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May 12th, 2009 by Derek Hollis Static Analysis tools > Experience When developers choose to enforce Static Analysis tools (i.e. JTest or PMD) they might have the best intentions at heart, but are actually making the code worse in the long run.  The value of the programmer’s experience and expertise on the code is not considered. Static analysis tools are automated programs that run a set of rules against source code to produce metrics, and give advice on best practices. So why does using these tools lead to bad code?  The Heartache You’re trying to finish up some down-to-the-wire coding to get it over to your Testers, and your deadline is approaching.  You have this one last class to change and it is a legacy class.  This class was written before the static analysis tools were forced to be run on the code base.  You go in to make a simple change like adding a null pointer check.  You now execute the static analysis tool on the code and you have 30 violations — from incorrect naming of fields to Cyclomatic Complexity greater than the threshold.  You have 2 options here: A) You take the time to fix all the violations, and leave the code better than you got it or B) You take the lazy / easier solution and try and beat the rules — take the easy way out and work around them.  What do you choose? Reaction to the pain Depending on what option you chose, you left the code beautiful, a little bit better, or in shambles and worse than you received it.  By choosing option A you decided to be Pragmatic and make the code fix the Cyclomatic Complexity.  Now being the pragmatic programmer you are you need to consider unit testing.  You take the time to understand the violating method and make the appropriate refactoring.  Now you hope the developer before you would have tested this method.  A lot of the times this is not the case or if it is the case, did they write a good test? Did they write a test just to pass the code coverage standard?  Again you have options, you can either take the time to use TDD or you make the refactoring without the test and hope you don’t break anything. If you chose option B, you decided to hack the code to bypass the rule.  By circumventing the system you are making the code worse, harder to understand, and more likely broken.  You figured out that by extracting pieces of the Cyclomatic Complexity method into other methods bypasses the rule.  This doesn’t truly fix the Cyclomatic Complexity it just hides it from the tool.  Again you have to worry about test or not to test. Lets look at another less extreme example, you’re now forced to fix a rule that is complaining because the code uses the ‘!’ operand more than max two times mandated by the rule.  You might change the code to “== false” or flip the condition blocks so that it results in true and use the else to catch the false.  This does work on a case by case basis.  However sometimes flipping the if expression to check for true first makes the code harder to read.  By making this change it loses the developers intention.  You are probably making the code worse by trying to beat the system or making the rule happy.  Is the code still easily understood by making this change?  Taking the Dreyfus Model into account will help us determine why a developer would respond in these different ways. Dreyfus Model By using the Dreyfus Model we can rate developers into 5 different categories: Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competent, Proficient, and Expert.  Novices are driven by rules and need guidance to complete tasks.  While the Experts are passed rules and use their intuition to drive their decisions.  Something to note about Experts is they can’t explain why they do the things the way they do. A Novice that is driven by rules will likely fix the problem without hesitation or they could just be lazy and don’t want to push themselves to do the exploratory fix.  Now with Experts they will question the rule violation against their code.  Experts will not just blindly fix the error if they believe their code is correct / a work of art.  This is not their ego talking, but more their experience / intuition / instinct on the subject.  Not all developers are made equal, so why do we think code should be? The Expert will likely not be able to verbally prove their reason for wanting the violation to be suppressed — to them, it’s just clearer and better their way.  By not trusting their instinct you are degrading them.  They are likely going to strike and push back against this rule, toying with the Enforcer.  Forcing rules on the Expert is an incorrect way to treat them and their knowledge.  Rule violations shouldn’t be blindly enforced but taken on a case by case basis. Learning Tool I do believe that Static Analysis tools make a great learning tool towards best practices.  Novices, Advanced Beginners could get a lot of benefit from seeing what they did incorrectly when they violated a rule, and learning from it as they progress in their career. A lot of time you are doing maintenance on code someone else wrote before the tool was enforced to be run.  Now you are held accountable for the fixing the rule when you just came into this class to add a new field.  First off this leads to developers to not wanting to make code changes even though they know it is for the best.  Also you are now held accountable from someone else’s debt.  The original developer might have moved to another team, and hasn’t seen the debt they have incurred.  Now the original developer can’t learn from this experience.  Hopefully when a rule violation is found against someone else’s code it will be shown to them so they get to see the debt they incur.  Developers should be taught to write good code in the first place, but without good mentors that is going to be hard.  Especially when the Experts can’t explain why they do the things they do. I don’t think that Static Analysis tools should replace code reviews and agile pair programming.  Code reviews should still be done, and require at least another set of eyes on each line of code written.  This will help foster the mentorship and help less experienced programmers with a more experienced developer. Use Static Analysis tools as a guidelines not a mandate.  Use these tools as training guides for younger developers, and for the advice they are built to give.  Enforce rules on a case by case basis not at an overall perspective.  By enforcing these tools it causes developers to rebel, make the code worse, and not to want to make code changes because they are going to be responsible for fixing the rule that they might have good reason to disagree with — passionately. Please let us know how have you dealt with these tools or situations in the past.  What pain have you felt from these tools? References: Dreyfus model:  Developing Expertise: Herding Racehorses, Racing Sheep by Dave Thomas Posted in Best Practices 1. Hayden Jones says: Use FindBugs and consult Bill Pugh’s talk at JavaOne 2008 called ‘Using FindBugs in Anger’ about what to do about large code bases (in short use your discretion about what bugs can be left alone and what needs to be fixed). 2. Dale says: Some comments about PMD: Out of the box, PMD can be overly verbose. It is easy to let it run more rules than is necessary. One of the “expert” developers should set up the rulesets that will be enforced. Even after that, the rules should still be considered guidelines. As the article mentioned, there are often good reasons for a particular code construct that may violate a PMD rule. PMD supports both annotations and special comments that allow the developer to indicate to PMD (and to other developers) that they are ignoring the PMD rule on purpose. A good developer will also add a comment indicating why they are ignoring the rule. It is also possible to suppress PMD warnings for an entire class, so in the example from the article, the developer has a better choice: make the fix for the NPE, then suppress PMD warnings for the class. This should also serve as an indication that the class needs to be revisitied, but gives the developer a way to make a critical fix on a tight deadline without having to “fix” a bunch of legacy code that has worked fine for years. 3. Sorry but I think you are wrong here. 1) many static code analysis tools are useless without some configuration. Pmd is one of such tools. Findbugs on the other hand is pretty much OK out of the box. Experts tune these tools until they have the right set of rules and then use the tools to make sure juniors don’t screw up (which they will otherwise). Almost every day I find stuff with checkstyle or findbugs that one of the guys in my team committed and I make them fix it. This ranges from stupid stuff to otherwise extremely hard to spot concurrency bugs. This alone is a reason to never ever go without static code analysis. 2) the tools don’t lie and most of the rules (that survive after you configure) are based on sound principles. An expert understands these principles and will recognize violations of rules as a problem. 3) Arguing against well established practices is a sign of an advanced beginner, not of an expert. It’s very simple: either the rule is always right or it is always wrong. In the latter case, configure your tool to not apply the rule. That’s OK, we all do this. In the former case: zero tolerance is the only right thing to do. The tool makes this dead easy. I recently inherited a project that was big pile of stinking crap and all my static code analysis tools confirmed this (though technically I didn’t need those to confirm this). When maintaining big stinking piles of code, analysis tools, test tools, etc. are your friend. Step 1: fix all of those findbugs issues. You know dereferencing null values, redundant null checks, misguided use of the synchronized keyword, etc. Step 2, use code coverage tools to figure out what code is not being tested. Step 3: fix this, ruthlessly deleting dead code in the process (if it has no test and nobody seems to use it: delete and ask questions later). Step 4: Refactor, the hell out of the project. Breaking things is going to happen from time to time. But then once you fix it, your code will be better. Step 5 work on the code until you have 0 warnings with the code analysis tools running on each save in eclipse (no expert would turn those off). This probably requires some decision taking on which rules to keep and which not. Step 6: turn on code cleaning on save in eclipse. Really, this saves so much time and arguing. Our eclipse config comes straight from maven so all team members use it. Hooks up the code analysis tools as well. Great stuff. Indeed no replacement for code reviews, unit, integration, and manual end-to-end testing. But then nobody claims this and you shouldn’t rely on those processes either to find stupid rule violations and instead focus more on correctness & design of the code. 4. Raghu M says: This is a never ending debate. Although I agree the argument of experts evading the tool enforcement, what is the guarantee that experts do not commit mistakes? There is no reason why the tool usage always results in a dreadful situation. In fact, I find not using a tool has led to pain than otherwise. Unit testing, code metrics are measures of code quality, no matter how expert the developer(s) is/are. What matters is the amount of tool usage. In a highly automated environment where daily builds are happening more than once every day, monitoring commits and generating reports, it makes a lot of sense to integrate these tools. Having this in place is just as good as 50% work done. I think enforcing the tool usage (by making it a part of commit) is the issue. Instead, senior members in the team could take the responsibility of doing smart code reviews. This is as good as using the tool itself (might be better at times). However, the advantages of unit testing tool or code metrics tool are too good to be ignored. Leave a Comment [code lang="xml"][/code]
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Spring Clean: Makeup Collection I was quite excited to dive into my makeup collection as the final piece to my mini spring cleaning series. There were a lot of products I knew I was just not using and the bins could use a good cleaning. I didn't do a big clean out like I did a handful of months ago, but I poked around the drawers, reorganized where they were located, and took out everything I wasn't going to use.  I'm quite proud that I managed to get all of my palettes back in the main drawer. For a while I had them in the drawer system that was next to my beauty desk. It was still convenient, but I wanted to be able to see them with the rest of my makeup collection. In regards to what I got rid of, a lot of the items I already knew I just wasn't going to use, but some things (like the Maybelline Color Tattoos) I really had to talk to myself about. If I hadn't used them in a few months or had just too many to ever use, I decided to part with my least favorite ones. I'm quite pleased with how everything looks now and I've already given a good deal of the to part with stash to my sister. I'm curious though what you all do with makeup you no longer want or just doesn't suit you? That's it for my little spring cleaning series! Back to regular scheduled programming from here on out. xoxo Kayla 1 comment 1. This is definitely something I need to do! I think you did really well, parting with belongings is always challenging. © Oh, Hello Living • Theme by Maira G.
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OML Search Scientific Notation Solutions, examples, videos, and lessons to help Grade 8 students learn to how to use numbers expressed in the form of a single digit times an integer power of 10 to estimate very large or very small quantities, and to express how many times as much one is than the other. Common Core: 8.EE.3 Suggested Learning Targets • I can express numbers as a single digit times an integer power of 10 (Scientific Notation). • I can use scientific notation to estimate very large and/or very small quantities. • I can compare quantities to express how much larger one is compared to the other. The following figures show how to convert to scientific notation. Scroll down the page for examples and solutions. Convert Scientific Notation Estimating Using Scientific Notation (8.EE.3) Scientific Notation for Large Numbers. Scientific Notation for Small Numbers. Comparing Numbers. The planet Lukon has 2 neighboring planets. Planet A is 9 x 107 miles away, and Planet B is 3 x 104 miles away. How many times further away is Planet A than Planet B? Positive Scientific Notation Change these numbers into scientific notation. Change these numbers into standard form 5.07 x 104 3.2 x 1012 1.55 x 106 Negative Scientific Notation Ordering Numbers in Scientific Notation Order from Least to Greatest 0,052 x 107, 5.2 x 105, 53.2 x 10, 534 9 x 10-7, 8 x 10-8, 7 x 10-6, 6 x 10-10 50.1 x 10-3, 4.8 x 10-1, 0.52 x 10-3, 56 x 10-2 0.53 x 107, 5300 x 10-1, 5.3 x 105, 530 x 108 Compare numbers in scientific notation How much greater is: 6 x 105 than 2 x 103 8.4 x 109 than 2.1 x 108 Scientific Notation OML Search [?] Subscribe To This Site follow us in feedly Add to My Yahoo! Add to My MSN Subscribe with Bloglines
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Can Get Tricky When Things Get Sticky! Humans use a lot of tricks, from smart ones to hicks. They use them all from hall to hall to remember this or that. No trick needed to remember to feed the cat. If you don't feed stitches your leg may need. The trash needs to go. You have to take it out. But you forget high and low. Then you get yelled at and pout. So you make a check. It's as easy as can be. Throw the trash on the deck, Whenever you empty thee. Clothes need to be done. This one isn't hard. Unless you don't have a ton, Or bury them in the yard. A pile you see. That is that. Unless busy as a be, Won't miss that where you're at. The car needs gas. You just ran out. That sucks in mass. Now time for a walk about. How do you keep it filled? Why you take gas to heart. Passengers may be less then thrilled, But check your gas every time you fart. Forget about a bill. Who cares about that? Until the company doesn't get it in their till, Then you become a bad credit stat. Don't want to be in the dark. So every time the light goes out. Remember your mark, And pay bills with a shout. Can't remember a date. That just won't do. Could piss off kid, dog or mate, If you don't follow through. Some use their phone, But that can die. So if you got no dial tone, Remember each date when the sun is high. There you are at your sea. Some helpful tips at remembering from me. Any you have seen or use? Afraid to tell me as I may abuse? Pffft, the cat would never to that to any of his follower mass. Yeah, I wouldn't believe my little rhyming ass. Enjoy your winter, smash a printer. 1. I gave one a run up before the sun going back to bed dreams in my head Good morning Hank Good morning Blue Good morning Cat 1. You did good Truedessa Good morning to you! 2. Early for a Saturday As you came out to play 3. Good morning True How's your blue suede shoe? 2. Who buries clothes in the yard? 3. Can Get Tricky When Things Get Sticky! Even out the foolery don't get murky A trick or two And that will do Sticking the tongue out is not healthy 1. May get it chopped off Then one would scoff 4. There must be something interesting buried in my yard! 5. Check and uncheck the things to do May have time to add one new To remember all, my brain doth insist The number one is to make a very long list 1. A long list Keeps away the missed Making one not pissed And full blissed 6. Truedessa was up long before me! I'll use Siri to remind me of dates, but the bills are something I just check every week to be sure I'm keeping up. 1. She was up before me too There at her zoo Yeah, ave to watch those No stupid added interest woes 7. I set up a lot of payments on automatic billing saves me from remembering the dates keep an alarm and a time closer by so to work I am never late 8. Oh very interesting post! Lovely blog 9. Reminds me of these life hacks people talk about and then they're all stupid 1. haha yep, stupid in every way Flush them down the bay 10. Problem with memory loss?/Perhaps about life you don't give a toss! :-) Greetings from London. 11. The cat is right, I forget all kinds of things, even when written and highlighted on a calendar, but the cat never gets ignored! 12. Thanks for the tips! Now if only I can remember to pay my bills.... 1. haha they suck the dough Away at every show 13. Being OCD can really help me. List maker that I am and a calendar in my plan. The only thing buried in our yard are the long lost pets. Everything else is barred. 1. lol no laundry there As the pile does stare 14. I always keep on top of those things. Never worry about that. Make a list and check it twice. 15. Good to visit your site as a part of my A to Z visits. NRao Blogs - 2016 A to Z Challenge Blog Posts 16. I have seen plenty of missed bills but not from me. They come from my clients who suffer from this constantly. 17. Used to miss The odd bill when I was young But not any more I climb every rung Post a Comment
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Hurricane Essentials Such long, unexplained blog silence hasn't happened around these parts in quite a while. I unfortunately, just wasn't feeling it this week, and have had  a "minor" weather disturbance to focus my attention on.  I've been on a search for rain boots. I have had three or four pairs, but they usually end up discolored and in the trash. So I've been searching for the perfect darker colored boot, that has less of a rain boot look, and more of an equestrian or fashionable feel. I'm loving these three pairs that I pinned to my "fall-tastic" Pinterest fashion board!  Target Quilted Rubber Boot, $27.99 Target Equestrian Style Boot, $27.99 Joules Crockington Boot, $84.95 Last night I stocked up on bottles of water for myself and the dogs, plenty of pop tarts, and lots of lemon Oreo's! Looks like we'll have a lot of rain and wind here, but nothing too terrible. I'm hoping to spend some quality time curled up with a good book--any recommendations before my bookstore run this afternoon? I just finished The Husband's Secret and LOVED it! Leave a Comment Post a Comment Please leave your thoughts!
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Arrow up SEE MORE Work Me Bank Life & Loan CHE Proximity Banks tell buyers how much they can borrow, but not how much they should – which can lead to massive, underwater mortgages. So ME Bank and CHE Proximity created Life&Loan, a mortgage calculator driven by the buyer’s lifestyle, not the bank’s. Play Video IconMute Video IconUnmute Video Icon • Challenge Since the 1970s, the housing-debt-to-income ratio in Australia has skyrocketed more than 400% – resulting in many economists worrying about an American-style housing crisis. Google trends data showed that this rise was, in part, due to online mortgage calculators that failed to include all the necessary variables. • Solution With data at its core, ME Bank and CHE Proximity dramatically expanded the idea of what a mortgage calculator should offer. Typical mortgage calculators are based on two over-simplified data points: income and expenses. Life&Loan uses more than 50,000 data points – making it intricate decision making engine that considers lifestyle and interests. Users select a preferred suburb and four things they’d like in it. Then with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ backend data, income and expenses are matched with thousands of data points to estimate both lifestyle and household expenses. The Google Places and Domain Real Estate’s API then curate real-time, personalized recommendations – all within budget. • Results Consideration of a ME Bank home loan increased by 34%, with a 10% increase in the likelihood of using ME Bank as lender. Consideration of a loan with the big 4 dropped by 8% after using the app, and the perception of a home loan with ME Bank as “simple and easy” increased by 11%.
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Image via Creative Commons What do vaginas and vampires have in common? Apparently, they both thrive off drinking blood. At least, that’s the philosophy behind a procedure called the O-Shot (that’s short for—you guessed it—Orgasm Shot), which takes blood from a woman’s arm and injects it into her vagina for the purpose of improving her sex life. Continue Reading
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Skip to main content Undergraduate study First-year program Liberal arts departments Degree programs Graduate study Degree programs Certificates + concentrations Founded in 1877, RISD stands out among the world’s preeminent colleges of art and design. Its community of critical thinkers and makers shares a belief in the value of hands-on learning, experimentation and an ever-evolving approach to an immersive, discipline-based studio education reinforced by studies in the liberal arts.
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The White Lion of Mortimer The White Lion of Mortimer Available as gold Proof, silver Proof and Brilliant Uncirculated editions The White Lion came to The Queen through Edward IV who inherited the creature from his grandmother, heiress of the Mortimers. Although Edward sometimes used the White Lion as a supporter of his Royal Arms, unlike the Lion of England the White Lion of Mortimer has no crown and its tongue and claws are blue rather than red. In heraldry lions are often ‘rampant’, standing with forepaws raised, but the Lion of Mortimer is often shown sitting rather like a tamed dog with its tail between its legs. The White Lion of The Queen’s Beasts holds a Yorkist shield of blue and ‘murrey’ or mulberry colour with a ‘white rose en soleil’, a white rose on a golden sun, combining emblems that were used by both Edward IV and Richard III. It was a badge used by George VI, The Queen’s father, when he was Duke of York. Currently Reserved The Queen's Beasts Accessories The History of the White Lion The latest coin in The Queen’s Beasts Collection from The Royal Mint has been released, continuing the heraldry themed range. Each of the coins in the collection features a contemporary depiction of one of ten beasts, inspired by the statues that lined the entrance to Her Majesty The Queen’s coronation in 1953. The latest coin in the collection is the eighth in the series and features the White Lion of Mortimer. However, this regal lion reveals different qualities from the ferocious Lion of England that appeared on the first coin that launched the popular collection. From ancient cave drawings to the watchful bronze statues at London’s Trafalgar Square, and modern-day emblems in football and cricket, lions have long been a symbol of courage, bravery and chivalry. While lions are usually presented in aggressive and fearsome forms, they don’t always have to be ferocious. Unlike the rampant Lion of England, the White Lion of Mortimer sits uncrowned, with its tail tucked away, a pose representing loyalty and discipline. In the past some representations have portrayed the White Lion of Mortimer as particularly submissive, resembling a begging dog, but Royal Mint designer Jody Clark has chosen to imbue the animal with a certain amount of dignity. The White Lion comes to The Queen through her Yorkist heritage. First used by Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, a founder Knight of the Order of the Garter, it passed to the House of York and Edward IV by way of his grandmother, Anne Mortimer – the eldest of Roger Mortimer's children. The Lion holds a shield bearing the white rose of York combined with the sun’s golden rays – a symbol important to Edward IV, who may have seen the sun as a sign of good luck in battle. That belief may have originated at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, where a parhelion appeared on the morning of the conflict. Sometimes known as a 'sun dog' a parhelion is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs in cold weather. Ice crystals in the air reflect the sun's light and create the illusion of there being three suns in the sky. It is said that Edward IV – then known as Edward, Earl of March – managed to convince his men that the occurrence was a sign of God's being on their side. Many believe that it is because of this event that the shining sun was incorporated into the 'white rose en soleil.' However, there is evidence of the sun being used in Yorkist crests before then. back to top
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Recreation Class Program Brochure View the entire Fall 2019 Brochure by using the link at the bottom of the following list, OR to view individual class-type sections, use the links on the list below. You can now register online for your favorite recreation classes: Or, fill out or form and register at one of our centers: Register Online Registration Policies and Refund Policies For more information contact: (714) 647-5307
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August 13, 2019 by Dan Segars Hey Siri, tell me about Simple Siri + Simple As a financial technology company, Simple’s mission is to help you feel confident with your money. We want to accomplish this mission by providing practical, financial software tools for our customers. As an engineer, I also want to keep our sights on what is up-and-coming within the tech industry. “Voice first” is a concept that has been around for a while, and using our voice is becoming an increasingly popular way to input and access small pieces of data. As an iOS Engineer, my bias is towards using voice with Siri, but you can clearly see the use of voice in other companies like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana. With Siri you can use your voice to input and request information whether you’re using an iPhone®, iPad®, Apple Watch®, CarPlay®, HomePod®, AirPods®, or Mac®. In 2016, Apple added SiriKit which allowed 3rd party developers to hook into Siri, but this was limited to only a few types of apps. While initially providing a couple of options that we could have used at Simple, those options didn’t quite fit our brand or our built-in tools like Safe-to-Spend™ or Goals. Fast forward to 2018. In iOS 12, Apple announced an expansion of SiriKit whose customization caught my eye as I considered Simple’s growing feature set of Shared Accounts, the Emergency Fund, Expenses, the Protected Goal Account, and the Shared Protected Goal Account. Before we dive into technical bits, why are we doing this? Siri + Simple = More Convenience Using your voice for banking may not yet be mainstream, but I wanted to begin exploring how an integration with Siri could help the banking experience feel easier, more personal, more relevant to your context, and help you save and spend money more confidently. As a first step we integrated Siri into Safe-to-Spend™, Goals and Expenses. “Hey Siri, Safe-to-Spend” Some people use Expenses to set aside money for things like recurring bills and Goals to stash money away for longer term savings. In this scenario, Safe-to-Spend™ is a great reflection of a lump of money that has not been allocated and is safe for a customer to use as they see fit. So, when a Simple customer needs to get a quick read on their discretionary spending, all they have to say is, “Hey Siri, Safe-to-Spend.” “Hey Siri, Summer Vacation” Goals are Simple’s trademark way of helping you automate saving money for bigger things like a trip to Hawaii, a new computer, or an engagement ring. Using Siri you can quickly find out how much you have saved in any of your Goals. So, if a customer wants to know their progress on a savings goal they can simply say, “Hey Siri, Vacation goal.” “Hey Siri, Coffee Expense” In addition to recurring bills, many Simple customers use Expenses for groceries or to better manage discretionary spending on things like eating out, grabbing coffee, or going to happy hour with friends. Discretionary spending usually happens when we’re on-the-go, so why not enable quick access to Expenses using Siri before arriving at your destination? So, the next time a customer is driving to the grocery store or their hands are full they can say, “Hey Siri, Grocery expense,” and Siri can tell them. Or the next time they are walking to the coffee shop, a customer can say, “Hey Siri, coffee expense,” and more quickly know their expense amount. Adding SiriKit to Simple, an abbreviated how-to By adding Siri to your app you are expanding your visibility. You will now show up in the Siri section of the Settings app, the Shortcuts app, and the Siri window. This means being mindful of new customer experiences outside of your app. By implementing NSUserActivity you enable a customer to use Siri to navigate to a particular place and state within your app with absolutely no need to turn on the Siri Capability in your project. If you haven’t been introduced to NSUserActivity, I highly recommend reading about it. Apple has been beating this drum for about 4 years now, but they highly encourage using this API. Included in state restoration and handoff, setting an NSUserActivity object on a view controller, for example, is a very fast way to create a shortcut for your app. For example, on a UIViewController you could do something like: Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 5.29.43 PM After running the app with this code, if a customer navigates to this screen, a new shortcut will appear in the Siri section of the Settings app with the title, “Show 🏖 Vacation details.” SC Blog SIRI howto 725x485 Tapping this shortcut will present a screen to add a voice shortcut, and invoking this voice shortcut will launch your app where you handle restoring them to this screen/state. To help define and better organize user activities in Simple, we created a subclass of NSUserActivity for each kind of activity a user might take. For example: Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 5.50.49 PM Of note, you must add any activities you create to the NSUserActivityTypes array in your Info.plist. Unfortunately, (unless you would like to go the route of using something like a linter), you will need to manually ensure the activityType string you use to instantiate the NSUserActivity is the same string you put in the Info.plist’s NSUserActivityTypes array. If you do not have a linter or a more bullet-proof solution, this is a great time for inline code documentation. 😀 Whereas Siri can use an NSUserActivity object to help customers get into your app, an INIntent enables Siri to perform a more complex task on your customer’s behalf outside of your app. Fortunately, you don’t simply turn on the Siri capability for your app and call it done. I say “fortunately” because I cannot imagine having to predict all of the ways a customer might want to use Siri to get information from outside of the app! An INIntent, as Apple has defined it, is simply, “a request for you to fulfill using your Intents extension.” With SiriKit, you determine what can be asked of your app via an INIntent and how you will respond to that request. Having control over requests and the responses helps simplify things quite a bit for development and for customer experience. After adding an Intents extension (and optionally an IntentsUI extension) to your project, you will need to add an *.intentdefinition file where you define the INIntent(s) you want to support. For example, one of our INIntents is called Expense. Pro Tip: Do not include the word “Intent” in your custom intent names in the *.intentdefinition file. Xcode generates code based on this file, and will have already appended the word “Intent” to the generated class names. For each intent you define in this file, you will need to determine requirements for fulfilling a customer’s request. These are all defined as Parameters in the *.intendefinition file. For example, if a customer wants to know their Safe-to-Spend in Simple, parameters must be set for everything needed to enable a request outside of the Simple app. One thing we discovered on iOS 12 when configuring the custom intent is if you don’t have at least one Shortcut Type that uses all the Parameters that have been defined, when you invoke the voice shortcut for that intent the IntentHandler never gets called. You will stare at your screen sadly wondering why in the world you can’t see the fruits of your labor. So, make sure you have one parameter combination for each intent that uses all of the intent’s parameters. When you originally defined your Intent in the *.intentdefinition file, you probably had a good idea of where in the UI you would inform the customer they could add a voice shortcut to Siri. For example, in the Simple app we wanted to let customers know they can create a voice shortcut to find out how much money is available in an Expense, without launching the Simple app. I would primarily recommend using the system provided INUIAddVoiceShortcutButton. However, there may be times that you want a custom solution. See the Human Interface Guidelines for Shortcuts for guidelines on when this is actually encouraged by Apple. Using the INUIAddVoiceShortcutButton comes with many benefits. First, you get a familiar button provided by the system that customers have probably seen in other apps. The system manages the appearance of this button for you based on the existence of a voice shortcut (changing from “Add to Siri” to “Added to Siri”), even between app launches. Lastly, the system manages the behavior of this button (if it presents the INUIAddVoiceShortcutViewController or the INUIEditVoiceShortcutViewController). Now for a couple gotchas with this button. There are a few “gotchas” to watch for when using the INUIAddVoiceShortcutButton. Apple’s documentation suggests adding a custom selector for the INUIAddVoiceShortcutButton that handles presenting the INUIAddVoiceShortcutViewController. Unfortunately, this is not what you want to do. Looking at the API for INUIAddVoiceShortcutButton you will see it has a delegate. You want to be the delegate for this button. Doing so lets the system tell the button to change its appearance and behavior. I have filed a documentation bug for Apple. The second we discovered is a bug. It appears that apps whose minimum deployment target is iOS 11 do not see correct behavior with this button on a device running iOS 12. I filed a bug with the SiriKit team to hopefully get a fix. That bug aside, here’s how we created the button and what it looks like in the app. Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 5.52.48 PM SC Blog SIRI phone 725x664 (1) Breaking down how this button is created, you’ll see a method called createIntent. We knew we would want to donate different types of intents depending on the activity of a customer. To make this easier and to consolidate code we created an extension on UIViewController. This extension has a couple different methods. One that creates and returns the type of intent the caller asks for and another that handles donating the intent to Siri. Creating and donating an intent on our extension looks something like the following: Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 5.58.16 PM Lastly, the next building block for the INUIAddVoiceShortcutButton is setting its shortcut property. This is fairly straightforward but here lies a gotcha: the shortcut property, which although documented as optional in the API, seems to be required. In our experience, if you do not set a shortcut on this button, the INUIAddVoiceShortcutButtonDelegate methods will not be called even if the delegate has been set. Handling an Intent When you create an Intents extension, Xcode generates an IntentHandler class. This is where you want to return an object that will handle requests from a customer. I mentioned before that Xcode generates code based on your *.intentdefinition file. For each intent type you defined, a protocol is generated that declares how you will handle an intent. For our ExpenseIntent, this generated protocol was ExpenseIntentHandling. So, we created an object that conforms to this protocol and in the IntentHandler class we return that object if the intent being handled is an ExpenseIntent. It looks like the following: Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 6.00.22 PM In addition to enabling fairly easy shortcut creation, NSUserActivity is also very helpful to have when responding to a customer’s more complex requests with your intents. For example, after a customer invokes a voice shortcut, we display the result in the Siri window. At this point, they may want to tap the UI so they can be taken straight to that piece of information. Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 6.17.22 PM In the AppDelegate, we then route the user to where they need to go using the following delegate method: Screen Shot 2019-09-10 at 6.18.36 PM In technology, there is a drive to make hardware smaller. You see this with the internals of computers like processors and storage. You also see this in consumer devices, like phones and watches. Moving into these smaller form factors is clearly pushing us towards other means of input and other means of retrieving data. As I consider voice as one of the means of interacting with smaller devices, it makes me ponder how different people with different abilities will experience voice interactions and what other layers of our financial technology service might change to accommodate vocal requests from a customer. Only time will tell as we continue to play and build in this area and explore newer features in Siri, but I have a few ideas… 😃
