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French Revolution Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 11th grade April 2001 download word file, 7 pages 3.7 This essay will be a summary of Chapter three, on the French Revolution. It will, in retrospect, describe the roller coaster years of a nation in peace and upheaval; in prosperity and poverty; in humility and humiliation. This essay also focuses on several groups and individuals who helped mould and destroy a great nation all in the name of greed and selfish desire. Absolutism, on the surface, appeared to be "THE" best system of government. However, as Arthur Young, a wealthy farming specialist from England stated, in his book "Travels in France", "...absolutism in the strictest sense was impossible in eighteenth-century France. Such a large nation could never be controlled by a single individual." King Louis XVI inherited a national system of basic inequality. This was one of the many problems of absolutism. Another was the corruption of the government which was not held accountable for hoarding revenue. The monarchy received a small amount of the tax revenue, however, this fraction was not nearly enough for the armed forces and the quality of life at the court. There was a definite financial crisis throughout the French Revolution and bankruptcy was not uncommon. Social class was a great issue throughout this time. Laws, taxes, education, government jobs, military promotions, and basically life was dependant on your social status. The monarch outranked all levels of society, however, there were three estates beneath the crown. These estates were groups of people with similar social or political interests. The three estates were categorized as the Roman Catholic Clergy, Hereditary Aristocracy and the third was simply called "Everyone else". The Roman Catholic Clergy, which were one percent of the population (or 300 delegates), did not have to pay their taxes but if they wanted to they could. However, the Hereditary Aristocracy, which made up another...
Transcript Request Form Disability Accommodation? Plants provide the life support systems for humans and all other animals on Earth, yet most people think of them as nothing more than scenery, or primarily as renewable commodities. However, biologists have begun to appreciate that plants play far more active, strategic roles in their own survival and success than was formerly appreciated, through adaptive responses to environmental stress and through complex above and below ground communication networks, mediated by chemistry. As humans continue to explore the pharmacopoeia of secondary products produced by plants for their medicinal uses, biologists have learned that many of these compounds constitute an ancient language by which plants communicate with themselves, their neighbors, enemies and partners, on a time scale that few humans can appreciate. Professor Robert Raguso's talk explores these new discoveries and challenges the audience to listen to their gardens, forests and meadows with new ears (and noses).
Dating guy that has no game Cam live voyeur espein gratis We don’t like chit-chat if it’s not towards a purpose, it’s just not how we’re wired. I would say that if he says he’s going to text or call you, he should do that… It’s not the last time that it will happen and I can tell you that as good as I try to be, I’ll occasionally do what you’re talking about… A trap that I see a lot of couples fall into is that one person is annoyed by what the other one is doing, but instead of figuring out a constructive way to address it, they just hold resentment towards the other person to a degree. When I say address it, I don’t necessarily mean talking it out. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but sometimes he won’t call or text the whole day. But just because somebody should do something doesn’t mean they will, for whatever reason. ;) But be that as it may, it does bother you and my bet is that you are trying to figure out a way to address it without making him defensive or damaging the relationship. ” As far as what you’re asking goes, it sounds to me like “young love.” I don’t mean that to be insulting – it is a nice thing.But the reason I say it is that it’s something I would have said years ago in an early relationship. The thing is, as I had more relationships –more falling in love and then eventually the break-up, more ups, more downs, more experience — my perspective changed and the way I was in relationships changed too… Sure, people get jaded by breakups, sometimes for a month, sometimes for several months (or longer), but the ups and the downs of relationships are both really good things.My point is that in the moments he’s with you, he probably does mean it.In fact, I would even be so bold as to say that a man will almost inevitably leave a woman if he does not believe he can make her happy. MTV2's Guy Code is the ultimate guy's guide to the laws of manhood. Some say guys are born with it, but not everyone follows the same set of guidelines. Guy Code has been discussed on screen in "Old School", "Jersey Shore" and inadvertently analyzed on "Animal Planet" when discussing the customs of male species. Leave a Reply
How to turn any song into a Ringtone for your iPhone or Android (for free) By SiliconIndia \| Friday, 14 December 2018, 04:30 Hrs cmt right Comment Right cmt right cmt right Printer Print Email Email We all have a song that we obsess over, or a song that reminds us of a certain person. We maybe want to set it as our ringtone, or want a certain ringtone for some people. How do we do that? Read on to learn how. Turning a song into a Ringtone In this section, we will show you how you can convert a song into a ringtone for both iPhone and Android (for free). If you are not interested in making a ringtone, you can even download ringtones from This section is divided into two smaller ones, one for each type of phone operating system. 1. iPhone (IOS) Let's say that you have an iPhone, and you do not like the preset ringtones available as they can be quite boring. Below, you can find the steps that you need to take in order to create a ringtone from a song that you like or don't like (for that person that you dislike). At first, this can seem a bit complicated, but we promise that it is worth it, and the more you do it, the easier it gets. Step 1: Update ITunes The first thing that you need to do is to open iTunes on either Windows or Mac OS. Then, you need to click on the app toolbar, and choose "Check for Updates" in that drop-down menu. If you have the last version of Windows 10, you need to click on the Help button from the menu bar, and then click on "Check for Updates". Step 2: Pick a song Next, you need to pick the song that you want to use as a ringtone. Don't forget that a ringtone usually runs in loops of 30 second, so don't make it longer. Once you know the song that you want, you need to remember the start and the stop times for the 30 seconds that you want as your ringtone. Step 3: Add your start and stop times Add your start and stop times iTunes allows users to crop both songs and videos. In order to do so, you need to right click or even Ctrl click on the desired song, and then choose Song Info (from the drop-down list). After that, you should have an Options Tab, where you can select the start and stop time. Please try to keep the length of the song below 30 seconds, then click on ok. Step 4: Make an AAC version Make an AAC version AAC is the audio format preferred by Apple, as it uses less space compared to an Mp3 file, while maintaining the sound quality. After you have cut your song, you need to select this version, then go to File->Convert->Convert to AAC version. You can find the shortened version of your song in iTunes, directly under the original version. Step 5: Set the song as your ringtone For this step, you need to go to Settings-> Sounds->Ringtone and choose it as a ringtone. Now you can enjoy your new ringtone. If you have an Android device, read on, because we are explaining the steps for you now. 2. Android Dear Android users, we have not forgotten about you. We left you at the end, because it is actually an easier process. Step 1: Download and open the app You need to go to the App store (Google Play Store) and download the app. After that, you need to open it. Pick a song For this step you need to have the song stored on your device. After you open the app, you need to select the, and load it. Step 3: Cut the song You will see two grey sliders. You need to select the start and end time of your song, then save it. Keep in mind that it should not be longer than 30 seconds. Then, you need to give your ringtone a name, and everything should be ok. Step 4: Set your ringtone To set the song as a ringtone, you simply need to go to Settings->Sound-> Phone -> Ringtone, then just select the ringtone version of the desired song. Now you won't have to panic everytime you hear a phone ring. This is because your ringtone is now different then everybody else's. You will also be able to set a different ringtone for your family or your boss, so you know if you need to answer or not. This should come in very handy when you have called in sick, but you are actually taking the day off to relax. Now that you know how to turn any song into a ringtone, the possibilities are endless. You can basically choose anything from your favorite song to a baby crying. You can even make a recording of your favorite person and put it as a ringtone. Play with the possibilities and have a unique ringtone, because you deserve it. Read more news: Google unveils new shopping search features for Indian users Tumkur: A Smart City in the Making Write your comment now Submit Reset
The Wrath I can feel Mother Nature In my veins The winds are strong In every direction Wanting you To hear her roar Confession #03 I feel like my emotions shut down. It’s like I can’t feel anything until I read a piece of poetry or watching a clip that explains everything I am actually feeling. That is when my emotions finally shows and it feels both a good release and sad. Now my emotions is riding underneath the surface and not wanting to show until someone angers me. I’m trying to remain calm while focusing on myself. How To Love I’ve been broken so many times. Maybe I keep choosing the wrong ones who never cared about me. Maybe I keep turning away the ones who actually cared. Maybe something is wrong with me. In the end, I know I deserve someone better who treats me right. So I can finally learn to love on the right person who is going to stick with me from everything and anything that life throws at us. Confession #02 Ok, here’s a thing. I’m starting to feel tired. I’m becoming tired of trying to impress people but I will always try my best. That part of me will never change. So why do people demand perfection even though it’s impossible. I hate how people often criticize and critique me harshly. I’m like you. I’m trying my best and do whatever we can able to control. So please be patient.
Exercise for stronger knees and hips More information Knees and Hips: A troubleshooting guide to knee and hip pain Read More Click here to read more » Muscles work in pairs — one contracts while the opposing one relaxes. For example, when you straighten your knee, your quadriceps on the front of your thigh contracts, and the hamstrings on the back relax. Imbalances in the function of paired muscles can cause joint problems and invite injury. If your hamstrings are tight, your quadriceps can't contract fully and may weaken, so exercise the quadriceps and hamstrings (the opposing muscles) equally. Flexibility exercises (to stretch and relax specific muscles) are an important part of an exercise plan to improve joint function. Closed-chain exercising. Physical therapists have emphasized the distinction between open-chain and closed-chain exercises. The chain referred to is a series of body parts, such as a hip, knee, ankle, and foot. In an open-chain exercise, the body is stationary while the limb moves. In closed-chain exercise, the limb is stationary while the body moves. For example, a squat is a closed-chain exercise because your feet stay stationary while your quadriceps do the work. In contrast, a seated leg extension is an open-chain maneuver, because your seated body is still, but your leg moves as you extend it. Exercising with a physical therapist Physical therapy is often part of treatment for arthritis and other joint problems. A physical therapist individualizes your treatment program to restore or maintain your physical functioning and carries out specific instructions from your orthopedist. First, the therapist thoroughly evaluates your pain, functional ability, strength, and endurance. A physical therapy session may involve pain-relieving treatments using ice, heat, massage, or other approaches. The physical therapist supervises you in doing exercises and teaches you exercises you can do at home. Depending on the therapy center, there may be a pool (see box) and a variety of exercise equipment to use. Gait retraining. Knee and hip problems can disrupt your normal walk by causing pain, restricting joint movement, or weakening muscles. A person's usual pattern of standing, walking, or running may also invite joint problems if weakness in key muscles, poor coaching advice, or bad habits throw off the gait. It may take many years of walking with an abnormal gait before joint injury occurs. Improper running leads to pain and injury more rapidly because it involves greater force with each stride. A physical therapist analyzes your gait and helps you learn to walk more normally. Initially, the proper gait may feel odd; you will most likely need practice and continued instruction before it becomes comfortable. The physical therapist may suggest a change in shoes or specific exercises to strengthen muscles you may be trying to avoid using. If you have had a knee or hip replacement, gait retraining helps you relearn to stand up straight (the tendency is to lean toward your operated leg) and use both legs evenly. Gait retraining may begin in the pool, where the water's buoyancy takes weight off the joint, makes it easier to stand up straight, and reduces the fear of falling. Everyone into the pool! Exercise in the water has special benefits: • The water supports your weight, reducing stress on your joints. • You can try out exercises before doing them on solid ground. • An 85° F pool is comfortable for exercise and soothes joints. • You can increase range of motion and endurance without strenuous effort or joint pain. Exercising without stressing your hips and knees • Swimming • Gentle yoga
Major League Baseball is preparing to release the names of the players suspended for involvement in a performance-enhancing drug scandal. The most prominent player to be affected is New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez could face a lifetime suspension for violating the “integrity of the game policy.” Rodriguez did confirm the use of performance-enhancing drugs when he was with the Texas Rangers during the 2001-2003 seasons but never after that. A lawyer representing Rodriguez who is the highest paid player in baseball said he would challenge any suspension. Read Florida local news here.
Tales of a Night Walker By Bert Tales of a Night Walker By Bert McKenzie Copyright 2010 Chapter 13 I woke to darkness. I was shivering and realized how very cold I was. I reached over and felt Jeff lying next to me. His naked body was like a refrigerator. I couldn't understand how he could feel so cold to the touch. I wondered what time it was. I slowly sat up and swung my feet off the bed. The carpet on the floor felt soft and plush. No sound came from Jeff. He apparently slept like the dead. I stood and felt my way in the darkness of the bedroom, finding my jeans on the floor. I slipped my hand in the pocket and pulled out my watch where I had stashed it the night before. The glowing dial said it was 10:00 a.m. No wonder I was wide awake. But it was pitch black in the bedroom. I thought to look for a window to let a little light in, but then I remembered Jeff telling him about the weird sunlight allergy. This must be why he kept it so dark. There must be heavy blackout drapes over the windows. I pulled on the jeans and felt around, looking for the door. As quietly as I could, I let myself out of the bedroom and into the hallway beyond. It was a bit brighter, but the house still appeared gloomy with pulled drapes. I walked downstairs in search of a kitchen. Finding it, I thought perhaps I would make Jeff breakfast. I pulled open the fridge and was shocked. Inside, neatly stacked in rows were bottle upon bottle of bright read liquid. It seemed the only thing he had in his refrigerator was a very large quantity of tomato juice, but no food was evident. I closed the door and then looked in the cabinets. They were equally devoid of food. No wonder he was so thin. The boy must eat out a lot. I was about to look for something on which to make a grocery list when I turned and just about jumped out of my skin. Jeff was there, leaning on the door frame, looking at me. He had a robe wrapped around his gorgeous body. "Looking for something?" he asked a bit nervously. "I thought I'd surprise you and fix you breakfast," I replied. "But all I can find is tomato juice." "Tomato juice?" he asked, then seemed to realize a hidden joke and began to laugh. I loved to listen to his laughter, but I was a bit at a loss to see what my lover found so amusing. It seemed that he was always privileged to some private joke, like he had secret knowledge he wasn't sharing, something that made what I said always sound so amusing. "Come here," he said, pulling me to him and leaning down to kiss me. "Mmmmm. Who needs breakfast?" I said, and then returned the kiss. Jeff pulled me back from him with another chuckle. "Apparently you do," he said with a grin. "I can hear your stomach growling." How could he hear that I wondered? I couldn't even hear myself. "I'll just have some of your tomato juice," I replied. "NO!" Jeff shouted, a shocked look on his face. "No," he repeated a bit softer as if he realized he was too harsh. "I think you had better leave. You need a nutritious breakfast and I just don't have anything here." "We could go out for breakfast," I suggested timidly. "Um, not a good idea for me," he replied. "Can't be out in the sunlight." "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Your allergy." Something was beginning to nag at the back of my mind. "Well, you really should be going," Jeff said. "But before I do," I said, leaning in with a kiss. "Maybe we have time for me to have a bit of breakfast here after all." I began to unfasten the belt on Jeff's robe, reaching inside. Jeff rolled his eyes and smiled. "Come on," he said, taking my hand and leading me back up the stairs to the bedroom. This time my lover snapped on a bedside lamp. It was delight to be able to see his naked body. We fell back on the bed and immediately began to make love. Jeff groaned in pleasure as I took my time enjoying myself. Jeff's penis was unlike any I had encountered before. It seemed even harder, firmer, as if made of stone. And the temperature seemed colder than it should. It was almost as if I were sucking on a popsicle. But it didn't matter about the strangeness of it. The reaction was just the same, if not more intense. All too soon, he breathed, "Frank, I'm going to cum," and tried to dislodge me. Suddenly he moaned and climaxed in my mouth. Eventually his shuddering came to an end and he relaxed as I looked up at his face. He was looking down with a strange intensity. "That was incredible," he said softly. "I haven't experienced anything like that in a long time. Frank, I could fall in love with you if I'm not careful." I felt as though my heart would break with happiness. "Don't be so controlled, Jefferson. I already love you," I said in return. "Now go, before I do something I would regret." "Oh?" I said happily. "Maybe I need to stick around for that!" But Jeff looked at me seriously. "NO!" he said. "Now go, and go quickly." I couldn't understand the roller-coaster my lover seemed to put me on. One minute the man told me he loved me, and the next he was ordering me out of the house as if we had broken some unwritten law. I pulled on my shirt and fastened my jeans. Slipping into my shoes, I hurried down the stairs and out the door into the bright sunlight. I ran out to my car and thought to drive home. As I drove by the theatre, I saw several police cars and an ambulance. I immediately pulled over and ran to the door. The lobby door was unlocked. Walking inside, I saw Harriet talking with a man in a suit. "What's going on?" I asked. The guy walked over to talk with some uniformed officers and Harriet turned to me. I could see the tears in her eyes. "Oh Frank, it's awful. It's George. Someone murdered him!" "George?" I couldn't believe it. "Why? Why would anybody want to hurt George?" He was the maintenance man/janitor and as such was rarely seen. He usually worked in the mornings before the artistic staff ever arrived. Once in a while we'd run into him in the office, or catch him fixing an auditorium seat or changing a light bulb. He seemed to be a really nice guy, not the type anyone could pick a fight with. "I came early to make some phone calls, and I saw him. He was right by the stage door. He was lying there as if he was asleep. I thought maybe he was drunk or something so I went up to shake him and he fell over...and his throat...it was all...and the blood..." She broke down in sobs, leaning on my shoulder. I wrapped a comforting arm around her. The man in the suit came back to us and introduced himself as Detective Stites. He asked who I was and what business I had there. I told the detective who just nodded and asked where I was after the show. Apparently Harriet had told him Buddy and I were the last to leave the building. Did I see anyone or anything? Did I see George in the building when I left? I told him no. I explained that Buddy and I locked the door and went right to the party. And where was Mr. Smythe? Harriet had already told the detective that Jeff never made it to the party. A strange fear gripped my soul and I quickly told the man that Jeff went directly home. How did I know that? I explained that I left the party, looking for him and found him at his house. How long was I there? I admitted I spent the night there. This drew quite a stare from Harriet. The detective said he would have to talk to Mr. Smythe. What was his address? I almost felt as though I was betraying my lover when I gave it to the detective. I turned and looked out the glass doors of the lobby just in time to see two paramedics loading the body into the back of the ambulance. It was covered with a sheet. I felt really creepy watching them and knowing this had been the man I saw dumping my trash can just the day before. * * * I was sitting in my office, going over some paperwork when I felt a presence behind me. Fingers began to rub my shoulders, and I turned to see Jeff standing there smiling at me. His eyes seemed suddenly filled with concern. "What's wrong?" he asked. I glanced at the clock on the wall. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was so late. I would have come to pick you up." He should be downstairs getting ready for the performance. "I'm perfectly able to walk three blocks. Does this have anything to do with the fact that we all had to come in the lobby doors? There is yellow tape all around the back part of the theatre and stage door." "George was murdered last night. Didn't the police come to talk with you?" Jeff stiffened visibly but looked back at me blankly. "Who is George?" Of course he wouldn't know George. They would never be at the theatre at the same time. "He was our janitor and maintenance guy." "The police? Someone was knocking at my door today, but I didn't answer it. It was just too sunny and I didn't want to take the chance before a performance. That must have been who it was. But why would they want to talk with me?" "Harriet told them you weren't at the party last night. That made them suspicious. You know how cops get." "What happened to him? The janitor, I mean," Jeff asked. He still had his hands on my shoulders, but he had stopped rubbing them. "Someone or something ripped his throat out, on the back steps by the stage door." Jeff immediately turned and left the office. The show went fine despite the undercurrent of backstage gossip and speculation. We didn't get a standing ovation this time, but the audience still seemed to enjoy themselves. After the final bow, I went backstage, looking for Jeff. The actors were quickly dispersing as I got there. I saw Buddy and told him it was a great show. "Great except for your leading man," the stage manager replied. "Why, what did Jeff do?" "It's what he didn't do. Last night he was friendly and joking with the cast. Everyone was working together and it was really an ensemble. Tonight he wouldn't speak to anyone and he seemed to really try to keep his distance. When Kelly went to ask him what his problem was he told her to get away and leave him alone. I think half the cast is ready to murder him. Oh I guess that was a bad choice of words." "Is he still downstairs?" I asked. Buddy nodded. "I haven't seen him come up yet." I walked down to the men's dressing room and looked in. Jeff was sitting in front of one of the makeup mirrors, staring at himself. He looked incredibly sad. I put on my best director face and walked up to him. "Hey, sexy man. That was a great show tonight." He looked up at me in the mirror, and then turned around to stare at me. His green eyes seemed to burn into my soul. "It would be better if you stayed away from me. This isn't safe," he said in a flat tone. "Jeff, what is it? What's going on? Is it the stuff with George?" "Yes," he said. "That was just some psychopath. You didn't have anything to do with it. Why are you acting like this?" He turned and looked back at the mirror. "I think I love you, Frank. And I can't tell you." I had chills running up and down my spine. There was something the young actor was hiding. I found him to be a strange character, true, but I had fallen in love with him. Now I worried that perhaps Jeff did have something to do with George's murder. After all, how well can anyone know anyone else? Then I saw the tears in my lover's eyes. I reached out and put my hands on the young man's shoulders. "You can tell me anything." "Not this. It's a secret that only I can carry. One that you won't be able to accept." "Don't be silly," I said. "You can tell me anything. I can keep a secret. Please." I knelt beside the chair and took Jeff's face in my hands. Again I marveled at how cold his skin felt. I turned my lover's face toward me and looked in his eyes, then leaned forward and kissed him. "Tell me." Jeff looked to the door, and then said, "Not here." He stood up and took my hand. We walked out the door, up the stairs and out into the house. Buddy was just preparing to turn out the light. He noticed the two of us holding hands, and just raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything. We walked out to the lobby and around the building to the parking lot by the stage door where I had left my car. The yellow crime scene tape was still visible around the stage door entrance. We both climbed into my car and I started the engine. Jeff didn't say anything. He just sat back in the seat and closed his eyes. I drove us to my apartment in Topeka. It was a twenty minute drive. The entire time Jeff was silent. I glanced over at him a few times, but he just sat there with his eye closed and didn't move or say a word. He may have been dead for all I knew. I didn't even see Jeff's chest moving. It was like he was holding his breath, but I knew he couldn't do that for twenty minutes. When we arrived at the apartment, I got out of the car and walked around to open Jeff's door. He opened his eyes, and climbed out, following me up the stairs to the apartment door, and inside. "Would you like some coffee or tea?" I asked as I turned on the stove placing the kettle of water on the burner. "No, but I would take a glass of water." I filled a tumbler with ice and then water from the fridge. He handed it to Jeff, and then grabbed a cup and tea bag for myself. We walked to the living room and sat on the couch facing each other. "Now what is this big secret you couldn't tell me at the theatre?" I found it easier to talk to my friend on my own turf, in my apartment, surrounded by my own things. It didn't seem quite as scary as it had before. He took a moment, as if preparing himself, and took a sip of his water. Then he sighed and looked at me with those intense eyes. "Do you remember me saying there is a world about which you know nothing? You thought it was just a scary story for the Halloween season." I remembered the brief conversation in the car on the way back from Harry's. I nodded. Jeff continued on. "There is a world that co-exists with your own. It is a world of shadow and myth. You go on with your simple lives thinking everything is normal and makes sense. And you have no idea of the things that surround you in the shadow world." Again I felt the chill on my spine. "Jeff, what are you talking about?" I asked nervously. I wondered in the back of my mind if this young man was entirely stable. "I'm talking about a world of legends and fantasies. But they are my reality." He took another long pause. "Do you remember when you asked me if our age difference was a problem and I said it was part of the problem?" I nodded, recalling the discussion. "How old do you think I am?" "It was on your casting sheet. You're 23." He shook his head. "I lied when I filled that out. I'm older than 23." I laughed. "Well you certainly look 23. How old are you really?" "I'm 175 years old. I was born on March 4, 1800." For a minute I couldn't breathe. I thought my friend must be joking, but the seriousness in his eyes said that he meant every word. And then the fear really began to grip me. This man was mentally unbalanced. I had fallen in love with a crazy person. And then I thought about George. If Jeff was crazy enough to believe he was 175 years old, maybe he did kill George. "I can finally see the fear in your eyes," he said in his calm Southern drawl. "That's good. You should be afraid of me. Frank. I'm a vampire." Back Main Next Discussion Forum
How Might Someone By Obtaining Abusing Drugs Treatment You may possibly not be able to cure the addiction, but you can surely tell your grandchild with respect to the problem their parent has. Let your grandchild know you actually are there for each of them. Show him or her your will always love. Tell that discover be there for them when they should you. Also, tell them that her addicted mum or dad is rather than a bad person, but don't honey-coat the important points. Hanging for the places while the drugs are usually available isn't likely to happen if the new "gang" is opposed to illegal drug abuse. So inpatient drug rehab centers in louisiana are great for your recovery, even these people do seem a bit "dorky" to begin with. Stay down triggers that cause a person take drugs or consume alcohol again; numerous places similar to pubs or liquor vendors. Some events may also trigger a relapse, just like gatherings at the same time casual get-togethers where the hosts provide alcohol. Do not only for check your spouse into making a fleet of and then assume altogether more liabilities. You need to act as the support circle. This entails taking care of more responsibilities within your own home while husband or wife is away, checking in on consistently to see how your 1 is doing and explaining the situation to your kids. The road to long term recovery is a long one, and you want to make sure your spouse knows you do always be there regardless of the happens with the treatment for drug. B. If he will not get clean, He in order to understand how the family is back in control as lately. All of this rules change as of this conversation. Yet another excellent where there's always something good explain to him brand new rules. It is important that the entire as well as friends friends take presctiption the same page here so that there are no contradictions. Keep all the patient's records intact, precise and appropriate. are made for a basis if what type of treatment program will are best for affected person. As almost as much ast possible, create a detailed history of the patient's Drug Addiction. Believe me, all-important are helpful information that the very center will ask of . If an individual worried about drug rehab ilitation, you need to think of self actually worth. There is a destructive pattern involved to drugs and alcohol. The truth is, addicts don't have good self worth to start with. After the addiction is complete, the sense of self worth will be eviscerated. Remember, you require attack with regards to at supply. To here is additional information about drug rehab you may click throughout the link. By checking perfect rehab facility in southern California, could possibly do exactly that. Nowadays it's got become a way to give discounts. Research for the discounts. But it is not really good idea to purchase something as well as not inside prepared list just it is sold at as high as sale. Leave a Reply
Pat Metheny Whenever anybody puts the word “jazz” in front of the word “guitar”, certain universal indicators will emerge regardless of whom or what is being talked about. Generally “jazz” and “guitar” as a pairing will conjure another indicatory-laced meaning: “solo”. Inevitably, whenever somebody is playing jazz guitar, they are playing solo-oriented music. But what is the status quo of jazz anyways? Is there one? Not anymore. Too many purists, progressives, and modernists will have different ideas or definitions on what the quintessential essence of jazz is exactly. Archived news
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· twitter · instagram · linkedin Name * 123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999 (123) 555-6789 Link to read me page with more information. 21 things I've learned in 21 years 21 things I've learned in 21 years Fiona Yeung During the fall semester, I recently finished a book design class with Paul Sych where I designed a hardcover book called Self. It's about my past, present, and future self. I got to dive deeper into understanding and learning more about my thoughts, philosophy, and perspective in life. At the beginning of 2014, instead of setting new year's resolution I gave a theme to this year being 'The Year of Self-Discovery'. This book allowed me to end the year off by writing about my journey and my life. Inside this book, I designed a spread for 21 things that I've learned in my 21 years. You can view the project here. 21 Things I've Learned in 21 Years 1. Take some perspective. Take a step back and realize that the problems you're facing aren't so bad. Will it matter in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? 2. Do less. Focus on what you love. Go outside and play more. Spend time with the ones you love. Don't work so hard that you forget to have fun. Being constantly busy doesn't always mean you're being more productive. 3. Fear will try to stop you. Doubts will try to stop you. Believe that you can do anything you set your mind to and don't let anything stop you. 4. Seek discomfort. Be okay with the unfamiliar and the uncomfortable. This is how you will learn and grow as a person. You've got to be challenged in order to grow. 5. Have compassion and empathy. Everyone has their own story and problems so be kind to others for you can make a difference in their day. 6. Focus on being present. The moment is all there is. Let go of the distractions that prevent you from fully living right now. 7. Give people your full attention. Truly listen to what they are saying. The best thing you can give someone is your time and presence. 8. If you love someone, tell them. Be open, and honest. In the end, relationships with people is what matters the most. 9. Spend time to understand yourself. Self-discovery will allow you to be happier with who you are. You have to be in touch with yourself and your own emotions before you can develop strong relationships. Finding yourself will be the greatest journey of life. 10. Be grateful. Count your blessings and focus on what you have that make you happy. You'll instantly be happier and realize how much you have, and what matters the most. 11. You are in charge of your own happiness. How you look at the world is entirely up to you. How you react to negative and positive situations is completely your choice. 12. There’s no such thing as failure. You might not always reach a goal but something good comes out of every bad and unwanted situation. 13. It’s okay to not be okay. You don’t always have to be on top of your game. Just get back up and conquer the world. 14. There will always be moments of adversity and struggle. Just remember that there has to be darkness in order to see the stars, rain to appreciate the sunshine, and sadness to understand true happiness. It is always in proportion and that's the balance of life. 15. If you want to do something, do it now. Be spontaneous and go! Money and time will always be excuses that creep up on you so let go and just live. 16. The world does not revolve around you. Focus on what goes on in front of you, around you and within you. 17. You are beautiful. Don’t waste energy on being self-conscious of your body, or what people think of you. Even if you're the juiciest peach on the planet, there will still be somebody who doesn't like peaches. 18. Travel as much as you can. Open your eyes and let the world be your teacher. Learn about different cultures, see new sights, and just experience as much as you can. 19. Never stop learning. There’s too much in the world that we don’t know about yet. Stay passionate, stay curious, and keep on exploring. 20. Everybody likes different things. Don’t judge people for their likes, or preferences. Let them be themselves. 21. Try your best in everything that you do. Don’t half-ass anything. If you've decided to commit to something, then put your full heart into it. Do it lovingly.
What Marketing Strategy Does KFC Employ? What Marketing Strategy Does KFC Employ? KFC employs a marketing strategy similar to other large fast food chains, performing rigorous consumer research and market testing, coupling both with an aggressive national ad campaign. Celebrity endorsements are also used, while social media advertising is twinned with the opportunity for customers to provide feedback to the company for the addition of appealing new menu items. The restaurant's environment is carefully planned to appear warm and welcoming, the brand has a distinctive, recognizable culture and staff are trained to be friendly and attentive. KFC is owned by Yum! Brands, Inc., a large Fortune 500 corporation that also owns the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and WingStreet restaurant chains. A prime example of KFC marketing is the expansion of the brand in China. The brand conducted extensive market research and altered the menu to simultaneously introduce 15 new products, ensuring that all of the items available would appeal to a Chinese market. This included rice-based snacks and regional deserts. KFC China also hired several famous Chinese celebrities to appear in commercials, and it redesigned the food packaging to appeal to Chinese diners. The brand makes use of modern digital media and social media platforms. A KFC mobile app is available, and social media campaigns are often used to entice users to vote for their favorite items, increasing brand awareness to consumers.
Jazmin Orozco/Nevada Sagebrush. A stack of lotería cards sits at a table during Lotería Night on Wednesday, Sept. 26. The game is often referred to as “Mexican bingo” for its similarity. Lotería is a piece of home to Mexican communities throughout the United States. On Wednesday, Sept. 26, the Joe Crowley Student Union hosted Lotería Night at to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, nationally recognized from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 every year. Both Hispanic and non-Hispanic students gathered to eat pupusas, enchiladas, and tacos from Chavelita’s Cocina Mexicana and play the Mexican “bingo” game, while listening to a variety of Latinx music genres. Among the students present was UNR freshman Jared Stirling. Stirling was playing loteria for the first time that night with the intention of experiencing a piece of Hispanic culture. “It’s nice to experience other cultures in a non-biased way,” he said, explaining the significance of events like Lotería Night. “I just don’t know much because I’m not part of that culture and I think it’s interesting to be able to see it and try not to appropriate, especially with how much that happens, but to see it from the perspective where that culture is in charge of showing their own culture,” he said. While the event did not have offer any educational background on Hispanic/Latinx culture or the game of lotería itself, students present really seemed to enjoy themselves while trying to keep up with the game’s announcer and fill up their tablas, or game boards. Lotería is often referred to as the Mexican version of “bingo” because it is very similar to the American game. Each player has their own game board, a colorful board full of a variety of different cultural images, such as “La Bandera”, the flag. An announcer is tasked with pulling cards of images from a stack, just like the bingo announcers pull ping pong balls, and state the given numbers. “El Mundo! La Luna! La Sirena!” The players mark the corresponding images on their boards to the ones announced with uncooked beans and, depending on circumstance, once the board is full of beans, they yell “Loteria!” and are declared winners of the game, sometimes winning a cash pot. The game can be traced back to 15th century Spain and arrived in Mexico by way of colonization. Since the game was introduced to Mexican culture, many versions of the game have come and gone, but the most popular and commercial version is the “Don Clemente Gallo” that was introduced by French businessman Don Clemente Jacques in 1887. Today, this traditional version can be found on Amazon, Etsy, and its image is posted all over social media accounts and even tattooed onto people’s bodies. This long-standing model of the game and its images have lasted for the past three generations and over 100 years. From the time that I was younger and playing the game with my own family, its popularity waned until recently. The rise of social media and the Latinx millennial generation have influenced the recent catapult of lotería into mainstream popularity and are transforming the images to be more relevant after staying the same for generations. Mike Alfaro is just one creator of a new lotería, the “Millennial Lotería.” This version includes millennial specific images, such as “La Debt Student,” “El Global Warming,” and “Tinder,” according to Araceli Cruz in an article for Brit + Co. “I consider myself a product of globalization. I grew up in Guatemala for 17 years, but I watched everything from The Simpsons to Friends on cable. American TV had a big influence on me. So I think it’s no surprise that the work I create is both Latino and American. It’s just a reflection of who we are today, not the old stereotypes of yesterday,” Alfaro explains to Cruz as the significance for updating the outdated game. Lotería is, and has been for over 100 years, a beloved cultural symbol and experience. Today, its existence ties entire generations of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. to their families and communities, near and far. Furthermore, its current transformation depicts the cultural shifts that are being lived and lead by the Latinx Millennial generation, creating a more relevant image that represents the fusion of being Latinx-American.
Pages PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 . . . 42 NEXT Rochelle blushed faintly at Jordan's comment about her hair, but kept her wits about her as she slipped her Pokédex into a spare pocket. Wait... Did he mean 'lead the way' as in, 'you're showing us where to go'? To ensure she understood the meaning behind Jordan's words, she answered, "Um, do you mean like, team leader or something, or just pointing everyone else in the right direction? I did all my travelling on my own until I met Kirsten, and even then there were no other Trainers or anything with us." Fary followed behind the other out the door and grabbed her bike. She manged to catch up with Jordan. "So where did you come from Jordan? This is my first time in Kanto so I don't really know anyone here." Fary said putting Zorua in the basket. "Uh, well I came from Fuchsia," Jordan answered, deciding to take care of both Rochelle and Fary's questions at the same time, "But uh, this is my first time out of the Fuchsia area. Like, I have no idea where any of this stuff is. We get back to Fuchsia, I'm your guy, k? But right now? No idea." He kept walking along as most of the group had bunched together. "So uh, we're all traveling together, huh? That's kinda cool, I guess. Good to have fellow bros and broettes to travel with." 'Leave? Already? I just got here.' Simon thought as he turned his Pokédex upside down and rightside up, trying to figure out how to open it. Once he managed to activate the device he peered at the screen and pressed a few buttons. "Cool." he said, impressed with the technology. Even if he didn't know how to work it. The light from the device reflected off of Simon's glasses. Shadow, feeling ignored, tried to climb up Simon's leg. The trainer knelt down to pet his Poochyena. When the Pokédex came within range of the Pokémon it beeped twice and data appeared on the screen. "So that's how it works." Simon scrolled through the information. He glanced up and saw that most of the trainers were now outside. 'They don't waste any time, do they?' He slid the Pokédex into his pocket. There were a few people left. Simon looked one of the trainers. The somewhat nervous-looking one. 'Tyler? Tyler with an Abra.' Right now, he was the only person whose name Simon knew. 'Looks like we will all be traveling together. Hope I can catch some more names along the way.' "Tyler, was it? Nice to meet you. I'm Simon." Simon waved to the younger boy then turned to point outside. "I think the group is leaving us." Simon wasn't really sure he wanted to be in a group, though. Maybe he'd just stick around until he got the hang of things. At least until the next town. 'I have to call the office...' Simon remembered. After stepping outside Simon looked up at the sky, where a few clouds blocked the sunlight temporarily. He debated on taking his bike out to assemble but decided that he could walk for a bit longer. Shadow was still in the doorway of the lab when Simon began to follow behind the group. When Shadow realized his trainer had left the Poochyena made a low whining bark and rushed out the door. The dark Pokémon's paws skidded on the soft dirt before he managed to match Simon's pace. "Yea I don't know this area much ether but I do have a world map that spreads from Kanto to Unova if we need it." Fary said pulling it out of her bag so it was in hand. "But if we ever get to Unova I can take you anywhere. Fary thought for a bit about traveling with outs. She always thought she'd be alone and prepared for such. She had everything she'd need and then some. "You know it will be nice to be with a group of trainers. Each of us with our own goals skills and Pokemon. Mom always told me that no one person is alike but everyone is part of the bigger picture." Fary said thinking bac to when she first said that to Fary. Rochelle was a little impressed by Fary's world map. She only possessed copies of Kanto and Johto maps herself. "Yeah, you're probably right," she piped up, putting in her two cents' worth. "It'll be good to see how people train their Pokémon, which ones they catch and raise, their battling strategies and suchlike. I, uh... I'm kinda new to the lifestyle of a Trainer myself. Spent a few months on the road between graduating from high school and coming here." She hefted her large backpack on her shoulders as she spoke. The pack was useful; it could hold everything from Rochelle's sleeping bag to her Trainer supplies, and even had a small compartment for food she found in the wilderness between cities. "You mentioned skills, Fary. Um... I know basic field medicine and there's a human first-aid kit in my pack," she added. "I also know a fair bit about finding food on the road or in forests and suchlike. What about you guys? Got any special talents or something?" Aeris followed behind the others, with Blaze walking beside her. I wonder what Kanto looks like. I only know from TV and the map I have. She pulled out her map and looked for where they were. She'd gone from Cinnabar Island to Pallet Town. Now they were supposed to go to Viridian City, which was above Pallet Town on the map, and from there they were supposed to go to Pewter City. They'd have to go through Viridian Forest to get to Pewter City. She folded the map together and put it back into her backpack. "Looks like a bit of a walk, but it shouldn't be long until we reach Viridian City." she said to the others. She walked to the front determinately and walked ahead of the others, as if she was the leader, which she didn't really intend to be. She was just so excited to start. Hearing what Rochelle said, she turned around and faced her. "I know how to treat burns, if my scars weren't enough evidence." She rubbed the back of her head. "I, uhm, have a habit of burning myself. Comes with growing up with fire Pokemon." Then she mumbled a little to herself. "More like trying to hug the fire Pokemon..." Fary looked over at Rochelle. Her parents when she was 10 made sure she knew everything she'd need to go out on her own and catch Pokemon. "Well I know human and Pokemon first aid, grooming, cooking, and making Pokemon food. I learned breeding from my dad and coordinating from my mother. They insisted I know how to live on my own when I was first going to go out at 12 but well that didn't happen." Fary said then looked at Jordan. "I'm also good at other things not related to Pokemon as well." Fary flirted giving Jordan a smirk and brushed up against him on "accident". "," Jordan remarked. Holy shit this girl's into me. Already. That is so totally awesome. Fuck you dad. I knew I had skills. Didn't need to come out here to prove that to you. "Uhhhh, OK, um well," Jordan reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out his only possession. "Uh, I have a frying pan! That's uh, that's not really a skill though," he put the pan away. "Uh I dunno, I surf mostly. That's pretty much what I do. I never even owned a Pokemon before a few days ago. So uh, yeah, I'm uh not that good. I just want to get back home bros." "Oh a surfer I see. I've never surfed before, maybe you could teach me and I could teach you some things." Fary said softly to him then walked past him Zorua yipping at Jordan trying to tell him to stay away from Fary. "Ohh Zorua stop it." fary setting petting her. Rochelle giggled a little at Aeris's last comment, figuring that she knew her Fire-types and liked them almost exclusively. "I don't know much about Fire Pokémon myself. My own Pokémon, Kirsten, she's a Horsea... perhaps our companions won't get along as well as we will. Still, I'll try to avoid battling near you until our Pokémon are a little friendlier towards one another." Then Rochelle overheard a snatch of Fary's voice, and saw Jordan's reaction. "Um... no offence, Fary, but I'd have to agree with Zorua on this one," she said to the Trainer in question, feeling a little awkward as she caught on to the obvious flirting. While she had never been in a relationship herself, or had the need to flirt the way Fary was doing, she could recognise it. "Maybe save it for another time, Fary. Right now... we should probably get going. I mean, we aren't gonna get to Viridian and Pewter by standing here." "Uh yeah, yeah, that's probably a good idea," Jordan agreed with Rochelle. Going to have to try and get some alone time with her, I think. That'll be fun. Maybe get the sleeping bags off in a nice little secluded corner. She'd totally dig it. Yeah. Jordan started walking away from the lab. He could still hear strains of extremely loud religious shouting coming from the laboratory and figured it would be best to get away. He started walking towards the grass. "Uh...I am going the right way, right?" Rochelle looked around in answer to Jordan's question. There wasn't much to see in regards to paths away from Pallet Town: woodlands and fences blocked off most of the possible directions, leaving the route to the north from which she had made her way to the town, and there was the beach to the south. According to her map, which she practically remembered by heart, it was a fair distance to Cinnabar Island from Pallet. Not fancying a swim any time soon, she said, "Best we don't get separated, guys. And yes, Jordan, that's the route to Viridian. Just hold up, wait for the rest of us." She hurried after him to emphasise her statement. Fary blinked and looked back at Jordan. "Into the tall grass?" she asked watching him. "If you want to be attacked by a Pokemon sure." Fary said shrugging her shoulders. Zorua blinked and looked up at Fary pawing at her. "What you can't be hungry already Zorua." Fary said looking bac at her. "Nice to meet you, Simon," Tyler replied, genuinely happy that this new person wasn't threatening to sodomize him with a Tauros horn. He followed Simon out and caught up with the others who were gathered around the tall grass that he had not 45 minutes ago had to navigate through. Back to this place again, he thought. Great. "Uh, hey guys, I'm afraid I'm gonna be somewhat useless here, since my Abra's Hidden Power is Ghost-type, so yeah..." he said to his fellow Trainers. "Don't worry. We'll handle the Pokemon here since your Abra can't." Aeris said, smiling, to Tyler. "Oh, I bet it's cute." She giggled a little. Not as cute as my Blaze, though. Blaze just walked beside her. It's not that Aeris didn't not like having Blaze in her Pokeball. It's just that She wasn't used to Pokemon being in their Pokeballs most of the time. Of course, she could have done that on the boat, but she hadn't thought of it. I wonder how that Seaking is doing... she thought to herself. She and Blaze were walking towards the tall grass with the others. "I think you're still cute, even with the burn scars." Mika said with a smile to Aeris, gently patting his Houndour on the head. Bones, however, was busy trying to get to know the other Pokemon. He walked up behind Shadow, the Poochyena, and did what Canids did to get to know each other... smell each other's ass. Once he had gotten a fair smell of who the Poochyena was, he moved on to the Zorua, and started smelling around it a fair bit and yipping happily. "Looks like Bones is trying to make some new friends." Mika said softly to no one in particular. "Just don't go putting your nose where it ought not be, hun... Lots of things would love to bite a little pup like you." Bones merely whimpered a bit and looked up at his Trainer, who reassured him with a pat on the head and continued walking with the group. "As for directions... I know my way around Kanto pretty well. I remember things from my first Pokemon journey when I was twelve... Viridian Forest isn't really so difficult to pass through. And I think there's an old shortcut that we can use that'll take us around. Although, we had to pass through some tightly knit trees... Not sure if it's usable still." Aeris giggled and blushed at Mika's comment. "Thanks. People seem to sometimes be put off by my scars. They're fairly normal to me, just a bit weird to other people, I suppose. As I mentioned earlier, I've gotten some burns while growing up with fire Pokemon." She'd never gotten a comment on her being cute except from the people on Cinnabar Island, so she was a little flustered when someone told her she was cute. Blaze chuckled at her flustering. "Char Charmander Char Char." Aeris blushed even more. "W-what?! N-no, there's nothing like that, Blaze! D-don't say things like that!" She was a bit embarrassed now and pouted, because Blaze had teased her about liking Mika. "I-in any case, we should continue towards Viridian City." She continued to walk towards the tall grass with Blaze right beside her, chuckling because of Aeris' reaction earlier. The Pokemon learned a bit from the Trainer when growing up together, it seemed. "What? Attacked?" Jordan asked. He definitely didn't want to be attacked. Flashbacks of that day on the beach went through his head. The pain. The one day that almost denied him the rest of his life. "Well, guess I can let the little bro out now. Nothing to break out here. Plus he can go after the things. And all." Jordan reached into the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt and pulled out the Pokeball that contained his lone Pokemon. "Anyway, come on out, Vince bro!" The white light shone for a few seconds before revealing the surfer's starter. The sunlight glinted off the scythes as the young Scyther stood in the tall grass. It was happy to be outside again. "Scyyyyyy-ther!" it cried, spreading it's wings out wide, trying to assert what little dominance it felt it had in it's few days of living. " think Vince bro can take take out most of these things?" he asked, as if to get some reassurance that what he was doing was right. Well depending on the type. If it's flying, fire, ice, or electricity you will be at a disadvantage but if it's rock well you're fucked. But grass, ground, fighting and bug should be fine." Fary said thinking through all the different type and weaknesses for each. "Hmmmm like if I run into steel well poor Zorua is in bad shape but she can take on a Abra." she said not really looking at anyone. Zorua titled her head to the side and looked at Fary then the Scyther and Jordan. "Zor Zorua Zooorrr."What a dumb ass. Zorua wasn't found of really anyone in the group, particularly Jordan for how he looked at Fary. She growled some and made sure Fary wasn't looking at her and used Leer on Vince. Rochelle thought over the type advantages and disadvantages of the Pokémon she had seen with each Trainer. They were a mixed bunch, capable of covering each other's weaknesses. Going by the basic elemental rules, she knew from her education that Kirsten wasn't going to be that great when facing Electric or Grass Pokémon, and that she would have no problem with the Rock-type Gym Leader in Pewter City. Of course, that would be once they got there, and she had worked with Kirsten to train her up and teach her to battle. "Hmmm... a shame there isn't a lake or something nearby," she mused to herself as she walked with the others. "Maybe I could buy a fishtank or something, and fix it up to attach it to the top of my pack. Kirsten would love that... although it'd be a bit heavy, carrying all that water around on my back." Tyler grinned somewhat. "Yeah, Geist is a pretty nice Abra. I've had him since I was sixteen," he said to Aeris just before the cry of a Scyther caught his attention. Jordan's impressive Pokemon spread its wings. Overhearing Jordan, its name was Vince. Interesting name for a Scyther, Tyler noted. He also saw that Fary's Zorua didn't seem to like Vince at all. In fact, the small fox-like Pokemon didn't appear to be friendly to anybody but her trainer. Tyler made a mental note to keep his distance from the unfamiliar Zorua. "So will we be needing to battle? Because I have no idea how to battle with my pokemon." Terinth said, as she pulled a pokeball out of her backpack. "Lillipup, you awake yet?" Terinth asked to her pokemon, as it came out of its ball yipping and bouncing around. "Good, you're not a lazy ball of fluff." As her pokemon started running around, barking happily, it ran over to all of the other pokemon, sniffing and inspecting them. "Lillipup, be careful around that Scyther's blades!" She shouted out to it. Zorua growled at the annoying Lillipup and snapped at it. "Zoorua zorzor." Get the hell away from me. Zorua was not happy with the hyper Pokemon and she looked up at Fary pleading and whimpered. "Zorua what the hell is wrong with you?" Fary said scolding her Pokemon. "You don't have to like them bu don't be an ass." she said angrily. Sorua growled some and then looked at the Lillipup and curled up in the basket of the bike trying to hide from the others disgusted at everyone but Fary. Blaze hugged the Lillipup when it came over to her and nuzzled it a bit, then let go of it. "Yeah, we'll need to battle. And don't worry about not knowing how to battle. You can just watch us if you want to for a few battles to get the hang of it." Aeris said to Terinth with her usual smile. Walking in the tall grass, Blaze had to be careful not to set it on fire. "Hmm. Maybe it would be best to just keep you in the Pokeball while we're in the grass. Just in case, though I don't like having you in the ball..." Blaze looked at Aeris and nodded, as if saying that it would be better to stay in the ball. Aeris picked Blaze's Pokeball up out of her pocket and aimed it at Blaze. A beam of red light hit Blaze and she went into the Pokeball. Aeris kissed the Pokeball and put it on her belt. Simon was silent as he walked with the group. He eavesdropped on a pieces of the nearby conversations. It was somewhat unintentional because he had nothing else to focus on. Shadow, after being inspected by Bones, decided to wander away from his trainer. The small Pokémon jumped toward the Scyther when it materialized. Then he snapped at a bit of tall grass that waved in front of him. The single blade of plant matter stood no chance against the ferocious bite. When the grass was vanquished the Poochyena tilted his head and his ears twitched. His red-in-yellow eyes focused on Zorua when it growled at Lillipup. Shadow gave a curious whine. Simon noticed the sound and half-turned to find his Pokémon. "What are you doing?" he asked. Shadow turned toward his trainer, yipped, then bounded towards him. The Poochyena bumped into Simon's leg causing him to smile. "There's a lot of canine Pokemon in our group..." Mika said softly, looking around at all the dogs. "Though, I think most are males... So we don't really need to worry about anyone going into heat yet... Wait, Terinth, is your Lillipup a female? If so, I'd keep track of her heat cycle..." Mika was quiet after that, and then smiled at the group. He looked around, trying to see any wild Pokemon approaching as they walked towards Viridian City. He looked around, and saw some rustling in the grass, with Bones looking in the direction of the noises. "I think we've got some wild Pokemon nearby..." Mika said to the group, grabbing an empty pokeball from his jacket pocket. "Get ready guys." "Aww, and I just put Blaze in her Pokeball. Oh well." Aeris picked up Blaze's Pokeball from her belt. "Time to battle, Blaze. Your first battle." Blaze came out of the Pokeball in a white light that faded away slowly and showed Blaze, who was ready to battle. "Be careful, though. You haven't learned any fire attacks yet, so you can only scratch your foes." Blaze looked at Aeris and nodded. "Charmander!" She looked out for the rustling, seeing if they would get attacked. Blaze walked towards the rustling and a Rattata attacked her. She scratched it, leaving scratch marks on it, and jumped back away from it. The Rattata hadn't given up after that little attack and tackled Blaze, who fell down for a moment, but stood back up and scratched the Rattata again. This time, it seemed like it had been knocked out. "Good job, Blaze!" Aeris said and gave her a thumbs up. Blaze walked over to her, smiling. There seemed to be more rustling in the grass. "Alright. Just be ready for another attack, Blaze." Blaze nodded and looked focused. Vince was going to come back with a Leer of it's own on Zorua when the Pokemon started appearing out of the bushes. The little fire lizard was the first to take down a target, and Vince was eager to show he could do just as well. "Scyyyyyyy...". It was searching around looking for a target, and he got his battle call answered when a Pidgey flew into its sight. Not even waiting for it's trainer, it got things started against the Tiny Bird Pokemon with a Quick Attack. The Pidgey got startled, and flew back at the young Bug-type, hitting it hard with a Tackle, striking a weak spot. "Scy....Scyther!" Vince was angry now. It Focused it's Energy, the Pidgey tried to counter with a Sand Attack, but it wasn't effective and Scyther struck with another Quick Attack, hitting a critical spot on the Pidgey, knocking it out cold. "SCYTHER! Scy Scy!" It shouted triumphantly, returning to it's trainer, eager to show what it had done. "Scy! Scy!" "Huh?" Jordan turning around. He was checking out Fary some more when Vince came up to him. "What's that little bro?" "Scy! Scy!" "Huh?" Jordan looked over where Vince was pointing, but didn't see anything there, the Pidgey having regained enough composure to flee. "Vince man, I've seen dirt before. And grass too. Come to think of it I've seen lots of things..." "Scyyyyy..." Vince sighed a little disappointed in its trainer at the moment. Fary laughed some watching Vince knock out the Pidgey. "Well I guess it's time for you to have some fun Zorua." Fary said sending Zorua over to the Pidgey that was pecking away at the ground. "Zo zo zooorua." About time "Zorua use scratch." Fary said. Zorua looked at Fary and nodded then did as she was told but the Pidgey used tackle cause some damage to Zorua. Fary give her another command "Now use leer." Zorua did so but growled as the Pidgey used sand attack. "Zorua!" Dammit Zorua tried to use scratch again as Fary told her but missed and was hit with yet another tackle. Zorua was close to passing out when it tried scratch one more time and hit. "Yes great job Zorua now time to catch this thing." Fary said throwing a Poke'ball at the weak Pidgey. The ball twitched and danced some then stopped. "YES, I caught a Pidgey." Fary said running over and picked up newly occupied ball. The wild Pokemon came hard and fast at the traveling team of Trainers, but Tyler was essentially useless in these parts. Geist's Hidden Power attack was Ghost-type, which meant it wouldn't even phase most of the wild Pokemon around here. His only option was teleporting, but he wasn't necessarily willing to abandon a group of friendly Trainers. "Uh...yeah, guys. Keep up the good work. I'm...going to stay in the middle where it's safe," he said, hoping the people with useful Pokemon would at least keep the Rattatas and Pidgeys off him. However, a clever Pidgey slipped past the rest of the group and made a beeline for Tyler. The seemingly agitated bird let out a cry before shooting a blast of sand at the defenseless Trainer. "God DAMMIT!" he shouted. "I had Repel on and everything!" Before Tyler could produce another bottle of the Pokemon repellent, the Pidgey made another run at him, tackling hard into his side. "Agh, fuck!" he shouted as he swung at the irritating bird with his arms. Rochelle watched the scene unfold, not sure whether to take to the battlefield herself. Then Tyler got rushed by a Pidgey and evidently didn't want to get in a fight. Most people were occupied by their own battles, so Rochelle hurried to Tyler's aid. She pulled out Kirsten's Poké Ball, hit the release button, and her Horsea appeared in a flash of red light. "Sea!" the little Pokémon said happily as she bounced on her tail and looked around the field, eager to see what was going on. Rochelle, however, had other ideas. "Kirsten, now's not the time for watching. Let's see how you hold up in a battle." Kirsten cocked her head and looked up at Rochelle, puzzled. "See the Pidgey over there? I need you to get it off the guy it's attacking." She gently turned Kirsten in mid-bounce and pointed her towards the intended target. "Let's go! What can you do, Kirsten?" In response, the Horsea assumed an expression that looked like a frown - at least, her eyes did so - and shot a small dark gray ball at the Pidgey from her mouth. It exploded into a small cloud of black smoke upon impact: she had used Smokescreen. "I think we've distracted the bird. Quick, come over here so it can't keep up its attacks," Rochelle said to Tyler as the Pidgey flapped its wings to try to clear the smoke from its eyes. Tyler immediately made a break for it when the Pidgey was too occupied with the smoke obscuring its vision. "Thanks. I owe you one," he said to Rochelle as he gladly placed her and the Horsea between himself and the Pidgey. Aside from a few scratches and a bruised side, Tyler was perfectly fine, albeit shaken. Immediately, he pulled out another Repel from his backpack and sprayed on himself. "These things never last as long as you need 'em to..." When Tyler's liberal application of the Repel reached Rochelle's nose, she took a small step away, not meaning to offend. "Sorry, but that smells pretty bad. Though imagine how a Pokémon must feel..." While she was distracted, the Pidgey kept flapping at itself to get rid of the smoke. It eventually gave up and tried to kick up some sand in Kirsten's direction. Thankfully the spray of sand missed, shooting wide by about a foot. Kirsten continued her bouncing to keep upright, although she was starting to look a little tired already. That came from being out of the water: Rochelle knew that from experience. "Come on, Kirsten, keep it up. What else have you got?" she asked. Kirsten's eyes brightened a little when Rochelle spoke, and she blew a small stream of bubbles. They popped as they reached the Pidgey, doing very little besides startling it. One popped in front of its face, and the bird squawked at Kirsten, hopping back a little bit from the shock. "Aww, isn't that cute," Rochelle praised the Horsea with a smile. Reply to Thread This thread is locked
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 RTD Public Safety Snafu - F-Bomb Slips Into Children's Safety Video Denver's RTD, the mass transit for the Colorado capital's 7 counties, recently opened the West Line, a light rail line 12.1 miles long serving the west Denver suburbs as far as the Jefferson County "Taj Mahal" government center in Golden. It resurrected the rapid transit line that ran along 13th Avenue built over a century ago. This is the first line of the long term Fastracks plan to be completed. RTD deserves its fair share of congratulations. Not only did they deliver the first portion on time, but their contractors also contributed to the community through the project. Unfortunately, a public organization like RTD is not immune to mistakes. As part of the effort to smooth the changes a newly active light rail line will inevitably cause, a safety video was created, with animation and voice-overs aimed specifically at children. The video is titled "Safe Routes To School A specially designed mascot named Fastracks Freddy tells the kids about light rail. It's a tame, paced affair that leaves the conscious mind with little more than the basic rules of keeping oneself out of harm's way. Still shot captured from YouTube Monday afternoon; the offensive text has been intentionally screened However, at roughly 1:59 into the video, a plainly visible F-bomb is displayed on the backpack of a person walking away from the camera. It's hard to imagine that with such care taken to educate the kids, something that plain could make it past the production team. If they had pixelated the text or removed the shot, no one would have noticed. The video hosted by YouTube had been viewed over 500 times. Same shot with location highlighted The 5 1/2 minute safety video was produced by the City of Lakewood and KLTV8 T using funds from the Safe Routes to School program. Scott Reed, a spokesman for RTD, was not aware of the video Monday afternoon, but later contacted Colorado Railroads, saying, "We contacted KLTV8 television in Lakewood, who produced the video and posted it on YouTube through their website. They are pulling down the video tonight and will edit it appropriately."◊
The Montgomery Dial Revolutionizes Railroad Timekeeping Montgomery Dial Montgomery Dial Red arrows shown on the picture point to the marginal minutes. Marginal minute dials are where each minute is numbered 1 through 60 in a complete ring around the outer edge of the dial’s face. And each number has a baton marker next to it. There were quite a few marginal minute designs but the Montgomery watch dial seemed to be the top choice during those early days. It was widely known as the Montgomery Safety Numerical Dial and it came into extended use even though many of the watch companies at the time were designing and promoting their own versions of the marginal minute dial. Paul Duling found published information that Henry S. Montgomery came up with his own unique design and began to employ it around 1920. Henry S. Montgomery, at the time, was employed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. He served in the post of General Watch and Clock Inspector from 1896-1923. In 1920, Montgomery was awarded a patent for his marginal minute design that carried three marked differences from the other marginal minute designs that existed at the time. That patent seems to no longer exist and has been lost to history but the story of the Montgomery dial comes down through particular writings and records that Montgomery meticulously compiled. The most prolific of Montgomery’s design enhancements included dial numbers that appeared upright (vertical). Prior to his design, marginal minutes were marked by way of slanted or arched radial numerals that slanted toward the center of the watch. His second startling innovation was to make the numbers marking every five minutes larger than all of the others. In addition, on the Montgomery dial, the five minute numbers generally appear as red with the remaining numbers being the standard black. Again, because the patent has been lost to history it is unknown if the red number innovation was included in the patent. Finally, Montgomery’s third unique design feature was that the sixth hour was clearly marked with a number. Most pocket watch dials don’t include the marking of the sixth hour so plainly due to the seconds bit (the subdial showing the second hand) being in the way. The Montgomery sixth hour marking is actually contained within the seconds bit. The new Montgomery marginal minute dial watch made its appearance in 1900 on all Santa Fe Railway train station clocks and pocket watches worn by the train conductors. It was soon becoming the standard for many other clocks at other train stations. The watch was in service on the AT&SF Railway in the latter part of 1899. It soon came into wide use as early as 1906 and it was known as the AT&SF standard dial. Paul Duling discovered that it wasn’t until around 1909 that the Montgomery innovation began being sold and actively promoted as a railroad specific time piece. At that time, both Hamilton and Elgin began producing Montgomery dial watches and began to advertise them widely for railroad use. Furgenseen Dial Furgenseen Dial As the watch began to come into wide use, it was then, in 1910, that Webb C. Ball, founder of the Ball Watch Company, began his targeted assault on the both the Montgomery dial and another dial he equally hated, the Ferguson. The Ferguson dial accentuates the minutes and those numerals appear larger on the dial than those marking the hours. Ball took his campaign national and was determined to return to his beloved, and simple, dial of white with plain black numerals only. In Ball’s appeal to such authorities as the National Safety Council and Railway Age magazine, Ball declared the dials to be impractical and confusing and championed his own Ball railroad time piece. It became a long running battle until 1922 when Ball died. However, his company, through his son, made a statement soon after his death that it had been many years since the Ball Watch Company objected to the existence of Montgomery or Ferguson dials. Hamilton, Elgin, and the other major watch players tried to lay low during the Ball uprising against the two preferred dials. Ball always claimed that his watch dials were the standard on at least half of the railway companies in America. Elgin, Hamilton, and others, stood firmly behind the Montgomery dial and vigorously promoted it throughout the country as the quintessential railroad time piece dial. Most of the other watch companies’ “Montgomery” dials had been slightly altered in an effort, mainly, to escape paying any royalties to Montgomery. Controversy seemed to follow the Montgomery watch even down to the present day. Prior to a 2009 controversy, the Montgomery Standard Numerical Dial was considered to be an official one if it contained the sixth hour clearly marked within the seconds bit. In 2009, however, Jeff Hess, a noted watch historian and researcher, as well as a NAWCC member for more than thirty years, proclaimed that the Montgomery Standard Numerical Dial, produced by Hamilton, was the official version of the dial. The Hamilton version, however, has no sixth hour numeral contained within the seconds bit. Hess pointed to an 18 size Hamilton dial, a Hamilton grade 940 with the serial number of 596882, as the true Montgomery Standard Numerical Dial. Many historians and collectors, however, continue to champion the real version as one that has been clearly engraved “Montgomery Safety Dial Co.” In 1920, Montgomery decided to create another dial and it became known as the Type II Montgomery Dial. It seems that It was not all that popular because there are so few actually left in the hands of collectors today. Montgomery seemed to lean toward a more Ferguson like design for the Type II. The dial had very small hour numbers in a tight circle in the center of the dial with the marginal minute numerals taking a large center stage around the outer rim of the dial face.
