
After a few seconds, an object appeared in the opening. It was hard to describe, but it looked somewhat like a Celtic knot with an empty space in the middle. It was the gate. The edges of the gate glittered with an unnatural sparkling. In the empty space, waves of energy flowed in upon themselves from the edges of the opening to the center. The lightning continued to flash as the clouds started to recede. The gate became much clearer as the clouds thinned. After about a minute, the clouds had completely disappeared leaving a completely blue sky. Two figures materialized in the gate. As they came closer to the opening, Belldandy could make out the silhouette of the figures. One was shorter, much more scantily dressed, and voluptuous than the other which was taller, slimmer and carrying a long handled ax that looked like a medieval halberd. The figures exited the opening of the gate and floated down to land softly in the center of the courtyard. It was Lind and Peorth.
Lind was the taller of the two. She was dressed in her Valkyrie battlesuit and carried her halberd in both hands across her chest. She had a stern look on her face as did all of the warrior goddesses of the Valkyries. Lind was a combat specialist. Trained to fight demons and defend heaven from all attackers. She had the reputation of being the most aggressive of the Valkyries and she also employed the most extreme training regimen. It was hard to understand how this goddess who was trained to fight could have such a beautiful singing voice.
Peorth was the more attractive. She was dressed in a revealing black outfit that resembled a bikini, but with a more substantial top. Over that she wore a brown harness/garter belt. She wore brown matching gloves, boots and garters that had undone clasps on them. Her hair was in a short pageboy with a long ponytail going down the middle of her back. Peorth was employed in the same job as Belldandy except she worked for the rival Earth Assistance Agency. Peorth's specialty was in “services.” Both Goddesses were First Class, but Peorth held the same type of license as Belldandy: Second Category, Unlimited. Lind held a First Category, Special Duty license as befitted her combat status.
Lind stepped up to Belldandy and her sisters, and said in a firm, clipped tone, “Belldandy, Urd, Skuld. It is good to see you again, although I wish the circumstances were more positive.” Peorth added “Oui mon chere, Belldandy has been the talk of all heaven. Everyone's all a twitter about her defying the Almighty. I can tell you, he is not pleased.”
Belldandy stepped forward and clasped the hands of Lind and Peorth and welcomed them. “Welcome back to the temple. It's been a while since you both were here. Shall we have some tea and discuss what's before us? Lind responded curtly. We can't stay too long. We need to get going as soon as possible, but a cup of tea would be satisfactory.
The goddesses walked back to the front door where they were met by Keiichi. “Hello, Lind. I'm glad to see you. I remember you said you wanted to come back on your next vacation.” Lind said “ I did make that promise, but I've been really busy with the demon problems we've been having lately. Unfortunately, this is not a social call. We have a lot to discuss and little time to do it.”
Peorth took one look at Keiichi, and floated over to him and put her arms around him in an smothering embrace. “Ke-e-i-i-i-i-c-h-i-i-i!!!, you're not going to welcome me back to the temple???” She nuzzled her face against his and cooed, “ You didn't miss me???, I missed you!!! I'm still waiting to grant you that wish, anytime, cherie.” Keiichi wanted to blow away on the wind. “Hello, Peorth.” he sighed. She was about ready to plant a kiss on Keiichi when Urd cautioned her “Peorth, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Remember Belldandy's jealousy issues?” Sure enough, thunderclouds appeared overhead, a savage bolt of lighting struck the temple roof and blew a foot wide hole in the shingles. Belldandy stood there her ocean-blue pupils the size of pie plates, her lips set in a firm frown. Murder written across her gorgeous face. Peorth let go of Keiichi, but only after lingering just a few seconds in seeming defiance to Belldandy. “Hhhumph, she's no fun.” Belldandy snapped out of it and acted none the wiser.
In the Tea Room Belldandy, Peorth, and Lind sat at the table while Urd floated nearby, Skuld and Keiichi sat next to each other, but the young goddess was still sore at him for bringing all this on her big sister. “You're gonna get it up in Heaven, Keiichi!” She said and stuck her tongue out at him. Keiichi shook his head and ignored her.