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Short Course in Econometric Analysis of Panel Data The Econometric Analysis of Panel Data short course focuses on hands-on experience in the estimation, interpretation and evaluation of economic relationships within a panel data context. The course covers various models for analysis, including static-linear, fixed- effects, least-squares dummy variables, one-way and two-way error components, and the pooling of slope and intercept coefficients. The course also gives you an in-depth look into hypothesis testing, problems of heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation, endogenous regressors, dynamic linear model specifications and panel time- series issues and estimation. You will also be able to put your skills to the test during practical evaluations and estimations of panel data. Contact Details Contact Person:  Client Information Centre Course Details Course Delivery Method:  In Class In Class Course Duration:  5 Days R 15000.00
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21 May 2016 American English vs. British English by John M. Floyd As I mentioned in my column about Ian Fleming a few weeks ago, I've been re-reading all the James Bond novels, in order. That project has reminded me not only of my youth (I devoured all fourteen Bond books when I was in high school) but of the differences in writing style between American authors and British authors. To the British--at least in the 50s and early 60s, when the Bond novels and short-story collections were published--trucks are lorries, flashlights are torches, elevators are lifts, etc. But I had forgotten that there are so many differences. The following is a quick list I jotted down last week (American usage first, British usage next): apartment -- flat gas -- petrol French fries -- chips chips -- crisps hood (of a car) -- bonnet group -- lot bathroom -- loo pants -- trousers panties -- pants guy -- chap trunk -- boot soccer -- football trash -- rubbish cookie -- biscuit directly -- as soon as hang up (or disconnect) -- ring off on vacation -- on holiday Spellings are also different, in British writing: - words ending in "ize" are often "ise" instead: realise, recognise, organise - some words swap "er" and "re": centre, fibre, calibre, metre, lustre - "e" is sometimes converted to "ae": encyclopaedia, orthopaedic, anaemic - "-eck" is often "-eque": cheque - "-ense" is "-ence": offence, defence, licence, pretence - "or" is sometimes "our": colour, humour, neighbour, honour, favourite, harbour - "l" is often doubled: jewellery, counsellor - gray is grey - cozy is cosy - mold is mould - tire is tyre - plow is plough - draft beer is draught beer (to draft a letter is still to draft) - curb is kerb And sometimes their verbs are different when used with collective nouns: We say, "The team is winning." They say, "The team are winning." Punctuation is a special challenge. To British writers, a period is a full stop, (parentheses) are brackets, [brackets] are square brackets, and "quotation marks" are inverted commas. Here are some differences that come to mind: - ending punctuation in a quote usually goes outside, rather than inside, the closing quotation mark: My favorite fictional character names seem to be "Jack", "Charlie", and "Kate". - primary quotes are sometimes single quotes rather than double, with the double quotes inside: 'I re-read "The Lottery" last night', Jane said. - periods after certain abbreviations are omitted: Mr Smith, Mrs Peel, Dr Watson - a period, rather than a colon, is used between hours and minutes: I met her at 10.15 yesterday. - the British also seem to avoid the use of the Oxford comma, or "serial" comma (the one before the conjunction in a series): Attending the movie's premiere were two hookers, the producer's wife and the director's wife. NOTE: The previous sentence is a good example of why I prefer to use the serial comma. It can prevent unintentional mistakes, and even lawsuits. One more thing. The British are more likely to use words like spilt, leapt, dreamt, and spoilt, instead of the way we would indicate the past tense of those verbs, and they seem far more forgiving of the use of "ly" adverbs and synonyms for "said." They also seem to prefer "towards" over "toward." These are only some of the differences I've discovered/re-discovered as I continue my marathon-read of Fleming's works. (I'm in the middle of his seventh novel, Goldfinger, at the moment.) But I must say, I've found these differences to be more interesting than distracting. And I think I now have a better appreciation of the old saying that America and Britain are two nations divided by a common language. Can you think of other Britishisms that I've left out? I'm sure there are many. And a question for my fellow SleuthSayers Melodie Campbell and Stephen Ross: Does usage/style in Canada and Australia generally agree with British? As for this reader/writer, it's back to his regular programme. 'And directly I've finalised my endeavour with the Bond novels, I plan to analyse all the Bond movies again', he observed sombrely. As he changed into his colourful pyjamas. Robert Lopresti said... They leave out the word "the" in front of certain institutions. "When I was at university I often ended up in hospital." John Floyd said... Good point, Rob! Another grammatical difference I forgot is that the reply to a statement like "Have you ever forgotten her birthday?" could be something like "I might have done." (Instead of simply "I might have.") Leigh Lundin said... I apologise/apologize for the long post. The collective noun thing … drives … me … crazy. In the toward/towards category, British often say whilst instead of while. “He smoked whilst dining.” Same for among/amongst. Yesterday, I discovered one I hadn’t encountered before, carburetter instead of carburetor. Our spelling is closer to the French. Ever since he was a little kid, my brother insisted saying aluminium instead of aluminum, for which we Americans get a lot of flack. A few weeks ago my friend Thrush pointed out aluminum was the earlier spelling (following an even earlier form, alumium). Sir Humphrey Davy, who was working to isolate the element, published using the spelling ‘aluminum’. The Canadian and American scientific community adopted that spelling and stuck with it. However, a British reader objected that its ending didn’t end in -ium like so many other elements (except for platinum, etc.) Davy changed the spelling once again and that’s what Britain, Australia, and South Africa use. South Africans use mostly British spelling but they tend to say jammies more than PJs, pajamas, or pyjamas. There’s a brilliant Canadian comedian whose name escapes me, but he says between the British and Americans, Canadians are thoroughly confused and dodge the question of spelling. Maybe Melissa or Melodie can think of him, but his history lessons and his explanation for the queen left me rolling. I offer one major bit of advice. In England, never ever ever pat a woman on the fanny. It’s not where you think it is. Paul D. Marks said... Jeez, John, It's almost like a foreign language. :) John Floyd said... Paul, I really didn't think there were so many differences until I started writing them down. Leigh, you brought up a number of points I knew nothing about. I've noticed whilst and amongst, but never carburreter, and I love the aluminum/aluminium argument. I can see I must talk with you offline about fanny. Stephen Ross said... A subject dear to my heart, John. Strictly speaking, New Zealand English is UK English, with a handful of minor local variants. But because of the huge influence of popular culture from television, and lately the Internet, we are awash in US English. So, if I talk about my car and say hood and trunk, or bonnet and boot, or gas or petrol, no one trips up over it or even questions it. Same too with spelling. And I agree, the Harvard comma is the way! :) janice law said... Very good and you haven't even yet ventured into lowland Scots! John Floyd said... Thanks, Stephen. I'm not surprised to hear that NZ (and probably Australian?) English usage has taken on some US flavor as well. As for the Oxford/Harvard/serial comma, I long ago decided that it never hurts, and can often add a lot of clarity. If I'm not mistaken, the AP stylebook still demands its omission, so the serial comma is not used in journalism. John Floyd said... Janice, I would be broadcasting my ignorance if I tried to! joshpac said... Didn't Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson knock Mrs. Hudson up early one morning? Were they Americans, they would have awakened her. On this side of the pond, "knocking someone up" has a very different meaning!... joshpac said... PS: "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language" is commonly attributed to George Bernard Shaw, although it doesn't seem to appear in any of his published works. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde wrote in The Canterville Ghost that "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language." John Floyd said... Hey Josh! Holmes and Watson, those sly devils. Yep, as Leigh said, it pays to be careful when using certain terms. When I used that quote (two countries separated by a common language), I couldn't remember where it came from. I think I like Wilde's even better. Thanks for the comments, old friend! Melodie Campbell said... Yup. (Saying a general yup to so many things said above!) In Canada, we're taught British English. When you become an author with a trad publisher, they ask you to write American English and follow Chicago style. Man, it gets confusing. I'm always being corrected by my publisher. Where I find it fun (and sometimes frustrating): I used "Pits!" in one book. My publisher said my US audience wouldn't understand that. I also was told to change our typical swear words here: Bloody, and Bugger. Rob, I also leave out the 'the'. Never even thought about it. (I was in hospital.) My Dad is English, and that may account for this. When I go to the states, I'm told I have an English accent. When I got to England, they say I sound American. Which reminds me of a funny story. I was in a pub in Bournemouth with my Dad many years ago. I ordered a pint of bitter. The publican said, "Darlin', that's a pretty strong brew. You won't be used to it." "Strong?!" I yelled. "I'm Canadian!" And they all laughed. I still don't understand American beer. :) Melodie Campbell said... Forgot to say: smashing column. One might even say, brilliant. John Floyd said... Thanks, Melodie--I can't believe I haven't asked you about these things before. And WHOA I had no idea Canadian authors are usually told by their publishers to Americanize (Americanise?) the usage. Interesting! Hope you're going to Bouchercon this fall. New Orleans has a language of its own, as well. Melodie Campbell said... Worse, John (and I'm writing a column on this) We are told not to set our stories in Canada. Agents up here say they can't sell novels set in Canada to American publishers. And I bet if you think about it, you haven't seen many. There are lots written. We can sell them to Canadian publishers (and sometimes British). I set my Land's End series in Arizona (which I know well) and the south of England (which I also know.) It has done extremely well in the US. I expect if I set it in Toronto, it would never have gotten off the ground. More when I write that column. Dale Andrews said... Well, I was going to do a "knock you up" reference but I see Josh beat me to it. I did a similar column a few years back that focused on phrases that have completely different interpretations here and across the pond. For anyone interested, it's available here: http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/10/our-common-language_8.html Leigh Lundin said... Melodie, NO ONE understands American beer. Which reminds me, “taking a piss” in the UK means (mis)leading someone down the garden path, so to speak. What agents really mean is they might have to work a little harder to sell a novel, so they claim. Dale, I remembered your excellent article once you mentioned it. Thanks for reminding us. John Floyd said... Melodie, I'm looking forward to that column. The whole not-setting-novels-in-Canada idea seems crazy, to me. Dale, I already figured you and Josh think alike, and now I know for sure. As for your earlier column, I now remember that one. Well done!! I wish I'd remembered it earlier so I could've stolen from it. Leigh, that's yet another phrase I didn't know. (Or at least didn't know its other meaning.) Unknown said... To add to what others have said about "knocked up": An English friend told me a joke about a young English woman who lived and worked in the United States for a while. When some American friends asked her how she liked it here, she shocked them by saying, "Oh, everyone's being wonderful! My landlord knocks me up every morning, and my boss gives me a really good screw." "Screw," of course, is English slang for "salary." John Floyd said... Bonnie, that's too good--you have to use that in a story soon! Herschel Cozine said... John, I wrote a column very similar to this one, and will send it to you directly. I remark in the column that the British have a penchant for using two letters where one will do. (honour, programme, etc.) which to my way of thinking puts them at a distinct disadvantage in today's world of texting. As for words, a "ladder" is a run in one's stocking. there are plenty of others I am sure. John Floyd said... Herschel, you're right--using more letters than necessary seems to be the opposite of "writing tight," which is what we're always being encouraged to do. As for texting, I'd hate to think anything would make me hit more wrong keys than I do now. Yes, do send that to me directly, and--as the British would say--"Directly I receive it, I'll let you know." Fran Rizer said... Interesting and fun, John John Floyd said... Hi Fran--many thanks! This crazy stuff is fun, isn't it? Pat Marinelli said... Great post, John. I had a British grandmother so I know most of the differences. Learned them growing up. I fight with my critique group all the time about toward and towards, regard and regards, gray vs. grey, and blonde vs. blond. I can't convince them one is British and one is American...or that regards are a salutation and blonde relates to female and blond is male, except for the color blond. M. Johnston said... Well done, John. I recently judged a contest entry from an author in Australia. That was interesting. I found a lot of what you describe. My advice was to decide on her audience and then defer to that audience's correct usage. Marilyn (aka cj petterson) John Floyd said... Hey Pat--yes, sounds as if you had a close-up look at these differences. I confess I've never thought of blonde/blond as being part of all this. For years now I've treated blonde as a noun and blond as an adjective: The blonde on the corner has blond hair. (Now that my hair is gray/grey.) Marilyn, many thanks. I too have judged contests that contained UK entries--and I hope I've never let the differences influence my judging. As I mentioned in the column, the British usage isn't even distracting to me. You make a good point, though, about gearing what you write toward the audience you're trying to reach. Jacqueline Seewald said... I'm also familiar with most of the differences but enjoyed reading your column. John Floyd said... That's kind of you, Jacqueline--and thanks for stopping by. Anonymous said... Blond is masculine, blonde is feminine. The blond guy escorted the blonde woman to lunch. Leigh Lundin said... I was just about to say that! John Floyd said... I've heard about a hundred different arguments about blond/blonde. I realize that in French blond is masculine and blonde in feminine. To me, the noun/adjective definition makes more sense. Different strokes for different blokes . . . Susan Oleksiw said... I love the list. I recognized most of the items, and they are the cause of interesting discussions with my editor because I set my Anita Ray series in India, which follows British grammar and spelling. What I really dislike is seeing the British punctuation for single and double quotes making their way into American books. Quotes outside a comma or period make my eyes wobble. John Floyd said... Thank you, Susan--I bet you DO have some interesting discussions with your ed. about grammar/spelling in India. And I agree with you, about quotes and ending punctuation. Thanks for chiming in, here!! Quick note: To those friends who have commented on blond/blonde: I've been looking back through old notes, and here--for what it's worth, which isn't much--are my views: I prefer using "blonde" as a noun referring to a woman with blond hair: (The blonde strolled into the detective's office.) I suppose "blond" could be used as a noun describing a man, as well, but I've never yet had a need to do that, in my writing. And I prefer using "blond" as an adjective to describe hair color whether it's a man or woman. (He has blond hair, she has blond hair, but she's the blonde.) To me, that just looks and sounds right. My opinion only. Maybe I should say "Different brush-strokes for different folks." Tim Kohli said... Thanks for sharing this post with us.
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24 June 2017 How I Became an Overnight Success in 26 years This blog post was inspired by Anne R. Allen (It’s terrific. Check it out.) My Point: And you too can be an overnight success in 26 years. On Amazon Steve Liskow said... A marvelous fun (and funny) post, Melodie, and it's a lot like my own journey, except that I'm not an overnight success yet...and I started writing my first novel in 1972. I have seven or eight unpublished novels and 25 or 30 short stories that taught me to write but were too awful to submit anywhere. I also have several awards, and I've come to the painful conclusion that they mean practically nothing. The average reader doesn't know what they are or what them mean, and the majority of them offer bragging rights but no money. Your winning cash is huge. I'll bet it helped keep you going, didn't it? Not that you would have stopped writing, really. I tell everyone who voices that vague "I should write a book..." nonsense to sign up for NANO. Having to produce 50000 words in 30 days teaches them to put up or shut up. If they actually produce (yeah, right), it gives us another editing client. Oh, and congratulations on your overnight success. Finally. Melodie Campbell said... Steve, I'm smiling at your comments. My personal belief is that if you can live and be happy *not* being a writer, then you should do that. Because being a writer is hard work, and painful. The rewards are largely internal. And it all comes with crippling self-doubt. Re awards: I think they help with the crippling self-doubt. Usually these awards are juried by more established writers, and editors. It's a Jury of your Peers (to paraphrase that brilliant short story by Susan G.) So I treasure them for that. Thanks for your thoughtful comments! Unknown said... I enjoyed your post, Melodie. Like you, I have first novels--four or five of them, I think--that will probably never see the light of day. (I still think the very first one had promise, though, and I think I now may know how to rescue it. Maybe some day.)I haven't achieved your level of success, but I have a respectable publication record now, I've learned a lot, and I've spent a lot of satisfying hours at the word processor (and also, of course, spent a lot of hours gripped by crippling self-doubt). And every once in a while I meet someone who's actually read and enjoyed something I've written. On the whole, I don't envy people who aren't driven to write, or to accomplish something else that's challenging but exciting. Life's a lot fuller and more interesting this way. R.T. Lawton said... Melodie, I loved your article. Like most writers, I have that first novel in the computer drawer where it will never see the light of day. But, since I am mainly a short story writer and don't believe in totally throwing any writing away, I have cannibalized that novel and its characters into several short stories. Perhaps some day I'll finish one of my other novel starts, however, with over a 100 published short stories to include 37 sold to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and 10 to Woman's World magazine, I think the die is cast. Two things do give me hope for finishing a novel in the future. One is your current blog article and the second is after being an Edgar judge for Best Novel a couple of years ago, I read a lot of Best Novel entries and ended up thinking I can do better than that. Of course, that feeling could have just been my ego. We'll have to see how it all comes out. In any case, thanks for the boost from your blog article. Eve Fisher said... Great post, Melodie - I have hopes of being an overnight success before 2100. I, too, have two unpublished, unpublishable novels moldering in a box somewhere. I'm a short story gal, but RT, I agree - when I was an Edgar judge, I saw traditionally published hard-back novels that were so bad, I could not believe they were accepted by anyone. And I couldn't help but think I could do better than that. Maybe some day I'll find out. Melodie Campbell said... BK, I live in fear that someone will even trip across some earlier work of mine! I made all the same mistakes all new writers make - the difference is, in my day, there was no way to publish a work that bad. I thank my lucky stars for that! Thanks for commenting :) Melodie Campbell said... RT, I am envious of your Hitchcock record - I don`t have near that many. And I SO understand what you are saying: Years ago, when I was asked why I hadn`t written a novel, I said, `Because they might want me to write a second one.` It took me a long long time to get over my fear of writing long. ANd I started to write long because our short story markets were disappearing. If we still had the same number of markets as we had in the 90s, I probably would never have attempted novels. Melodie Campbell said... Eve, short story writers are the most brilliant of writers, in my opinion (*ducking*) They have learned to use the best words, and care about every one of them. They must concentrate on plot, and not get distracted. I come across more original crime ideas in short stories, than I do in crime novels. Leigh Lundin said... You're such a good bad girl! Well done and congratulations 26 times over. Also, you're internationally famous and read on three continents I know of. That's superb! Barb Goffman said... You've got it exactly right, Mel. Writing is a journey, and you better enjoy doing it, because the writing is all you can count on. Not publication. Not readers. Not fame or riches. Just the joy of writing. Melodie Campbell said... Leigh, how kind of you! Not sure about the fame, but you are a prince for suggesting it. Melodie Campbell said... Barb, so true. And also - the joy of the people you meet through writing. I always say to my class on the last day, that the best thing about being a writer is the other writers you meet. They are the most exciting people in the world. Art Taylor said... Great post, Melodie -- insightful and inspiring. And yes, congrats on our overnight success! Melodie Campbell said... Thanks, Art. I am always baffled by the people who think success comes easy.
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Maybach Music Group leader Rick Ross‘ ex Tia Kemp is with more smoke than you think. New reports claim she has teamed up with rapper Flo Rida‘s former flame to get their child support. Over the past few days, Tia has hit up social media to reveal her campaign. Recently, Rick Ross came forward to speak out on sleeping with Tia’s sister. A few hours prior, Tia let loose on Instagram with direct shade for Ricky Rozay. Earlier the same week, Rick Ross didn’t hold back at blasted Tia for coming at his neck.
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Why do you want solar?? It might seem a silly question for us to ask but everyone has different reasons for installing solar.  How you answer this helps us recommend the right system for you. • Want to simply lower your electric bills: a grid-tied system might be right for you • Is your electric service unreliable or do you have some essential systems like pumps or septic systems that must keep operating: a grid-tied, battery backup system might be the answer. • Building a new home and want to integrate solar in the best possible way: let us work with you to design an AC-coupled system with battery backup that is the ultimate in energy reliability and security There is no right way to answer the question.  Previously, 95% of our customers wanted to reduce their electric bills with a straight grid-tied system, but we are finding more and more people who want the security and reliability of creating and storing their own energy.  We can help you do this.
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Diederik Aerts, Free University of Brussels, Belgium Managing Editor: Sandro Sozzo, Leicester University, United Kingdom Assistant Editors: Liane Gabora, Psychology and Computer Science Department, University of British Columbia, Canada Sonja Smets, Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Editorial Advisory Board: Nancy Delaney Cartwright, Philosophy Dept., Durham University,UK; Philosophy Dept., University of California, San Diego USA; Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara, Dip. di Filosofia, Università Degli Studi di Firenze, Italy; Allan Franklin, Dept. of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA; Michael Heller, Vatican Observatory, Vatican City State; Pontifical University of John Paul II, Krakow, Poland; Paul Humphreys, Philosophy Dept., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA; Andrzej Lewenstam, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland; Fritz Rohrlich, Dept. of Physics, Syracuse University, USA;Bastian C. Van Fraassen, Dept. of Philosophy, Princeton University, USA; San Francisco State Uiversity, San Francisco USA; Ryszard Wójcicki, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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Welcome, Guest. Please login or register. Did you miss your activation email? January 23, 2020, 03:31:55 AM Login with username, password and session length Recent Posts Author Topic: Circuit for these tubes  (Read 2450 times) • Master • *** • Posts: 51 • Chip Points: 0 • View Profile Circuit for these tubes « on: May 26, 2016, 10:35:58 AM » Im looking for a circuit based on one of these tubes. Also if any of them are 12ax7 equivalent please tell me. 12B4A (i have two of these but only one of the rest on the list) Im looking for a preamp but if any of these can be used as a power tube i need one of those too. Im just a beginner and these are all i have access too at the momemt • Elite • **** • Posts: 215 • Chip Points: 34 • View Profile Re: Circuit for these tubes « Reply #1 on: May 26, 2016, 03:55:18 PM » Data I have from the book Essential Characteristics: 12B4A   Low gain preamp triode can work with 6.3V heater 12CA5   Small power tube good for 1.5W 12AL5    Dual low current diode 35C5     Small power tube good for 1.5W  Needs 35V heater supply 12BD6   RF Pentode might work as a preamp 12X4     Rectifier tube 12FX5   ???? Did you mean 12FX8? 12BDK5  Did you mean 12BD5? 12BA7   Radio tube not useful for guitar amp • Master • *** • Posts: 51 • Chip Points: 0 • View Profile Re: Circuit for these tubes « Reply #2 on: May 26, 2016, 04:00:06 PM » Thanks that helps me alot. Heres what i have • Legendary • ****** • Posts: 1883 • Chip Points: 198 • View Profile Re: Circuit for these tubes « Reply #3 on: May 27, 2016, 12:48:23 AM » And also be aware that all those tubes starting with 12 need 12.6v for heaters, rather than the common 6.3v.  12AX7s can be wired for either, making them an exception. Those low power output tubes were used in things like table radios, TVs, and home intercoms. • Regular • ** • Posts: 41 • Chip Points: 3 • View Profile Re: Circuit for these tubes « Reply #4 on: June 10, 2016, 09:32:49 PM » You're probably going to have to either design a circuit yourself or adapt a non-guitar circuit to your needs if you want to use those tubes. Even back in the day when tubes were current technology and there was a cornucopia of tubes for designers to play with the major amp manufacturers generally stuck to a few models of tube which are the same ones still being produced and used in guitar amps to this day. That's not to say there aren't unusual designs out there but there were so many types of tube made back then that even if you happen upon a whole box of old obscure tubes chances are none have been used in that application. Some won't even be suitable for audio use at all. Some weren't made for audio but can be adapted for audio and almost all of them are power tubes. There are a few interesting obscure preamp tubes but they tend to be rare and just as expensive as the common tubes and I've found it hard to justify using them. It all depends what you want to do. If you're dead set on using those tubes because you like the challenge of turning trash into treasure (which is how I got into electronics) you've got a lot of research, planning, simulating and failing to do before you're going to get a working amp out of it (but you get a lot of knowledge too!). If you just want to build an amp right now that has a decent chance of working you might as well just put them away and go buy some more traditional "guitar tubes" and build a little Fender clone or some other well established design. We've all got fantasies about turning a box of junk into something nice but you're not going to save money by using obscure tubes. The transformers are where you'll end up spending the bulk of your money. Not to mention small components like capacitors, potentiometers, sockets, etc... all that stuff adds up and you need it no matter what tubes you use. Once you buy all that, a 6V6 and a couple 12AX7s aren't much of an expense. To answer your question fully, the only tube on that list I've heard of being used in a guitar amp is the 35C5 (actually it's 50v heater cousin the 50C5). These designs come with a big catch, though. The reason they run at such high heater voltages is that they were designed for the heaters to be run in series right off the 120v mains. They also operate at low plate voltages which (kinda sorta) eliminated the need for a power transformer (which was and still is far and away the most expensive part of a tube amp) and therefore they were commonly used in cheap radios and record players of that era. Some makers of super cheapo guitar amplifiers like Kay and Danelectro followed suit and you can find schematics on the net that will help you but they should not be built as is! They have no isolation from the mains and are commonly called "widowmaker" amps because they are dangerous. Nevertheless the preamp and power amp parts of the schematic can be useful. They are usually simple designs and easy for a beginner to understand. It's the rectified mains power supply that is dangerous and you need an isolation transformer to make it safe. Do not skip the power transformer! You have been warned! « Last Edit: June 10, 2016, 09:37:24 PM by sa230e » J M Fahey • SSGuitar Global Mod • Legendary • **** • Posts: 4142 • Chip Points: 429 • View Profile Re: Circuit for these tubes « Reply #5 on: June 11, 2016, 05:01:40 AM » Million Dollar Question: do you have sockets for all of them? Beside novals and octals, any other sockets, once very popular (rimlock / locktal / 7 pin  / "U/A Technology" , etc) are now impossible to find. No sockets no builds, as simple as that. Unless you are very handy and improvise them from printer connectors and such plus some clay or epoxy paste. Then you will have to design your own stuff, they won't straightbfit in , say, an old Fender circuit. It all depends on commitment and available time. I bought 1000 Ecc/Pcc189 dual triodes for peanuts (less than $1 each)  some 2 or 3 years ago, I know they are used in Audiophile preamps, with the idea of making either some tube distortion pedal, some hybrid preamp or some hybrid amp. There they are , still gathering dust, mold and spiderwebs, I haven't had a free time slot needed for that.
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Do I Need Earthquake Insurance? Stan Burns Insurance: Earthquake Insurance Policy People ask us all the time if they need earthquake insurance. The simple, snarky answer is “it depends”… Here’s the short answer: earthquake insurance makes a ton of sense if you have a lot of equity in your home or income property. In addition, if you depend upon cash flow from income  property,  consider this: • Would you just walk away from a pile of cash if it were laying on the street? (meaning – DON’T rebuild?) NO you wouldn’t!! • If someone told you you could rebuild your $1 million home for $153,500 (insurance premium + deductible) instead of $1 million, you would take them up on their offer, right? YES you would!! Earthquake insurance, though high in cost and  deductible, will replace your home, contents AND provide cash for extra living expenses such as a temporary residence, meals, etc. Selecting an Earthquake Insurance Policy We suggest 3 approaches you can consider for the purchase of earthquake insurance: 1. Purchase a “full coverage” policy that covers the structure, contents and living expenses, or 2. Purchase a “mini-policy” that covers the structure, $5K for contents and $1,500 for additional living expenses, or 3. Customize it! We have policies where you declare the amount of coverage for the structure. For example, you can insure a   $1 million structure for $500,000 and pay less than you would for the full $1 million coverage. Everyone’s situation is different. We can help you navigate the options for coverage and pricing. And you may even come to the conclusion that you don’t need earthquake insurance after all! At least you did your homework! Contact us with your questions about an earthquake policy – no cost or obligation. One Response to “Do I Need Earthquake Insurance?” Leave a Reply We offer more than just a policy See what we can do for you today
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Engel (1857) food expenditure data Data on income and food expenditure for 235 working class households in 1857 Belgium. Number of observations: 235 Number of variables: 2 Variable name definitions: income - annual household income (Belgian francs) foodexp - annual household food expenditure (Belgian francs) This dataset was used in Koenker and Bassett (1982) and distributed alongside the quantreg package for R. Koenker, R. and Bassett, G (1982) Robust Tests of Heteroscedasticity based on Regression Quantiles; Econometrica 50, 43-61. Roger Koenker (2012). quantreg: Quantile Regression. R package version 4.94. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=quantreg This is public domain.