Pitcairn Island is in need of a coordinator. If you might be interested please contact us by using the link to the left. Pitcairn Island lies in the South Pacific about half way between Australia and South America. It consists of the island of Pitcairn and the three uninhabited islands named Henderson, Duicie, and Oeno. It was discovered by a seaman aboard HMS Swallow who named it for his father, Major Pitcairn. Pitcairn was settled in 1790 by British mutineers from the ship Bounty, commanded by Capt. William Bligh. It was annexed as a British colony in 1838. Overpopulation forced removal of the settlement to Norfolk Island in 1856, but about 40 persons soon returned. The descendants of First Mate Fletcher Christian, the 8 other mutineers, and the dozen or so Tahitians who accompanied them still inhabit the island, and, in addition to English, they speak a dialect that is a mixture of Tahitian and 18th-century English.
DETROIT (AP) — When General Motors CEO Mary Barra introduced the Chevrolet Bolt at the CES gadget show last year, she took a shot at Tesla. Buyers can be confident because Chevy has 3,000 U.S. dealers to service the new electric vehicle, she said. The implication was that Tesla, with just 69 service centers nationwide, can make no such promise. The uncharacteristic insult from Barra was designed to highlight the difference between 108-year-old GM and Tesla, a disruptive teenager. It also acknowledged a budding rivalry that could help determine whether Detroit or Silicon Valley sets the course for the future of the auto industry. The tale of the tape favors GM. It has made billions in profits since returning to the public markets in 2010. GM got the Bolt, a $36,000 car that goes 238 miles per charge, to market before Tesla’s Model 3. Tesla, the 14-year-old company led by flamboyant CEO Elon Musk, has never posted an annual profit. Yet, as both CEOs face shareholders for annual meetings Tuesday, it is Barra who must explain to skeptical investors why GM’s future is as bright as Tesla’s. GM’s stock is trading around the $33 price of its initial public offering seven years ago. During that time, Tesla shares have soared more than tenfold to $335. Wall Street now values Tesla at about $55 billion, compared to around $50 billion for GM. Despite efforts to paint themselves as technology companies, automakers can’t shake their giant, capital-intensive global manufacturing operations. The huge investment needed to build vehicles yields low profit margins compared with tech companies that make software or cell phones, says Michael Ramsey, an analyst with Gartner. GM’s net profit margin in 2016 was 5.7 percent. By comparison, Alphabet Inc., parent of Google, had a 22 percent margin. Although it’s an automaker, Tesla started in the tech bucket and remains there in the eyes of investors and buyers, Ramsey says. Tesla’s electric cars are the envy of the industry, and its semi-autonomous technology is among the most advanced on the road. Musk says Tesla’s California assembly plant— which used to be GM’s — will soon be among the most efficient in the world. And it’s branching into areas with potential for bigger returns, including solar panels, energy storage and trucking. “Tesla is absurdly overvalued if based on the past, but that’s irrelevant. A stock price represents risk-adjusted future cash flows,” Musk tweeted in April. Still, Musk can’t risk any missteps as Tesla pivots from a niche manufacturer of 84,000 high-priced cars per year. The Model 3 sedan, Tesla’s first mainstream car, is due out later this year, but previous launches have been plagued with delays. Tesla has yet to prove it can build high-volume vehicles with quality and reliability, as GM does. Musk aims to make 500,000 vehicles per year in 2018; GM made more than 10 million cars and trucks last year. GM, too, is stretching into new areas. Its Maven car-sharing service has 35,000 members in 17 North American cities, and it’s providing cars for ride-hailing services. GM is developing autonomous cars with Cruise Automation, a software company purchased last year. Its SuperCruise semi-autonomous driving system, due out this year, is designed to be safer than Tesla’s. And GM isn’t the only automaker with a stagnant stock price. Of the seven best-selling carmakers in the U.S., only Toyota and Fiat Chrysler have seen significant growth in seven years. Ford, Honda and Hyundai all have lost value. “Investors and the financial markets are much more interested in investing in the potential of what might be huge than in the reality of what’s already profitable and likely to remain so for years to come,” says Sam Abuelsamid, a senior analyst with Navigant Research. Abuelsamid says GM could better trumpet its technology achievements. For instance, it scarcely markets the Bolt. By contrast, Musk builds hype with nightclub-like events for Tesla owners and Twitter banter with 8.8 million followers. “The only way you can get people to perceive you in the same light as a company like Tesla is to demonstrate it,” Abuelsamid says. Musk is crucial to Tesla’s success. The risk-taking billionaire founded PayPal and rocket company SpaceX before taking over Tesla. He espouses big ideas like Hyperloop high-speed transportation and colonizing Mars. Barra, on the other hand, is a methodical engineer who rarely strays from script. She has only 29,500 Twitter followers. She’s a GM lifer who earned a company-paid MBA from Stanford; Musk left a Stanford graduate physics program after just two days to form a publishing startup. “Mary is like a normal high-level performing executive,” Ramsey says. “Elon Musk is like an almost unrivaled superstar, even in comparison to Silicon Valley executives.” Still, the big changes in the auto industry are in the early stages. Electric vehicles make up less than 1 percent of global auto sales and fully self-driving cars are years away. The economy can falter and company fortunes can shift. Already this year, sales in the U.S. and China are slowing, and GM pulled out of the European and Indian markets because they weren’t profitable. GM knows the ups and downs of auto sales, but Tesla will have to learn to manage them. If the Model 3 is late and Tesla sales fall, its stock price could drop and reduce Tesla’s access to cheap capital, Ramsey says. “I don’t think they’re completely immune to economic cycles,” he says. “That will be when we really know if Tesla can maintain this out-of-whack share value with their fundamentals.” blog comments powered by Disqus
Easy Pumpkin Song for Kids This is a simple Halloween song that I learned when I was a little girl. It's so easy to remember and perfect for the Halloween. Here it is: Pumpky the Pumpkin Is a Happy Pumpkin And I'll Tell You Why Because He Was Made Into A Jack o' Lantern Instead of Pumpkin Pie! Isn't that cute? I don't remember exactly what age I learned this song, but I sing it to my kids now, and they really like it. It seems like an easy song for Preschool or Kindergarten age kids to learn. Do you have any favorite Halloween songs for kids?
I have to say, it’s a good thing that I really like eggs as I have been eating a lot of them since our Tahoe trip. Most of the eggs were boiled until the yolks were just solidified and added to a salad. Some I made into single portion deviled eggs (my love of deviled eggs is well documented and knows no bounds). And then I took the great advice from the last post and used a whole bunch of them to make this quiche. I dare not test my cholesterol anytime soon. I have always liked quiche, though I tend to like them the most when there is a good crust-to-filling ratio. I’m all about the crust-to-filling ratio. I find that I’m still learning a lot about the things I like and the things I don’t like but at least I always hold true to my convictions. Case in point, I like crispy breakfast foods. I like my bacon to be so crispy it shatters if you pick it up wrong. I like my biscuits to be browner than normal so they have some bite (rather than being doughy). I like my waffles to be crunchy and light, like buttery toast. I like crispy breakfast foods. On the other side of the spectrum, I hate noodles in broth. My theory stems back to childhood road trips to visit my grandmother in New York. To prepare for the loooooooongOMG trip back home, my parents would pick up what they called won ton soup. It looked like this: I should chime in here and say that I get really terrible motion sickness. About two hours into the trip, my parents would pull over at a picnic area and we would eat this for lunch. After awhile (I’m talking like 10 years), we started varying what we ate for lunch but the damage was done. To this day, I cannot eat any kind of noodles in broth. Pho, ramen, won ton soup – they are all big fat no’s in my book. So believe me when I say that crust-to-filling ratio is very important to me and that I am quite consistent about it. I love crust so the lower the ratio, the better. Take, for example, Chinese dan ta, which is basically like a quiche without the savory ingredients. I will not eat a dan ta if it takes more than 2 bites to consume. I’m not talking two Martin bites either. I mean two Melanie bites. That amounts to basically a mini cupcake pan’s size dan ta. When we were in Paris this past summer, one of my favorite memories was walking along some random street in Paris and picking some random bakery to buy lunch based on the goods displayed in their store window. I chose a thick slice of salmon quiche, the kind that comes from a 9″ deep dish pie pan, if you can see where this is going. Martin and I took our goodies to a small road-side park across the street from the Moulin Rouge and proceeded to munch away. I will admit, the quiche was quite tasty but the whole time I kept thinking, “Damn, this is a lot of filling. And a lot of salmon.” It was a less than ideal crust-to-filling ratio. So I’m thinking if I don’t start talking about quiche, I will have to rename this post to something like “Melanie’s Random and Esoteric Quirks. OMG, seriously?” And we don’t want that, do we? So let’s talk about quiche! This meal pulled together so quickly, thanks to a lot of shortcuts. Really, the longest parts of this dish were waiting for the puff pastry to thaw out and for the quiche to bake. And possibly to clean up the kitchen because I try to be a clean-as-I-go-er but if I’m in a hurry (as I was the night I made this), it’s more like let’s-make-the-kitchen-look-like-an-earthquake-hit-it. A legitimate possibility, given that we live in California, except for the whole “explaining why only our kitchen was affected” dealio. So, first I used puff pastry as a lazy man’s crust and a rectangular tart pan (crust-to-filling ratio, eeeet eeeez impoooortant!!). Brushed it with a bit of Dijon, dropped a generous handful of cheese on top, topped with browned sausage and frozen spinach that had been reheated in the microwave. Covered in eggs and heavy cream that had been whisked together with seasoning and ta da! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. A great weekday meal. If you also happen to have 3 dozen eggs in your refrigerator, I wholeheartedly recommend the quiche route.
@mastersthesis {2589, title = {The ChucK Audio Programming Language}, volume = {PhD}, year = {2008}, school = {Princeton University}, abstract = { }, keywords = {audio, ChucK, ge wang, phd thesis, programming language}, url = {http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~gewang/thesis.html}, author = {Ge Wang} }
Port Charles Exit Gives Local News a Boost Publish date: The departure of soap Port Charles from ABC's daytime schedule (its last day was Friday) proved a boon to news departments at some ABC O&Os and affiliates. It was a station-by-station decision on how to fill the vacated time period at the O&Os, according to ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover. Deciding to expand their local newscasts to fill the midday half-hour slot were WLS-TV Chicago, KABC-TV Los Angeles and KTRK-TV Houston. Some affiliates took the news route as well. LIN TV's WTNH-TV New Haven, Conn., is expanding its noon newscast to an hour starting today. Down South, WWSB(TV) Sarasota, Fla., trumpeted its noon news expansion, calling it an example of the station's commitment to local news and programming. It includes a cooking segment with local chefs and a call-in segment that will allow local groups to push their events and organizations. The moves could play well in Washington, where stations' continued commitment to local news has been an issue in the debate over loosening ownership rules. Still, news wasn't the primary beneficiary. On the ABC O&Os, syndicated Who Wants To Be a Millionaire got the half-hour 12:30 p.m. slot in New York; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Francisco; and Flint, Mich. Jeopardy will get the time period in Fresno, Calif., and The Cosby Show will run in Toledo, Ohio. Affiliate KGUN-TV Tucson, Ariz., decided not to expand its noon newscast and, instead, moved Inside Edition from its midnight slot to 12:30 p.m., according to Program Coordinator Donny Newman. In turn, it will replace Edition with paid programming. "We are focusing on our evening and late newscasts," explained News Director Thor Wasbotten. "I know there is the argument about having some more inventory, and, on a newscast, you can usually make a little more money, but we don't want to dilute the product."
Cloud Gate Minimalism is the official language of public sculpture and public memorials. The Indian-born, London-based sculptor Anish Kapoor (1954) lets art and architecture show off. His sculpture is in many ways one long ode to the minimalist monochrome and its emphasis on simplicity and purity, but he has also explored different materials such as fibreglass and reflective metal surface to create organic forms that mirror the viewer. I love his wildly popular Cloud Gate, an enormous, shiny, pillowlike archway at Millennium Park in Chicago. So if you are in the city, check it out yourself!
Recruitment Fraud Warning It has come to our attention that various individuals and organizations have contacted people offering false employment opportunities with Alcoa. Such scams are fraudulent and intended to steal from the victims. We have taken this matter seriously and notified appropriate legal authorities in an effort to stop such fraudulent schemes. By making you aware of this, we hope to avoid and ultimately stop victims from falling for this scam. Please do not provide any personal or financial information and do not send any money to anyone you suspect of recruitment fraud. If you are contacted by someone whom you suspect may not be appropriately representing Alcoa, please email: Please forward the original email that you received that includes the original subject line and complete header information. What is Recruitment Fraud? Recruitment fraud is a sophisticated scheme that offers fictitious job opportunities to people. This type of fraud is normally done through online services such as bogus websites, or through unsolicited emails claiming to be from Alcoa. These emails request recipients to provide personal information, sign bogus letters of employment, organize visas and ultimately request payments to submit false applications. How to Identify Recruitment Fraud • The email does not come from an official email address and instead uses an address from a free email service such as: Gmail,,, Yahoo, AOL or a combination of these. • You are asked to interview over an Instant Messenger type program. • You are guaranteed a work-from-home position. • You are offered a check to process before being interviewed. The perpetrators will often ask recipients to complete bogus recruitment documentation, such as application forms, terms and conditions of employment or visa forms. The Alcoa name and logo is sometimes featured on the documentation without authority. • There is an early request for personal information such as address details, date of birth, resume (CV), passport details, etc. • The perpetrators frequently use mobile or landline telephone numbers beginning with 44(0)70 instead of official company numbers. • There is an insistence on urgency. • Alcoa employment policies and processes involve personal interviews in most cases and candidates who seek employment with us are never required to pay any sum of money in advance. To do so would be contrary to our business conduct guidelines and ethical practices. What Should I Do? 1. Please report all perceived SCAMS to local authorities. 2. Please contact the FBI at this link to report the internet scam: Please Do Not 1. Respond to unsolicited business propositions and/or offers of employment from people with whom you are unfamiliar. 2. Disclose your personal or financial details to anyone you do not know. 3. Send any money. Alcoa does not ask for money transfers or payments from applicants to secure a job as an employee or as a contractor. 4. Engage in further communication if you believe the communication may be fraudulent.
Stephanie Deane opened the talks at The ITSMA ABM Forum with an overview of the O2 Business ABM Strategy from Pilot to Scale. Most interesting was the statement that the strategy was carefully aligned to The CEB Gartner Challenger Sale*. There is a good reason why the Challenger Sale fits with an ABM Strategy, here is why... The focus of the Challenger Sale is to establish a position with your buyer where you teach, tailor and take control. In Account Based Marketing the focus is to treat each individual account as their own market and therefore provided highly relevant and value-add content. This could be in the form of events, blogs, research etc Where the two blend together is the ability to use content to do just that. As Stephanie points out below their successful ABM approached started by working closely with sales. Those who know what content to produce are those engaging directly with the client (often sales and business development). It makes sense that that same group should connect the content to the client since they hold the relationship. It shows that to have an effective nurturing and awareness system you need content available to your relationship holders. It can't be content produced by a team that 'think it is what the client wants', it needs to be far more timely, tailored to what the buyers are asking for when they are asking for it. For example, O2 are discussing network security with the public sector: • After the meeting, the sales team know the key concern of the supplier is end-user data protection. • They then coordinate with the content team to produce a piece that answers the concerns of the buyer in a "non-salesy" educative way. • The sales team can then take that content back to the buyer to nurture the deal, demonstrate their expertise, build the relationship and win a follow-up. Content must also be of the quality to impact the potential buyer. Today's buyers have too much information available and receive it in more formats than ever, content needs to come from someone that they trust and very relevant to their needs. This has been supported through the continued research by Edelman PR and LinkedIn that says the highest performing content must be: 1. Relevant and Applicable 2. Digestible 3. Delivered by a trusted source 4. Industry Insights 5. Stay current In summary, being able to build trust at every stage of your ABM strategy is of significant value and as Stephanie explained you need a collaborative approach.
Lenovo MP1060 10,000 mAh powerbank is launched exclusively on Flipkart for Rs. 1,299 Keeping their phone up after one day is something most smartphone users dream of. That is how short supplied we are in the modern smartphone era. So, while R&D comes to grips with the issue, why not help yourself with a power bank. Lenovo has just launched a 10,000 mAh capacity MP1060 battery. The Lithium-Polymer battery can keep it’s charge longer and is also more lightweight. It is made up of nano grade metal carved texture and weighs 200 g. The power bank can be used to charge both iPhones and Android smartphones. Furthermore, Lenovo says the MP1060 is capable of charging even tablets and other handheld devices supplying only the needful amount. The backup battery also has built-in temperature controls that halts charging once devices are charged. There are up to 11 safety protections that can safeguard the user from hazardous incidents. It takes about 4 hours to charge up fully with a 2.1A adapter. It has 5V-2A input and 5V – 2.1A output through dual USB ports. The Lenovo MP1060 sells for Rs. 1,299 on Flipkart exclusively and is available in white color.
Website visitor statistics are a fundamental part of any hosting service. The amount of individuals which have seen your website can provide you with more details regarding how it is performing and will tell you if you need to work on improving it. The web stats for an Internet site include the daily and the monthly visits (unique and reloads), the most visited web pages and the referrer sites, so if you notice that certain web pages are getting a smaller amount traffic than others, you can consider making them more alluring to the visitors to use the full potential of your website. If you're advertising on the web, you shall be able to see if the cash was well-invested or not, since the Internet stats in most cases include information about third-party sites and search engines like Google that refer visitors to your site. Having comprehensive and reliable statistics will help you improve your site and plan your marketing and advertising strategies better, in order to get more customers. Web & FTP Statistics in Cloud Web Hosting The web stats that we will provide you with are incredibly detailed and will offer you all the info that you need concerning the traffic to your Internet sites. Using the Hepsia Control Panel, which comes with our cloud web hosting accounts, you have access to 2 different programs - AWStats and Webalizer, as a way to get a better understanding of how the websites are performing. The stats are hourly, daily and monthly and feature quite a lot of information - what amount of traffic is produced by real people and what amount by bots or search engines, where the website visitors have come from and if they're new, the most downloaded files, the visitors’ IP addresses, and so forth. This info is displayed in graphs and tables and you can save it if you have to prepare a report about the performance of any site, for example. An in-house created software instrument will also show you the website visitors and their locations live.
Classical concert vienna News Discuss Vienna in Austria is one of the most popular tourist spots in the world. The prominent reason for this is the fact that the city is packed with vibrant culture and rich history. One of the most famous attractions is classical concert Vienna. The concerts include the works of great https://pickard26doris.tumblr.com/post/179653702502/classical-concerts-in-vienna No HTML HTML is disabled Who Upvoted this Story
Saturday, April 01, 2006 Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence You might have guessed from the title of this blog that I've just finished watching a certain piece of anime, and you'd be right. Ghost in the Shell 2 has been heralded as one of the most magnificent pieces of anime to see the world's shores in a very, very long time. I can tell you, right now, that this is a lie. GITS 2 is not a beautiful film, nor is it a great film, nor seminal, nor even passable good, in my opinion. Far from beautiful, in fact, I would call the most part of this film utterly grotesque, and not "beautifully grotesque" in the way that anime tends to be. I admit that the stomach churning mutilations and hints of sexual frustation, inadequacy and pedophilia spread across the whole of Neon Genesis Evangelion was portedly beatific, and could be seen as nothing but, but terror without respite to grace and form can never, ever be desirable. "Innocence" is a term that belies the world weariness that is required to fully appreciate this piece. The amounts of degredation and long cultivated understanding to comprehend any of it is far beyond me. Even for those with experience of the world far beyond my own, atleast i summise, would be left mumbling in confusion, contorting their faces to vaguely resemble the waves of visual nausea that propel themselves along your optic nerves. The questions it raises are uncomfortable as well, it cannot be denied. The main theme is the understanding of what it is to be human, something you don't earnestly figure out until well over half way into the film. The major part of the first half is setting up a rather loose story and then failing to follow it in the least. The most part of the film concerns itself with showing of the (poor) interaction between 3-dimensional set pieces and the 2-dimensional cast; either that or watching the bust of Batou, of the protagonists, sway slowly as he walks through a series of backdrops. I swear to God, atleast half an hour of this goddamned film was just Batou's head and shoulders, getting further away from a wall, maybe moving past a shelf or lampost and moving into and out of overhead lighting. I would have imagined that the nigh-on legendary Shirow Masamune could have mustered up a little more funding for his tour de force, his mythical magnum opus, but no, he had to go and spend the money on collectable urban vinyl figures to place around his computer room in comical positions. Well done Mr. Masamune, well done. But anyway, concerning the theme: what is it to be human? I have always thought that if you can make an identical replica of a "thing", that does everything the original does in more or less the same way, then, in essence atleast, you have made a second "thing". Maybe it's a loose cross between the ideas of Schopenhauer and Socrates, with no real worldly relevance, or none that i can correlate, but I feel the idea holds merit. So, if we make a robot that does everything a human can do (and more), is it not still a human? Homo Machina? Is not a child just an inferior human? Do we not call it still human? At the same time, it addresses the fear that humans feel at machines, at science as a whole, to breaking down nature into something quantifiable and then rebuilding it. In the same way that people were replaced in the industrial revolution, the fear that was felt at them is replicated throughout the film. Ultimately it leaves us questioning our use, our place in life and whether, if existence is so simple, is it worthwhile? It's all a little heavy for a saturday night. So, to refer you to the works of Todd Park Mohr and his coedifying of all that is great and good in the world of philosophy, I would like to tell you about a discussion had between the Buddha (as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong!) and someone with a great yearning for knowledge. One day, at a sermon of sorts, a man in confusion and inquiry asked the Buddha, "Oh Buddha, please, enlighten me! What is the meaning of life?" To which the Buddha merely presented the man with a flower and walked away. No comments:
Regulation of Liver Energy Balance by the Nuclear Receptors Farnesoid X Receptor and Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor α. Kim KH, Moore DD, et al. Digestive diseases (Basel, Switzerland). 2017. The liver undergoes major changes in substrate utilization and metabolic output over the daily feeding and fasting cycle. These changes occur acutely in response to hormones such as insulin and glucagon, with rapid changes in signaling pathways mediated by protein phosphorylation and other post-translational modifications. They are also reflected in chronic alterations in gene expression in response to nutrient-sensitive transcription factors. Among these, the nuclear receptors farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α (PPARα) provide an intriguing, coordinated response to maintain energy balance in the liver. FXR is activated in the fed state by bile acids returning to the liver, while PPARα is activated in the fasted state in response to the free fatty acids produced by adipocyte lipolysis or possibly other signals. Key Messages: Previous studies indicate that FXR and PPARα have opposing effects on each other’s primary targets in key metabolic pathways including gluconeogenesis. Our more recent work shows that these 2 nuclear receptors coordinately regulate autophagy: FXR suppresses this pathway of nutrient and energy recovery, while PPARα activates it. Another recent study indicates that FXR activates the complement and coagulation pathway, while earlier studies identify this as a negative target of PPARα. Since secretion is a very energy- and nutrient-intensive process for hepatocytes, it is possible that FXR licenses it in the nutrient-rich fed state, while PPARα represses it to spare resources in the fasted state. Energy balance is a potential connection linking FXR and PPARα regulation of autophagy and secretion, 2 seemingly unrelated aspects of hepatocyte function.FXR and PPARα act coordinately to promote energy balance and homeostasis in the liver by regulating autophagy and potentially protein secretion. It is quite likely that their impact extends to additional pathways relevant to hepatic energy balance, and that these pathways will in turn interface with other well-known nutrient-responsive mechanisms of energy control. Leave a Reply
Remember meForgot password? Log in with Twitter Aerospace News China says US made spy case 'out of thin air' Bejing - Beijing on Thursday dismissed US espionage accusations against an alleged Chinese intelligence agent who was extradited from Belgium as made "out of thin air" -- upping the ante in a case likely to exacerbate tensions between the global powers. Yusaku Maezawa: Japanese spaceman with a taste for art Apo - Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, confirmed as SpaceX's first Moon tourist, is a former wannabe rock star now worth $3 billion with a penchant for pricey modern art as well as space travel. SpaceX announces new plan to send tourist around Moon NASA postpones for 24 hours launch of historic spaceship to Sun Space, not Brexit, is final frontier for Scottish outpost Farnborough - Never mind Brexit: For a remote peninsula in the Scottish highlands, the buzz is all about hi-tech rocket launchers firing satellites into space. Blockchain for aerospace supply chains to be showcased Farnborough - Accenture is set to unveil a blockchain prototype designed for the aerospace industry supply chains at the international Farnborough Airshow, which takes place in the U.K. Rolls-Royce unveils hybrid flying taxi at Farnborough UK seeks to allay Brexit fears at Farnborough air show Farnborough - Britain sought to project an image of aerospace prowess long after it leaves the European Union, at the Farnborough airshow on Monday, as Airbus and Boeing announced a raft of deals and issued optimistic outlooks for the global industry. Brazil plane-maker Embraer sees shares soar amid talk of deal with Boeing Bras - Shares in the Brazil aircraft manufacturer Embraer soared Wednesday on the back of speculation that a deal to create a new company with US plane-maker Boeing was in the offing. Embraer stock was up 4. US will block F-35 sale if Turkey buys Russian missile Washington - The United States could still block the delivery of F-35 stealth jets to Turkey if Ankara buys Russia's S-400 air defense system, a senior official said Wednesday. Facebook halts production of drones for internet delivery Washington - Facebook is ending a program launched in 2014 to build a fleet of drones that could deliver internet to underserved areas of the world. Turkey gets first F-35 delivery from US Washington - The United States delivered Thursday its first shipment of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, despite tensions with the country and US lawmakers' opposition. Twin sportscar-sized satellites to chase water changes on Earth Tampa - A pair of identical, sportscar-sized satellites are poised to zoom around the Earth and track changes in water and ice, offering new insights into global warming and sea level rise, NASA said Monday. Cement, extreme cold experiments to launch on Orbital cargo ship Tampa - Food for astronauts, new space gardening gear and an experiment to test how cement forms in weightlessness are poised to launch Monday to the International Space Station aboard Orbital ATK's unmanned Cygnus spacecraft. NASA plans to send mini-helicopter to Mars SpaceX blasts off NASA's new planet-hunter, TESS Tampa - NASA on Wednesday blasted off its newest planet-hunting spacecraft, TESS, a $337 million satellite that aims to scan 85 percent of the skies for cosmic bodies where life may exist."Three, two, one and liftoff! SpaceX postpones launch of NASA's planet-hunter spacecraft Tampa - SpaceX postponed the launch of NASA's new planet-hunting mission Monday in order to verify the Falcon 9 rocket's navigation systems, the California-based company said. Airbus to offer sleeping berths down in cargo hold SpaceX carries out 50th launch of Falcon 9 rocket Miami - SpaceX carried out the 50th launch of its signature Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday, a swift ascent to a milestone which many aerospace giants take far longer to attain. Space-X lobs Spanish military satellite into orbit Washington - Elon Musk's Space-X sent a Spanish military satellite into orbit Thursday in a hitch-less liftoff from California, extending the private space company's record of successful launches. World's biggest rocket soars toward Mars after perfect launch Cape Canaveral - The world's most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, blasted off Tuesday on its highly anticipated maiden test flight, carrying CEO Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster toward an orbit near Mars. SpaceX launches world's most powerful rocket toward Mars Boeing, Embraer near deal on commercial air business: source New York - US aerospace giant Boeing and Brazil's Embraer are close to an agreement to combine their commercial air operations into a new company, a person familiar with the talks told AFP Tuesday. SpaceX blasts off Luxembourg government satellite Siberian helicopter maker has eyes on India Ulan-ude - As a helicopter buzzes in circles despite a blizzard, thousands are busy working in the huge hangars of a Siberia-based aircraft maker, eager to win a contract with India that would be a major coup for Russia's defence industry. SpaceX launches secretive Zuma mission Miami - SpaceX on Sunday blasted off a secretive US government payload known as Zuma, a mission whose nature -- and the agency behind it -- remains a mystery. Blue skies ahead for Airbus, Bombardier CSeries partnership Montr - Bombardier has ceded control of its new CSeries to Airbus, abandoning hope of ascending into the top echelons of passenger aircraft manufacturing alongside rivals Airbus and Boeing but securing US market access for its new jetliners. NAFTA talks' 4th round to close as disagreements persist Washington - A fourth round of talks to revamp a landmark North American free trade pact was due to close Tuesday, as delegates reacted to tough bargaining positions from Washington but vowed to continue the negotiations. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next» Set up a news alert for Aerospace Image
Study Plans Knowledge Base Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems Principles of Bioenergetics Additional Resources Need a plan to keep you on track? Try the Study Plan Builder! Biological systems harness energy to perform the functions of life, including metabolism, growth, and reproduction, all work performed through chemical reactions. Thermodynamics addresses the flow of energy in chemical reactions, and, specifically in bioenergetics, the flow of energy in the chemical interactions that make up biological systems. Free Energy/Keq Free energy (Gibbs free energy) represents the work available from chemical reactions, capable of being harnessed to perform the functions of living organisms, and is represented in the equation ΔG = ΔH - TΔS. Taken together the aspects of this equation (change in enthalpy, temperature, and change in entropy) determine whether a reaction is thermodynamically favorable (spontaneous in the forward direction). Negative ΔH (change in enthalpy), heat flow out of a system, brings about more stable, lower energy products from reactants. Positive ΔS (multiplied in effect by temperature) indicates a thermodynamically favorable increase in disorder of the system. Because entropy plays a role in the favorability of the forward reaction, changes in entropy brought about by concentration changes of reactants and products will tend to drive the reaction forwards or backwards depending on their effect. Entropy will be maximized at specific concentrations of reactants and products, a point at which the reaction is at equilibrium (equal rates forwards and backwards). These concentrations of reactants and products can then be used to calculate the temperature-specific constant Keq for the reaction. The change in Gibbs free energy thus is largely dependent on the nature of a reaction's reactants and products and their concentrations. Equilibrium constant Keq, the equilibrium constant, is a ratio calculated from the concentrations of reactants and products of a reaction at equilibrium and is temperature dependent. For reaction aA + bB ⇄ xX + yY at a given temperature, Keq = ([X]x[Y]y) / ([A]a[B]b). Relationship of the equilibrium constant and ΔG° As a given value of Gibbs free energy is dependent on numerous mutable factors such as temperature and reactant and product concentrations, it is useful to make reference to the value under standard-state conditions, that is standard-state free energy ΔG°. (Under standard-state, temperature is 298K and all concentrations are 1M.) At standard state, most reactions are not at equilibrium. If ΔG° is negative, then the reaction is favorable in the forward direction, proceeding forward until reaching equilibrium, that is favoring products with a Keq > 1. If ΔG° is positive, then the reaction is unfavorable and equilibrium is to be achieved by the reverse reaction, that is favoring reactants with a Keq < 1. (A reaction at equilibrium at standard state will have a Keq = 1.) Concentrations of reactants and products can play an influential role in determining thermodynamic favorability due to their relationship with entropy. Adding or removing reactants or products therefore affects reaction spontaneity, driving directionality. Le Châtelier's Principle Le Châtelier's Principle, which holds that systems at equilibrium will respond to an applied stress with shifts that reduce the stress, succinctly captures the impact changes in concentration can have on a reaction. Following this principle, adding reactant to a reaction at equilibrium (increasing reactant concentration, decreasing product concentration) can drive a reaction forward to produce more product, thereby reducing reactant and correcting the concentration stress. A similar situation occurs by removing product (drives reaction forward), or conversely, with removing reactant and adding product (drives reaction in reverse). This principle also governs changes in temperature, pressure, and volume. Endothermic/exothermic reactions Endothermic and exothermic are designations that describe the change in enthalpy for a reaction. Endothermic reactions require the transfer of heat into the system (+ΔH), while exothermic reactions transfer heat out of the system (-ΔH). Transfer of heatinout Change in enthalpy+ΔH-ΔH Spontaneity of reactiondepends!depends! A reaction being endothermic or exothermic does not alone determine whether it is thermodynamically favorable. Change in entropy along with temperature also plays a role. Overall thermodynamic favorability of a reaction is represented by change in free energy and related by the terms endergonic and exergonic: Change in Gibbs free energy+ΔG-ΔG Spontaneity of reactionnon-spontaneousspontaneous Free energy: G Free energy is a concept to account for the ability to do work based on the thermodynamic favorability of changes to a local system. It relates the idea that the differences in enthalpy and entropy between reactants and products can drive chemical reactions. Conceptually, G represents the energy available to the system based on the nature and concentration of reactants/products. Spontaneous reactions and ΔG° Spontaneous reactions are thermodynamically favorable. At standard state, a reaction with +ΔG° is non-spontaneous, or driven in reverse, and favors reactants (at equilibrium there will be more reactants than products). Conversely, a reaction with -ΔG° is spontaneous, or driven forward, and favors products (at equilibrium there will be more products than reactants). Phosphoryl group transfers and ATP Phosphoryl group transfers are a class of chemical reaction that are of critical biological importance for creating the energy currency of ATP (as well as in building the backbone of nucleic acids and signal transduction). ATP hydrolysis ΔG << 0 The hydrolysis of ATP into ADP + Pi is a very thermodynamically favorable reaction (ΔG << 0). This allows ATP to act as an energy currency by coupling its hydrolysis with thermodynamically unfavorable reactions, thereby granting a combined favorability. ATP group transfers ATP (composed of adenine, ribose, and three phosphate groups) can be hydrolyzed at different positions on the ATP molecule, producing different options for group transfers, which in turn play roles in reaction mechanisms to improve thermodynamic favorability beyond just coupling with the -ΔG of ATP hydrolysis. Depending on nucleophilic attack on the α, β, or γ phosphate, either transfer of a single phosphoryl group, a pyrophosphoryl group, or adenylyl group (the AMP portion with inorganic pyrophosphate released) will take place, respectively. Biological oxidation-reduction An expansive degree of biologically important work is performed through oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions, which are a class of chemical reactions that result in a change in oxidation state for atoms of the molecules involved. An increase in an atom's oxidation state is an oxidation, and a decrease in an atom's oxidation state is a reduction. The two processes occur together with one entity (the reducing agent) becoming oxidized in the act of reducing another entity (the oxidizing agent). Atoms more likely to be reduced are those with higher electronegativity, such as oxygen. It is the reduction of oxygen that lends to the terminology of "oxidation", referencing that an atom of lower electronegativity bound to oxygen will effectively lose electrons to uneven sharing with oxygen, producing a situation referred to as "being oxidized". Of course, oxidation applies to any increase in oxidation state, not just when bound to oxygen. An atom regularly involved in reducing is hydrogen (although its name does not lend itself to the process). In binding with hydrogen, an electron from the hydrogen atom is unevenly shared, effectively gained by the bound atom, creating a reduction. The mnemonic OIL RIG is used to remember Oxidation is Loss, Reduction is Gain in terms of (generally in a biological context, unevenly shared) electrons. Specifically, reduction takes place by the gain of electrons procured from the loss of electrons on the entity undergoing oxidation. Thus oxidation-reduction reactions can be broken down into two reactions to better represent these activities of loss and gain. Each half-reaction can proceed forwards or backwards such that the half-reaction with the greatest reaction potential (strongest pull on electrons, thereby being reduced) will determine the direction of the oxidation-reduction reaction as a whole. (Some redox reactions are more complex with a series of half-reactions.) Soluble electron carriers Complex biological interactions that involve multiple oxidation-reduction reactions (e.g. the citric acid cycle in relation to the electron transport chain) are aided by soluble electron carriers, molecules that are capable of accepting or donating electrons (often via binding, releasing hydrogen) and can shuttle to/from other acceptors/donors to continue the redox process. NAD (NAD+ when oxidized, NADH when reduced) accepts electrons (reduced) in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle and donates them (oxidized) to the electron transport chain. FAD (FAD when oxidized, FADH2 when reduced) also accepts electrons (reduced) at the citric acid cycle and donates them (oxidized) to the electron transport chain. Flavoproteins are proteins that incorporate a co-factor that contains flavin (a riboflavin derivative of which FAD is an example), which greatly aids in enzymatic activity involving oxidation-reduction by its ability to accept one or two electrons. Involvement as a co-factor gives the molecules a regulatory role. Learn more about planning and tracking your MCAT prep! Tour → Get updates!