Belldandy opened the discussion, “Lind, how is this going to work? Lind said “The spell requires a special magic circle drawn according to these specifications. She waved her hand and a piece of paper with very complex equations and formulas written on it, materialized from nowhere. She handed the paper to Skuld. “Skuld, you are one of the best magic circle designers and mathematicians in Heaven. You're responsible for setting up the circle. It has to be laid out exactly as these formulas state. No deviation.” Skuld beamed at her new job. “It's about time someone around here recognized my sheer genius!!!” She happily ran off to her room to do the calculations.
Lind continued “Now, here is the spell program.” She waved another gesture and three more papers appeared. She passed them out to Peorth and Belldandy. “As you can see, this is very high level spell. We will definitely need our angels for this one. There is only one chance that we have to do it right. Any mistake would be unfortunate to say the least.
Once we get to heaven, I will escort you directly to council chambers. You should know that the entire company of goddesses is expected to observe this hearing. This is an unprecedented occasion. And the Almighty is very intent on revoking your license. I've been told that isolation is out. So you won't have to worry about that.” Belldandy breathed a sigh of relief.
But if you're guilty, it's safe to say that your license will be revoked. The question is for how long. He's hoping to get five years heaven time at least.” Keiichi raised his hand. “Lind, what is my role in this and why was I asked to come along. I don't know what I as a human can do to help Bell.” Lind looked straight at Keiichi and with all seriousness said “ Keiichi, you are the most important part of this whole thing. You will testify to Belldandy's character. You're going to be the one who'll tell the Almighty and the Council about what Belldandy has done for you and how she has helped you since you've been living with her. While we will all have a role in trying to sway the council from passing sentence on Belldandy, it will be your statements the council will listen to most. If there was ever a time for you to convey your truest and deepest feelings about Belldandy, that will be the time. Do not hold back under any circumstances. If you truly love Belldandy and your statements reflect that, your feelings will come through and she will be acquitted.
Peorth was sitting silent during the discussion, but she then added her concerns. “One major problem with this whole situation is Lind. As you know, Lind has Level One Song Proficiency. But you also know well that when it comes to non-combat magic, her skills are...lower than average. This level of magic is well above her abilities.” Peorth said her last sentence nervously ready to dive out of the way should Lind take offense. But Lind didn't flinch. “ I do admit that I am the weak link in this whole affair. My magical skills leave much to be desired. I am a combat goddess, we in the Valkyries have no use for singing spells. But I'm the only other First Class Goddess with the required singing credentials. There is no one else qualified. All I can ask is that Belldandy and Peorth can cover for my weakness. I will give all I have to make this work, but I will need help in casting my parts of the spell.” Belldandy put her hand on Lind's shoulder. “This problem presents a challenge, but I have faith that you will do your very best. We all have shortcomings we must overcome. But only by hard work and support from people who care about us, will we achieve success.” Lind looked at Belldandy, smiled and said “Thank you, Belldandy. With you helping me, I'll be all right.”
It took Skuld two hours to draw the circle according to instructions. She borrowed every calculating device in the house including Keiichi's computer and soon had her room filled with arcane formulas and calculations. She had to convert ten-dimensional math into three-dimensions, take into account the difference in time calculations between Heaven and Earth and also make sure that the gate deposited them in the correct location. Keiichi stopped by to ask if Skuld needed any help crunching the numbers. She looked at him as if he had grown a second head and kept doing her work. He looked at her calculations and within ten seconds had gotten hopelessly lost. She was doing math that wasn't found anywhere on the Earth. He had to admit, that even though she was annoying, immature, self absorbed, and incredibly moody, Skuld was a hell of a mathematician.
Belldandy walked up to Keiichi and pulled him aside. She had serious concerns on her face. “Keiichi, I'm nervous. I'm wondering whether I made a mistake in defying the Almighty like I did. So many things could go wrong. The spell could fail, you could be destroyed, and even if we make it to Heaven, I could still lose my license.” Belldandy wrapped her arms around Keiichi and said “Hold me, for just a little while.” Keiichi held his goddess, and spoke words of reassurance to her.