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Tables Crinoline 3D Models It has a sculptural presence the new round table, which becomes part of the collection crinoline. Consistent with this series, takes the shape curves that characterize the sessions and the plot polyethylene fiber, available in two different versions of black or white finish-bronze-black. The base is composed of two elements together that create the shape of a cup that supports the tops are made of colored glass in white pasta or white HPL laminate with milled lines in a radial pattern. This version is designed to accommodate an umbrella at the center. Contatta il produttore
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Hands-on Activity: Muscles, Muscles Everywhere Quick Look Grade Level: 5 (3-5) Time Required: 45 minutes Expendable Cost/Group: US $0.00 Group Size: 4 Activity Dependency: None Subject Areas: Biology, Earth and Space Shown is a 3-D image of a human skeleton. Students learn about the types of muscles in the human body Copyright © U.S. National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, Training Website, http://training.seer.cancer.gov/ module_anatomy/ unit1_1_body_structure.html This activity helps students learn about the three different types of muscles and how outer space affects astronauts' muscles. They will discover how important it is for astronauts to get adequate exercise both on Earth and in outer space. Also, through the design of their own microgravity exercise machine, students learn about the exercise machines that engineers design specifically for astronaut use. This engineering curriculum meets Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Engineering Connection Engineers need to understand how the human body works in order to help astronauts stay healthy in outer space. The microgravity of outer space leads to muscle atrophy, so scientists and engineers at NASA work to design special exercise machines to help the astronauts maintain muscle strength. Learning Objectives After this activity, students should be able to: • Explain the difference between skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle. • Explain the difference between involuntary and voluntary muscles. • Describe what happens to astronauts' muscles in outer space. • Relate that engineers help astronauts stay healthy in outer space by designing special exercise machines. Educational Standards NGSS Performance Expectation Do you agree with this alignment? Click to view other curriculum aligned to this Performance Expectation Science & Engineering Practices Disciplinary Core Ideas Crosscutting Concepts Alignment agreement: Alignment agreement: Alignment agreement: NGSS Performance Expectation 5-PS2-1. Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down. (Grade 5) Do you agree with this alignment? Click to view other curriculum aligned to this Performance Expectation Science & Engineering Practices Disciplinary Core Ideas Crosscutting Concepts Support an argument with evidence, data, or a model. Alignment agreement: The gravitational force of Earth acting on an object near Earth's surface pulls that object toward the planet's center. Alignment agreement: Alignment agreement: View aligned curriculum Do you agree with this alignment? • Materials have many different properties. (Grades 3 - 5) More Details View aligned curriculum Do you agree with this alignment? • Analyze and interpret data to generate evidence that human systems are interdependent (Grade 5) More Details View aligned curriculum Do you agree with this alignment? • Assess further scientific explanations regarding basic human body system functions (Grade 5) More Details View aligned curriculum Do you agree with this alignment? Suggest an alignment not listed above Materials List Each group needs: • Pencils • Paper • Crayons • Books with images of muscle cells and/or muscle cell slides and microscope More Curriculum Like This Move Your Muscles! Students learn all about muscles, including the three different types of muscles in the human body and the effects of microgravity on muscles. They also learn how astronauts must exercise in order to lessen muscle atrophy in space. Students discover what types of equipment engineers design to help t... Elementary Lesson Walk, Run, Jump! In this activity, students participate in a series of timed relay races using their skeletal muscles. They compare the movement of skeletal muscle and relate how engineers help astronauts exercise skeletal muscles in space. Elementary Activity Nerve Racking Elementary Lesson The Heart of the Matter Elementary Lesson Muscles can be classified in many ways. Can you name a muscle? Well, the heart is a muscle! This muscle is called cardiac muscle. An anatomical drawing of the human heart. Figure 1. The human heart ─ a cardiac muscle. Another type of muscle is smooth muscle. This type of muscle lines vital organs, such as your stomach. Lastly, there is skeletal muscle. What do you think this type of muscle does? Well, skeletal muscle is attached to your bones and actually helps your skeleton move. (Teacher: write the three types of muscle on the board; cardiac, skeletal, and smooth.) Muscles can also be classified by their movement. Right now, close your eyes, and think really hard about telling your heart when to beat. Could you do it? No! The beating of your heart is an involuntary action. Involuntary means we do it without thinking. Your heart beats without you thinking about it or commanding it to do it. So, your heart muscle, or cardiac muscle, is an involuntary muscle. The same goes for smooth muscle or the muscle lining your stomach. Can you tell your stomach to stop digesting food when you eat? No, you cannot, so smooth muscle is involuntary as well. Skeletal muscles are some of our largest and most powerful muscles, (like our biceps, triceps, and quadriceps), and they are connected to our bones with tendons. Skeletal muscles are the only muscles that are voluntary. Voluntary means the opposite of involuntary. If we think about it, we can do it. Close your eyes again, and tell your arm to move so you are raising your hand. No open your eyes. Did you raise your hand? Yes, you did! That is because skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles! When astronauts travel into outer space, they live in a microgravity environment, or a place with less gravity than on Earth. Gravity on Earth is what holds on the ground and keeps us from floating away. That is why we see pictures of astronauts floating around in space, because there is little gravity to hold them in place. Since there is almost no gravity in outer space, astronauts' muscles do not work as hard as they do on Earth (i.e., through general, daily movement). This leads to muscle atrophy, which means that the astronauts' muscles get very weak quickly. When muscles get weak, they do not work as well. Muscle atrophy leads to people not being able to lift heavy things or move very easily. Of course, we do not want that to happen to the astronauts who travel in space! Because of microgravity, regular exercise machines ─ the one that work on Earth ─ do not work in outer space. So, in order to help the astronauts stay healthy, engineers have designed special exercise machines for space travel. In order to effectively design these machines, engineers need to know how muscles work and how microgravity affects them. Today, we are going to learn a little more about different muscles, and consider how we can exercise them. This will help us understand how engineers design machines to help astronauts exercise while in space. Background Information So that astronauts get adequate exercise while in space, there are three different machines that they use: the RED (Resistive Exercise Device), the CEVIS (Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation System), and the TVIS (Treadmill Vibration Isolation System). This equipment, designed by engineers, allows astronauts to counteract the physical muscle loss due to atrophy (weakening of muscles due to being in a microgravity environment). The RED allows astronauts to complete weight-training exercises, the CEVIS (see Figure 2) is similar to an exercise bike, and the TVIS (see Figure 3) is a free-floating treadmill. A photograph showing an astronaut ride an exercise bike while in outer space. Figure 2. An astronaut uses an exercise bike to get needed exercise in outer space. Copyright © National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NASAexplores, http://www.nasaexplores.com/ show2_articlea.php?id=04-202 A photograph showing an astronaut running on a treadmill in outer space. Figure 3. An astronaut uses a treadmill to exercise while in outer space. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the astronaut has to be strapped down or attached to the machines to prevent him from floating away! Before the Lesson The focus for this activity is on skeletal (voluntary) muscle. Visit the library and get books with pictures of muscles and musculoskeletal systems. If possible, get slides of muscles and set up a microscope for students to view the slides. With the Students 1. Briefly discuss the different types of muscles (cardiac, smooth and skeletal). Talk about voluntary movement (the ability to tell a part of the body ─ our arms and legs ─ to move), vs. involuntary (we cannot control our heart by thinking about it). Discuss how muscles work in teams, just like engineers and astronauts. (For example, the face uses over forty different kinds of muscles to make expressions.) 2. Discuss the problem of muscle atrophy in space (muscles grow weaker in space because, due to microgravity, they do not have to support the weight of the body; in a microgravity environment, the body is almost completely weightless). 3. Discuss the challenges of exercising in microgravity (exercising in space is tough if the body is weightless; for example, lifting weights does not help your muscles get stronger because the weights themselves are nearly weightless. This is why NASA engineers designed special exercise machines for astronauts to use while in space). 4. Show students pictures of actual exercise machines that NASA designed for astronauts to use and discuss how they work in microgravity conditions. (See Figures 2 and 3.) 5. Group the students into teams of 6. Have the students look up different kinds of skeletal muscles from the library books and, if possible, examine slides of muscles under the microscope. 6. Have teams choose one skeletal muscle for which they would like to design a microgravity exercise machine (leg, arm, back, etc.). Ask students to write that muscle down at the top of a sheet of paper. 7. Have each team brainstorm what type of exercise activities might be used to strengthen that muscle (sit ups, push ups, running, walking on your hands, etc.). 8. Have the students design a machine to strengthen that muscle, using at least one of the exercises they came up with (in step 7 above). Have them draw a picture of their machine and write a sentence to explain how it works. Encourage the teams as they design and draw their machine. (Teachers: encourage students to carefully consider and include the modifications needed in a microgravity environment in their designs.) 9. If time permits, have student teams review their design with the entire class. If time is short, ask a just a few student teams to volunteer to show their design to the class. Atrophy: To waste away or decrease in size. Cardiac muscle: Involuntary muscles located in the heart. Involuntary muscle: Muscle that does not respond to thinking about movement. Skeletal muscle: Voluntary muscles attached to bone. Smooth muscle: Involuntary muscles located in the hollow internal organs. Striated muscle: Muscle that appears to be striped – both cardiac and skeletal muscle are striated. Tendons: Tough tissue that attaches skeletal muscles to the bone. Voluntary muscle: Muscle that responds when thinking about movement. Pre-Activity Assessment Brainstorming: As a class, have the students engage in open discussion. Remind students that no idea or suggestion is "silly." All ideas should be respectfully heard. Have the class brainstorm a list of all the things our muscles enable us to do. Write all the ideas down on the board and guide students towards ideas they may not have considered (walk, run, jump, smile, laugh, eat, go to the bathroom, cry, frown, giggle, play hopscotch, swim, ski, snowboard, do ballet, play basketball, pump blood through our body, breath, etc.). Next, talk about voluntary and involuntary muscles, and write an "I" (involuntary) or a "V" (voluntary) next to each action. Activity Embedded Assessment Describe It In Words: Have the students write next to their machine which muscle (or muscles) it will exercise. Have the students write two sentences about these muscles (where they are located, voluntary vs. involuntary, cardiac vs. smooth vs. skeletal) on a sheet of paper. Post-Activity Assessment Job Interview: Tell the students you are a senior engineer from NASA, and that you are looking for some trained biomedical engineers to prepare exercise machines for the next space shuttle. However, in order to get the job, they must be able to correctly answer the following five questions: • How many kinds of muscles are there? (Answer: three) • What are the names of the kinds of muscle? (Answer: smooth, skeletal, cardiac) • Which ones are voluntary and which are involuntary? (Answer: Skeletal is voluntary; cardiac and smooth are involuntary) • What happens to astronauts' muscles in outer space? (Answer: They atrophy, or get weaker, because of the microgravity environment.) • Who helps the astronauts exercise in space and what do they design and build? (Answer: Engineers! They design and build special exercise machines that work in outer space to help the astronauts keep their muscles strong.) Congratulate the students on passing their job interview and being hired to work for NASA! Activity Extensions • Show students pictures of astronauts exercising in outer space. Have them discuss which muscles the individual machines are exercising. • Talk about how aging on Earth is similar to what the astronauts experience in space. Explain that our muscles atrophy as we get older – just like the astronauts' muscles get weak while in outer space. Ask the students what we need to do to keep our muscles strong on Earth. (Answer: exercise) Activity Scaling • For upper grades, have students figure out the weight of their muscles on Earth as a math extension. (Note: 2/5 of the body is made of muscle, so if a person weighs 100lbs, 40lbs of their body weight is muscle.) • For lower grades, have students draw one of the muscles from the library books and label it. Armstrong, Dennis. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Missions: Space Science and Technology, Staying Fit - on Earth and in Space, June 24, 2004. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Biological and Physical Research Enterprise, NASAexplores, Express Lessons and Online Resources, Saving Muscles in Space, February 5, 2004 (accessible online at NASA.gov). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Johnson Space Center, Astronaut Fitness/Physical Conditioning. Jessica Todd; Sara Born; Abigail Watrous; Denali Lander; Beth Myers; Malinda Schaefer Zarske; Janet Yowell © 2004 by Regents of the University of Colorado. Supporting Program Last modified: November 12, 2019 Find more at TeachEngineering.org
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True Fruit of the Fear of God If we are walking this life outside of the fear of God then we will be operating in the flesh. The fear of God is the missing ingredient in most professing Christian’s walks. The Spirit-filled believer does fear God and walks in submission to Him in all things. The fleshly believer does not fear God and walks according his or her fleshly fears and lusts. They may indeed deeply desire to have victory over their sin, but are powerless to get it. The total lack of the fear of God is what marks the ungodly. (Romans 3:18) On the other hand, genuine believers in scripture are described as those who do fear Him. Tragically, when moral issues between professing Christians and the unchurched are compared there is very little difference. There is the same level of divorce, adultery, pornography, dishonesty, et cetera; in both groups. This should not be so. What is wrong? The sin level has risen in the visible Church because there is the same level of fear of God in it that the lost have. In other words, there is no fear of God before their eyes. They actually fear men more than God. This sad state of affairs in the Church actually parallels the apostasy of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament. Isaiah 5 is the conclusion of God’s evaluation of His people, which began in Isaiah 2:1. In Chapter 5 God compares His people to a vineyard, which He cultivated, but which did not bear fruit. 1 Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. Isaiah 5:1-2 (NASB)  Isaiah is singing this song to the Lord whom he loves. Who owns the vineyard? God does! He placed it on a very fertile hill. Read More
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"Landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock" 1620 (Peter Frederick Rothermel / Library of Congress / Zak Bickel / The Atlantic) Ever since Donald Trump handed down his executive order temporarily halting all immigration from seven majority-Muslim nations for three months and barring refugees from Syria indefinitely, the social-media outpouring from liberals has focused, understandably, on how unfair the policy is to Muslims. Those who didn’t decry the injustice of it all instead highlighted how important it is to protect refugees from harm (myself included.) They point out that Anne Frank’s family tried in vain to secure asylum in the U.S. in the 1940s. “Anne Frank today is a Syrian girl,” The New York Times Nicholas Kristof wrote. Those are poignant, strong arguments against the policy. But according to one fascinating line of psychological research, they’re not likely to work on conservatives. Rather than emphasizing concern over the harm that might come to refugees, says Matt Feinberg, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, to truly persuade Trump supporters on the matter it would have been be better to go with something like this: “These refugees and immigrants are just like our family members who came to America in years past to seek a better life. All our ancestors wanted was to live the American dream, and that’s why today’s immigrants and refugees have chosen to come to America, so they too can live that same American dream that brought our families here. That dream is what our nation was founded on, it is what brought our grandparents and great-grandparents to this great land, and it is the great success story that these immigrants want to be a part of.” It’s a message high on patriotism and loyalty—two “moral frames” that research shows are more important to conservatives than are traditionally more liberal values, like reciprocity and caring. Feinberg and his co-author, Stanford University sociologist Robb Willer, have extensively studied how it is that liberals and conservatives—two groups that now seem further apart than ever on their policy preferences—can convert people from the other side to their way of seeing things. One reason this is so hard to do, they explain, is that people tend to present their arguments in a way that appeals to the ethical code of their own side, rather than that of their opponents. For example, when Feinberg and Willer asked liberals to write an op-ed aiming to convince conservatives of the value of same-sex marriage, most wrote something to the tune of, “Why would we punish these people for being born a certain way? They deserve the same equal rights as other Americans.” The problem is, research on thousands of people around the world, summed up in something called Moral Foundations Theory, has shown that liberals are more likely than conservatives to endorse fairness-based arguments like these. Meanwhile, just 8 percent of the liberals in Willer and Feinberg’s study were able to craft an argument that would appeal to conservatives’ value of loyalty toward your own kind. (So something like, “Our fellow citizens of the United States of America deserve to stand alongside us ... We should lift our fellow citizens up, not bring them down.”) What’s worse, some of them picked an argument that directly contradicted what many conservatives value, with arguments like, “your religion should play no part in the laws of the United States.” As part of the same study, which they published last year in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Feinberg and Willer tried to see if this type of “moral reframing” would be more effective. Previously, they had found that conservatives were more likely to endorse environmental protections when researchers activated their concerns about purity, rather than the more liberal concern about “harm”: A picture of a forest covered in rotting garbage, in other words, performed better with Republicans than a forest of tree stumps. This time, the researchers tested four different hot-button political issues, each time trying to reframe it in terms of the values that the Moral Foundations Theory tells us are more important for the opposite political side. Again, for liberals that’s “harm and fairness (e.g. benevolence, nurturance, equality, social justice),” and for conservatives, “group loyalty, authority, and purity (e.g., patriotism, traditionalism, strictness, religious sanctity).”                                              First, they had participants read an article that advocated for the support of universal health care, using either a “fairness” argument (“health coverage is a basic human right”), or in terms of “purity” (a high uninsured rate means more “unclean, infected, and diseased Americans”). Conservatives who read the purity argument were much more supportive of universal health care, and, surprisingly, even Obamacare. Next, they tried the same principle with liberals and military spending. Those who read an argument saying we should maintain high levels of military spending because it’s a poverty-fighting tool— “through the military, the disadvantaged can achieve equal standing”—were more likely to support a robust defense budget than those who read a paper on how the military “ensures the United States is the greatest nation in the world.” Finally, they crafted an argument that making English the official language of the U.S.—a traditionally conservative stance—would actually lead to “fairer” outcomes for immigrants by helping them avoid discrimination. Liberals were more likely to warm to that view, the researchers found, but so were a separate group of participants who just happened to really value fairness. That suggested the reason the reframed messages work is because they resonate with deeply held moral values. In a later study that’s currently under review, Feinberg and Tilburg University’s Jan Völkel found this even worked to get conservatives to dislike Donald Trump, and liberals to disavow Hillary Clinton. Conservatives were less likely to support Trump if arguments against him were presented in terms of his patriotism— “has repeatedly behaved disloyally towards our country to serve his own interests”—rather than a tendency to overlook the marginalized (“his unfair statements are a breeding ground for prejudice.”) Liberal participants, meanwhile, were more likely to be swayed by Clinton’s ties to Wall Street than by the incident in Benghazi.                                                                        So if it’s so easy, why don’t more people—either in studies or in real life—try this strategy? “We tend to view our moral values as universal,” Feinberg told me. That “there are no other values but ours, and people who don't share our values are simply immoral. Yet, in order to use moral reframing you need to recognize that the other side has different values, know what those values are, understand them well enough to be able to understand the moral perspective of the other side, and be willing to use those values as part of a political argument.” Some people just can’t bring themselves to take that last step, he said, even if they know it’s more effective. And perhaps the reason it’s so difficult is because politics is so deeply intertwined with our personal values. When something is important to us, it’s usually for a reason, and it’s hard to break free of those reasons, even for political expediency’s sake. To do so would take an abundance of empathy, and that’s in short supply all around these days. What’s more, not every researcher buys that it is quite so easy to persuade ideological opponents in the current climate, where people are changing their avatars to “#Resist” and “#MAGA.” “This [research] assumes that both sides are rational and at least partially open to hearing a different point of view,” said Blair Kidwell, a Florida International University professor whose consumer psychology research was cited by Feinberg and Willer. He says Trump is spearheading a “war on facts and even information itself,” which is causing many conservatives to distrust anyone but a fellow Trump supporter. “This is something, in my opinion, that cannot be fixed simply by appealing to conservative’s authority, purity ,and duty,” he added. Still, there’s one thing Feinberg said definitely won’t work. In the wake of the executive order, Feinberg said he saw lots of liberals lobbing ad-hominem attacks, such as “you're being un-American” or “you’re making the Statue of Liberty cry.” “People typically do not do well when attacked,” he said, “this could simply push them to be more staunch in their position.” If you can’t persuade your political foes, that is, you can at least try not to make the conflict worse.
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Words that start with gliosta Found 1 words that start with gliosta. Browse our Scrabble Word Finder, Words With Friends cheat dictionary, and WordHub word solver to find words starting with gliosta. Or use our Unscramble word solver to find your best possible play! Related: Words containing gliosta • Scrabble • Words With Friends • WordHub • Crossword
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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – review Gillian Flynn: 'Plays her readers with the finesse and delicacy of an expert angler' Oliver and Barbara, the toxic married couple from The Wars of the Roses, have nothing on Nick and Amy Dunne, the co-narrators of Gillian Flynn's dazzlingly dark, searingly intelligent new thriller. The novel opens as Nick – "I used to be a writer… back when people read things on paper, back when anyone cared about what I thought" – finds that Amy has gone missing on the day of their fifth wedding anniversary. Their front door is open, the coffee table shattered, books scattered, and Amy, a trust fund New Yorker who has been miserable since Nick dragged her to his Missouri home town to care for his dying mother, is gone. Nick calls the police, of course, but there's something off about his reactions. He keeps referring to Amy in the past tense, and then catching himself. He ponders her "finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily". And he is not quite worried enough about her disappearance. "I felt myself enacting Concerned Husband," he says. "I wasn't sure what to say now. I raked my memory for the lines. What does the husband say at this point in the movie? Depends on whether he's guilty or innocent." Gone Girl switches between Nick's narrative, as the hunt for the beautiful, blond Amy consumes the attention of America's media, and Amy's diary, as she writes about the early days of their relationship. "Tra and la! I am smiling a big adopted-orphan smile as I write this… I met a boy!" she says. And then later: "He promised to take care of me, and yet I feel afraid." Gradually the two stories begin to converge. The pointed finger of media – and police – blame starts to swing Nick's way, and he doesn't endear himself to his readers as a hint of misogyny enters his tone. Women have "girl brain[s]" and female scents, "vaginal and strangely lewd". He lies to the police: little lies that don't really matter, but why is he doing it? And there's something odd about Amy's diary too; her version of the events of their past is different from Nick's, fails to ring quite true, grates in its perfection. We begin to see flashes of the darkness which lies in the cracks of this seemingly perfect marriage: where is Amy, and who is telling the truth? Flynn, an extraordinarily good writer, plays her readers with the finesse and delicacy of an expert angler. She wields her unreliable narrators – and just who are they? – to stunning effect, baffling, disturbing and delighting in turn, practically guaranteeing an immediate reread once her terrifying, wonderful conclusion is reached. This American author shook up the thriller scene in 2007 with her debut Sharp Objects, nasty and utterly memorable. Gone Girl, her third novel, is even better – an early contender for thriller of the year and an absolute must read.
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One sick boy! WPM is home sick.  He has been home since Friday morning.  It started with a cough, then by Sunday was a worse cough and by Monday was the kind of cough that make him gasp for air.  He coughed a lot ... and then coughed what seemed like every single minute of the day.  He was miserable!! He is now on the third day of two different kinds of steroids.  The doctor requested he stay home for the week ... but I am not sure either of us will make it that long.  He is missing his schedule and I am missing a few moments where he does not talk 24/7.  He is quite jacked up on drugs.  He talks constantly and can not sit still.  I have never taken steroids but I have been told by many they make you feel terrible.  I would attest to that plus so much more watching him this week.   The county is quite upset that he is missing this much school.  They have called now twice to inquire as to when he will return.  My response ... I am quite sure it would not be responsible for me to send him to you in this condition.  Although his cough has improved he is quite out of sorts and will be quite difficult to manage. His anxiety on level ground is tough at times, but jacked up on steroids three times a day is quite a challenge!  He will return when the doctor seems it appropriate.  Thank you for calling ... yet again! (google images) A friend on Facebook recommended I send him to school with a note attached to him that reads ...  Bee in mason jar, handle with care! I plan to send him to school tomorrow and see how he fares.  Today is his last day of drugs so tomorrow is kind of iffy ... but he does miss his schedule and special ed kids thrive on schedule.  I am keeping my fingers crossed but also am prepared for the day not working out at all!!!   Today we will hang out, I will answer 1,000,000 questions, watch him draw picture after picture and laugh a lot!!!  He is the funniest kid I know and when you jack him up on drugs he only gets funnier!!! Have a good one!!! 1 comment: 1. School may be calling due to FTE counts where they count all the kids in school during that specified week and give schools funding based on that. Just a thought. design + development by kelly christine studio
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After Norway: Free the French! Editor's note: In the aftermath of the tragedy in Norway, The Root asked Caribbean-born French politician Alain Dolium for his views on how his country has responded. Here is his take on the continuing problems and challenges that French society faces in integrating its growing immigrant population. The masks are off! Finally, a sector of the French political class has shown its true face: conservative nationalism. From the provocative parading of pork-sausage sandwiches in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods to a National Assembly proposal to ban rap groups formed by immigrants to the xenophobic comments about the Ecology Party candidate for president of France, Eva Joly — of Norwegian origin, no less — it's all a show of biceps by the conservative nationalists. The phenomenon is not limited to France, because in addition to President Sarkozy's declaration in February on the No. 1 TV network that "multiculturalism is a failure," Britain's David Cameron and Germany's Angela Merkel have taken the same position. And of course, there was the heinous massacre in Norway by a killer blinded by hate for Islam and a multicultural society that he saw as "spoiling Norway." In France, the conservative nationalists see no further than your origins, be they cultural or social. "Tell me where you're from and I'll tell you how far you can go," they whisper. Unfortunately, this petty determinism, this suicidal conservatism, is embedded in all stages of French society, particularly at the top of a society more pyramidal than ever, contradicting our democratic pact. This conservative nationalism recruits openly on the right, but its influence is also felt on the left. While it is divided into the far-right fringe of the populist right (Sarkozy's UMP party), the partisans of the extreme right (National Front) and the neo-reactionaries among the leftist Socialists, these conservative nationalists are disputing the same political turf, hiding behind a facade of talk, their real intent to restore an old social order. Together they are defending a hardened vision of France, an ethnicized vision that is not explicit but that they pretend conforms to the ideals of the republic. They are attempting to keep the French republic immobilized by banishing all challenges to the country's social order. Nothing is more odious to them than challenges to their privileges and standing. Meritocracy suits them only as long as it doesn't question the way the system functions. In their eyes, we will never belong to the same world, to the same caste. They operate under a capitalism of inheritance on the verge of imploding, instead of the entrepreneurial, responsible and sustainable economy that we have to invent. They organize political life in a vertical system, when what we need is an open democracy, more horizontal and more accountable to its citizens. They defend the status quo on principle, even when it runs counter to all economic, social and democratic progress. It is this conservative nationalism that is cutting, one after another, the cables of our social elevator. Social progress has been halted, and the sense of a common destiny is gradually fading, resulting in a retreat to a debate about national identity fueled by illusionists. The rallying cry of this movement is, "It was better before!" France holds the trump cards of a great nation: a relatively stable democracy, a growing population, an influential culture, an extensive educational structure, and quality health and road systems, along with dynamic auto, pharmaceutical, aeronautical and agricultural industries. But the country needs to create a core of democratic, ecological and social innovation to confront the conservative nationalists. The common goal of these new programs must be to lower the barriers in French society and free the individual for the common good. The issue of democratic renewal must be our greatest concern because it involves depending on our citizens to put in place a profound transformation of our society. We have to listen to those who want to warn us about the flaws of the French republic. They talk about climate change, the drift toward oligarchy in our economy, the confusion of powers, poverty and disaffection with Europe. After listening, we must act. Our goal must not be simply that France survives this crisis but, rather, must be to ensure that all French citizens can fully participate and have access to better opportunities for themselves and their children. Alain Dolium is in charge of innovation and economic-development policies for the Mouvement Démocrate (MoDem), a centrist political party in France. Share This Story Get our newsletter
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A Guide for Busy People Who Want to Build New Income Streams John writes in: Recently, you mentioned in this article that you’ve set up some additional income streams to the point “where any income stream can go away and it won’t really adversely affect my family.” — I’m curious to know what they are and how you’ve achieved that. I’ve been listening and reading up on multiple income streams for a few years now and from what I understand they are really hard to build for people with full-time jobs and young children to the point they would start providing a decent income. Building new income streams takes a lot of work. Starting any kind of side gig takes a great deal of effort and that new income stream often doesn’t make a whole lot of money at first. It takes a great deal of continuous effort to start seeing results, and even then, it builds slowly. Most people give up before that. It’s even harder when that income stream is a passive one. Most people think that a passive income stream means that you just make something, throw it out there, and profit from it. Sure, you can do that, but you’ll make income in a trickle. So, let’s say you’re a busy person like John or myself. You have a main career with a full-time job. You have a family with children. You have all of the other maintenance of daily life. You have (hopefully) some semblance of social connections as well, and perhaps a hobby or two. Those things added together can eat up almost all of your day. How can you possibly build new income streams? Over the past few years, I’ve been tackling this exact problem in a number of ways, with reasonable success. I’m going to describe some of these initiatives in detail, but for now, I’m not going to mention specifics. Why? I’m trying to build these things without using the audience I have for The Simple Dollar, because that would be an advantage that others do not have, and I intend to write about each of them in full detail once they’ve had some more time to mature. Speaking of The Simple Dollar, let’s start with that one. The Simple Dollar started as a “side gig” for me back in 2006 when I felt the urge to start writing about my financial turnaround. It struck a chord and eventually grew into my full-time work. The Simple Dollar was a website I started completely on my own. I was able to earn an income from it by placing advertisements on the site, as well as using Amazon affiliate links when I would talk about a book or other product that had positively impacted my life. Why it works well as an income stream: It’s easy to set up, for starters. Anyone can start a blog using Blogger for free, or you can host it separately using something like Squarespace. Adding advertisements is easy, too, using tools like Google Adsense, and you can join Amazon’s associate program to generate a bit of income when you describe a product and people click through to Amazon’s site to learn more about it. It’s low-cost, too, as you can basically start all of this for free. Why it can work well for busy people: You can define your own posting schedule and make it nice and slow if you wish, though a slower posting schedule usually does mean that it’s harder to build up a lot of visitors (which you need to make money) because you simply don’t have a lot of articles for people to search for and find. You can pick your own topics as well. Another advantage is if you decide to take a break, your archived writings will continue to earn income for a while, though that income will slowly decline over time. Why it doesn’t work so well for busy people: It takes a ton of consistent work to build an audience for a blog. Not only do you have to write on a very consistent basis for quite a while, you also have to put in the footwork to find communities in which to talk about and share your site with interested parties without being a spammer (which can result in very negative things for your site). Writing consistently takes a ton of work; building an audience takes a ton of work. You need both to succeed with a blog. Another challenge is that you have to be focused on a particular topic. Websites that wander from topic to topic almost never find an audience. This means that you have to choose a topic that’s going to consistently provide something for you to write about all the time and then stick with that topic (and similar topics). It’s a lot of very consistent work. Now, this can work well for some busy people who have highly consistent schedules, which I did when I was first starting The Simple Dollar. I locked in a very consistent daily routine that gave me a block of time each evening to work on the site. This site was built in the evenings after long days at work, and often in those evenings I was holding a baby on my shoulder while clicking a mouse or bouncing a toddler on my knee while typing. Another challenge is that it’s hard to earn a lot of money unless you have a pretty big audience. You need thousands of consistent readers (or else lots of well-regarded pages in Google for people to find via lots of different searches) in order to be able to make consistent money via advertisements. Until you have that, you won’t earn a ton of money. My first year or two with The Simple Dollar showed monthly income that’s better described in pennies rather than dollars. Should you do it? If you have a good broad topic in mind, enjoy writing short essays, and can do so quite often and with relative ease, blogging might really click with you. This describes my own writing style quite well. However, it takes a long time to start earning an income from blogging and you will need to do some self-promotion. Now, we’ll move on to some of the other potential side gigs for busy people, many of which I have direct experience with and others which are drawn from the experiences of close friends. Right up front, let’s be clear: I have experience with each of these, but I’m intentionally not talking about specifics at the moment because I don’t want to “spoil” their results by using The Simple Dollar as a platform to advertise them. I want to, in the future, be able to write about the results a person can achieve without being able to leverage something like The Simple Dollar to help it grow. When that happens, you better believe I’ll talk about the exact things I’ve made, but until then, I’m going to speak in more vague terms. A YouTube channel is something that anyone can create. It’s a collection of videos uploaded to YouTube made by the same creator (or team of creators) that people can subscribe to and watch. You might, for example, make a series of cooking videos or pocketknife review videos or videos on hunting tactics or videos discussing the latest events in the NBA. It’s generally a good idea to have a consistent theme to your videos. These videos earn income through advertisements placed before and during the videos by Google (and some popular channels can earn income through product placement arrangements). Many YouTubers earn additional income through Patreon. Why it works well as an income stream: It’s very easy to get started. Starting a channel is free. You can make videos and upload them to YouTube on a smartphone or virtually any computer with a good internet connection, and once they’re uploaded, they stay there forever. You can define your own video creation schedule, too. Why it can work well for busy people: Much like blogging, you can pick your own production and posting schedule and you can pick your own topic. You don’t even have to worry at all about hosting issues – your only real worry is making videos and then promoting them. Another advantage is that you can take breaks from creating videos and your older videos will continue to earn revenue for quite a long time. Why it doesn’t work so well for busy people: Video production can take a lot of time. Even though you’re posting at your own pace and schedule, it can still take quite a lot of time to come up with an idea for a video, plan out the content, film it, edit it, and post it. Making something look halfway decent also takes some video editing skills, which you may have to learn before you even start. There’s also the issue of promotion, which is something we’ll come back to time and time again. To make money off of online content you create, you need viewers, and to get viewers, you have to promote what you’ve made. That means spending the time to get involved with a community that would be receptive to your videos. Of course, if you’re making videos on things you already enjoy, this should be relatively easy and fun, but it still takes a long time. And, again, much like blogging, it takes a substantial audience to make more than pennies with this. You either need a lot of videos or a healthy handful of really, really good videos to start building an audience and that means a lot of work before you really earn much money at all. Should you do it? If you have a good topic in mind and the idea of making videos about it seems fun to you, then this can be a good hobby. However, as with many of the ideas here, you should expect that you won’t make much money for quite a while, and you will need to do some self-promotion. Podcasting centers around recording audio programs and releasing them via the internet for others to listen to as they choose. You simply list your podcast with various services, record episodes, release them, and then people who use those services can discover and listen to your podcast. I like to describe it as “independent talk radio.” Why it works well as an income stream: It’s fairly easy to record a podcast episode; you can even do it on a smartphone, though the audio quality would be relatively poor and that should only be a method for getting started. You just need a website to host your podcast, which is easily done at Squarespace, so it’s not too involved to actually publish your episodes. The actual recording, editing, and publishing doesn’t take too long at all per episode. If you enjoy having conversations about a particular topic, it’s a ton of fun. Why it doesn’t work so well for busy people: Most of the same challenges with other formats for earning money pop up here. You need to be consistent with it (though you can get away with a pretty infrequent schedule when podcasting), and you won’t earn much money for a while, if ever. I’ve found that with podcasting, the need for consistent day-in-day-out work is less than with some of the other models discussed here, but it’s actually harder to get income going with it. You basically have to find your own sponsors; if you’re lucky, they’ll find you, but you’ll probably have to go find businesses that would be interested in advertising on a podcast on your topic and work something out with them. At first, it won’t earn you much money, because your rates are wholly dependent on your listenership. You can also use Patreon as an income stream, where your listeners pay you a small amount per episode. So, while the actual content production of a podcast is relatively easy on a per-episode basis, you do need consistency, and it’s fairly challenging to find people to pay you for doing this, at least compared to other strategies listed here. Should you do it? If you like the idea of recording a talk radio show on a topic you love, podcasting is a great hobby that can earn an income stream along the way. However, it’s fairly hard to get the ball rolling with this in terms of income generation, though the actual content production isn’t incredibly hard. I found podcast content to be the easiest to produce (after blogging) among the options here. Another strategy for building some side income for yourself is to write ebooks and sell them, either through Amazon’s Kindle store or through other venues, including your own. You simply write a book on your computer, edit it so that it’s worth reading, format it correctly, and upload it (assuming you’re using the Kindle store). It’s then listed on the Kindle store and people can buy it, download it, and read it. Why it works well as an income stream: This is very much a “work at your own pace” kind of side gig. You can write and edit at whatever pace you like. Once you do upload a book, it’s there for good and will be found by people searching through the Kindle store thereafter. There’s virtually no up front cost, either. Why it doesn’t work so well for busy people: Your book basically won’t sell at all on its own. You have to promote it, perhaps more than any other option here. If you want it to consistently start selling and to build up a following who will consistently buy your ebooks, you’ve got to get the word out there about your books, and that starts with writing great descriptions for your book, finding lots of online communities to actively participate in, and talking about your stuff there in a non-spammy way. That’s a lot of additional work. I’ve personally found that promoting ebooks takes more promotional work than the other avenues here. So, while the actual writing is probably the least intense option among the ones listed here, the work needed to promote the books is quite large in order to be successful. Should you do it? Do you like to write long-form items like books or novellas? If that sounds appealing to you, this is a great avenue to do just that. Just be aware that in order to make significant money from this, you have to be willing to invest significant time in promoting your books. They’re not going to make a mint all by themselves. Standalone Websites Standalone websites are websites that serve as an information resource about a specific topic. Typically, these websites are supported by ads and exist solely to serve up detailed information about some relatively narrow topic that people might be interested in that isn’t really covered elsewhere. For example, you might make a website that offers detailed notes on all of the hiking trails at a national park near where you live or offers up detailed notes on how to get started with a particular niche hobby. Once you make such a website, you’d simply promote it a little and mostly look for ways to get it linked to from other sites in order to start welcoming visitors from Google, who will view the ads and earn revenue for your site. Why it works well as an income stream: Once you actually have such a site established, it requires very little irregular work to keep earning income and even slowly grow that income. A website that’s bringing in Google traffic tends to keep bringing it in provided you update the site every once in a while with fresh info, which you can do irregularly. Hosting websites like this is extremely cheap, as almost any web host is up to the task. You can also sell sites once they start earning income if you want to completely get out of the equation, which is harder to do with other opportunities. That’s the big advantage of using this as a money making tactic. Why it doesn’t work so well for busy people: It takes a lot of time to make a website with a bunch of pages that thoroughly covers a niche topic. You need some basic web design skills, too. After that, you’re going to invest a ton of time trying to get some links to that site built up, especially from reputable places. All of this occurs before you earn a dime and while you’re paying for site hosting for your site. For this to really work, you need to have some writing skills and motivation, some limited web design skills, and a strong desire to self-promote, a mix of things that many people don’t have, and you’ll also need to be willing to dump in a lot of up-front time, though it doesn’t need to be regular time. Should you do this? If you’re interested in writing some detailed guides to specific topics, building standalone websites is a great avenue for this. Just be aware that it is a fairly slow process to make it profitable. This is a good route if you find yourself with bursts of time here and there to devote to it rather than consistent time. ‘Chore Synergy’ Businesses What if you don’t want to do any sort of online business? Most real-world businesses usually require a ton of consistent time, which make them a nonstarter when it comes to very busy people. The only approach that seems to work well in a busy lifestyle is what I call “chore synergy” businesses; things you can do that synergize really well with things you’re already doing. For example, if you walk your dog for a mile or two every day, simply picking up some dogs along that route, walking a big loop, and then returning them would just extend your dog walk a little bit and earn you some money. A door-to-door laundry service that’s along your work commute would allow you to pick up laundry and drop it off during your commute, do it at home, and then return it in the mornings before work, again right along with your commute. The idea is to “synergize” things you’re already doing. Why it works well as an income stream: It involves a relatively low time commitment, as it usually just increases the time you spend on something you’re already doing. Once you have some clients, it’s actually a rather effortless way to earn more money. Most of these types of businesses involve very little cost to you outside of the time and energy involved. Why it doesn’t work so well for busy people: You have to have a good idea that people actually want, then you have to promote that idea, then you usually have to actually execute that idea, all before you ever see a dime. You will have to worry about things like billing and so forth. You’ll also be expected to consistently stick with the task you’re promising to fulfill and any time you step away from it, you’ll have to clearly notify your clients or else drop the business. It won’t earn any residual income if you step away, whereas the other options will. Should you do it? If you can identify a task that you can synergize really well, like a laundry delivery service or a dog-walking business or a basic lawn mowing service, and you’ll actually enjoy adding more of that task to your life, then a synergistic chore business might be a really good fit for you. If you loathe your household chores, avoid this one like the plague. Final Thoughts If you look through this list, you’ll see that many of the ideas have some things in common. They tend to involve a lot of work at your own pace that won’t earn a lot of income up front, but can build into something that earns good money over the long haul if you’re patient. They tend to have very little up-front cost, so that if it doesn’t work out, you don’t have a deep financial investment. They tend to be able to produce some level of residual income if you walk away from them for an extended period or for good. All of those are factors that work well for making a side gig for busy people, particularly the “low up-front financial investment” and the “work at your own pace but consistently” aspects of it. I have obviously found success with The Simple Dollar following this pattern and I’m currently exploring projects in almost all of these areas. If any of these sound interesting to you, start by writing up a side gig business plan for that idea. Use that opportunity to figure out the ins and outs of actually pulling off what you have in mind in terms of how to actually do it, what the real time commitment is, and whether you could fit it into your life. Be sure to consider the drawbacks I’ve discussed here and how you will overcome them, as well as other drawbacks you discover. You may just find that a side gig does fit well in your busy life and it can provide another income stream for you. Related Articles:  Loading Disqus Comments ...
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Shoe Care Guide When you get your brand new The Urban Rover shoes, you’ll need to take good care of them to extend their lifetime. Depending on the shoe, here is a list of tools you may need: Newspapers, gloves, brush, polishing cloth, wax, polish. Smooth leather shoe cleaner and waterproofing spray is optional. You can find most of these items at general stores, shoe stores, and shoe repair shops. Get Ready & Clean Condition your shoes with our Natural Shoe Wax to soften and moisturize the leather. Remove the shoelaces. Rub a small amount of wax onto the shoe, until the entire shoe has been covered. After a couple of minutes, wipe off any remaining wax, as the leather will only absorb what it can. Do not follow these instructions in the case of Suede Leather Shoes.
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ProForm Sport 7.5 Treadmill View More Proform Treadmill Reviews ProForm Sport 7.5 Treadmill Rating: 5 stars – 5 Reviewed by The Proform Sport 7.5 offers a really cool new technology from Proform called the Round Watts LED display. It measures watts per kilogram to tell you if you’re in the endurance, tempo, or peak zone. The machine is also iFit and bluetooth enabled, space saver design, and 0-12% incline capability. Although the motor is only 2.75HP and only goes up to 10mph, the running surface is larger than normal at 20″ x 60″ with Proshox cushioning. And you wanna know the best part? The Sport 7.5 is priced around $799. Proform delivers again!