Tag Archive for fixing Aushim Khetarpal’s book on match fixing ‘The Chosen One’ to be made into film By K Ashwin Mobile: 09920183006 Email:[email protected] Like Hollywood, Bollywood is also known to turn to novels and non-fiction books for movies. But sometimes the films become so popular that they overshadow their source material. Herewith, after going through an extensive development period, actor-filmmaker Aushim Khetarpal, is producing a movie on his life along with a Hollywood production house. The film is actually based on his book titled ‘The Chosen One’. In 1999, Khetarpal a sports promoter through his company, Radiant Sports Management Company too got linked to match fixing but wins the case and was given a clean chit from Scotland Yard. Read more
Food Safety Manager and Veterinarian @Purina How it's made Go to the section > We carry around 1,400 daily checks throughout the production process. In our factories, every day we carry out numerous tests to ensure the raw materials and the finished product meet our strict criteria for making safe, high-quality pet food. Based on a set of pre-defined standards, our finished products are evaluated according to a series of physical and sensorial parameters. These include things like checking the size of the kibble, the colour, aroma, and density of the kibble. In addition, we´re looking for any presence of fragmented products, as well as the possibility of cross-contamination. To do this, both physical measuring instruments and sensory means are used, such as vision and smell: our quality assurance team receive specific training in this regard, which is updated every year. At the end of each day, once all of the various tests are analysed and we have the results, production from the previous day is then released for distribution to our retailers for onward sale. Finished product checks are just a part of more than 1,400 controls performed daily during the entire process. We carry out around 300 tests every day on the raw materials and our packaging materials that enter our manufacturing plants and perform other 1100 checks during the production process and with the finished products.
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For detailed Resume email [email protected] Karina Skye Video Resume bellow Karina has been performing and studying acting and dance since seven years old.After graduating from high school she began studying Theatre at theUniversity Anhembi Morumbi in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Moving to the United States in 2000, sheenrolled at the Florida Atlantic University, where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Performance. Karina has been a member of the Actors Equity Association since 2007Since then she has worked with many professional local theatres, has traveled the United States acting and performing in musicals and plays. She has also choreographed several shows, and worked as an assistant director in many productions.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Birka Ansgar 2008.jpg Ansgars Cross in Birka Location Ekerö Municipality, Sweden Coordinates 59°20′10.36″N 17°32′43.68″E / 59.3362111°N 17.5454667°E / 59.3362111; 17.5454667Coordinates: 59°20′10.36″N 17°32′43.68″E / 59.3362111°N 17.5454667°E / 59.3362111; 17.5454667 Founded 8th century Abandoned 10th century Periods Viking Age Official name Birka and Hovgården Type Cultural Criteria iii, iv Designated 1993 (17th session) Reference no. 555 State Party Sweden Region Europe and North America Birka About this sound listen (Birca in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (literally: "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia and Finland as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient.[1] Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö. Birka was founded around AD 750 and it flourished for more than 200 years. It was abandoned c. AD 975, around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people.[1] The archaeological sites of Birka and Hovgården, on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking Scandinavia and their influence on the subsequent history of Europe. Generally regarded as Sweden's oldest town,[2] Birka (along with Hovgården) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. A silver ring from a Viking-era grave in Birka is the first ring with Arabic inscription from that era found in Scandinavia.[3] Location in Sweden Reconstruction of housing Reconstruction of boats Map of Björkö and Birka today Map of Björkö, late 17th century, from Suecia antiqua et hodierna. Engraving by Willem Swidde. Birka was founded around AD 750 by either a king in order to control and expand trade or it emerged from a seasonal trading place around.[1] It is one of the earliest urban settlements in Scandinavia. Birka was the Baltic link in the river and portage route through Ladoga (Aldeigja) and Novgorod (Holmsgard) to the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Califate.[4] Birka was also important as the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar. As a trading center Birka most likely offered furs and iron goods as well as craft products, in exchange for various materials from much of Europe and western Asia. Furs were obtained from the Sami, Finns, and people in northwestern Russia as well as from local trappers. Furs included bear, fox, marten, otter, beaver and other species. Reindeer antler was an important item in exchange as well as hand-carved combs made from antler. Also walrus teeth, amber, and honey were exchanged. Foreign goods found from the graves of Birka include glass and metal ware, pottery from the Rhineland, clothing and textiles including Chinese silk, Byzantine embroidery with extremely fine gold thread, brocades with gold passementerie and plaited cords of high quality. From the ninth century onwards coins minted at Haithabu in northern Germany and elsewhere in Scandinavia start to appear. The vast majority of the coins found at Birka are however silver dirhams from the Caliphate. English and Carolingian coins are rare.[1] Sources of Birka are mainly archaeological remains. No texts survive from this area, though the written text Vita Ansgari ("The life of Ansgar") by Rimbert (c. 865) describes the missionary work of Ansgar around 830 at Birka, and Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) by Adam of Bremen in 1075 describes the archbishop Unni, who died at Birka in 936. St Ansgar's work was the first attempt to convert the inhabitants from the Norse religion to Christianity, and it was unsuccessful. Both Rimbert and Adam were German clergymen writing in Latin. There are no known Norse sources mentioning the name of the settlement, or even the settlement itself, and the original Norse name of Birka is unknown. Birca is the Latinised form given in the sources and Birka its contemporary, unhistorical Swedish form. The Latin name is probably derived from an Old Norse word "birk" which probably meant a market place. Related to this was the Bjärköa law (bjärköarätt) which regulated the life on market places in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Both terms in different forms are very common in Scandinavian place names still today leading to speculation that all references to Birca especially by Adam of Bremen were not about the same location. Both publications are silent on Birca's size, layout and appearance. Based on Rimbert's account, Birca was significant because it had a port and it was the place for the regional ting. Adam only mentions the port, but otherwise Birca seems to have been significant to him because it had been the bridgehead of Ansgar's Christian mission and because archbishop Unni had been buried there. Vita Ansgari and Gesta are sometimes ambiguous, which has caused some controversy as to whether Birca and the Björkö settlement were the same location. Many other locations have been suggested through the years.[5] However, Björkö is the only location that can show remains of a town of Birca's significance, which is why the vast majority of scholars regard Björkö as the location of Birca.[6] Birka was abandoned during the later half of the 10th century. Based on the coin finds, the city seems to have silenced around 960.[7] Roughly around the same time, the nearby settlement of Sigtuna supplanted Birka as the main trading centre in the Mälaren area.[8] The reasons for Birka's decline are disputed. A contributing factor may have been the post-glacial rebound, which lowered the water level of Mälaren changing it from an arm of the sea into a lake and cut Birka off from the nearest (southern) access to the Baltic Sea.[citation needed] The Baltic island of Gotland was also in a better strategic position for Russian-Byzantine trade, and was gaining eminence as a mercantile stronghold.[8][9] Historian Neil Kent has speculated that the area may have been the victim of an enemy assault.[8] The Varangian trade stations in Russia suffered a serious decline at roughly the same date. Rimbert's Birka In Vita Ansgari ("The life of Ansgar")[10] monk and later archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen Rimbert gives the first known description of Birka. The town was the center of Catholic missionary activities in the 9th century Sweden. Rimbert's interests were in the Christian faith, not so much in the Swedish geopolicy, so his descriptions of Birka remain approximate at best. Bridgehead of Christian missionaries This is how it all started in 829: Meanwhile it happened that Swedish ambassadors had come to the Emperor Louis the Pious, and, amongst other matters which they had been ordered to bring to the attention of the emperor, they informed him that there were many belonging to their nation who desired to embrace the Christian religion, and that their king so far favoured this suggestion that he would permit God's priests to reside there, provided that they might be deemed worthy of such a favour and that the emperor would send them suitable preachers. (Chapter IX) Ansgar then undertook the mission committed to him by the emperor, who desired that he should go to the Swedes and discover whether this people was prepared to accept the faith as their messengers had declared. (Chapter X) Ansgar was already experienced in the missionary work in Denmark, and set forth to Sweden. Rimbert describes the trip very generally: It may suffice for me to say that while they were in the midst of their journey they fell into the hands of pirates. The merchants with whom they were travelling, defended themselves vigorously and for a time successfully, but eventually they were conquered and overcome by the pirates, who took from them their ships and all that they possessed, whilst they themselves barely escaped on. foot to land. —With great difficulty they accomplished their long journey on foot, traversing also the intervening seas (maria), where it was possible, by ship, and eventually arrived at the Swedish port called Birka. (Chapters X and XI) Rimbert does not say where Ansgar sailed off or where he landed. Noteworthy is just his note about several "seas" that they had to cross to get to Birka from the place they had landed to. Since Rimbert mentions them to have crossed the seas by ship "where it was possible" they clearly had the alternative of going around them as well, meaning that the seas were probably the numerous lakes in southern Sweden. When Ansgar again travelled to Birka from Germany about 852, it went easier: Ansgar accomplished the journey on which he had set out, and after spending nearly twenty days in a ship, he arrived at Birka (Chapter XXVI) This might mean that he sailed off from Hamburg or Bremen instead of some port in Baltic Sea, since the later account by Adam of Bremen gives the distance of Scania and Birka to be only five days at sea. King in Birka Several Swedish kings of the 9th century, Björn, Anund and Olof, are all mentioned in Vita to have spent time in Birka. None of them is however said to have had his residence there, as the Swedish king and his retinue periodically moved between the Husbys, parts of the network of royal estates called Uppsala öd. King Björn met Ansgar in Birka when he arrived there in 829 (Chapter XI). Later King Olof met him there as well during his last trip in 852 (Chapter XXVI). Church in Birka Ansgar's missionary work resulted in first churches to be built in Sweden. Talking about Herigar, the prefect of Birka: A little later he built a church on his own ancestral property and served God with the utmost devotion. (Chapter XI) Herigar's church was not far from the place where tings were held: On one occasion he himself was sitting in an assembly of people, a stage having been arranged for a council on an open plain. He then summoned his servants and told them to carry him to his church. (Chapter XIX) Another church was also built in Sweden, however location is left open: This Gautbert, who at his consecration received the honoured name of the apostle Simeon, went to Sweden, and was honourably received by the king and the people; and he began, amidst general goodwill and approval, to build a church there (Chapter XIV) The exiled Swedish King Anund Uppsale confirms that either one of the churches was in Birka itself when he ponders if Birka should be plundered: "There are there," he said, "many great and powerful gods, and in former time a church was built there, and there are many Christians there who worship Christ" (Chapter XIX) Fortress in Birka? An entry point in a Viking-era defensive wall on Birka Danes attacked Birka, accompanied with the deposed king Anund, which caused great distress in the town. Being in great difficulty they fled to a neighbouring city (ad civitatem, quæ iuxta erat, confugerunt) and began to promise and offer to their gods—But inasmuch as the city was not strong and there were few to offer resistance, they sent messengers to the Danes and asked for friendship and alliance. —Hergeir, the faithful servant of the Lord, was angry with them and said, "They will lead away your wives and sons as captives, they will burn our city (urbs) and town (vicus)"[11] and will destroy you with the sword (Chapter XIX) As the neighbouring "city" is not mentioned in any other context than during the Danish attack as a place where people took refuge, it probably meant a nearby fortress. Eventually Danes left, sparing Birka from destruction. Ting in Birka When Ansgar asked if King Olof[12] would permit him to establish the Christian religion in the kingdom during his second visit in 852, the king said to him: When the day for the assembly which was held in the town of Birka drew near, in accordance with their national custom the king caused a proclamation to be made to the people by the voice of a herald, in order that they might be informed concerning the object of their mission. —The king then rose up from amongst the assembly and forthwith directed one of his own messengers to accompany the bishop's messenger, and to tell him that the people were unanimously inclined to accept his proposal and at the same time to tell him that, whilst their action was entirely agreeable to him, he could not give his full consent until, in another assembly, which was to be held in another part of his kingdom, he could announce this resolution to the people who lived in that district. (Chapter XXVII) Tings were huge open-air events, which required plenty of space. The more important ting that king Olof talked about was probably the Ting of all Swedes, which was held at the end of February in Uppsala, during the Disting. The king was obliged to obey the common decisions made at this ting, and the most powerful man at this assembly was not the king, but the lawspeaker of Tiundaland. Locally important tings were the Westrogothic Ting of all Geats in Skara and the Ostrogothic Lionga ting in the vicinity of today's Linköping. Adam of Bremen's Birka In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church),[13] Adam of Bremen mentions Birka many times, and the book is the main source of information on the city. After its initial release in 1075/6, Gesta was complemented with supplementary Scholias until the death of Adam in the 1080s. Birca is described as an existing city in the original version, but then as destroyed in Scholia 138. One of Adam's main sources had been the German bishop Adalvard the Younger of Sigtuna and later of Skara as hinted in Scholia 119. He was also very familiar with Rimbert's work. Adam himself never visited Birka. Birka's location and port Adam described Birka as a Geatish port town and had gathered many details about it. Birka is the main Geatish town (oppidum Gothorum), situated in the middle of Sweden (Suevoniae), not far (non longe) from the temple called Uppsala (Ubsola) which the Swedes (Sueones) held in the highest esteem when it comes to the worship of the gods; here forms an inlet of the Baltic or the Barbaric Sea a port facing north which welcomes all the wild peoples all around this sea but which is risky for those who are careless or ignorant of such places ... they have therefore blocked this inlet of the troubled sea with hidden masses of rocks along more than 100 stadions (18 km). On this anchorage, being the best sheltered within the maritime region of Sweden (Suevoniae), all the ships belonging to Danes (Danorum) known as Norwegians (Nortmannorum) as well as to Slavs (Sclavorum), Sembrians (Semborum) and other Scythian (Scithiae) peoples use to convene every year for sundry necessary commerce. (I 62) Turning from the northern parts to the mouth of the Baltic Sea we first meet the Norwegians (Nortmanni), then the Danish region of Skåne (Sconia) stands out, and beyond these live the Geats (Gothi) for a long stretch all the way to Birka. (IV 14) Having described Västergötland and Skara, Adam writes: Beyond it Östergötland (Ostrogothia) extends along the sea, that is called the Baltic Sea, all the way to Birka. (IV 23) Noteworthy in the following statement is the usage of the term "not far" (non longe) which was also used to describe the distance between Birka and the Uppsala temple: Furthermore we have been told that there are many more islands in that sea, one of which is called the Great Estland (Aestland) -- And this island is told to be quite close to the Woman Land (terrae feminarum), which[14] is not far (non longe) away from Birka of the Swedes. (IV 17) Adam also had travel instructions from Skåne to Sigtuna: From Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes one reaches Sigtuna (Sictonam) or Birka after five days at sea, for they are indeed alike.[15] But by land from Skåne across the Geatish people (Gothorum populos) and cities Skara (Scaranem), Telgas and Birka, one reaches Sigtuna only after a full month. (IV 28) "Telgas" is not mentioned anywhere else, and it remains as speculative as Birka. The most popular identification among many telge names in Sweden is Södertälje.[16] Scholia 121 of IV 20 tells also: For those who sail from Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes to Birka, the journey takes five days, from Birka to Russia (Ruzziam) likewise five days at sea. (Scholia 121) The following definition remains even more mysterious: In pity of their errors, our archbishop ordained as their diocesan capital Birka, which is in the middle of Sweden (Sueoniae) facing Jumne (Iumnem), the capital of the Slavs, and equally distant from all the coasts of the surrounding sea. (IV 20) Since it is physically impossible for any Swedish town to face Jumne, the latter being situated along River Oder, Adam's statement is probably a misunderstanding. No place having a similar name to Birka is known to have situated on the opposite shore of Oder, so it may be possible that something similar to Jumne was located opposite to Birka. Bishop in Birka Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen that oversaw the missionary work in Scandinavia until 1103, had appointed bishops to Sweden at least from 1014 onwards, the first see being in Skara. Several bishops were appointed for Sweden in 1060s, one also for Birka. For Sweden, six were consecrated: Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardum) and Acilinum, also Adalvard the Younger (Adalwardum) and Tadicum, and furthermore Simeon (Symeonem) and the monk John (Iohannem). (III 70) Scholia 94 appends this as follows: Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardus senior) was to superintend both lands of the Geats (uterque praefectus est Gothiae), Adalvard the Younger Sigtuna (Sictunam) and Uppsala (Ubsalam), Simeon (Symon) the Sami people (Scritefingos), John (Iohannes) the islands of the Baltic Sea. (Scholia 94) Furthermore, the following was said about John's location after talking about Birka: For this city he ordained, as the first among our people, the abbot Hiltin, whom he wanted to call John. (IV 20) John seems to have been situated in Birka in order to prepare for the missionary work among the many heathen people that flooded to Birca from around the Baltic coasts. This was a logical continuation to Birka's position as the first missionary town in Sweden. Noteworthy here is that the biggest islands in the Baltic Sea, Öland and Gotland, were part of the diocese of Linköping in the Middle Ages, covering also Östergötland and eastern Småland. Location of Unni's tomb Scholia 122 of IV 20 locates the tomb of Hamburg's archbishop Unni in Birka: There is the port of Saint Ansgar and the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni, and a familiar haven, it is said, for the holy confessors of our diocese. (Scholia 122) According to Gesta, Unni had died in 936 (I 64).[17] Birka's destruction After having consistently described Birka as an existing city, Scholia 138 of IV 29 describes Birka's sudden demise. Talking about Adalvard the Younger, the bishop of Sigtuna and later that of Skara, Adam or a later copyist has written: During his journey he seized the opportunity to make a detour to Birka, which is now reduced to loneliness so that one can hardly find vestiges of the city; therefore impossible to come upon the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni. (Scholia 138) The remark does not make it clear if Adalvard found the city destroyed or if that had happened after his visit and the later remark was just to warn the future pilgrims not to go there anymore in vain. As Adalvard was back in Bremen already by 1069 and is mentioned as one of Adam's sources of information, it would have been expected that word about Birka's destruction had reached also Adam before he published his work half a decade later. Björkö archaeological site 1991 excavation in dark earth July 2004 excavation of Birka The exact location of Birca was also lost during the centuries, leading to speculation from Swedish historians. However, the island of Björkö was first claimed to have been Birka already about 1450 in the so-called "Chronicle of Sweden" (Prosaiska krönikan): And there were three capitals in Sweden two of which were not long away from Uppsala (vpsala). The one was called Sigtuna (siktuna) and the other Birka (birka). Birka was on an island in Lake Mälaren (mälar) that is called Björkö (birköö). The third was in Westgötaland (westergötlandh) and was called Skara (skara).[18] In search of Birka, National Antiquarian Johan Hadorph was the first to attempt excavations on Björkö in the late 17th century. In the late 19th century, Hjalmar Stolpe, an entomologist by education, arrived on Björkö to study fossilized insects found in amber on the island. Stolpe found very large amounts of amber on the island, which is unusual since amber is not normally found in lake Mälaren. Stolpe speculated that the island may have been an important trading post, prompting him to conduct a series of archeological excavations between 1871-95. The excavations soon indicated that a major settlement had been located on the island and eventually Stolpe spent two decades excavating the island. After Björkö came to be identified with ancient Birka, it has been assumed that the original name of Birka was simply Bierkø (sometimes spelt Bjärkö), an earlier form of Björkö. Ownership of Björkö is today mainly in private hands, and used for farming. The settlement site, however is an archaeological site, and a museum has been built nearby for exhibition of finds (mostly replicas), models and reconstructions. It is a popular site to visit during the summer times. The complete collection of archaeological finds from the excavations on Björkö are held by The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, and many of the artefacts are on display there. The archaeological remains are located in the north part of Björkö and span an area of about 7 hectares (17 acres). The remains are both burial-sites and buildings, and in the south part of this area, there is also a hill fort called "Borgen" ("The Fortress"). The construction technique of the buildings is still unknown, but the main material was wood. An adjacent island holds the remains of Hovgården, an estate which housed the King's retinue during visits. Approximately 700 people lived at Birka when it was at its largest, and about 3,000 graves have been found.[19] Its administrative center was supposedly located outside of the settlement itself, on the nearby island of Adelsö.[20] The most recent large excavation was undertaken between 1990-95 in a region of dark earth, believed to be the site of the main settlement. Björkö is today mainly agricultural, and shipping lines carry tourists to the island, where a museum showcases a view of life during the Viking era. 1. ^ a b c d Price, T. Douglas; Arcini, Caroline; Gustin, Ingrid; Drenzel, Leena; Kalmring, Sven (March 2018). "Isotopes and human burials at Viking Age Birka and the Mälaren region, east central Sweden". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 49: 19–38. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2017.10.002 – via Elsevier Science Direct. 2. ^ 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, article "Sweden". 3. ^ 4. ^ 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica. Article "Birca". 5. ^ Some of them being Linköping, Köpingsvik and even Saltvik in Åland. 6. ^ Harrison, Dick, Sveriges historia -- medeltiden (Falköping, 2002), p. 51 7. ^ Lindqvist, Herman. Historien om Sverige. Islossning till kungarike. 1996. See page 165. 8. ^ a b c Kent, Neil (2008-06-12). A Concise History of Sweden. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 9. ISBN 0-521-01227-9. 9. ^ 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica. Article "Birka". 10. ^ Vita Ansgarii. Translation in English. 11. ^ The Latin word vicus which Rimbert uses about Birka can also be translated as "market place" or "village". 12. ^ Scandinavian sources omit King Olof from the list of kings that reigned in Uppsala. 13. ^ Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum Archived 2005-02-07 at the Wayback Machine., online text in Latin. Note that Scholias at the end of the text are later supplements, possibly by Adam himself or copyists. English translation of Gesta is not available in public domain, and the translation of the selected parts is by Wikipedia editors. 14. ^ Note that Adam's words "cum illa superior" may also refer to Courland discussed in Chapter IV 16 just before Estland thus meaning that Birka was not far away from Courland. Compare with Rimbert's story about an attack to Courland, Vita Ansgari Chapter XXX. 15. ^ The word iuxta can also be translated "close by". 16. ^ Assuming Birka and Björkö settlement were the same, Adam's travel instructions were latest from the 10th century when Björkö settlement still existed. Södertälje is mentioned as "Tælgia" etc in medieval sources. Gesta excluded, it is mentioned for the first time in 1281. However, it is considered possible that Södertälje was already established in the 11th century, but dating the city to be contemporary to the Björkö settlement is unlikely. 17. ^ Unni's head was taken to the Bremen Cathedral where it still today is. Date 17.9.936 is written in the lead plate attached to the saint's skull. Lindqvist, Herman. Historien om Sverige, 1992. ISBN 91-1-931502-3. See page 226. 18. ^ Prosaiska krönikan. Original text. Translation in English is by Wikipedia editors. 19. ^ Ambrosiani, Björn, Birka, in: Pulsiano, Phillip (ed.), Madieval Scandinavia. An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, New York / London 1993, 43 20. ^ Helle, Knut (2003). The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, Issue 1. Cambridge University Press. External links • Birka and Hovgården at the Swedish National Heritage Board • Birka and Hovgården - at UNESCO • Reconstructions of Bone Flutes like the ones from Birka • The Swedish History Museum Retrieved from "" This content was retrieved from Wikipedia : This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article "Birka"; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA
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This way the pokerroom have no duplicate accounts on you! ★3★ Why the h*ll is it free? From site: A lot of people always wonder why we offer this service without wanting a membership fee. The reason is quite simple. We are working together with our partner sites (the biggest online poker rooms in the internet). To benefit from our content, coaching videos and other poker education materials you have to register at our partner sites with our bonus code. With that bonus code, the poker room recognizes that we brought a new player to their system. ★4★ What is rake? (And how does the site make profit?) This is the fee the poker rooms charge players. Most often, it is a percentage of the pot. For example, many poker rooms will take 5% of the pot up to $3 as a fee for hosting the game. You have to pay rake at every online poker room or even offline casions.Important: A PokerStrategy member pays the same rake like everybody else. So don't think you have to pay a higher fee just because you registered with our bonus code. It is the other way round. You have to pay the rake anyway. But by playing with our bonus code you will get something in return, in the form of articles, live coaching, coaching videos, Poker software and our sample hand boards. So our income is a part of your rake. Note: It is important to understand that we don't benefit a lot from you, as a player, if you don't improve your game (playing higher limits). We can only profit from our players if they get better. ★5★ Isn't this system abuseable? Sometimes the pokerschool will ask for a scanned picture of your ID, because let's say you and your brother want to make an account. They want to prevent a single person from making more then 1 account. The school will notice that your request and your brothers came from the same IP, so they will ask you to identify both accounts, to make sure u aren't trying to cheat the system. ID checks can be asked on random basis to. (it doesnt necessarily mean they became suspicious about your account) ★6★ Why are you doing this? (this isn't a question you get a lot in FAQ, isn't it?! Im just honest :) ) Because i'm trying to build the community (and get referal points). It's 1 of the only sites that gives 50$ away for free without having to deposit or getting spyware or other bullsht. I was a little sceptical in the beginning to. Who would believe you if you said you got 50$ for free? Nobody! That's why I made this large post with any question you could think about. Note I am not the admin of the site, just a member. Got any question? Pm me and I'll try to answer it and if its a good 1 I'll put it up here. 14-01-2010 om 00:00 geschreven door deamon » Reageer (0) Blog tegen de wet? Klik hier. Gratis blog op -, eenvoudig, gratis en snel jouw eigen blog!
Why are my sales lines "locked?" Latest update: - Admin When working on the sell screen, you may sometimes see items on the sale that are 'locked'. These locked line items will have a small padlock icon on the right of the sales line, making them uneditable. A line item may be locked like this for one of two reasons: Firstly, if you process a layby or on-account sale and reopen this sale at a later date, the line items from the original sale will be locked. You can add new items, complete the sale or void it BUT you cannot remove any locked items from the sale. The second reason a line item may be locked is if it has been added to the sale automatically as a "confirmed" transaction in order to prevent any further adjustments. This only occurs if your store has a custom-built integration using our API. If you are not sure if your store has a custom integration, ask your store manager or owner. Powered by Zendesk
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Photo Credit: Neil Palmer / CIAT Capturing the heterogeneity of VoP (Value of Production) across sub-Saharan Africa in a spatially explicit way is another example of what we do at HarvestChoice. Because informed decision making in agricultural development doesn't just rely on knowledge of important indicators, but a geographical context of where. It is sometimes necessary to compare the productivity of agricultural areas across countries and regions without having to consider different standards of living or inherent differences between the crops grown in the various regions. By using an international price as the aggregating element, the confusion or “noise” caused by the predominance of heavy crops (e.g., large fruits or tubers vs. grains), for example, or the lower cost of living in certain areas can be eliminated. Thus, value of production (VoP) measures farm gate production in monetary terms and is calculated at various levels (e.g., pixel) and for various crops and crop combinations. VoP Methodology and Data Sources The underlying methodology is the same for all pixels no matter the geography or crops. First, calculate VoP for each pixel (grid cell of about 9 ,000 ha) by multiplying the production of each crop by its international price. Then add the values together for all crops in each pixel. Finally, scale pixels to the total VoP reported by FAO for each country. For each pixel the source of crop production data is SPAM2005, measured in metric tonnes. As just mentioned, the VoP for a crop can be found at the country level from FAOSTAT. The international price of the crop, measured in PPP $ (2005), is calculated by dividing the VoP of that crop by the quantity produced. Now we can calculate VoP per pixel as described in the previous paragraph. By only adding crops which are considered food-crops, one can calculate the value of production per pixel for foodstuff only. Of course the same applies to non-food items. Land Productivity: Translating Agricultural Land into Monetary Units A further important measure is land productivity (Int $ / ha), which is the VoP per pixel divided by the area harvested for all crops in that pixel. This figure can be used to represent the overall status of agricultural and rural development, and implicitly includes farmer ‘know-how’, input use in agriculture, and the conditions of the local environment, among others. SPAM2005 also delivers the numbers for area harvested for each crop in each pixel, measured in hectares. Just like total VoP, land productivity can be calculated for food and non-food crops alike. Labor Productivity: Not Yet Ready for Pixels Labor productivity is also an important measure in a country’s economy. Unfortunately so far we do not have estimates of agricultural labor in each pixel for crops only (excluding labor for animal husbandry), therefore this measure will have to wait for more data. So far we have calculated and scaled to FAOSTAT 2005: • Overall value of production per cell (all crops in a cell, production x price) • Overall land productivity per cell (all crops in a cell, production x price / area-harvested) • Value of production of food crops per cell (food crops in a cell, production x price) • Land productivity of food crops per cell (food crops in a cell, production * price / area-harvested) • Value of production of non-food crops per cell (as above, for non-food crops) • Land productivity of non-food crops per cell (as above, for non-food crops) See below for list of food and non-food** crops. The following were included as food crops: wheat, rice, maize, barley, pearl millet, small millets, sorghum, other cereals, potato, sweet potato, yam, cassava, other roots and tubers, dry bean, chickpea, cowpea, pigeon pea, lentil, other pulses, soybean, groundnut, coconut, banana, plantain, tropical fruits, temperate fruits, and vegetables *The non-food crops are the remaining SPAM2005 crops: oil palm, sunflower, rapeseed, sesame seed, other oil crops, sugar cane, sugar beet, cotton, other fibers, arabica coffee, robusta coffee, cocoa, tea, tobacco, and other crops. HarvestChoice, 2014. "Measuring the Value of Farm Gate Production, Pixel by Pixel." International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC., and University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. Available online at Jul 16, 2014
A Few Questions for Kim Davis (and Mike Huckabee, and Ted Cruz) Is jail really as whimsical as it seems on Orange Is the New Black? Getty Images So. Kim Davis is out of jail now. Judge Bunning is satisfied that her office will hereafter be "fulfilling its obligation to issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples." But Davis says she still won't issue marriage licenses to all legally eligible couples, and her lawyer, Mat Staver, seemed to indicate that she won't allow her deputies to, either. So… Now what? Who won? Did Kim Davis actually take the stage to the tune of Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" from Rocky III or did I pass out and has David Wain started directing my dreams? Mike Huckabee magnanimously offered to make this whole thing about himself by going to jail in her place. When do you think he thought that up? On a scale of 1-to-10, how furious is he that he didn't get to yell that into a microphone until after she'd been freed? Does Huckabee have a history of doing this? Like, when Angus T. Jones tried to get out of his Two and a Half Men contract because the show violated his religious beliefs, did Huckabee offer to take over his role for the last two seasons? Is it weird that I would watch that show? Mike Huckabee put the rally together, and it's obvious that he's milking this for all it's worth to move up a point or two. But couldn't he have put the race aside for a moment and given Ted Cruz a little stage time? Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and Huckabee can't even let another guy in his own political party hop on stage and wave for two seconds? Cold. What is Christianity to a Mike Huckabee? Is it 100 percent about where the genitals go? Did anyone else catch that sign that said THE RAINBOW IS A SIGN OF GOD'S WRATH? Listen: it's a big world, and there is plenty of room for a variety of opinions and viewpoints, but how twisted do you have to be to see anger and judgment in a fucking rainbow? A lot of the speakers mentioned that the Supreme Court marriage equality decision was 5-4. Would Kim Davis have refused to issue marriage licenses if the decision had been unanimous? What if it had been passed by popular vote? Would her conscience have prevented her then? Is she—are they—protesting marriage equality, or the judicial branch of our government? Do they even know? Seriously, how pissed is Ted Cruz? How do we know Kim Davis' religious liberty is not at risk? Because she privately gets to believe whatever she wants to, whenever she wants to. When she is told she'd have to do the job the taxpayers of Rowan County pay her to do or go to jail, she chooses jail, and the entire fucking world shuts down. Two presidential hopefuls from one of our country's two major political parties go down to hold her hand. And then the judge asks her if she'll change her mind, and she says "Maybe," and the judge says "Good enough for me," and throws the door open and out she goes into a future of speaking engagements and ghost-written best-sellers and crowdsourced mad money. That's America, 2015. How long before we're all back here again? Advertisement - Continue Reading Below More From News
Chap. XII. A Digression concerning Blackness. THERE being therefore two opinions repugnant unto each other, it may not be presumptive or skeptical to doubt of both. And because we remain imperfect in the general Theory of colours, we shall deliver at present a short discovery of blackness; wherein although perhaps we afford no greater satisfaction then others, yet shall we Emperically and sensibly discourse hereof; deducing the causes of Blackness from such Originals in nature, as we do generally observe things are denigrated by Art. And herein I hope our progression will not be thought unreasonable, for Art being the imitation of Nature, or Nature at the second hand: it is but a sensible expression of effects dependant on the same, though more removed causes: and therefore the works of the one may serve to discover the other. And though colours of bodies may arise according to the receptions, refraction, or modification of Light; yet are there certain materialls which may dispose them unto such qualities. And first, Things become black by a sootish and fuliginous matter proceeding from the Sulphur of bodies torrified; not taking fuligo strictly,[1] but in opposition unto ἀτμὶς, that is any kind of vaporous or madefying excretion; and comprehending ἀναθυμίασις, that is as Aristotle defines it, a separation of moist and dry parts made by the action of heat or fire, and colouring bodies objected. Hereof in his Meteors, from the qualities of the subject he raiseth three kinds; the exhalations from ligneous and lean bodies, as bones, hair, and the like he calleth κάπνος, fumus, from fat bodies, and such as have not their fatness conspicuous or separated he termeth λίγνυς, fuligo, as wax, rosin, pitch, or turpentine; that from unctuous bodies, and such whose oyliness is evident, he nameth κνίσσα or nidor. Now every one of these do black bodies objected unto them, and are to be conceived in the sooty and fuliginous matter expressed. I say, proceeding from the sulphur of bodies torrified, that is the oylie, fat, and unctuous parts wherein consist the principles of flammability. Not pure and refined sulphur, as in the Spirits of wine often rectified; but containing terrestrious parts, and carrying with it the volatile salt of the body, and such as is distinguishable by taste in soot; nor vulgar and usual sulphur, for that leaves none or very little blackness, except a metalline body receive the exhalation. I say, torrified, sindged, or suffering some impression from fire; thus are bodies casually or artificially denigrated, which in their naturals are of another complexion; thus are Charcoals made black by an infection of their own suffitus,[2] so is it true what is affirmed of combustible bodies. Adusta nigra, perusta alba; black at first from the fuliginous tincture, which being exhaled they become white, as is perceptible in ashes. And so doth fire cleanse and purifie bodies, which will never be mundified[3] by water. Thus Camphire of a white substance, by its fuligo affordeth a deep black. So is pitch black, although it proceed from the same tree with Rosin, the one distilling forth, the other forced by fire. So of the suffitus of a torch, do Painters make a velvet black: so is lamp-black made: so of burnt Harts-horn a sable; so is Bacon denigrated in chimnies: so in Feavers and hot distempers from choler adust is caused a blackness in our tongues, teeth and excretions: so are ustilago,[4] brant[5] corn and trees black by blasting; so parts cauterized, gangrenated, siderated and mortified, become black, the radical moisture, or vital sulphur suffering an extinction, and smothered in the part affected. So not only actual but potential fire: not burning fire, but also corroding water will induce a blackness. So are Chimnies and Furnaces generally black, except they receive a clear and manifest sulphur: for the smoak of sulphur will not black a paper, and is commonly used by women to whiten Tiffanies,[6] which it performeth by an acide vitriolous, and penetrating spirit ascending from it, by reason whereof it is not apt to kindle any thing nor will it easily light a Candle, untill that spirit be spent, and the flame approacheth the match. This is that acide and piercing spirit which with such activity and compunction invadeth the brains and nostrils of those that receive it. And thus when Bellonius affirmeth that Charcoals made out of the wood of Oxycedar are white, Dr. Jordan in his judicious Discourse of mineral waters yeeldeth the reason, because their vapours are rather sulphureous then of any other combustible substance. So we see that Tinby coals will not black linnen being hanged in the smoak thereof, but rather whiten it, by reason of the drying and penetrating quality of sulphur, which will make red Roses white. And therefore to conceive a general blackness in Hell,[7] and yet therein the pure and refined flames of sulphur, is no Philosophical conception, nor will it well consist with the real effects of its nature. These are the advenient and artificial wayes of denigration, answerably whereto may be the natural progress. These are the wayes wherby culinary and common fires do operate, and correspondent hereunto may be the effects of fire elemental. So may Bitumen, Coals, Jet, Black-lead, and divers mineral earths become black; being either fuliginous concretions in the earth, or suffering a scorch from denigrating Principles in their formation. So men and other animals receive different tinctures from constitution and complexional efflorescences, and descend still lower, as they partake of the fuliginous and denigrating humor. And so may the Æthiopians or Negroes become coal-black, from fuliginous efflorescences and complexional tinctures arising from such probabilities, as we have declared before. The second way whereby bodies become black, is an Atramentous condition or mixture, that is a vitriolate or copperose[8] quality conjoyning with a terrestrious and astringent humidity; for so is Atramentum Scriptorium, or writing Ink commonly made by copperose cast upon a decoction or infusion of galls. I say a vitriolous or copperous quality; for vitriol is the active or chief ingredient in Ink, and no other salt that I know will strike the colour with galls; neither Alom, Sal-gem, Nitre, nor Armoniack. Now artificial copperose, and such as we commonly use, is a rough and acrimonious kind of salt drawn out of ferreous and eruginous earths, partaking chiefly of Iron and Copper; the blew of copper, the green most of Iron: Nor is it unusual to dissolve fragments of Iron in the liquor thereof, for advantage in the concretion. I say, a terrestrious or astringent humidity; for without this there will ensue no tincture; for Copperose in a decoction of Lettuce or Mallows affords no black, which with an astringent mixture it will do, although it be made up with oyl, as in printing[9] and painting Ink. But whereas in this composition we use only Nut-gals, that is an excrescence from the Oak, therein we follow and beat upon the old receit; for any plant of austere and stiptick parts will suffice, as I have experimented in Bistorte, Myrobolans, Myrtus Brabantica, Balaustium, and Red-roses.[10] And indeed, most decoctions of astringent plants, of what colour soever, do leave in the Liquor a deep and Muscadine red: which by addition of vitriol descends into a black: and so Dioscorides in his receit of Ink, leaves out gall, and with copperose makes use of soot.[11] Now if we inquire in what part of vitriol this Atramental and denigrating condition lodgeth, it will seem especially to lie in the more fixed salt thereof; For the phlegm or aqueous evaporation will not denigrate; nor yet spirits of vitriol, which carry with them volatile and nimbler Salt: For if upon a decoction of Copperose and gall, be poured the spirits or oyl of vitriol, the liquor will relinquish his blackness; the gall and parts of the copperose precipitate unto the bottom, and the Ink grow clear again; which it will not so easily do in common Ink, because that gum is dissolved therein, which hindereth the separation. But Colcothar or vitriol burnt, though unto a redness containing the fixed salt, will make good Ink, and so will the Lixivium, or Lye made thereof with warm water; but the Terra or Insipid earth remaining, affords no black at all, but serves in many things for a gross and useful red. And though Spirits of vitriol, projected upon a decoction of gals, will not raise a black, yet if these spirits be any way fixed, or return into vitriol again, the same will act their former parts and denigrate as before. And if we yet make a more exact enquiry, by what this salt of vitriol more peculiarly gives this colour, we shall find it to be from a metalline condition, and especially an Iron Property or ferreous participation. For blew Copperose which deeply partakes of the copper will do it but weakly; Verdigrise which is made of Copper will not do it at all, But the filings of Iron infused in vinegar, will with a decoction of gals make good Ink, without any copperose at all; and so will infusion of Load-stone; which is of affinity with Iron. And though more conspicuously in Iron, yet such a Calcanthous or Atramentous quality, we will not wholly reject in other metals; whereby we often observe black tinctures in their solutions. Thus a Lemmon, Quince or sharp Apple cut with a knife becomes immediatly black: And from the like cause, Artichokes; so sublimate beat up with whites of Eggs, if touched with a knife, becomes immediately black. So Aqua fortis, whose ingredient is vitriol, will make white bodies black. So leather dressed with the bark of Oak, is easily made black by a bare solution of Copperose. So divers Mineral waters and such as participate of Iron, upon an infusion of gals, become of a dark colour, and entering upon black. So steel infused, makes not only the liquor duskie, but in bodies wherein it concurs with proportionable tinctures makes also the excretions black. And so also from this vitriolous quality Mercurius dulcis, and vitriol vomitive occasion black ejections. But whether this denigrating quality in Copperose proceedeth from an Iron participation, or rather in Iron from a vitriolous communication; or whether black tinctures from metallical bodies be not from vitriolous parts contained in their sulphur, since common sulphur containeth also much vitriol, may admit consideration. However in this way of tincture, it seemeth plain, that Iron and Vitriol are the powerful Denigrators. Such a condition there is naturally in some living creatures. Thus that black humor by Aristotle named θολός, , and commonly translated Atramentum, may be occasioned in the Cuttle-fish. Such a condition there is naturally in some Plants, as Black-berries, Walnut-rinds, Black-cherries; whereby they extinguish inflamations, corroborate the stomack, and are esteemed specifical in the Epilepsie. Such an atramentous condition there is to be found sometime in the blood, when that which some call Acetum, others Vitriolum, concurs with parts prepared for this tincture. And so from these conditions the Moors might possibly become Negroes, receiving Atramentous impressions in some of these wayes, whose possibility is by us declared. Nor is it strange that we affirm there are vitriolous parts, qualities, and even at some distance Vitriol it self in living bodies; for there is a sower stiptick salt diffused through the Earth, which passing a concoction in plants, becometh milder and more agreeable unto the sence, and this is that vegitable vitriol, whereby divers plants contain a gratefull sharpness, as Lemmons, Pomegranats, Cherries, or an austere and inconcocted roughness, as Sloes, Medlars and Quinces. And that not only vitriol is a cause of blackness, but that the salts of natural bodies do carry a powerful stroke in the tincture and vernish of all things, we shall not deny, if we contradict not experience, and the visible art of Dyars; who advance and graduate their colours with Salts. For the decoctions of simples which bear the visible colours of bodies decocted, are dead and evanid, without the commixture of Alum, Argol, and the like. And this is also apparent in Chymical preparations. So Cinaber becomes red by the acide exhalation of sulphur, which otherwise presents a pure and niveous white. So spirits of Salt upon a blew paper make an orient red. So Tartar or vitriol upon an infusion of violets affords a delightfull crimson. Thus it is wonderful what variety of colours the spirits of Saltpeter, and especially, if they be kept in a glass while they pierce the sides thereof; I say, what Orient greens they will project: from the like spirits in the earth the plants thereof perhaps acquire their verdure. And from such salary irradiations may those wondrous varieties arise, which are observable in Animals, as Mallards heads, and Peacoks feathers, receiving intention or alteration according as they are presented unto the light. Thus Saltpeter, Ammoniack and Mineral Spirits emit delectable and various colours; and common Aqua fortis will in some green and narrow mouthed glasses, about the verges thereof, send forth a deep and Gentianella blew. Thus have we at last drawn our conjectures unto a period; wherein if our contemplations afford no satisfaction unto others, I hope our attempts will bring no condemnation in our selves (for besides that adventures in knowledge are laudable, and the assayes of weaker heads afford oftentimes improveable hints unto better), although in this long journey we miss the intended end; yet are there many things of truth disclosed by the way: and the collaterall verity, may unto reasonable speculations some what requite the capital indiscovery. * [My or others' notes are in square brackets]; Browne's marginalia is unmarked; {passages or notes from unpublished material by Browne is in curly braces}. Ross, Arcana Microcosmi II.14 answers part of this chapter, asserting (1) God isn't bound by philosophical considerations (that is, if he wants black to be white, it is); and (2) Browne's experiments with burning sulfur were not correct. 1 [That is, not literally "ashy".] 2 [Fumes or exhalations.] 3 [Cleansed.] 4 [The fungal disease on barley, oats and other grains that is usually called "smut".] 5 [Blighted; from its appearance (brand or burnt)] 6 [A thin silk, muslin, or lawn.] 7 [St. Thomas Aquinas discusses with the darkness of hell (Summa Supplement 97,4); whether this is what Browne means by "blackness" here admits of doubt.] 8 [Copperas, any protosulphate of copper.] 9 [Wren: There is no copper-rust in printing-ink, which is made of lamp black and oyle.] 10 [Bistorte, Polygonum bistorta, also called Osterick, Oderwort, Snakeweed, Adderwort; its root is twisted (hence the name) and red on the inside. Myrobalans, the fruits of various species of Terminalia, used in dying. Myrtus Brabantica, bog myrtle, sweet gale (Myrica gale). Balaustium, wild pomegranate.] 11 [Wren: But he meant torche or lamp soot.] This page is dedicated to the memory of Boo the Cat. Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional
Zimbabwe 'is ruined' says US envoy \| News \| Al Jazeera Zimbabwe 'is ruined' says US envoy Robert Mugabe must go before Zimbabwe becomes a "failed state," diplomat says. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 [File: EPA] The 84-year-old president's party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been in deadlock over a power-sharing deal since September as the economic and humanitarian situation has deteriorated. More than 1,000 people have died in a cholera epidemic exacerbated by a devastated health care system and poor sanitation. 'Basically unbearable' Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Bindura where the Zanu-PF conference was being held, said "things are basically unbearable" for the majority of people in Zimbabwe. If you don't have the US dollar you can't buy basic products in the supermarkets ... the Zimbabwe currency is pretty much worthless," she said. Mutasa said that Mugabe remained defiant despite the widespread international criticism. "He is blaming the United Kingdom, he is blaming the United States, he is blaming Western nations for Zimbabwe's problems," she said. Cholera crisis More than 20,000 suspected cases of cholera have been reported in the impoverished nation since the epidemic began in August, according to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. More than 1,100 people have died across the country with Harare, the capital, hardest hit with 224 people killed by the disease and more than 9,000 believed to be suffering it. 'Grave crisis' Oxfam said it was preparing to "substantially" scale-up its work in Zimbabwe, where it is providing food, water purification tables and soap to one million people. "The rapid deterioration of the situation in Zimbabwe makes this an extremely grave humanitarian crisis which could deteriorate even further in 2009," Jane Cocking, Oxfam humanitarian director, said. "While the international community battles for a political solution in the country, millions of Zimbabweans are going hungry." Mugabe has blamed the West for the cholera outbreak accusing Britain and the US of using "biological weapons". He has frequently attacked the West, including Britain, the former colonial ruler, accusing it of seeking to overthrow him and causing the the country's woes through sanctions. SOURCE: Agencies How different voting systems work around the world How different voting systems work around the world How Moscow lost Riyadh in 1938 How Moscow lost Riyadh in 1938 The great plunder: Nepal's stolen treasures The great plunder: Nepal's stolen treasures
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Sunday, March 19, 2006 3 Years of War 2318 dead March 19, 2003-March 19, 2006 As I ate breakfast yesterday morning, eggs, bacon, french toast, I sipped from a glass of iced tea, the new york kind which always comes unsweetened, I was looking through the Daily News. I usually leave the Times for the internets. So as I ate, and watched a three year old tell her grandmother about her "breasteses", I read the paper. Not too far in the paper was a story about an incident in a Queens school. It seems a parent ran into a kid who was bullying his son. He grabbed him up and told him to leave the kid alone. Nothing too weird for New York. Until.....he pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot the child if he messed with his son again. Which even in New York, is insane. The man ran off and then turned himself in at the local precinct. OK. So why am I telling you about this story? I normally post these things on my blog, but this isn't a local interest story. The man was an ICE criminal investigator who had spent a year in Iraq with the 69th Infantry as a staff sergeant. The NY Post reported today that he'd had nightmares and looked for help for months. They lost 19 dead, eight in one week. The Oregonian is running a series on vets with PTSD. A national guardsman flipped out and was arrested in front of his children. He needed his gun and his wife wouldn't give it to him. He also needed help, and he didn't get that either. His life after Iraq went from bad to worse to jail. One out of every six Iraq war veterans will suffer some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of it may not show for years. From the day we crossed the Iraqi frontier, the war has been ongoing. There has never been a day of peace. All of the progress, elections, an Iraqi Army has been illusory. Because the fact is that the day we entered Baghdad, we undid a century's worth of work. Between the Ottomans, the British and various Iraqi dictators, their twin goals have been to control the Kurds and supress the Shia. Well, George Bush undid that. He guaranteed, from the first Humvee which crossed the frontier, that a civil war would eventually result. Ken Pollack, who's godawful dung pile of a book, the Threatening Storm, ramped up support for the war among people who should have known better, never once, ever, considered the strategic issues of Iraq. Saddam had a 12,000 man personal bodyguard for a reason. There wasn't a day where he couldn't have been killed. The Kurds had fought the Iraqi government since the mid-1960's, the Shia rose in 1991. Why did the neocons think these people wanted a unified Iraq? Dick Cheney said his statement about the US being greeted as liberators was true. Sure, if you argue the French liberated Mexico in 1863. Otherwise, we have unleashed an apocalypse on Iraq, maybe up to 250,000 dead. Bush is still blathering about democracy, like it's magic or something. Well, Iraqi "democracy" has unleashed death squads, and created a parliment which cannot work with each other. After centuries of oppression, the Kurds want a country and the Shia want to run Iraq. Bit of a problem there. Except that the Shia have a friend in Iran and the Kurds have nothing but enemies. The ability of the US Army, ground down by years of constant deployments and combat, to fight has been degraded to the point that there is real worry that the Army could collapse like it did in the 1970's. The equipment has already been ground down to the point of major refitting. When Bush is talking about victory, if that victory is an orderly, low violence Iraq, he's dreaming. That isn't going to happen. The only victory which we might get is most of the Army escaping to Kuwait. All this talk of years of occupation and permanent bases is nonsense. Our end in Iraq will come quickly, completely and without much warning.