Belldandy, there comes a time when people have to take a stand for their convictions. Standing up for what you believe is not an easy thing to do. If it were, everyone would do it. You love me enough that you would disobey an order from the Almighty himself. I am humbled and awed that you care enough for me to do that. Whatever happens, you have my word and my bond that I will always be with you. No matter what. The Almighty can take away your license, but he can't take you away from me. What's done is done, you can't go back now.” Belldandy didn't say anything, she just held on tight to her man. She could once again hear her's and Keiichi's hearts beat as one. She took comfort from his reassurance. She drew on his strength and retreated into his warmth. Keiichi looked into Belldandy's face and kissed her on the forehead. “Hey, you're supposed to be the big bad Goddess First Class who could destroy the earth with one wave of her hand. And you're taking solace from a frail human like me? Something's wrong with this picture.” Belldandy smiled.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Conservatives got their panties in a wad over this???
As you know I rarely tackle politics on my blog partially because there are no shortage of political bloggers out there that are much better at analyzing America's favorite contact sport than I am. Also a lot of the shrill screaming and boorish nattering from both sides of the political aisle gets old real quick when the extremists and full mooners on both sides start using and reusing the same old arguments and talking points to try and shove their point of view into the face of the American public.
But the recent flack that was exhibited by conservatives at President Obama's speech to America's school children has gotten even a political lightweight like me to focus the Scribbler on this issue. Urged on by various right-wing talk show hosts and Republican congressmen, many conservatives had decided that their children would be absent on the day of the speech and even some school districts held off on showing the speech live until it was determined that the content of the speech passed muster, i.e. it didn't have political overtones that would get the more conservative parents in the district upset. The thing that these parents feared was Obama was going to try and indoctrinate their kids into some kind of socialist agenda that would somehow make little Johny and Suzy into the American equivalent of the old Soviet Komsomol. So I decided in take a look at this speech and see whether their fears would be realized. Here's the text of the speech in it's entirety: My thoughts will be in the italics.
Well, so far, so good, he didn't refer to the kiddies as Comrades!
I guess the President's mention of his families' living in Indonesia will give the birthers some more sticks with which to beat the very dead horse that is the debate over the legitimacy of Pres. Obama's birth certificate. But in an age where latch-key kids are more and more the rule of the day, the fact that his mother taught him extra lessons should get some points from the right-wing crowd and their displeasure of "government" schools.
Wow, isn't this something that the conservatives love to preach about to anyone who'd stand still long enough to listen? They love to banter endlessly about the word "responsibility." That's their mantra. We hear all the time, "take responsibility of your life, be accountable and all that. " Standard conservative talking point, why would they get bent out of shape over this?? Maybe because one of their icons isn't the one saying it.
Even more of this responsibility stuff. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that ol' Ronnie Reagan, the patron saint of the Right had penned this speech! Not some lefty, pinko, socialist community organizer!!!
More responsibility!!! Nothing about cheating on tests, or taking the easy way out, or God forbid, depending on the government to pour the information into your head!! Nice touch including the jobs of police officer and the military. That usually goes over real well with the "strong defense, law and order" types. But still, what is there to get conservatives knickers' in a twist??
You might get some conservatives to cringe at the mention of AIDS, a lot of them still think it's that disease that only gays and prostitutes get, and of course, there aren't any conservative gays and any right-winger worth his National Review subscription wouldn't need the services of a prostitute, at least in this country, anyway.
Yeah, like parents who refuse to let you be exposed to ideas, thoughts and ideologies that clash with their admittedly narrow world view.
Lookee here!!! A single mother who didn't rely on food stamps!! Conservatives should be dancing in the streets over this. No welfare queens in the Obama household!!
I wonder how long it'll take before the Republican noise machine starts demanding an investigation into these things President Obama's not proud of. And I'm sure that the shrill cry for impeachment proceedings will be cranked up before long.
Of course the Right-wingers could spin this into President and Mrs. Obama being Affirmative Action babies, and that by taking advantage of that controversial government program, they denied two white kids of a chance to become President or First Lady.
Straight out of the conservative playbook, except a liberal is saying them.
Of course some rightie will want to know: "Since she's got one of them there Hispanic names, I bet she's an illegal alien, getting an education on the government dole!!!"
THIS is something our kids need to hear and I don't give a damn who says it!!! Kids in the black community especially need to disavowed of this notion.
Yeah, but remember Mr. President, a lot of right wingers especially those of the Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christian strain think that JK Rowling should be condemned to hell because her Harry Potter novels could teach kids how to use magic and of course, magic is the Devil's province.
He mentioned "hard work"!!! What left thinking liberal layabout would want to espouse hard work? They just want to hang about all day sucking on the government teat!!!