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Sales Book: Life’s Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter by Hal Urban Home/Blog News/Job Search and Career/Sales Book: Life’s Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter by Hal Urban Here at Treeline, we have a best practice where we present 'book reports' to the rest of the team at our monthly meetings. The books we read can be about anything as long as they add value to our business in some way. We have read books written by leaders in their industries, motivational speakers and spiritual guides. This past month I read a book written by an educator named Hal Urban, who wrote a book for his 3 sons called Life's Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter. As I said, he wrote it for his sons as a way to let them know how to live a life as a good human. After its first printing, he received a tremendous response. Not from parents or children but from business professionals. These simple lessons about living a fulfilled and moral life are closely tied to how we conduct ourselves in the world of business. A lot of his lessons are obvious but they serve as good reminders to us. Urban talks about lessons such as "Success is More than Making Money." I know for you sales professionals this lesson probably makes you cringe but he makes a good point. He is not saying do not make money, rather he is saying make money and be successful but make sure your priorities are in check and you are not missing the big picture. Live a full life, give back to society and make the world a better place through your success. He also talks about how "Life is hard…and Not Always Fair" and "It Is OK to Fail, Everyone Else Does" – here is where Urban sounds like a father but his point is to remind us not to be a victim. Life is hard and unfair and there are no exceptions to the rule. Successful people have to deal with their failures, hard times and injustices just like everyone else. It is how they deal with these difficulties that separate them from the masses. But don't forget, "Life is Also Fun and Incredibly Funny." When Thomas Edison passed away, amongst dozens of notebooks that were found with hundreds of ideas for inventions that he never got around to, there were also a handful of notebooks filled with nothing but jokes. When you work hard, it is important to keep your sense of humor. And with that being said, Urban goes on to remind us that we, as individuals, have choices. "We Live by Choice, Not by Chance." We choose our values. We choose how to treat others. We choose how to handle adversity. We choose what we learn. We choose what we accomplish in life. We choose our belief system, ultimately – we choose our own purpose. Urban states that ATTITUDE is the most important choice we make and we make it on a daily basis. He quotes Dr. Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor and author of Man's Search for Meaning, saying, "the ability to choose our own attitude, in any given set of circumstances, is the last of the human freedoms." It is simple statements like this that put a lot of life's simple truths into perspective. The direction of the book then goes onto how to explain how we can choose to live a better life both personally and professionally: "Good Habits, Be Thankful, Be Respectful, Be Honest, Share Kind Words With Others, Motivation Can Only Come From Within." He really breaks all this down into simple and relatable stories. Again, obvious lessons but great reminders. Urban goes on to explain that these are tasks for the journey but what is the destination? "Goals Are Dreams with Deadlines." Catchy,eh?! But he is right. What good are goals if we don't set up a timeline to achieve them? How do we achieve them? The answer is something that we have all heard from our parents: "There Is No Substitution for Hard Work and Sacrifice." He tells of how resilience and persistence will get you places – don't let anyone tell you different. He wraps up the book with prioritizing life, "Life is Simpler When We Know What is Essential" and what is most essential?? "Being a Good Person." Urban does a good job of reminding us what we are doing right in our lives and where we could improve ourselves. He explains it in a way that we can relate to. His writing is not a 'how to,' although he is incredibly obvious: it is never a bad idea to take a crash course on how to be a good person. Never stop learning how to be better…perhaps I should submit that as Lesson Number 21. The 20 Lessons: 1. Success is More Than Making Money 2. Life is Hard…and Not Always Fair 3. Life is Also Fun…and Incredibly Funny 4. We Live by Choice, Not by Chance 5. Attitude Is a Choice – The Most Important One You'll Ever Make 6. Habits Are the Key to All Success 7. Be Thankful – The Best Habit 8. Be Respectful 9. Be Honest 10. Kind Words Cost Little but Accomplish Much 11. Real Motivation Comes from Within 12. Goals are Dreams with Deadlines 13. There's No Substitute for Hard Work 14. You Have to Give Up Something to Get Something 15. Successful People Don't Find Time – They Make Time 16. No One Else Can Raise Your Self-esteem 17. The Body Needs Nutrition and Exercise – So Do the Mind and Spirit 18. It's OK to Fail – Everyone Else Has 19. Life is Simpler When You Know What's Essential 20. Most Essential: Be a Good Person 2009-12-03T00:00:00+00:00December 3rd, 2009|Categories: Blog News, Job Search and Career|
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Deep Impact Has a New Target It seemed like such a shame. NASA built Deep Impact to see what happens when you smash a refrigerator-sized object into a comet. Mission accomplished, science gathered. But what about the flyby part of the spacecraft? It captured images of the collision with Comet Tempel 1, and then flew on without a target. Well, NASA announced this week that it has a new target: Comet Hartley 2. Oh, and we don’t call it Deep Impact any more. That was so 2005. Now it’s called EPOXI. And if that sounds like an acronym, you’re right. Here’s the full designation: Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation. EPOXI was originally supposed to meet up with Comet Boethin, but NASA astronomers lost sight of the comet. They lost a comet? Actually, they think it might have broken up into smaller pieces, which are now too small for detection. Unfortunately, this loss pushed back its next cometary encounter by two years. So the spacecraft is now heading for Comet Hartley 2. If all goes well, it’ll reach the object on October 11, 2010, passing within 1,000 km (620 miles) of the nucleus. As a target for scientific observation, Comet Hartley 2 will do the job nicely. Just like Boethin, it has a small, bright nucleus. While it’s making this journey, the spacecraft will point the larger of its two telescopes at nearby extrasolar planetary systems, and help gather additional data. It’ll be looking to study the physical properties of giant planets, search for rings and moons and planets as small as three Earth masses. One intriguing mission will have EPOXI observe the Earth as if it’s an extrasolar planet, to help refine the techniques and data necessary to characterize future terrestrial planet discoveries. EPOXI made a three-minute rocket burn on November 1st, 2007, putting it on course to reach Hartley 2. Before this encounter, it’ll make three Earth flybys, gathering the additional velocity it needs to reach its meetup with Hartley 2 in 2010. Original Source: NASA/JPL News Release 2 Replies to “Deep Impact Has a New Target” 1. Great to make use of all that technology. Even better for me cos the names of my dearly beloved are onboard. The US’s greatest contribution to the world has come from its spaceflight and and science exploration programmes. One day the fact will be appreciated. Comments are closed.
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The Unz Review: An Alternative Media Selection Patricia Nelson Limerick Archives Patricia Nelson Limerick • 12 Items / 4 Books, 3 Articles, 5 Reviews Trails Toward a New Western History (1991) Show MoreShow AllFinding...Find More Email This Page to Someone  Remember My Information Published Reviews 1. [+] The Frontier Trail (5 Reviews) Rethinking Turner and Reimagining the American West 1. Under an Open Sky by William Cronon, George A. Miles, and Jay Gitlin 2. Writing Western History by Richard W. Etulain 3. Trails Toward a New Western History by Patricia Nelson Limerick and Clyde A. Milner II, ... 4. Creating the West by Gerald D. Nash 5. Under Western Skies by Donald Worster The American Historical Review, February 1993, pp. 106-117
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Common realm According to Ferruccio Rossi-Landi, there is an important relationship between what he calls the natural sciences and the spiritual sciences: both have a tendency to work with a reified notion of the natural.1 Both sciences, Rossi-Landi continues, are non-dialectical: one privileges space over time, the second interior space over the public realm. Both are 'static'. Here lies the difficulty and challenge for a theology ofnature. For a connection, restrictive and damaging, may be noted between the non-dialectical theori-sation of space and religious interiority. A theology of nature must present nature as temporal as well as spatial, thereby as engaged with and other than humanity. Likewise, the Christian faith must, through the engagement with non-theological disciplines, perform a constructive argument in the public realm towards an ontology of nature. The presentation of a conceptuality that would support a dialectical reading of nature and the public character of the Christian faith is the aim of this chapter. The theological explication of the conceptuality of the common realm of God, nature and humanity requires an account of the creaturely relations of humanity and nature before God in engagement with other, non-theological, accounts of the interrelations of humanity-in-nature. Such a theological explication must consider carefully problems of definition, hermeneutical issues, method and metaphysical matters. That is, the way forward must be by careful attention to the definition of nature operative at any point in the argument, the understanding of modernity in which the argument is conducted, the relation between theology and 1. Ferruccio Rossi-Landi, Marxism and Ideology (Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 317. non-theological disciplines and the continuities and discontinuities posited between humanity and nature. The theological concept of the common realm of God, nature and humanity specifies a particular context of relations in which to interpret nature. First, nature here means that which is objectified and domesticated in modernity as other than humanity. The concept also makes clear that nature and humanity are both creaturely; that is, they are other to God. Thus the concept of the common realm permits a series of relations to be presented to theological attention: the presence of God which establishes - and is the source of - the reality of humanity-in-nature; and the separation of humanity and non-human nature. The concept of the common realm of God, nature and humanity is thereby an acknowledgement ofour modern circumstances: the understanding ofnature has become detached from humanity and God. The concept of the common realm of God, nature and humanity is thus a concession to the modern interpretation ofnature: the physical world is usually understood as that which is other than humanity. Second, the concept of the common realm claims that humanity and nature are understood properly only in mutual co-explication with the concept of God. This co-explication is difficult to achieve because one outcome of the modern separation of nature from God and humanity is the presentation ofnature in various sorts ofscientific description. These descriptions are culturally dominant, yet also somewhat indigestible theologically. So the common realm carries the commitment to theological engagement with non-theological, hegemonic interpretations ofnature. As Carol Christ has noted: 'Because the disjunction of divinity, humanity, and nature is deeply embedded in the words, God, humanity, and nature... [t]he three terms in the triad "God, man and nature" must be rethought together.'2 Such a process of rethinking towards the healing of humanity 2. Carol P. Christ, 'Rethinking Theology and Nature', in Irene Diamond and Gloria Feman Orenstein (eds.), Reweaving the World: The Emergence ofEcofeminism (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1990), pp. 58-69 (p. 61). Indeed, a close analogue to the common realm is to be found in ecofeminism: the stress on a web of life understood with reference to spirit or the sacred presses towards a notion akin to the common realm: see, further, Paula Gunn Allen, 'The Woman I Love is a Planet; the Planet I Love is a Tree', in Diamond and Orenstein (eds.), Reweaving the World, pp. 52-7; Starhawk, 'Feminist, Earth-based Spirituality and Ecofeminism', in Judith Plant (ed.), Healing the Wounds:The Promise ofEcofeminism (Philadelphia: New Society, 1989), pp. 174-85 (pp. 174,182). In some cultures, human societies are understood by analogy with certain ecosystems: 'the forest as a community has been viewed [in Indian civilisation] as a model for societal and civilizational evolution', Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology andDevelopment (London: Zed Books, 1989), p. 55. and nature will thereby require attention to those disciplines which treat of nature in the modern sense. In such manner, political-ideological interpretation in the theology of nature directs attention to the society of God, nature and humanity. The society of this common realm is the way in which God freely decides to be with God's creation. As co-participant in a common realm that encompasses the natural history of humanity, God is with and for humanity. Hence the concept of the common realm of God, nature and humanity embodies an important epistemological commitment: to the careful theological specification of the ontology of humanity. For the notion of un/natural humanity extends beyond human embodiment to theological consideration of the material world itself. The issue of the environment in which humanity finds itself is given its proper theological place. To speak of the common realm of God with humanity and nature is to insist that only through their co-explication - which, as the commitment to creatio ex nihilo reminds us, is mutual yet asymmetrical - can we arrive at theological judgments about natural, social humanity. I have proposed the concept of the common realm of God, nature and humanity in order to acknowledge yet overcome the alienation ofhuman-ity from nature. Hence my preferred concept notes a modern movement towards the separation of nature and humanity and the displacement of the concept of God from the interpretation of nature. What follows may be understood as a theological attempt to overcome this double alienation ofGod from the world and humanity from nature. 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Gods Liberality In summarizing the results of his investigations of the personifying divine attributes analogous to human intellective attitudes, Aquinas observes that everything in SCG 1.89-91 should show us that 'of our attitudes, none can be in God strictly speaking except joy and love, although [of course] even they are not in him considered as passion, as they are in us' (91.763). So, applying the relational method to the vast array of human feelings and their rational counterparts has provided us with just those two additional divine attributes. But those two play special roles among human attitudes, as Aquinas observes, expressing himself in a way that suggests he's at least contemplating such roles for their divine analogues as well: 'love and joy, which are in God strictly speaking, are the principles of all attitudes—love in the manner of a moving principle, obviously, but joy in the manner of an end' (91.766). And now that these very few, very significant divine attitudes have been identified and examined, in an investigation that parallels the investigation of the passions in human beings, Aquinas is ready to proceed with the theological parallel to a treatise on the virtues, the regular sequel to a treatise on the passions. It seemed obvious that the concept of a passion couldn't be applied to God, and the concept of a virtue may seem almost as obviously inapplicable. To begin with what's most obvious, at least some of the human virtues that Aquinas recognizes consist in reason's control of passions—for example, the virtues of sobriety and chastity in particular, of temperance or continence more generally. 45 See 92.777, where all four of these are rejected; also ST la.21.1, ad 1: 'Some moral virtues have to do with passions—e.g. temperance with longings, courage with fear and rash attitudes, mildness with anger. And virtues of that sort cannot be attributed to God except metaphorically.' end p.250 The Metaphysics of Theism Print ISBN 9780199246533, 2001 pp. [251]-[254] No such virtues could characterize God. Again, there are no conceivable circumstances in which an omnipotent, omniscient being could appropriately be called courageous. 46 Courage (fortitude) is rejected in 92.775 and 778. But we don't have to consider the virtues one by one in order to see that they can't be converted into divine attributes. A virtue is, by definition, a habitus, a disposition to act in a certain way in certain circumstances; and a habitus, as Aquinas points out near the beginning of the first of his five chapters on divine virtues, 'is an unperfected activity, midway between a potentiality and its actualization, one might say ... In God, however, there is [only] supremely perfect activity. In him, therefore, there is no activity having the status of a habitus—for instance, [no habitus] such as knowledge— but, rather, [only its actualization,] such as considering, which is the final, complete activity' with which that habitus, knowledge, is associated (92.770). Aquinas offers plenty of other grounds, general and particular, on which to reject the attribution of virtues to God, but this sampling is enough, I think, to show what any attempt to make such an attribution is up against. And yet, the principle at the heart of the relational method is itself enough to show that, despite all such obstacles, there must be some respect in which virtues can, after all, be attributed to God. Tor just as God's being is universally perfect, in some way or other containing within itself the perfections of all beings [1.28], so also must his goodness in some way or other contain within itself the goodnesses of all things. Now a virtue is a goodness belonging to a virtuous person, for "it is in accordance with it that one is called good, and what one does is called good" [Nicomachean Ethics II 6, 1106a22-4], Therefore, in its own way the divine goodness must contain all virtues' (92.768). 47 47 See also an earlier sketch of this account in 37.304. And we know by now how absolute simplicity will shape the unique way in which they must be contained. Tor being good is not suited to God through something else added to him but rather [only] through his essence, since he is altogether simple. Moreover, God does not act through anything added to his essence, since his acting is his essence (as has been end p.251 © Copyright Oxford University Press, 2006. All Rights Reserved shown [1.45 and 73]). Therefore, his virtue is not some habitus, but rather his own essence' (92.769). These considerations remove some obstacles to attributing virtues to God, but only the general obstacles, those that seemed to crop up in the theoretical account of the nature of virtues and in the natural-theological account of God's nature as developed so far. However, a specific virtue's essential association with human passions constitutes an irremovable obstacle, at least as regards non-metaphorical, direct attribution to God, and in 1.92 Aquinas explicitly blocks the attribution of seven different virtues on that basis, indicating that those are only a sampling of human virtues that can't be attributed to God. 48 Temperance and courage (775); sobriety, chastity, temperance, and continence (777); courage, magnanimity, mildness, 'and other virtues of that sort' (778). Virtues such as those, he concludes, are in God not as characterizing his nature but only as divine ideas—'as is the case regarding other corporeal things' besides the passions with which those virtues are linked (93.790). But since the general obstacles in the way of non-metaphorically attributing virtues to God have now been removed, some such attributions can (and must) be made if there are any human virtues that don't present the specific obstacle of being essentially associated with passions. The 'contemplative' virtues, such as knowledge and wisdom, are clearly free of any such association, and Aquinas devotes a chapter (1.94) to establishing them as divine attributes. But it's moral virtues we're interested in, and, Aquinas observes, 'there are some virtues directing the active life of a human being that have to do not with passions but with actions—e.g. truthfulness, justice, liberality, magnificence, prudence, and art' (93.779). 49 See also ST la.21.1, ad 1: 'However, other moral virtues have to do with activities, such as giving and spending—e.g. justice, liberality, and magnificence—which are also not in the sensory part but in the will. And so nothing prevents our positing attributes of that sort in God.' 'Virtues of this sort', he says, 'are perfectings of will and of intellect, which are the sources of activities devoid of passion. But in God there is will and intellect lacking no perfection. Therefore [virtues of this sort] cannot be absent from God' (93.781). Aquinas argues briefly for each of these as a divine attribute (except magnificence), but for present purposes I'm interested only in liberality, the one to which he gives the most attention here. Liberality can be loveless, and worthless: 'though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. . . and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.' end p.252 © Copyright Oxford University Press, 2006. All Rights Reserved But love can't be illiberal. Liberality is the virtue most pertinent to the rest of the subject-matter of this chapter because, of all the virtues under consideration here, liberality's the one that's indispensable to love. 50 And at least once, albeit in an objection, liberality is picked out as the virtue through which 'a human being is most of all assimilated to God, "who gives to all abundantly and does not reproach", as is said in James 1[: 5]' (ST IIaIIae.117.6, obj.l). Aquinas's rejoinder (excerpted later in this paragraph) doesn't really dispute this claim. All intellective, volitional loving, but especially divine loving, motivates freely giving of one's own what is not owed, and liberality is the virtue that gets expressed in the act of freely giving of one's own what is not owed. 51 On the connection of liberality with love, see also SCG III.128.3007. God 'wills to share his goodness with something not because he might thereby gain some advantage for himself but because sharing himself is suited to him as the spring of goodness; and to give, not for any benefit expected from the giving but for goodness itself and for the appropriateness of giving (convenientiam dationis), is the act of liberality . . . God, therefore, is characterized by liberality in the highest degree' (93.785). 52 See also ST la.44.4, ad 1: God 'alone is characterized by liberality in the highest degree, since he does not [ever] act for some advantage (utilitatem) of his own, but only for his own goodness'. Viewed against the background of our discussion of love, these descriptions show that to give in that way is also one of the acts of love, an act that is a component of'moving toward union', especially when, as in this case, the giving of one's own is a giving of oneself. On at least one occasion Aquinas argues that, for just such reasons, the virtue expressed by God's giving might be identified less precisely as liberality than as 'charity, which is the greatest of the virtues', because 'divine giving stems from the fact that he loves human beings' (ST Ilallae.117.6, ad 1). But liberality is the virtue standardly associated with God's giving, with God as 'the distributor of the totality of all goods' (93.790), and especially with what I called earlier the gifts of creation: 'God . . . brought things into being out of no indebtedness, but out of sheer liberality' (SCG 11.44.1217). In Chapter Seven I argued for a necessitarian explanation of the creation of something or other, based on the Dionysian principle, which Aquinas accepts: goodness is by its very nature diffusive of itself and (thereby) of being. Is that explanation compatible with this attribution of liberality? I think so, because, as I said at the end end p.253 © Copyright Oxford University Press, 2006. All Rights Reserved of Chapter Seven, God's will is necessitated as regards whether to create, but fully free as regards what to create. The created things that do actually exist are, then, the freely chosen recipients of divine liberality, of the freely given, unowed manifestations of goodness that constitute the pre-condition of love's real union and the first move toward it. As we've seen Aquinas putting it when the Dionysian spirit is on him, 'out of love God "makes" all things, giving them being, and "perfects" all things, filling out individuals with their proper perfections, and "contains" all things, sustaining them in being, and "turns" all things—that is, directs them toward himself as toward their end' (In DDN IV: L9.409). Anyone who knows the whole story can't help being disappointed at the pale thinness of natural theology's best account of God's loving and giving. Still, this account is not to be disdained. On the contrary, it is part of what should be reason's master-work. The fullness of God's loving and giving emblazoned in John 3: 16 is out of natural theology's reach, though it needn't be out of the natural theologian's mind. end p.254 The Metaphysics of Theism Print ISBN 9780199246533, 2001 pp. [255] Was this article helpful? 0 0 Study Aid Study Aid Get My Free Ebook Post a comment
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“One Job Should be enough”—Airline Food Workers Take Their Struggle Public The workers, organized by Unite Here, demand union recognition, better wages and benefits, and an end to employer interference in their organizing drives at airports nationwide. SkyChef employs 11,000 food prep workers for American Airlines and Delta, while 4,000 more who toil for CafeGourmet, organized with the Teamsters, prepare food for a third airline, United. “One job should be enough,” was their frequent chant—the same one Unite Here hotel workers have used against the Marriott chain. SkyChef and CafeGourmet together control the workers’ lives, and 80% of U.S. airlines’ food preparation. American, Delta, and United made over $50 billion in combined profits in just the past five years alone, Unite Here notes. But the workers who prepare and load food and beverages onto their planes are often left living in poverty and unable to afford healthcare. That’s because the food service firms impose rock-bottom pay, offer health insurance to few, and have no pensions. Read the full article.
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1. World Map/ 2. Asia/ 3. India/ 4. Where is Sambhal Where is Sambhal, India? map showing the location of Sambhal Sambhal is a city found in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located 28.58 latitude and 78.57 longitude and it is situated at elevation 212 meters above sea level. Sambhal has a population of 196,109 making it the 27th biggest city in Uttar Pradesh. It operates on the BURT time zone, which means that it follows the same time zone as Kanpur. Quick facts Country India Special region Uttar Pradesh Population 196,109 Elevation 212 m over sea level Time Zone BURT Longitude 78.566890 Latitude 28.583230 Trending on WorldAtlas This page was last updated on October 2, 2015.
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Free Shipping In Australia iPhone Application Development For Dummies By Neal Goldstein iPhone Application Development For Dummies by Neal Goldstein In Stock +10% GST Helps you learn to design small- or large-scale iPhone applications for profit or fun. This title shows you how to: create new iPhone apps using Xcode[registered]; get your applications into the App Store; and work with frameworks. It also explore what goes into industrial-strength apps. Only 4 left iPhone Application Development For Dummies Summary iPhone Application Development For Dummies by Neal Goldstein Making Everything Easier! With iPhone(r) Application Development for Dummies, Second Edition, you'll learn to: * Design small- or large-scale iPhone applications for profit or fun * Create new iPhone apps using Xcode(r) * Get your applications into the App Store * Work with frameworks Got a good idea? Turn it into an app, have some fun, and pick up some cash! Make the most of the new 3.1 OS and Apple's Xcode 3.2! Neal Goldstein shows you how, and even illustrates the process with one of his own apps that's currently being sold. Even if you're not a programming pro, you can turn your bright idea into an app you can market, and Neal even shows you how to get it into the App Store! * Mobile is different - learn what makes a great app for mobile devices and how an iPhone app is structured * What you need - download the free Software Development Kit, start using Xcode, and become an "official" iPhone developer * The nitty-gritty - get the hang of frameworks and iPhone architecture * Get busy with apps - discover how to make Xcode work for you to support app development * Off to the store - get valuable advice on getting your apps into the App Store * Want to go further? - explore what goes into industrial-strength apps Open the book and find: * What it takes to become a registered Apple developer * How to debug your app * What's new in iPhone 3.1 and Xcode 3.2 * What goes into a good interface for a small device * How applications work in the iPhone environment * Why you must think like a user * What the App Store expects of you * What makes a great iPhone app Visit the companion Web site at for source code and additional information on iPhone app development. Why buy from World of Books Our excellent value books literally don't cost the earth Free delivery in Australia Read more here Every used book bought is one saved from landfill About Neal Goldstein Neal Goldstein is a recognized expert at making cutting-edge technologies practical for commercial and enterprise development. He is currently leading an iPhone startup that is developing an application that will radically change how people can use iPhones to manage information, and he holds a patent on an enterprise-wide SOA-based architecture. Table of Contents Introduction. Part I: Getting Started. Chapter 1: Creating Killer iPhone Applications. Chapter 2: Looking Behind the Screen. Chapter 3: Enlisting in the Developer Corps. Part II: Using the iPhone Development Tools. Chapter 4: Getting to Know the SDK. Chapter 5: Building the User Interface. Chapter 6: While Your Application Is Running. Part III: From "Gee, That's a Good Idea," to the App Store. Chapter 7: Actually Writing Code. Chapter 8: Entering and Managing Data. Chapter 9: Saving Data and Creating a Secret Button. Chapter 10: Using the Debugger. Chapter 11: Buttoning It Down and Calling Home. Chapter 12: Death, Taxes, and the iPhone Provisioning. Part IV: An Industrial-Strength Application. Chapter 13: Designing Your Application. Chapter 14: Setting the Table. Chapter 15: Enhancing the User Experience. Chapter 16: Creating Controllers and Their Models. Chapter 17: Finding Your Way. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 18: Top Ten Apple Sample Applications (with Code!). Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Be a Happy Developer. Index. Additional information iPhone Application Development For Dummies by Neal Goldstein Neal Goldstein Used - Very Good John Wiley and Sons Ltd
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10 Food Myths Most People Believe Gullible isn't written on the ceiling, but it is written on the faces and screens of chain emailers and internet gossipers around the globe. Food myths and rumors from the casually accepted to the truly outrageous crop up en masse on the Internet and in off-the-cuff dinner conversations everywhere. Have you ever been told that Red Bull can give you brain tumors? Or that apple seeds can poison you? Which of these myths are true, and which ones are pulling your leg? 1) Red Bull Causes Brain Tumors! True or False: False Red Bull is far from healthy, but there's no evidence that it will actually cause brain tumors. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirms that d-glucuronolactone, the chemical that started these cancer rumors, “is not a concern” at the levels contained  in Red Bull. Certainly, there are a vast number of other reasons why chugging 10 energy drinks a day isn't recommendable, but fear of brain tumors isn't one of them. 2) Jell-O is made from pigs and cows True or False: True Jell-O is comprised primarily of gelatin. Gelatin is essentially processed collagen found in the bones, skin, and tendons of many animals (including humans).  The gelatin in Jell-O is made from the hide trimmings of cows and pigs. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “piggly-wiggly.” 3) Freezing Plastic Bottles Releases Dioxin into your Water! True or False: False According to Dr. Rolf Halden, an associate Professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, there are no dioxins in plastic – and even if there were, “freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic.” Similarly, if you're microwaving your food in microwave-safe plastic containers, your food will still be just fine. 4) Hostess Twinkies Last Forever! True or False: False Hold off on lining your Zombie shelters with these little gold cakes: they don't actually last forever. Even though they might taste like it for some, Twinkies aren't actually made of magic.  Despite their famed longevity, they have shelf life of only a week! 5) Some Food Coloring is Made out of Bugs True or False: True The female Cochineal bug can and is used to make red dyes ranging from red, orange, pink, and purple and are commonly used in red-colored foods and beverages.  You might wonder, how could people not know about this!? Well, until recently, food companies were not required to list specific dyes used to color their foods (and still aren't obligated to mention if they're made of bugs). The blanket term “artificial colors” was good enough – until allergic reactions to the bug-extracted dye emerged and the truth was uncovered. 6) Carrots Improve Your Eyesight True or False: False* *Unless you're rocking a major vitamin-A deficiency, carrots won't improve your vision. This myth started during World War II in order to cover up the real reason why English pilots' aim improved so much: an improved radar.  Because carrots were not widely available in Germany, they suggested that the large quantities of carrots consumed by English pilots miraculously improved their eyesight. 7) Refried Beans are Fried Twice True or False: False It doesn't matter how many times you fry your beans – any time over one, and you've got refried beans. The myth lies in the use of the prefix “re” in English as opposed to Spanish. Frijoles refritos, translated directly means “refried beans,” but the Spanish connotation of the prefix “re” allows it to be used as emphasis – “very fried” or “well fried.” Source: The Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy 8) Microwave ovens kill the nutrients in food True or False: _False _Technically, every single method of cooking and heating up food kills nutrients; it depends on how long it's being cooked, at what temperature, and with how much liquid. Microwave ovens don't kill any more nutrients than say, cooking over a stove or on a grill. In fact, in some cases, the opposite holds true – especially if the vegetables are cooked in water. 9) Apple Seeds are Poisonous True or False: True But that doesn't mean your local grocery stores are stocking bushels of death. While it's true that apple pits contain cyanogenic acids (essentially, cyanide compounds), it takes a substantial amount of apple seeds eaten at once to actually kill you. Your body can detoxify cyanide in small doses, so accidentally swallowing an apple seed  – or a cherry pit, or a bitter almond  – doesn't mean tearful goodbyes. 10) Caesar Salads are named after Julius Caesar! True or False: False On the outside, this myth makes conventional sense. Salads have roots in Ancient Rome, so it's likely that Caesar feasted on a mixed green or two before Brutus put the kibosh his salad-eating days. So why wouldn't an aspiring salad-maker name his creation in honor of the famed ruler? Probably because he'd rather name it after himself.  Caesar Cardini, the Italian-Mexican restauranteur, invented the dish in 1924 in Tijuana, Mexico. Source: New York Times__ Photo credits (top to bottom): Tara Donne, Thomas Hannich, Petit Elephant, Civil Eats, D Woodward, Real Mom Kitchen, and Why Travel to France
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Alternate Names: Systemic Sclerosis, Morphea Featuring content from MRI Clinic • About • The Facts Scleroderma belongs to the same family of autoimmune diseases as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It shares many features with these illnesses, including the fact that it often appears in adult women. Scleroderma is more common in women than men. Another thing it has in common with these diseases is that it can cause a wide range of different symptoms and complications. For some people, it's a lifelong nuisance; for others, it's a disease that quickly worsens and may lead to death. This disease is not contagious, and it is not inherited. Symptoms and Complications Symptoms of scleroderma include: • thickening or hardening of the skin • numbness and pain in the extremities brought on by cold or emotional stress • loss of flexibility due to gradual hardening and tightening of the skin, especially on the arms, face, or hands • joint stiffness or pain (elbows, knuckles) • digestive problems including difficulty swallowing, problems absorbing nutrients and less muscle activity in the intestine causing constipation or diarrhea • curling and stiffening of the fingers • puffy hands and feet, most often noticed in the morning There are two types of generalized scleroderma: • CREST syndrome (also called limited scleroderma) • diffuse scleroderma The five main features of CREST syndrome include: • Calcinosis – this is the formation of small, hard, white deposits in the skin, typically at the fingers, toes, knees and elbows. • Raynaud's phenomenon – this occurs when the fingers lose their blood supply and go numb at the slightest sign of cold. Raynaud's phenomenon can exist on its own (called Raynaud's disease), or be caused by other conditions like arthritis. When it appears together with sclerodactyly (thickening and tightening of the skin of the fingers and toes), it's usually a sign of scleroderma. • Esophageal dysfunction – people rarely have this as an early symptom, but it commonly develops a few years into the disease. The esophagus is the tube linking the mouth to the stomach. A valve at the bottom of the tube called the lower esophageal sphincter keeps acid in the stomach. When this valve does not work properly, acids from the stomach can enter the esophagus causing heartburn (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or acid reflux. The lower esophageal sphincter is the inner organ most likely to be attacked by scleroderma. Even in mild forms of scleroderma, heartburn problems are very common. Damage to the esophagus can lead to bleeding, ulcers, holes, and scarring in the esophagus. This can make it difficult to swallow, and many people with scleroderma have trouble eating. It can also cause changes in the esophageal tissue that can lead to cancer. One third of people with esophageal symptoms in scleroderma develop Barrett's esophagus, a harmless condition in itself, but considered to be a precancerous growth. • Sclerodactyly – along with Raynaud's phenomenon, this is one of the two symptoms most likely to be the first sign of scleroderma. It is a thickening of the skin of the fingers or toes. • Telangiectasia- these are tiny red "spider veins" that typically appear on the hands and face. Diffuse scleroderma is the other form of systemic scleroderma. In diffuse scleroderma, people experience thickening of the skin of the arms, legs, face, chest, and stomach. Inside the body, damage to the lungs, kidneys, heart, blood vessels, bowel, esophagus, and joints may occur. If many of these organs are affected, the condition may become life-threatening. This more serious form of scleroderma is occasionally fatal, and nearly always debilitating. The most common forms of damage from diffuse scleroderma are: • gastrointestinal – heartburn caused by hardening of the esophagus, low absorption of nutrients, and abnormalities in the way food moves in the intestine may happen to some people with scleroderma. • joint – not so much to the bone itself as to the skin, tendons, and other tissue. This can cause the joints to lock in place when flexed. Tendinitis and a crackling sound when you move are also possible. • lung – scleroderma can cause pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring of the lungs that interferes with the way oxygen is transferred. The scarring can lead to pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the blood vessels going from the lung to the heart). This can in turn damage the heart, leading to serious, irregular heartbeats, and sometimes heart failure or sudden death. • heart – scleroderma can also attack the heart directly, replacing healthy muscle tissue with scar tissue. • liver – the biliary ducts that drain the liver can be scarred, possibly damaging the liver itself. • kidney damage – kidney failure can lead to death in scleroderma when these internal organs are affected. Many of the most severe complications of scleroderma are likely to occur in the first 5 years or not at all. People with severe forms of scleroderma have about an 80% to 85% chance of surviving 5 years after being diagnosed with the condition. Making the Diagnosis There's no test that will give a guaranteed diagnosis of scleroderma while excluding other diseases. The doctor must balance the symptoms, history, and examination against the often-confusing evidence from blood tests and samples of skin to come up with an idea of what condition is present. At first, the condition may look similar to other autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Once scleroderma has been diagnosed, the doctor can determine whether it is localized or generalized. The presence of certain antibodies helps to identify which type of scleroderma is present. Treatment and Prevention There is no cure for scleroderma. However, there are medications that can reduce symptoms and organ damage. Pulmonary hypertension, for example, can usually be well controlled. Limited scleroderma is usually treated with topical (applied to the skin) treatments such as moisturizers or topical corticosteroid creams. Generalized scleroderma (involving the internal organs) may be treated with medications that improve blood flow, promote esophagus and bowel function, keep the kidneys functioning, and control high blood pressure. Here are some recommendations to reduce the risk of problems caused by Raynaud's phenomenon: • Keep warm in cold weather by dressing appropriately (e.g., wear gloves or mittens). • Try to avoid stressful situations, as stress can trigger an attack. • Avoid or quit smoking because the nicotine found in cigarettes can decrease skin temperature and cause blood vessels to narrow. • Exercise to keep the body flexible and improve blood circulation. Range of motion exercises can help keep skin and joints flexible. Physical and occupational therapy may also be helpful. Medication treatment with calcium channel blockers may be prescribed to treat Raynaud's phenomenon. They work by causing blood vessels to expand, and this improves blood flow in the skin. Symptoms such as joint stiffness and pain can be relieved with anti-inflammatory medications such as acetylsalicylic acid* (ASA), NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), or corticosteroids. Certain medications called DMARDs (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs) are often prescribed along with NSAIDs. Both help reduce joint inflammation. Another class of medications called immunosuppressants may be used to suppress the immune system and prevent inflammation. For digestive problems associated with scleroderma, antacids and antibiotics (as prescribed by a doctor) may be helpful. The classes of medications known as H2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors can help reduce damage due to gastroesophageal reflux. The esophagus can begin to narrow, and may have to be physically stretched from time to time with an inflatable tube device called a balloon catheter. Antibiotics can prevent bacterial infection of damaged parts of the intestines. Kidney problems used to be the major cause of death in scleroderma, but medications called ACE inhibitors can help prevent life-threatening high blood pressure caused by kidney damage related to scleroderma. In the case of complete renal (kidney) failure, a dialysis machine may be needed.