As an application developer I want to spend my time on my macbook because it has (in my opinion) a preferable interface to any other development environment. As a hardware enthusiast and operating system hacker I want to remain in that environment, but often the tools required are not pre-configured or just simply not available on OS X. While customizing android on various boards, most recently the Wandboard, I’ve found some nice tricks and workarounds to get builds running in OS X. Here I’m going to detail the modifications my environment needed to get a standard build completed for the Wandboard Quad (Rev. B1), however most of these steps apply to building android on other Freescale i.MX6 based devices as their android source trees are based on the Freescale release. Set up a case sensitive file system By default the filesystem in OS X is case-insensitive and thus poses problems for some case-sensitive portions of the build (the ext family of filesystems is case-sensitive). To get around this you could reformat your hard disk and reinstall OS X, but that would be a pain and theres a better option. hdiutil is a utility that allows you to create and mount virtual file systems. Before you clone the android source, create a case sensitive filesystem and mount it. # create the filesystem image $ hdiutil create -type SPARSE -fs 'Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+' -size 60g -volname <name-of-volume> <path-to-filesystem-image> # mount it, by default the mount point is /Volumes/<name-of-volume> $ hdiutil attach <path-to-filesystem-image> Install required packages OS X is a unix-like operating system, however it has its own flavor. Mostly that flavor is BSD, with some proprietary Apple stuff thrown into the mix. This can cause some issues when building the Linux kernel because certain system utilities behave differently than expected, and Linux has no official OS X build support (that I know of at least…). To fix the issue we can use homebrew to install the coreutils package, which includes a collection of GNU utilities. $ brew install coreutils OS X also ships with a general incompatibility with the ext family of filesystems, as they are FUSE (Filesystem in USErspace) filesystems. To solve this problem, at least to a certain extent, we can install osxfuse and fuse-ext2. osxfuse is a FUSE kernel extension/library for OS X, and fuse-ext2 is a set of tools made to mimic the ext tools available on Linux systems. Refer to each projects documentation for installation and usage instructions. Install repo, initialize the build directory, and pull down the source tree The easiest way to install repo is using homebrew. $ brew install repo If you’ve built android before and know your way around repo and the build system, you can skip the next few sections and just initialize from a manifest I’ve created to support OS X builds. $ repo init -u -b jb4.3_1.1.0-ga__wandboard_osx The steps to build should be the same as any other AOSP build, but the deployment is a bit different. Skip down to Deploying to a microSD card for deployment instructions. for those who want the whole scoop Now from your case-sensitive build directory initialize repo against the Wandboard manifest. $ repo init -u -b jb4.3_1.1.0-ga__wandboard Here is where we make our first modification to something under source control. Note that changes to the source code will have to be pushed somewhere if you want to share them or store a backup. Any time you customize android you’re bound to end up with at minimum a handful of repositories to keep track of yourself. We need to edit the manifest file located at .repo/manifests/wandboard-jb4.3.xml. (Note: All paths referenced will be relative to the root of the build directory) The reason we’re editing the manifest is to get a single manifest for our project. People will often initialize repo with one manifest, sync, and then replace the manifest and sync again to get their own modified source trees. Instead we’ll be very explicit that anything in this manifest that does not have the specified remote as ‘wandboard’ will default to being fetched from Googles public android source trees. The diff of the change is shown below. diff --git a/wandboard-jb4.3.xml b/wandboard-jb4.3.xml index 5972d9c..f722137 100644 --- a/wandboard-jb4.3.xml +++ b/wandboard-jb4.3.xml @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ <remote name="aosp" - fetch=".." /> + fetch="" /> <default revision="refs/tags/android-4.3_r2.1" sync-j="4" /> With this change saved you can pull down the sources using repo sync -c -j8. The -c option only pulls down the git refs needed for branch you’re building on for each repo, making the sync faster. -jN is how you specify how many repos you want syncing concurrently. Remove breaking packages we don’t need OS X has no build support for the tools around ubifs. It sucks, but for now its the way things are. There is some consolation though… we don’t care about ubifs. We’re going to boot android from the main MMC 0 micro sd slot, and we’re going to use only FAT32 and ext4 filesystems. The first thing to do is remove the ubifs related packages from device/fsl/imx6/ diff --git a/imx6/ b/imx6/ index 044d019..46e2649 100644 --- a/imx6/ +++ b/imx6/ @@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ omx_excluded_libs := \ PRODUCT_PACKAGES += $(omx_libs) $(omx_excluded_libs) -PRODUCT_PACKAGES += libubi ubinize ubiformat ubiattach ubidetach ubiupdatevol ubimkvol ubinfo mkfs.ubifs +# PRODUCT_PACKAGES += libubi ubinize ubiformat ubiattach ubidetach ubiupdatevol ubimkvol ubinfo mkfs.ubifs # FUSE based emulated sdcard daemon The other edit we have to make to fully remove the ubifs stuff from the build is in another makefile. You only have to make this edit if you’re going to be running an engineering build, which if you’re hacking android it’s likely what you intend to do. Heres the diff of the other edit in external/mtd-utils/new-utils/ diff --git a/new-utils/ b/new-utils/ index 59b8286..88adb6f 100644 --- a/new-utils/ +++ b/new-utils/ @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ LOCAL_C_INCLUDES += $(LOCAL_PATH)/include LOCAL_MODULE := ubinize +LOCAL_MODULE_TAGS := optional Edit the build system The section of the build system that generates u-boot and the linux kernel makes an assumption that you are compiling from a linux platform. We need to add some conditionals to make sure we’re selecting the darwin host toolchain. We also need to account for flags that are passed to the install command, as the BSD-based implementation native to OS X differs slightly from the GNU implementation that is standard on linux distributions. The bootloader target Checking to see which host we’re building from is easy using the uname command, which will return ‘Linux’ or ‘Darwin’. We then set the variables BOOTLOADER_CROSS_TOOLCHAIN and HOST_PROCESSOR accordingly. In the case of a linux build (if you’re trying not to break it…) you need to add an INSTALL_FLAGS variable and set it to -D which tells install to create directories if needed. The last step is to replace the existing flags being passed to install with the INSTALL_FLAGS variable. The diff below shows the changes needed to complete the build, but it also includes a few changes I made as a preference. When my full build completes I want my bootloader, kernel, and other contents of the boot partition to be in a sub-directory of the PRODUCT_OUT path, namely out/target/product/wandboard/boot. Because of this I changed TARGET_BOOTLOADER_IMAGE to reflect the location I want. In the same vein I added a call to install to copy the SPL into our boot directory. Lastly I had to add a call to mkdir as the BSD-flavor install does not make directories for you. diff --git a/core/Makefile b/core/Makefile index 3ac2967..d98c20a 100644 --- a/core/Makefile +++ b/core/Makefile @@ -739,25 +739,35 @@ endif .PHONY: bootloader ifneq ($(strip $(TARGET_BOOTLOADER_CONFIG)),) +ifeq ($(shell uname -s), Linux) BOOTLOADER_CROSS_TOOLCHAIN := `pwd`/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/arm/arm-eabi-4.6/bin/arm-eabi- HOST_PROCESSOR := $(shell cat /proc/cpuinfo \| grep processor \| wc -l) +ifeq ($(shell uname -s), Darwin) +BOOTLOADER_CROSS_TOOLCHAIN := `pwd`/prebuilts/gcc/darwin-x86/arm/arm-eabi-4.6/bin/arm-eabi- +HOST_PROCESSOR := $(shell sysctl -n hw.ncpu) BOOTLOADER_PATH := bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/ + mkdir -p $(PRODUCT_OUT)/boot @for ubootplat in $(TARGET_BOOTLOADER_CONFIG); do \ UBOOT_PLATFORM=`echo $$ubootplat \| cut -d':' -f1`; \ UBOOT_CONFIG=`echo $$ubootplat \| cut -d':' -f2`; \ - $(MAKE) -C bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/ distclean $(BOOTLOADER_ENV); \ - $(MAKE) -C bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/ $$UBOOT_CONFIG $(BOOTLOADER_ENV); \ - $(MAKE) -C bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/ $(BOOTLOADER_ENV); \ - install -D bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/u-boot.bin $(PRODUCT_OUT)/u-boot-$$UBOOT_PLATFORM.bin; \ - install -D bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/u-boot.bin $@; \ + $(MAKE) -C $(BOOTLOADER_PATH) distclean $(BOOTLOADER_ENV); \ + $(MAKE) -C $(BOOTLOADER_PATH) $(BOOTLOADER_ENV); \ + install $(INSTALL_FLAGS) $(BOOTLOADER_PATH)/u-boot.img $(TARGET_BOOTLOADER_IMAGE); \ + install $(INSTALL_FLAGS) $(BOOTLOADER_PATH)/SPL $(PRODUCT_OUT)/boot/SPL; \ The kernelimage target Here we want to make changes that are either analogous or identical to the ones we made for the bootloader target. The conditional statements that check uname and their contents are essentially the same, we just replace the variable name BOOTLOADER_CROSS_TOOLCHAIN with KERNEL_CROSS_TOOLCHAIN. The change for the install flags is also identical, and in the same way we updated the TARGET_BOOTLOADER_IMAGE variable we now update the TARGET_PREBUILT_KERNEL and INSTALLED_KERNEL_TARGET paths to represent the location in our new boot folder. In addition to those changes I have removed the regular kernel target, because I’m simply not using it. Our bootloader is set up to load and execute a uImage file, so I only want to copy that file into my boot directory. The last and possibly most important change shown in the diff below prepends a location to our PATH when executing the command that will actually build our kernel. After some painful debugging it was made apparent that the BSD implementation of stat and the GNU implementation are not fully compatible, and GNU stat is needed to compile a working uImage. We don’t want to replace stat globally on our system for a variety of reasons, so the best solution is to shim in GNU stat only when generating the kernel. If you’ve installed the coreutils package with homebrew then you can prepend PATH with their location. In my case (as it should be for most cases) the utils are available by their proper names at /usr/local/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin relative to your system root. If you have an issue with this you can check their install location with brew info coreutils. Obligatory diff. @@ -765,11 +775,21 @@ endif .PHONY: kernelimage ifneq ($(strip $(TARGET_NO_KERNEL)),true) +HOST_PROCESSOR := $(shell sysctl -n hw.ncpu) KERNEL_CONFIGURE := kernel_imx/.config KERNEL_ZIMAGE := kernel_imx/arch/arm/boot/zImage @@ -784,12 +804,11 @@ $(KERNEL_CONFIGURE): kernel_imx/arch/arm/configs/$(TARGET_KERNEL_DEFCONF) $(MAKE) -C kernel_imx $(TARGET_KERNEL_DEFCONF) $(KERNEL_ENV) - $(MAKE) -C kernel_imx -j$(HOST_PROCESSOR) uImage $(KERNEL_ENV) - install -D $(KERNEL_UIMAGE) $(PRODUCT_OUT)/uImage - install -D $(KERNEL_ZIMAGE) $(PRODUCT_OUT)/kernel + export PATH=/usr/local/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin:$$PATH ; $(MAKE) -C kernel_imx -j$(HOST_PROCESSOR) uImage $(KERNEL_ENV) $(MAKE) -C kernel_imx -j$(HOST_PROCESSOR) modules $(KERNEL_ENV) There is one last change that needs to be made at this point to complete the build, and its in a different makefile found at build/target/board/ Since we changed our INSTALLED_KERNEL_TARGET to a different location, we have to update this secondary makefile to know where we’ve put the built kernel. Its a simple one line change, here’s the diff. diff --git a/target/board/ b/target/board/ index 7d94ee0..805fdae 100644 --- a/target/board/ +++ b/target/board/ @@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ else Copy files to the right place The only thing left to deal with now is the placement of the u-boot environment file. The file generated by the u-boot build process is not actually suitable to boot android. To fix this problem I’ve simply added the environment file I want to the tree and inserted a rule into /Volumes/osxbuildtest/device/fsl/imx6/ to copy the file into its proper location during the build. I put the file at /Volumes/osxbuildtest/device/fsl/wandboard/boot/uEnv.txt as it is board specific. Below is the diff of the makefile as well as the contents of the environment file. diff --git a/imx6/ b/imx6/ index f59f50d..560be28 100644 --- a/imx6/ +++ b/imx6/ @@ -66,3 +66,5 @@ PRODUCT_COPY_FILES += \ + device/fsl/wandboard/boot/uEnv.txt:boot/uEnv.txt # /Volumes/osxbuildtest/device/fsl/wandboard/boot/uEnv.txt bootargs_base=console=ttymxc0,115200 androidboot.console=ttymxc0 androidboot.hardware=wandboard vmalloc=400M video_mode=display0=dev=hdmi0,mode=1280x720@60,if=RGB24,bpp=32 fbmem=28M Run the build After the changes noted above the build should complete, however every system is different and you may still run into issues. The build also takes a long time to run, especially if you run it non-concurrently. The system I develop on, and successfully run this build on all the time, is a Macbook Pro Retina running OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks). It has a quad-core 2.6 GHz i7 processor, 16 Gigabytes of RAM, and a solid state hard disk. Even with all that computing power, running concurrently with 10 jobs, the build will take between 45 and 75 minutes (depending on what else you’re doing on the machine). This may sound like a long time but in fact its extremely fast considering what’s being compiled, linked, copied, etc. As an attempt at practicing good habits I redirect the output of the build to a log file so I can view it if something goes awry. The best way to do this is to pipe the build to the tee command. I also like to wrap the call to make with the time command so I can track how long each build takes me. The following is an example of the command to build the whole distribution, and track how long it takes, all while piping the output to a log file. # execute this command from the root of the tree time make -j10 2>&1 \| tee descriptive_file_name.log There are a few things to note about the command above. The first one is the -j10 flag. This tells make to run 10 jobs concurrently when building, which will speed things up considerably. Usually you want the number of jobs to be one more than the number of cores on your system. The i7 processor I have in my machine has some fancy functionality built in that essentially makes the four cores act like they’re 8 cores, so to calculate how many jobs to run on my system for optimal performance I did the regular calculation (4 cores + 1 = 5 jobs) and then doubled it. This obviously varies from system to system, as every processor is different. The key is to not get carried away and make this number too large, because then the system will spend more time switching process contexts than it will compiling code, making for longer compile times, which nobody wants. The other important thing to note in the above command is the 2>&1 tacked on the end of the call to make. This is critical for the log file to be of any use in a crash. It’s redirecting STDERR to STDOUT, so the STDOUT of make contains both the STDOUT and STDERR streams. If you don’t do this, errors from make will be printed to your terminal (because stdout is directed there by default) but not copied into the log file by tee because its taking the stream piped to it from the STDOUT of make and writing it to the log file, nothing else. Deploying to a microSD card Now that the build will complete we need to deploy it to a microSD card so we can boot it. The scripts that are provided to do this do not function properly on OS X primarily because they rely on sfdisk, which is not readily available for the platform. We can do the same work with fdisk though, its just a little uglier. Because fdisk is not automatable like sfdisk, we have to use a trick of echoing commands into fdisk with a pipe. Below is a script that I wrote to replace the scripts that are available for linux. It calculates the disk geometry, clears the partition table, rewrites it, generates the filesystems, burns the prebuilt filesystem images to the card, and then arranges the boot partition with our bootloader, bootloader environment, kernel, and ramdisk. This script must be run as root, from the root of your build directory, and you must specify the device node of the disk to be burned and the product to be deployed. Run it with no arguments to get usage information. As an example, if the product was called wandboard (which it is by default) and the disk you want to burn to is /dev/disk1 (be careful, this is a destructive operation and will overwrite a disk, you’ve been warned!) then the following should burn the card properly. # WARNING: Check to make sure /dev/disk1 is the one you actually want to burn. Data will be lost! $ sudo device/fsl/wandboard/tools/mkcard /dev/rdisk1 wandboard # A. Ross Cohen # Android Deployment Script error() { echo "! $1" unmount() { diskutil unmountDisk $disk >/dev/null eject() { diskutil eject $disk mb_to_sectors() { expr $1 \* $sectors_per_megabyte calculate_geometry() { block_size=`diskutil info $disk \| grep "Block Size" \| grep -oE "\d+"` sectors_per_megabyte=`expr 1048576 / $block_size` sectors=`fdisk $disk \| grep -oE 'geometry.*\[\d+' \| grep -oE '\[\d+' \| grep -oE '\d+'` megabytes=`expr $sectors / $sectors_per_megabyte` calculate_partition_sizes() { # partition sizes, all but data are static data_mb=`expr $megabytes - $bootloader_mb - $boot_mb - $recovery_mb - $system_mb - $cache_mb - $vendor_mb - $misc_mb` bootloader_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $bootloader_mb` boot_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $boot_mb` recovery_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $recovery_mb` system_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $system_mb` cache_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $cache_mb` vendor_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $vendor_mb` misc_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $misc_mb` data_sectors=`mb_to_sectors $data_mb` mbr_one_sectors=`expr $sectors - $bootloader_sectors - $boot_sectors - $recovery_sectors - $data_sectors` write_partion_scheme() { dd if=/dev/zero of=$disk bs=1m count=1 echo erase; echo e 1; echo 0C; echo n; echo $bootloader_sectors; echo $boot_sectors; echo e 2; echo 83; echo n; echo $recovery_sectors; echo e 3; echo 05; echo n; echo $mbr_one_sectors; echo e 4; echo 83; echo n; echo $data_sectors echo w; echo select 3; echo y; echo erase; echo e 1; echo 83; echo n; echo $system_sectors echo e 2; echo 83; echo n; echo $cache_sectors echo e 3; echo 83; echo n; echo $vendor_sectors echo e 4; echo 83; echo n; echo $misc_sectors echo w; echo exit; echo exit; ) \| fdisk -iey $disk create_filesystems() { echo y \| newfs_msdos -F 32 -v imx6 ${disk}s1 echo y \| newfs_msdos -F 32 -v recovery ${disk}s2 echo y \| fuse-ext2.mke2fs -T ext4 -L cache ${disk}s6 echo y \| fuse-ext2.mke2fs -T ext4 -L vendor ${disk}s7 echo y \| fuse-ext2.mke2fs -T ext4 -L misc ${disk}s8 create_data_filesystem() { echo y \| fuse-ext2.mke2fs -T ext4 -L data ${disk}s4 burn_images() { dd if=${product_directory}/boot/SPL of=$disk bs=1k seek=1 dd if=${product_directory}/system.img of=${disk}s5 bs=1m arrange_boot() { diskutil mount -mountPoint /Volumes/imx6 ${disk}s1 if [ $? ] ; then mkdir -p /Volumes/imx6/boot cp ${product_directory}/boot/uImage /Volumes/imx6/boot cp ${product_directory}/boot/u-boot.img /Volumes/imx6/boot cp ${product_directory}/boot/uEnv.txt /Volumes/imx6/boot mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0x10800800 -n "Android Root Filesystem" -d ${product_directory}/ramdisk.img /Volumes/imx6/boot/uramdisk.img echo "Mount Failed, exiting." # make sure we have the minimum arguments, if not complain... error "You must sudo to run this command." elif [ $# -lt 2 ] ; then error "Insufficient Parameters" error "Usage: $0 /dev/(r)diskN product" # make sure the disk exists if ! [ -e $disk ] ; then error "Disk $disk does not exist. Aborting." # make sure the product exists if ! [ -f $product_directory/boot/u-boot.img ] ; then error "$product_directory/boot/u-boot.img does not exist. Aborting." elif ! [ -f $product_directory/boot/uImage ] ; then error "$product_directory/boot/uImage does not exist. Aborting." elif ! [ -f $product_directory/system.img ] ; then error "$product_directory/system.img does not exist. Aborting." echo " disk: $disk" echo " product: $product" echo "block size: $block_size bytes" echo " sectors: $sectors" echo "total size: $megabytes megabytes" printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" bootloader $bootloader_sectors $bootloader_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" boot $boot_sectors $boot_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" recovery $recovery_sectors $recovery_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" data $data_sectors $data_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" system $system_sectors $system_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" cache $cache_sectors $cache_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" vendor $vendor_sectors $vendor_mb printf "%-10s -> sectors: %-10d megabytes: %-10d\n" misc $misc_sectors $misc_mb echo "writing partition scheme" echo "creating filesystems" echo "burning images" echo "arranging boot" echo "creating data filesystem" echo "ejecting the disk" echo "done. you may now remove the disk." To sum it all up Generally speaking android can be built using OS X and AOSP does support it. Freescale, and thus Wandboard, do not explicitly support building on OS X but it was not all that complicated to implement. All of the solutions listed in this post were discovered with a little stubborn tinkering and some general knowledge of Unix build tools and the discrepancies with their BSD counterparts. You don’t need to change your entire environment just to cross-compile and deploy Linux based operating systems, you just need a little know-how and the willingness to adjust to the requirements.
Tyrel is directed by Sebastián Silva and stars Jason Mitchell, Christopher Abbott, Michael Cera, Caleb Landry Jones. There are a multitude of clever, small tension-building mechanisms at play in Sebastián Silva’s newest feature, Tyrel, which due to the specific casting, will of course draw comparison to last year’s Get Out, but here, what will become the strongest generator of tension is our concern for the outcome of the main character based on our understanding of what can occur in Silva’s work, which is usually aimed at challenging the ethos of Americans who consider themselves progressive. Specifically here, I am thinking about Silva’s controversial 2015 feature, Nasty Baby, which had as its protagonists, a gay couple who wish to have a child, joined by their female friend who is acting as their surrogate mother, and the grief that they endure and the action that they regrettably take once they are threatened. In fact, the Chilean-born Silva, in his relatively short career as a director, has had his way in poking sharp holes into the American left’s perception of their own racial and social tolerance, tolerances that are usually coupled with the image that we hope to present to others as non-ethnocentric beings. Usually, Silva attacks this image by portraying the affluent left as a group who will invariably betray their deeply held beliefs the moment their safety is threatened, or in the case of the narrative of Tyrel, when a copious amount of alcohol or mind altering substance is in play, which was also the case in another of Silva’s features, Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, which starred the director’s favorite ugly American, Michael Cera (actually Cera is a Canadian, Sebastián). We’ve been on these finger-pointing excursions into the American left with Silva before, and with those cinematic experiences firmly implanted in our memory, we are about to meet Tyler. Jason Mitchell is Tyler, or Tyrel, as he is called in a misunderstood introduction, the first micro-aggression committed against our protagonist by a friend of his friend Johnny (Christopher Abbott), who is taking Tyler up to the scenic mountain home of an old Argentine friend, Nico (Nicolas Arze), for a brotastic weekend to celebrate the birth of Pete (Caleb Landry Jones from Get Out), another of Johnny’s friends. Tyler, who is heading to the country to avoid the familial intensity stemming from his girlfriend’s sick mother’s decision to reject dialysis treatments, is now going to be the new guy and the only African-American on this retreat surrounded by Johnny’s old buddies, which will naturally make him feel out of place, but the many possible sources of uneasiness is what is key here: How much of the general awkwardness that Tyler seems to feel is coming from just being in a house of strangers? How does this discomfort change with those strangers’ growing level of intoxication? With their awkward insensitive racial remark? And perhaps, with the overall need for any group of animals, humans or otherwise, to test the new being in the group by seeing how far they can push him? What will send the friendly Tyler into a rage? Adding into the tension is the setting of a comfortably snowed-over Martha Stewart-ish winter home, complete with Christmas light adornment, a home that might potentially be a blackout away from a setting closer to John Carpenter’s claustrophobic horror classic, The Thing, with the invasive alien entity being replaced by the time period of the film, the winter after the 2016 election that won Trump the White House, which was the culmination of a campaign that we all know caused more violent verbal riffs about race and class than any campaign in recent U.S. history. What becomes apparent and admirable about Silva’s construction of characters and situations in Tyrel, a construction that is intended to have the audience gyrating in their seats as they fear the oncoming conclusion, is that given recent films like Get Out and Silva’s own filmography, the director can reference a plethora of moments to bombard you with cinematic cliches that you will immediately recognize as beneficent. You get the overly sympathetic gay man in the group, who will of course side with Tyler, and the kind hearted foreigner (the Sebastián Silva stand-in) who provides outside wisdom of how the world truly is, and who will try in vain to explain the way it should be to counteract the vulgar utterances dispensed by the drunken Americans in the group, who will of course team up against our beleaguered hero Tyler, who at one point is even put to the ultimate test of having to participate in a fate worse than death: an impromptu R.E.M. fireside sing-along of the group’s obnoxious hit, “Stand,” which in this author’s mind is a moment that should never occur in any free society that values basic human decency. Tyler’s reaction to this does appear like he is feeling out of place, and so he appears annoyed as many of us would, but is it really this particular outpouring of suburban white pride that is getting at Tyler, or is it something else rumbling under the surface? A key moment that might shed some light on the answer occurs early in the film. Before any of the frenetic drunkenness takes place, Tyler leaves the home to find a cell phone hotspot to speak with his girlfriend, Carmen, who begs Tyler to stay on the phone and pray along with her and her family in Spanish. During what should be a solemn moment, we see Tyler looking disinterested and checking out prank videos on his phone and playing on Instagram. Juxtapose that with a moment later in the film when the bro gathering begins to scrutinize and then burn a bunch of religious paintings. In this scene, Tyler appears to become agitated again and is slightly calmed down by Johnny, who tells Tyler that there is no intended anti-religious meaning behind the burning, and that, in fact, burning items is just a common release for the group, suggesting that Tyler’s anger is less about Johnny’s friends entitled acting-out or blasphemous behavior, and more about how this moment of immolating religious imagery recalls Tyler’s own guilt for feigning interest during his failed moment of prayer with his girlfriend. There clearly are moments in Tyrel where Tyler’s race becomes the brunt of jokes, and Silva does set up these scenes for the audience to create empathy for his protagonist and to drive the tension to build towards a dramatic climax, but we also see Tyler as someone who rarely cares about anyone else but himself throughout the entire narrative as well. Sure, he doesn’t want to (nor should he have to) partake in the R.E.M. sing-along, but why is he so adamant against playing ping pong? He is at a birthday celebration after all. And, why did he decide to go to a birthday celebration of someone he does not know instead of being with his girlfriend, who needs his support as she tries to cope with her mother’s grave and fatal decision? If Tyler does not want to be around this group of strangers, nor around his girlfriend and her family, where does he want be? Thus, is Tyler’s alienation his overreaction to the mindless titular name mistake that begins the weekend with Johnny’s friends? Or, is he regretting his decision to spend a weekend hanging out instead of being with his girlfriend? Does being around Johnny’s friends bring out a nagging guilt about what Tyler has had to do in quashing his own identity to become a successful restaurateur, or is there simply nowhere that Tyler, or any person of color, will feel comfortable in this post-Trump election America? Tyrel does an amazing amount with its small and larger observations in its short 84 minute running time, and the film is a huge step forward for the always provocative Silva, who for the first time with his storytelling devices, leaves the target of the finger-pointing for the audience to determine. Tyrel is in theaters and available on-demand now. Written by Generoso and Lily Fierro, Originally published on Ink19.com Leave a Reply WordPress.com Logo Google photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s
Communication: NPP Government’s Achilles’ Heel The government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must have done a lot in the last two years, much to the admiration of the outside world, but the inability of the people tasked with communicating those works (government plans and policies) to the good people of Ghana is becoming more worrying than one can imagine. Recipient Email: * Your name: * Your Email: *
How do I set up an internet URL to access JIRA if I am hosting my own sever on a VM? I have recieved a few student licenses for my group project. I am using my own server and not the cloud. I am currently using remote desktop to remote into a virtual machine to act as the storage server. I downloaded and installed JIRA Core on that virtual machine. Everytime I add my friends as users. In the email they recieve their website link always starts with http://localhost:8080 and when they click it the page is not found. I am trying to set up an online URL that everyone can access from their own web browsers at home i.e. p.s. I am very new to software/networking/servers so please use simple english. 1 answer Change the base URL of your JIRA instance to the public ip that your vm gets from ISP Your VM must be connected to internet. ( you may check Ethernet adaptor setting in VM ), meaning your vm must have public ip. I know my VM has internet because I used the internet to download the installer. How do I find my IP on the VM? Do I just copy-paste the sequence of numbers into the Base URL, or is it something like http://123.456.789 image2017-2-16 21:38:17.png I'm not sure if that idea works Base URL should be like what is the output of the command ipconfig /all ( for windows ) and ifconfig ( for Linux ). With this output I can tell which ip you need to use. But if you are using a router and don't have direct connection to the VM, then you may need to do some ip forwarding on the host in which VM is installed. image2017-2-16 21:57:47.png should be the correct base url, provided your JIRA instance is running on port 80. hmm it seems to be slightly better but the connection times out image2017-2-16 22:25:30.png image2017-2-16 22:25:45.png Now your VM's firewall needs to be checked. To verify it disable the firewall on the VM completely and try to access the base URL you set from the host computer. If that works, then enable the firewall again and allow the connection to VM on port 80 in VM's firewall Suggest an answer Log in or Sign up to answer Community showcase Posted Oct 09, 2018 in Jira Core How to manage many similar workflows? 391 views 6 0 Join discussion Atlassian User Groups Find a group Find my local user group Unfortunately there are no AUG chapters near you at the moment. Start an AUG Groups near you
Press "Enter" to skip to content Recent Technological Developments in the Education Sector UC-School 0 The education sector is a dynamic one, bringing in new changes within it, every year. This is because the education sector constitutes a very large customer base since there are so many schools coming up. This increase in the number of schools is primarily happening as a result of the ever-increasing population. With more number of students getting enrolled, managing schools and imparting proper education is becoming more and more complex. How does technology help schools to function in a better manner? In order to reduce the complexity involved in running a school, many new technologies have cropped up. These technologies help to reduce costs, save time and ensure better flexibility and accountability. Some of the new technological advancements include School ERP software, flipped learning, student information management system, virtual education, wearable technology, e-textbooks, cloud storage of data, etc. These recent technological developments in the education sector are explained in detail below- 1. School ERP software With the emergence of School ERP software, the administrators can manage schools in the best and most efficient way possible. School ERP software provides many modules like student, parent and teacher management, online examination, attendance management, payroll and human resource management, transport management and many more which will surely help the schools to run in a more organised manner. 1. Flipped Learning In the earlier times, students had to get their doubts solved in any of their subjects only during the class hours. Now, technology has managed to reduce this gap between the teachers and students by bringing in a new approach to teaching called ‘flipped learning’. In flipped learning, students can get their doubts solved by looking at conceptual videos and other digital material using their mobiles, laptops or tablets which will be provided by the school, so that they can get their doubts solved and thereby complete their homework on time. 1. Student Information Management System This is one of the latest trends in technology wherein each and every detail of the student is stored online, in a single place. These details of the student may include personal information, academic and non-academic performance, fee payment, attendance and others. Using a student information management system, any detail about the student can be obtained at a single click, which helps in eliminating the time-consuming activity of going through physical documents. 1. Virtual Education It is a form of education which takes place outside the school wherein the student can learn all subjects by attending classes online in the form of video conferencing and other technology. This form of education is very helpful for those students who are unable to go to school because of physical barriers. 1. Wearable Technology In wearable technology, the students wear a watch-like device on their wrists which is GPRS-enabled. This facilitates the user to be tracked by their parents and teachers. This technology is primarily used for ensuring the safety of the students and tracking their location, in order to protect them from becoming a victim of the numerous criminal cases arising. 1. E-books Gone are the days when physical textbooks used to be the only way of providing study material to the students since a new form of technology called ‘E-books’ is on the rise. In E-books, the contents of the study material are stored in a digital (soft copy) format and students can access it by using their mobile phones, tablets, computers and laptops. This will help the schools in eliminating the high costs involved in printing textbooks. The study material provided in a soft copy format proves to be more economical as compared to the hard copy format in the long run. 1. Cloud Storage of Data Nowadays, most of the schools store all their data on cloud servers. Using cloud storage, data can be accessed anywhere and anytime by using electronic devices like mobile phone, laptop, tablet, etc. The administrators of the school have to just login to their respective portals to get access to the data which they require. It also helps in preventing unauthorized access of the data by third parties. Storing data on the cloud facilitates the school to run in a paperless environment. Schools should try to adopt the latest technological developments happening in the education sector, in order to ensure maximum flexibility, accountability and efficiency, thereby meeting their ever-changing needs.
Company Explains Why NU Beauty Is Better Than Botox The Company behind NU Beauty skin care formula has explained why their product is known as better than Botox. Ocala, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/10/2015 -- The Company behind the formulation and availability of NU Beauty skincare brand has explained why this particular brand name is better than Botox. The explanation is deepened through the provision of some NU Beauty review articles that are published online. What is NU Beauty? NU Beauty is better than Botox, according to the company spokesperson, Emma Ruth Johnston, based on these aspects: * This product is not using any injection. * This formula is clinically proven as natural. * It delivers positive results efficiently. * It is formulated by expert dermatologists. Is This Product Effective? One consumer of this formula is named Pamela Andrew, aged 40. She mentioned that, "This skincare brand is really incomparable when it comes to its natural potency and power. I'd used so many products in the market, different brand names; but, nothing works like this one. I salute this product over the others." Features and Benefits Able to repair the dermal matrix * Able to strengthen the skin defense system * Capable of restoring firmness and smoothness * Able to reduce fine lines and dark circles * Designed to stop wrinkles and puffiness Natural Ingredients Ms. Johnston adds in her NU Beauty reviews that their formula contains natural and safe ingredients. All of the components being used are derived from the organic plants, like Wheat, which protein is proven to restore skin firmness. Then, it uses the latest technological breakthrough, called "QuSome Delivery System." Availability of NU Beauty To learn more, visit this site: For Media Contact: Address: 4528 Bagwell Avenue Ocala, FL 34471
Why do I yet dream of this fairy tale knight who came to me as a child in a dream? Why do I wait and what do I wait for? Is this knight the one who will carry me away, into a brighter light? Is that why I dream of ways he will whisper his love all over my body? Then breath his life into me and ease the ache within? I can smell his scent - one of pure male, and I can feel the warmth of his body against mine as he holds me close in my dreams I have yet to see his face or hear his voice I read every word as though they'll be the last ones spoken With anticipation I await the day he'll come as a child who waits for a parent His words speak of forever, of answers to prayers, and dreams that will come true by Michelle Wallace Other poems of MICHELLE WALLACE (1) Comments (0) There is no comment submitted by members.
Undergraduate honours students The Honours program runs over two years. Students are grouped by the year they commenced the program. If you are looking for a particular student you can use the search function (top right of the page).
Shopping Local, Eating Right: Local Butchers Bring Back Tradition A great butcher is the personification of a friend, a therapist and an artist—all rolled into one. Just ask John Michael, a 69-year-old New York City native, who brings more than 50 years of Old-World butchery skills to Auburnlea Farms Corner Market in Lynchburg. The difference between being a butcher and someone who simply cuts meat, he says, is deeper than just understanding the physical characteristics of meat—it’s about forming relationships with customers. “Say a couple comes in and she wants to make a nice roast beef for her mother-in-law who’s visiting for the weekend, and she might be looking at one and I might say ‘How are you going to cook this? … Oh, well, if that’s what you want to do, you want a different cut, otherwise your mother-in-law will think you’re a terrible cook.’” It’s the kind of advice that’s actually helpful…unless you don’t want your mother-in-law staying for dinner! Long, Long Ago In a time before supermarkets—before meat came precut and shrink-wrapped—shopping was a longer process. Meat was purchased from either a butcher or a corner store. The butcher supplied the meat, but also helped tight budgets go farther. He could offer recipes to make tougher, cheaper cuts of meat taste more tender; he could suggest ways to stretch a cut into two or more meals. Michael knows about these times. He grew up in Queens and was taught his craft by the Italian butchers in his neighborhood. Back then, he says, you learned by doing. In a years-long apprenticeship, he was taught the proper way to cut various types of meat, prepare sausage, and to not waste a single sliver. Above all, he learned about the importance of good customer service. Then came supermarkets. In the beginning, many had meat counters with actual butchers. As bottom lines were evaluated, stores began purchasing meat in bulk; butchering was centralized, and refrigerated trucks loaded with prepackaged meat—cuts with the highest profit margins—distributed these products across hundreds, if not thousands, of miles. Butchers almost became extinct. Back to Our Roots And then some people started talking publicly, and loudly, about their food. They questioned whether antibiotics and hormones used in huge, commercial farms might be affecting our health. They became concerned about the treatment of animals. They sparked an interest in the benefits of eating locally grown food. Farmers like Becky and Rick Bennett, who own Auburnlea Farms in Gladys, really spearheaded a revolution to bring back the traditional approach. They have been raising non-GMO (genetically modified organisms), antibiotic-free beef, pork and poultry for the past six years. As their customer base grew, they decided to open Auburnlea Farms Corner Market as a more-convenient-than-Gladys outlet for their products. They also felt that customers shouldn’t have to give up convenience to buy their meats, so they added a grocery. “A lot of hard work went in to researching the products we carry to ensure they are without sprays, chemicals, genetically modified organisms, and artificial ingredients, even if not specifically labeled as organic,” says Becky Bennett. “Fruits and vegetables sourced as close to home as possible can always be found on our shelves.” This notion called “clean eating”—consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible—is becoming more accessible. Well-educated customers are looking for (demanding, actually) food as close to its origins as possible and with the fewest ingredients. “There’s nothing spectacular about organics,” says Bennett. “It’s how everybody ate before processed food became available.” Food grown locally tastes better, she says, because it’s fresh. We also know the conditions of the farm, how the animals were treated, and what they were fed. “When we started with beef at the farm six years ago, we used no antibiotics, and finished them on grass,” says Bennett. “I thought it would taste the same.” But when a trusted friend came over for dinner, she could not stop raving about how the food was the best she had ever tasted, says Bennett. It’s when you stop eating locally grown, organic food that you really notice the difference, she says. The smells are different, the tastes are different, and the body just processes chemicals differently. Justin and Lisa Mays, who own Bedford Avenue Meat Shop in Lynchburg, also opt for all-natural, organic products. In addition to products in their meat case, Bedford Avenue Meat Shop offers already-cooked barbeque ribs and a variety of daily-made side dishes, including grilled vegetables, potato salad and Greek kabobs. “You and your family will have the taste and the peace of mind of no additives or chemicals,” says Lisa Mays of their products. She also says that if the store does not have an item you’re looking for, they can get it for you. And like Michael at Auburnlea Farms, those at Bedford Avenue Meat Shop can also advise customers on what cuts will work best for the occasion as well as different cooking methods to bring out the best attributes of the meat. Foodie Fun Another part of what’s fueling the back-to-the-butcher movement, says Michael, is the rise of the “foodie” culture—people with refined tastes who make eating and drinking a hobby. They are educated, he says, but they also like to try new things. The nose-to-tail movement—an Old-World concept, in which no part of the animal is discarded—is also gaining traction and attracting others to the foodie culture. “We don’t waste anything,” says Michael. The animals are slaughtered elsewhere, then the “primal cuts”—think about half of an animal, or a quarter—are brought into the butchery, where they are hung and put into the cooler to be kept cold. Michael says he ages beef 14 to 20 days before breaking it down into smaller, market-ready cuts. The most tender cuts, generally from the center of the animal where the muscles are not used as much, are generally the more expensive cuts. While there is no shortage of high-end cuts in local specialty cases, there are also less expensive and oft-overlooked items. Think about it this way: A 1,500 pound animal has only two, three-pound tenderloin steaks, one, one-pound flank steak. There is a lot more to an animal than those luxe cuts. So good butchers also act as consultants; at a minimum they offer advice on how to cook certain cuts (skirt, brisket or chuck, for example, or even organ meats, which are gaining a following) and they can even encourage you to try different kinds of meat that you might not have considered before—like bison, for instance, or goat, which are both growing in popularity for their lean, gamey taste. The butcher-as-artist comes into play when making sure the meat is trimmed properly, and at the right angle, so customers are getting less waste, and the meat will cook evenly and taste as it should. “We eat what, two, three times a day,” says Michael. “If I know my customer hasn’t tried something, I’ll make a recommendation…I got the whole animal here, how could I not?” At What Cost? Lisa Mays of Bedford Avenue Meat Shop says that another added benefit of shopping at a specialty store is that you are in control of the portions. You only need an ounce of bacon for your dish, and not a whole pound? No problem: two slices it is. You are cooking for two and only need one chicken breast? Done. So customers aren’t paying for things they aren’t using. Still, there are some who view the butcher as a special-occasion treat, like at Christmas or Easter. They are usually feeding more people than usual for those tricked-out holiday meals, and their bill might be large, so it can be off-putting. “When customers come through the door, I’m going to give them good service, whether they’re regulars or they only come in one time,” says Michael, but he suggests that if those one-timers average out the cost of buying from a butcher throughout the year, they would find that a specialty shop is no more expensive than a supermarket, and the quality is usually higher and products much more reliable. “We have a lot of people who are on a tight budget,” says Bennett. “We are very competitive price-wise with supermarkets.” So when planning your next soiree or summer cookout—or entertaining your mother-in-law—the secret ingredient for a successful meal might just be found by making a stop at the butcher’s counter. Leave a Reply
Delicious cakes without an oven Jessie and JeanJessie Sheehan got her start in the world of sweets at Baked in NYC. She currently works as a freelance recipe tester, editor, and developer, and is the head recipe developer for all of the Baked cookbooks. Jean Sagendorph is an ice box cake expert. She can make a cake with one arm tied behind her back and has mastered the use of the fork as both a vertical and horizontal tool. When not being silly, or wielding her mixer, Jean is a literary agent and author. Jessie and Jean came together to create the recently-released Icebox Cakes: Recipes for the Coolest Cakes in Town. (You can enter our contest for a chance to win a copy of the book.) Find out more about the book, and these cool cakes, in our author Q&A: Can you explain to non-US members what an icebox cake is and what is the history of this dessert? An icebox cake is a dessert that never sees the inside of an oven. Instead, cookies (or ladyfingers or graham crackers) are layered with whipped cream (or pudding) and placed in the refrigerator where the cakey ingredient absorbs the moist ingredient creating a final dish that is cake-like. Icebox cakes can be traced back to the early 1800s in France. Marie-Antoine Careme's charlotte is well-documented in his cookbook, The Royal Parisian Pastry Cook and Confectioner. The icebox cake that we more commonly know really took off in 1920s America with the advent of National Biscuit Company's (now known as Nabisco) Famous Chocolate Wafers. Icebox cakes would seem to be a great do-ahead dessert for parties and entertaining. How long do icebox cakes last once assembled? Icebox cakes are a fantastic do-ahead dessert for many reasons. First, an icebox cake made with homemade ingredients (like the ones in our book) actually needs 24 hours to set up in the refrigerator once it is assembled, allowing you to make your cake a day (or even two) before you want to serve it to guests. Second, icebox cakes freeze beautifully, offering those plan-ahead types the opportunity to make a dessert three weeks before the guests arrive. To freeze an icebox cake, after allowing it to set up in the fridge for 24 hours, carefully wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze for up to three weeks. Allow the cake to defrost in the fridge for at least 8 hours before serving. How labor-intensive are the recipes and can store-bought ingredients be substituted, e.g. for the cookie layers? Making icebox cakes with homemade ingredients does take longer than making them with store-bought ingredients, but only a bit longer than it takes to make cookies from scratch (the homemade pudding and whipped creams come together in a jif). And here's the thing, desserts always taste better when assembled with homemade ingredients. Although the recipes may look long, they are super simple and easy to follow. All that said, substituting is totally fine, and we even make suggestions in the book for various brands of store-bought cookies, graham crackers and ladyfingers that will make an excellent icebox cake. What is your favorite recipe in the book? Jessie's favorite recipe in the book is a tie between the Marshmallow Peanut Butter (which tastes like the most amazing fluffer-nutter sandwich you've ever had) and the Black and White Malted (think of a malted vanilla milkshake with chocolate syrup in cake-form). Jean favors the Old School (it appeals to her love of Oreos) and the Raspberry Ganache because raspberries and chocolate work together like Fred and Ginger. strawberry lemon icebox cakeWere there any experiments that you tried that didn't work as icebox cakes? Jean remembered having a spectacular dessert in California with mascarpone and figs, and so Jessie tried desperately to develop an icebox cake with a mascarpone whipped cream and a fig compote of sorts, but to no avail - and off-season it was insanely expensive to produce. Jessie also tried to launch a pear icebox cake, but once layered in the cake, the pears never softened enough (not a big surprise) in the fridge - even when poached prior to cake assembly. With July 4th approaching, which of your recipes are best suited to a red white and blue theme? The Red Velvet cake is a perfect red and white cake that you could easily decorate with blueberries to create a fun red, white, and blue cake. The Lavender-Blueberry and the Raspberry Ganache aren't exactly red, but they are very colorful. The Strawberry Lemon (pictured right) is also a perfect early-summer dessert, with strawberries still around in many farmers' markets, and you could top the cake with some blueberries for the full Americana experience. The S'mores cake is not red, white, and blue per se, but what summer BBQ is complete without a s'more? Icebox cakes would seem to be summer desserts but are there any recipes that are suited to other holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas? Absolutely, given the spices, the Chai Ginger is the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving and the Peppermint Chocolate makes for a spectacular Christmas dessert. I see from your bios that Jessie is a baker and Jean is a literary agent. How did you divide the book writing duties between you? Jessie is a recipe developer and blogger who has worked with the guys from Baked for many years and Jean is a literary and licensing agent who worked with Food Network for more than a decade , as well as being free labor in the various bars and eateries that her family owned. Jessie primarily worked on the recipe development (especially when the pistachio paste threatened to make Jean go nuts, pun intended) and Jean focused on the writing, but each had a hand in the whole process, they probably should have given Dropbox a shout-out in the book. Post a comment Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!
One Piece Episode 244 English Dub January 15, 2012 Lucci tells Iceburg their hypothesis and has Kaku check his pulse to tell if the things he tells him are true. They suspect that Iceburg's friend from the past, Cutty Flam, is really Franky and it's revealed to be true. Therefore, Franky has the real blueprints. The Strawhat Pirates and Paulie break into the room where they find Iceburg and CP9.