This is interesting. Most conservatives believe that it's a sign of weakness to ask for help. In their eyes, this is a dog-eat-dog world, where everyone has to fight for their own share of the prize and the weak are left behind and/or stepped on to advance the goals of the strong. Asking for help??? How positively liberal!!!
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
All in all, pretty innocuous stuff. No clarion call to join the great Socialist Revolution. Matter of fact, it sounded quite conservative to me. Stay in school, take responsibility of your life, don't let your environment dictate your attitude, hard work. What were the folks on the right so worried about? I don't get it.
Sometimes, I wonder if the folks who listen to right-wing talk radio understand that the Rush Limbaughs, the Sean Hannitys, the Glenn Becks, and Micheal Savages of the world are actually laughing at their audience? Do they actually believe what they are saying? Maybe so, but understand that the real function of talk radio or any radio for that manner is not to inform or entertain the audience or get them to think, or provoke an honest discussion, it's all about selling soap, to use an old Doug Hoerth quote.
Radio 101, boys and girls. Sponsors pay the radio stations big bucks to air their commercials during these talk shows, and the more people who listen to them, the more the stations can charge for spots. And what provides massive listenership and hence top ad rates for spots? Conservative talk radio. There's hardly a market in this country that does not have at least one right-wing yakker, either local or syndicated. And they all pretty much sound alike in terms of their anti-Obama screeds, the way they rile up their intended audience, and the amount of money they bring into their radio partners. They know that loud mouths and polarizing rants bring in the bucks better than reasoned debate and calm discussion. Americans like their radio like they like their sports. Full contact and lots of crashes. And we also know that if something is said enough times, in a loud enough voice, eventually someone will believe it. Hitler proved that.
But I wonder if listeners of right-wing talk radio understand how they are being conditioned to react to certain words repeated over and over again in a menacing tone. Words like "Socialist", "Communist", "Government-run" It's like Pavlov and his dogs. These hosts know that all they have to do is say one of those buzz words, and like Pavlov's dogs slobbered at the ringing of a bell in anticipation of receiving a reward, so will these listeners react positively and viscerally in anticipation of a reward, which in this case, is affirmation of their own beliefs.
So in actuality people, don't think that Rush, Michael, Sean, Glen and the other right wing talkers actually care about you, and or your struggles, or your feelings about the future of this country. All they care about is the money. And right now with a struggling Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority in the Congress, they're stacking the bucks hand over fist.
So what did we learn about Obama's speech? Did he manage to convert a nation's youth into little communists? No, his speech was no different from speeches that Republican presidents gave to school children. Hard work, responsibility, succeeding in school, respecting teachers? Those are messages that no one political party or ideology has exclusive claim over. Who knows maybe our children will grow up to be great in spite of their parents as well as because of them.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Chapters 8&9--The Song of the Goddesses.
Chapter 8
4:30pm Saturday Afternoon.
WHAT????” Keiichi screamed when Belldandy broke the news to him. They were in the Tea Room standing face to face. “Belldandy, what were you thinking, opposing the Almighty like that? Do you want to lose your license? Am I that important to you that you'd risk everything for me? Please tell me this is a dream. Yeah!!!, it's all a dream. I'm really asleep and my girlfriend didn't just talk back to the Almighty, and I'm not going to Heaven and I don't have to put up with Peorth again...”
Belldandy grabbed Keiichi by the shoulders and shook him a little more violently than she intended, “Keiichi, this is not a dream, this is very real. You, I, and my sisters will have to go to heaven for this hearing before the Council in two days. I'm sorry that what I did caused you so much grief, but I love you so much that I can't stand to be without you. I'm willing to put my license, my career, and my life on the line to stay with you.
I confess that since I have lived here with you, my weaknesses and flaws have been made clear to me. And one of those weaknesses is that I am possessive of you and very jealous. Seeing any woman flirting with you enrages me. You've seen my jealousy storms. You've seen the destruction I can cause. Can you still stay with me knowing this?”
Belldandy collapsed to the floor at Keiichi's feet with a wail and cried out tearfully,
I am so horrible!!, I am undeserving of you, and my goddess license. Goddesses are supposed to be kind, gentle, warm, and loving. Above all they are supposed to be selfless and I am not selfless. I am the worst kind of selfish. I want you all to myself! I want to give you all of me. Just like I want all of you. But I'm not ready for that yet.