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Longing for a sexy, BDSM-flavored read before the 50 Shades movie comes out? Well look no further than UNRAVELED BY HIM, the first in a new trilogy from celebrity ghostwriter Wendy Leigh! In the vein of Lisa Renee Jones’ Inside Out trilogy, but with a hint of suspense (and maybe a dash of Princess Di’s dramatic, tragic end?) and a whole lot of NSFW goodness, the love story of Miranda and Robert is not to be missed. This ebook goes on sale on February 2, but we’re excited to have the cover and a sneak peek for you right now! Read on–if you dare… ​​Robert commands, “Kneel on the bed, and don’t move a muscle.” Then he takes a black silk fringed scarf and blindfolds me with it. Next, I hear him going into the adjoining suite. After a few minutes I hear the door open, then close, and he moves toward me again. When he removes my blindfold, I am confronted by the sight of him, naked, and his long, thick erect cock is the most impressive I’ve ever seen. I feel as if I’ve died and gone to heaven because I’m about to be made love to by a man whose naked body could rival that of any Greek God, any Adonis in its sheer masculine perfection. His shoulders are broad in the extreme, his biceps bulge, his arms are muscular and strong, and his chest is chiseled and covered in just the right amount of black curly hair, the kind you long to run your fingers through. Yet iron-hard as his body is, his skin is soft and unblemished, apart from a small red birthmark just about his washboard defined stomach. Other than that, his body is flawless, sublime. His entire body ripples with sculpted muscles, down to his long, lean, sculpted legs. And his ass, high and taut is world-class and it’s all I can do to stop myself from pinching it.
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Telling Feminist Stories, 10th March, 2-4pm For a few years in the late 1970s Parliament Street was home to WIRES, the national information sheet of the Women’s Liberation Movement. There was a Women’s Centre on Holgate Road. Women in Black have stood silent protesting war near the fountain. York had a consciousness-raising group (and maybe even more than one…?). And Guppy’s regularly hosted lesbian discos. Over the years York has been home to feminist theory courses at both universities, a lesbian bookshop called Libertas, York Lesbian Arts Fair and is currently home to the Centre for Women’s Studies, Raw Nerve, a feminist publisher and York Women’s Aid. And, of course, feminism happens all the time in York in less organized ways…through disputing a sexist joke or in a 100 other ways. If you have memories, stories, posters or badges of York feminisms past – however you define ‘feminism’ and no matter how recently or long ago – come along and share them as part of York International Women’s Week and York’s Alternative History. Telling Feminist Stories Art Room St Clements Hall Saturday 10th March In keep with the autonomous politics of much the activism we will be discussing the Telling Feminist Stories meeting will be women only. However, York’s Alternative History is also very keen to reflect traditions of feminist activism which have chosen to organize in other ways, whether that be men and women working together, third wave feminism or queer feminism. If you would like initiate these types of discussions it would be wonderful to hear from you. For those who would like to contribute anything to York’s Alternative History online archive we will have a scanner at the event. Just turn up or for further details contact Helen Graham on or Laura Potts on Part on York’s International Women’s Week 1 thought on “Telling Feminist Stories, 10th March, 2-4pm 1. Sorry I cant be there – Sport, Gender and Media Conference at the Centre for Women’s Studies is already planned. I wish you well, and look forward to next time … Ann Kaloski Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change ) Google photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s
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World of Abinasia     The Market Place   It is unknown where Chameleons originated from. They are a very mysterious race to most. They have humanoid features, though those features are less defined. They choose to stick more to themselves, but as are the kinfolk, they are greatly sought after as slaves because of their remarkable ability to shift their features. Chameleons can alter their features. They cannot turn into a table or a tree but they can morph their outer appearance to that of most races and change the color of their skin. This requires concentration though. If a Chameleon is in a shift phase they must make a CON roll every round. If they fail they revert back to how they normally look. Chameleons are mortal creatures and seem to live about 150-200 years. They are resistant to most illnesses but will die from old age and injuries. Modifiers and Free Skills for the Chameleon Race   • Language Speak Pordivan (this is the common tongue of Chameleons) • Language Speak Flyssen • +1 to Strength • +3 to Dexterity • -2 to Constitution • Race/Face Shifting • Can change the color of their skin • Immune to Disease Spells • +2 Mind Resist Racial Characteristics Height & Weight Chameleons are usually around 5 feet in height. Chameleons usually weigh around 100 lbs. Movement Base All Chameleons have a movement base of 9. Social Structure of the Chameleons Little is known of the social structure of these creatures. They are still quite a mystery to most. They are rarely seen by anyone even those that mingle in big cities tend to hide behind robes or cloaks. They befriend few outsiders, though when seen in mixed company it tends to be with Kinfolk, Centaurs, and Minotaurs.   Contact us
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Time Bomb: Unmasking Nuclear Deterrence In his classic book, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, Lawrence Freedman, the dean of British military historians and strategists concluded, “The Emperor Deterrence has no clothes. But he is still Emperor.” Despite his nakedness, this emperor continues to strut about, receiving deference he doesn’t deserve, while endangering the entire world. Nuclear deterrence became a potentially lethal ideology, one that remains influential despite having been increasingly discredited. Our goal in Time Bomb is to reveal the many ways in which nuclear deterrence is misleading, intellectually bankrupt, strategically incoherent, and lethally dangerous. Superficially, deterrence seems not only acceptable but downright worthwhile, since it seems to offer a route to security, with its promise of keeping the country safe by threatening unacceptable retaliation against anyone who attacks us. In reality, however, there are many skeletons in the closet of deterrence, which we reveal in Time Bomb. For example, there is no way to cap the size of an arsenal sufficient to provide guaranteed deterrence, which then emerges as an open-ended invitation and mandate to unlimited escalation. Moreover, we shall demonstrate that it is a logical and historical fallacy to claim that deterrence has “worked”; it is more likely, instead, that nuclear war has been avoided in spite of deterrence rather than because of it. Among the other skeletons to be unmasked are the dilemmas of credibility, of vulnerability (not merely of populations but – even more crucially – of those weapons supposed to provide deterrence), the unjustified reliance on decision-maker rationality, and the many unacceptable violations of basic tenets of ethics and democracy. Professor David Barash and his wife, Judith Eve Lipton, a retired psychiatrist, are also the authors’ of such published works as “Gender Gap: The Biology of Male-Female Differences”, “Payback: Why We Retaliate, Redirect Aggression”, “The Caveman and the Bomb: Human Nature, Evolution, and Nuclear War”, and more.
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Gundam - Overview about Mobile Suit Gundam - X In reality the name of the anime is Kidō Shinseiki Gandamu Ekkusu or Mobile New Century Gundam X. And after a while it gets known as After War Gundam X. And there is a reason for this. This particular part of the Gundam universe takes advantage of after war times. A war that we can safely call Apocalypse. 99% of earths inhabitants is wiped out, and the continents look like Swiss cheese. The two countries in war were - The Earth Federation and Space Revolutionary Army... After failing to come to terms with each other, SRA does the unthinkable - the space colonies are taken out of orbit and despite the federations attempts they fall to Earth. This event marks the beginning of the new time laps - After the war. Earth is turned into a piece of Swiss cheese and from all the people in the world there is just a handful that survived... At this stage we see Garrod Ran, who single handedly stops a Zakku robot, piloted by some freelancing bandit. In the scene a male with a black coat who hires our hero to save a girl by the name of Tiffa Adill, who is on board "The Vulture" - a hovercraft belonging to a group who's main goal is searching for more valuable leftover parts, nuts and bolts and everything that can be sold for a good price. Not only that but the crew is looking for people called "The New Kind" having a huge mental potential - telepathy, telekinesis and such. And so the wheel spins until the moment that Garrod and Tiffa find the 15 year old nightmare - Gundam X - the machine that should have stopped the apocalypse. Translated from bulgarian language by Shakdun ([email protected]) Autor: Legionera Added by: Legionera >>Back: Gundam - Mobile Suit Gundam - X << Help us to increase popularity of this stuff! External Links:
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Shopping For Happiness I agree, it feels good to buy new toys but the excitement only lasts for a short while. I once met a Greek guy who said, "Money's like honey. Once you get a taste for it, you want to stick your fingers deeper and deeper in the jar." I think most of us can relate to wanting more, never having quite enough. Your neighbor may have a new car, a colleague the latest cellphone and then you spot something you really want in a magazine and it goes on and on. We're like little kids in a toy store. A Buddhist monk once told me, "We dress for others." He meant that we're really concerned with what others think of us, so we dress to please them. Take a moment to think about it... Lasting Happiness Contentment makes for happiness and so does good health. It's about not taking everything in life for granted. I reckon I would be as happy in a cottage as in a grand mansion. How about you? There's no doubt money is important but once all the bills have been paid, how much more do you really need? Materialism is fueled by vibrant feelings and thoughts so I'm not expecting this post to change the world, but let me remind you that lasting happiness is a state of mind not found in material things. Best of luck! Related:   Playing Is Happiness   Self-Confidence   Jet-Like Motivation axel g > Happiness > Shopping For Happiness All Rights Reserved ©2008-2013 Design by OS Templates
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Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode Bat Minute - A movies by minutes podcast Apr 9, 2018 "This is the end, beautiful friend This is the end, my only friend, the end" Back for one last time this season, Jon and Niall take a look at the remaining credits and wrap things up. There's still plenty to discuss and fun to be had as our dynamic duo prepare to exit the stage... for now! That's right, folks - our heroes WILL be back... in Bat Minute Returns! The next episode follows... soon. Same Bat Pod, different Bat Minute! Batman (by Joseph Burke) Image by Joseph Burke.
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All I See Are Dead People by Marc Norton on October 20, 2006 It was Bruce Willis who famously said “All I see are dead people.” But George Bush doesn’t see them, or at least not a lot of them. Commenting on a report from the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, that more than 650,000 Iraqis have died in the wake of the U.S. invasion, Bush says he just doesn’t believe it. “I do know that a lot of innocent people have died, and that troubles me and it grieves me.” He says he’ll stick by the figure of 30,000 dead given to him by “General Casey” and unnamed “Iraqi officials.” As horrific as the war in Iraq is, Iraqis aren’t the only ones on the planet who are dying. According to the United Nation’s World Food Program, every five seconds a child dies because that child is hungry. We are not talking about war here, just everyday starvation. Children neglected by the warmongers in Washington and the finance capitalists on Wall Street. Children who could be saved, if it wasn’t for the fact that food goes primarily to those who can buy it, not to those who need it. Does that “trouble” and “grieve” Bush? One child dead from hunger every five seconds. That’s twelve dead children every minute. That’s 720 dead children every hour. That’s 17,280 dead children every day. Yesterday, 25,000 people died from hunger and poverty. It’s as if sixteen planes flew into giant skyscrapers the size of the World Trade Center buildings, mostly full of children, killing everyone inside. That changed everything, right? If 25,000 people die every day from hunger and poverty, that means over 9 million die every year — 6 million of them children. George Bush, who pays no attention to the United Nations unless they can be scared into agreeing with him, probably would find the United Nations World Food Program statistics “not credible,” just like he views The Lancet report on dead Iraqis. Basta ya. Then check out the UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD PROGRAM “Facts and Figures,” at: And then get a move on. Copyright (c) 2006 by Marc Norton Filed under: Archive Translate »
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VS 2013+ Viewing Return Values When debugging code that calls methods with return values, it is very useful to be able to quickly determine the values generated. Visual Studio makes this very simple using the Autos pane or the immediate window. Return Values With Visual Studio 2012 and earlier versions, it was not straight forward to find the value returned by a method unless that value was assigned to a variable and the variable's value interrogated. Although adding a variable is a simple task, this would interrupt your debugging session, which could decrease productivity. Visual Studio 2013 fixes this problem with a simple modification to the Autos window and the availability of a special variable that you can use within the Immediate window. To find the return value of a method, step through the code and over the method call, so the line following the method that you wish to interrogate is highlighted. The Autos window will display the return value alongside a description of the method called. To make it easier to spot, an arrow icon indicates a return value. If you are using the Immediate window, you can find the last return value generated using the $ReturnValue variable. Both ways to obtain the value are shown in the image below. In this case the call to GenerateMessage has been stepped over. The method's result is used directly without being assigned to a variable. The value is shown at the top of the Autos list, which appears at the bottom-left. At the bottom-right, the Immediate window has been used to obtain the value from the variable. Visual Studio Return Value The Autos window also works when you make nested calls in a single statement, allowing you to find the return values of all of the methods. You can see this in the second image, below. Each of the three methods executed generates a single row in the Autos list. Visual Studio Nested Return Values 3 February 2016
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Living without React Router How do you handle the scenario when a user taps the "back button" in your ReactJS app? In a plain vanilla ReactJS app you'll end up with the user navigating off your app since it's a SPA. Most devs would tell you to use React-Router. What if you can't, or - how does React-Router work? … Continue reading Living without React Router Adding tile caching to maps in React-Leaflet While writing a toy project that heavily relies on maps, I chose Leaflet as the map rendering library. From their site: Leaflet is the leading open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. Weighing just about 38 KB of JS, it has all the mapping features most developers ever need. The ease of use and ability to use different tile … Continue reading Adding tile caching to maps in React-Leaflet RxJS: The bridge between plain JS and ReactJS Scenario During front-end development, we sometimes have to deal with code which cannot be imported easily into your ReactJS app. This situation arises frequently when dealing with a legacy codebase, or when you have a large, heterogeneous codebase with different teams taking care of different "sections" of the front-end. This article explores one method that … Continue reading RxJS: The bridge between plain JS and ReactJS Super Simple React Native Redux Example Inspired by Update 14/12/2018: Fixed code errors spotted by Enjin Nine... thank you very much! In this article we explore the barest of solutions to get started with React Native + Redux. The only pre-requisite to the below is to have "create-react-native-app" installed ( Setup create-react-native-app superSimple cd superSimple npm install --save redux react-redux redux.js … Continue reading Super Simple React Native Redux Example From JQuery to ReactJS I have previously worked with ReactJS - most notably during my Master's dissertation, however the main Javascript library I work with when working for clients and companies still remains the venerable JQuery. This is changing as more and more organizations I interact with move to more modern frameworks like Angular and ReactJS. Where to start … Continue reading From JQuery to ReactJS
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what's new Tuesday, January 28, 2014 $1 Off a Quart of Soup To Go Coupon! The polar vortex has returned so If you have to be out today or tomorrow, use this coupon for $1 off a quart of soup to go, now through Wednesday! Choose from homemade chili, chicken noodle, or our soup of the day! (Tuesday's Soup of the Day is Cream of Broccoli, and Wednesday is Potato Soup Day!) Valid January 28-29, 2014. Coupon must be printed to be redeemed. Stay warm! No comments:
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Thursday, July 15 Don't Hold Out For a Hero: Proactive Protagonists By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy I was working on a scene the other day, and as usual, I had my protagonist in trouble. I was looking at ways to get her out of trouble. One that popped into my head briefly, was to have another character come to her rescue. I discarded it almost immediately. And it dawned on me that I often see stories in the works (usually while looking at query letters) where the hero is being rescued by another character. It's almost always another major character and this is how they get introduced, and it's probably just fine for the story itself, but it got me thinking. Being rescued is a bit of a cop out from a plotting standpoint. It solves a problem in such a way that your protagonist has no new goal. They haven't done anything that requires them to do anything else. They're just "safe." And where's the fun in safe? Sure, that person brings their own set of troubles sometimes, but in most cases, that character could have easily been introduced in a way that still had to have the protagonist get out of that trouble on their own. The solving of the puzzle is a big draw for readers. How is the protagonist going to get out of this? Those are my favorite kinds of stories, both to read and to write. I love the exercise of trying to figure out problems for my characters. Now, I'm not bashing rescues completely. Like all things writerly, there are great ones and they can be the perfect thing to do to your plot. But when you're looking at having someone come to the rescue, think about other things you can do instead. That way, you'll be sure you're doing the right thing for the story, and not just the easy thing. 1. Is there anything from this character's past that might aid them in escaping? If not, can you add something? Maybe this is a good opportunity to flesh out your protagonist some more. Setting isn't just there to look pretty. If we describe that trellis, why not use it? If a storm will help, add a storm. (but do it before they get into this mess so it feels natural) Having someone else in the scene come up with the answer is not the same as being rescued. Because the protagonist still needs to put that idea into action. I actually love having my sidekicks and best friends be smart and come up with stuff, because it lets them grow as characters, too. One little slip up is often enough to take advantage of a situation. One word of caution here: convenient slip ups feel contrived, so don't do anything that's clearly there because you couldn't figure out how to get your protagonist out of this jam. If there's no way to make an escape happen where you are, move them. It's much harder to keep someone trapped on the move, and there are more opportunities for things to go wrong. Some skill sets need to be developed over a story to make them believable. Maybe this is the perfect moment for your protagonist to show they can do X, which is a small part (or a big part) of what they'll need later when they do Y. And if you absolutely need that rescue, look at ways you can still make the protagonist a part of it. 1. Can someone do something that allows the protagonist to act? Maybe a friend creates a diversion that gets the guards to look the other way. A rescue, but the protagonist still has to do something to escape. 2. Can someone act in a way that causes more trouble for the protagonist and changes the situation? These are fun. Someone tries to rescue them, but it only gets worse. 3. Can the rescue cause a bigger problem overall? Not quite the same thing as #2. Think big core conflict here. Something that affects the major plot events of the book. And the protagonist has to know this so they debate whether or not it's wise to be rescued in this way. 4. Does this rescue serve to give a secondary, but still important character a little limelight? Sometimes our sidekicks need to shine, and letting them step up and be the hero works well to round out those characters. This is especially true in a series, where the other characters need to grow same as your protagonist . And since they've been hanging out with your hero all this time, it makes sense that they might have picked up a few tricks. I use the word "rescue," but it really applies to any situation where someone else solves your protagonist's goal resolution. Your hero should one the one saving the day, even if saving the day only makes things worse. Cause that's where the fun is. 2. Great post. Your blog always get me thinking. 8. We don't live in a vacuum and neither do our characters. We and our characters rely on others (current or past) as part of our educations. We find a lot of things that work and don't work from others. "I wonder if I can jump off this cliff and fly?" doesn't last through too many first-person experiences. We live as groups and rely on each other to develop experience. The protagonist/hero can use other's experiences and development work to further the story. Does a business manager do all the work? No, he relies on Accounting for the numbers, Sales for forecasting and Operations for production. He's a coordinator, he doesn't do all the grunt work himself. What the hero can do is to take these ideas, suggestions, discoveries and what have you and implement them. Usually with his own experience in coordinating things, he can come up with a twist which makes the implementation work better. Of course, the path he and the others agree on might lead directly into those fresh cow piles. That's deep doo-doo and is often perfectly acceptable. Try to get your current education and abilities by yourself by doing all the basic research. No way, Jose! One of the hero's roles is to make the final decisions and to implement them. He might be wrong, but shouldn't be wishy-washy about it. Go write something great. Sorry if I'm not quite coherent. I'm falling asleep. I'm sending you virtual chocolate. Nat x
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Will You Die Before You Are Published, and Does It Matter? Let’s face it, everyone wants recognition, many want fame and fortune, and a few want power. But for the majority or writers, we write to EXPRESS ourselves––cheaper than therapy, better than solitude––allowing us to find peace in an otherwise conflicted world. Am I wrong? The sad fact is that so many people are writing and submitting that it does, to some degree, mute out your efforts. That is not to say you should give up, but that you should be aware you are a writer-addict in a world filled with writer addicts. But ignore that for now.  We all ackowledge that the old axion: “If you build it they will come” is bullshit. You live in a time of a zillion screaming voices, each trying to drown out the next. That most latch onto some popular idea and try to rework it to their own besteller, is irrelevant. You are not in competion with them: You are only in competition with yourself.  Who knows the next flavor of the moment? If you recall when STAR WARS came out it was immediately followed by a few hundred bad sci-fi films that hoped to ride on the success of the first. Philip K. Dick, an author I enjoy, died while writing. He lived in a time when quantity was required to produce enough of an income to survive. Back then pay rates were terrible and many authors had to share books (Ace Doubles) just to get in print. As a result Dick required large amounts of medication to allow him to churn out volumous works. Only one novel was made into a film before his death at age 53 of a massive heart attack: Blade Runner (or more accurately: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep). He never lived to see the finished film, although he did see early versions. But since his death, most of his work has been in demand, resulting in a windfall for his children/estate.  So far we have seen: Minority Report, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, to name a few, with more on the way. And let’s not forget the immenselve popular Amazon series of The Man in the High Castle I often wonder what Dick would have thought about all this.  As I write,  am reminded that I write for my sanity. I write for the exorcism of the demons within that need to come out. I write to make sense of this crazy world and the crazy and crazier people I see as time passes. And I write so that my children have a piece of me that transcends our parent/child roles. In this way I am a success.  The rest would be nice, but quite honestly, when I watch the farce-award shows and the actors prancing around as though they invented penicillin, instead of just pretending to be someone else, I am reminded that life is about reality and that writers live in that realm, even when they write fantasy.  And so a better question may be: “Will you be upset if you die before you are a successful published author?”  What I have learned after decades in the business is the following: 1. Write what you care about, not what you think may be a success.  2. Write because it keeps you sane, and free of psychiatrist couches. 3. Write because whether you are successfull or not, you leave a legacy behind. And who knows how your work will be received after you are gone. 4. Write because you leave a posterity for your own family, one that they will treasure.  5. Write because it sets you apart from a fundamentally illiterate society. One day, they may look upon your words as that of a Godlike figure. Someone might even form a religion out of it. God-forbid! So in summary, it does not matter whether you reach stardom. You are the pilot of your own life and, so long as you do not starve, you should write if the compulsion to write is there. Like Richard Dryfus’s character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, compelled to make Devil’s Tower in Wyoming out of mashed potatoes, and his back yard dirt, you are a writer because you are compelled to be one.  And honestly, that is the best reason of all. Write on!
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Saturday, 18 June 2011 A Portal to the Past - Matania's Historical Illustrations 1 comment: 1. Another artist who really deserves a fully-illustrated book devoted to his work! It's interesting that Frank Hampson also tackled that scene of Queen Elizabeth I and the knight as one of his very last commissions for Odhams/Fleetway - discovering in the process that while he could find plenty of reference material for front and side views of medieval armour there was almost none for drawing it from behind!
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Tuesday, 9 December 2008 1 comment: ^-^ said... Yeah... I'd abandon capitalism at Christmas and go live in a mud hut... if it would only stop raining. Oh, and if we didn't have chocolate and pretty pretty things. Sorry, slave labourers :S
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April L. Harris is an expert in ceremonies, special events, etiquette, and protocol. She is the author of three books including Special Events Planning For Success, 3rd edition; Etiquette and Protocol A Guide for Campus Events, 2nd edition; and Academic Ceremonies A Handbook of Traditions and Protocol. A popular workshop and conference presenter, she is a journalism/public relations graduate of Bowling Green State University, earned a certificate at The Protocol School of Washington, and is a member of Protocol and Diplomacy International-Protocol Officers Association. She has enjoyed a long and successful career in higher education and has offered training and consulting since 1993.
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Coming Soon: Patreon Paper Minis! [Update 9/11/2016:] I realized that my previous plan had a flaw – it wasn’t inclusive enough. I want to give my audience more, so I’m changing the plan slightly. I’ll still be including paper minis, but I’ll be creating a wider range of drawings to include in my Patreon stream now. In a related note, since I’ve switched to iOS for my daily computer, I’m no longer able to use Tablesmith (referenced below). I’m actually a little bit sad about that. Still, the show must go on, so I’ve built something out in Google Sheets which should do the trick, but more on that later. It’s probably long overdue, but I’ve finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up… Okay, maybe that’s going a bit far. I have decided what I would like to do as a Patreon campaign: Paper Minis! I’ll be doing sets of characters/monsters that you can print out and use as minis for your tabletop gaming session. Patrons of even the lowest amount will get access to all minis that I create, and if you give more, you can influence what kind of minis I draw! I’ll be doing an initial set based on randomly generated descriptions using Bruce Gulke’s Tablesmith in order to finish the ‘setup’ of my profile on Patreon. Watch this space for a link to the page for the minis! Have any thoughts / suggestions / requests? Let me know in the comments below!
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Friday, November 06, 2015 Why am I harping so much about these details? One simpler way to describe Edited later to add first footnote Thursday, November 05, 2015 Snippet Posts, 11/5/15: On the Dangers of Open-Carry Laws And The Early Demise of Poorer Non-Hispanic White Americans 1.  The Colorado shooting rampage touches upon one often-ignored way other people's right to open-carry endangers any potential victim of mass shooters: Bolds are mine. This phenomenon isn't limited to just guns, but it's pretty common there.  In this case the police didn't act as rapidly as would have been the case if open-carry had been illegal*.  Whether some of the victims might have been saved under that scenario is unclear.  But worth thinking about. 2.  A new study looks at the death rates among Americans between ages 45 and 54.  It argues that something troubling is taking place among poorer white non-Hispanic Americans in that age group: The authors, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, note that white Americans still have a higher life expectancy than black Americans, but the difference between black and white mortality rates (as a ratio where 1 would stand for equal rates) has shrunk from 2.09 in 1999 to 1.40 in 2013. What's driving these results?  Most of the increase in white non-Hispanic mortality rates in this age group is caused by rising death rates among those with the lowest education levels (and probably therefore the lowest incomes).  And the reasons look to me linked to self-harm: I've only skimmed through the study so far, but it's worth pointing out that the various explanations Case and Deaton offer are speculative ones, i.e., not something one could directly deduce from the statistics they report.  This doesn't mean that their proposed explanations wouldn't be the correct ones, of course.** But the data is silent about what's causing these changes.  Case and Deaton didn't find this pattern among older Americans, who are still all enjoying declining mortality rates (as are blacks and Hispanics in the studied age range).  It would have been interesting to see if the pattern would be visible among Americans younger than the 45-54 age group the study analyzed. I need to spend more time thinking about that study.  The changes look very recent and pretty drastic, and it's hard not think that they have something to do with the economic despair*** of the least educated middle-aged non-Hispanic whites.  But why wouldn't the same economic despair affect the poor non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics in that age group in a similar manner? Edited later to fix a typo and to add the first footnote.  For the sake of clarity.  I was half-asleep because of fatigue when I wrote the original draft. *  What I mean when I say that this phenomenon is not limited only to guns is this:  The cues the police uses to judge whether a crime might be taking place are different when the cue behavior itself is illegal than when it is made legal.  In the latter case the old cue is no longer workable.  For a non-gun example, think of masked people entering a bank.  That might cause the bank staff to press the alarm button or call the police.  But if being masked is completely legal they cannot do that or at least get help as fast should a bank robbery indeed be in progress. ** Earlier studies have also found an increase in the mortality rates among poorer white men and especially among poorer white women, so it's clear that something is happening among the poorest non-Hispanic whites which requires attention and analysis not only from economists but also from health care researchers.  But what the specific chains of cause-and-effect might be still remains to be researched. ***Caused by the collapse of the housing markets, the most recent recession, the disappearance of better-paying jobs for those with at most a high-school diploma, the way we are being talked to slowly accept no long-term retirement security and so on.  Monday, November 02, 2015 Short Posts, 2/11/15. On Diplomacy And Human Rights, A God In Your Corner and Gendered Work 1.  "Diplomacy" is like sausage-making.  You don't really want to delve too deep into the process.  An example from today's Eschaton post: President Karimov is not a man with a big, warm heart.  His human rights record is abominable. Of course human rights in global politics are mostly used like lipstick on a pig:  as an excuse for something else a country wishes to do that's about money and power. Hmm.  Why are all my nasty metaphors about pigs?  They are smart animals, probably with good ethics, too.  My apologies for that, dear pigs. 2.  Deus ex machina in action:   I used the "ex machina" term somewhat differently from its usual definition.  That's because it's so very often used to strangle all criticism, to turn the person interpreting god into some god's henchman (or more rarely his henchwoman, given how little power religions give women to have that cellphone connection to the divine powers).  This troubles me a lot, because it makes debate impossible. Debate becomes a boxing match where in one corner stands a tiny human, in the other corner all the contradictory and sometimes violent commands some religion has collected, gathered, translated and interpreted over millennia.  In other words, a god, as brought to you by whatever religion we are talking about, and somewhere inside all that religious information there might just be found a command to squash that tiny human who has dared to raise his or her voice (or dared to use that intelligence which presumably the divine powers donated us). So no, you can't box with gods.  Unless you are a snake goddess or something similar.  And divine powers really don't care who wins a sporting contest, despite all the athletes who thank god after their victories.  Just a general public information statement. 3.  A recent Finnish dissertation argues that we see work as gendered in ways which affect public policies (link in Finnish, sorry).  For instance, putting money into male-dominated* industries is viewed as good for the economy (think of fixing roads and bridges or giving subsidies to heavy industry or mining), whereas female-dominated* industries (childcare, teaching, nursing) are seen as expense items, something to cut back when times are harder.  Like the extra parsley sprig on the sandwich. Nice if you can afford it but not necessary. Of course many of the female-dominated industries are in the public sector or at least largely funded through taxes, and that could explain part of the differences in attitudes.  But it's still true that hiring more teachers or nurses during recessions would raise their taxable income and thus government tax revenues just as well as hiring more road workers or bridge builders would. So I think there's more to this kind of thinking (which I saw in action during the last US recession; lots of talk about roads and bridges).  Another reason could be in our tendency to "see" more clearly the concrete products of work rather than the impact of services.  But it may also be the case that traditional gender roles would make it easier not to notice that caring for children or the sick or the elderly is productive work and deserves payment, because traditionally most of it was done by women outside the formal labor markets. The author of the dissertation also notes that these tendencies (and the lack of good measures for the outputs of female-dominated industries) could cause pressure for the return of more traditional gender roles if recessions raise labor demand for men but lower it for women. The breadwinner is, after all, most likely to be the spouse who has the highest salary. *These terms refer to the numbers of workers in the industry.  If the majority of them are men, for example, then the industry is male-dominated.