AND I'm back! Seriously where did I disappear to this time? Did I hear you say no where? YEP. That is exactly where. I was busy in nowhere doing nothing. Well... Almost. I am still alive and although I haven't been doing a whole lot it wasn't just complete nothing-ness either. SO I'm back with the news of room-cleaning, black and white photos and, crying a broken camera. HELP! Goodness me I never realised 2 things... 1. Just how much I can say about not a whole lot. 2. To the extent that I love my dear camera. (I see a whole lotta iPhone photos in the near future) B&W# B&W@ B&W! Dreaming of Quirky Circus & Jelly Beans whilst waiting and hoping that my camera might just change it's mind and decide to work. SIGNATURE
A Time for Conscious Leadership Periodically I Google the term conscious leadership, tracking its emergence into the modern dialogue. We inherently understand traditional leadership and its imperatives: strategy, tactics, motivation, market share, financial performance and so forth, but what practical value does a premise like consciousness offer to a business? Indeed, what does the term mean? In a nutshell it’s about people, and modernizing the way we engage and inspire our most important asset. It’s also about the larger earth community and assuming our share of responsibility. Whatever reaction the term conjures up for you, its power lies in creating a culture that is innovative, purposeful and productive - leveraging the organization to successfully execute its business strategies while helping serve a planet that increasingly calls for our attention. It turns out that conscious leadership is a hot topic. The result of my search was 5,350,000 hits. That’s a convincing indicator of the times. The practice is gaining widespread attention and is gradually finding its way into the executive suite. I am reminded of Jean Houston’s observation that we are living in the “parenthesis,” a between time where the old is phasing out and the new hasn’t fully arrived yet. Ushering it all the way in is our next great work as leaders. Significant Times We all know this is a highly unsettling period. Balance sheets, jobs, retirement portfolios, consumer confidence, credit flow, housing and social services are all strained. A stunning number of government, religious and business leaders have marched across our TV screens the past decade conducting the familiar walk of shame. Surveys continually report that trust in leadership is at an all-time low. At the same time more people than ever are attending spiritual retreats, reading books like Purpose Driven Lives and The Secret, going on Vision Quests, buying organics and recyclables and taking service volunteer vacations. Meditation, yoga and daily inspirations have gone mainstream. Such emerging consciousness signals a widespread cultural awakening and marks peoples’ desire to live more authentic and purposeful lives. Our leadership role in navigating the rough waters ahead is critical. What could be more valuable than to understand what inspires our people, and to greet them where they are so we can move powerfully together into the next chapter? What Now for Leadership? As I write this, Job 1 is to outlast the recession and position ourselves for new growth at the other end. Leaders naturally ask, where would a soft topic like conscious renewal fit into an executive mandate focused on survival? Actually, in many ways our success hinges on that answer. At this point we’ve exhausted most data-driven strategies. Clearly, mining the spreadsheets and engineering the bottom line are a permanent responsibility, but ultimately it is people that will make us great again. How will we inspire our people to deliver our organizations back to greatness; to innovate, cooperate and execute with uncommon effectiveness? From the heart of that inquiry, is there any reason not to explore a topic so hot that it generates over 5 million Google hits? With many leaders, the conversation gets more lively as they learn what the term conscious leadership means. They are accustomed to the language of competitiveness, restructuring and return on equity, but not so to the fiscal advantages of reawakening the human spirit and embracing shared values in the workplace. So we begin by making it relevant. As an evolving principle, conscious leadership’s definition is still forming. But what it connotes to a business is the next evolution of familiar leadership practices like Strategic Visioning, Quality Improvement, Team Building, Organizational Development (OD), and so forth. Its distinction is that in addition to discovering optimal strategies and processes and pushing them through with technology and incentives, it also engages the whole human – expanding beyond people’s functional roles and inspiring them to surpass existing levels of thinking, performing and innovating. Its beauty is that it takes the outputs of strategy sessions and initiatives like OD and infuses a cultural element that leverages the vital human side of the equation. People achieve more when they share values and principles that serve a common purpose and invite their highest contributions. To guide them there is to engage their souls in addition to honing their technical and professional skills. Such Language! Of course, “engage their souls” evokes the same initial reaction as “consciousness” does. Your response may be that such matters are out of place in business. But chancing redundancy here, a Google search of corporate soul produced 2,970,000 hits today. Why is that? For one, there is a deep sense running through us that we’ve lost our soul. The illusion of vast wealth exhaustively pursued every 90 days at the eventual expense of jobs, houses, a thriving middle class, a healthy planet and so forth hit the wall in September. Reality has struck. And all along, our souls sensed it was coming. The dangling Google question then is, what will we do in the presence of that reality? Apart from the urgent temptation to rebuild the same way we arrived, what if we were to reevaluate our leadership intentions and pursue profits that make our souls proud? Do you believe that is possible? In Patricia Aberdene’s book, Megatrends 2010, she systematically demonstrates the bottom-line value of Conscious Capitalism. Doing good and giving back pays off, she empirically illustrates. When we are good to our people and good to the planet…profits and shareholder value strongly follow, consistently outperforming companies who lag in their social worldview. This is real, and it is right on time. The mistake is to assume that what’s being suggested here is out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new. That a utopian notion of deserting hard actions and putting warm fuzzies in their place will magically deliver us to positive metrics. Not so. This is about expansion, not displacement. Both the mind and the soul can sense a good bottom line opportunity when they see it. In fact, together their power is unlimited. The suggestion is this: to expand our leadership practices to not only craft winning formulas, but to reawaken the soul, the spirit, the intuitive – whatever you choose to call it. This is where the creative energies reside and they are ready to bring forth innovative and cooperative new solutions if we simply learn to open them up. Doing both with equal discipline, crafting winning formulas and eliciting soul-based contributions, will exponentially improve the odds of becoming a great organization. Center of Gravity “Much of today’s leadership is tactical and specific, focusing on external manifestations such as vision, drive, creativity or charisma. However, these outside factors cannot capture the essence of leadership. Leadership is something deeper, more fundamental. As much as we try to separate leadership from the person, the two are totally inseparable.” Kevin Cashman, Leadership from the Inside Out Conscious leadership is about shifting our own internal center of gravity and leading outward from there. The organization as a whole is a community of people with a common purpose. Great leaders unleash that whole. From sales and manufacturing, to research and development, to technology, finance and deal making…people make everything happen. And it is no revelation that people want to experience a sense of purpose and balance while making a significant contribution. The leadership call today is to tap into that yearning and do so with the same organizational effectiveness that we do everything else. Leaders who gravitate back to a vital doing-being balance in their own right, and enliven their organization in kind, will set free a vast human potential - one that is truly waiting to emerge and serve. Hey, the fact is we already spend a great deal of time on people. Consider Peter Drucker’s observation: “Executives spend more time on managing people and people decisions than on anything else, and they should. No other decisions are so long lasting in their consequences or so difficult to unmake…” The question is, how effective are our current people practices and when was the last time we genuinely revised them? Many human capital techniques evoke a sense of separateness through the use of forms, scoresheets, efficiency measures, performance ratings and so forth. We tie these metrics into a series of motivational tactics and financial incentives, often fear-based. In this approach, people are depicted as something to be measured, costed and ultimately decided upon, and the leader’s effectiveness is statistically captured in kind. When you think about that, it’s no wonder the number of people that are disengaged has reached historical levels. If we fell behind operationally the way we have culturally we wouldn’t have survived the last decade. Imagine if your company had ignored the onrush of technological advances, global market shifts, accounting drills and such that have consumed us just since the millennium. We would have been out of business long ago. Executives constantly track and adjust to industry trends to keep their companies operationally healthy and competitive, but most have lagged in comparably integrating the dynamic shifts people are making across society. We are as different in our ways compared to the turn of Y2K as technology is. Yet while investing enormous capital and energy into operational advancements since then, we’ve underinvested in the power of infusing cultural advances into the organization. Now’s the time to rebalance that, which is the exciting work of conscious leaders. Most of us were raised in the modern Wall Street era; one heavily skewed towards deal-making, wealth creation and short term heroics. There is no argument that profits and wealth serve the greater good, however we have been living in a distortion. Moreover, the overzealous pursuit of shareholder earnings is currently out of steam, out of money, and out of social favor. Learning a new way of leading is the natural next step, and it is not about taking our eye off the bottom line. It is about serving John Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line: People, Profits and Planet. Leading organizations that are healthy, productive and profitable in every way. Because this is new and different, it involves a leadership learning curve. The portal into Houston’s parenthesis is wide open and the instructive literature and teachings are emerging all around us. We can all learn to shift our leadership practices to strive and achieve differently than in the recent era. Our biggest challenge is in the area of permission. Will we have the courage to grant ourselves permission to join this emerging movement, or will we hold back for fear of….of what, exactly? Ah, this is where the real conversation begins. Practicing the Practice In our next article we will explore that conversation, as well as looking at specific ways in which leaders are practicing conscious leadership and forming new successes in the process.
High School and College—How Do They Differ? So far college and high school have their similarities and their differences. Although, most the changes are not too pronounced, they are still there. More freedom? Count me in. Whenever I was in high school, we were not allowed to leave the premises for any reason at all during the day, but in college, you essentially can come and go as you please. Any time during the day, the library is open, you can meet with teachers, get help with classes in the tutoring center, leave class early if need be, and things the like, rather than how high school was set up, having to have a note/pass to do anything. But alas, with freedom comes great responsibility. Ever wonder how one’s responsibility changes once in college? Well, while in high school there was always usually somebody there to say what can and can’t be done in means of homework, attire, leaving school, missing classes, and etc., but with college there’s much more leniency. There is no one to tell you what has to be done other than oneself. All the responsibility is taken on without somebody holding his or her hand along the way. If you don’t want to go to class, don’t. If you feel that you don’t need to do the homework, there’s no need to. Although, like high school, missing class can be detrimental and not doing an assignment can still impact the classes’ grades, but unlike high school, you’re paying for the classes you’re taking (unless you happened to go to a private school), so you’d probably want to try a lot harder and aim for success. Nobody would want to pay for the same class over and over if he or she kept failing. There are also other aspects of responsibility that I face like balancing a job with a greater work load, trying to cover the costs that are adjunct with college, and just being an “adult” in general. It all really depends on what you personally feel that has to be done and has to be maintained in order to balance everything– everyone’s responsibilities will be different. Also, other than just freedom and responsibility, there are also other chances like the amount of people who are actually going to the school, because I know that from my small high school of probably about 700 kids total, CCBC has many, many more, almost 2,000 more students, which is a big difference. But one would think that with more students in the school means less attention from teachers, that’s actually not the case. So, like high school, all of my teachers at the moment in time are willing to get to know their students and try to give them one-on-one time if needed, which is a great aspect to have that has not changed from being in high school than in college. I’m sure every student wants a teacher to get to know them and how he or she works and if he or she needs help on any given subject. To conclude, high school and college both have their differences, but that is to be expected. College is a gateway to greater learning and new challenges and greater responsibility, for those people who are willing to work towards their future success no matter what they’re faced with along the way. Kaylynn, student blogger Leave a Reply WordPress.com Logo Google+ photo Twitter picture Facebook photo Connecting to %s %d bloggers like this:
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan A gathering of intellectuals was convened at the Law College of Ranchi on December 14, 1991, under the persidentship of Mr. Justice Satishwar Rao. On that occasion I addressed the meeting on the topic of 'Social Justice in Islam.' The text of my address, including some later additions, is as follows. Social Justice means equality in law, or justice for all. Prior to the advent of Islam. This kind of social justice was almost unknown either in theory or in practice. It was left to Islam then to establish equal justice for the first time in human history. This reversal of the old order is so established a fact that every non-Muslim thinkers have acknowledged it. For instance, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) writes in one of this letters. 'If ever any religion approached to this equality in any appreciable manner, it is Islam and Islam alone.' (p. 379). The contribution of Islam in this respect can be placed under three headings: first, the formulation of a complete ideology of human equality and justice; second the giving of powerful incentive to adopt this ideology; and third, the establishment of a living example of equality and justice in all walks life. According to this verse of the Qur'an, the differences of color and race found among human beings is for the purpose, not of discrimination, but of identification. Men in essence are equal. What really distinguishes one man from another is character. His superiority can therefore bespoken of only in terms of the degree to which a man is honorable. The truly honorable man is one who is God--fearing and who recognizes and fulfils the rights of God and his fellow men. This declaration was made by the Prophet in the final year of his life at a time when the whole of Arabia had been conquered. As such, it wasnot the declaration of a reformer, but of a ruler of the time. His definition of human equality was not just listened to as a theory, but was immediately put into practice--nay, enforced in society. Modern psychological and biological research on race has clearlyupheld the teachings of Islam, so that from the academic point of view,other theories stand refuted. Molecular biology, too, has opened a whole new field of research in modern times. A team of genetic experts in the USA, convinced by the evidence they already had that all of humanity had common ancestor, have attempted to trace that single progenitor across the millennia. Placed in this perspective, all differences of color, physiognomy, physique, etc. are purely relative, and do not necessarily constitute different racial characteristics. All modern research points to human beings as members of one Great Family, all bound together by the same biological brotherhood. (Newsweek, January 11, 1988). A number of books and research papers have lately been published on this subject. The Race Question in Modern Science by J. Comas published by UNESCO in 1956) has a chapter on 'Racial Myths' which is worth studying. In spite of these academic findings, no great material changes have occurred. Those nations who had come to consider themselves superior are still acting under this misapprehension, while nations consider inferior are still subjected to injustice in new and varied forms. The reason is that to attain social reform, theory by itself is not sufficient. Along with it, a powerful incentive is essential. And this is exactly what is provided by the Qur'an. As well as enjoining justice, (16:90) the Qur'an holds out the promise of reward for one's deeds. It also informs us that a complete record is constantly being made of human actions. After death, everyone will find himself standing in God's court, where he will receive his just deserts. No perpetrator of cruelty will escape God's punishment. That time has to come when man will suffer the consequences of his deeds. 'On that day mankind will come, divided in terms of vice and virtue, into groups to be shown their labors. Whoever does an atom's weight of good shall see it and whoever does an atom's weight of evil shall see it also.' (99:6-8) This concept of accountability alerts man to the necessity of being extremely punctilious in his dealings with others. He then sees how essential it is to be just to everyone, if he is to save his own self. He avoids wronging others so that he may not be punished by God. In the absence of any concept of accountability, social justice figures in our lives as a need felt by others, not by ourselves. But once werecognized that there is such a thing as accountability, social justice becomes a prime necessity for everyone, including ourselves. And who can neglect his own needs? The concept of accountability is such a strong check that it restrains one not just from oppression, but from even any semblance of it. Once when the Prophet was at home with his wife, Umm Salmah, he called the maidservant, who took some time in coming. Seeing signs of anger onProphet's face, Umm Salmah went to the window and looked outside where she saw the maid at play. When the latter came in, the Prophet happened to have a misvak ( a stick used for cleaning the teeth) in his hand. 'If it wasn't for the fear of retribution on the Day of Judgement,’ he told the maid, 'I would have hit you with this misvak.' In ancient times the beating of slaves was considered a natural right. But the mentality created by Islam put a stop to this practice, whatever the faults of the slaves. This was because the Muslims were afraid lest they beheld accountable for this act in the eyes of God. The Prophet once came across Abu Masood Ansari beating his slave. "You should know, Abu Masood ", he said, 'that God has more power over you than you have over this slave.' Abu Masood trembled hearing these words of the Prophet. 'Messenger of God,' he said, "I am freeing this slave for God's sake," 'If you had not acted thus, the flames of Hell would have engulfed you," the Prophet told him. This incident shows that Islam, by obliterating outward differences, brings all men on the same footing. Abu Masood had at first considered himself to be on a different footing from his slave in a purely material sense where he was respectable and powerful, the slave was lowly and weak. But when the Prophet reminded him that in the eyes of God he stood on exactly the same ground as his slave, he immediately humbled himself. Material differences in standing bring about social injustice. When these differences are obliterated, social inequality will, of necessity, disappear. It is undeniable that all incidents of oppression and social injustice are the result of inequality between man and man. Some are powerful,others are weak. Some are rich, others are poor. Now what happens is that the powerful and the wealthy come to regard themselves as being superior to the weak and the poor. They imagine they can oppress others with impunity, their elevated positions being enough to safeguard them from any attempt at retaliation. But Islam tells us that every man's fate is the concern of God. All moral issues are finally to be judged in the divine court. God being infinitely more powerful than all of the powerful men in the world. He will pronounce His verdict and enforce it with absolute justice towards one and all. At that time no mortal creature will be able to escape God's verdict. In this way, human affairs are no longer matters to be settled amongst men. They become matters to be settled between man and God. On the one side stands God, and on the other side stands all of humanity. So, when faced with God, no one is powerful. Everyone feels himself in the same state of humility as he had supposed was the state of other human beings 'weaker than himself. When this consciousness is created in a man, he dare not, whatever the circumstances, be unjust to others. This undoubtedly gives him the greatest incentive to bring about social justice. In an atheistic society where people do not believe in God, such a check is not possible. Where there is no belief in God, human affairs must be settled between man and man. And in that situation there can be no conviction that all men are equal, for the differences between them will remain all too obvious. In the absence of a divine overlord, such differences can never be leveled out, and if their effects are to be negated, it can only be done by taking matters between man and man and turning them into matters between man and God. Everyone should have the conviction that there is a God above all men, that all issues must finally be settled by Him, and that no one may challenge His verdict. There are other religions besides Islam which have the concept of God. But, owing to human interpolations in their scriptures, their particular concept of God has, for all practical purposes, become ineffective. For instance, in Christianity, God's son atoned for the sins of humanity by his crucifixion. In Judaism salvation is granted in advance to its adherents as their birthright. In Hinduism, the monistic concept of God serves no practical purpose. In terms of Islamic Monotheism, God is a separate being, and all human beings are His creatures and His servants. Such a belief arouses in man the feeling of humility. Contrary to the Hindu concept, God in Islam is the sole supreme Being: man has no part in that divinity. In Hinduism, man is a part of God--a concept which produces the opposite feeling of superiority. While Islamic monotheism awakens in man the consciousness of his being God's servant, Hinduism encourages man to say, 'I am God.' The former creates the psychology of humility, unlike the latter which fosters pride. When the members of a society are flawed by pride, it is well-nigh impossible to bring about an atmosphere of social justice. Amnesty International, an organization known as a watchdog of human rights, set up its headquarters in London thirty years ago. Thirty years is a long time for such an organization to have been functioning, but, in all that time, it has not been able to serve humanity in anyway except for publishing reports in the newspapers. It is significant that on the completion of thirty years in December, 1991, the organization did not see fit to hold any celebrations. Asked why this was so, a representative of the organization, a Ms France Scinto, replied that there really wasn't anything to celebrate. Every year on December 10, the United nations celebrates the Day of Human Rights. This year the statement issued by Javier Peres de Cuellar, the UN Secretary General, lamented the blind use of force and the barbaric treatment meted out to people notwithstanding the universal Declaration of Human Rights which had been issued under the auspices of the United Nations. What is the reason for the failure of these institutions to establish peace and justice? It can be explained by the fact that peace and justice in human life cannot be established solely on the basis of appeals and statements in the newspapers. What is required is an ideology which enshrines correct human values, and which might properly serve as the basis for an intellectual revolution. Those reformed along these lines should in turn reform the social institutions, and wherever the reins of government fall into their hands, they should establish peace and justice in society by constitutional means. Only once in the course of history have all these conditions been fully met. That was when the Prophet and his Companions succeeded in establishing a system based fairly and squarely on peace and justice. Neither his predecessors nor his successors ever attained such a resounding success. Islam's third great contribution to social justice was the example it itself set in according to the same honor and respect to all human beings, whether they were weak or strong, kings or commoners, be it in family circles, social life, positions of power or in the government, by the same token, no one could escape punishment for his sins. The history of Islam abounds in examples of justice for all. Here only a few incidents are mentioned in brief. 1. In ancient times, it was unthinkable for a girl of noble birth or even of any free person, to be married to a slave. The Prophet, wishing to break with this tradition, decided to arrange a marriage between his own first cousin, Zaynab bint Jahash (d. 20 AH), who belonged to the Banu Hashim, the most respectable clan of the Quraysh tribe, and Zayd ibn Haritha, a black Negro slave. This most extraordinary event served as an important example of Islamic justice. 2. The Ka'aba, the most holy place of worship, was considered sacrosanct in all its parts. Therefore, when the call to prayer had to be made from its roof, it was only a person of noble birth who could ascend it. A man of lowly birth performing this religious duty was not be countenanced. After the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet broke with this tradition by asking a Negro slave, Bilal ibn Rubah to go up on to the roof of the Ka'aba and give the call to prayer (Azan). This was a unique event, not only in Arab history but also in world history of ancient times. Had Islam not become dominant, people would certainly have killed Bilal for his 'arrogance'. They did, however, voice strong reactions against this act, which is an indication of how shocking it had appeared to them. For example, Utaba ibn Usyad of Mecca thanked God that his father was no more and could not, therefore, witness this horrible sight on that day. Harith ibn Hisham asked, 'couldn't Muhammad have found someone other than this Black crow?' (AL-Jame Lil Ahkam AL-Qur'an, 16/341). 3. Ali ibn abi Talib, the fourth caliph, lost his coat of armor. One day he saw a Christian of Kufa selling the same coat of armor. This case was brought to the then Qazi Shurayh bin al Alharith. Ali went to his court like a commoner where he was asked by the Qazi to produce two witnesses. Ali then brought forward his son Hasan and his slave Qambar. The Qazi rejected the evidence of his son on the grounds that the evidence of a son in support of his father is not acceptable. Thus the reigning Caliph lost his case. However, the Christian was so greatly impressed at the display of such equality in the court of Islam between the king and commoner, that he himself admitted that Ali was right. The coat of armor did belong to him (Azmath-e-Sahaba, pp. 32-33). 4. Once during the caliphate of Umar Faruq, the second Caliph, Amr ibn al-Aas, who was the then governor of Egypt, arranged a horse race in which his own son was also to participate. His son's horse lost, however to a young, native Copt. The son, Muhammed ibn Amr, was enraged and lashed the Copt boy with a whip, saying, 'Take that! That will teach you to beat the son of a nobleman!' The Copt came to Medina and complained to the Caliph, who took it upon himself to institute an inquiry. When he found that the Copt had been beaten unjustly, he immediately sent an emissary to Egypt to summon the governor and his son before him forthwith. When they arrived, he handed the Copt a whip to flog them, just as he himself had been flogged. In the presence of the governor, the Copt started whipped his son, stopping only when he was satisfied that the punishment had been severe enough. Then the Caliph addressed himself to the governor: " O Amr, since when have you enslaved people who were born free? (Azmat-e-Sahaba, pp.40 - 41) 5. Palestine was conquered during the Caliphate of Umar Faruq. To sign certain agreements with the conquered nation, he had to travel to Palestine. When he left Medina, he was wearing rough clothes and had only one servant and one camel. He said to his servant, 'If I mount the camel and you go on foot, it will not be fair to you. And if you mount the camel while I go on foot, that will not be fair to me. And if we both sit on the camel's back, that will be an injustice to the camel. So, it would be better if all three of us took turns.' So taking it by turns, Umar Faruq would ride and the servant would walk, and vice versa, and then both would take a turn of walking so that the camel should be spared. Travelling in this manner, they reached the gates of Palestine, where the inhabitants gaped at the sight of the Caliph going on foot while his servant rode the camel, for it was the latter's turn to ride as they approached their destination. In fact, many Palestinians failed to make out who was the Caliph and who was the servant. (Taamir ki Taraf, pp..56-57). Through its intellectual revolution and the practical examples it set, Islam thus created a history which had an impact on almost the whole of the inhabited world of that time. This revolution was so powerful that its effects could still be felt one thousand years later. After the Prophet, the period of Sahaba (The Prophet's companions) and of Tabiin, (the companions of the Prophet's companions) is known as the golden age of Islam. But the effects of the Islamic revolution lasted far beyond this period, continuing to leave its imprint on human society in various forms across the centuries. Even Muslim kings dared challenge it. Many examples of their submission to Islam can be cited. An incident relating to Jehangir, the Mughal emperor, has been very effectively portrayed by Maulana Shibli Nomani in the form of a poem entitled, 'Adl-e-Jahangiri.' Jahangir's Queen, Noor Jahan, once inadvertently killed a poor man. It happened at some hunt, when a washerman, straying into her line of fire, was hit and mortally wounded. When he died, the matter was brought to court, where the Qazi passed the death sentence on the Queen. Neither the king nor the Queen dared refuse the Qazi's sentence. Finally, the issue was resolved only when the washerman's wife pronounced herself willing to accept the blood-money, as is provided for under Islamic law. (If the victim's next-of-kin refuses to accept the blood-money, the culprit is sentenced to death-murder for murder). Now let us take an example of conduct which is the very opposite in spirit. The British ruler, James 1, (1566-1625) a contemporary of the Indian ruler, Jahangir (1569-1627), claimed that he was above the law and could exercise his judgement independently. The then British chief Justice, Sir Edward Cook, (I552-1634) differed with him on this issues, so that when John Beat, a British merchant, once refused to pay tax on imported currants(an order given personally by James 1) because no law to this effect had been passed by parliament, Sir Edward took the side of Beat. Enraged, the King exclaimed, 'Am I subject to the law? To say so, is treason!' Justice Cook did not waver from his standpoint. As a result he was removed from his post by the King. It is a matter of historical record that legal differences with the king eventually broke his judicial career. When the case of the King and Justice Cook came to the British privy Council, the then Attorney General, Francis Bacon, upholding the legalsupremacy of the king said: 'Judges should be lions, but yet lions under the throne.' (1/92). According to time-honored legal traditions in Britain, there were two kinds of law: common law and legal prerogative. For the public there was one set of laws and for the king and nobles quite another. The King was above the law. His word, in fact, was law. It was not until the advent of Islam that this division was abolished and the same set of laws was enforced for all. The rule of the King had perforce to give pride of place to the law of the land. Shortly before his death on the eve of his last pilgrimage, the Prophet of Islam gave a sermon which came to be known as the sermon of the Final pilgrimage. One of the historic declarations made in this sermon was: 'Everything pertaining to paganism now lies beneath my feet." 'With these words, the Prophet announced the advent of a new age, an age freed by him of all superstition and ushered in with the special succor of God. This historic change was first wrought within Arabia, then it spread beyond its frontiers, ultimately making itself felt throughout the entire world. This resulted in the eradication of the division in society between free men and slaves and the inception of the rule of law all over the world. It also caused all such philosophies as sanctioned injustice and social inequality to lose in influence. Now, any philosophy based on human inequality finds no ground on which to flourish. One example of this in modem times is provided by Hitler, according to whom the German race was superior to all others. Firm in this belief, he put forward the idea that it was their birthright to assert their supremacy over all other nations. 'He regarded inequality between races and individuals as part of an unchangeable natural order and exalted the Aryan race as the sole creative element of mankind.' (8/967). But what a fate awaited Hitler! His popularity in Europe rapidly waned and he was finally deserted even by his own minions in his own country. In utter frustration, he committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin, thus annihilating not only himself but the Nazi movement which he had set in motion. The influence of the social revolution brought about by the Prophet is still alive, not only in Muslim countries, but indirectly throughout the entire inhabited world. On the question of social justice, or equal justice researchers have acknowledged that if ever any system has truly attained this end, it is Islam. One such acknowledgement by Swami Vivekanand, has been mentioned above. Now the question arises as to how Islam, managed to succeed in this when other religions or systems failed. There are two important reasons for this. One is that Islam gives us a complete ideology in favor of human equality. The other is that it provides humanity with a historical example of that ideologyput into practice. These are the points on which other religions have failed. To make this point clear, I shall cite here two examples from Hinduism and Christianity. Hinduism as has been explained above, divides humanity as a matter basic belief into two parts. Its very philosophy demands a high position for one group and a low position for another. The existence of this belief makes it impossible to mete out equal treatment to both groups. Those who live by this system can never regard themselves as being equal to those who appear inferior to them by birth. Here it is pertinent to mention the Backward Classes Commission set up by the President of India in 1953, with Kaka Sahab Kalelkar as its chairman. After making a survey which was completed in 1955, it presented a 262 page report which was published in 1956 by the Government press. This report (available in the Delhi Public Library, Delhi) stated that the caste system of India was of a very different nature from the class system prevalent elsewhere. In India, this system is not traceable purely to economic causes as is generally the case in other countries. Its roots, on the contrary, go much deeper, being enshrined in the system of beliefs. According to the report, 'it is the peculiarity of India that it recognized the social differences inherent in human nature and gave them an institutional and mystical form with a religious and spiritual background.' What the Kalelkar Commission states is borne out by the facts. It is indisputable that social differences in India have been traced to qualities inherent in human nature. Given this belief, they are an inevitable and natural reality. In a society where, of necessity, such a concept exists, the ideas of obliterating these differences and of having equal justice cannot have any general appeal. A similar obstacle to equality is condoned even by Christianity. Here I should like to refer to a report prepared by a team of five Christian journalists and published in the Sunday Review (Times of India) of December 22, 1991. According to this report, the number of converts to Christianity from low castes is more than fifty percent, these being known as Dalit Christians. 'Those who came over from the backward Hindu strata, still find themselves bogged down in discrimination by the Church.' Dalit Christians are prevented from burying their dead in grave yards along with upper caste Christians. They cannot marry into upper caste Christian families. In many churches they have separate seating arrangements. They are discriminated against in educational institutions run by Christians themselves. The caste prejudice extends even to the Christian clergy. This is specially true to the Catholic Church whose priests are almost totally drawn from the upper or middle classes. In Kerala, where Christianity has thrived for 2,000 years, caste is evident on a social level. The caste factor surfaces time and again, causing intense anguish to members of the Dalit Christian communities. When Dr. Casimir Gnanadickan, Catholic Archbishop of Madras was asked about this, he admitted that a strong caste system existed with the Church set-up. 'I agree, it was a retrograde step. But sometimes the power of faith cannot break reality.' It is true that Christianity does not teach human inequality or social injustice. But what is lacking in Christianity is a powerful,historical example of human equality. The mission of Christ did not reach beyond the invitation to faith. It did not reach the stage of practical revolution. That is why, in the first phase of Christianity no such example of human equality could be set. In the absence of telling precedents, belief alone is not sufficient to bring about any practical change. The Islamic system is totally different from those of Hinduism and Christianity. In it, there exists a complete ideology in favor of human equality, while alongside it there exists a perfect, practical example. On both counts, the first phase of Islam set the course of Islamic history for all eternity. And Islamic history will continue forever in the same direction, for there is no influence powerful enough in the world to alter its course.
September 28, 2018 / Insight Multifaceted Males Just two years ago, in the summer of 2016, our team sat down and ruminated the future of the male demographic. Two years before that, Being A Man festival was launched. At the same time, 2014 was named as ‘Year of the Male’, expressing concern regarding Masculinity in Crisis. In the following year, Lee Kynastion from CEW acknowledged that the biggest change in the last 10 years was that men have embraced and accepted narcissism and the idea that it’s ok to take care of yourself. At the same time, Selfridges launched Agenda, a store wide campaign that brought explorations of gender to the forefront of consumer attention. The concept of gender was in a flux. Societal stereotypes of gender were shifting. As social media permeated into the mainstream, the rise of Gen Z saw consumers no longer viewing make-up as beauty, but the paint brush for self expression. Marked by the groom boom of 2013, men were disconnected from the female gaze, but rather, groomed for themselves. Thus, it seemed logical that the next step towards self care and preservation was the concept of make-up. By 2020, the male beauty industry is expected to be worth $60bn. In that time, we created the Y Code. Modern masculinity is complex. Part of our extensive market research included asking men to describe masculinity in three words, and then define themselves in three words. In short, there was no correlation between the two, which begs the wider question that brands have to re-invent the way they communicate to men. As such, this means celebrating the multifaceted nature of what it means to be male, empowering consumers to self-express in a way that is relevant and most importantly, meaningful. Key Takeaways Get personal. Establish connection based on shared values. In the new nurture economy, question how this ideal relates to men, who also suffer from burnout and work/life balance stress. Focus on storytelling and store experiences rooted in empowerment. Related Articles
How to build sweep picking precision Scroll down to see tablature One note at a time The skill of sweep picking offers you very few challenges. I'm not saying that it's easy. I'm saying there aren't that many things to think about when you sweep pick. If you've got the angle of the pick right - and you're using your arm and not your hand to do the sweeping, you're doing great. But there is one little challenge that I would like to address in this article though. The whole purpose of sweep picking is to produce notes that are separate and not "together" like the notes of a chord. You don't want two notes from the A-minor triad to sound at the same time in the middle of a sweep. This is not a challenge when all the notes are in a seperate fret like in this A-Minor arpeggio pattern: When you play through this pattern, you use a different finger each time you shift from one string to another. This makes it very easy to not have the notes sound at the same time. However, the following pattern has two notes in the same fret: The easiest way to play this pattern is to create a bar with your third finger on the D- and G-strings. But this will also make it harder to separate the notes from each other. - In the third version of the A-Minor arpeggio it gets even worse: Here you have three consecutive notes in the same fret on the G- B- and E-string. There are two ways to deal with this challenge and here they are: 1. Mute the strings Muting all the strings with your picking hand will create a "staccato" effect that prevents the strings from vibrating for no more than a fraction of a second. I've included some photos that show you how to "palm mute" the strings below. In the first photo my hand is placed behind the strings, but in the second photo it touches the strings. When I start to pick my palm is going to mute the strings, giving me no sustain on the notes what so ever: The only downside of this technique is that it will mute all of the notes, also the ones that don't need muting. When you do this, the sound of what you play, changes radically. I use this technique quite a bit but sometimes it's nice to have a more open sound when playing arpeggios. That's why you should spend some time learning the next technique as well: “I am not handsome, but when women hear me play, they come crawling to my feet.” Niccolo Paganini 2. Rolling the bar Is it possible to create a bar over several strings but only really fret one of the notes? Yes it is. Try this: Put your index finger across the G-, B- and E strings like in the last Arpeggio pattern example. Then, while you keep holding that bar, push down on the G-string with the tip of your finger, while easing the pressure on the other strings. If you strum the three strings the G-string should sound loud and clear while the other two strings should be muted. Then try to put the pressure on the high E-string instead, while easing up on the G- and B-string. Don't move your finger, keep that bar in place. Now it's quite hard to put pressure on the middle B-string without also putting pressure on the other strings but try this now: Sweep pick the three strings and "roll" your left hand index finger over the strings as you pick them. You can see me do this in the movie at exactly 00:09. Look closely and see if you can pin point the place where I "roll" my index finger across the three top strings. A-Minor 3 Shapes Mega Sweep Picking Fun Today's lick uses all of the three Minor arpeggio shapes. You can use these shapes in a variety of different contexts so they are really, really useful to master. Practice each shape separately and then integrate them with each other to build the whole lick.
The Ultimate Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Now, I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve never had a cookie better than these ones. Okay maybe with the exception of Ben’s Cookies in London… they were too good! My family and friends love these so much that I make them on an almost weekly basis. They also freeze really well, so I’ve always got some on hand for when that sugar craving hits! The measurements are really easy to halve or double depending on how many cookies you need. Each batch makes approximately 40 decadent cookies. dough balls Perfect balls of delicious cookie dough For the Ultimate Chewy Cookie Recipe you will need: 200g Salted Butter (softened) 150g White Sugar 150g Brown Sugar 2 Large Eggs 1tsp Vanilla Extract 350g Self Raising Flour 1tsp BiCarbonate of Soda Ingredients for Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (… oops forgot to put vanilla in the pic!) Possible mix-ins (2cups) White and milk choc chips OR White chocolate chips and a handful of raspberries, crushed OR M’n’m’s, crushed ( These are my favourite combinations but feel free to go crazy with whatever your favourite flavour combinations are! ) My favourite mix-ins! 1. Line two baking trays with baking paper. 2. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and the sugars until combined. You can do this either with a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer. 3. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating to combine. Then add the vanilla. 4. Gradually add the flour and BiCarb until fully combined. 5. This is where the fun starts! You can add any mix-ins you would like. My favourites include: white chocolate and raspberry; white and milk chocolate chip; m’n’m’s- the possibilities are endless! Pick whatever you want to mix in and continue mixing until they are fully incorporated. 6. Refridgerate mix for about 20-30mins. While your dough is chilling, preheat oven to 170C (340F). 7. Roll into tablespoon full balls, then place on the trays and press down to flatten slightly. You’ll need to space them at least 5cm apart as they spread! 8. Bake for 11-14mins until the edges are just starting to brown. 9. After you remove them from the oven, let them sit on the tray for a couple of minutes to set as they will still be quite soft. Transfer to a cooling rack and enjoy! tray cookies Chewy chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven. I’m drooling! If you want to freeze these, I recommend wrapping them in glad wrap/ cling film in pairs once completely cooled- perfect for school lunchboxes! If you try this recipe, or if you have any mix-in ideas, let me know here or tag me on Instagram! Much love and happy baking x
CNET también está disponible en español. Ir a español Don't show this again Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini: Samsung, don't scam us again Rumours suggest that Samsung is plotting to produce a new smart phone called the Galaxy S4 Mini (check out the leaked snap below). But will this mobile be a cracking device in its own right? Or a lazy cash-in like last year's Galaxy S3 Mini? Everyone went nuts for the Galaxy S3 when it was released, and rightly so, because it was (and still is) a stellar smart phone, packed full of powerful components and excellent apps. We were all excited, then, for the S3 Mini, expecting -- as the name implies -- a smaller version of the S3, perfect for those who are averse to the bigger screens that have become standard in the last few years, but still want a taste of Samsung's high-flying mobile. There was nothing high-flying about the S3 Mini though. While the S3 packed a growling quad-core processor, the S3 Mini ops for a weedier 1GHz dual-core chip. The S3's 8-megapixel camera was downsized to 5-megapixels for the Mini, resulting in a snapper that we noted in our review "isn't a patch" on its namesake. The 720p screen resolution meanwhile was chopped down to a boring 480x800 on the S3 Mini, which was also lumbered with a £300 price tag -- rather steep compared to similarly-specced phones like the £100 Huawei Ascend G300, the £200 Orange San Diego, or the vastly superior Nexus 4 -- yours for £239. With decidedly middling hardware and a high price, it's hard not to see the Mini as a cynical cash-in, with Samsung playing on a famous name to flog some less spectacular phones to unsuspecting shoppers. This is reinforced by marketing language -- Carphone Warehouse's description of the Mini claims it, "brings the high performance and ease-of-use of the Galaxy S3 to a compact smart phone." Our readers weren't fooled. One commenter wrote, "The name will mean this phone will sell well, but it's effectively a fake. There's nothing S3 about it other than the shape and styling." "I think it's too different or should I say lower specced," another opined. "If they had used the same high-quality components as the S3 then they could have had a direct rival for the iPhone," one disappointed commenter wrote. "Instead of which they have aimed at the middle market and hope that the S3 brand will sell the phone." Let's not do that again If Samsung does make a Galaxy S4 Mini, it would be great to see some high-powered hardware in a smaller casing, giving shoppers a truer taste of the S4's strength and features. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a slight dip in specifications, especially if it means a chunk of change can be taken off the price. My request then, Samsung -- if you happen to be reading -- is that any possible S4 Mini smart phone be good value. It doesn't have to be monstrously hardware-heavy, but let's not have another phone that's under-powered and over-priced. It's unhelpful to customers, and misleading. Rumoured details so far point to a 4.3-inch display with a much lower pixel-per-inch count than the S4, and a 1.66GHz dual-core processor. That doesn't sound too exciting, but it's best to hold off on judgement until we get final confirmation. What do you think about the S3 Mini? Is it a scam, or a perfectly reasonable offering? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
pour les commandes supérieures à US$20 Lames pour découseur Who Uses Seam Ripper Blades? A seam ripper blade can be a useful tool for both home and industrial use. Anytime a seam needs to be removed—either in home projects or in industrial manufacturing—a seam ripping tool is used to cut the thread without damaging the sewn material. As such, users range from needing these blades once in a while for home repairs to constantly, for industrial processes. This kind of blade is also popular in the sign industry for anyone who must weed vinyl. In this case, a pointed-tip 10537 blade is recommended. How Long Do Your Seam Ripper Blades Last? Unlike a standard metal seam ripper blade, ours are made with advanced ceramics, a material that is much harder and retains its cutting edge much longer than steel. As such, our blades last up to 11 times longer than metal blades, meaning you should be able to use them eleven times longer than a standard blade. This helps reduce injuries (since injuries often occur during blade handling), gives you better value for your money (since you’d need to buy 11 metal blades to cut the same amount of thread), and is kinder to the environment (since you need to replace only the blade, you replace it less often, and old blades are 100 percent recyclable). What Style of Seam Ripper Replacement Blades Do you Make? We find that different styles of seam ripper blade are better for different concerns. If, for example, safety is your first priority, we recommend using the 10536 rounded-tip blades. If the stitches you’re working with are very small or they are the first stitches in the seam and you need a picking action, your first priority is a tip that’s narrow enough to smoothly enter without tugging at the thread (and risking tearing delicate surrounding material). Your best bet here is to get a 10537 pointed-tip blade. This is also true for anyone using this style of blade for other purposes, such as weeding vinyl stickers; in this case, pointed tips are more effective. What Kinds of Handles Are Available for This Blade? The 10536 and 10537 are both additions to our line of craft knife blades. As such, they fit in a number of craft handles including: Or course, the 10536 and 10537 blades are designed to be used with our seam ripper handles, but they are compatible with all the handles listed, and you may find that one of these options suits your task better. Choisissez votre pays et langue Latin America and the Caribbean Nous contacter
December 16, 2018 • 4:38 pm How To Get A Thicker Penis • 11:10 am Penis Extenders Treat Peyronie’s Disease • 7:39 pm How Do Penis Pills Really Work? • 9:36 pm Foods To Increase Your Sperm Count pheromones for women Pheromones for women are all the rage these days. Most women rave about the alluring effect that they have on the opposite sex. While people who have used pheromone products and fragrances vouch for their efficacy, others find it hard to believe the incredulous impact that the top men’s cologne that contains pheromones generate. So, if you are not convinced by the hype surrounding pheromone colognes; here is a look at how these products actually work. I discuss the role of pheromones in enhancing sexual attraction. And I share scientific studies that support the results experienced by users. I reveal a depth analysis of whether these products actually deliver on the promise that their manufactures are making. How do pheromone perfumes work? Pheromone perfumes contain odorless chemicals and traditional fragrant notes like floral, musky, woody with an alcohol base. Learn more at and So, apart from acting like a regular perfume, the pheromone base leads to a distinct feeling of attraction in members of the opposite sex and heightened sexual desire. This would naturally bring a person to the question; what are pheromones and how do they act on humans? The role of pheromones for women Pheromones are odorless chemicals secreted by the human body and picked up by a special sensory organ in the olfactory cavity known as the vomeronasal organ or VNO. Pheromones are secreted by all animals including members of the insect and reptilian families. The group of chemicals is exclusive to a species so that the attraction is only felt by the male and female of the same species. This is just Mother Nature’s way of ensuring procreation. The primary job of them is to cause sexual attraction and the feeling of closeness, liking, and comfort by stimulating the secretion of the appropriate neurotransmitters in humans. For a long time, it was assumed that the VNO lies dormant in humans; however, in 1703, F. Ruysch found that humans were capable of picking up pheromones according to So, why have your natural pheromones not helped you in the dating game? While the human body secretes pheromones just like all other animals in nature; we are the only ones who successfully mask and wash off these chemicals through our regular hygiene practices, by wearing clothes and of course by using man-made fragrances in the form of colognes. In other words, the dismal amount of pheromones secreted naturally simply cannot compete with so many factors. So, we need to supplement what has been washed away; this is done by combining a heady mixture of various male pheromones like androstenone and others. The impact of these chemicals is often perplexingly positive on the users and on others around them. In fact, pheromones are so powerful that they can trigger physiological responses like a change or the onset of the menstrual cycle. And they can have a bearing on how people react to a person and situations. These chemicals can have a direct impact on how people feel about each other; including their perception of the opposite person. Learn more about pheromones for men at Do pheromones actually increase sexual attraction? In a single word, the answer to that question is a resounding, “yes”.They are Mother Nature’s love potions. In fact, in a study, it was found that these chemicals can cause a response in the sexual area of the brain of not only women but also homosexual men. However, they do not elicit the same intimate response from straight men, instead of creating a feeling of mutual admiration and even kinship. The study which was conducted by the Michael G DeGroote School of Medicine at the McMaster University, Canada also highlighted the fact that sexual orientation may not necessarily be a learned trait. Test Pheromones at Pheromone Parties These parties are specifically organized to be one of the best ways for men and women to interact with each other. With most males looking to grab the attention of the women around them, such social gatherings could just be the right way to do so. The products that carry such intense chemicals that could be alluring for females can, of course, be found in plenty at such places. The fact that you could be dating any woman you wish to is quite amazing. Men do want to be able to make the move but in some cases, women can be hesitant. With such provisions, men simply do not have to make much effort as the chemical will definitely attract the beautiful women whom you want to mingle with and vice versa. These parties are gaining in popularity as the chance of mingling for both men and women is highly desired.