Keiichi, my love. Please tell me you'll forgive me!” Bell's face turned red as the tears flowed. Her shoulders heaved as she continued to cry. Her hair, always in place and immaculate, was disheveled. The ribbon holding her ponytail fell off, and her hair cascaded down the middle of her back flowing free. For the first time ever, Belldandy didn't look the perfect goddess. She looked like a frightened and traumatized young woman. All pretense was stripped away, and Belldandy's true feelings were laid bare for all to see. Keiichi was stunned. He had never seen Belldandy open up to him to this extent before. She hadn't revealed anything he didn't already know. But he never saw her in such a vulnerable state.
Keiichi reached down and extended a hand to Belldandy. He helped her to her feet. He grabbed a towel and gently wiped the tears from his goddess's eyes. He looked into those very same eyes and saw the depths of Belldandy's soul. He spoke to that soul.
Belldandy. You have given me the greatest years of my life. You have taught me what love really is. You have stood beside me. You have protected me and saved my life many times. I owe you a debt that I can never repay. It is not just your warmth and kindness and gentleness that makes you a great goddess. It is also those weaknesses that complete you. Light cannot exist without darkness. The function of light is to dispell the darkness. Your light, your pure light scatters the darkness within you. It will always be there. But you can control it through your light. It is alright to be jealous as long as it does not consume you.
And being possessive, I don't mind you being possessive of me. I'm glad that you find me worthy enough to be possessive. It is good for you to acknowledge your flaws. That means that we, and I do mean we, can work on fixing them together. Belldandy, you mean the world to me and I would go through hell itself before seeing a hair on your head harmed. There is nothing to forgive. You have done nothing wrong.
And even though you're not ready to become completely intimate with me, I think that you need this right now.” And he pulled Belldandy to him, put both arms around her slim waist and kissed her hard on the lips. She offered no resistance, and threw her arms around Keiichi's neck. Her lips were so soft and moist. Belldandy never wore perfume, but Keiichi could smell honeysuckle, and cherry blossoms and ocean breezes. In his mind he could hear a mix of Belldandy's infectious giggles and her and Holy Bell singing a tune just for him. His mind started to drift away on a cloud of passion. He could feel Bell's love flowing through his body, radiating through his soul, Energizing him. Fulfilling him. He started to feel himself becoming aroused, and it would have been so easy to carry her to his room and make love to her. But out of respect for Belldandy's wishes, he didn't want to give into his desires just yet. In response, Belldandy drew him even closer to her. Not wanting to let go. She melted into his arms. She felt at home. She wished that they could stay like this forever. Her goddess powers started to stir within her, flushing away her despair, filling her with new hope and courage. Once again their hearts were beating together in perfect time. She wanted to give her all to him right there in the Tea Room. But she knew that it wasn't the time. After what seemed to be hours, but was only ten minutes, they released from their embrace. They looked into each others eyes, and Belldandy said “Thank you Keiichi, I did need that. I didn't want to let you go. I wanted to stay in your arms forever.”
Meanwhile, Urd was standing just outside the Tea Room watching the entire exchange. She said to herself with a chuckle,“ Good for you, Belldandy. Maybe this relationship has a chance after all.”
Chapter 9
6 pm Saturday Afternoon.
Keiichi and the three goddesses were at dinner in the Tea Room discussing the upcoming hearing. Skuld was mad that she didn't get to hear the phone call between Kami-sama and Belldandy, and she wasn't excited about going back to Heaven because the first thing she'd end up doing was going back to work debugging Yggdrasil. Of course she blamed the whole mess on Keiichi.
SEE KEIICHI, THIS IS WHY I HATE YOU SO MUCH!!!, IF YOU HADN'T GOTTEN SO LOVEY-DOVEY WITH BELLDANDY, WE WOULDN'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM!!! Skuld screamed, her voice ripping through the thin walls of the temple like a tornado. “I was just getting to enjoy life on Earth, Sentaro and I have been getting along so well, and now this!!! I HOPE THE ALMIGHTY ZAPS YOU WITH A THUNDERBOLT, KEIICHI!!!”