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About Me My photo Wednesday, 27 February 2013 Avon Green Goddess This polish is pretty cool! This is easy to use, easy to apply and quick drying. It's absolutely gorgeous and very metallic like I'd say. Very impressed. And it lasted really well too! Couldn't stop looking at my nails lol! Easy to use = 8/10 Application = 8/10 Drying time = 8/10 Lasted well = 8/10 Coats =2 Finish = metallic Removal = easy Overall = 8/10 My Personal Rating = 8/10 brilliant :-) 1. wow..so unusual..niiiice! reminds me both of bettlewing, and of holograms in postcards :) 1. It's a nice polish! Worth checking it out :-)
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David Rodriguez’s ’06 blog played host to an interesting discussion of issues related to political correctness. As always, WSO — and especially Topher Cyll ’04 —deserves a lot of credit for creating such a powerful system. However, I would take issue with Rodriguez’s description on the Barnard/VISTA controversy last fall. Problem is, and I can attest to this, that people on different ends of the spectrum have no idea what their counterparts are talking about. As a specific example, earlier this year coach David Barnard said some unfortunate things about Latinos in a radio address, and VISTA responded swiftly, denouncing any such thought and sending everyone to a frenzy writing this or that: blah blah blah, you were here, you get the point. Going back to the Coach Barnard example… He argued that there was perhaps a correlation between violence/territorial behavior in baseball and Latinidad. To back up his claims he cited the fact that in the Pedro Martinez et. al. scandal, two of the three that were involved were Latino. Now then, anyone who’s taken intro Stats can undoubtedly tell you that perhaps a larger sample size should be taken to back up the fact that Latinos are indeed “territorial” or what not. In other words, had he gone about this in a more professional way and provided more than one example, perhaps we could have taken him more seriously. As it stands, he made a fairly outrageous claim without justification. Although I honestly didn’t lose any sleep over it, I found it rather inconsiderate and disrespectful. When people of influence (e.g. Coach Barnard) spew similar types of ignorance making statements as fact, they perpetuate stereotypes that have no place in an intellectual setting without true justification. Long time readers will know that I had my say about the Barnard/VISTA dispute here, here, here, here, here and here. It is sad to see Rodriguez repeating many of the same inanities as the VISTA folk last fall. I especially dislike his claim that Barnard was not “professional.” In fact, Barnard was the very picture of professionalism throughout the entire dispute. He made a casual observation (outside of Williams), backed up that observation in writing, and offered to meet in public debate or private discussion with anyone honestly looking to explore the question of the influences of culture on baseball, if any. It turned out that VISTA, or at least Perez and Smith, were nothing more than shallow, whiny activists with no interest in an honest and open exploration of the topic. Rodriguez, on the other hand, seems like an intelligent and open-minded Eph. Which aspects of my defense of Barnard, and indictment of Perez and Smith, would he disagree with, I wonder . . . Print  •  Email
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Islamic Fatwas 1346 Fatwas Available  Fatwa | Islamic Rulings   Important categories:     Purification     Prayer     Fasting     Charity     Pilgrimage   Thursday 23 January 2020   Search FatwaIslam:         • Advanced Search • Preferences Home » Methodology Newly Invented Matters (in Religion) What are newly invented matters and what is the meaning of this? This comes from the statement of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam): Beware of newly invented matters. [1] This refers to every innovation people do in the religion of Islam, whether that innovation is in belief or worship etc. All of which is neither from the Book (of Allaah) nor an established Sunnah from the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam). Yet they take these things as religious practice and beliefs, worshipping Allaah with them, claiming that they are lawful when they are not. On the contrary, such acts are prohibited innovations. Examples include calling upon the righteous, be they the dead or the living who are not present. This includes taking graves as places of worship, making Tawaf [2] around them, and seeking help from their inhabitants, or the belief that they can intercede for them with Allaah, or lobby Him on their behalf in order to have their requests granted or to relieve them of their troubles. Honouring the birthdays of Prophets and righteous people as holidays and celebrating on them. They perform deeds they claim will bring them closer to Allaah - especially in the day or the night of the birthday or even in that month. There are many other such things, too numerous to mention, be they innovations or superstitions for which Allaah has revealed no sanction and which have not been confirmed by the Sunnah of Allaahs Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam). Thus, it is clear from what we have said that some of the newly invented matters are Shirk, like seeking help from the dead and swearing oaths to them. Others are simply innovations and do not reach the level of Shirk, such as building over graves and making places of worship over them, so long as excess therein does not lead to actions which would be considered Shirk. [1] Ahmad 4:125 [2] Tawaf: Circumambulation Permanent Committee for Research and Verdicts Fatawa Islamiyah Vol. 1 Page 110 Other subjects of interest: Schools of Thought and Blind Following Allegiance and Enmity Calling to Allaah Way of the Pious Predecessors Partisanship and Splitting Rectification of the Ummah Disparagement and Refutation 2020 FatwaIslam.Com Fatwa - Islamic Rulings - Islamic Scholars
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Using Xamarin Build Host for iOS Development FlatRedBall iOS projects (including Glue projects) can be developed in Visual Studio and deployed to an iOS device through a networked Mac using Xamarin Build Host. This is the fastest way to develop iOS gams but it does require a Xamarin Business License (which is more expensive than Xamarin Indie License). This article shows how to use Xamarin Build Host to deploy a FlatRedBal iOS game. Xamarin Build Host Setup Before deploying you must have your Mac and PC computers configured for Xamarin Build Host. Xamarin provides a guide for getting Xamarin Build Host set up here: Creating an iOS Project in Glue Creating a FlatRedBall iOS project through Glue is nearly identical to creating a PC project: 1. Open Glue 2. Select File->”New Project” 3. Select “iOS” as the project type 4. Enter a name 5. Click “Make my project!” Once the project has finished downloading it can be opened in Visual Studio. Visual Studio should display UI for the Xamarin Build Host: Running the project As shown in the Xamarin guide above, running the app simply requires running from Visual Studio just like normal. Of course, the app will run on simulator or physical iOS device depending on your settings:
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<video, standard> (Or Advanced Video Coding, AVC) A low bit rate visual communication standard used in video conferencing. H.264 was developed by MPEG and ITU-T VCEG to replace H.263. Video and image compression resources and research. Last updated: 2007-03-16 Nearby terms: gzgziphH.261H.264H.323Habitathackhackathonhack attack Try this search on Wikipedia, OneLook, Google
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Don’t go in there. Mind the signs. Trespasser cited. In October, a person was cited for trespassing in the restricted access Impact Area by the Presidio of Monterey Police. The Impact Area contains dangerous military munitions and explosives left over from soldiers training. People who come in contact with these items risk serious injury or death. Areas known to contain these dangerous items are surrounded by fences and posted with signs. Cleanup is on-going, but not complete so please mind the signs and don’t go in there. The Army also asks for your help. If you see a trespasser in a posted warning or danger area on the former Fort Ord, please call the Presidio of Monterey Police (831) 242-7851 or 242-7852. Your call is confidential.
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Create your own castle in Ponyvill Game control: use a computer mouse. In this game, you can fully reveal your creative talents and act as a designer of the castle in Ponyville, in which the main characters of Equestria are going to organize a holiday. In the game there are many items of interior and beautiful ponies. By the way, you can print out the finished version of the castle decoration on the printer (by clicking on the icon on the bottom right).
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Can You Improve Your Memory With A Jellyfish Protein? Some colleagues of mine recently asked me about Prevagen, a supplement that is being advertised heavily on television as a memory booster. It's everywhere, they said–but what is it? And does it work? Both questions are pretty easy to answer. On the first question, the TL;DR version is that Prevagen's primary ingredient is a protein called apoaequorin, which is found in a species of jellyfish that glows in the dark. These jellies produce two proteins, apoaequorin and green fluorescent protein (GFP), that help them fluoresce. It’s an amazing biological system, and the three scientists who discovered and developed the chemistry of GFP were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Cool science! But what does this have to do with human memory? Not much, it turns out. First let's examine what Prevagen's manufacturers, Quincy Bioscience, say about it. Their website claims that: "Prevagen Improves Memory*  Prevagen is a dietary supplement that has been clinically shown to help with mild memory loss associated with aging.* Prevagen is formulated with apoaequorin, which is safe and uniquely supports brain function.*" Sounds pretty clear, right? But note the asterisks by each of these claims: if you scroll all the way down (or read the small print on their packages), you'll find out that: You may recognize this language: it's what all supplement manufacturers use to avoid getting in trouble with the FDA. It means, essentially, that the government hasn't approved Prevagen to treat anything, including memory loss. Despite Quincy’s claims, I see no reason why eating this protein would have any effect at all on brain function. First of all, it’s not even a human protein, so it's unlikely to work in humans. Second, even if it did work in humans, eating it would not deliver it to our brains, because it would be almost certainly be broken down in the stomach. And third, the connection between any protein and memory is very complex, so simply having more of a protein is very, very unlikely to improve memory. Quincy's website points to a single study that they themselves conducted, which they argue showed benefits for people with mild memory impairment. However, others have pointed out that the experiment (which was never published in a scientific journal) didn't show any such thing: overall there was no difference between people who took Prevagen and those who took a placebo, but the manufacturer's did some p-hacking to extract a subgroup that appeared to get a benefit. As Dr. Harriett Hall and others have pointed out, this kind of p-hacking is bogus. And what about my observation that the jellyfish protein will simply be digested in the stomach, and never make it to the brain? It turns out that the company itself admits that I'm right. On their website, they have a "research" page pointing to several safety studies, designed to show that Prevagen won't cause an immune reaction. One of these studies explains that "Apoaequorin is easily digested by pepsin." Pepsin is the chief digestive enzyme in your stomach. So Prevagen's main ingredient never gets beyond the stomach, which is why it's probably quite safe. (Joe Schwarcz at McGill University recently made the same point.) Back in 2015, I asked Ted Dawson, the Abramson Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, what he thought of Prevagen’s claims. Finally, a word to those who are still tempted to try Prevagen: it isn't cheap. Their website charges $75 for a bottle of 60 pills, each containing 10 mg of apoaequorin, or $90 for 30 pills of the "Professional formula," which contain 40 mg. (Note that there's no evidence that taking a higher dose will work any better.) The FTC sued Quincy Bioscience in 2017 for deceptive advertising, arguing that claims that Prevagen boosts memory are false, and that claims it can get into the brain are also false. Just a few months ago, a judge ruled that the case can proceed. Meanwhile, though, the advertising and sales of Prevagen continue. The FTC case states that Quincy sold $165 million worth of Prevagen in the U.S. from 2007 to 2015. So the bottom line is: jellyfish proteins are very cool, but eating them won't improve your memory. If you're interested in brain food, perhaps you just eat more fish, which might actually work. (Note: I wrote about Prevagen in 2015, and some elements of this article are based on my earlier one.) No comments: Post a Comment Markup Key: - <b>bold</b> = bold - <i>italic</i> = italic
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Process of creating IRS (information retrieval system) and process of defining material nature and origin (2269115) RF Patent for an invention № 2269115 Published: 27.01.2003 Patent holder (s): A.S. Perelygin, A.V. Fesenko, Y.A. Karpov, N.E. Kharkov, A.V. Kuchkin Process for creating information retrieval system to detect nature and origin of natural and technological products, containing also platinum metals, which includes collection and classification of product analysis data, formation of identifying attributes for analysis objects in the form of database distinguishing by processing ores, technological conversion products, slimes, concentrates, finished products and waste products. For each of analyzed objects the following attributes are detected, such as bulk and local element composition, combination of main, associated and impurity components, their relation, forms of their location, structure, and properties. Taking into account the results, complex of identifying attributes for analyzed objects, which are included into information retrieval system and characterize origin sources, specific industry property, processing stages, types of finished or waste products is formed. Back to the list
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Mountaineering and Hiking Mountaineering and Hiking Salamandra salamandra user: password:  remember me  Slovensko Hrvatski Alpine animals Alpine animals / Salamandra salamandra  Salamandra salamandra Description of animal (automatic translation): Plain salamanders often observed the rainy days or immediately after rain, when in the forest still quite wet in the bright deciduous and mixed forests. Active mainly at night and in the dark, throughout the day, however, hide under the leaves, moss or stones. The exceptions are the rainy days, then it is also active throughout the day. Recognized by the black with yellow flecks and a long tail. He has two pairs of the same long legs in the same color as the hull. Reproduce the spring or summer, in winter has a winter standstill. . Salamandra salamandra Salamandra salamandra Salamandra salamandra
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Total Pageviews Tuesday, February 27, 2018 When I Read John Donne Win her with poetry, his devious friend told him. He read it over and over.  John Donne.  Over and over, memorizing. It’s two miles to her farm, over the small hill, across the grassy field, then the big.  Then her farm house is on the far side of the copse. He tries not to sweat too much as he walks.  His heart beats a bit faster as he clears the big hill.  He’s been saying the lines over and over in his mind. He comes around the maples.  She’s sitting on the porch. His heart leaps.  There she is.   Uh, hi.  The sweat trickles down the side of his face.  Is she looking at that line of sweat?  Does it disgust her? Um, hi.  Uh _             Sweetest love, I do not go,                         For weariness of thee,             Nor in hope the world can show                         A fitter love for me;                                     But since that I             Must at die last, ‘tis best             To use myself in jest                         Thus by feigned deaths to die [i] God, how his voice shook.  How weak did he sound?  She only glanced at him, with untelling eyes. Mostly she gazed across the grass toward the tress.  What is that look on her face?  Boredom?  Disgust? She looks at him.  What does that mean? Uh_ I Abruptly, unhurriedly, she turns. She has gone in the house.   Alone, he stares at the empty porch.  He tastes cotton and humiliation. [i] “Song” by John Donne.  John Donne: The Complete English Poems.  Penguin Books, London.  1996 edition. Monday, February 26, 2018 Romans 4:13-25, 2nd Sunday of Lent             If you have ever attended a popular Christian conference, in the auditorium packed with 10,000 people, you may have heard the speaker say something like this.  “Let go, and let God.”  Similar sentiments like this are printed on bumper stickers and coffee mugs sold by Christian publishing companies.  You might hear the DJ on the popular Christian radio station enthusiastically make this pronouncement.  “Don’t try to control your own life.  Don’t try to determine your own destiny.  Let go, and let God.  Let God go to work in your life.”             Let go and let God.  What the heck does that mean?  Seriously.  How do we do that?  Do we just sit on a park bench and wait until God does whatever it is God is going to do?  How?  Maybe just as important, why?  Why should we trust that God is going to do something in our lives?  “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13).  Our attempt to understand the notion of releasing control of our own lives to God begins with the idea of promise.  In Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, he talks about a promise that was given to Abraham.  He assumed the members of that church would be intimately familiar with the Abraham story.  This story is found in Genesis, a portion of it in Genesis 17.  Sarah was over 90.  The only way a child comes is through divine intervention.  Paul’s take on this story, thousands of years later, is that Abraham believed God’s promise.  That was the key, his belief.  He was old, Sarah past child-bearing years, and they were childless.  Today, a childless couple certainly may feel sad if they desire children.  That sadness is not to be minimized.  But it does not carry the social stigma it did 4000 years ago.  In Abraham’s time, if a couple had no children, it meant something was terribly wrong.  Mostly, blame was laid on the wife, in this case, Sarah. As a family, they were failures, and had no one to carry on their family name.  The social cost to both Abraham and Sarah was enormous.  But they were in their 90’s.  There was no reason to think anything would change.  Even so, Abraham believed God.  Paul understood this belief to be an act of faith.  Purely because he knew God and trusted God did Abraham accept this promise that made no sense.  Going through the entire Abraham story, it feels simplistic to say Abraham “let go and let God.”  Abraham did a lot of others things.  He lied.  He tried to force God’s hand by having a son with his wife’s servant.  He debated with God.  Like all of us, Abraham had feet of clay.  Maybe that’s why Paul was so eager to link the promise with Abraham’s faith.  Why should we trust God?  Why did Abraham trust God?  Paul’s best answer is don’t focus on why Abraham trusted God.  Focus on the fact that Abraham trusted God.  “For what does the scripture say,” Paul asks in Romans 4:3.  “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”  Reckoned?  He was credited with righteousness because he chose to believe God.  That’s faith! Why should we believe?  Because we’ll get righteousness credited to us too?  Let’s look at another story, one that raises the stakes in trusting God.  This time, Jesus is speaking.  We’re in Mark chapter 8.  Jesus and the disciples are walking through the villages of a region called Caesarea Philippi.  He wants to know the buzz.  Crowds gather to hear him preach everywhere he goes, and he wants to hear what the disciples have heard people say about him.  This is a first-century version of Jesus reading his own headlines. The disciples report that some think he is John the Baptist, while others call him Elijah or another of the prophets.  Then Jesus changes the question.  Who do you think I am?  Peter declares he is the Messiah!  Good for Peter!  Immediately following this, Jesus teaches them that the Son of Man, himself, must be beaten, rejected, and killed.  And they stop listening.  He says the one killed will rise again after 3 days but they don’t hear that part.  When they hear Jesus predict his own suffering and death, it is too much to bear.  Just as Peter boldly proclaimed the Messiahship of Jesus, he steps in here to confront the Lord. Mark writes that Peter pulled Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.  Can you imagine? Jesus isn’t having it.  He says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.  For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things” (Mark 8:33).  He then lays out what he means by “divine things.”  34 [Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,[i] will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life” (Mark 8:34-36)?  Abraham’s wife Sarah had a female servant, Hagar, and she had a son by Abraham.  That son was Ishmael.  Why would Abraham believe that God was going to give him a son by his wife Sarah who had never had a child in all her 90 years?  When Jesus says, “those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  Why would the disciples and the people in the crowd believe him? Why would anyone believe that losing one’s life for the sake of the Gospel is a good thing?  Why should we trust God? We began with a promise – the promise of a child to Abraham; the promise that giving one’s self fully to God in Christ – that is, losing one’s life for the Gospel – is a good thing; the promise that the best life we can lead is one in which we fully submit ourselves to God with Him as our Lord, our Master.  In the life of Abraham, in the journey of the disciples with Jesus, and in the theology of Paul, we see this promise come to fruition as faith is exercised by believing what God says. Faith = believe that God is telling the truth and that God’s truth is the best thing for us. Great!  We’ve received the promise, that in Christ we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  We’ve exercised faith by believing that this promise is true and God can be trusted.  So, we are fully submitted to God.  We’re going to abandon control of our own lives.  We’re going to let go and let God.  Now what?  Paul writes in Romans 4:18 that when Abraham believed, he was “hoping against hope.”  It’s akin to jumping without a net because God said, “I’ll catch you.”  Abraham abandoned his father’s land.  He did all that God said to do.  He hurled himself off the cliff and into the open air above the Grand Canyon because he believed God would redefine his life.  He believed God would fill in that blank space where his world view had been.  He jumped and waited for God to act. Paul lived the same way.  He followed wherever the Spirit directed him: Athens, Ephesus, Corinth.  There were also instances where Paul wanted to plant churches in certain cities, and the Spirit prevent him.  It looked different than in the days of Abraham because by the time Paul came along, the world was a very different place.  But the idea is the same.  The Spirit turned over the applecart of all Paul’s ideas about reality, and he had to wait, with a blank space – a space God began to fill in with courage, power, love, truth, purpose, and most importantly grace.  When we stop, trust God, and then wait, it gives God space to act in our lives.  Stopping and waiting doesn’t mean we just sit inert in complete inactivity.  We worship.  We work our jobs, sometimes temporary jobs, but even in those we represent God and glorify Him in our work.  We stay connected to the church, the family of God.  But our worship, our relating, and our work are sometimes carried out in a period of a stop and wait.  That stop and wait is where we trust that God has good things in store for us.  In a sense, in that pause, our worldview, our understanding of everything is suspended so that we may clear our minds and hearts and make space for God to step in and re-color all our ideas. Paying even a little attention to the New Testament, we see that God began this work in Jesus.  Romans 4:25: righteousness will be credited to us who believe that God raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.  A purely scientific worldview does not allow for resurrection.  Once someone dies, he stays dead.  How often is our claim to believe in the resurrection an impotent recitation that pulls no weight in how we see the world?  We say we believe it, but do we live as if we believe God is present and active? If we don’t think God is real, present, and active, how will we ever give up our lives for the sake of the Gospel, as Jesus said in Mark 8?  And by the way, while “give up our lives,” can mean die for the kingdom in most cases it means live lives fully submitted to God.  To “give up our lives for the gospel” is to make the intentional choice to relinquish our hold on independence.  We stand before God and say, “Here is my life.  I’ll do what you say to do.  I’ll be who you tell me to be.”  The evidence of this complete submission is seen in how we carry ourselves in the normal, everyday places.  The disciple life is evident or absent in the way Christ is seen in us when we are at work, at home, and going about the daily routines of life.  It is there, where we spend the majority of our time, that we give up freedom and autonomy and voluntarily live life as God’s slaves. The only reason we would do this is that we trust that being a slave to God is better than anything else.   “Let go and let God.”  It has a catchy ring to it, as slogans go.  To actually do it, to actually let go of control is monumental.  Do we trust God enough to do it? That’s an unfair question.  There’s rarely a time that we can measure how much we trust God.  So, here is what I propose.  Identify one area of life where you’ve been in control, keeping God at bay.  Pick one thing.  Parenting.  Exercise & diet.  Your temper.  Your marriage.  Your money.  This morning, pick one thing in your life.  Write it down.  Text it to yourself.  Mark it as a calendar reminder so that you get alerts a couple of times a week between now and Easter Sunday.  Starting today, this Second Sunday of Lent, you’re going to hand control of this one thing over to God.  “Letting go” does not mean going inert.  If parenting is your thing, you still feed your kids and try to help them have success and joy.  But you do that in a state of constant prayer.  Your parenting is done with less worry, almost the point of no worry, and with more attention set on God-with-you, as your parent your children.  That’s just one example.  Whatever is the one thing which you are handing over to God, you continue in that one thing, but now, God is in it with you, all the time.  Prayer is part of it, all the time. We’re going to gather at the place where we are all recipients of the bread of life, the communion table.  We take the bread and cup, remembering Jesus’ suffering and shed blood.  We come as sinners – sinners who are now forgiven and made new.  Our sins are gone and in their place is the righteousness of Christ. As you come up the aisle to the table, come preparing to meet Jesus.  Come with that one thing in hand, that thing in your life you’re going to give over to God’s control.  As you take the bread and cup, hand it go God.  In doing so, you create space in your life, space for God to go to work.  Trust Him.  He raised Jesus from the dead.  He’s got new things in store for you.  Can’t you wait to see what they are? Tuesday, February 20, 2018 "A God Story" (Genesis 9:8-17) - First Sunday of Lent This weekend Black Panther opens, the latest blockbuster movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.             I remember the opening scene in the first Avengers movie, my favorite in the series of super hero films.  In Avengers, the villain Loki has been transported from Asgard to Earth.  Asgardians live thousands of years and possess superhuman strength.              Nick Fury, a military leader here on earth, senses that Loki has bad intentions and intercedes.  He says to the Asgardian, “We of Earth have no quarrel with your people.”              Loki responds with a smirk.  “An ant has no quarrel with a boot.”             Concerned, Fury says back, “Are you planning to crush us?”             Fury was eventually able to call on Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, to defeat Loki and his malevolent army.              Noah did not have any Avengers he could call.  Even if he did, the God he faced was much more powerful than Loki.              But, God decided to spare Noah and his family.  There were no Avengers for Noah to call. Instead, God told him to build a vessel, the Ark.  In it, Noah, his family, and a male and female of each animal would ride out the flood.  Producers of Christian children’s books and Christian children’s toys have made a lot of money on the flood story.  A child happily makes his little toy giraffes and little toy hippos and little toy kangaroos march and hop onto his little toy ark.  The game changes when we imagine what’s happening outside the ark.  The rainwaters become floodwaters.  A child’s story?  No!  This is a story of the worst genocide in human history.  The perpetrator of the crime is God.  Yes, the floodwaters eventually recede.  Yes, at the end, the ark comes to rest on Mount Ararat and the animals come off and in no time, the world is dried up and repopulated.  Even so, this is the single-worst episode of mass-murder in human history. Do we question God?  The flood story is complicated.  I’ve read those delightful pop-ups books to my own kids, but when we close the child’s book, tuck the child into bed, and then in the dark house, we dare to sit in the night in our adult thoughts, and we find the story of Noah and the flood to be very troubling.  The story begins with a parade of animals and ends with a sky filled with color – literally every color in the rainbow.  Enjoy the image.  Now, ponder this: what is that rainbow for?  It’s a reminder.  Never again will the world be destroyed by a flood.  Who is the rainbow intended to remind?  “God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations; I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  When I bring the clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between you and me and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember’” (9:12-16a). A reminder for God?  What, is God going to forget and accidently flood the world again?  Does God forget things?  No?  Then why does God himself decide he needs a reminder.  We put post-it notes around our house.  “Remember the grocery list.” “Remember to pick Igor up at cross-country practice.”  God puts a rainbow in the sky.  Oh yeah.  Don’t the flood earth and bring complete destruction again.  This is a God story.  This is not a story of water.  This is not a story about animals.  This not a story about a guy in a boat with his family.  All those things are in this story.  But, the force that moves the story along is God’s reactions to the emotions humans produce in Him. Human beings have no say in the covenant at the end of the story, and no responsibility in the covenant.  God is having an internal conversation within God’s own self.  We could go extinct or continue on.  It matters.  But, we are voiceless and powerless.  God initiates the covenant and we must accept God’s terms.  God declares what God will not do again.  We cannot prevent another flood.  We can only pray that God will keep the promises He made to himself.  But it is not just us.  This covenant goes beyond Noah and his family.  It is a covenant with all of humanity.  Moreover, the covenant expands beyond humans.  It is for all creatures.  God initiates the covenant, sets the terms, carries it out, and sets the reminder – the rainbow.  The disturbing nature of the story as well as the complete one-sidedness of the covenant both declare the same truth.  God is much more complicated than we ever understood or considered.  We read Hebrews 13:8.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” And the prophet Malachi, chapter 3, verse 6.  “For I the Lord do not change.” We recall one of the praise songs we sing in worship.  “Incomparable, unchangeable, you see the depths of my heart and you love me the same; you are amazing God.” Unchangeable?  Genesis 1:31: “God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good.”  Then, Genesis 6:6.  “And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth.”  From, “[the Lord] saw … indeed it was very good” to “the Lord was sorry” to “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created.” And God did blot out all life, except Noah and his families and his floating zoo.  From “I will blot out” we arrive after the flood at “Never again.  Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  Never again. In our Ash Wednesday worship we heard the word of God from the prophet Joel who asked, “Who knows whether or not God will relent – change His mind – and leave a blessing instead of destruction” (2:12, paraphrased)? In another Bible story easily adapted to children’s ministry, the story of Jonah and the whale, God clearly changes God’s mind.  The condemned Ninevites repent of their sin, and we read in Jonah 3:10, “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them and he did not do it.” God is a distinct personality.  God is not an undefined force or a pantheistic realty.  God is distinct.  God is personal.  God experiences God’s creation dynamically.  Because God is paradoxical, we can read those quotes from Hebrews and Malachi and talk about God as unchanging, but at the same time all we need to do is read Noah or the account of Moses or the prophets, Joel and Jonah, or the agonizing life of the prophet Jeremiah, or the unanswerable questions in the book of Job, or the frustrations and joys, the highs and lows in the life of Jesus.  Throughout the Bible, one thread never ceases to be seen.  God is dynamic, not static. God has new experiences and reacts to them. This is terrifying.  We don’t know what God will do next.  God is emotional.  On Ash Wednesday, we heard from the prophet Nahum that God gets enraged.  Here in Genesis, we see God heartsick.  I wish I could see the pristine purity of creation before sin entered the world God made.  God, in Genesis 6, wishes He could go back a few chapters, back to that time when he looked at what he made and saw that it was very good.  All I can do is wistfully imagine such a paradise.  When God wishes something, God makes it happen, using the flood as a do-over. I cannot rationalize the horrific notion of a God so angry he wipes out all life on earth.  There is no explanation.  If you want to take God to task on this, do so.  Through eyes blurry with tears and with a heart on fire, confront God in your prayers.  Demand answers.  I don’t have them. What I have and you have is the story open before us.  In chapter 6, verse 6, God sees that “every inclination of the thoughts of human hearts was only evil continually.”  Flip to chapter 8.  The flood waters have receded.  Noah is off the ark and offers up an offering.  It says in 8:21 God is pleased with Noah’s worship.  Then God says, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature on earth as I have.” God does not apologize for the flood.  Human beings have not changed after the flood.  The condition that drove God to such a drastic do-over, the evil in every human heart, remains.  The only change in the story is the change that happens in God.  We sing “Unchangeable.”  Unchangeable?  Thank God, God most certainly did change.  Is it terrifying that God is unpredictable?  Oh yes.  Is the change that happens in God our only hope?  Most definitely. God experiences the creation He has made.  God goes through things with humans, with animals, with the world.  We’ve referred to God as “enraged” in Nahum.  We can picture Jesus laughing as he tells some of the parables or holds children in his arms or jokes while fishing with the disciples.  We sense the pride of God as he sees the creation and declares it “very good.”  And in this flood story, we read that the Lord was “grieved” deep in his heart, sorry that he had made human beings.  But even in his frustration, we recall Hosea 11 where God says, “How can I give you up, O Israel?  My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (v.8). God is emotional and personal, and God goes through these experiences in relationship.  Our hope is found in trusting that God stays true to God’s own self and God’s own word.  Easter is the best evidence that we can trust God. After the flood, God saw that human beings are evil.  In the Exodus, as God rescued the chosen people, they sinned repeatedly.  Settled in the Promised Land, they ignored the prophet Samuel’s words that God should be their king and instead followed King Saul, whose reign was a disaster.  Crushing defeat to Assyria, exile in Babylon, and the humiliation Roman rule in the land of Israel all came, yet humanity continually rejected God’s rule.  But God continually loved humanity.  So much does God love us, God came as one of us.  The Avengers’ enemy, Loki, compared humans to ants and himself, the boot.  The real God, creator of heaven and earth, became ant – condescended to walk the earth as a man, Jesus of Nazareth.  What did humanity do?  Crucify him.  What was God’s response?  He counted the crucifixion as a worthy sacrifice that covered the punishment for sins and took the place of death of all humans of all time.  He forgave all sin, rose from death, and invites all who put their faith in Jesus to be adopted as sons and daughters of God.  In the flood story, did God learn a lesson about how to relate to humans, flawed creatures as we are?  I don’t know if your theology allows for God to “learn” things or even have new experiences.  At the very least, see that God feels deep, lasting love toward you.  God knows exactly who you are, all your good points of which there are many; all your foibles and faults; your beauty marks and warts; God knows you.  And, God loves you completely.  When He sees the rainbow, he remembers to not allow his holy anger over sin lead to destruction.  When he sees Jesus on the cross, he remembers that he has forgotten – forgotten all our sins.  When he sees the cross and then looks at you and me, he sees us as righteous.  Our relationship with Him is made right.  That’s how the God story ends.  Human beings, those created in the image of God, are reconciled to God by the death of Jesus and brought into eternal life in the resurrection of Jesus.  The flood story becomes a Lent-Easter story, the God story becomes our salvation story.  God draws us into an eternal embrace where death ends in “never again,” and life is without end. Friday, February 16, 2018 Ash Wednesday - Joel 2 Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018 We open the Bible and listen as the Word speaks to us. Hear this, O elders, O Church     give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days,     or in the days of your ancestors? Tell your children of it,     and let your children tell their children,     and their children another generation. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near,     and as destruction from the Almighty[a] it comes. 16 Is not the food cut off     before our eyes, joy and gladness     cut off from the house of our God? 17 The seed shrivels under the clods,[b]     the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are ruined     because the grain has failed. 18 How the animals groan!     The herds of cattle wander about because there is no pasture for them;     even the flocks of sheep are dazed.  (1:2-3, 15-18) Blow the trumpet in Zion; In America; In Chapel Hill;     sound the alarm on God’s holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, a day of darkness and gloom,     a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains     a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old,     nor will be again after them     in ages to come. (2:1-2)             Now, what do we say?  More importantly, what do we do?  The Word has had its say.  The Day of the Lord is imminent, a day of darkness and gloom.  We say, “God is love,” and it is true.  Indeed, God is love, teaches us how to love, and expects us as His followers and worshipers to live in love.  Yes, God is love.  But that is not all there is to be said about God.             Make no mistake.  The prophet Joel does not mince words.  The day of the Lord is coming; it can’t be stopped.  It is a day to fear.  And the destruction on that day ultimately comes from the Lord.  If we were to add the words of the prophet Nahum to Joel’s prophecy we would see that God gets angry.  Nahum says “the Lord rages against his enemies” (1:2).              Joel does not name God’s rage, but rather describes it.  He announces the coming destruction as inevitable and originating from God.  The thing about the prophet Joel is scholars really do not know when Joel wrote his prophecy.  Nahum is clearly aimed at Nineveh and the Assyrians.  Joel does promise redemption for the southern Kingdom of Jews, Judah, and wrath for Judah’s enemies.             However, Joel cannot be fixed at any point in Israel’s history. The message is appropriate any time.  We understand sin to be humanity in rebellion against God.  Consciously or unconsciously, people choose to be their own authority instead of submitting to God as authority.  We decide we know what’s best for ourselves, for people around us, and for the world in which we live – instead of trusting that God knows the best way for the world to run.  This notion of human sovereignty usurps God’s authority and this attitude and posture and accompanying actions produce sin.  So the ominous warnings of Joel, the onset of the Day of Judgment fits our circumstance.  We read both Nahum and Joel as divinely inspired prophecy.  The words originally spoke to circumstances in Israel with relation to Judah and to the foreign invaders, Assyria, but a deeper message rings true across the span of history to our day.  In Christ, we are grafted into Israel, into Judah, the inheritance of David.  The prophecies originally for the chosen people speak a fresh word of God to all of us who have been drawn to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The God of love is also a God of wrath.  God takes sin seriously and sin, collective and individual sin, cuts us off from God.  And we all sin. For this reason, Joel is very concerned. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;     and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine,     for it is cut off from your mouth. Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth     for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off     from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn,     the ministers of the Lord. 10 The fields are devastated,     the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed,     the wine dries up,     the oil fails. 11 Be dismayed, you farmers,     wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley;     for the crops of the field are ruined. 12 The vine withers,     the fig tree droops. Pomegranate, palm, and apple—     all the trees of the field are dried up; surely, joy withers away     among the people. (1:5, 8-12).             So, again, the question: what do we think and say?  If we believe this from Joel is truly Word of God, a word to be trusted, then judgment is coming.  We can look back through history and identify possible moments of judgment on worshiping communities.  And we certainly believe this promise of reckoning will be part of the last day, Christ’s return, the end of history, and the beginning of a new age.  Is it inevitable that we must face that day, as Joel says, lamenting in sack cloth, joy having withered away?             Lament should be a part of our prayer life.  Christians are Easter-focused and rightfully so, but there is evil in the world and even in each of our own hearts.  Lament is a needed form of prayer.  Maybe this year, as you journey through the season of Lent to the cross of Christ, you will learn the discipline of praying prayers of lament.  Heather and I can help you develop a Bible reading plan for this.              Joel most certainly lamented.  But that’s not all he did.  He did not know that God would come in human form, Jesus of Nazareth.  What God did in Jesus was so unexpected, even the disciples who walked with Jesus were caught by surprise until they spent time with him after the resurrection.  Yet, lacking the resurrection perspective, Joel still trusted in God’s goodness.  When the terror of that day weighed upon him, he turned the only place he could turn – to God.  14 Sanctify a fast,     call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders     and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God,     and cry out to the Lord. 19 To you, O Lord, I cry. For fire has devoured     the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have burned     all the trees of the field. 20 Even the wild animals cry to you     because the watercourses are dried up, and fire has devoured     the pastures of the wilderness.             Walter Brueggemann says that when prophets like Joel speak in this way about God and about the day of the Lord, the prophets intervene between a holy and angry God and his sinful people.  In this intervention, God is “palpably available” to His people both as a threat and as an opportunity.[i]  For us, as we stand, knees knocking, teeth chattering, exposed in an uncomfortable awareness of our own sins before God, which is it, threat or opportunity?             Again, Joel, the prophet for all times and places, guides us as prophets do.  I fully believe the prophets were as terrified as their words are terrifying.  I believe they wrote with trembling hands.  With a thumping heart, Joel steps past the awful threat to a place of possibility. 12 Yet even now, says the Lord,     return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13     rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God,     for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,     and relents from punishing. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,     and leave a blessing behind him?             The dark clouds of wrath gather on the oncoming horizon, but Joel looks past that, past the gloom to the God behind the wrath because he knows that God is indeed a God of love who wants to forgive us.  “Yet even now” there is time to repent.  Repentance is emotional, draining work, but we do it because we want to be a right relationship with God.  He is full of grace and mercy.  His love is endless and unfailing.              What do we say?  Lord, I am sorry.  And in our prayers, we name our sins and lay them out before God.  What do we do? We turn away from the things in life that draw us into sin, draw us away from a close walk with God.  The story of Joel gains depth for us when we read it knowing we are taking the first step toward the cross.  On the cross, Jesus bears the weight and the punishment for sin.  Sin leads to pain, loss, death, and alienation from God.  Jesus shoulders that entire burden on the cross.  Knowing that, we see the depths of despair Joel only imagined, but we also see the mountain top of hope Joel held so tenaciously.  “Who knows whether or not God will relent and leave a blessing instead of complete devastation?”  Who knows?  We know!  We know what God did in Jesus.  Jesus is the Savior of the world and all who receive forgiveness and come to life in his name will be spared God’s wrath and, on Judgment Day, enter the Kingdom as sons and daughters of God.  The way I am going to center my own life, as I search inside myself for a faith as gripping as Joel’s, is a Lenten fast.  Christians will give things up for Lent and I am doing that this year.  I encourage you to do so as well.  For me, one of the places I spend a lot of time – time where I get distracted and forget to focus on the presence of God – is Facebook.  During Lent, I am going to greatly reduce the time I spend on Facebook and even more, I am going to cut out commenting on Facebook.  If I don’t give a “Like” to one of your posts, it is because I won’t be doing that during Lent. Now, I cannot complete disengage.  Facebook is the way I get in touch with some of my really good friends.  We are heading to Ethiopia next month, and I will want to post pictures and report about the trip on Facebook.  However, I won’t be commenting and I won’t be deep-diving into Facebook debates. How will I fill in that time?  I will spend more time praying, more time with my wife and kids, and more time reading and writing about faith and theology.  For some, writing is a distraction.  For me, it is one means by which I meet God.  Abstaining from Facebook interactions and instead engaging in theological thought and spiritual reflection is how I pause to say “Yet, even now, God may relent.”  It is how I return to the Lord with all my heart.  I encourage you to find the way you can pause.  Understand in your life what needs to be set aside.  What has gotten in the way and is obstructing your view of God?  Fast.  Whatever that distraction is, minimize it or remove it between now and Easter.  You have to figure this out and do it in your life.  (1) Pause. (2) Take a concrete action that you bring into the pause so that you can sit in the thought, “Yet even now, God may relent from judgment.”  In that pause, that fast, fill in spiritual disciplines of prayer or study that will draw your eyes and heart to God.  Do the work to open yourself to the God who loves you, forgives, and wants to be in the center of your life.  I close with one more reading from Joel.  We are sinners, but in Christ, we are a part of God’s people and we are forgiven sinners.  Through the prophet God said to His people and to us, You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,     and praise the name of the Lord your God,     who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 28 [d] Then afterward     I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,     your old men shall dream dreams,     and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves,     in those days, I will pour out my spirit. [i] Brueggemann, Walter (1997), Theology of the Old Testament, Fortress Press (Minneapolis), p.649.