Thoughts from the Bullpen: Corporate America commercializing Christmas December 22, 2010\|By Craig Sherwood Merry Holiday, everyone. Yes, only three more days until Holiday, so I hope you all have your shopping done. Have you figured out what to get your friends for Holiday? Do you think the kids will be excited to run down and look under the holiday tree to see what Santa has brought them for Holiday? Does this all sound pretty damn stupid? Yep! Forget Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or even Festivus. These names just don't have any meaning anymore. Corporate America has decided it is just easier to market to everyone and just use a generic word: Holiday. By losing the word Christmas, we can now start gearing up for the "holiday season" before Halloween, as we did this year on San Fernando when they started hanging the lights on trees. Thanksgiving — forget about it. How does that make money for businesses? It's just some stupid family day where everyone sits around and bonds together every year. No money in that. In fact, corporate America is so mad they aren't making money that day that they are now opening stores on Thanksgiving to get a head start on "Black Friday." And isn't it great that they even name the day for businesses making money. In fact, we now have "Cyber Monday," and our new day, "Super Saturday" — all days that tell you just how much the businesses are making that day. Sure, that's national stuff, but we are just as guilty here in Burbank. We have our Holiday in the Park before Thanksgiving, along with a Santa and everything else that yells Christmas. And while you sit there, nod your head in agreement, pick up a mirror and look into it, because you are just as guilty as the corporations. It starts the same way. You go to the garage and pull out the Christmas lights and decorate your house the same way you did last year, and the year before, and the year before. Why not mix it up a little? Do something new and different each year? It's because you just don't really care. You do it because it is expected, not because you are actually excited about it. Businesses do the same thing. They put up their little decorations every year, year after year. The fake boxes that look like presents under a fake tree. And let's not forget the guilt factor associated with Christmas. How many of you give something to a homeless person because it is Christmastime? Nice thought, but why can't you open your heart in May instead of walking by that guy with your nose in the air. How about going to church? For some reason people feel they have to go Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and then will probably miss the next 51 weeks of the year. It's not about religion (I love all religions, so please don't kill me or start a war); it's just about celebrating a day that seems to be universal all over this planet. I can hardly wait until Dec. 26 when everyone just goes back to being a jerk again — at least that's something I can deal with. Burbank Leader Articles Burbank Leader Articles
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (Malayalam Chintha Edition) Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, the most famous anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe, in Malayalam translated by Mini Menon. It tells the story of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around whom the stories of other characters revolve. The sentimental novel depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings. According to Will Kaufman, this novel helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. Malayalam Title: അങ്കിൾ ടോംസ് ക്യാബിൻ Pages: 408 Size: Demy 1/8 Binding: Paperback Edition: 2010 November Write a review Note: HTML is not translated! Bad Good Uncle Tom's Cabin (Malayalam Chintha Edition) Free Shipping In India For Orders Above Rs.599.00 • Rs260.00
The Uses Of Essential Oils 07 Feb What precisely are essential oils? As its name proposes, an essential oil contains the quintessence of a plant-and particularly the substance of its smell. What makes these essential oils so viable for fragrant healing is their sturdy frame. Indeed, the quantity of plants expected to influence a little measure of essential oil to can be high as can be. While examining first fragrance based treatment oils, understand that they don't aggregately share any concoction or therapeutic properties. The trademark that they share is a one of a kind and particular smell. It's that fragrance that makes them perfect for fragrant healing. How are organic fragrant healing oils extricated from plants? Truth be told, while producers utilise a few distinct techniques, the most well-known one is refining. Refining includes using a bubbling fluid to isolate various blends. Here are the means by which it works. Laborers apply steam to a specific plant, which enables it to "cook." therefore, the plant discharges the first oil contained in it. At that point in the wake of cooling the steam that was connected to the plant, labourers separate the first oil from the water. Visit this site! While essential oils have as of late expanded in prominence, individuals have utilised them widely amid specific periods ever. That incorporates their utilisation for different restorative purposes, for example, for skin issues. The fame of organic oils had incredibly diminished amid present day times. Notwithstanding, the current fame in fragrance based treatment has been combined with a restored enthusiasm for essential oils. In any case, governments today are for the most part considerably more cautious about controlling organic oils. This has diminished the quantity of false claims that makers make about their items. Learn more about oils at Why have essential oils turned out to be so prevalent in the utilisation of fragrance based treatment? It's vital first to comprehend the capacity of scent based treatment. This kind of elective medication utilises the sweet-smelling mixes in different sorts of plant removes, for example, organic oils. Individuals have been using essential oils for ages, to treat certain wellbeing sicknesses. The conviction of many fragrance based treatment experts is that different essential oils can give those some medical advantages through fragrant healing. When looking for original oils, one should know how to recognise pure and unclean essential oils. Undiluted organic oils just contain extricates from plants, while lacking fixings, for example, creature items. For example, a few things copy the aromas of different common essential oils, yet additionally, contain different artificial fixings. The capacity of such items is entirely as a fragrance. In this manner, they won't have same properties from essential oils. * The email will not be published on the website. This site was built using
Customer Login Customer Login Course Detail Subject categories: General Health and Social Care, Nursing and Health Care Course overview This course has been developed to provide all learners with an understanding of Dysphagia as a condition and how to support an individual to eat and drink. Group discussions, small group activities, DVD clips and worksheets This course has been developed and mapped to: Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Guidance on Dysphagia And the following QCF unit: Support Individuals to Eat and Drink Course content What is Dysphagia? The risks arising from lack of appropriate dysphagia management Multi-disciplinary assessments and team working Care planning and following professional recommendations Planning and preparation of meals, including following dietary needs Equipment and sitting positions to support comfortable and safe eating First aid response Learning outcomes Explain the term dysphagia Describe the causes and risks associated with dysphagia State the common signs and symptoms of dysphagia Prepare and provide support for eating and drinking Monitor eating and drinking and the support provided Describe the first aid response in an emergency 3 hours Keep up to date
Gmail Setup by Wren McMains I give up. I know it has nothing to do with Imaging, but too many people are having trouble setting things up so their eMail is routed through Gmail. For a whole lot of reasons I recommend routing all your eMail through Google's Gmail. See a partial list at the bottom of this page. What's great about this is that you don't have to tell anyone you've changed your eMail address. If someday you change ISPs, and no longer can have the same address, switch to your Gmail address which is a permanent address. Hopefully you'll like Gmail as much as I do, but of course like anything new it takes a while to get use to it. Here are the steps for making the switch: 1. Setup a Gmail account: Screen Shot 2. Forward mail from your existing account to your new Gmail account. This is usually done by logging into the Web based interface to your eMail and looking under preferences, account settings, or whatever they call it. I know Comcast, Verizon, 207ME and many other ISPs allow you forward. If your account is on one of my servers, ask me to set the forwarding for you. 3. Go to Gmail settings and on the "Accounts" tab choose "Add another email address": Screen Shot fill in your existing address and press "Next Step": Screen Shot Press "Send Verification" which will send a message to your old account: Screen Shot If you look at Settings / Accounts now you will see the address has been added, but says "unverified" and can't be used yet. Screen Shot 1. Go back to your Gmail Inbox. Assuming you successfully forwarded your mail to Gmail the verification message should be there. Click on the link in the message that will verify your address. Screen Shot If for some reason this link doesn't work, you'll note there is also a confirmation code you can type in manually by clicking "verify" (next to where it says "unverified" 2 screens above). If the link does work you'll get this screen, click to return to your Gmail account: Screen Shot 2. Go back to Settings / Accounts. It should now look like the screen below. Click "Make Default" to make your old, previously existing eMail address the address Gmail puts on your outgoing messages. Any future mail you send from Gmail will still seem to be coming from your old address. Screen Shot If you have even more eMail addresses and set them all up here in Gmail you'll probably also want to choose "Reply from the same address the message was sent to". With multiple addresses, when you compose a new message there's a pull-down which let's you select a different address to use when you don't want to use your default address: Screen Shot 3. If you also want to use a client eMail program (like Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Windows Mail, etc.) go to Settings / Forwarding and POP. Here you want to leave forwarding and IMAP disabled, but you want to enable POP (probably for all mail) and in the pull-down choose: "Archive Gmail's copy". Note that right under this choice is a link with configuration instructions for setting up your particular eMail client. You should probably look at them. Screen Shot In the screen above IMAP is enabled, but that's NOT what you want. Click the button where the arrow is pointing. 4. Basically the settings for your eMail client are: In the screen above, if you click on "Configuration instructions", you would get this: Screen Shot Choose the instructions for your particular "Mail Client" for more details. Why do I like Gmail? 1. Spam filter, 2. Spam filter, and 3. Spam filter. Years ago I made the mistake of putting various eMail addresses on web pages. At first this wasn't a problem, then programmers built eMail address mining programs. Soon after that not only was I was getting junk mail, but more and more spam. Now eMail addresses on any web pages I create appear only as graphics ... someone has to read them and type them in. This works great for new eMail addresses, but it's too late for old addresses I want to keep forever. I now get over 1200 messages a day with spam, viruses, or other junk I never want to see. Gmail hides 99+% of them. 4. Virus protection. I have never, ever seen a virus attached to an eMail since I started using Gmail. (As part of their protection, any .EXE or similar files sent as an attachment automatically get deleted ... since they don't tell you when it happens this is occasionally a problem, let me know if you need a work-around.) 5. You continue to use your favorite eMail client (Windows Mail, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc.) 6. All your mail is archived on-line as well as on your computer so you can access an old message from anywhere. 7. Even mail you send from your eMail client is archived in Gmail's "Sent Mail". 8. You can read and answer mail though the on-line interface, even archive it. Yet when you're ready to download mail to your eMail client via POP, it knows which messages have never been downloaded and retrieves them all. It even downloads the mail you sent using the on-line interface so your local eMail archive is complete. (Since most clients don't recognize those messages as sent mail, every so often I sort by sender and just move messages with my name on them into my local Sent Mail folder.) 9. A single Inbox that supports multiple eMail addresses. 10. Even on a dial-up line I've taken to using the on-line interface 95% of the time. Now I only download to my client program once or twice a week when my laptop has a high-speed wireless connection. 11. Attached pictures show up as thumbnails (see illustration in Safe Computing) which is great (much faster) on a dial-up line. If you need to download before you have a high-speed connection, there is an option to download all of them at once which means you can walk away during the download. This download is twice as fast as downloading to a client program because anything downloaded through this interface is not encoded as text (which all attachments have to be, and which makes them twice as big). 12. With snippets, there are many messages I don't have to even open (see illustration in Safe Computing). 13. Many other nice features are illustrated in Safe Computing. Most of them under #4, but don't miss the point about installing "Web of Trust" under #2. Biggest threat these days is not from attachments, but in clicking on dangerous links in eMails. 14. Don't forget to export your current Address book as a CSV file. Then import it into Gmail so you have it when away from your computer. Suggested next choices: Site Map
Skinless Chicken Longanisa My own recipe on how to easily make Skinless Chicken Longanisa. Give it a try. You will need: 2 lbs. ground Chicken 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 2 pouch Mama Sita Tocino Mix Wax Paper How to: Combine all 4 ingredients above. Refrigerate the mixture for at least 2 hours. Cut wax paper by cutting it in 6 inches length. Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture into the wax paper. Spread evenly and roll. Do the same to the remaining mixture. Place the rolled longanisa in the freezer for a least an hour. That will make it easier to cut it into 3 inches. Freeze for later use. How to Cook: When cooking you won't need to use cooking oil. All you have to do is to unwrapped the frozen longanisa. Arrange in a frying pan and add a cup of water. Cover and simmer in medium low heat until water dries up and longanisa is fully cooked. Add more water and maybe a tablespoon of cooking oil if needed. Don't forget to roll the longanisa once in a while to cook it evenly. And here is what we had for breakfast, Skinless Chicken Longanisa and Egg Omelet (stuffed with sautéed onion and tomatoes). 1. i"ve been wanting to make my own longganisa for so long pero wala di abi sang ice candy plastic bags e. so wax paper gali ang gamit mo? wala man gakadisintegrate magluto? 2. Hi Chiq, surprising but no. wala gid. what i notice mas mahumok sa tyan ang home made, wala ko naga tig ab, u know what i mean hehehe yeah wax paper works well daw pareho bala sang skinless chorizo sa aton sa Iloilo if you remember. Try it then let me know. Post sa imo nga blog. good luck dear 3. I cant wait to try ang recipe mo. Wala lang galin tocino mix diri sa gina istaran ko. Any suggestions for an alternate spice mix? 4. try this ingredients instead... a little bit of rice vinegar or regular vinegar, brown sugar, black pepper, minced garlic and salt. make sure to mix all the ingredients first before adding the ground chicken para you get the acquired taste you want. let me know ow it turned out k... good luck. happy cooking! 5. hi! do you have the exact measurement of vinegar and sugar for the 2 lbs of ground chicken? thanks! 6. I just tried to cooking my own for about 50 minutes. The outside is brown, but the inside is soft and a bit pink.. Is that normal? I mean, is it cooked already? I tasted it though, it's yummy! 7. woo jung kyu, that should be it. as long as you slow cook (simmer in low heat) the inside should be done specially when it's made of chicken, it does not take that long to cook. good luck! 8. Can you refreeze longanisa? 9. I would not recommend to refreeze any meat that was previously frozen. 10. This recipe sounds good. I want to try all the filipino dishes but have to be carefull as I and my wife try to eat kosher. Salamat! 11. Hello,I've been looking for a chicken longganisa recipe and came across yours. Just wondering, is there no need to use eggs or flour to make the ingredients stick together? Thank you! 12. Nang Thank you guid ah, namit guid sang imu mga recipes. Taga-Bacolod kami sang akon bana kag ari kami dri sa Alberta, Canada kag gapangita always (kada-adlaw)lain-lain nga recipes para sa amon tatlo ka pili-an nga boys, salamat kay nakabulig guid sang dako ang imu blog. -Anonymous Five 13. Love this simple recipe. I have to make it again because my son loves it. 14. Hello po, when i was still young mlimit kmi mgbksyon sa iloilo at isa sa paborito ko ung longanisa nila na masauce..super like it. I tried to make my own looking recipes on the net pero hinahanap ko p rin lasa nun..please cno po mkkpagshare sakin ng recipe nun pork longanisa..medyo mtgl n rin po aq d nkkuwi ng pinas kya super mis ko na. Please email me tnx in advance Click to Print Recipe
Parents around the world all have the same awkward job. They inevitably must teach their children about the birds and the bees as it’s called. But how do you do it? Cut Video had a bunch of parents teach their kids how babies are made in front of a camera. Naturally, this adorably awkward video has gone viral.
PNS Daily Newscast - January 18, 2019. Daily Newscasts Agree to Disagree: Surviving Holiday Political Talk An expert says polarized political opinions at the holiday table could damage relationships. (Pixabay) December 6, 2016 DES MOINES, Iowa – "We respectfully agree to disagree" may be the mantra heard at many holiday gatherings across the country this week. Emotions still are charged for a lot of people after the presidential election, and those gathered around the Thanksgiving table may not have the same political viewpoints. Parisa Parsa, executive director of Essential Partners said everyone needs to ask themselves if they're grounded enough to resist angry outbursts and frustration, and if they can listen and speak with care so they don't damage relationships that are important to them. According to Parsa, avoiding political conversations for now might be a good idea if people are feeling tense. But eventually, everyone should be able to talk about it. "Long term, it does our democracy, our families and ourselves a big disservice not to go to the tough stuff because those deeply held values and positions come out of our personal experience," she explained. Tips to avoid a big conflict at the dinner table include recognizing the signs of polarization, agitation and strong emotion before they get out of control, and practicing ways of speaking, listening and asking questions that foster sincere curiosity, and avoids the pattern of attack and defend. Joan Blades, a partner with Living Room Conversations said we shouldn't completely avoid conversations with those who have a different opinion, because debate is very beneficial. "When we fail to talk to people with different viewpoints and just talk to people that think like us, we actually make our own viewpoints more extreme," she said. "That's a disaster for having a successful democracy." Parsa said arguing about viewpoints doesn't usually change anyone's mind, and getting more information about a topic doesn't persuade anyone because both sides usually have facts to support their arguments. She said you can't have a full relationship with someone unless you can talk things out. "When we reduce someone to their political positions, we're not able to see them fully, and we're losing out on the opportunity to relate around other things that are common concerns," Parsa added. "So when we're seeing each other in stereotypes, we're putting ourselves in a box as well." Mary Kuhlman, Public News Service - IA
So we have this amazing book (seriously, check out these reviews on Amazon) which is a 12 week study guide into a revelation of the Father's love. We get so much feedback when we meet people about how the book has helped changed the way they experience God. We want everyone to have a copy. The problem? It's a BIG book and that makes it heavy which means it's pretty expensive to ship outside of the USA. Our solution has been to make it available on your kindle, on your iPhone or a beautiful (and it's gorgeous!) iPad enhanced edition. That way, wherever you are in the world, hopefully your Kindle or iOS device can download it and you work your way through it without having to pay for shipping. But we get it, some people (and we don't blame you) want the paper edition. You want to write in it, highlight stuff, feel the pages and that's where we run into problems, because if you live - say in the UK - and you order the book, you'll pay more for shipping than for the book itself! Insanity! So in recent weeks we've had a number of people in the UK reach out and ask us if we can solve the problem. We're asking our co-publisher to work on getting it into retail channels in the UK. But in the meantime we had a crazy idea. The shipping actually gets cheaper if we ship in boxes that hold 8 copies of the book; this shipping costs drop to around $10 per book (as opposed to around $30 per book!). We already have someone in the UK that we'd ship the big order to and then they'd ship your book(s) via Royal Mail to you! Confused? Let us explain: 1. You order a book from our website (at a special rate - more on that later) 2. Once we have enough orders to fill a box of 8 books we'll ship that box to our friend Quinn in the UK. He's a graduate of our School of Supernatural Life and a long time friend. We've trusted him with our house, our car and our kids so we trust him with your address (which he'd need, and you'd have to be okay with him having.) 3. Once he receives the big box of eight, he'll ship the individual orders from his home in the UK to your home in the UK So yes, it's a bit of a jump-through-some-hoops solution, but we really do want you to get ahold of the book and we've had enough interest via email, twitter and Facebook that we thought we should at least try something. So let's do it this way: if you would like to order a copy of Finding Father and you live in the UK (sorry my European friends, we're just beta testing now so just UK for the time being), fill in the form below. If we get enough people at once who want a copy for this craziness to work, we'll email you and you can place an order and we'll get a copy to you! So what's the cost? We don't EXACTLY know, but here's what we are willing to do: 1. We'll drop the price of the book from $24.99 to $19.99 for this experiment (that's around £13 at today's exchange rate but remember we'll charge you in USD so your price may be different) 2. The shipping from USA to UK in our fancy box of 8 scheme will be $10 per book (again around £6.50 at today's exchange but see above) 3. We're asking Quinn to find out how much it will be to ship from his house to your house in the UK and we'll roll that into the price you pay us. We've no idea how much that will be, because we haven't lived in the UK for over 10 years but let's estimate it at £5 - around $7. So total estimated cost of each book will be $37 shipped - around £25 (again, what your credit card company charges you in GBP will be determined by the exchange rate that day - you will be billed in USD, not GBP). If this is something you are interested in (and to be clear you are not committing yourself or ordering anything right now) let us know via this form and we'll keep you up to date and let you know once we're ready to roll. Name * (Perhaps you plan on running a Bible study or home group with the books?) If I go ahead with this, I understand I'll be billed in USD which my credit card company will convert to GBP - the rate at which will vary depending on the day. I am also okay with Andrew Quinn - a total stranger - but one whom Alyn and AJ trust - having my address. (Note Quinn will not have access to your credit card information - just your address) Questions? Hit us up on twitter.
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Hard to Break (Alpha's Heart #2) by by · Review: Hard to Break (Alpha's Heart #2) Do you guys know any car people? Are you a car person? I am not particularly a car person. I don’t understand how cars are beautiful and I have absolutely no emotional connection to the sound of an engine. My husband, however? A car dude. A petrolhead. A lover of things that go fast and loud. Thus, I have become car lover adjacent. I now watch Formula 1 races and have formed opinions on drivers teams out of a sheer need to have something to contribute to the weekends of our lives where we are glued to a couch watching cars go round and round in a circle and no I am not annoyed or bitter what are you talking about? I jest. Sort of. ANYWAY. Sponsored links Hard to Break is a book about people who love cars. People who may just bleed injector fluid if you pricked them. People who know more about how to manage their garage than their lives. It’s also about addiction and how that particular monster weaves its tentacles through lives and can ruin them if one is not careful or surrounded by love and grace. Trigger warning on this one, chickens if reading about alcoholism hits a little too close to home for you, you’re going to need to give this one a pass. The writing about it is real and gut wrenching and all too familiar to anyone who has lived that life. This is not a book where you can gloss over certain parts of it which may trigger you the effects of Quinn’s dad’s disease is all over every page of this thing. Which leads me to another point y’all. Quinn is not my favorite. Because of how she lives her life or more specifically, how her dad lives his, she makes poor decisions out of desperation and essentially throws a hundredpage long temper tantrum when something happens she doesn’t love. And I wanted to throttle her. I actually found myself talking to her “woman. This is not how we behave. You have got to get yourself some therapy and selfawareness to separate your life out.” I was giving her tips on how to compartmentalize her dad’s drama from hers. I was shaking my fist at how she was being treated and how she was reacting to that treatment. Which means that Bella Jewel did her job because damn if these characters were not entirely believable. Quinn is a mechanic and a frigging good one at that. She’s been a certified mechanic since her teen years and has been keeping her dad’s garage afloat while he floats his liver to oblivion. The novel opens with her finding out exactly how much debt he’s put her into and then subsequently finding the garage sold out from underneath her. The buyer of the garage is hot dude Tazen Watts. Professional hot dude and car genius Tazen Watts, we’re told. He’s a panty melter who builds custom cars and when Quinn first meets him, she’s flabbergasted and tongue tied until he insults her ability and assumes she’s an idiot because she possesses boobs. Things get off to an antagonistic start hence the hatetolove tag until a simple event makes them both realize that acting like adults sometimes also means tearing each other’s clothes off and they spend the rest of the book having creative and energetic sex. A lot of creative and energetic sex. The main conflict after they’re sorted is between Quinn and her dad. There’s a few minor skirmishes over an exgirlfriend of Tazen’s who is a piece of work, but the core conflict is Dad. I appreciated how Tazen just took care of business when the time came and took burdens away from Quinn instead of adding to them. A core fear of relatives of addicts is that they’ll loose other people over that addiction being related to an addict is a fulltime job and not everyone is cut out for being family to someone who is trying to love someone under the control of a demon. People who step into other people’s trauma and help have a special place in my heart, so thanks Tazen. This book is ABSOLUTELY recommended for petrolheads and any others who like cars and racing and etcetera. It’s also recommended for folks who like to read about hotheads who learn to calm the hell down and use their passion for good and not evil ie, for sex instead of stupid fighting. It’s a hot book about hot people, alpha male and female both. Looking forward to the next offering by Jewel for sure.
Glenn Greenwald's Unhinged Attack on Obama and Democrats I am beginning to find Glenn Greenwald's logic seriously twisted and angry with near-zero intellectual prowess. In a column he penned on, Greenwald starts by taking on the Charles Krauthammers of the far right, but then in his usual fashion, turns right around and shovels a load of garbage on the Democrats. Richly, Greenwald thinks that Republican racism and xenophobia is "added to" by Democrats who remind minority voters who our friends are. When the execrable, desperate Harry Reid isn't feeding this majoritarian paranoia by demanding that the Park51 community center move, he's seeking to capitalize on it through explicit advocacy of ethnic-based voting in order to salvage his worthless political career. There is of course no defending Reid's pandering on the Park 51 Islamic Community Center. But one wonders how a passing comment is taken to be the equal of active day-and-night protestations and vitriolic demonstrations by the right. But here's the fun part about Greenwald. He doesn't stop at the Park 51 accusations - which, while hyperbolic, has merit. No, he has to go on and attack Harry Reid for saying this: "Do I need to say more?" he asked. That, to Glen, is "explicit advocacy of ethnic-based voting in order to salvage his worthless political career." Well, Glenn, can you think of a reason why anyone of Hispanic heritage -- hell, any immigrant -- should be a Republican, the party that is so anti-skin pigmentation that it wants to do away with birthright citizenship (translation: if you are a brown baby born in this country, you shouldn't be a citizen)? Praytell, why is making it crystal clear to minority voters that the Republican party is our political enemy "advocacy of ethnic based voting?" In this instance, Harry Reid spoke the truth. Just as Howard Dean spoke the truth in 2005 when the then-newly minted Chair of the Democratic National Committee called the GOP a white, Christian party. Funny, I didn't see any Glenn Greenwald columns back then slamming Dean for "explicit advocacy of ethnic based voting." Oh by the way, Harry Reid has little reason to be "desperate." Sharron Angle is digging her own political grave and doing it well. In a month and a half all polls except Rasmussen (who have a clear bias for Republicans) conducted show Reid ahead in Nevada. The race may be tight, but the only desperation is that of Glenn Greenwald to try to stay politically relevant. As for whether Harry Reid's political career is "worthless" we're sure glad Glenn Greenwald does not get to appoint Senators from Nevada. But wait. This gets better. Greenwald thinks it's one of the "great failures" of the Obama presidency that the economy has "worsened" under Obama. He correctly points out that the breakdown is the fault of Bush and Republicans, but couldn't resist making that baseless claim that the economy is "progressively worsening" thanks to what Obama has done. Progressively worsening. You know, a worsening economy that: • has stopped us from bleeding nearly a million jobs a month to now creating private sector jobs, albeit at a slow pace. • resulted in GDP growth, the comeback of the American auto industry, and the solvency of the nation's financial sector. • has given us the 13th straight month of manufacturing growth. And never even mind that this "worsening economy" averted a second great depression, thanks to the actions of this administration. Don't think about that. It doesn't fit the whine-about-Obama narrative well. The economy is by no means out of the woods. But to complain that things are getting worse than they were during the Bush days requires a level of disconnect from the facts that only the likes of Greenwald are capable of. Then there's the real heart of the matter. Ready? Yup, you guessed it -- scream that Obama is a sellout corporatist who squandered the opportunity to capitalize on the "populist anger." Yeah! See? It's easy! You just grab the bull by the horn and you go. It's not like most of the things done on Wall Street to screw the American people were actually legal, thanks to the right's prevailing economic principle: deregulation. You just take advantage of the populist anger, and send out people with guns and batons and beat the crap out of the Wall Streeters, regardless of whether what they did was actually legal, or if something illegal was done, whether or not it can be proven in a court of law. And besides, it's not like Obama has ever fired a CEO, or stopped greedy bank executives from spending $50 million on jets while the taxpayers were rescuing their bottoms, or slashed the pay of 25 financial executives at seven firms that. Nah, none of that ever happened. You know, if only Obama had spent his time taking advantage of the anger to stoke more anger (kind of like the Tea Parties do, yes, let's all be just like them), and not done anything about Wall Street reform or credit card reform, we'd all be so much better off. Oooh, boy, where to start? First, Glenn starts talking about Wall Street, but then switches to alleged health care deals made with big pharma, supposedly confirmed by the discovery of a memo. I quote from the article on Huffington Post that Greenwald links to make his ironclad point: In other words, the so-called memo was prepared by an unnamed person that yet another unnamed health care lobbyist swears is authentic. Ahh, now I feel so much better. You see, I forgot that when it suits Glenn Greenwald's and the Huffington Post's narratives, we are supposed to trust unnamed health care lobbyists -- the same terrible horrible lobbyists just talking to whom should cost Barack Obama and the Democrats 100 proverbial lashes. But hey, when they give anonymous "memos" from yet another anonymous person, their words are to be taken Biblically. For too long, Glenn Greenwald and his friends on the leftier-than-thou paranoid crowd have been at this. For too long, they have slipped in baseless attacks in the name of advocacy and gotten away with it - gotten away with it even with a great deal of praise from those who are too eager to claw the Obama administration. This is disturbing, and this is harmful to the progressive movement. The reactionaries like Glenn Greenwald need to stop coming unhinged and starting acting like adults in this debate. Like what you read? Chip in, keep us going. Boxer vs. Fiorina: The People's Senator vs. Privileged CEO Watch Barbara Boxer Wipe the Floor with Fiorina Tonight!
PropTech firm questions whether long-term tenants need referencing A prominent PropTech startup is questioning whether long-term tenants need to go through the traditional referencing process when moving between rental properties - especially when the ban on agents’ fees comes into effect next year. RentalStep - one of winners of HM Treasury's Rent Recognition Challenge, seeking a digital solution to how to allow tenants’ payment records to contribute to their creditworthiness - says the lettings industry needs to provide a more streamlined and suitable process for renters and landlords as the private rental sector expands. It cites the most recent English Housing Survey estimating private renting to account for a fifth of all households in England and becoming the largest tenure in London. Meanwhile research by Your Move indicates that around a third of current tenants have already rented for six years or more and new Housing Secretary James Brokenshire’s announcement that the government will soon be consulting on options to support landlords who want to offer longer tenancies. "With many tenants now renting privately for 10 years or longer, they have the opportunity to build up a comprehensive rental history" says Mike Georgeson, founder and chief executive of RentalStep. "It therefore seems logical that all this information is stored in one central place and that tenants and landlords don't have to undertake a lengthy, admin-heavy and sometimes expensive traditional referencing process every time someone wants to move home. "If tenants are renting for the long-term but moving around frequently to experience different locations, there shouldn't be a need for them to constantly resubmit the same information." RentalStep says its TenantPassport product produces a digital rental history profile including property, employment and reference information which can be shared with landlords and letting agents, as well as allowing payment history to contribute towards a credit score. "The cost of referencing prospective tenants is something all landlords need to consider" says Georgeson. "From next year, it will no longer be possible to charge tenants upfront fees and it's widely expected that the cost of the traditional referencing process will fall to landlords [who] must adapt and think about their own costs and whether it makes sense to pay a fee each time a tenant needs referencing" he says. Poll: Scrapping referencing for 'proven' tenants is a good idea • Raphael Phillips That's all very well but if there circumstances have changed. a previous history will be useless. Please login to comment sign up
BTS – Map of the Soul: Persona Album Review NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 12: South Korean group BTS visit 'The Morning Mash Up' On SiriusXM Hits 1 Channel at SiriusXM Studios on April 12, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM) When the general population of the world thinks K-pop, they’re thinking BTS. There is good reason for it, as the group has had dominant years within the scene, putting out previous hits like “FAKE LOVE,” “Blood Sweat & Tears” and “IDOL.” Along with their big songs, the group’s continuous worldwide expansion has also made themselves a big name within the industry. On Saturday evening the group is set to play at the weekly American comedy program Saturday Night Live, which features a mainstream musical act on every episode. The seven-man group built upon their already large discography on Friday when they released the album MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA. This is the group’s first Korean album since the start of the three album project Love Yourself. This album includes seven new tracks, including a title track with American pop artist Halsey being billed as the feature. When listening to this album it’s easy to understand why they would have such a large fanbase: they make good music. This album is good, in some spots even great, but didn’t deliver on the levels that past songs have. Let’s break down the album track by track. A Review of BTS’ Latest Album Map of The Soul: Persona Track List 1. Intro : Persona 2. Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey) (Title Track) 3. Mikrokosmos 4. Make It Right 5. HOME 6. Jamais Vu 7. Dionysus Track 1: “Intro : Persona” The opening track is an ode to the group’s past music, having a similar sound to the 2014 intro track “Skool Luv Affair.” The purely rap based song is performed by RM. The song is the classic sound that you would recognize if you’ve listened to older songs from the group. It’s fast, intense and has a great beat. The lyrics when translated to English show an interesting struggle being shared about personality and self. Track 2: “Boy With Luv” (feat. Halsey) For BTS, following up on the songs “FAKE LOVE” and “IDOL” is a tall order. Personally, I considered “FAKE LOVE” to be the best song that came out of 2018. The past three comebacks from BTS included fast, exciting songs. Whether they were sad or positive in their message, the repeating theme is was that they had songs that left a real impact. While “Boy With Luv” sounds great, I didn’t get that impact I heard in previous songs. I thought this song was great, but at the same time, it can’t be compared to previous releases. It is a nice tune, but not something that will be considered for a top song of the year. The thing is that BTS have set their own bar so high in the past that a song like this feels like it underdelivers despite being good. When it comes to choreography, the performance is very well put together. It’s very BTS-like, but unique at the same time. The video has great production value, but, similar to the song itself, can’t be compared to an older track like “FAKE LOVE.” You can hear Halsey during parts of the song like the chorus or adlibs, but other than that she doesn’t have an appearance. I was hoping she could get some part of the song, but we did not get that. Even her involvement in the video seems somewhat limited. She appears, but only in a couple of scenes. If you gave someone this song and said it was just BTS, they would most likely ignore the different voice being heard at points. Track 3: “Mikrokosmos” “Mikrokosmos” is a love song from the group that follows the theme of talking about the microcosm philosophy. While I wasn’t big on the backing track, the vocals were great. If I had to rank all the songs on this album, while this is a good song, I would put it in last place. It just felt like another song, and that could fall on the fact that the beat was kind of lame. Track 4: “Make It Right” “Make It Right” was one of the less exciting songs on this album, but was still good. The simplistic song centers around a chill chorus with the repeating lyrics “All right, I can make it right.” Suga’s rap during the bridge stuck out to me as well done and a good lead into the final chorus. Track 5: “HOME” “HOME” was a very vocal-centered song by the group. I thought this article done by Pitchfork had a good analysis of the lyrics of the song, showing how BTS opens up about some of their struggles in the song. The R&B beat was great. Track 6: “Jamais Vu” The sixth song on the album called “Jamais Vu” was a decent slow song. This song was performed by the members Jungkook, Seokjin and Hoseok from the group, this song Like I say often with slower songs like this, I don’t see myself listening to something like this often, but I can appreciate the vocal talent and the performance on this song. Track 7: “Dionysus” The saying “saving the best for last” would be absolutely valid in this situation. Without a question, “Dionysus” was my favorite part of this album. The hostile sounding song included great rap verses and a catchy repetitive chorus. In the final chorus, I was surprised by rock elements being put into the song, which was a fun way to reel the listener back in. Last Word on Map of The Soul: Persona Top to bottom, this is a well put together album. Similar to the group BLACKPINK and their latest release, this song had an obvious focus on including English lyrics. Many choruses have tons of English lyrics. This only makes sense as the group claims they will be doing a stadium tour in America in 2019. One thing I liked about this album was the song titles. A few titles have a background, with some relating to Greek philosophy and Greek gods. While I still hold older songs from BTS on a higher pedestal, I consider the album Map of The Soul: Persona a great listen. Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
1. lineskier22's Avatar Today i just got a new computer due to the one i had my iphone synchronized to overheated. I saved the last time i synced to the computer to an external hard drive before it overheated. i installed itunes on my new computer and i found my back up or whatever you want to call it from the external hard drive. So i was wondering if it would sync correctly? 09-06-2009 09:49 PM 2. chobbs1's Avatar it should if you were able to migrate all of your info to the new computer. 09-06-2009 11:26 PM 3. GMJeff's Avatar Also, be sure the new computer is authorized on your iTunes account. On a Mac, in the iTunes menu bar, choose Store, and from the drop down menu choose Authorize This Computer. Windows should be similar. If it doesn't do it automatically when iTunes is installed, you may have issues with your apps and any downloaded media from iTunes. Once the computer is authorized, you can plug the phone in and transfer the apps to the computer from the phone, so you don't have to download them again. At least that is how it has worked for me. 09-07-2009 03:29 PM
Tenuta Aquilaia is located in Scansano, part of the Grosseto province in the beating heart of Maremma. The estate covers an area of forty hectares, including fifteen hectares of vineyard, in the Fosso Sanguinaio stream valley, close to where it meets the Albegna river. Local grape varieties such as Vermentino, Ciliegiolo and Sangiovese are well matched with the international grapes Chardonnay, Petit Verdot, Alicante and Merlot. The vineyards face south-west, stretching among rolling hills with Pliocene and quaternary origins, characterized by limestone-clay soils, rich in minerals and microelements such as iron and magnesium, which give the soils their reddish hue, typical of Maremma, a region full of history and tradition. ciliegiolo, chardonnay, fosso sanguinaio The Auspici wines are produced only with the finest selection of grapes, harvested by hand, and aged both in wooden barrels and in bottle. Wines with great potential, expressed in time through their structure; a result of the magnificent combination of climate, terroirs, vine and work, from pruning to harvest, and finally the aging of the wine. Under the auspices of Mother Nature we receive her best fruits! Maremma toscana, vermentino The Orizzonti wines are produced with the most important native grape varieties of the area: Sangiovese and Vermentino, making beautifully balanced, approachable wines, with flavourful aromas on the nose and surprisingly pleasing flavours on the palate. From the first sip you can appreciate the careful work that went into the wines, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Boundless horizons with a wide, harmonious breath. A combination of our positive experience with the Uggiano winery and an ambition to throw our hat into the winemaking ring led to the birth of Tenuta Aquilaia. The estate is located in the heart of Maremma, Tuscany, where, more than 2000 years ago, the ancient Etruscans dedicated their lives to making great quality wine. The dream of interpreting ancient traditions in a modern way is today a concrete reality thanks to Fabio, Daniele and Giacomo. I soci dell’azienda vinicola Tenuta Aquilaia A panorama of ancient vines and red earth Looking out over the horizon of our land, with a view that sweeps into infinite lines and colours. The colors of the vineyards and its red earth with a thousand shades make up the Etruscan palette that paints these hills, together with the geological eras, testifying to a precious past. Ancient vines that are still used today in Maremma, respecting a history that is in our DNA. Making wine and, like our ancestors, handing down the tradition. This is our strength, our mission. Tenuta Aquilaia SRL Società Agricola Scansano, Italia TEL +39 055 769087 \| EMAIL [email protected] This website use cookies to ensure you a better web experience. Tenuta Aquilaia SRL Società Agricola Scansano, Italia TEL +39 055 769087 \| EMAIL [email protected]
Skip to main content Sign up for our newsletter. Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox. Honduras Violence Riot policemen fire tear gas to supporters of Honduran opposition leader Manuel Zelaya–a former president (2006-2009) ousted by the military–as they protest on the ninth anniversary of his overthrow, in Tegucigalpa, on June 28, 2018. (Photo: should read ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images) As the Honduran Coup Turns 12, Human Life Is No More a Priority Than It Was Then How the events of 2009 in Honduras shaped my worldview. Twelve years ago, in the wee hours of June 28, 2009, Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras, was abducted from his residence by heavily armed Honduran soldiers and carted off to Costa Rica in his pyjamas, never to be restored to his rightful post. Prior to the coup, the slightly left-leaning Zelaya had raised the urban minimum wage to $300 a month and pursued a smattering of other domestic adjustments. While these measures hardly did much to alleviate institutionalised misery, they were still too abominable a departure from business as usual for the right-wing Honduran elite–faithful acolytes of American empire and replicators of capitalist oppression. The US bears no small part of the blame for the obscene levels of violence in Honduras, which became even more obscene in the aftermath of the coup and led to the country's stint as the murder capital of the world. Following Zelaya's overthrow, the Barack Obama administration in the United States took its sweet time debating whether the coup had actually been a coup and should therefore trigger the required cutoffs in aid to Honduras. Ultimately, the US heel-dragging allowed the Honduran right wing to re-entrench itself in power, and subsequent illegitimate and fraudulent elections–swiftly signed off on by Obama & Co–sealed the deal. When the coup transpired, I was in Argentina visiting my parents, who had recently relocated there from the US homeland. I had just spent four months hitchhiking through Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela–a trip that, like my previous international hitchhiking jaunts, had offered me a first-hand glimpse of my country's malevolent machinations worldwide. I had seen, for example, the rubble of Lebanon in summer of 2006–when the US had rush-shipped bombs to the Israeli military to assist in apocalyptic destruction–and the rubble of a Colombian society decimated in part by massive US funding for Colombian security forces with a penchant for massacring civilians. The takeaway from my travels was clear: civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr had been dead right when he called the US government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world." Exactly one month later, I was on a flight from Buenos Aires to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, having bought a ticket on a whim. Naturally, it was infinitely easier for a US citizen to enter Honduras with no other excuse than that she was bored in Argentina than for a Honduran to enter the US for more existential, life-threatening reasons–many of them resulting from US violations of Honduran sovereignty in the first place. Indeed, the US bears no small part of the blame for the obscene levels of violence in Honduras, which became even more obscene in the aftermath of the coup and led to the country's stint as the murder capital of the world. It is no accident that the inaugural 2018 US-bound migrant caravan originated in Honduras. During the Cold War, the Central American nation had been dubbed the "USS Honduras" in light of its central role in the Contra war against neighbouring Nicaragua, which had aimed to terrorise Nicaraguans out of their leftist inclinations. The US also had plenty of terror tricks up its sleeve in Honduras itself, and, throughout the 1980s, a CIA-trained military unit called Battalion 316 tortured and otherwise antagonised Hondurans suspected of opposition to capitalism. In 1995, the Baltimore Sun interviewed a former battalion member who "recalled how he nearly suffocated people with rubber masks, how he attached wires to their genitals and shocked them with electricity, how he tore off a man's testicles with a rope." Anyway, what is not to like about capitalism? In the contemporary era, meanwhile, US contributions to violence in Honduras have ranged from your typical neoliberal devastation of lives and livelihoods to vast financial contributions to homicidal state security forces operating with near-total impunity. When I arrived in Tegucigalpa in July 2009 for what would turn into a four-month stay, daily and overwhelmingly peaceful anti-coup protests were being met with ludicrous displays of force by the coup regime. On one occasion, I watched as elderly Honduran ladies were dutifully blasted by water cannon loaded with pepper spray. On another, I attended the burial of Jairo Sánchez, a union leader shot in the face by police–one of the countless Hondurans killed, disappeared, maimed, raped, and abused as part of the valiant effort to ensure that the USS Honduras retained its prized spot as a key node of empire. Of course, my US passport and the fact that I could remove myself from Honduras at will meant that I could not even remotely experience the institutionalised violence perpetually bearing down on Hondurans. I can nonetheless definitively say that, in the 70 or so countries I have travelled in, I have never felt so acute a lack of personal security as in Honduras. There was the time I awoke in the middle of the night to find a man in my room–on what sort of mission I will never know, as my bloodcurdling screams caused him to dive back out the window, leaving me to never sleep again. There was the time I was accosted while jogging and relieved of five dollars and a dilapidated alarm clock, although my accoster quickly decided I could keep the clock. And then there was the time I was accosted and threatened with death-by-shooting if I did not hand over something of value. In this last case, I suggested to the man that we walk to the nearest ATM, which fortuitously ended up being quite far and thus gave me time to ponder what to do about my lack of an ATM card. Even more fortuitously, my companion and I got to chatting ("So, what do you do when you are not assaulting people?"), and he eventually pronounced me not half-bad and not in need of mugging. As a bonus, he gave me the option of adopting his 18-month-old son on account of the child's mother's crack cocaine habit. While I did not take him up on the adoption offer, I did see his sudden kindness as a form of human resilience in the face of a brutal economic system that blames poor and desperate individuals for their own brutalisation. And yet the US-backed capitalist arrangement in Honduras and beyond ensures the production of these very "criminals" by denying populations basic rights like healthcare and shelter–because, obviously, human rights interfere with profit. Some months into my stay in Tegucigalpa, I finagled a rare interview with Romeo Vásquez, the Honduran general who had spearheaded the coup and an alumnus of the US-run School of the Americas–a longtime go-to institution for Latin American dictators and death squad leaders. In addition to charmingly remarking that he was not at all opposed to taking a second wife, Vásquez unleashed intriguing soundbites such as that the "goal of the military at the moment is the protection of life" and that "human life is the priority of the state." Now, as the Honduran coup turns 12, human life is no more a priority than it was then–neither for Honduras, nor the US, which continues to fuel right-wing abuses by the Central American nation and across the world. And as my own writing career also turns 12, there is no dearth of things to write about. © 2021 Al-Jazeera English Belén Fernández Belén Fernández Belén Fernández is the author of "The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work." She is a member of the Jacobin Magazine editorial board, and her articles have appeared in the London Review of Books blog, Al Akhbar English and many other publications. Arctic Warming Nearly Four Times Faster Than Earth as a Whole, Study Finds "Scientific data keeps showing that the situation is more urgent than we had previously thought." 