Belldandy came to Keiichi's defense. “Skuld, if there's anyone to blame, blame me. I was the one who challenged the order. Keiichi didn't put me up to this. He has done nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, he's taking a very big risk by agreeing to go to heaven with me. If the conversion spell goes wrong, he could be destroyed. Even if he wasn't and the spell didn't work, he would still remain on earth and couldn't accompany me to the hearing, and that would cause Kami-sama to implement the punishment against me. So please don't put this on Keiichi. It wasn't his fault that I fell in love with him. It just happened.”
Skuld was satisfied with Bell's answer for now. “ Well, I guess that it really isn't Keiichi's fault. It's just that he's such a convenient scapegoat for all the crap that happens around here, she said with a smirk at Keiichi.
Keiichi took this time to divert the discussion to the matter at hand. “So, what do I need to know in order to prepare for this trip to Heaven?, I mean I'll do whatever it takes to make sure Belldandy is all right, but this spell business has me a little concerned. I mean I could be scattered all over Japan if something goes wrong. I'm sure that Belldandy can do her part singing-wise, but I don't know about Lind and Peorth.”
Urd tried to add a little levity to the situation. “Well, if I were you, I'd make sure I had a will in place, for one thing. Lind's magic leaves a lot to be desired. I've got dibbs on the liquor cabinet and the TV's.” And Skuld jumped in, saying “ And I want all your tools, your computer, your motorcycle...” she was bouncing up and down gleefully in her place just thinking about the cool inventions she could make with Keiichi's stuff.
Keiichi said “All right you two, cut it out. Let's get back to the subject at hand. What do I need to know about Heaven?”
Belldandy said “It's very hard for a human such as yourself to understand what heaven is like. No offense, Keiichi, but humans like yourselves are much too limited in their senses to appreciate and fully comprehend what Heaven is like. Heaven is a ten-dimensional place. The majority of what goes on there will be well beyond your understanding. The conversion spell will most likely allow you to do the basic things like see the sights, interact with us as well as Kami-sama and the council and move around as well as understand the language. But much of the deeper aspects of heaven are simply not describable to you in a form that you can understand. I can tell you that it is the most beautiful place you will ever see, even with your limited vision. The colors are so bright and rich. You'll see things that don't make sense in this world, but make perfect sense there. Even us goddesses will look different than what you're used to.”
Keiichi said with a grin “Hmm, will you be as beautiful up there as you are here?” Belldandy blushed a deep crimson.
Urd said slyly. “If you think she's hot down here, Keiichi-boy, you haven't seen anything yet. You'll barely be able to keep your hands off her once you see what she looks like in Heaven. And if you think I'M hot down here,” Urd continued, suggestively fondling her voluptuous breasts. “I know you won't keep your hands off ME!!!” She moved in to toy with Keiichi's affections, but quickly jumped back when the teapot exploded sending hot tea all over the table. Skuld let out a scream and ran back to her room. Urd turned to look at Belldandy and could see the intense look in her eyes, her thin pursed lips. The massing energies of jealousy that were coming off Belldandy like lethal rays of radiation. “Belldandy!!, Belldandy!!” Urd cried out, panicking. “I was only joking. Settle down!!!” And just like that, the jealousy storm was over. Belldandy snapped out of her trance, blinked a couple times, and said, “Huh, Oh I'm sorry, Urd. Please forgive me.”
Geez, Belldandy, you're going to have to get a grip on those jealousy storms. It's just me. I'm not going to take your Keiichi away. You know I like to play around with him. I don't mean anything by it.” Urd complained while wiping the tea off the table.
I know that you aren't serious about seducing Keiichi, but when I see other women even playfully flirting with him, It just makes me so mad. I can hardly control myself.”
Keiichi leaped up and rushed to Belldandy's side. “Are you all right?” “Yes, I am” Belldandy said. “I need to go and clean this mess up.” She picked up the broken teapot and ran off into the kitchen.
Urd grabbed a towel and finished cleaning the table and then sat down again. “Urd, Keiichi asked, “Belldandy has been under a lot of strain lately. I wonder if she did the right thing by confronting the Almighty like that. She could end up in some serious trouble if I don't make it to the hearing and also if the Council rules against her. She could end up disconnected from Yggdrasil. That sounds harsh.”