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Friday, November 20, 2009 More on Thought Experiments in the Classroom This issue has been addressed before on ISW, but I would like to raise it again. I find it difficult to get students to see the relevance of thought experiments, even the less esoteric ones such as Singer's drowning child analogy in his argument for famine relief. Even if they come along for the first part of the ride, when I start adjusting the drowning child case to handle their objections to the analogy between it and the starving child, I start to lose them. David Boonin and Graham Oddie's applied ethics anthology has a helpful discussion of the role and relevance of thought experiments (specifically, arguments from analogy) in the introduction. They discuss how to understand such arguments, how to criticize them, and the technique of appealing to variant cases. I have found summarizing and explaining their points to be somewhat helpful, but I'm interested in how others motivate and justify this form of argument in applied ethics to students who seem skeptical of the method. Thursday, November 19, 2009 Philosophers and ink stained wretches Carlin Romano claims we need courses in the Philosophy of Journalism. Is he right? Romano suggests that philosophy of journalism belongs in the philosophy curriculum just as philosophy of law, philosophy of science, or philosophy of religion do. I'm not sure about this. I don't see that there are fundamental metaphysical questions in journalism as there are in science or religion. Nor does journalism present analogous conceptual questions associated with philosophy of law (the nature or law or legal norms, for example). On the other hand, I'm not a journalist (though I did play one as the crusading editor of my high school newspapers), and Romano does make a case that journalism and philosophy could fruitfully enrich one another. I'm not so convinced that, as Romano claims, philosophy and journalism are united as "the two humanistic intellectual activities that most boldly (and some think obnoxiously) vaunt their primary devotion to truth." (Science, anyone?) The central prerogative of academic philosophy may be "publish or perish," but that goes all the more for journalism. Sure, truth matters in journalism, but it matters differently. For one thing, the truth has to sell. Second, philosophy (on my view, at least) aims to understand. As Sellars put it, it is the endeavor "to see how things, in the broadest possible sense of the term, hang together, in the broadest possible sense of the term." Journalism rarely has such comprehensive truth-seeking as its aim, and indeed, much of what strikes me as deficient about the contemporary journalistic media is not that it fails to discern truth. Rather, the truths it discerns rarely help us understand anything worth understanding. That being said, Romano points out that journalism is an arena of human affairs rife with meaty philosophical interest. In democratic societies, journalists should be tasked with doing critical thinking directed not only at their subjects but at their own profession. Simultaneously, journalism is a laboratory for thinking about philosophical problems in a concrete way: So: philosophy of journalism -- yea or no? And if so, how is this distinct from 'media ethics'? Sunday, November 8, 2009 The noble lie I tell myself Boy, there's not a better article to get you thinking about the instructor-student relationship than this piece by Gary Lewandowski and David Stromhetz. When students don't learn, how quick are we to decide that they're the problem? The authors: Was it your teaching? Impossible, of course. You are a conscientious teacher who worked diligently on your lectures. You tracked down recent references, created examples, embedded discussion questions, made several rounds of revisions, and followed tips for creating proper PowerPoints. But the students still did poorly, and will surely blame you and exact revenge on your teaching evaluations. The only viable explanation for the students’ poor performance is that the students are to blame. It’s not you, it’s them! (Or so you think.) Teachers want students to learn, and when students fail to meet that goal, someone must bear the responsibility. The kids aren’t all right – they’re the problem. At one time or another, it is easy to feel as though students are not holding up their end of the teacher-student "relationship." But just as students tend to take all the credit when things go well and blame us when things go wrong, aren't we Pollyannas too - patting ourselves on the back when students learn but pinning all the responsibility on them when learning doesn't happen? Lewandowski and Stromhetz: Teachers are all familiar with the notion that when students do well in our courses, they take the credit as the smart and capable students that they are. However, when students do poorly the teacher often bears the blame. Students have "earned" every A, but have been "given" every B, C, D, or F by their less than stellar teachers. However, professors are not immune from adopting a similar self-serving bias. When a specific class, an entire course, or an entire semester of teaching evaluations go well, we simply re-affirm our teaching prowess. But when evaluations are less than complimentary, there must be another explanation. Most commonly we attribute poor teaching outcomes to the occupants of the desks in our classroom. Yet, if you asked students why some of their courses are less fulfilling, less educational, and less enjoyable, students would likely suggest that the instructor is to blame. Certainly both perspectives have a kernel of truth. They also remind us of some reasons to be humble and not so ready to lay the responsibility solely on students. First, we probably compare them to ourselves, and maybe, just maybe, we had bad study habits and attitudes when we were students. And second (as I like to remind myself), we instructors are freaks. We had the ability to excel in our disciplines, despite (in all likelihood) not always being the beneficiaries of quality teaching. Beyond this, we still must teach. We still must educate. And there's the serious danger that placing so much blame on students ultimately serves them badly. Given that we may be unable to effect wholesale, lasting changes in the inherent natures of our students, we as teachers can adapt and better meet our teaching goals. As they say, the first step is acknowledging that we contribute to the problem. By focusing on student deficiencies, you may inadvertently perpetuate the problem. Case in point, by developing a mindset that students have significant deficiencies, you may become more prone to developing a confirmatory bias that leads you to more easily identify and remember students’ deficiencies. Worse, negative expectations about students might lead you to act in a way (perhaps unknowingly) that elicits negative behaviors from students. For example, if you became convinced that your class was unenthusiastic, you might devote less effort to your next lecture because quite frankly "why bother? They aren’t interested anyway." Thus, your next lecture is subsequently less engaging, and the students are, as you predicted, unenthusiastic. By identifying and resisting this self-defeating pattern, you can take steps to avoid it. After all, you are the person with the most influence on the classroom and have the most ability to produce the desired change. These words remind me of what I like to call (following Plato) my noble lie. The unpleasant fact of the matter is that educators (especially at the university level) are dealing with students who, intellectually at least, are pretty close to a finished product. They are already heavily acculturated, academically and otherwise, and the influences of genetics and their family environments are nearly fully manifest. One need not be a determinist to think that our ability to fundamentally transform the learning habits and orientations of our students is extremely limited. Yes, some students 'find themselves' in college. Yes, some students will be diamonds in the rough whose talents just needed the right environment or the right teacher. But overwhelmingly (and I'm under the impression that data support this), the best students entering college are the best when they leave, the average are average, and those who struggled before college continued to struggle during college. This doesn't mean students don't learn during their college years. It simply means that those most learners do not experience dramatic shifts in their learning capacities. But this is a truth, if I were to accept it, that would defeat my very aims as an educator. Again borrowing from Plato, one cannot teach what cannot be learned. And so any hope of truly teaching my students depends on my assuming, even against substantial evidence, that students can learn and grow in their ability to learn. So what is my noble lie? It's more of a hyperbolic conceit. But put simply: Each and every student I teach can, with reasonable effort, master what I aim to help them learn. Is it true? Probably not. Teaching, they say, is an act of faith. My noble lie expresses that faith. (How many of my fellow instructors are noble liars too?) Sunday, November 1, 2009 An Alternative way of Revising This time of year, many of us find ourselves writing many comments on papers that we have written before, for the same student, and we find that we are writing the same comments throughout the paper. When we do this, we get frustrated, and the students get discouraged. But shouldn't we be marking all the places in the paper that illustrate the particular problems on which we expect students to improve? In addition, we all recognize the value of revision - but full papers are often insufficiently revised, compounding the frustration and disappointment of both teachers and students alike. What to do? Here is what I am trying. By this point in the semester my students have had at least one if not two papers on which I have commented extensively, including comments on clarity, grace and style. Together we have begun to locate particular patterns in their writing to focus on for revision and future papers. From this point onwards, then, I select only one paragraph per paper to mark for style, grace, and other formal matters. As a matter of discipline I allow myself only three more comments on any given page. Of course, I still provide an overall evaluation based on content. I also select only one paragraph to mark for issues concerning explanation, argument and evidence. Instead of encouraging students to revise an entire paper, I give them the opportunity to come to office hours with a revision of one or both of these selected paragraphs. This can easily be read together in office hours and presents a good learning opportunity. It also allows the student to do some revision without getting behind in class because she is trying to tackle a major revision of a whole paper. I should say that given my small class size, I also give them one opportunity to revise one whole paper if they wish. But for larger classes, this might be a good way to 1) recognize the value of revision, 2) make revision targeted and effective rather than a daunting and distracting process, and 3) encourage us as teachers to remember that writing lots of similar comments across a whole paper is as demoralizing to students as it is frustrating for us.
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ItecSoftware Logo Shell Batch Script to Loop through Files batch script to loop through files Another quick example of a tool belonging in an administrators toolbox. In our multi server hosting environment, we’re often in need for an automated, administrative command line task, and here is one to write a batch script to loop through files in the current directory and perform some actions on them. Really, nothing is much simpler than that once we know how to it, it’s just that most administrators or developers don’t take the time to get into shell scripting. But little ... read more Listed in Linux, Shell Scripting Tags: bash, scripting, shell
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6 Pieces of Advice for Getting Your Kids to Eat Chinese Food 14 November 2019  Categories: , Blog If you're a parent, you know that kids can be picky eaters. However, you probably get tired of preparing and eating the same old standard dishes for your kids over time. You maybe want to get your kids to experiment more when they eat with ethnic options like what you would find at Chinese restaurants, but you don't know how to get your kids to try something new. The following are six pieces of advice for getting your kids eager to try and enjoy Chinese food: 1. Compare to foods they're already familiar with When trying to get kids to eat Chinese food, talk up similarities rather than mentioning differences. In the end, Chinese food is made up of a lot of the same ingredients as foods kids are already familiar with. Tell your kids that they're just eating things like chicken, beef, noodles, rice, and vegetables. If you talk about Chinese food like it's the same thing as what they're already used to eating, they won't think twice about giving it a try.  2. Try simple dishes at first If you're dealing with picky eaters, choose some of the most simple dishes on the menu. Fairly simple Chinese dishes with ingredients kids might already be enthusiastic about include noodles in peanut sauce, beef stir-fry with vegetables, chicken fried rice, and spareribs.  3. Give them the option of using a fork Don't try to immerse kids in everything Chinese right away. Kids can quickly become frustrated if they have to eat with chopsticks. Therefore, make sure you offer the option of using a fork.  4. Try the buffet A Chinese buffet is a great option for introducing kids to Chinese food. This way, they can see what they're getting before they commit themselves to order it. Contact or compare local Chinese restaurants to find a buffet that has at least one thing your kids will eat.  5. Make sure they're hungry beforehand Hungry kids are going to be more eager to eat just about anything than kids who don't have a big appetite at the moment. Wait until your kids are particularly hungry before introducing them to new cuisines like Chinese foods. This won't just increase the chances that they're willing to try the new food, but will also make it more likely that they end up enjoying the experience.  6. Be aware of spiciness levels Eating hot and spicy foods is generally an acquired taste. You can't expect kids to like spicy Chinese dishes right away, so you need to be aware of the spiciness levels of dishes they're trying. In particular, Szechuan dishes are known for being super spicy. Know what to look out for on a Chinese menu to make sure your kids don't order something super hot and spicy that will quickly put them off of Chinese food.
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Muted btwn us 2000(w) x 2000(d) x 2000(h) mm Stilts, rope, post colonial chairs, frame, pedestal, television, video muted btwn us addresses ideas surrounding the decay of communication/ conversation between two individuals crossed over a hyper-real space such as the cell phone, internet, skype etc.  The absence of body is re-constructed into a cyborg presence that is manufactured by found objects bound and stacked together. This totem of elements is headed by two televisions. The videos displayed are distinguished by their gender; female on the lower chair and male on the higher chair. Fleshed out from the discord of loss signal patterns and white noise screened on the TVs are instances of a male mouth and a female eye. The mouth is muted but repetitively tries to speak to the female eye that responds with only subtle emotional shifts, nothing to confirm understanding.  Each video is roughly a minute long but not precisely, this allows an asynchronous harmony between the two videos switching between white noise, bar tone and image a few additional seconds off beat of each other and will only play in-sync with each other once every hour.  A square frame is positioned on the floor. Within this marked space a white pedestal is built. Balanced precariously on this pedestal are two post-colonial antique chairs roughly bound to bent and twisted metal stilts. Sitting on each chair is a television painted white to disfigure it from its iconic status in contemporary culture. What is focused on here is rather the videos playing on the screens.   - Reviewed on STD Bank ‘New Talent’ website, 2009.
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Joyful Arts Festival July 4, 2017By Julie CawoodUncategorized No Comments The Joyful Arts Festival is an evening where artists from all mediums share their work with the spiritual  community of Ananda LA, an organization for Self-Realization. The night kicked off with robust stories of Ganesha, the Indian God known for his elephant head. He is also known as the remover of obstacles, and the story … Read More
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II Chronicles 7:14 Monday, May 29, 2006 peggylou said... hi jenny sorry I haven't been on the computer in a while. How are you and matt and the kids doing? anyway you have a real nice web site so don't stop what you are doing. This is a real cute picture of the baby running towards the door. Is that your house? well hope I'll see your house and your moms house in sept. love you Aunt Peggy
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The SQL Developer Exchange , http://sqldeveloper.oracle.com,  has been out there almost since the beginning of the tool.  It's our way to allow users to log requests and have other vote on them.  Then we each release pick off some and put them into the product.  It's been basically unchanged since day 1.  This week I've built a new set of screens which hopefully look better and are easier to use.   We have implemented over 400 requests from users.  The exchange is have a bit of a facelift and if anyone would like to test out the new Exchange go here https://apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=43135:1 .  This is the same tables and data underpinnings so if you log or rate a request it will show in both place.
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13 Emotions Information received by an individual from Sector 3 through the processes of revelation, intuition, or insight discussed in the previous chapters joins with information communicated to him by other persons or received directly through his own senses, and the entire combination of material is then subjected to that individual’s internal processes. In the next four chapters, we will examine the aspects of these internal processes that are relevant to the general subject matter under consideration. One of the first reactions may be an emotional response to the incoming information. “All of us know from experience what an emotion is,”214 says one psychology textbook. But that is a very vague kind of knowledge, and as another text admits, the tangible scientific knowledge of emotion “is neither very exact nor very extensive.”215 Furthermore, most of the systematic consideration of the subject has been centered on the physiological changes and behavior patterns that result from the emotions. One theory even contends that the physiological changes constitute the emotion. “My theory,” says William James, “is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion.”216 For our present purposes, the important points to be noted are that the emotion is initiated by incoming information, and that it results in action. McDougall (1923) was one of the first to stress the close integration of emotion and action (which he believed to be instinctive in origin), pointing out that fear and flight, anger and attack, maternal feeling and protective action, naturally go together as parts of unitary behavior.217 (Krech and Crutchfield) Let us consider one of the so-called “primary” emotions. Fear is a good example. When a situation arises that produces fear in a man or animal, the first result is physiological. Pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration, and many other body functions are altered to produce a state of physical readiness for action. The next result is action itself. If no deterring factor intervenes, the individual, whether he be man or animal, takes to his heels. Now let us ask, what benefit does a human being derive from this fear emotion? The answer clearly has to be: Nothing at all. Human intelligence is quite capable of initiating the flight if such action seems to be advisable. In fact, the currently favored theory is that the intelligence must authorize the flight even if fear is present. On that basis, there is no time saved, and in any case the difference in time is not likely to be significant. Nor is fear necessary for the physiological preparation. When a situation that calls for emergency action is perceived, the body gets the shot of adrenaline that facilitates quick action whether or not fear is present. There is no good reason to believe that the further physiological changes induced by fear will improve this situation. On the contrary, experience shows that fear often results in ineffective action, or even prevents taking any action at all. “Paralyzed by fear” is a description commonly applied in such cases. Thus, on balance, fear is definitely detrimental to survival, so far as the human race is concerned. This is not generally recognized in current thought. On the contrary, a representative statement from a current psychology textbook reads as follows: When Darwin revolutionized scientific theory in biology by classifying man as only one of many species that evolved from other animals, he pointed out that emotion would not exist unless it was adaptive, that is useful for the survival of humans as well as other animals.218 This assertion rests on the premise that all evolutionary developments continue to be useful after the evolution has passed on to a more advanced stage—an untenable proposition. The human race has found it advantageous to get along without the prehensile tail that was so important to its tree-dwelling ancestors. On balance, the case in favor of retention of the fear emotion would seem no better than that in favor of retaining the prehensile tail. But it is true that unless this emotion had a survival value for some species, it could not have been produced in the course of biological evolution, which operates entirely on a survival basis. It follows, therefore, that the emotion of fear, like the prehensile tail, must have had a survival value for the organisms in which it developed. The explanation clearly lies in the inferior mental capacity of the lower forms of life. Their brains are not capable of recognizing the threat, analyzing the situation, and originating flight, if flight is required, within the time that is available. For such organisms, it is advantageous to have a mechanism that initiates flight almost automatically. A threatening situation causes fear, and fear results in flight without further ado. According to Spinoza, our emotions are the product of a lack of understanding of the situation which confronts us.219 But the difficulty that the primitive type of animal faces is something more fundamental. He does not possess the capability of clear understanding, nor the capability of exercising judgment as to the appropriate action even if he did have a clear understanding. What he needs (and has) is a process that requires only a general recognition of the threat, and on recognition initiates action directly, without the necessity of going through a complex mental process. On this basis, the primary emotions are precursors of intelligence. They enable non-intelligent animals, or animals of very limited intelligence, to react to certain classes of situations in a quasi-intelligent manner. But now that evolutionary development has produced a greater degree of intelligence, that intelligence arrives at better results in the great majority of cases because it not only takes into consideration the unique characteristics of each individual situation rather than evoking a standardized response in each situation of a broad general class, but is also capable of initiating a wider variety of responses. It would therefore be beneficial to man, and perhaps to the higher animals as well, if the fear emotion could be suppressed. The principal reason why the emotions have not been entirely superseded by thought in human activity is that these are separate processes that have evidently evolved independently. Where one physiological feature evolves from another, as in the evolution of eyes from light-sensitive skin areas, the change is gradual, and at each stage the new replaces the old. But although emotion and thinking serve essentially the same purposes, within the more limited range of the emotions, they operate on entirely different principles. In thinking, a given situation is perceived as a combination of a number of factors, possible means of manipulating or responding to these factors are envisioned, and a decision, or judgment, is reached as to the most desirable course of action. In the emotional process, the situation in its entirety is perceived as being one of a certain class. The action appropriate to that class of situation then follows automatically. As this description indicates, emotion is a very simple process, so far as its essential elements are concerned. It is therefore easy to see how emotions could have originated at a relatively early evolutionary stage. Indeed, such behavior as that of plants which respond to light by turning toward the source is not fundamentally different from resorting to flight as a response to a threatening situation. Just how, and at what stage of evolutionary development, thinking first made its appearance is not yet known, but it clearly plays no significant role in any biological species other than the higher animals. Thus, emotion was already highly developed before thinking had any real impact, and the thinking apparatus originated from a separate line of development. As a result, the human brain is not a single organ, but a complex structure, in which the evidence of a new mechanism superimposed on an older brain is clear enough, in spite of some integration of functions that has resulted from further evolution after the original combination, to give rise to designations such as the “old” or “reptilian” brain, and the “new” or “mammalian” brain (which is itself a double structure). Arthur Koestler has this to say: If the evidence had not taught us the contrary, we would expect an evolutionary development which gradually transformed the primitive old brain into a more sophisticated instrument—as it transformed claw into hand, gill into lung. Instead, evolution superimposed a new superior structure on an old one, with partly overlapping functions, and without providing the new with a clear-cut, hierarchic control over the old, thus inviting confusion and conflict.220 The availability of a more efficient and versatile apparatus can be expected to lead to a gradual decrease in the utilization of the emotional mechanism; perhaps to its eventual disappearance. This process is already under way, but the clear superiority of the thinking process over the emotional mechanism was achieved only a relatively short time ago, on the evolutionary scale, and not enough time has elapsed to accomplish a major evolutionary change. Furthermore, the availability of a simple process that can handle some routine situations lightens the load on the thinking apparatus, and this useful function that the emotional mechanism is able to perform no doubt tends to make the phasing out of the emotions still slower. This is not likely to change the ultimate result. Because of the major role that the availability of accurate information plays in determining the validity of the conclusions reached through the reasoning process, the position of reason vis-à-vis emotion continually improves as the amount of information at the disposal of the individual increases. The new and better mechanism will no doubt take over the entire job, or at least assume full control, sooner or later. In the meantime, however, both intelligence and emotion are endeavoring to control the response to perceived situations, and as Koestler pointed out, conflicts are inevitable. This has long been recognized by students of human behavior. Men have often believed themselves victims of the force of their feelings… [They] have been led to think of their psyche as divided into two conflicting parts—reason on one side and emotion on the other… to believe that reason and emotion are locked in continuous warfare, with self as host and victim.221 (Evelyn Shirk) There is a general recognition, says this author, that emotion is the undesirable and dangerous force. “Our culture has long harbored a deeply rooted conviction that the part of the psyche most likely to cause mischief and least worthy of trust is the capacity for feeling and emotion.” There is an element of truth in this view of the situation, to be sure, but it is overdramatized. Emotion is not some mysterious, inimical “force” by which we are victimized. It is simply an automatic reaction of man’s primitive brain; a reaction that cannot be prevented as long as that brain continues to be operative, but can be overruled by intelligence. The substantial degree of progress that has already been achieved toward suppression of the emotional reactions is illustrated in the human response to the emotion of anger. Inasmuch as the survival of an individual in the animal world not only requires quick retreat from danger but also promptness in seizing opportunities to gain, or to preserve, an advantage over the other animals with which it competes for food and other necessities, evolution has produced an emotion analogous to fear that initiates attack rather than retreat. This emotion, anger, is, in a sense, the direct opposite of fear. In the lower animals, the response to anger is purely situation-oriented. An intruder is attacked simply because he intrudes. In the more intelligent species, particularly man, an objectionable situation is not, in itself, sufficient to produce an angry reaction. Human anger is aroused mainly where the affected individual objects to the reasons, or what he believes to be the reasons, for the situation. An injury resulting from the actions of another person will usually be accepted unemotionally if it is judged to be unavoidable, or, in most cases, even if it is merely unintentional. But if the injury results from carelessness, the victim is likely to become angry, and if it is intentional, some degree of anger is inevitable. Furthermore, that which is judged to be intentional may produce anger even if the injury is trivial, or is actually avoided. As the psychologists point out, anger is typically correlated with the impulse to attack, and in the lower animals, attack is essentially automatic. But in man, it is the exception rather than the rule. Ordinarily the attack response to anger is vetoed by reason, either on the ground that it would be counterproductive, in that it would provoke the antagonist to inflict still further injury, or on the ground that retaliation under the existing circumstances would be contrary to accepted standards of conduct and would impair the individual’s standing in the community. This overruling of the emotional response by intelligent thought is not always accomplished easily, and often generates internal conflicts of a disturbing nature. In human beings, where the rational response is the normal one, the conflicts are more frequent and more violent in the case of those individuals who are in the habit of giving relatively free rein to their emotions. Thus the type of difficulty known as “emotional disturbance” is correlated with the relative strength of the emotions. On the other hand, in animals, where emotion predominates, a higher degree of intelligence, and the resultant greater ability to recognize deviations from the standard pattern to which the emotional response is geared, means more occasion for conflict and consequently more emotional disturbance. “An animal’s susceptibility to emotional disturbance is directly related to the level of its intelligence”222 reports Hebb. According to this author, such a disturbance may be regarded as a breakdown of equipment. Our findings indicate, however, that it is merely a natural result of the presence of two different mechanisms developed by evolution to handle the same kind of situations. In many cases, the two will act in parallel, but since they operate on different principles, some conflicts are inevitable. The great increase in intelligence in the evolutionary step from ape to man has not been paralleled by a corresponding increase in emotional disturbances. As Hebb goes on to say, “The great apes show their kinship with him [man] more clearly in their emotional characteristics than in their capacity for learning and solving problems.” This is entirely in line with what can be expected on the basis of a clash between a primitive brain and a new one of a continually improving character. The emotional disturbances were caused initially by the development of intelligence, the operating process of the new brain, and the resulting introduction of conflicts with emotion. As intelligence continued to increase, the number of points of conflict also increased. In the meantime, reason has achieved complete domination over an increasing number of situations, thus eliminating conflicts in these respects. Eventually, as intelligence continued to improve in the course of evolution, the effect of the increasing dominance of reason exceeded the effect of the generation of new points of conflict, and the total amount of conflict began to decrease. Thus, while the emotional level of the great apes is somewhat near that of man, the apes are still on the ascending branch of the curve of emotional disturbances, while the human race is on the descending branch. Thus far, we have been considering only the primary emotions, the “crude” emotions, as William James called them, more specifically fear and anger. In dealing with the emotions of the lower animals, this is as far as we can go. There is no reliable indication that these creatures are subject to any other emotions. They are subject to internal disturbances due to inability to achieve strongly desired objectives, and the resulting state of frustration is frequently called an emotion. Unlike fear and anger, however, frustration is a consequence of the existing situation rather than a mechanism for initiating the proper response to that situation. It is therefore something of a different basic nature. But in the higher animals there are signs of certain other physiological states that have enough resemblance to the states induced by fear and anger to justify considering them as related to the primary emotions, and in human individuals, these physiological states of a more complex character and more recent evolutionary origin are many and varied. Some of these are merely modifications or extensions of fear and anger. Hate, for example, is a less acute form of anger that is maintained over a long period of time. Jealousy is another emotion of similar nature that may be only a very mild reaction, or may have an intensity anywhere up to a murderous rage. There are, however, a number of other states usually classified as emotions which have quite different characteristics. The members of one pair, joy and sadness, are so easily recognizable and so widely experienced that they are often included among the primary emotions. But the difference between joy and sadness on the one hand, and fear and anger on the other, are differences in kind rather than merely differences in details. Fear and anger initiate action; that is, they are related to what will happen. Joy and sadness are related to what has happened. They do not call for action of any kind, and apparently involve nothing more than a physiological reaction to events that have occurred. Looking at the situation from another direction, fear and anger, like intelligence, for which they are very limited substitutes, are tools for attaining human (or animal) objectives. Joy and sadness are reactions of the organism to the achievement, or failure to achieve, those objectives. In reality, they are merely relatively intense forms of pleasure and pain respectively (if pain is taken in the broad sense in which it is the converse of pleasure). For present purposes, we will call these results of actions that have taken place, or are taking place, sensations, to distinguish them from emotions, the reactions to stimuli that determine the actions that the individual will take if not overruled by reason. Inasmuch as this present work is a scientific investigation of the metaphysical region and the effect of influences from that region on human life, we are concerned with emotions and sensations only insofar as they have some bearing on the relations between man and Sector 3. Fear and anger come within our field of study because they, like intelligence, are tools that can be applied to the furtherance or hindrance of objectives that are in harmony with the principles of Sector 3. Sensations such as joy or sorrow, on the other hand, have no Sector 3 significance. If an individual experiences anything that could be called a sensation just because he does the morally right thing in a given set of circumstances, it is not joy. Joy results from the successful accomplishment of some Sector 2 objective—biological, social, economic, etc. Similarly, sadness, sorrow, or grief, the sensations that are aroused by failure to reach Sector 2 objectives, or loss of some source of enjoyment, are not relevant to the matters now under consideration. “As the word is commonly used,” says Hall, “emotion refers to a consciously-felt state.”223 Most of the physiological states included under this definition are neither pure emotions, comparable to fear, nor pure sensations, comparable to joy, but combinations of the two, together with various elements of what the psychologists call “drives.” For example, finality, or a close approximation thereto, is a prerequisite for evoking objective-related states such as joy. The prize must be won, or the battle lost. If the outcome is still uncertain, the physiological state will be more complex. Perhaps it will be anxiety, a rather vague form of fear mixed with various sensations. From the standpoint of the present investigation, the physiological results of taking actions that have moral significance are of particular interest. As already noted, doing the morally right thing does not evoke joy, in the ordinary sense of that term. It may foster some kind of a feeling of being in harmony with the better aspects of human life, and this could be considered a sensation. The results of taking an action that is morally wrong depend on two factors: (1) the ultimate outcome of the action, and (2) whether or not the individual remains convinced that he made a sound decision. That decision was reached because of his belief that it would produce a net total of desirable results. Unless there was some miscalculation, the action should have produced some kind of satisfaction, perhaps even enough to arouse joy. The successful criminal may be quite elated over his accomplishment. In actual practice, miscalculation is very common, and the person who finds himself in prison or otherwise penalized for his action is likely to be subject to regret. For our purposes, regret will have to be classed with sensations such as joy and sorrow, since it has no Sector 3 implications. But if the individual now realizes, either because a reconsideration of the situation has been forced upon him by the troubles in which he is now enmeshed, or for some other reason, that his decision with respect to taking the action was contrary to his own moral standards, he may experience remorse, which is a strong, often overpowering, emotion that calls for expiatory action. A prerequisite for remorse is a feeling of guilt. But the existence of the guilt sensation is not necessarily accompanied by remorse. All that is necessary to arouse the guilt sensation is a recognition that the act is morally wrong. Such a recognition usually exists at the time of the original decision to take the action, and it is one of the factors that entered into that decision. Since the decision was taken in spite of whatever feeling of guilt may have existed, the emotion of remorse follows only if there is a reconsideration of that decision, and if, at the time of the reconsideration, the desire to conform to the moral code is strong enough to outweigh whatever non-moral benefits may have accrued from the action. The conflicts between some of the conclusions reached in the preceding pages and opinions expressed in current psychological and philosophical literature are due primarily to the fact that we are using the term “emotion” in a limited sense. When it is asserted in the literature that the proper goal “is not to eliminate emotions but to direct them properly,”224 the “emotions” to which this assertion refers are mainly what we have called “sensations.” The “emotion” used as an example in connection with the foregoing quotation was “sorrow.” Such sensations have no relevance to the subject matter of this work, and there is no reason to pass judgment on them here. On the other hand, we are expressly concerned with the physiological states that qualify as emotions on the basis of our definition. These emotions are in active competition with intelligence, and the extent to which any individual is able to overrule them is a criterion of the stage that he has reached in his advance along the evolutionary road leading upward from his animal background. This criterion will be even more significant in application to the next class of emotions that we will consider. All of the emotions and sensations thus far considered may be classified as personal; that is, they are related to the individual’s own situation. He fears that which may cause harm to him or to his possessions. He experiences joy when something directly or indirectly favorable to him occurs. He knows anxiety when his interests are in jeopardy. He feels remorse when he realizes that he has done wrong. In addition, there are what we may call social emotions, similar states that are related to the situations of others. Inasmuch as an emotion of this kind involves three elements, the individual’s own feelings, his perception of the situations of the other persons involved, and the relations between him and the others, it is a complex phenomenon. Love for example, is practically undefinable. As expressed by Hall, it is “the poet’s delight and the psychologist’s perplexity.”225 For present purposes, the exact nature of these social emotions is immaterial. They are subject to essentially the same considerations as the primary personal emotions. They constitute a biological mechanism whereby an individual’s reaction to a situation involving interpersonal relationships is determined in the same manner as his reaction to a situation that arouses fear or anger; that is, each emotion evokes a standard response. Unlike the personal emotions, they produce little or no observable physiological effects, and for that reason, the psychologists are not inclined to classify them with the personal emotions. “By scientific consensus as well as in popular usage, the words emotion and emotional are reserved for cases in which physiological changes accompany mental activity,”226 says Kagan and Havemann. But this restriction on the usage is far from universal. When a philosopher tells us that “the emotional element has been prominent in religion,”227 he is not talking about anything that can normally be detected physically. Similarly, an action taken out of sympathy for an afflicted person without any rational consideration of the question as to whether the action was justified is ordinarily called an emotional reaction to the situation, although here again, no physiological evidence of the emotion is usually visible. Emotions of this character are social emotions. The physiological changes accompanying a primary personal emotion are bodily preparations for the action that results from the emotion. Fear, for example, initiates preparations for quick flight. Ordinarily the actions that result from the social emotions (if not prevented by the reasoning process) are not of an urgent nature, nor are they of any great personal concern. No special physiological preparation for such actions is therefore required. Furthermore, the kinds of emotional disturbances that often result when an emotion such as anger is held in check by reason are seldom generated directly by repression of social emotions. They occur only when the individual becomes personally involved in the social situation to the point where emotions such as fear or anger develop. There is another significant difference between the personal and social emotions that should be noted. Unless some abnormality exists, personal emotions are always intended to serve the interests of the individual. Social emotions, on the other hand, are of two kinds. As in the kind of a situation just mentioned, they may involve sympathy with the person or persons concerned, in which case any actions that they generate will be favorable to those persons. But instead, they may involve some degree of antipathy, in which case the actions, if any, will be unfavorable to those that are affected. Furthermore, unlike the purely personal emotions, which never rank higher than ethically neutral, the social emotions may have positive ethical values. Such values are not inherent in the particular emotions, but depend on the circumstances in each case. Misplaced sympathy, for example, is not ethically commendable. Here again, the more advanced type of mechanism, reason, that is available to human beings for making personal decisions is also available as an alternate to the social emotions. In the area of personal behavior, where the true nature of the conflicts between reason and emotion is clearly visible, the superiority of reason is not seriously challenged. In the absence of any difference in kind between the decisions to be made in the social areas and those that are made in the personal areas, it necessarily follows that reason is superior in the social areas as well. This, however, is not generally conceded. On the contrary, the decisions in many fields of human activity are routinely made on the basis of emotional reactions rather than as a result of reasoned conclusions. The reason for this difference in readiness to accept the emotional answers lies in the extent of personal involvement. Where a strictly personal decision is to be made, an individual tends to look at all angles of the problem, including its collateral and long-range aspects. Even though emotion may call for immediate and drastic action, anyone in full possession of his faculties will at least listen to what his reason tells him before he makes his move. On the other hand, if an emotion of sympathy for some person or group calls for some supportive action, the questions that can be answered by reason—whether the action will, in fact, benefit that person or group, whether it has some undesirable secondary or ultimate consequences, and so on—are not of enough personal concern to generate the kind of careful consideration that would be required in order to arrive at a rational evaluation of the situation. Nor is this relatively minor personal involvement any more likely to induce rational thought in those cases where an antagonistic emotion calls for hostile action. Unfortunately, these social issues which get so little rational consideration are actually much more complex than the personal problems that are so carefully evaluated before action is taken, and the standardized emotional response therefore has a much greater probability of being wrong. An act of “compassion” based on an emotion of sympathy for a criminal may not only be detrimental to that individual in the long run, but may result in serious consequences to other persons, whose interests were given no consideration when the decision was made. A law based on an emotion of sympathy for low-paid workers, and intended to give them higher pay or better working conditions may, in fact, deny them employment. A measure aimed at a corporation against which there is an emotional prejudice may actually accomplish nothing but raise prices for that corporation’s customers. And so on, indefinitely. In these social areas, the best of intentions often lead to the worst of results. Some of the specific issues involved in the conflicts between reason and emotion in social matters will be discussed at appropriate points in the pages that follow. At this time, however, while we are still examining the general subject of emotions, and before the situation is confused by the introduction of those specific issues, many of which are highly controversial, it should be emphasized that there is nothing creditable or praiseworthy about being emotionally guided. As has been emphasized in the preceding discussion, emotion is merely a tool, a means whereby the response that should be made to a given stimulus is identified. Furthermore, it is the cruder and less reliable of the two mechanisms for this purpose that are at the disposal of a human being. It is evident, therefore, that future progress in the area of social relations will depend very largely on the rate at which the newer and more reliable tool, reason, can be substituted for the more primitive and less efficient tool, emotion, as the instrument for making social decisions. In the light of present knowledge, the fact that emotional reactions still determine the great majority of social decisions is an indication of the long way that human society has yet to go before it can realize its full potential. The relatively primitive state of the existing social organization is even more clearly brought out by the tendency of those agencies, such as the organized religious bodies, that claim to be working toward improvement of social conditions, to applaud and support emotional responses, while condemning any opposition based on rational grounds. Of course, this is understandable in view of the emotional nature of the present-day approach to religion. But the fact that the antagonism toward the application of reason to social problems is understandable does not make it any more justifiable. An action which is harmful to an individual or group is no less harmful if it is undertaken with the best of intentions and on the basis of a “good” emotional impulse. The prevailing tendency to regard the emotional response, the primitive type of reaction that we share with the higher animals, as “human,” and the application of reason, the distinctive human ability, as “cold-blooded” and “inhuman” is a strange perversion of the truth. It cannot be denied that reason is often wrong, primarily because the premises on which the reasoning is based are not always correct. But even in the present state of imperfection, reason is far superior to emotion as a means of arriving at the proper course of action. Furthermore, the superiority of reason is continually increasing, as more and more items are added to the existing store of knowledge. One of the primary objectives of the present work is to contribute to that result.