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Popular Article 8 Facts about Shiva 1. Shiva’s Trishul or Trident symbolizes the unity of 3 worlds of a human being-his inside world, the immediate world around him and the broader Read More » parashurama \| Hindu FAQs Parshuram a.k.a Parashurama, Parashuraman is the sixth avatar of Vishnu. He is son of Renuka and the saptarishi Jamadagni. Parshurama is one of the seven Immortals. Lord Parashuram was the Great Grandson of Bhrugu Rishi, after whom the “Bhruguvansh” has been named. He lived during the last Dvapara Yuga, and is one of the seven immortals or Chiranjivi, of Hinduism. He received an parashu(axe) after undertaking terrible penance to please Shiva, who in turn taught him the martial arts. parashurama \| Hindu FAQs Parashurama is most known for ridding the world of kshatriyas twenty-one times over after the mighty king Kartavirya killed his father. He played important roles in the Mahabharata and Ramayana, serving as mentor to Bhishma, Karna and Drona. Parashurama also fought back the advancing seas to save the lands of Konkan, Malabar and Kerala. Renuka devi and the clay pot Parshurama’s parents were great spiritual achievers his Mother Renuka devi had command over the water elments and his father Jamadgani over fire. its even said that Renuka devi could fetch water in the even in a wet clay pot. Once Rishi Jamadgani asked Renuka Devi to fetch water in the clay pot, some how Renuka Devi was distracted from the thought of being a women and the clay pot broke. Seeing Renuka Devi wet the enraged Jamadgani called his son Parshurama. He ordered Parshurama to cut Renuka devi’s head. Parshuram obeyed his father. Rishi Jamadgani was so pleased with his son that he asked him for a boon. Parshurama asked Rishi Jamadgani to restore the breaths of his mother, thus Rishi Jamadgani who was the owner of Divya Shakties (divine Powers) brought back the life of Renuka Devi. Kamdhenu Cow Parshurama \| Hindu FAQs Rishi Jamadgani and Renuka Devi both were blessed not only for having Parshuram as their son but they were also given the Kamdhenu Cow. Once Rishi Jamadgani went out from his Ashram and in the mean while some Kshatriyas (worriers) arrived at their Ashram. They were in search of food, the Ashram Devies gave them food they were so surprised to see the magical cow Kaamdhenu, the cow would give any Dish she asked for. They were so amused and they put up the purposal of buying the cow for their king Kartavirya Sahasrarjuna, but all the Ashram sahadus (sages) and Devies refused. they forcefuly took away the cow. Parshurama killed the entire army of King Kartavirya Sahasrarjun and restored the magical cow. In Revenge Kartavirya Sahasrarjun’s son killed Jamadgani. When ParshuRama returned to the ashram he saw his father’s body . He noticed the 21 scars on Jamadgani’s body and took the pledge to kill all unjust kshatriyas 21 time on this earth. he killed all the sons of king. Shri Parashuram left home to do devout austerities to please Lord Shiva. Considering his extreme devotion, intense desire and unmoved and perpetual meditation, Lord Shiva was pleased with Shri Parashuram. He presented Shri Parashuram with Divine weapons. Included was His unconquerable and indestructible axe shaped weapon, Parashu. Lord Shiva advised him to go and liberate the Mother Earth from felons, ill-behaved people, extremists, demons and those blind with pride. Lord Shiva and Parshuram Once, Lord Shiva challenged Shri Parashuram to a battle to test his skills in warfare. The spiritual master Lord Shiva and the disciple Shri Parashuram were locked in a fierce battle. This dreadful duel lasted for twenty one days. While ducking to avoid being hit by the Trident (Trishul) of Lord Shiva, Shri Parashuram vigorously attacked Him with his Parashu. It struck Lord Shiva on the forehead creating a wound. Lord Shiva was very pleased to see the amazing warfare skills of His disciple. He passionately embraced Shri Parashuram. Lord Shiva preserved this wound as an ornament so that the reputation of his disciple remained imperishable and insurmountable. ‘Khanda-parshu’ (wounded by Parashu) is one of the thousand names (for the salutation) of Lord Shiva. Parshurama and Shiva \| Hindu FAQs Parshurama and Shiva Vijaya Bow Shri Parashuram, clipped the thousand arms of Sahasrarjun, one by one, with his Parashu and killed him. He repelled his army by showering arrows on them. The whole country greatly welcomed the destruction of Sahasrarjun. The king of Deities, Indra was so pleased that he presented His most beloved bow named Vijaya to Shri Parashuram. Lord Indra had destroyed demon dynasties with this bow. By the fatal arrows shot with the help of this Vijaya bow, Shri Parashuram destroyed the miscreant Kshatriyas twenty one times. Later Shri Parashuram presented this bow to his disciple Karna when he was pleased with his intense devotion to the Guru. Karna became unconquerable with help of this bow Vijaya presented to him by Shri Parashuram In Ramayana In Valmiki Ramayana, Parashurama stops the journey of Sri Rama and his family after his marriage to Sita. He threatens to kill Sri Rama and his father, King Dasharatha, begs him to forgive his son and punish him instead. Parashurama neglects Dasharatha and invokes Sri Rama for a challenge. Sri Rama meets his challenge and tells him that he does not want to kill him because he is a Brahmin and related to his guru, Vishwamitra maharshi. But, he destroys his merit earned through penances. Thus, Parashurama’s arrogance gets diminished and he returns to his normal mind. Mentorship of Drona At the end of his time in the Vedic period, Parashurama was renouncing his possessions to take sanyasi. As the day progressed, Drona, then a poor Brahmin, approached Parashurama asking for alms. By that time, the warrior-sage had already given the Brahmins his gold and Kasyapa his land, so all that was left were his body and weapons. Parushurama asked which Drona would have, to which the clever Brahmin responded: “O son of Bhrigu, it behoveth thee to give me all thy weapons together with the mysteries of hurling and recalling them.” —Mahabharata 7:131 Thus, Parashurama gave all his weapons unto Drona, making him supreme in the science of arms. This becomes crucial as Drona later became the guru to both the Pandavas and the Kauravas who fought against each other in the Kurukshetra War. It is said that Lord Parashurama carried Lord Vishnu’s “Sudharshana Chakra” and “Bow” and Lord Balram’s “Gadha” while they fulfill their education with Guru Sandeepani According to Puranas, Parashurama travelled to the Himalayas to pay respect to his teacher, Shiva. While travelling, his path was blocked by Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati. Parashurama threw his axe at the elephant-god. Ganesha, knowing the weapon had been given to Parashurama by his father, allowed it to sever his left tusk. His mother Parvati was infuriated, and declared she would cut off the arms of Parashurama. She took the form of Durgama, becoming omnipotent, but at the last moment, Shiva was able to pacify her by making her see the avatar as her own son. Parashurama also asked her forgiveness, and she finally relented when Ganesha himself spoke on behalf of the warrior-saint. Parashurama then gave his divine axe to Ganesha and blessed him. Another name for Ganesha because of this encounter is Ekadanta, or ‘One Tooth’. Beating back the Arabian Sea Puranas write that the western coast of India was threatened by tumultuous waves and tempests, causing the land to be overcome by the sea. Parashurama fought back the advancing waters, demanding Varuna release the land of Konkan and Malabar. During their fight, Parashurama threw his axe into the sea. A mass of land rose up, but Varuna told him that because it was filled with salt, the land would be barren. Parshurama Beating back the Arabian Sea \| Hindu Faqs Parshurama Beating back the Arabian Sea Parashurama then did a tapasya for Nagaraja, the King of Snakes. Parashurama asked him to spread serpents throughout the land so their venom would neutralize the salt filled earth. Nagaraja agreed, and a lush and fertile land grew. Thus, Parashurama pushed back the coastline between the foothills of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, creating modern day Kerala. The coastal area of Kerala, Konkan, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, are today also known as Parashurama Kshetra or Land of Parashurama in homage. Puranas record that Parashurama placed statues of Shiva at 108 different locations throughout the reclaimed land, which still exist today. Shiva, is the source of kundalini, and it around his neck that Nagaraja is coiled, and so the statues were in gratitude for their baneful cleansing of the land. Parshurama and Surya: Parashurama once became annoyed with the sun god Surya for making too much heat. The warrior-sage shot several arrows into the sky, terrifying Surya. When Parashurama ran out of arrows and sent his wife Dharani to bring more, the sun god then focused his rays on her, causing her to collapse. Surya then appeared before Parashurama and gave him two inventions that have since been attributed to the avatar, sandals and an umbrella Kalaripayattu The indian Martial Arts Parashurama and the saptarishi Agastya are regarded as the founders of kalaripayattu, the oldest martial art in the world. Parashurama was a master of shastravidya, or the art of weaponry, as taught to him by Shiva. As such, he developed northern kalaripayattu, or vadakkan kalari, with more emphasis on weapons than striking and grappling. Southern kalaripayattu was developed by Agastya, and focuses more on weaponless combat. Kalaripayattu is known as the ‘mother of all martial arts’. Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, also practiced kalaripayattu. When he traveled to China to spread Buddhism, he brought the martial art with him, which in turn was adapted to become the basis of Shaolin Kung Fu Unlike other incarnations of Vishnu, Parashurama is a Chiranjivi, and is said to still be doing penance today in Mahendragiri. The Kalki Purana writes that he will reemerge at the end of Kali Yuga to be the martial and spiritual guru of Kalki, the tenth and final avatar of Vishnu. It is foretold that he will instruct Kalki to perform a difficult penance to Shiva, and receive the celestial weaponry needed to bring about end time. Parashurama as per Theory Of Evolution: The sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu was Parashuram, a rugged primitive warrior with a battle axe. This form could be a symbol of the cave-man stage of evolution and his usage of the axe could be seen as man’s evolution from the stone age to the iron age. Man had learnt the art of using tools and weapons and exploit the natural resources available to him. Parashurama is worshipped as mool purush, or founder, of the Bhumihar Brahmin, Chitpavan, Daivadnya, Mohyal, Tyagi, Shukla, Awasthi, saryupareen, Kothiyal, Anavil, Nambudiri bhardwaj and gaud Brahmin communities. Parshurama Temple, Chiplun Maharashtra \| Hindu FAQs Parshurama Temple, Chiplun Maharashtra Image credits to the original Artist and Photographer Who are the seven immortals of Hindu Mythology - hindufaqs.com The seven Immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology are: 1. Aswathama 2. King Mahabali 3. Veda Vyasa 4. Hanuman 5. Vibhishana 6. Krupacharya 7. Parashuram Read the first part to know about the first two Immortals i.e. ‘Aswathama’ & ‘Mahabali’ Here: Who are the seven immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology? Part 1 Read about the Third and forth Immortals i.e. ‘Veda Vyasa’ & ‘Hanuman’ Here: Who are the seven immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology? Part 2 The seven immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology. Part 3 Vibhishana was the youngest son of Sage Vishrava, who was the son of Sage Pulatsya, one of the Heavenly Guardians. He (Vibhishana) was the younger brother of the Lord of Lanka, Ravana and King of Sleep, Kumbakarna. Even though he was born in the demon race, he was alert and pious and considered himself a Brahmin, since his father was intuitively such. Though a Rakshasa himself, Vibhishana was of a noble character and advised Ravana, who kidnapped and abducted Sita, to return her to her husband Rama in an orderly fashion and promptly. When his brother did not listen to his advice, Vibhishana joined Rama’s army. Later, when Rama defeated Ravana, Rama crowned Vibhishana as the king of Lanka. In some period of history Sinhala people have considered Vibhishana as one of the Four Heavenly Kings (satara varam deviyo). vibhishana \| Hindu FAQs Vibhishana had a sattvik (pure) mind and a sattvik heart. From his early childhood, he spent all his time meditating on the name of the Lord. Eventually, Brahma appeared and offered him any boon he wanted. Vibhishana, said that the only thing he wanted was to have his mind fixed at the feet of the Lord as pure as lotus leaves (charan kamal). He prayed that he should be given the strength by which he would always be at the feet of the Lord, and that he would receive the darshan (holy sight) of Lord Vishnu. This prayer was fulfilled, and he was able to give up all his wealth and family, and join Rama, who was Avatar (God incarnate). vibhishana joining Rama's Army \| Hindu FAQs vibhishana joining Rama’s Army After defeat of Ravana, Vibhishana was declared as the King of Lanka [present day Sri Lanka] by Lord Rama and was said to have been given the blessing of a long life to take good care of his kingdom of Lanka. However, Vibhishana was not a Chiranjeevi in real sense. By which I mean that his lifetime was only as long as the end of one Kalpa. [which is still a pretty long long time.] 6) Krupacharya: Kripa, also known as Kripacharya or Krupacharya is an important character in the Mahabharata. Kripa was an archer born to a sage and was a royal teacher of the Pandavas and Kauravas before Drona (the father of Ashwatthama). Shardwan, Kripa’s Biological father, was born with arrows, making clear he was a born archer. He meditated and attained the art of all types of warfare. He was such a great archer that no one could defeat him. This created panic amongst the gods. Especially Indra, the King of the Gods, felt the most threatened. He then sent a beautiful Apsara (divine nymph) from the Heaven to distract the celibate saint. The nymph, called Janapadi, came to the saint and tried to seduce him in various ways. Shardwan was distracted and the sight of such a beautiful woman made him lose control. As he was a great saint, he still managed to resist the temptation and controlled his desires. But his concentration was lost, and he dropped his bow and arrows. His semen fell on some weeds by the wayside, dividing the weeds into two – from which a boy and a girl were born. The saint himself left the hermitage and his bow and arrow and went to the forest for penance. Coincidentally, King Shantanu, the great-grandfather of the Pandavas, was crossing from there and saw the children by the wayside. One look at them was enough for him to realize that they were the children of a great Brahmin archer. He named them Kripa and Kripi and decided to take them back with him to his palace. kripacharya \| HinduFAQs When Shardwan came to know of these children he came to the palace, revealed their identity and performed the various rituals which are performed for the children of Brahmins. He also taught the children archery, Vedas and other Shashtras and the secrets of the Universe. The children grew up to become experts in the art of warfare. The boy Kripa, who came to be known as Kripacharya, was now assigned the task of teaching the young princes all about warfare. On growing up Kripa was the chief priest at the court of Hastinapura. His twin sister Kripi married Drona, the weapons master to the court – who, like her and her brother, had not been gestated in a womb, but outside the human body. He fought from the Kauravas during the war of Mahabharata and was one of the few surviving characters of post-war period. He later trained Parikshit, the grandson of Arjuna and son of Abhimanyu in the art of warfare. He was known for his impartiality and loyalty for his Kingdom. Lord Krishna granted him immortality. Photo Credits: To the owners, Google Images vyasa The compiler of Vedas - hindufaqs.com The seven Immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology are: 1. Aswathama 2. King Mahabali 3. Veda Vyasa 4. Hanuman 5. Vibhishana 6. Krupacharya 7. Parashuram 3) Vyasa: Vyasa ‘व्यास’ is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa ‘वेदव्यास’, the one who classified the Vedas into four parts. His real name is Krishna Dvaipayana. Veda Vyasa was a great sage born in the later stage of Treta Yuga and who has been said to have lived through the Dvapara Yuga and the current Kali Yuga. He was the son of Satyavati, daughter of the fisherman Dusharaj, and the wandering sage Parashara (who is credited with being the author of the first Purana: Vishnu Purana). The sage like any other immortal is said to have a lifetime of this Manvantara or till the end of this Kali yuga. Veda Vyasa was the writer of Mahabharata and the Puranas (Vyasa is also credited with the writing of the eighteen major Puranas. His son Shuka or Suka is the narrator of the major Purana Bhagavat-Purana.) and also the one who split the Vedas in four parts. The splitting being a feat that allowed people to understand the divine knowledge of the Veda. The word Vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe. It can also be debated so that Veda Vyasa was not just one being but a group of scholars who worked on the Vedas. vyasa The compiler of Vedas vyasa The compiler of Vedas Vyasa is traditionally known as author of this epic. But he also features as an important character in it. His mother later married the king of Hastinapura, and had two sons. Both sons died without issue and hence their mother asked Vyasa to go to the beds of the wives of her dead son Vichitravirya. Ved Vyasa Ved Vyasa Vyasa fathers the princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu by Ambika and Ambalika. Vyasa told them that they should come alone near him. First did Ambika, but because of shyness and fear she closed her eyes. Vyasa told Satyavati that this child would be blind. Later this child was named Dhritarashtra. Thus Satyavati sent Ambalika and warned her that she should remain calm. But Ambalika’s face became pale because of fear. Vyasa told her that child would suffer from anaemia, and he would not be fit enough to rule the kingdom. Later this child was known as Pandu. Then Vyasa told Satyavati to send one of them again so that a healthy child can be born. This time Ambika and Ambalika sent a maid in the place of themselves. The maid was quite calm and composed, and she got a healthy child later named as Vidura. While these are his sons, another son Suka, born of his wife, sage Jabali’s daughter Pinjala (Vatika), is considered his true spiritual heir. In the first book of the Mahabharata, it is described that Vyasa asked Ganesha to aid him in writing the text, however Ganesha imposed a condition that he would do so only if Vyasa narrated the story without pause. To which Vyasa then made a counter-condition that Ganesha must understand the verse before he transcribed it. Thus Lord VedVyas narrated the whole Mahabharata and all the Upanishads and the 18 Puranas, while Lord Ganesha wrote. Ganesha and Vyasa Ganesha writing Mahabharata as told by Vyasa Veda Vyasa in literal sense means the splitter of Vedas. Having said that however it is widely believed that he was a single human being. There always is a Veda Vyasa who lives through one Manvantara[a timeframe in ancient Hindu mythology.] and hence is immortal through this Manvantara. Veda Vyasa is said to live life of a hermit and is widely believed to be still alive and living among the living beings till the end of this Kali Yuga. 4) Hanuman: Hanuman is a Hindu god and an ardent devotee of Rama. He is a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and its various versions. He also finds mentions in several other texts, including Mahabharata, the various Puranas and some Jain texts. A vanara (monkey), Hanuman participated in Rama’s war against the Daitya (demon) king Ravana. Several texts also present him as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He is the son of Kesari, and is also described as the son of Vayu, who according to several stories, played a role in his birth. hanuman the God of Strength hanuman the God of Strength It is believed that Hanuman, as a child, once misunderstood the sun to be a ripe mango and made an attempt to eat it, thus disturbing Rahu’s agenda of forming the scheduled solar eclipse. Rahu (one of the planets) informed this incident to the Leader of Devas, Lord Indra. Filled with rage, Indra (God of Rain) threw his Vajra weapon at Hanuman and disfigured his jaw. In retaliation, Hanuman’s father, Vayu (God of Wind), withdrew all the air from earth. Seeing the human beings choke to death, all the lords promised to shower Hanuman with multiple blessings in order to appease the Wind Lord. Thus one of the most powerful mythical creatures was born. Lord Brahma gave him these: 1. Invulnerability The power and strength to prevent any war weapon from causing physical damage. 2. Power to induce fear in the enemies and destroy fear in the friends This is the reason why all the ghosts and spirits are believed to fear Hanuman and that reciting his prayer is considered to shield any human being from evil forces. 3. Size Manipulation Ability to change the body size by preserving its proportion. This power assisted Hanuman in lifting the massive Dronagiri mountain and to enter monster Ravana’s Lanka unnoticed. 4. Flight Ability to defy gravity. Lord Shiva gave him these: 1. Longevity A blessing to lead a long life. Many people report even today that they have physically seen Hanuman with their own eyes. 2. Enhanced Intelligence It is said that Hanuman was able to astonish Lord Surya with his wisdom and knowledge within a week. 3. Long range flight This is just the extension of what Brahma blessed him with. This boon gave Hanuman an ability to cross vast oceans. While Brahma and Shiva conferred abundant blessings on Hanuman, other lords miserly gave him one boon each. Indra gave him protection from the deadly Vajra weapon. Varuna gave him protection against water. Agni blessed him with protection from fire. Surya willingly gave him the power to change his body form, commonly known as shapeshifting. Yama made him immortal and made death fear him. Kubera made him happy and contented for the entire lifetime. Vishwakarma blessed him with powers to save himself from all weapons. This is just an add-on to what some of the gods had already given him. Vayu blessed him with more speed than himself. Read more about Hanuman: Most Badass Hindu God: Hanuman When Rama, his devoted Lord was leaving the earth, Rama asked Hanumana if he would like to come. In response, Lord Hanumana requested Rama that he would like to stay back on earth as long as the name of Lord Rama is chanted by the people of the earth. As such, Lord Hanumana is said to still exist on this planet and we can only speculate as to where he is A number of religious leaders have claimed to have seen Hanuman over the course of the centuries, notably Madhvacharya (13th century CE), Tulsidas (16th century), Samarth Ramdas (17th century), Raghavendra Swami (17th century) and Swami Ramdas (20th century). Swaminarayan, founder of the Hindu Swaminarayan sects, holds that other than worship of God through the Narayana Kavacha, Hanuman is the only deity who may be worshiped in the event of trouble by evil spirits. Others have also asserted his presence wherever the Ramayana is read. अमलकमलवर्णं प्रज्ज्वलत्पावकाक्षं सरसिजनिभवक्त्रं सर्वदा सुप्रसन्नम् \| पटुतरघनगात्रं कुण्डलालङ्कृताङ्गं रणजयकरवालं वानरेशं नमामि \|\| यत्र यत्र रघुनाथकीर्तनं तत्र तत्र कृतमस्तकाञ्जलिम् । बाष्पवारिपरिपूर्णलोचनं मारुतिं नमत राक्षसान्तकम् ॥ yatra yatra raghunathakirtanam tatra tatra krta mastakanjalim । baspavariparipurnalocanam marutim namata raksasantakam ॥ Meaning: Bow down to Hanuman, who is the slayer of demons, and who is present with head bowed and eyes full of flowing tears wherever the fame of Rama is sung. Photo Credits: Google Images Who are the seven immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology - hindufaqs.com People always ask, Who are the seven immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology? Well lets first start with the meaning of the wird Chiranjivi. Chiranjivi or चिरंजीवी in Hindi, are immortal living beings in Hinduism who are to remain alive on Earth through this Kali Yuga till its very end. The seven Immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hindu Mythology are: 1. Aswathama 2. King Mahabali 3. Veda Vyasa 4. Hanuman 5. Vibhishana 6. Krupacharya 7. Parashuram There is a shloka in sanskrit, Known as Chiranjivi shloka “Aswathama Balir Vyaso Hanumanash cha Vibhishana Krupacharya cha Parashuramam Saptatah Chirjeevanam” “अश्वत्थामाबलिर्व्यासोहनुमांश्च विभीषण:कृपश्चपरशुरामश्च सप्तैतेचिरंजीविन:।” Which means that Aswathama, King Mahabali, Veda Vyasa, Hanuman , Vibhishana , Krupacharya and Lord Parashuram are death-defying or imperishable personalities. Apart from these seven, Markandeya, a great rishi Who was blessed by Shiva, and Jambavan, a strong and wellknown character from Ramayana are also considered as Chiranjivins. 1) Ashwathama: According to The Mahabharata, Ashwatthama means “the horse-voiced”. It probably also means the one having strength of a horse. Perhaps the most interesting of all the Chiranjeevis, And one of the most intresting character from Mahabharata. Ashwatthama was a great warrior and son of a legendary warrior and teacher named Dronacharya. He was gifted with a gem on his forehead by Lord Shiva and was said to have divine powers. When the battle of Kurukshetra A.K.A Mahabharata War was almost over, Ashwatthama who fought from the Kauravas, decided to murder the five Pandava brothers in their camp at midnight even though it was against the ethics of war to attack after sunset. Mistaking the identity of the five brothers, Ashwatthama killed the sons of Pandavas while they were away. On their return, the Pandavas saw what happened and were enraged with the incident and chased Ashwatthama to kill him. Ashwatthama seeked salvation for his crime but it was already too late. To defend himself, he decided to invoke Bramhashirastra [a sort of divine highly destructive weapon] against Pandavas. In retaliation, Arjuna invoked the same as he too was the student of Dronacharya and could do the same. However, on observing this scene, Lord Krishna asked them to revoke the weapons as it would have led to a cataclysmic event resulting in annihilation of earth. Arjuna revoked his weapon, however Ashwatthama was unable to do so as he was never taught how to. Out of spite/ helplessness, he directed the weapon towards a singular being which in this case was Uttara, the daughter-in-law of Arjuna and who was pregnant. The weapon led to the death of the unborn child and thus the lineage of Pandavas came to an end. Enraged at this atrocious act, Lord Krishna cursed Ashwatthama as follows: “Always engaged in sinful acts, thou art the slayer of children. For this reason, thou must have to bear the fruit of these thy sins. For 3,000 years thou shalt wander over this earth, without a companion and without being able to talk with anyone. Alone and without anybody by thy side, thou shalt wander through diverse countries, O wretch, thou shalt have no place in the midst of men. The stench of pus and blood shall emanate from thee, and inaccessible forests and dreary moors shall be thy abode! Thou shalt wander over the Earth, O thou of sinful soul, with the weight of all diseases on thee.” In Simple Words. And thus Ashwatthama is destined to live a life of misery and pain till the end of this Kaliyuga. Mahabali or Bali was the “daitya” king and his capital was the present day state of Kerala. was the son of Devamba and Virochana. He grew up under the tutelage of his grandfather, Prahlada, who instilled in him a strong sense of righteousness and devotion. He was an extremely devoted follower of Lord Vishnu and was known as a righteous, wise, generous and judicious King. Bali would eventually succeed his grandfather as the king of the Asuras, and his reign over the realm was characterized by peace and prosperity. He would later expand his realm by bringing the entire world under his benevolent rule and was even able to conquer the underworld and Heaven, which he wrested from Indra and the Devas. The Devas, after their defeat at the hands of Bali, approached their patron Vishnu and entreated him to restore their lordship over Heaven. vamana Incarnation Vamana taking heaven with a foot and earth with another During an Ashwamedha yagna, Bali once was granting wishes to his masses out of his generosity. Meanwhile, Lord Vishnu reached there taking form of a little Brahmin boy better known as his fifth avatar or Incarnation Vamana. The little Brahmin boy on reception asked from King Bali enough land to cover three paces of his feet. On acceptance of his wish, Vamana grew to an abysmal size and in two paces, took away all the living world and also the three worlds in general.[heaven, earth and underworld figuratively]. Having left nothing else to offer, for his third and final step, King Bali bowed down infront of the Vamana realizing that he was none other than his Lord Vishnu and asked him to place the third feet as this was the only thing that belonged to him. Vamana and Bali Vamana placing his foot on King Bali Vaman then took the third step and thus raised him to Suthala, the supreme form of heaven. However, looking at his generosity and devotion, Vamana on request of Bali, gave him permission to visit earth once an year to ensure that his masses are well off and happy. It is for this reason, that the festival of Onam is celebrated widely in Southern parts of India to welcome the arrival Onapottam, the symbolic form of King Bali. Pookalam, a Rangoli made using flowers on Onam Pookalam, a Rangoli made using flowers on Onam He is hailed to be a supreme example of the highest and the ultimate Sadhana of Nava Vidha Bhakti, namely Atmanivedanam. It is believed that Bali was a practitioner of the Raja Yoga. Vallam Kali, a Boat race held in kreala during Onam Vallam Kali, a Boat race held in kreala during Onam Photo Credits: Maransdog.net Please do read our previous post “What are the similarities between Hinduism and Greek mythology? Part 1 So lets continue…… The next Similarity is between- Jatayu And Icarus :In Greek mythology, Daedalus was a master inventor and craftsman who designed wings that could be worn by humans so they can fly. His son Icarus was fitted with wings, and Daedalus instructed him to fly low as the wax wings would melt in proximity to the sun. After he starts flying, Icarus forgets himself in the ecstasy of flight, wanders too close to the sun and with the wings failing him, falls to his death. Icarus And Jatayu Icarus And Jatayu In Hindu mythology, Sampati and Jatayu were the two sons of Garuda – represented as eagles or vultures. The two sons always competed with each other as to who can fly higher, and at one such time Jatayu flew too close to the sun. Sampati intervened, protecting his little brother from the fiery sun, but gets burnt in the process, loses his wings and falls to the earth. Theseus And Bhima: In Greek mythology, to prevent Crete from waging war on Athens, a treaty was signed that every nine years, seven young men and seven young women from Athens would be sent to Crete, into the Labyrinth of Minos and ultimately feasted upon by the monster known as the Minotaur. Theseus volunteers as one of the sacrifices, navigates the Labyrinth successfully (with the help of Ariadne) and slays the Minotaur. Bhima And Theseus Bhima And Theseus In Hindu mythology, at the outskirts of the city of Ekachakra lived the monster called Bakasura who threatened to destroy the city. As a compromise, the people agreed to send a cartload of provisions once a month to the demon, who ate not only the food, but also the bulls that pulled the cart and the man who brought it. During this time, the Pandavas were in hiding in one of the houses, and when it was the house’s turn to send the cart, Bhima volunteered to go. As you can guess, Bakasura was killed by Bhima. Ambrosia and Amrit: The Ambrosia in Greek Mythology, and the Amrita in Hindu Mythology were the food/drink of the gods which conferred immortality on those who consume it. The words even sound alike, and it’s possible that they share an etymology. Kamadhenu And Cornucopia: In Greek mythology, the newborn Zeus was nursed by many, one of which was the goat Amalthea who was considered sacred. Once, Zeus accidentally breaks off Amalthea’s horn, which became the Cornucopia, the horn of plenty that provided never-ending nourishment. In Hindu mythology, cows are held sacred as they represent Kamadhenu, usually depicted as a cow with a woman’s head and containing all the deities within her. The Hindu equivalent of the cornucopia, is the Akshaya patra that was provided to the Pandavas, producing unlimited quantities of food till they were all nourished. Mt.Olympus and Mt.Kailash : Most major gods in Greek mythology take up residence in Mount Olympus, a real mountain in Greece, believed to be the realm of the gods. One of the different lokas in Hindu mythology where deities resided was called the Shiva loka, represented by Mount Kailash – a real mountain in Tibet with great religious significance. Aegeus And Drona: This is somewhat of a stretch, as the common theme here is that a father is led to falsely believe that his son is dead, and as a result dies himself. In Greek mythology, before Theseus left to kill the Minotaur, his father Aegeus asked him to raise white sails in his ship if he returns safely. After Theseus successfully slays the Minotaur in Crete, he returns to Athens but forgets to change his sails from black to white. Aegeus sees Theseus’ ship approaching with black sails, presumes him dead, and in an uncontrollable bout of grief jumps off the battlements into the sea and dies. Dronacharya And Aegeus Dronacharya And Aegeus In Hindu mythology, during the Kurukshetra War, Krishna comes up with a plan to defeat Dronacharya, one of the greatest generals in the enemy camp. Bhima kills an elephant called Ashwattama, and runs around celebrating that he has killed Ashwattama. As it’s the name of his only son, Drona goes to ask Yudhistra if this was true – because he never lies. Yudhistra says that Ashwattama is dead, and as he continued saying that it’s not his son but an elephant, Krishna blows his conch to muffle Yudhistra’s words. Stunned that his son has been killed, Drona drops his bow and using the opportunity Dhrishtadyumna beheads him. War on Lanka And War on Troy: A thematic similarity between the War on Troy in the Iliad, and the War on Lanka in the Ramayana. One was incited when a prince abducts a king’s wife with her approval, and another when a king abducts a prince’s wife against her will. Both resulted in a major conflict where an army crossed the sea to fight a battle that destroyed the capital city and the return of the princess. Both wars have been immortalized as epic poetry singing the praises of warriors from both sides for thousands of years. Afterlife and Rebirth: In both mythologies, the souls of the deceased are judged according to their actions and sentenced to different places. Souls judged as wicked were sent to the Fields of Punishment in Greek mythology, or Naraka in Hindu mythology where they were punished as befits their crimes. Souls judged as (exceptionally, in Greek) good were sent to the Elysian Fields in Greek mythology, or Svarga in Hindu mythology. The Greeks also had the Asphodel Meadows for those who lived ordinary lives, neither wicked nor heroic, and Tartarus as the ultimate concept of Hell. Hindu scriptures define various planes of existence as lokas among other things. The important difference between the two afterlives is that the Greek version is eternal, but the Hindu version is transient. Both Svarga and Naraka last only till the duration of the sentence, after which the person is reborn, for either redemption or improvement. The similarity comes in that consistent attainment of Svarga will result in a soul achieving moksha, the ultimate goal. Greek souls in Elysium have the option to be reborn three times, and once they achieve Elysium all three times, they are sent to the Isles of the Blessed, the Greek version of Paradise. Also, the entrance to the Greek underworld is guarded by Hades’ three-headed dog Cerberus, and the entrance to Svarga by Indra’s white elephant Airavata. Demigods and Divinity: Even if the concept of gods being born, living and dying as mortal beings (avatars) is not present in Greek mythology, both sides have gods descending among men for short periods of time for various reasons. There is also the concept of children born to two deities becoming deities (like Ares or Ganesh), and also the idea of demigod children born to a god and a mortal (like Perseus or Arjuna). Instances of demigod heroes raised to the status of gods were also common (like Heracles and Hanuman). Heracles and Shri Krishna: Heracles and Shri Krishna Heracles and Shri Krishna Heracles Fighting With Serpentine Hydra and Lord Krishna Defeating Serpent Kaliya. Lord Krishna didn’t kill Kalingarayan (Serpent kaliya), instead he asked him to leave the Yamuna river and go away from Brindavan. Simialrly, Heracles did not kill Serpent hydra, he only placed a huge stone over his head. Killing of Stymphalian And Bakasur: The Stymphalian Birds are man-eating birds with beaks of bronze, sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and poisonous dung. They were pets of Ares, the god of war. They migrated to a marsh in Arcadia to escape a pack of wolves. There they bred quickly and swarmed over the countryside, destroying crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. They were killed by Heracles. Killing of Stymphalian And Bakasur Killing of Bakasur And Stymphalian Bakasura, the Crane Demon, simply got greedy. Lured by Kamsa’s promises of rich and swanky rewards, Bakasura “tricked” Krishna to come close – only to betray the boy by swallowing him. Krishna forced his way out of course and put an end to him. Killing of Cretan Bull And Arishtasura : Cretan bull had been wreaking havoc on Crete by uprooting crops and leveling orchard walls. Heracles sneaked up behind the bull and then used his hands to strangle it, and then shipped it to Eurystheus in Tiryns. Killing of Arishtasura And Cretan Bull Killing of Arishtasura And Cretan Bull A true bull-y in every sense of the word. Aristasur the Bull Demon stormed into town and challenged Krishna to a bull fight that all the heavens watched. Killing of Horses Of Diomedes and keshi : Horses Of Diomedes were four man-eating horses in Greek mythology. Magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to the giant Diomedes, king of Thrace who lived on the shores of the Black Sea. Bucephalus, Alexander the Great’s horse, was said to be descended from these mares. Heracles the Greek hero slays the horses of Diomedes. Killing of Keshi the demon horse And Horses Of Diomedes Killing of Keshi the demon horse And Horses Of Diomedes Keshi the Horse Demon was apparently mourning the loss of so many of his fellow rakshasa friends, so he approached Kamsa to sponsor his battle against Krishna. Shri Krishna Killed him. Post Credits: Sunil Kumar Gopal HinduFAQ’s Krishna Image Credits: To the owner There are many similarities among different mythical characters of different epics. I dont know whether they are same or related to each other. Same thing is there in Mahabharata and Trojan war. I wonder if our mythology is influenced by theirs or theirs by ours! I guess we used to live in the same area and now we had different versions of same epic. Here I have compared some of the characters and I tell you this is very interesting. The most obvious parallel is between Zeus and Indra: Indra and Zeus Indra and Zeus Zeus, the God of rains and thunder is the most worshipped God in Greek Pantheon. He is the king of Gods. He carries with himself a thunderbolt.Indra is the God of rains and thunder and he too carries a thunderbolt called Vajra. He is also the king of Gods. Yama and Hades Yama and Hades Hades and Yamraj : Hades is the God of the netherworld and death. A similar role is carried by Yama in the Indian Mythology. Achilles and Lord Krishna: I think Krishna and Achilles both were the same. Both were killed by an arrow piercing their heel and both are the heroes of the two of the world’s greatest epics. Achilles heels and Krishna’s heels were the only vulnerable point on their bodies and the reason of their deaths. Achilles and Lord Krishna Achilles and Lord Krishna Krishna dies when Jara’s arrow pierces his heel. Achilles death was caused by an arrow in his heel too. Atlantis and Dwarka: Atlantis is a legendary island. It is said that after a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean “in a single day and night of misfortune.” In Hindu Mythology, Dwarka, a city built by Vishwakarma on the order of Lord Krishna is supposed to have suffered a similar fate of submersion into the sea after a war among the Yadavas, the descendants of Lord Krishna. Karna and Achilles: Karna’s kawach (armour) has been compared with that of Achilles’s Styx-coated body. He has been compared to the Greek character Achilles on various occasions as they both have powers but lack status. Krishna and Odysseus: It is the character of Odysseus that is a lot more like Krishna. He convinces a reluctant Achilles to fight for Agamemnon – a war the Greek hero did not want to fight. Krishna did the same with Arjuna. Duryodhana and Achilles: Achilles mother, Thetis, had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding him by his heel and he became invincible where the waters touched him—that is, everywhere but the areas covered by her thumb and forefinger, implying that only a heel wound could have been his downfall and as anyone could have predicted he was killed when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel. Duryodhan and achilles Duryodhan and achilles Similarly, in Mahabharata, Gandhari decides to help Duryodhana triumph. Asking him to bathe and enter her tent naked, she prepares to use the great mystic power of her eyes, blind-folded for many years out of respect for her blind husband, to make his body invincible to all attack in every portion. But when Krishna, who is returning after paying the queen a visit, runs into a naked Duryodhana coming to the pavilion, he mockingly rebukes him for his intention to emerge so before his own mother. Knowing of Gandhari’s intentions, Krishna criticizes Duryodhana, who sheepishly covers his groin before entering the tent. When Gandhari’s eyes fall upon Duryodhana, they mystically make each part of his body invincible. She is shocked to see that Duryodhana had covered his groin, which was thus not protected by her mystic power. Helen of Troy and Draupadi: Helen of Troy and Draupadi Helen of Troy and Draupadi In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy has always been projected as a seductress who eloped with young Paris, forcing her despairing husband to fight the war of Troy to get her back. This war resulted in the burning of the beautiful city. Helen was held accountable for this annihilation. We also hear of Draupadi being blamed for Mahabharata. Brahma and Zeus: We have Brahma changing into a swan to seduce Saraswati, and Greek mythology has Zeus changing himself into many forms (including a swan) to seduce Leda. Persephone and Sita: Persephone and Sita Persephone and Sita Both were both forcibly abducted and wooed, and both (in different circumstances) disappeared under the Earth. Arjuna and Achilees: When the war starts out, Arjuna is unwilling to fight. Similarly, when the Trojan War starts, Achilees does not want to fight. The lamentations of Achilles over the dead body of Patroclus are similar to lamentations of Arjuna over the dead body of his son Abhimanyu. Arjuna laments over the dead body of his son Abhimanyu and pledges to kill Jaydrath the following day. Achilles laments on the dead pody of his brother Patroculus, and pledges to kill Hector the following day. Karna and Hector: Karna and Hector: Karna and Hector: Draupadi, although loves Arjuna, begins to have a soft corner for Karna. Helen, although loves Paris, begins to have a soft corner for Hector, for she knows that Paris is useless and not respected while Hector is the warrior and well respected. Please do read our Next post “What are the similarities between Hinduism and Greek mythology? Part 2” to continue reading. When Arjun and Duryodhan, had both gone to meet Krishna before Kurukshetra, the former went in later, and seeing the latter at his head, he sat at Krishna’s feet. Krishna woke up and then gave them the choice of either his entire Narayana Sena, or he himself as charioteer on a condition, that he would neither fight nor hold any weapon. And he gave Arjun, the chance to select first, who then choose Krishna as his charioteer. Duryodhan could not believe his fortune, he had wanted the Narayana Sena, and he got it on a platter, he felt Arjun was plain foolish. Little did Duryodhan realize that while he got the physical powers, the mental and spiritual power was with Arjun. There was a reason why Arjun choose Krishna, he was the person who provided the intelligence,the guidance, and he knew the weakness of every warrior in the Kaurava camp. Krishna as charioteer of Arjuna Krishna as charioteer of Arjuna Apart from that the bonding between Arjun and Krishna, goes a long way back too. The entire concept of Nar and Naryana, and the former needing the guidance from the latter. While Krishna had always been the well wisher of the Pandavas, guiding them at all times, he had a special bonding with Arjun, both being great friends. He guided Arjun during the Khandava Dahanam, in his battle with the Gods, and later he ensured his sister Subhadra was married to Arjun, when his brother Balaram wanted to marry her to Duryodhan. Arjun was the best warrior in the Pandava side, Yudhistir while being the most wise among them, was not exactly a “great warrior”, who could take on Bheeshma, Drona, Kripa, Karna, it was only Arjun who was an equal match to them. Bheem was all brute force, and while that was needed, for physical and mace combat with the likes of Duryodhan and Dushashan, he could not have been effective in handling Bheeshma or Karna. Now while Arjun was the finest warrior ever, he also needed strategic advice, and that was where Krishna came in. Unlike physical combat, battle in archery needed quick reflexes, strategic thought, planning, and this is where Krishna was an invaluable asset. Krishna as saarthi in mahabharata Krishna knew that only Arjun could face Bheeshma or Karna or Drona on equal terms, but he also knew that he like any other human beings, had this internal conflict. Arjun faced an internal conflict over fighting with his beloved grandsire Bheeshma or his Guru Drona, to kill or not kill, and that is where Krishna came up with the entire Gita, the concept of Dharma, destiny and doing your duty. In the end it was Krishna’s guidance that made the entire difference to the Kurukshetra war. There is an incident when Arjuna goes overconfident and then Krishna tells him – “Hey Parth, don’t be overconfident. If I was not here, your chariot would have been blown away long ago due to the damage done by Bheesma, Drona and Karna. You are facing the best athimaharathis of all times and they do not have the armor of Narayana”. More trivia Krishna was always closer to Arjuna than Yudishtra. Krishna made his sister marry Arjuna, not Yudishtra, when Balarama planed to have her married to Druyodana. Also, when Aswathama asked for the Sudarshana Chakra from Krishna, Krishna told him that even Arjuna, who was his dearest person in the world, who was even dearer to him than his wives and kids, never asked that weapon. This shows Krishna’s closeness to Arjuna. Krishna had to protect Arjuna from Vaishnavastra. Bhagadatta had the Vaishnavastra which would kill the enemy for sure. When Bhagadatta sent that weapon to Kill Arjuna, Krishna stood up and took that weapon around his neck as a Garland. (It was Krishna who gave that Vaishnavastra, the personal astra of Vishnu to Bhagadatta’s mother after Killing Narakasura, who was the father of Bhagadatta.) Credits: Post Credit Ratnakar Sadasyula Image Credits: To Original Post Disclaimer: All images, designs or videos in this page are copyright of their respective owners. We don’t own have these images/designs/videos. We collect them from search engine and other sources to be used as ideas for you. No copyright infringement is intended. If you have reason to believe that one of our content is violating your copyrights, please do not take any legal action as we are trying to spread the knowledge. You can contact us directly to be credited or have the item removed from the site. hindufaqs.com Most Badass Hindu Gods- Krishna Most Badass hindu God which I would love to mention about is Lord Krishna. Starting right from his childhood. As a kid growing up in Brindavan, he sent a whole lot of Asuras sent by Kamsa to their death. Then he dances on the hood of the mighty serpent Kaliya, forcing him to leave the Yamuna. Krishna Conquers the Serpent Kaliya And if that is not enough, he advises the villagers to worship Govardhana mountain, since that is the real life giver, instead of Indra. And when Indra unleashes his anger, sending a huge thunderstorm, he lifts up the entire mountain on his finger, protecting all the villagers, making Indra eat humble pie there. When he goes to meet Kamsa, his maternal uncle who had been trying to kill him from long, he first gets rid of the wrestlers Chanura and Mushtika, along with brother Balaram. And then throwing down Kamsa from the throne, strangles him to death. He cleverly gets rid of Shishupal, making him exhuast the “100 mistakes I spare his life” promise he had given to the latter’s mother. And earlier he had eloped with Rukmini who was betrothed to Shishupal, but had her heart on Krishna. Krishna lifts Govardhan Parvat He did not lift a single weapon during the Kurukshetra war, yet he managed to outsmart the entire Kaurava army, though he only was Arjun’s charioteer. He knew the weak points of Bheeshma, Drona, Duryodhan,Karna and smartly used it against them. He was the reason why the Pandavasa managed to win against a vastly larger and superior Kaurava Army. Krishna as saarthi in mahabharata He Stole clothes of Gopis and asked them to come out of water one by one to get cloths back Made sure Bhishma won’t kill the Pandavas by asking Draupati to go to his camp in disguise of a common woman. Bhishma blessed her “deerga sumangali bhava” (long marriage). She then revealed her true identity and demanded that Bhishma cannot kill her 5 husbands (the pandavas) because he cannot break his own blessing. (Simply brilliant ahh?) Engineered killing of Drona. He knew no one can kill Drona as long as he holds a weapon, and only way to make him drop it is to emotionally break him down by telling that his son died. There is no way anyone would disbelieve Yudhishtira as he is the “king of dharma”. So Krishna named an elephant as “ashwtthama” (name of Drona’s son) and asked Bhima to kill it, and then asked Yudhishthira to shout “Ashwatthama, the elephant is dead..” but “the elephant” part of the sentence in a low voice. So Drona, who was at a distance could hear only “Ashwatthama is dead“. As expected, Drona dropped weapons heart broken and Pandavas killed him with ease. (So technically, Yudhishthira the “king of dharma” didn’t lie. Hmmm..) Made sure Bhima could kill Duryodana. Here is the story. When the war was around the corner, Duryodana was once asked by his mother Gandhari to come to her room fully naked. Duryodana didn’t know why but to carry out his mothers order, he decided to do as asked. But Krishna brain washed him to cover at least the private parts (including thigh). In her room, Gandhari (who blindfolded herself forever after marrying blind Dritarashtra), opened her eyes to see her son for the first time. She transferred all her powers into Duryodana’s visible part of the body, making them as strong as iron. During the final duel, Krishna instructed Bhima to hit Duryodana on thighs to kill him Engineered killing of Jarasandha: Here is the story from wiki Bheema did not know how to defeat Jarasandha. Since, Jarasandha was brought to life when the two lifeless halves joined together, conversely, he can be killed only when these his body was torn into two halves and find a way as how these two don’t merge. Krishna took a stick, he broke it into two and threw them in both directions. Bheema got the hint. He tore Jarasandha’s body into two and threw the pieces in two directions. But, these two pieces came together and Jarasandha was able to attack Bheema again. Bheema got tired after several such futile attempts. He again sought the help of Krishna. This time, Lord Krishna took a stick, broke it into two and threw the left piece on right side and the right piece on the left side. Bheema precisely followed the same. Now, he tore Jarasandha’s body into two and threw them in opposite directions. Thus, Jarasandha was killed as the two pieces could not merge into one. Saved Bhima fom Dritarashtra’s hug: Yeah literally! Here is the story: Dritarashtra was blessing Pandavas after war. He hugged them one by one. When it was Bhima’s turn he remembered that Bhima killed most of his 100 sons. He was furious and wanted to kill Bhima. Krishna knew this and pushed a metal statue to blind Dritarashtra instead of Bhima. Dritarashtra crushed that metal statue into powder with his hug (what a sweet embrace) He took Pandavas away the night Ashwatthama destroyed Pandava camp after they won the war. He knew it was going to happen. Ashwatthama, with KalBhairav entered into his body, burned the Pandava camp into ashes killing every single person.. But Krishna saved just the Pandavas & Draupati.. Why didn’t he save others? No idea! Might be that he wanted to do a balancing act. Some more stories of Shri Krishna in short: 1. Putana She disguised herself as an angelic woman and offered Yashoda a brief respite by volunteering to nurse baby Krishna (with her poisonous milk). Can we say Krishna “sucked the life out of her?” 2. Trinavarta the Tornado Demon! Trinavarta is probably the most unique rakshasa-form – ruthlessly sabatoging everything in his path. He whisked Krishna off his feet…but Krishna blew him (and his pride) away. 3. Bakasura 4. Aghasura This giant Serpent Demon slithered his way to the outskirts of Gokul, opened his mouth wide and had all the kids squealing in delight by thinking they had discovered a brand new “cave.” They all hopped inside – only to be trapped. Some versions of the story explain Aghasura to have once been a handsome king who was cursed by a crippled sage for laughing at the poor man’s disability. 5. Dhenukasura This Donkey Demon was a real pain-in-the-Ass. Even Mother Earth trembled under Dhenukasura’s stampede. This was a true joint venture between Balaram and Krishna – with Balaram taking the credit for the final blow. 6. Aristasura 7. Vatsasura Another story of deception: Vatsasura disguised himself as a Calf, mixed himself into Krishna’s herd and tricked him into a duel. 8. Keshi Ratnakar Sadasyula Gireesh Puthumana Image credit to the original Uploader Short stories credit : Gnaana.com
The 12 Most Profitable International Crimes 2. Human Trafficking > Annual Revenues From Illicit Trade: $31.6 billion > Source Countries: Countries in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria, Morocco, Myanmar, and Vietnam > Destination Countries: United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, India, Pakistan, Poland, and the Czech Republic > Interesting Fact: Roughly 2.5 million people are victims of human trafficking each year. This is roughly the population of Utah. There is an important difference between migrant smuggling and human trafficking. Migrant smuggling involves the consent of the individual, and involves illegally crossing borders. Human trafficking is defined as “the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving persons for the purpose of exploitation, by using or threatening force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, or abuse of power against them, or by giving or receiving payment or benefit to those who control them.” A 2005 International Labor Organization report estimates that more than 2.5 million people are exploited as victims of human trafficking, 1.4 million sexually and 1.1 million in other economic forms. The ILO calculates human trafficking to be a $31.6 billion industry. However, with regards to labor and production, human trafficking damages both the country of origin and the destination. The country of origin loses production capacity, thereby taking away potential GDP. In the destination country, forced labor depresses wages and, in the case of child labor, reduces potential GDP in the future by restricting access to education. 3. Illicit Wildlife Trade > Annual Revenues From Illicit Trade: Between $7.8 and $10 Billion. > Source Countries: Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia > Destination Countries: China, The U.S. and The European Union > Interesting Fact: Largely because of poaching, the tiger population in India, which used to contain the most in the world, has been halved in the past eight years. The three main markets for Illicit wildlife trade are commercial production, exotic pets, and traditional medicine, particularly Chinese traditional medicine. Commercial products which fuels the illegal wildlife trade are made from the furs and skins of large cats and reptiles. Traditional medicine accounts for a great deal of the market as well, particularly In China, where buyers will pay as much as $2,500 for a rhinoceros horn because they are believed to have healing powers. A small portion of the market also consists of the trade of rare birds and mammals to be used as pets. TRAFFIC Europe estimates that the total legal trade in wildlife was worth $22.8 billion. Other estimates list the value at $25 billion. The Global Financial Initiative estimates the value to be between $7.8 and $10 billion. 4. Counterfeiting > Annual Revenues From Illicit Trade: $250 billion > Source Countries: China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Russia, various countries in Latin America and Africa > Destination Countries: United States, the European Union, China > Interesting Fact: Because of its status as an internationally accepted currency, the U.S. Dollar is easily the most counterfeited form of currency. Interpol estimates counterfeiting, primarily of knock off goods, causes a global commercial loss of $500 billion annually. However, as counterfeit goods cost less than the real thing, the amount made by counterfeit goods is much less than the loss they cause. Although that number is harder to calculate, a 2009 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates the amount generated by counterfeit goods to be $250 billion. China is the number one producer of counterfeit goods, but there is also known substantial production in Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Russia and other former Soviet Republics, as well as countries in Latin America and Africa. Most of the merchandise is produced in sweatshops, so the majority of profits, according to the OECD, go to “mafias, triads and other criminal groups,” which are, “spread around the world, and commonly also deal in drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, money laundering, arms dealing and corruption.” 5. Human Organs > Annual Revenues From Illicit Trade: between $600 Million and $1.2 Billion > Source Countries: China, India, the Philipines, Turkey, Egypt, Moldova, Brazil, Peru > Client Nationalities: United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, Australia >Interesting Fact: in 2008, 30,000 people received transplants in the U.S., with approximately 100,000 left on the waiting list. At the time, the country was on track to add 50,000 names each year. Experts on the illicit trade of human organs call the practice “neo-cannibalism.” Despite the name’s implications, these organs are not removed against the donor’s wishes, but are harvested willingly and sold on the black market. These hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys are then sold to the highest bidder, rather than the next person on the waiting list. The demand for transplantable organs in nations like the U.S. dramatically exceeds the available supply, and the gap continues to widen. A 2009 Reuters report states that 10% of all transplants are performed with illegally obtained organs. Profit distribution vastly favors the middleman – the person transporting the organ to the wealthy buyer in “transplant tourism” countries like China, India and Pakistan. In one reported case in China, a donor was paid $3,600 for a piece of kidney that likely fetched $150,000 on the black market. Also Read: Global Oil Demand Estimate Rises 6. Small Arms and Light Weapons > Annual Revenues From Illicit Trade: Between $300 million and $1 billion > Source Countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, India, North Korea, Pakistan > Destination Countries: Exclusively developing countries > Interesting Fact: A knockoff assault rifle or pistol can be purchased from a bazaar in Pakistan for $6. According to the Center for Defense Information, small arms and light weapons (SALW) are classified as “any weapons that can be carried by one or two people, mounted on a vehicle, or transported by a pack animal.” This includes machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Approximately 8 million arms are produced each year, and once produced, these weapons can last indefinitely. According to an estimate by the Small Arms Survey, there are about 900 million SALW in circulation globally. The illicit SALW market is worth around $300 to $600 million, according to the UNODC, however a 2002 Small Arms Survey estimates that number to be closer to $1 billion. Newly manufactured SALW only account for one percent of total SALW in circulation, meaning that the majority of weapons have been in circulation for years, many produced during the Cold War. Demand for these weapons exists almost exclusively in developing nations. Sponsored: Tips for Investing
Tuesday, February 18, 2014 vsphere 5.x unable to re-add the physical RDM Issue : msa storage had a disk failure and due to the that the VMware had some downtime. After replacing the faulty disk with a new disk in the storage and physical lun cant be added to the vm as a physical RDM since it throws the error “a general system error occurred disk device path not specified for rdm backing”. When tried to add the lun as RDM and chose a different datastore for storing the pointer file another error came out stating “add rdm cannot complete the operation due to an incorrect request to the server” Resolution: A typical vcenter server issue where you will face problems in adding luns to hosts. connected directly to the host and tried adding it as a physical RDM again and it worked. Issue resolved. Tuesday, February 11, 2014 VMware View Persona Update Manager stops working when quota is breached Issue: If you have a vmware view setup and have enforce windows quota's on the persona profile share. you will notice that when a user has breached the quota of the persona management update stops working. This means the user is unable to delete files to bring the storage size down to meet the quota. It seems like a bug and it seems that they didnt consider or overlooked this while designing the product. Resolution : Seems that increasing quota here is the only workaround given until fix is provided. Currently the only workaround would be to ensure the quota is set to cater for a larger amount of files. suggesting not to use quotas and manage file capacity through other means (for example, disk alerts when it reached a certain capacity and then audits based on that by IT personnel). In summary, if the user runs of out disk space for their persona during a session, then this will result in the persona becoming corrupt and may lose changes that they are making. administrators should make sure that users have sufficient space for their normal needs. Why : After you reach the quote the profiles get corrupted. The bug fix and a kb might be on the way but not sure when.