That is the worst punishment a goddess can face, it's almost a living death. Urd replied with all trace of mischief gone from her voice. “She would literally be floating in a netherworld. Conscious, but completely isolated from everything, No one would be able to see or talk to her, and she would not be able to respond to anything. She'd be better off dead rather than disconnected from Yggdrasil.”
“How long would this punishment last?” Keiichi asked, not wanted to hear the answer.
It depends. For Belldandy, who has a clean record, maybe a year in heaven time which comes out to 5 years in earth time. The maximum sentence that is given is 10 years. But even the Almighty has never passed that sentence. But those who go into isolation, even for a year, never come out the same. And for a goddess like Belldandy, who thrives on being around people, it would be like slow torture. It would destroy her. But that's the extreme punishment, It's unlikely that Belldandy would be sentenced to that. Most likely she'd lose her license for a while. Which is serious because she would not be able to do her job with the Goddess Assistance Agency. Most likely, she'd be shunted off to a desk job to work off her sentence. But it would still tear Belldandy up because she loves doing things for humans.
Defying the Almighty is a serious offense, Keiichi. He's not known for taking kindly for such insubordination. It's a testament to Belldandy's character and to her greatness as a goddess that he's even granting her a hearing. Also, It's a credit to you.”
Keiichi looked confused “How's that, Urd?”
If Belldandy would have been contracted to any other human when she defied the Almighty, she would have been punished on the spot. No exceptions, whatsoever. Believe it or not, Kei, the Almighty knows a lot about you. You've done quite a bit of service to Heaven since we've come to live with you. The Lord of Terror incident, the separation of my demon half from my divine half, the Angel Eater getting loose. You played a major part in all those situations and The Almighty has quite a bit of respect for you. You could almost say that he likes you. That's why he's granting Belldandy a hearing and allowing you to come along. He would never do this for any other human.
Keiichi said “Wow.” I didn't think the Almighty even knew me, much less had any opinion about me.”
Remember one thing, Keiichi” Urd cautioned. “Belldandy is putting a lot on the line because she loves you so much. She would not have done this for anyone but you. You're a very lucky guy.” Urd then reached over and gave Keiichi a kiss on the cheek and a wink. Keiichi leaped back “Urd, don't do that, you'll cause Belldandy to go off again.” He tensed up waiting for the fireworks.
No, Keiichi, I'm all right this time.” Belldandy said, walking into the room just as Urd leaned back. Keiichi looked like he was going to go through the floor. “ I could tell that kiss was out of respect and affection, not to flirt with you.” Belldandy then sat down next to Keiichi.
“But I may have to do this to get you back into my good graces.” She said with a touch of mischief in her tone. And she pulled him to her and gave him a very big kiss on the lips. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16273 | • Black Instagram Icon
Meanwhile, on Instagram...
©2018 by My Model Reality
For questions or to be featured, contact me!
My Model Reality, with Darci Clark, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Everything linked on this site has been used, or is similar to something used, by Darci. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16293 | TY - JOUR AU - Hall, Robert E TI - Corporate Earnings Track the Competitive Benchmark JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 10150 PY - 2003 Y2 - December 2003 DO - 10.3386/w10150 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10150 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10150.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Robert E. Hall Hoover Institution Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6010 Tel: 650/723-2215 E-Mail: [email protected] AB - Earnings are the flow of value created by corporations. I concentrate on the concept called EBITDA earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This measure captures the results of the substantive non-financial activities of corporations and corresponds to the rental price of capital multiplied by the quantity of capital. I measure earnings per dollar of capital for all U.S. corporations and in 5 selected industries. I develop a competitive benchmark for the level of earnings, which takes account of adjustment costs, taxes, depreciation, and the financial opportunity cost of funds. I find that aggregate corporate earnings track the benchmark reasonably closely, leaving a relatively small unexplained component. Thus evidence of the flow of value gives little help in explaining the large discrepancies found in earlier work in the level of the market value of claims on corporations relative to the replacement cost of the capital stock. At the industry level, I find more volatility of both actual and benchmark earnings, with a high correlation between the two in 3 of the 5 industries. ER - |
global_01_local_0_shard_00002368_processed.jsonl/16299 | XML Sitemap
URLPriorityChange frequencyLast modified (GMT)
https://www.ncms.no/ncms-nyheter/60%Weekly2018-05-02 12:12 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.