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A Woman Defined Art & Culture by Mahvash Mossaed Driving to my art gallery: Attachments December 21, 2009 Driving to my art gallery, I was just thinking: All our sufferings are the result of our attachments to things and to all our emotional wanting. As I parked the car in front of my art gallery, as I turned the key, I was thinking of this very sentence over and over again. When I walked into the gallery, I told myself, But look at me… myself. I am a good example of it. I am so attached to this chair; to this cup; to this pen; to this laptop; to this, to that; and to everything around me. So I should say, “You, all the things around me… You are responsible for all my sufferings.” As I walked the five stairs leading to the second level of the gallery, I thought to myself, But how can I ever be without any attachments? It would be like being naked and cold… Things, after all, keep us covered, warm, and protected, and they connect us to the current of life. Through these things, we connect ourselves to life’s electricity, like a microwave or a toaster. Material things superficially tell us, Yes, have no fear. They tell us that we are solid and grounded, forever and immortal. But can we be happy without material things? Well, yes, of course. Let me give you a very good example. Many years ago, when my young family and I lived in Africa, we did not have any of this. We had a very simple life: no radio, hardly anything was on the local T.V., no place to go for a shopping spree. There was only one ice cream store in town. The only flavor they carried was vanilla, yet we stood in line to buy that one flavor of ice cream, and it tasted soo good. The thing is, I don’t think I even like to have too many choices. It just confuses me and dulls my appetite. Maybe we were not supposed to have so many choices. Maybe choices are responsible for greed, and greed creates attachments, and attachments are the source of our suffering. Maybe we are too full. Maybe we should practice to be a little bit more empty so that we can create space to accommodate love and goodness and peace of mind. Maybe I”m just too cluttered and too crowded. As I sum up my thoughts, I turn the music on, turn on the computer, go directly to “Mail,” and watch the endless avalanche of e-mails rush into my inbox. submit to reddit Tags: , , , , Posted in Demossa Gallery, Miscellaneous | Leave a Reply Please type the characters of this captcha image in the input box Please type the characters of this captcha image in the input box
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The Full Wiki More info on Vault 55 Vault 55: Misc Up to date as of February 01, 2010 From The Vault Vault 55 is one of the Vault-Tec Vaults. As part of the Vault Experiment, all entertainment tapes were removed. Sociologists predicted it would last longer than Vault 56. The location of this Vault is unknown. Appearances in games This Vault does not appear in any game and is mentioned only in Fallout Bible. Vault-Tec Vaults This article uses material from the "Vault 55" article on the Fallout wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. Got something to say? Make a comment. Your name Your email address
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Quake Style - Quake 3 Tutorials Code Helpers - FindRadius for Quake 3 A useful function which will find entities around a certain object! If you are an experienced programmer, you may remember this function from Quake 2. Since it wasn't in Quake 3, and there is use for it, I decided to write a tutorial to put it in. Open up g_utils.c, and go down to the bottom of the file. Pop this function right in there: // (NOBODY): Code helper function gentity_t *findradius (gentity_t *from, vec3_t org, float rad) vec3_t eorg; int j; if (!from) from = g_entities; for (; from < &g_entities[level.num_entities]; from++) if (!from->inuse) eorg[j] = org[j] - (from->r.currentOrigin[j] + (from->r.mins[j] + from->r.maxs[j])*0.5); if (VectorLength(eorg) > rad) return from; return NULL; That's almost it. Next, open up g_local.h and put this line down the end of the file: gentity_t *findradius (gentity_t *from, vec3_t org, float rad); That's there simply so that every file (well, atleast ones which include g_local.h :) will be able to call this function. Enjoy. Expect a homing missile tutorial any day now :) -- Credits:    Tutorial by (nobody)    Return to QS Tutorials -- Important:    If you do use something from QuakeStyle in your mod, please give us credit.    Our code is copyrighted, but we give permission to everyone to use it in any way they see fit, as long as we are recognized.
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. Sale Yarns: Would You Like a Pattern With That? Sale Yarns: Would You Like a Pattern With That? Category: wool © Andra Asars © Sharyn Anhalt © Katie Vlasov Yarn Microns And Softness Category: wool The holy man on the left is wearing a hair shirt? We’re going to talk about yarn microns and softness, I promise. But first, we have to establish some standard of comparison. We’ve chosen the hair on your very own head as a place to start. Have you ever heard the term “hair shirt?” Apparently, monks in the middle ages would make shirts out of hair and wear them under their clothes as a subtle form of self torture. These were itchy and coarse enough to scrape the skin and cause minor bleeding. Yikes! If you run your hands through your own hair, you won’t find it so very unpleasant, but have you ever gotten a piece of your own hair caught on your eye? Or on your own tongue? Of course you have, and very unpleasant it is, too. And once you cut it, there is a sharp end that pokes into your skin in a nasty way. What does this have to do with yarn and microns, you ask? Well, let me tell you. Since it isn’t pleasant or practical to make clothing or other fabric from our own hair, human beings began to consider using hair from other animals. Something softer and more comfortable. They looked around them and thought, “Horse hair? Nope; too coarse and not enough of it. Cow? Surely not. Goats? Well, their outer hairs are at least as bad as our own, but they do get a nice soft under coat in winter. Not much of it, but great if we can get it. Hmmm…maybe sheep?” And the rest is wooly history. But that still doesn’t explain the whole micron to softness connection, right? Well, let me give you just a little bit more history and it will become clearer. When humans first started using sheep fleece for clothing, the sheep hair wasn’t as soft as we’ve come to know it. It was just a darn site better than horse or cow or human. These early sheep hair gathering humans began to notice that some of their sheep had hair that was softer to the touch than others. So, some humans started breeding soft haired sheep to other soft haired sheep and creating breeds with fine, soft wool. As the breeds got established, even within breeds there could be variance. Just like human beings, sheep can have finer or coarser hair than their wooly cousins. The climate where they live, their diet, and how clean they keep can have a great effect on the softness of their hair. And if the softer wool was more prized, the breeders should be able to get a higher price for it, right? Of course. So, who gets to determine how much a particular fleece should be worth? Well, the buyers, of course. But, rather than having each and every person who wanted to buy a fleece fondle each and every fleece available, experts with sensitive finger and a vast experience of wool would run a few lock through their fingers and give it a grade. Coarse, medium, fine, super fine, expialidocious, a fleece would get a grade, and price would be agreed between the seller and the buyer based on that grade. For a long, long time, this was called  The Bradford Scale. To quote that fount of all internet wisdom, Wikipedia, “English wool handlers in the city of Bradford described wool by estimating (with experienced eyes) how many 560-yard hanks of single strand yarn could be made by a good spinner from a pound of “top.” (Top is cleaned combed wool with the fibers all parallel) The finer the average diameter of a single wool fiber, the more hanks could be spun. From a pound of “64s,” for example, sixty-four such hanks could be made (more than 20 miles!). From the finest wools, more than 80 hanks could be spun; from the strongest, perhaps 36 or fewer. Using ranges denoted by the stronger end (that is “44s” ran up to “46s”) wool lots were classified and prices derived.” So this is a somewhat complicated assessment, and completely subjective. It’s also only one of several systems. While the English used the Bradford Scale, the American system was based on breed or blood in an even more complex and subjective scale. Now we have microscopes and lasers that are capable of measuring the exact diameter of a single hair from an angora rabbit. The unit of measure is the micron, which is one millionth of a meter or 1/25,000 of an inch. Really, really tiny, right? Well, yes. And this is where the softness part come in. This chart shows a human hair as the largest fiber at 70 microns, and an angora rabbit hair as the smallest at 13 microns. You can get a better view of it in our newsletter. We are able to distinguish the size and texture of small things, but not infinitely small. There is a limit to the diameter of fibers that we can feel. As we noted above, a human hair is coarse enough, and sharp enough if cut, to be clearly felt. But sheep have hair that is thinner in diameter than human hair. Some breeds of sheep even more than others. As the diameter, in microns, of the individual hairs gets smaller, we are less abel to distinguish one fiber from the bunch of fibers. The feel starts to blur into a single sensation rather than a thousand separate ones. The more we experience this blurring of sensation of individual fibers, the more we experience it as soft. There are other factors that determine softness. The length of the fiber, how curly or crimpy it is, how sharp the cut ends are, how tightly it is spun, etc, will all have an impact on how much we can feel an individual hair out a bunch of hairs. But the size of the hairs is the biggest contributing factor. This is why we like to feel a yarn before we decide whether we want to make something that’s going to go next to our skin. You’re probably aware that some parts of the human body have more, and more sensitive, nerve endings than others. Fingers rank really high in the number and sensitivity of nerve endings. But fingers can’t tell you how something is going to feel on the underside of your chin. This is why we encourage you to gently run a skein of yarn against your neck or under your chin if you’re planning on making a cowl out of it. Also keep in mind, it’s not just a marketing ploy to get you to value baby alpaca more than merino. Baby hair on any animal is going to be finer than on an adult. And extra fine merino is not a subjective assessment. It’s smaller in microns and, therefore softer. In Which Catherine *MUST* Share Her Excitement Category: wool Dearest readers, lend me your ears (eyes?), because after a year of eager hope and subtle pestering our store finally has….~**~these~**~ Over the past year+ that I’ve been needle felting  I’ve tried a lot of different kinds of fibers, but none of them have been able to give me as satisfying a result as the roving from Bartlett Yarns. This roving has a lofty, squishy feel, but is extremely easy to work with. A little goes a long way with these babies, so much so that I still have almost as much in my half-pound bag of Midnight Blue that I originally purchased almost a year ago (and yes, believe me, I’ve been using it wherever I can with my projects)! I’ve found that they work best as an over-layer on a sculpted piece or by itself with flat felting particularly because of what I find to be its most appealing quality: the flat, smooth surface you can get with less stabbing. I love these, I love these, I love these, and it is genuinely an extreme effort for me not to hoard them all for myself. They’re a real pleasure to felt with, and I could not possibly recommend them more than I already do.
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Interview of the Week : Jack Dishel Capitalism Is The Great Equalizer There will be a series of articles I will write about Capitalism that right the wrong ideas of it. True Capitalism is Free Markets. But that’s for another discussion/article. In Italy, the 20 regions never got along too well. Some do; most don’t. Most of the South and Continue reading
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Summary:Information about Hierarchical Groups Categories:Hierarchy, PageNaming Questions answered by this recipe How come PmWiki doesn't have hierarchical groups? Are there any recipes that provide them? Information about Hierarchical Groups Cluster   Group-clustering recipe. Hg   Produce Hierarchical groups like effects on your site Subgroup Markup   Add one level of subpage using [[,subpage]] markup Hierarchical Groups   Why PmWiki doesn't use hierarchical or nested groups Here is a brief table comparing/contrasting Hg/Cluster as both are very similar recipes, and use almost identical syntax: Hierarchical Group FeaturesHgCluster Hierarchical groupfooters, headers, attributes, css, and configYesYes Name-based clusteringNoYes Subgroup, Subname, and index page variablesYesYes Built in Group Titles page variablesYesYes Absolute, Relative, & Descendent Link shortcutsYesYes Automatic Bread Crumb markupYesYes Bread Crumb AliasingYesYes Generalized hierarchical page variablesYesYes Built in CleanUrls capabilityYesNo Link prefixing & virtual wikisYesNo Definitions and notes: Hierarchical groupfooter, headers, attributes, css, and config Causes these various features of group Kingdom to be passed down to Kingdom-Animal-Canine except where specifically overwritten at a lower level. Name-based clustering Pages can be clustered as well as groups. Kingdom-Animal-Canine.Dog and Kingdom-Animal-Canine.Dog-Terrier can be part of the same cluster. Subgroup, Subname, and index page variables Uses notation like $g3 and $n2 to refer to the various subparts of the page name. $g0 and $n0 are an index of how many parts there are in the group or name respectively. Built in Group Titles page variables This feature gives you a $grouptitle page variable for use on your page. In Hg you can set up a single Site.GroupTitles page and use text variables to define group titles (if not set, Hg returns the last subgroup). Cluster look for titles in various group locations according to rules in the GroupTitle recipe. Absolute, Relative, & Descendent Link shortcuts Introduces special shortcut notations to the links markup (*, ^, -) that make it easier to refer to other link locations in the pagename hierarchy. Automatic Bread Crumb markup Allows you to put a simple markup on your page (or skin) that will produce a pretty, clickable breadcrumb. ie: Kingdom > Animal > Canine. Cluster includes a special function to simplify inserting the breadcrumb into the skin. In either you can turn on or off inclusion of the name in the breadcrumb. Bread Crumb Aliasing In Hg, a Site.HgBreadCrumbs page is used to control how each element in the breadcrumb display appears, whether or not it appears, or to insert any alternate markup desired--using simple text variables. In Cluster, the breadcrumb can be set to display either the subgroup name, or the subgroup titles. Generalized hierarchical page variables Allows you to create an unlimited number of hierarchical page elements. By default Hg has $SideBar and $SideMenu. Cluster has $ClusterSideBar and $ClusterRightBar. Generalizing this allows you to easily create additional elements in your config file. Built in CleanUrls capability This automatically changes how links appear from Kingdom-Animal-Canine.Dog to Kingdom/Animal/Canine/Dog. Can be combined with Url rewriting to eliminate the pmwiki.php?n= part. It is disabled by default in Hg. Link prefixing & virtual wikis Suppose for example you had groups like Profiles-Id-Caveman and Profiles-Id-Kathryn. By setting a link prefix in the Profiles-Id config page, Caveman and Kathryn would both become virtual top level wiki's with links like [[Hobbies.PmWiki]] automatically being invisibly converted to [[Profiles-Id-{$AuthId}-Hobbies.PmWiki]], and links like [[PmWiki]] being converted to [[Profiles-Id-{$AuthId}.PmWiki]]. There is an escape sequence for links to other parts of the site. See Discussion at HierarchicalGroups-Talk
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Jump to content Mike V Old Guard • Content Count • Joined • Last visited Community Reputation 0 Neutral About Mike V • Rank Jaded? Angry? Or just sick of the bullshit? Contact Methods • Website URL • ICQ Profile Information • Gender • Location Parts Unknown Recent Profile Visitors 7,330 profile views 1. Well, you know I think I'm done at this forum for the time being. It has nothing to do with anyone's gun rights/beliefs or anything because I respect that, I honestly do. It's more that the people I've come to like and respect over the years are buying into this Kristallnacht-esque conspiracy bullshit, and it's frankly making me sick to my stomach. So, in the words of the late, great Douglas Adams; so long, and thanks for all the fish. 2. Shane Carruth has knew sci-fi movie coming out called . 3. You know why no one gives a shit about current gun laws? Watch this. And the "it won't do anything" argument is such shit, by that standard why should there be any stricter laws regarding pedophiles? I mean kids are always going to be abducted and raped, so why even bother with anything? No it doesn't, I see people getting mics and cameras shoved in their faces, which would make anyone feel nervous, especially on top of everything else. 4. They aren't talking about taking away anyone's handguns or rifles or shotguns, they are talking about AR-15s, a weapon you can attach a fucking grenade launcher to. Nobody needs a gun like that unless they plan on killing a shit load of people, so yeah bring back the assault weapons ban, close the gun show loop holes, let the ATF enforce fucking gun laws. Because this shit is getting ridiculous. 5. Well, you know people deal with grief in different ways, when my grandfather died, I alternated between crying and laughing - one minute I was fine and the next I was bawling my eyes out. That the people in the video don't subscribe some perceived standard of how you are supposed to deal with loss is utter BULLSHIT. 6. Again this conspiracy stuff is bullshit, it's not another fucking Kristallnacht. A kid with mental issues got a hold of a gun, and killed a bunch of kids, that's it. Also, Obama was born in Hawaii and 9/11 was committed by a bunch of pissed off Muslims. 7. That's all a bunch of bullshit, especially that Facebook picture. And Alex Jones is a CUNT. 8. I read it first as an insult, like some kid on set pissed him off, and so Bale called him a "cancer patient." 9. Well, it's Tom Cruise. Plus his production company bought the movie rights. 10. The Punisher, and really comic book characters in general have more leeway, because of the various artist interpretations. Some people draw Castle as a tank of a man, and some draw him more leaner. As for Craig, he's actually a lot closer to how Bond was described in the books, minus the blonde hair. 11. To be fair if you're talking fidelity to the source, he would have been wrong too. I mean the character is over 6 feet tall, 250lbs, and blonde. 12. He'll sound grim and serious. If the next movie is going to be a spin-off of this, then it's d\safe to assume they'll probably stick with Reedus. 13. The answer to your questions is shoddy screenwriting. • Create New...
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Sunday, March 25, 2007 Don't Look Back Evan Davis: "Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car." 1. LOL! Thanks for the laugh. I needed it;) 2. Yep, that's funny! Reminds me of a story my mom tells of how she drove a car around her first curve, my dad said, "Look, you made it!" She turned around and looked back over her shoulder and ran into a ditch! I like the smiling photo of you best! 3. Yeah, it gives him an almost caring, human-like appearance! Of course, looks CAN be decieving, obviously... 4. Mushy, who told you that story, your mom or your dad? Bruno, you don't need any advice, just a mirror.
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Fluttering noises in my ear opiniones,jewellery storage uk free,mens earrings plugs,50s vintage earrings - Try Out Author: admin, 10.02.2015. Category: Is There A Cure For Tinnitus Post is closed to view. My ear making whistling sound 2014 Tinnitus treatment louisville ky Deep buzzing sound in ear Noise isolating headphones 2014 australia Comments to «Fluttering noises in my ear opiniones» 1. Dagestanec writes: Has viral origins the vessels near there. 2. JEALOUS_GIRL writes: Suffering out of this dilemma then you could plastic case that fits. 3. darkAngel writes: In current years, nevertheless, audiologists have developed some outstanding tinnitus back of the hand in between the. 4. Lihon writes: With this medicine, please read the data.
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Role Model Videos LCD Light and Holography - Michael Escuti This video has been used as part of a unit on Vectors. Michael Escuti, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NCSU, shares with us about how he uses Geometry and vectors to control the direction and properties of light. ---- Related Activity ---- Investigating Screen Brightness Synopsis - This activity is designed to use the Vernier Light Sensor to create a model to represent the change in brightness level for a computer display screen. Some models may represent a linear relationship; others may represent an exponential relationship. Materials - computer screen(s) or cell phone(s) with brightness adjusting capabilities, fathom, logger lite, vcl, go!Link, Vernier Light Sensor Notes - Activity works best with groups of 3. Roles include: 1) student to hold the sensor, 2) student change the brightness level, and 3) a student to monitor experiment and manage data in Fathom/Logger Lite.
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Policies, Regulations Forms and Bylaws 1360-10 | Participation by Children with Down’s Syndrome in Physical Activities Date Approved: February 19 2015 Date Reviewed/Amended: November 21 2017 Like all children, participation in physical activity is important for children with Down Syndrome to promote and maintain health, encourage social interactions, and to have fun!  However, additional considerations need to be made when engaging in physical activity with children with Down Syndrome.    Some children with Down Syndrome may have an instability in the spine close to where it joins the skull, heart abnormalities, or difficult time tolerating increased body temperature.    Participation in some physical activities by children with Down Syndrome with weakness in the neck can result in very serious injury (atlantoaxial dislocation).  Severe injury to the upper spinal cord may result.  The following physical activities for students with Down Syndrome with an instability in the spine close to where it joins the skull should be avoided: • gymnastics, diving,, butterfly stroke in swimming, diving starts in swimming, high jump, pentathlon and soccer. Some children with Down Syndrome are born with abnormalities of the heart.  These abnormalities will often be addressed through surgery when the child is very young.  Parents or doctors should be consulted regarding physical limitations on cardiovascular activity prior to participating in physical activities. Body Temperature: When planning physical activity for children with Down Syndrome, work in rest periods or water breaks to ensure that body temperature does not rise too high.  For some children with Down Syndrome, self-regulation becomes increasingly difficult with rising body temperature and fatigue. In order to protect students with Down Syndrome, the Board of School Trustees requires that all students with Down Syndrome be properly screened by a medical doctor prior to their participation in physical activities.  Students with Down Syndrome shall not be permitted to participate in physical activities without written approval by a medical practitioner permitting participation in physical activities. 1. Students with Down Syndrome may be permitted to participate in physical activities only after approval by a medical doctor to participate in such activities as defined by Board Policy.  The permission shall be in writing. 2. The Administrative Officer is responsible for maintaining a record of the status of each student with Down Syndrome  in regard to their possible instability in the spine. 3. The Administrative Officer shall advise staff of which students with Down Syndrome  suffer from an instability in the spine or who have not yet been examined by a medical doctor.  Such students shall be prohibited from participating in physical activities as defined in Policy. 1130    Student Support Policy
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By Username Enter a URL of an MRSS feed 'Sup you awesome people! Be sure to follow the channel for more videos and games in the future :) ******************************Links*************************************************** One Late Night: Hymn Of The Sands: Kraven Manor: Black Ice: Lumen: I tried to cover all the bases with these games. Hope I put in something for everyone, I tried not to use rankings because all these games are amazing, check them out! what do you have to lose? They're free! If there's a game you think I should have included leave a comment and let me know. Happy Gaming Everyone!
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In the Blog summer is ready when you are April 17th, 2008     by Anna Leventhal     Comments To me, nothing says First Day Of Summer (okay, not officially, but have you been outside today?) like Cannonball by The Breeders. Oh, the Deal sisters and their greasy hair. Oh, 1993. Fifteen years and this song still makes me grin like a maniac. This video, incidentally, was directed by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, along with Spike Jonze. Tags: picks from planet venus, playlist « Shameless needs a new Web Editor! Summer is ready when you are, The Mashup version »
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question for a gameplay editor Discussion in 'FIFA 14 Mods, Patches and Total Conversions' started by Robalex, Oct 31, 2015. 1. Robalex Robalex Youth Team Oct 9, 2012 Likes Received: Puerto Madryn - Patagonia - Argentina This is a question for a gameplay editor, if any available which I doubt. All are focus on Fifa 16. In modern football, due to better pitch/field, players ground crosses the ball much more often than lob it. In fifa CPU controlled team abuses of lob/scoop passes when they control de ball. So my question is: can I (via cl.ini or rna.ini or db) modify this issue to see cpu/ai controlled team crosses the ball ground for a ground finishing with more frequency than a lob cross for a header? Share This Page
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SEO has a somewhat notorious reputation with a fair amount of developers. Any site migration that involves URL changes needs to be very carefully considered. From domain name changes to tech stack updates, when you start changing your website's URLs you are basically throwing away your old ranking signals and hoping that with judicious use of redirects you can get search engines to associate those signals with your new URLs. Choose three primary keywords and have a list of others to target. When you improve those keywords, choose three more. Push your content to your social media profiles by integrating it with your blog, but don't do it in a manner that's "me, me, me" share other things too. Linking that does not fulfill the reader's needs should be left and you should only focus on providing the readers with relevant and related data. Adopt a customer centric view of SEM The convergence of SEO and content has been a driving force in marketing for the past few years. Some websites have suspiciously large number of external links. These are probably the websites which buy links in bulk. These websites are in some ways, spammy websites. Linking to such sites can result in a penalty by Google. Essentially, conversion improves the quantity and quality of organic traffic to a given website. In the past, creatives who designed business-to-business advertisements relied on verbal or written elements rather than visuals. Difficult things about analysis Everything you need to know about SERPs Google changed the color of paid search ads to blend in with organic results, thus increasing CTR and revenue. Even though I had my meta tags in place at the top of my coded page, search engine spiders had to sift through my navigational items (which were JavaScript, not HTML) before they could reach my keyword-rich content. These "tags" or labels are essential for helping search engines understand the name of your website's pages, know what information the pages contain, display a small description for search engine result listings, and understand how to treat each page when indexed. According to Gaz Hall, a UK SEO Consultant : "Then your rankings don't really matter." Maybe web portals will be a thing of the past The number of people utilizing a smartphone with a voice search function has steadily increased since the introduction of Siri. When writing SEO content, you need to consider what people are searching for and include keywords that are commonly searched and relevant to your business and industry. Reach out to influencers once your blog post is published. Some will share your post on their networks. That's the way to attract attention and get more traffic. If you decide to do SEO on your own rather than bring on a small-business SEO service, the first thing to do is to select the keywords you want to rank for.
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Science Fiction in the News Articles Related to material in Big Planet by Jack Vance Big Planet was colonized by misfits; it devolved into a variety of backward societies. One of the first novels to really feature a world as a main "character" or centerpiece to the novel. Science Fiction in the News Cruise Autonomous Car Drives Aimlessly For An Hour re: David Keller Fast Charging A Bus In 20 Seconds re: John Jacob Astor IV Realistic Translation With The Waverly Labs Ambassador re: Douglas Adams More SF in the News Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™ Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 Label Scars When I think of my times shopping at the many retail stores of the past, I think of what we used to buy in such heavy quantities. Tupperware. Just this past weekend, it got me thinking. After glancing at a Tupperware tote currently cornered in our living room/kitchen space, that there was a crusty old sticker on it from when it was originally purchased. After getting down on all fours, which I did, I saw something. Visions. Clouds burst through the cloudy skies and a revelation came to. I had seen a “Caldor” sticker on the box. It never occurred to me that we have a bunch of those sky blue-colored plastic totes all over the house; basement, garage, and closet side. While many of them are storage chambers for all the forgotten odds and ends from over the years, stickers from retail history is what was found on many of these “Roughneck” Tupperware totes. Price stickers right on the products; that’s just how they did things back in those days. Here’s a look at my findings just from doing a little scavaging upon awaiting my [last ditch effort thing to eat] third meal/frozen pizza in the oven just last night. An unusual blue, basic-font “Caldor” logo most likely from the sometime-era 1990’s. There are a few of these around my house. A sticker found on a tote purchased at Bradlees, the lower eschelon, darker-interior-than-Caldor alternative to Caldor. Possible “brown” logo impressed me, could also have been red at one point. Typical “Ames green" logo price sticker found on a very small sized tote container. A very old “Caldor” logo which could be identified as 1970s~1980s era. This one was attempted at price tag phasing by it’s owner. These pesky adhesives are well known for ruining products. The term "Label scar", of course, does not refer to printed adhesive price tags but are scars seen faintly on building left by former tenants. When looking for these, you might find pockmarks on buildings where signage is, discoloration, and in some cases, fully visible identification. Label scars are all about finding out store histories and is a term coined by Peter Blackbird of Dead Malls. Speaking of the term, I would also like to note my progress has been recognized by fellow enthusiast Jason Damas and his impressive retail history site, Label Scar. 1 comment: labelscar said... There is some disagreement about Blackbird's claim of ownership to the term "Labelscar," for what it's worth, though it's a battle that I generally prefer to stay away from. Deadmalls--a site we collectively have much respect for and was truly the pioneer of getting this stuff on the internet--did not actually start using the term until AFTER Ross mentioned the term "Labelscar" to Pete via IM in fall 2001. We don't make any claim to having coined it ourselves, not being completely certain of its origins. DeadMalls did not begin to make the claim of *ownership* of the term until after the launch of in May of this year, and it did not appear in their glossary until after the approximate timeframe outlined above. bears this fact out. I found this odd, since I'm unaware of many cases where an individual attempted to claim ownership to such itemology. Ross and I were actually both briefly contributors to DeadMalls in 2001 and 2002. I believe we were the first third party contributors, in fact, though we wrote only a few articles each and then kind of trailed off. But anyway, other than that--great stuff! I'm psyched about your new blog and I was quick to link it as soon as I discovered it. We can't all be everywhere, and you have a bunch of really great photos.
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New Episodes in iTunes Hacks to Using Music to Unlock Your Inner Greatness with BeBe Winans & Korean Soul October 16, 2019 In this episode of HACKED we speak with 6x GRAMMY Award Winning Singer, Songwriter, Producer, and Author, BeBe Winans, along with Gospel Group, Korean Soul. Korean Soul is the hottest new gospel group who were discovered after going viral on Instagram. In this episode you will learn: • The importance of music and the arts • How to connect with anyone, anywhere through the universal language of music • The power of technology and how it connects the world • How to use music to transform your mood • The importance of believing in what you say and sing • How to use your gift to give back and serve • How love can break the chains of hate • How to empower others by sharing your testimony • And lots more…
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Teaching a girl is teaching a mother, teaching a family, and teaching a generation   Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. (Aristotle)   Only the educated are free.(Epictetus) - Fight against slavery.   Educate a boy, educate a human being. Educate a girl, educate several generations. Teachers and Students Counseling Develop Female Agent of Change The Organization