Subscribe to the newsletter A reflection on creating a course in 2019 May 20, 2019 A reflection on creating a course in 2019 In late 2018 I set out to create a new course called Hello Rails. This is a reflection on creating a course in 2019 and some background as to why I am. I started a YouTube channel some 2 years after creating this blog. It was my first exposure to video that lead to being my main focus. A few videos stood out on my channel as I was finding my audience/content path. Affinity Designer and Photo had been new design tools in my arsenal at the time. I didn't want to subscribe to Adobe products monthly and Affinity's tools were good enough for a lot less money. Those apps were getting more mature but hadn't seen a lot of press/attention in the Adobe-ruled design world. Nowadays, there's a design tool popping up every month. I mention Affinity Designer and Photo because I recorded a few "How to" tutorials on my blog/channel that got quite a lot of attention. That attention gave me the idea to create a space on the web called "Affinicasts". This site would be a collection of tutorials niched out to Affinity-Serif products. In my bat cave, I spent a few months designing and building the MVP of the app. Looking back I spent way too long on this phase to verify my target audience would even pay for such a service. After months of hard work, I launched the app which was #2 on Product Hunt for the day. The launch was a success but what it lacked was paying subscribers. The app featured both monthly, lifetime, and ala carte payment models. Users could subscribe/buy content to download assets and view the tutorials. After about a year and some 200 tutorials later I decided Affinicasts should be no more. It was a hard decision but ultimately, the amount of work it took me to create content was exhausting. This was all while working a full-time job and raising my infant son at the time as well. Lessons learned the hard way Even though I'm marking Affinicasts up as a failure, it did get some positive feedback from the community. I also learned so much about Ruby on Rails (the web framework I created it with) when building the app. Ruby on Rails struck a nerve I had been craving for some time. I was one of those developers/designers who solely worked in WordPress for a number of years. PHP wasn't my favorite language but it did get the job done. I wanted to have more control than what WordPress had to offer. Being sick of PHP, I was immediately turned on to Ruby and Ruby on Rails. The syntax and very clear language of the code were amazingly refreshing to see. Teach what you want to learn I've always heard that to learn something well you need to teach it. Even if you're not 100% versed in the matter, you can stumble through and get out what needs to be out. This allows you and your audience to better understand things together. At that moment, I decided I wanted to learn more about Ruby on Rails and in doing so I started teaching the framework on my YouTube channel. This framework became a focus for quite some time and has been praised by quite a few folks on YouTube. Today, I've published 70+ videos on the topic and continue to produce more content. In doing so, I noticed my YouTube channel has increased in subscribers daily. I now average about 10 subscribers a day which is insane for a nobody like me. If you're reading this and you did subscribe to the channel I can't thank you enough! Why a course? It's 2019 right now. Most software you see for sale follows a SaaS model. That typically means an on-going monthly price tag. I could have tried another SaaS app like Affinicasts but I was craving something more approachable. SaaS is damn hard. Unless it's a product user really need/use, every month you risk churn (unsubscribes). Trying to juggle that sounds awfully stressful and not something I wanted to explore again so close to the sunset of Affinicasts. Info-products have done really well in the web design and development space. It's really inspiring to see people like Wes Bos, Adam Wathan, and Steve Schoger create books, courses, and content that not only help the community but create careers for themselves. I'm not trying to be as big as they are. In fact, I don't want to be. What I am trying is to be a little more self-sustaining. Entrepreneurship is a big passion of mine. There's something thrilling about calling your own shots and learning from your own mistakes. It makes that 9-5 a little less of a drag if you can swing it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be a full-time entrepreneur. I set out to create a course of my own called Hello Rails. Hello Rails is a foundational Ruby on Rails course that teaches you the framework by example. I set out to make this course as a result of the increasing feedback/attention on my YouTube channel. My YouTube content was enough to whet your appetite but never fully-complete. The course is designed to take a concept and build a fully-functional application that get's deployed like a real Ruby on Rails application would in the wild. But that's already been done There are plenty of resources for learning in the wild. The infamous railstutorial.org is what most developers know of and point others to. gorails.com is another great resource for expanding further knowledge of the framework. So why another course/resource? When I started learning to code I craved more in-depth tutorials or courses that didn't edit out the errors. Some video tutorials were so polished it seems like a robot is teaching you hard to understand concepts that you'll just forget. Teachers like Jeffery Way really do a great job at expanding in on hard concepts. He continues to do so at laracasts.com. I took cues from his style to incorporate my own take on tutorials on my YouTube channel. Rather than edit a lot of time-consuming stuff out I wanted to capture the "realness" of what it takes to do the things in each tutorial. My course is no exception. Hello Rails sits in at 90 videos, 27 modules, 18.5 hours of content, and a complete book version as well. If that isn't thorough enough then I don't know what to tell ya :) My hope is that my style and content can help students better understand the Ruby on Rails framework as well as walk away from the course with the confidence to go build their own apps. This type of feeling is something I craved as a student but could never quite find without digging into building something of my own. Ultimately, building more things and practicing will forever make you more knowledgeable in the software space. No amount of courses, books, tutorials or talks can prepare you for what's ahead. Learning from errors, mistakes, and peers will create impressions of which you know how to handle if they were to pop up again. This is what teaching and learning are all about. The Road Ahead At the time of writing, Hello Rails still hasn't launched yet. I'm wrapping up some last-minute tweaks to the small framework I built for the course and crossing my fingers Rails 6 officially drops soon. Students will have a dashboard area where they can access their course materials. If they are on a team they can invite teammates as well. It was a fun thing to build but requires some attention. The course took a lot of time and effort. I probably overdid it a touch. I never really meant to even create a book version but I needed an outline to follow for the course. That outline grew into being a written version 😂. I have learned a lot already from the process but I am excited about what is ahead. That small framework I made can hopefully be re-purposed for future course ideas I may try out. That was the intention of building it anyway. In efforts of being transparent, my audience isn't as massive as some of the big boys out there but I'm ok with that. At this time my e-mail list is up to 520 531 subscribers which ain't half bad! I'll most likely launch to that list and focus on my YouTube channel. Then later do an official product hunt launch. Marketing will be key but I hope to make this course more "evergreen". By that, I mean keeping it current but long-standing so anyone in the future can harness the course if they need it. Slow and steady wins the race! What would I change? I would probably change the scope of the course to be much smaller and/or make it somehow segmented so people can take a chunk, learn it, and then move on to the next. The course is huge. I think it might be a little too huge. Ruby on Rails is a massive framework though. The course still doesn't cover absolutely everything. This opens up room for future courses/tutorials I'll do. Aside from that, I feel I did things right. I'm not launching to an empty audience, I built up some press around it (so much more to do there), and got some definite interest (still continuing to get some). I couldn't ask for much more. Ok, maybe a smooth launch... We'll see how it goes! Feature image by: unsplash-logoMarc-Olivier Jodoin Leave a reply Sign in or Sign up to leave a response. 0 responses Est. reading time: 9 minutes Stats: 110 views
Search results 1. How important is leadership? Topic ^ How important is leadership in Warband, considering it detracts from your combat skills? I'd say it's very important but the cost of raising it to 10 is very high... 2. Is the storyline worth it? Hey, I just wanted to ask if the storyline is worth being mildly annoyed by the faction I am in? I would prefer to be in the Swedish faction as the rest just annoy me but apparently they have no storyline whereas factions like the Polish commonwealth have... Thanks. 3. Does it work for the latest patch? Title, because I havn't got a saved game to test it :) Top Bottom
Pema Chodron — American Clergyman born on July 14, 1936, Sometimes people's spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don't share their beliefs - in effect, becoming fundamentalist. It's very dangerous - the finger of righteous indignation pointing at someone who is identified as bad or wrong.
ArrayMumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) A special court on Wednesday awarded the death penalty to five people and life in prison to seven others, all convicted for the July 11, 2006, serial blasts on Mumbai’s suburban trains which killed 189 people, in one of the worst attacks on the city’s crowded public transport system. On September 11, Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge Y.D. Shinde found all the 12 people guilty of their role in serial blasts in the suburban trains, which also injured 817 commuters rushing home during the peak hours that rainy evening. Those awarded the death penalty were Kamal A. Ansari, 37; Ehtesham K. Siddiqui, 30; Faisal Attaur Rehman Sheikh, 36; Asif Khan alias Junaid, 38; Naved Hussain Khan, 30. The seven who were awarded life term in jail were medico Tanvir A. Ansari, 37; Mohammed Sajid Ansari, 34; Sheikh Mohammed Ali Alam Sheikh, 40; Mohammed Majid Shafi, 30; Muzammil Sheikh, 27; Soheil Mohammed Sheikh, 43; and Zamir Ahmed Sheikh, 36. During the prolonged arguments of nearly three weeks on the quantum of sentence, Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thakre demanded death penalty for eight of the 12 convicts, terming them “merchants of death”. A teacher, Abdul Wahid Sheikh, was the lone accused who was acquitted in the case, while another prime accused, Azam Chima, alleged to be linked with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is among the 17 who are missing and on the run. They include 13 Pakistani nationals. Stunned by the punishment, relatives of the convicts who were awarded death sentence, said they would challenge the court verdict in the Bombay High Court. Special Judge Shinde found that M. Faisal Attaur Rehman Shaikh, who was awarded death penalty, went to Pakistan twice for training. He also sent youth to Pakistan for training, harboured Pakistanis at his home, and received money by the hawala route. Similarly, Kamal A. Ansari was also trained in Pakistan, transported Pakistanis from the Nepal border to Mumbai, procured explosive material and planted the bomb which exploded in the suburban train at Matunga. Naved Hussain Khan surveyed the trains, transported a bomb from Govandi to Bandra, planted one bomb on the train which exploded at Khar station. Asif Khan alias Junaid procured the explosive material used to make the bomb, and planted one which exploded in the train at Borivali. Ehtesham K. Siddiqui, the Maharashtra joint secretary of banned orgainsation SIMI, recced local trains, transported Pakistanis to Mumbra in Thane district, was present when the bombs were made at a house in Govandi, and planted the bomb which exploded in the train at Mira Road. Five among the seven convicts awarded life sentence were trained in Pakistan, while Mohammed Majid Shafi helped transport Pakistanis from Bangladesh border to Mumbai and then back to Bangladesh after the terror blasts. Mohammed Sajid Ansari provided the electrical circuits for the bombs which went off with precision at the intended targets that evening. Earlier, during the arguments, Thakre had demanded death penalty for eight convicts — Kamal A. Ansari, medico Tanvir A. Ansari, Mohammed Sajid Ansari, Sheikh Mohammed Ali Alam Sheikh, Mohammed Faisal Sheikh, Ehteshan Siddiqui, Asif Khan alias Junaid, and Naved Hussain Khan. He sought life terms for Mohammed Majid Shafi, Muzammil Sheikh, Soheil Mohammed Sheikh, Zamir Ahmed Sheikh, arguing that they were guilty of offences which attract multiple life imprisonments, so they should be sentenced to life till the end of the lives in jail, or not less than 60 years. Arguing for stringent punishment to all the convicts, Thakre said the evening peak hour timings chosen and the targets (packed suburban trains) on the Churchgate-Virar section showed their extreme mentality as it would inflict maximum casualties. The trial continued for eight years in which the prosecution examined 192 witnesses, including policemen, civil servants, medicos, officials of various government departments, commuters, survivors and a person summoned as a court witness, with their deposition running into over 5,500 pages. Starting at 6.23 p.m., the seven powerful RDX-laden bombs ripped off trains at Matunga Road, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Mira Road stations spanning Mumbai and Thane districts. The explosions, using around 15-20 kg of RDX, were so powerful that they blew off the double-layered steel roofs and walls of the seven train compartments. The Anti-Terrorism Squad had claimed that the suspects belong to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), LeT and the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The trial started in June 2007, but was stayed in February 2008 after one of the 13 accused, Kamal Ansari, challenged the phrase ‘promoting insurgency’ in defining organised crime in the MCOCA as “unconstitutional”. In April 2010, the Supreme Court dismissed his petition, which paved the way for the trial to resume and complete this month.
Requirements for Distance Counseling You will need to have a private space, free of distractions in which to have your Distance Counseling sessions. In some cases it might be helpful to purchase a “white noise machine”. This is a small device which you can place outside of your door to give added privacy during your online counseling sessions. You can learn more about these in the following blog post: Helpful Uses for White Noise Machines. Computer with Internet Connection (with Adequate Speed) In order to have online video sessions you will need a computer with an internet connection. This can be a desktop, laptop or tablet. Though some tablets will work with the video conference software, I recommend using a desktop or laptop if possible. Most computers made within the past several years should be capable of online video sessions (provided you have a webcam and adequate internet connection). It is recommended to have a Dual-Core processor (or Quad-Core if possible) at 2.0GHz (or faster) with at least 1GB of Memory available. A Single-Core processor at 2.4GHz (or faster) can provide adequate video quality. It is recommended that your internet connection have a minimum speed/bandwidth of 1 Mbps Download and 1 Mbps Upload. Most internet connections will have adequate Download speeds, but Upload speeds for some connections can be on the low side. Higher speeds (for both Download and Upload) will improve the quality of video that you can receive and send (up to the limits of the webcam used). You can check your internet connection speed at: You will also need a webcam (i.e., web camera) connected to your computer (and positioned on top of, or in front of, your monitor). Many current laptops and some tablets have webcams built in. I suggest a minimum of 360p resolution, but you do not need any higher than 720p (i.e., 720p is the maximum the video conferencing software currently supports). A 360p webcam is considered High Quality resolution. 720p is considered HD Video and requires approximately 3 Mbps Upload speed to make full use of the HD resolution. Note that the video conferencing software will send and receive the highest quality video your internet connection will allow (up to and including 720p). If you need to purchase a webcam I recommend the following two products: the Logitech C310 USB 2.0 HD WebCam and the Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 USB 2.0 720p HD WebCam. Both of these are 720p webcams. Prices fluctuate, but in general there is so little price difference between these 720p webcams and some 360p webcams that I think either of these two are a worthwhile purchase even if your internet connection will not support full 720p resolution. Headphones (or Headset with Microphone) You will need a pair of headphones (e.g., even simple earbuds can suffice), or alternatively a headset with built-in microphone. The reason I ask that you wear headphones (or a headset) is to avoid an echo/feedback issue that can occur where my voice plays over your speakers and then loops back through your webcam microphone (causing a very distracting echo on my end). By both parties utilizing headphones (or headsets) this issue is eliminated. If you would like to use a headset with built-in microphone (instead of using the webcam microphone) I recommend the Logitech G330 3.5mm/USB Connector Headset; it is decent quality, lightweight, comfortable and adjustable. You are not required to use this particular headset (or any headset for that matter—only headphones are requested). Any headset or headphones that you find comfortable and adequate audio quality should be fine. For additional options you can explore the headsets sold by Skype. Other Important Details Payment: You can securely pay online. Checks should be made out to Transitions Counseling and mailed to: Transitions Counseling 250 East Market Street Suite D Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801 Note: Most banks offer free online Bill Pay services, which usually includes the option to have the bank mail a physical check. 1st Session: You will receive an automated email by the morning of your 1st session with instructions on how to access the private “online meeting room”. Though typically you should not have to install any software, it can take a few minutes (depending on your computer) for the “online meeting room” to be set up on your computer via your web browser. I recommend that for the 1st session you plan to go 15 minutes early to the “online meeting room” in your browser in order to give adequate time for any required components (such as Java) to be installed and configured. Your browser may ask for confirmation of several things during the initial configuration, and if so, you should say “Yes” to those. Return to the Distance Counseling page.
Blog Archives Universal Movie Monsters Sequel Mini Reviews: Dracula by Steve Habrat The first legendary monster from Universal Studios, Dracula is one of the most iconic movie monsters ever put on the big screen. Played brilliantly by Béla Lugosi, the original film recieved three sequels and a chilling Spanish language version. Without further ado, here are Anti-Film School’s mini reviews of the Dracula sequels. Just make sure you hold your crucifix close and have Van Helsing speed dial. If you wish to read Corinne Rizzo’s review of Dracula (1931), click here . Drácula (Spanish Version) (1931) Young solicitor Renfield (Played by Pablo Álvarez Rubio) travels to Transylvania to meet the mysterious Count Dracula (Played by Carlos Villarías) about the Count’s recent purchase of a home in London. Upon Renfield’s arrival, he finds himself drugged and bitten by the Count’s trio of undead wives. With Renfield under his control, Dracula travels to London where he brings with him a plague of death and destruction. Shortly after his arrival, Dracula finds himself pitted against the cunning Professor Van Helsing (Played by Eduardo Arozamena), who is hell-bent on sending the undead terror back to his grave. Shot at night on the same sets that Tod Browning and Béla Lugosi haunted, Drácula is a much more alive artistically than the rather comatose American version. Browning’s version was composed of multiple long shots that looked like the actors were performing on a giant stage rather than acting in a Hollywood motion picture. George Melford is much more sure of himself as he dares to move his camera around with the actors and in the process, wakes the film up from its dusty, cobwebbed slumber. Melford’s film also ends up being quite a bit longer than Browning’s, with a slower build up and a lengthier pay off than the sudden climax of the American version (this film is a whopping half-hour longer than Browning’s). It is blatantly apparent that this was made for an audience with a much longer attention span and a genuine love for character development. In addition to these touches, the film is much creepier than Browning’s, which ultimately gives it the upper hand. Your spine will tingle when Dracula’s brides emerge from their shadows and begin feeding upon the doomed Renfield and you’ll shiver when Dracula emerges from the dark depths of a ship braving stormy waters as Renfield roars with delight. The boat sequence was my personal favorite scene in the film. This one will give you nightmares, folks! Then there is Villarías as Dracula and I must say, he comes dangerously close to toppling Lugosi but he just misses by a hair. The two have largely the same physical appearance but Villarías lacks the otherworldly gaze and the spidery fingers that Lugosi was so blessed with. However, Villarías has a curling lip and jagged sneer that makes him look like an unhinged madman who is seconds away from ripping out your jugular. He does have bulging eyes and a psychotic stare, which Melford likes to focus in on in extreme close-ups, but his gaze never really made my heart skip a beat. The rest of the actors and actresses do a fine job and match the American cast the entire way. Another standout is Rubio as Renfield, a man with a laugh that could wake the dead and a quiver that looks like the set temperature was below zero. It would have been perfect if Melford had included an equally hair-raising score but unfortunately, we don’t get one here. Still, Drácula is fully capable of giving you a few sleepless nights, that is, if you are one of the patient viewers. A stunning alternative that ranks as one of the best vampire films ever put on celluloid. Grade: A Dracula’s Daughter (1936) Picking up shortly after the events of 1931’s Dracula, the Hungarian countess Marya Zaleska (Played by Gloria Holden) emerges on the streets of London searching for the corpse of her father, Count Dracula. She is also searching for a way to rid herself of a mysterious curse that causes her to drink the blood of the living. With the help of her sinister manservant, Sandor (Played by Irving Pichel), Marya seeks out psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth (Played by Otto Kruger) in the hopes that he can cure her through scientific methods. Meanwhile, Professor Van Helsing (Played by Edward Van Sloan) is trying to convince Scotland Yard that there are vampires walking among the citizens of foggy London. Exhibiting a much more artistic approach than Tod Browning’s original film, Lambert Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter is a creeping tale that draws you deep into its gothic atmosphere and slow building crescendo of tension. Rather than just a collection of stationary long shots of cobwebbed castles and misty gardens, Dracula’s Daughter is all damp, ominous streets and shadowy dens where Holden’s Marya grapples tragically with the curse that plagues her. The creepiest scenes come when Marya and Sandor slip around in the shadows and discuss ways to quench Marya’s unquenchable thirst. The film can also be relatively humorous, which does undercut some of the scares that generate, making Dracula’s Daughter a bit kid friendly, even more so than Dracula. Lengthy dry spots where thinly written background characters step into the frame and babble on, forcing us to drift out of the action until Holden reappears also trip up moments of Dracula’s Daughter. Dracula’s Daughter is probably best remembered for the lesbian subtext that runs heavy through the second half of the film. This subtext is crystal clear in a sequence between Marya and a young girl named Lili (Played by Nan Grey), who is supposed to acting as a model for Marya. One thing is for sure, you have to see the scene to believe it. It is surprising that the scene made it past the production code authority but it actually makes Dracula’s Daughter all the more fascinating and thought provoking. It may not rank as one of the best Universal Movie Monsters sequels out there, but Dracula’s Daughter manages to be a smidgeon better than its predecessor, at least in construction. It would have also been nice to get a cameo from the legendary vampire himself but sadly, this film is Dracula-less. Overall, this gothic follow up will stick with you due to its dreary ambiance and nightmarish imagery that will have you switching the nightlight on before bed. Grade: B Son of Dracula (1943) After taking a trip to Hungry, the beautiful Kay Caldwell (Played by Louise Allbritton) returns to United States with a morbid curiosity with the supernatural. She returns to her family’s southern plantation with a gypsy fortuneteller named Madame Zimba (Played by Adeline DeWalt Reynolds) and the mysterious Count Alucard (Played by Lon Chaney, Jr.), who only makes select appearances after the sun has gone down. After Madame Zimba warns Kay that death looms over the plantation, several individuals close to Kay are discovered dead. To make matters worse, Kay informs her fiancé Frank (Played by Robert Paige) that she does not intend to marry him anymore. She instead plans on marrying Count Alucard, with the hopes of obtaining immortality. Don’t be fooled by the title, there is no son of Dracula in Son of Dracula. I guess it was just a catchy title that everyone could agree on. The third installment in Universal’s Dracula franchise does find the legendary bloodsucker (thankfully) returning after his absence in Dracula’s Daughter but this time he is portrayed by Lon Chaney, Jr. Unlike Béla Lugosi, Chaney is never really able to own the fangs and it shows. Chaney lacks Lugosi’s horrific grin that just spelled pure evil and his piercing eyes, but he does an adequate job with the role. You are left wishing that Lugosi would show up and relieve Chaney of his duties here and sometimes, I got the feeling that Chaney was secretly hoping the same thing. His casting here has been widely considered one of the worst casting choices in the history of cinema and he does seem a bit awkward at times but he is aided by the stellar direction from Robert Siodmak, who ratchets up the eeriness with a relentlessly gloomy landscape. More of a film noir with vibrations of terror, Son of Dracula has some superb moments of paranormal horror. Alucard drifts silently over the murky waters of a desolate swamp while another character chats with a ghost in a dingy jail cell as police officers murmur amongst themselves that the prisoner must be crazy. Dropping the comic relief that Dracula’s Daughter was fond of, Son of Dracula is done in by a thinly spread plot that ultimately got a bit monotonous for me. I did enjoy the somber tone and I have to say I really liked the scenes in which Alucard would transform from a bat into his human form. I also was quite fond of Allbritton’s distant femme fatale who has big plans for Chaney’s bloodsucker. I was thrown off by the idea that Dracu… I mean Alucard was looking to settle down and take a wife, especially after Dracula shows three of his wives slithering out of their graves. Overall, Son of Dracula plays things gravely serious and more power to it for that, but a bone-dry script and a dull monster cause the film to be a bit stiff. Grade: C+ House of Dracula (1945) Count Dracula (Played by John Carradine) arrives in Visaria at the castle of Dr. Franz Edelmann (Played by Onslow Stevens) and asks the doctor to cure him of his vampirism. The good doctor agrees and just as he begins work on a cure, Larry Talbot (Played by Lon Chaney, Jr) comes knocking on his door seeking a cure him of his lycanthropy. As the doctor races to find cures for both monsters, he stumbles upon the ultimate discovery— Frankenstein’s Monster (Played by Glenn Strange). With all the ghouls together, Dr. Edelmann races the clock to protect his two assistants, hunchbacked Nina (Played by Jane Adams) and beautiful Milizia (Played by Martha O’Driscoll), from certain death, but Count Dracula has other plans for Dr. Edelmann, a plot that could unleash pure evil on the local villagers. The lash hurrah for three of the most iconic movie monsters in Universal’s arsenal, House of Dracula does end with a big bang, lots of flames, and even a few fireworks. You’d think with three of the studio’s main monsters in the same picture, there would be plenty of murder and mayhem to go around but sadly, that is not necessarily the case. There is quite a bit of down time in House of Dracula and only some of it works. A scene where Count Dracula attempts to seduce Milizia is effectively frightening and a horrific vision by Dr. Edelmann is a hair-raiser but things are forced here. Screenwriter Edward T. Lowe, Jr really hopes for smooth sailing but some of these chance encounters are strained, especially the way Frankenstein’s Monster is discovered. Furthermore, the film lacks the unshakable gothic mood of some of the better Universal horror offerings, which further throws the film off. Luckily, this monster mash only goes on for a measly sixty-seven minutes. As far as acting is concerned, Chaney is the only one reprising a role that he perfected. Béla Lugosi is replaced by John Carradine, who does more with the role than Chaney did in Son of Dracula but still lacks the allure of Lugosi. Glenn Strange steps in for Boris Karloff and has little to do as the Monster. He mostly just stays rooted to an operating table and flails his arms around in the film’s final minutes. It is Chaney’s Talbot/Wolf-Man who really steals the picture with his sympathetic performance of a man terrified of himself. Stevens also does an above average job with Dr. Edelmann and gets to really have some nasty fun in the home stretch when he descends into madness. The other memorable aspect of House of Dracula is the inclusion of female hunchback Nina, an unusual touch for a horror film at this time. As the last gothic gasp before the explosion of atomic terror and Cold War fears, House of Dracula attempts to send the terrifying trio back to the grave in grandiose style but ends up ushering them out with a big yawn and a faint snore. Grade: C Drácula (The Spanish Version), Dracula’s Daughter, Son of Dracula, and House of Dracula are all available on DVD.
Group Knowledge Work Information Seeking and Use in Group Knowledge Work Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant (2005 - 2008) Dr. Chun Wei Choo, University of Toronto (PI) [] Project Introduction Work in organizations is becoming increasingly focused on collaborative activity in groups. Groups bring together disparate sets of expertise and experience, and group work is the locus of knowledge creation and use that generates innovation and learning. IT has a growing role in enabling group work, and Web-based systems are an increasingly important platform for supporting cooperative knowledge work. A major assumption is that these tools will increase information gathering and use by the group, and that this will in turn improve group performance. The proposed study focuses on the influence of task structure (its complexity and uncertainty), and group culture (norms about gathering and processing information) on the group's use of its Web workspace (e.g. intranet, portal, team-room) to seek, share, and use information, and the consequent impact on the performance of the group. The major research questions are: • How does the structure of the task and its fit with the functionality of the Web? • How does the information culture of the group and its fit with the functionality of the Web workspace influence information seeking, sharing and use in the group? • What is the relationship between group information seeking, sharing and use, and group performance outcomes? The study of information needs and uses has a long history. A recent, comprehensive survey noted that the majority of these studies are structured according to occupation groups (e.g. scientists and engineers), social roles (citizens, students), and demographic segments. Surprisingly, few studies analyze the information seeking behaviors of groups that work together on a common project or set of tasks. While there is a significant literature on group support systems, much of it focuses on communications within groups, computer support for collaborative work, and systems design. There are very few studies that examine group information behaviors through the lens of information needs, seeking, and use. The proposed study fills this gap, and makes a contribution by explicating the effect of group culture and task structure on group information seeking and group performance effectiveness. Please send us your comments or feedback! []
Expert Reveals: How To Stop Failing And Start Succeeding Happily! horizons lake-michigan-sunrise-phil-koch “How is it we make changes to overcome difficulties and move in positive directions? What must we do to eliminate the self doubt and the negative feelings? How do we keep going and changing instead of giving up and quitting. It is actually quite simple. Welcome to Part 14 of The Secret To Success And Happiness Few Know And Won’t Tell You. The series continues. Hope you are enjoying it. Feel free to comment. Part 15 tomorrow. Let’s go! We use the very same method we were first programmed by. Instead of less than glorious messages and feelings we now deliberately provide it the positive messages we wish we would have gotten the first time around. Energy Flows Where Attention Goes Yes, we can change any thought, feeling or behavior. We can change and learn to get better, positive more successful results in our life. It is simple and most of the time it is easy. It is not easy all the time. It takes application and dedication. You can’t quit and expect things to be any different. They won’t be. They will be the same as always because your brain will insure you remain consistent. With dedication and perseverance, however, there comes that tipping point you can take advantage of. There will come that time when the old gives way to the new. Keep going. Yes, you have arrived and you have to keep going! Once you arrive at the tipping point it will get easier and easier because you create momentum for change. Change is easier and faster then. Whether You Think You Can Or You Think You Can’t You’re Right If you have ever changed residences you may have found yourself taking the route back to the old residence shortly after your move. Your brain knew the old way and wants to keep taking it at first, until your brain learns and remembers the new one. You don’t lose or forget the previous address you just now know to go to the new one instead. You still have a choice which to go to. As you learn new behaviors your choices increase. Your talents and abilities increase. You upgrade yourself and up-level your life. Why do most people fail? They quit. It is over and done. They make excuses, blame themselves, others and the world. Or they don’t take the first step. THE VERY FIRST STEP we all need to take to do better and guarantee our success is to take control of our mind. You Become What You Think About Most Often This missing first step IS why so many fail to change. Attitude and mindset, what you think and believe, determine what you feel and the kind of actions you take and the type of results you get. It all begins with the appropriate mindset. Most don’t prepare well. That is why Henry Ford said, ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t you are right!’ Condition your mind for change. Prepare the soil for planting and harvesting the seeds. Get control of your thoughts and feelings. Develop a powerful basis for change. Positive thinking is not wishful thinking it is powerful thinking. Those who say ‘and this is not positive thinking’ as if thinking positive is a bad thing are wrong! Your mind is the one thing you can control for certain in this life. You either think negative or positive. You Get What You Focus On If you don’t like the results you are getting in your life right now realize there will not be any change if you don’t change your thinking. Your brain will insure things remain the same for you to be consistent. You will continue to do what you have always done. You will get what you have always got! That is the truth. That is the way it is. You won’t be different unless you think different things. Your life won’t be more positive and better unless you think more positive and better things. Want to change? Change your thinking! If you want it to be different in the future you must think things differently now. You are where your thoughts brought you tomorrow you will be where your thoughts today take you. Right now you are where you are because of previous, prior thinking. Whatever You Nurture Is What Tends To Grow If today’s thoughts are the same as those yesterday and the day before and the day before that, well then, you will get what you have always got. Most of us THINK we think lot’s of different thoughts. Research states we think mostly the same thoughts again and again. Yes, there is some variation. Life circumstances change, we learn new info and have different discussions BUT we react mostly the same. We think the same things, the same way, we say the same things in different conversations, we don’t change much. We are habitual, reliable and routine. We think, feel, say, act and do the same things over and over most of the time but we think we are freely thinking and acting differently. We are not. We are on automatic and very robot like. Sad, but it is true. We are automated. Old Habits Die Hard – But They Do Die Do you get it yet? If you want things to be different change your thinking. That is the first step. When you change your thinking your feelings will change in alignment to what and how you are thinking. To be truly different you have to think truly different. If your life isn’t what you want it to be it is because of your thinking and acting it is not the government, the weather, your parent’s fault even if you think it is. Even if they were contributing factors unless you take responsibility and think and do differently it’ll be the same. If you don’t like the results you have been getting you need to change your thoughts and what you focus on. You need to get your energy and attention moving in a different direction. You must realize and accept this first in order for change to begin. You Can Do Anything When You Learn How Negative thoughts produce negative feelings. Positive thoughts produce positive feelings. Negative thoughts rarely make you feel happy and successful. Positive thoughts can contribute to you feeling happy and successful. It is a choice you have to make. What do you want more of? To get more of what you want is dictated by where you spend most of your time. If you want to be happy but are mostly negative you will not be happy. Do you understand this? If you want to be happy you must think happy. You must spend most of your time thinking and feeling and saying and doing that which brings happiness about. It doesn’t work any other way. People think something will happen and then they will be happy. It doesn’t, and if it does occasionally it is temporary only. If You Always Do What You Always Did … Lottery winners are happy for a short while but most of them return to the lifestyle prior to winning the lottery. Broke! Why? Because their habits don’t change. They spend as they always did. They think as they did when they weren’t rich. They return to their conditioning. Temporarily, they got a big bump. Their happiness meter went up with their bank account. Sadly, they both plummet pretty soon. WHY? Because they aren’t in charge of their happiness or wealth. They aren’t in charge of their thinking. If you want to be different you must think, feel and act different long enough for it to become habit. If you learned successful thinking and money management strategies, learned to feel and live wealthy, then, if you won the lottery you would be better prepared to keep it. … You Will Always Get What You Always Got Otherwise, it is likely you’d end up like the rest. The odds are in favor of returning to the previous life style. If mind set doesn’t change you don’t change. If you want to be happier don’t wait to be happy, don’t expect it to come from the outside. Begin now within. Take hold of your thinking and do what is necessary to get it under control. Take charge. Think positive repeatedly. Read positive books. Surround yourself with positive people and mentors. Chant powerfully, positive, inspiring affirmations. Take action inside! When you feel in charge and on top of the world, and you feel as if you can accomplish anything because you believe in yourself and your ability to learn whatever is necessary to succeed, then the magic happens. It really does happen, only its not magic. The Definition Of Insanity Is Doing The Same Thing … Then you begin to take the right actions that make success much more likely. It is mindset first and feelings follow. Your feelings determine your actions and your actions determine your results. That is the way it is. Repeat after me. Seriously, repeat it. Mind to feelings. Feelings to actions. Actions to results. That is the cycle. If your mind is positive you get positive feelings and take positive actions which leads to better results. Then you feel good again as you acknowledge the results of your actions. Feeling good makes you want think positive and feel even better. This cycle spirals upward, do you get it? The more you do the more you can do. You continue to bring about positive thoughts, feelings, actions and results because they add to each other. … Over and Over Again But Expecting A Different Result What if you get some not so good results or obstacles? You learn from them, take the feedback, adjust whatever it is you need to, your thoughts, feelings or actions and continue on again, repeating as necessary, until you get what you wanted. You don’t quit. The opposite side of the spiral up equation is true, too, and you could spiral downward. That is what far too many are already doing. They use the same formula I am proposing but negatively. So they screw themselves up and out of good things. They have been doing this forever. They can learn to do things differently but they must want to. They must first become aware and become willing to change. Then they need to do what you and I need to do. Make the changes. Take action and follow through. The More You Do The More You Can Do You don’t have to live in the dark side. Walk in the light. Take control of your thoughts and feelings. Take charge and be in control. Stop blaming yourself and start appreciating yourself for all the cool things your brain does for you. It truly is marvelous. Make it a friend! Beyond beating your heart, circulating your blood, filling your lungs and a myriad of other beneficial things it does for you it helps you win or lose depending on what you tell it to do. If you aren’t getting the results you want you aren’t speaking the language it does. I have shared that language in this blog site. Throughout the pages here, search, affirmations, Directed Questions™, visualization, go back through and re-read on Intentional Thinking and becoming a Deliberate Creator. Study this blog site to learn and to change! Whatever You Want To Do With Ease … Learn the brains language and use it. Your subconscious has to ‘get it’ and ‘know’ what you want in order to carry out what you want. You can speak all day to a waiter in a language the waiter doesn’t understand and what is the likelihood you will get what you desire? Speak your brains language. Positive self talk AND positive feelings is how it understands. It is the FEELINGS you feel most often and the strongest the brain responds to most. You have to begin feeling things, even when you don’t, to signal the brain to respond. That is the trick to learning control. You have to learn to do it, in some cases, by sheer force of will, in order to begin making it a habit. For example. Motivation comes from doing. You don’t feel like doing something, anything, like cleaning your room, so you never will. … You Must First Learn To Do With Diligence You wait and wait but don’t feel like it. However, if you start cleaning your room, even though you don’t feel like it at first, once you begin you are more likely to continue. The motivation comes from beginning the process. Sometimes you don’t feel a certain way. You wake up feeling dumpy and down. Get up, stand up, chant your powerful affirmations, jump up and down if you have to. Laugh, sing, giggle, do whatever it takes, to change your emotional state from down to up. When you do this YOU ARE IN CHARGE! You took control, you changed what you were thinking and feeling and doing by chanting your new positive thought affirmations and doing whatever it took to feel good while chanting. THAT is taking charge. The more you do it the more the habit will develop. If You Really Want To Do Something You Will Find A Way … You want to develop the habit of being in charge of your thoughts, your feelings and actions. THEN you will get better results. BUT you must first learn to make this a habit. If you do not everything will remain as it is. You won’t be in charge everything else will be. DO you understand this? The powerful uplifting emotions you generate while chanting the affirmations IS what the brain recognizes most. Then it thinks ‘OH This is what you want, I get it ‘ and it looks for matches. It produces more! Like attracts like. Get it? You have to initiate and maintain the process until the brain gets it. It learns from extreme emotions negative or positive. If you want more positivity and happiness in your life then you must provide those to your brain to begin with. … If You Don’t You Will Find An Excuse There are two dogs fighting inside you? Said the old man. ‘Two dogs live within you and are constantly fighting.’ ‘Which one wins”‘ asked the young boy. ‘Whichever one you feed.’ was the reply. What are you feeding your brain? Positivity or Negativity. YOUR choice! You must continue the process until the brain gets it. Just like learning to ride a bike, or anything you have learned to do. You use spaced correct repetition through time. You do the correct things repeated over and over long enough until it becomes habit. If you don’t feel like learning to ride a bike you most probably never will. So you won’t develop the habit of bike riding. To become a bike rider you must first make yourself feel like doing it, you must put yourself in the mood. You must think you enjoy it or need it to do it. You Go Wherever Your Thoughts Take You You may need to pump yourself up at first. You might have to do that military boot camp style ‘HooHAA’ until you do it. Chant, use discipline, get a tough love coach who will get in your face until you do. Think the thoughts ‘I am a fabulous bike rider,’ ‘I love this!’ Because unless you actually eventually get on the bike you will never learn how to do it. You must motivate yourself since it is unlikely anyone else would bother. If you wait to be inspired you will wait forever. YOU take charge if it is something you want. DO you understand this example? Everything begins and ends with you! Not in a narcissistic egotistical way but in the way that matters if you want better results in your life. If you want to be happier, healthier, wealthier, enjoy more loving relationships and more. Thoughts Are Things Affirmations and visualization with powerful positive emotions are the way you program the brain. Repeat and repeat. Keep going and don’t quit. You will get there eventually. How long? Who knows but you will. Enjoy the journey along the way. Attitude is everything! Enjoy the journey because many wonderful things will become available to you as you progress. Keep your eye on the prize but also notice all the other cool things going on around you as you make your changes. Appreciate everything. Have fun! Enjoy it all! Align with yourself, be respectful of you and your subconscious. Love all of you even when it seems in conflict. Pat yourself on the back either way. You did whatever you did. If you screwed up so what? Stop the judgements. Carry on positively. Learn to let go. Drop By Drop The Tub Gets Full – Skill Comes Of Doing When in conflict seek to communicate and co-operate not fight and negate. Don’t add insult to injury instead create harmony. Work together for a change. Get it? Work together for a change! Great things are in store for those who will. Open your eyes to take it all in. Your beliefs determine what you see. In order to find and see good things believe they are there. Think, ‘there is so much good all around me, I wonder how soon I can more fully delight and begin to appreciate the incredible opportunities that surround me right now?’ Yes, useDirected Questions™ AND count your blessings. Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes Have a blessed day? Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch. 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Old cryptopanic in new iBottles Repeat after me: A ‘backdoor’ for law enforcement is a deliberately introduced security vulnerability, a form of architected breach. Or, if you’d like the more sophisticated version It requires a system to be designed to permit access to a user’s data against the user’s wishes, and such a system is necessarily less secure than one designed without such a feature. As computer scientist Matthew Green explains in a recent Slate column (and, with several eminent colleagues, in a longer 2013 paper) it is damn near impossible to create a security vulnerability that can only be exploited by “the good guys.” Activist Eva Galperin puts the point pithily: “Once you build a back door, you rarely get to decide who walks through it.” Even if your noble intention is only to make criminals more vulnerable to police, the unavoidable cost of doing so in practice is making the overwhelming majority of law-abiding users more vulnerable to criminals.
From marinara sauce to peanut butter, added sugar can be found in even the most unexpected products. Many people rely on quick, processed foods for meals and snacks. Since these products often contain added sugar, it makes up a large proportion of their daily calorie intake. In the US, added sugars account for up to 17% of the total calorie intake of adults and up to 14% for children (1). Dietary guidelines suggest limiting calories from added sugar to less than 10% per day (2). Here are 11 reasons why eating too much sugar is bad for your health. Box of doughnutsShare on Pinterest Nicole Katharina Schober / EyeEm / Getty Images 1. Can Cause Weight Gain Rates of obesity are rising worldwide and added sugar, especially from sugar-sweetened beverages, is thought to be one of the main culprits. Sugar-sweetened drinks like sodas, juices and sweet teas are loaded with fructose, a type of simple sugar. Consuming fructose increases your hunger and desire for food more than glucose, the main type of sugar found in starchy foods (3). Additionally, excessive fructose consumption may cause resistance to leptin, an important hormone that regulates hunger and tells your body to stop eating (4). In other words, sugary beverages don’t curb your hunger, making it easy to quickly consume a high number of liquid calories. This can lead to weight gain. Research has consistently shown that people who drink sugary beverages, such as soda and juice, weigh more than people who don’t (5). Also, drinking a lot of sugar-sweetened beverages is linked to an increased amount of visceral fat, a kind of deep belly fat associated with conditions like diabetes and heart disease (6). Consuming too much added sugar, especially from sugary beverages, increases your risk of weight gain and can lead to visceral fat accumulation. 2. May Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease High-sugar diets have been associated with an increased risk of many diseases, including heart disease, the number one cause of death worldwide (7). Evidence suggests that high-sugar diets can lead to obesity, inflammation and high triglyceride, blood sugar and blood pressure levels — all risk factors for heart disease (8). Additionally, consuming too much sugar, especially from sugar-sweetened drinks, has been linked to atherosclerosis, a disease characterized by fatty, artery-clogging deposits (9). A study in over 30,000 people found that those who consumed 17–21% of calories from added sugar had a 38% greater risk of dying from heart disease, compared to those consuming only 8% of calories from added sugar (10). Just one 16-ounce (473-ml) can of soda contains 52 grams of sugar, which equates to more than 10% of your daily calorie consumption, based on a 2,000-calorie diet (11). This means that one sugary drink a day can already put you over the recommended daily limit for added sugar. Consuming too much added sugar increases heart disease risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and inflammation. High-sugar diets have been linked to an increased risk of dying from heart disease. 3. Has Been Linked to Acne A diet high in refined carbs, including sugary foods and drinks, has been associated with a higher risk of developing acne. Foods with a high glycemic index, such as processed sweets, raise your blood sugar more rapidly than foods with a lower glycemic index. Sugary foods quickly spike blood sugar and insulin levels, causing increased androgen secretion, oil production and inflammation, all of which play a role in acne development (12). Studies have shown that low-glycemic diets are associated with a reduced acne risk, while high-glycemic diets are linked to a greater risk (13). For example, a study in 2,300 teens demonstrated that those who frequently consumed added sugar had a 30% greater risk of developing acne (14). Also, many population studies have shown that rural communities that consume traditional, non-processed foods have almost non-existent rates of acne, compared to more urban, high-income areas (15). These findings coincide with the theory that diets high in processed, sugar-laden foods contribute to the development of acne. High-sugar diets can increase androgen secretion, oil production and inflammation, all of which can raise your risk of developing acne. 4. Increases Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes The worldwide prevalence of diabetes has more than doubled over the past 30 years (16). Though there are many reasons for this, there is a clear link between excessive sugar consumption and diabetes risk. Obesity, which is often caused by consuming too much sugar, is considered the strongest risk factor for diabetes (17). What’s more, prolonged high-sugar consumption drives resistance to insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance causes blood sugar levels to rise and strongly increases your risk of diabetes. A population study comprising over 175 countries found that the risk of developing diabetes grew by 1.1% for every 150 calories of sugar, or about one can of soda, consumed per day (18). Other studies have also shown that people who drink sugar-sweetened beverages, including fruit juice, are more likely to develop diabetes (19, 20). A high-sugar diet may lead to obesity and insulin resistance, both of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. 5. May Increase Your Risk of Cancer Eating excessive amounts of sugar may increase your risk of developing certain cancers. First, a diet rich in sugary foods and beverages can lead to obesity, which significantly raises your risk of cancer (21). Furthermore, diets high in sugar increase inflammation in your body and may cause insulin resistance, both of which increase cancer risk (22). A study in over 430,000 people found that added sugar consumption was positively associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer, pleural cancer and cancer of the small intestine (23). Another study showed that women who consumed sweet buns and cookies more than three times per week were 1.42 times more likely to develop endometrial cancer than women who consumed these foods less than 0.5 times per week (24). Research on the link between added sugar intake and cancer is ongoing, and more studies are needed to fully understand this complex relationship. Too much sugar can lead to obesity, insulin resistance and inflammation, all of which are risk factors for cancer. 6. May Increase Your Risk of Depression While a healthy diet can help improve your mood, a diet high in added sugar and processed foods may increase your chances of developing depression. Consuming a lot of processed foods, including high-sugar products such as cakes and sugary drinks, has been associated with a higher risk of depression (25, 26). Researchers believe that blood sugar swings, neurotransmitter dysregulation and inflammation may all be reasons for sugar’s detrimental impact on mental health (27). A study following 8,000 people for 22 years showed that men who consumed 67 grams or more of sugar per day were 23% more likely to develop depression than men who ate less than 40 grams per day (28). Another study in over 69,000 women demonstrated that those with the highest intakes of added sugars had a significantly greater risk of depression, compared to those with the lowest intakes (29). A diet rich in added sugar and processed foods may increase depression risk in both men and women. 7. May Accelerate the Skin Aging Process Wrinkles are a natural sign of aging. They appear eventually, regardless of your health. However, poor food choices can worsen wrinkles and speed the skin aging process. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are compounds formed by reactions between sugar and protein in your body. They are suspected to play a key role in skin aging (30). Consuming a diet high in refined carbs and sugar leads to the production of AGEs, which may cause your skin to age prematurely (31). AGEs damage collagen and elastin, which are proteins that help the skin stretch and keep its youthful appearance. When collagen and elastin become damaged, the skin loses its firmness and begins to sag. In one study, women who consumed more carbs, including added sugars, had a more wrinkled appearance than women on a high-protein, lower-carb diet (32). The researchers concluded that a lower intake of carbs was associated with better skin-aging appearance (32). Sugary foods can increase the production of AGEs, which can accelerate skin aging and wrinkle formation. 8. Can Increase Cellular Aging Telomeres are structures found at the end of chromosomes, which are molecules that hold part or all of your genetic information. Telomeres act as protective caps, preventing chromosomes from deteriorating or fusing together. As you grow older, telomeres naturally shorten, which causes cells to age and malfunction (33). Although the shortening of telomeres is a normal part of aging, unhealthy lifestyle choices can speed up the process. Consuming high amounts of sugar has been shown to accelerate telomere shortening, which increases cellular aging (34). A study in 5,309 adults showed that regularly drinking sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with shorter telomere length and premature cellular aging (35). In fact, each daily 20-ounce (591-ml) serving of sugar-sweetened soda equated to 4.6 additional years of aging, independent of other variables (35). Eating too much sugar can accelerate the shortening of telomeres, which increases cellular aging. 9. Drains Your Energy Foods high in added sugar quickly spike blood sugar and insulin levels, leading to increased energy. However, this rise in energy levels is fleeting. Products that are loaded with sugar but lacking in protein, fiber or fat lead to a brief energy boost that’s quickly followed by a sharp drop in blood sugar, often referred to as a crash (36). Having constant blood sugar swings can lead to major fluctuations in energy levels (37). To avoid this energy-draining cycle, choose carb sources that are low in added sugar and rich in fiber. Pairing carbs with protein or fat is another great way to keep your blood sugar and energy levels stable. For example, eating an apple along with a small handful of almonds is an excellent snack for prolonged, consistent energy levels. High-sugar foods can negatively impact your energy levels by causing a spike in blood sugar followed by a crash. 10. Can Lead to Fatty Liver A high intake of fructose has been consistently linked to an increased risk of fatty liver. Unlike glucose and other types of sugar, which are taken up by many cells throughout the body, fructose is almost exclusively broken down by the liver. In the liver, fructose is converted into energy or stored as glycogen. However, the liver can only store so much glycogen before excess amounts are turned into fat. Large amounts of added sugar in the form of fructose overload your liver, leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition characterized by excessive fat buildup in the liver (38). A study in over 5,900 adults showed that people who drank sugar-sweetened beverages daily had a 56% higher risk of developing NAFLD, compared to people who did not (39). Eating too much sugar may lead to NAFLD, a condition in which excessive fat builds up in the liver. 11. Other Health Risks Aside from the risks listed above, sugar can harm your body in countless other ways. Research shows that too much added sugar can: • Increase kidney disease risk: Having consistently high blood sugar levels can cause damage to the delicate blood vessels in your kidneys. This can lead to an increased risk of kidney disease (40). • Negatively impact dental health: Eating too much sugar can cause cavities. Bacteria in your mouth feed on sugar and release acid byproducts, which cause tooth demineralization (41). • Increase the risk of developing gout: Gout is an inflammatory condition characterized by pain in the joints. Added sugars raise uric acid levels in the blood, increasing the risk of developing or worsening gout (42). • Accelerate cognitive decline: High-sugar diets can lead to impaired memory and have been linked to an increased risk of dementia (43). Research on the impact of added sugar on health is ongoing, and new discoveries are constantly being made. Consuming too much sugar may worsen cognitive decline, increase gout risk, harm your kidneys and cause cavities. How to Reduce Your Sugar Intake Excessive added sugar has many negative health effects. Although consuming small amounts now and then is perfectly healthy, you should try to cut back on sugar whenever possible. Fortunately, simply focusing on eating whole, unprocessed foods automatically decreases the amount of sugar in your diet. Here are some tips on how to reduce your intake of added sugars: • Swap sodas, energy drinks, juices and sweetened teas for water or unsweetened seltzer. • Drink your coffee black or use Stevia for a zero-calorie, natural sweetener. • Sweeten plain yogurt with fresh or frozen berries instead of buying flavored, sugar-loaded yogurt. • Consume whole fruits instead of sugar-sweetened fruit smoothies. • Replace candy with a homemade trail mix of fruit, nuts and a few dark chocolate chips. • Use olive oil and vinegar in place of sweet salad dressings like honey mustard. • Choose marinades, nut butters, ketchup and marinara sauce with zero added sugars. • Look for cereals, granolas and granola bars with under 4 grams of sugar per serving. • Swap your morning cereal for a bowl of rolled oats topped with nut butter and fresh berries, or an omelet made with fresh greens. • Instead of jelly, slice fresh bananas onto your peanut butter sandwich. • Use natural nut butters in place of sweet spreads like Nutella. • Avoid alcoholic beverages that are sweetened with soda, juice, honey, sugar or agave. • Shop the perimeter of the grocery store, focusing on fresh, whole ingredients. In addition, keeping a food diary is an excellent way of becoming more aware of the main sources of sugar in your diet. The best way to limit your added sugar intake is to prepare your own healthy meals at home and avoid buying foods and drinks that are high in added sugar. Focusing on preparing healthy meals and limiting your intake of foods that contain added sweeteners can help you cut back on the amount of sugar in your diet. The Bottom Line Eating too much added sugar can have many negative health effects. An excess of sweetened foods and beverages can lead to weight gain, blood sugar problems and an increased risk of heart disease, among other dangerous conditions. For these reasons, added sugar should be kept to a minimum whenever possible, which is easy when you follow a healthy diet based on whole foods. If you need to cut added sugar from your diet, try some of the small changes listed above. Before you know it, your sugar habit will be a thing of the past.
Most Sacred Places on Earth We researched the 15 Most Sacred Places in the World for you. In different parts of the world, there are sacred places visited by people who have adopted religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam. In the world, which has many holy places, some places stand out from other holy places and have been visited by people of religious beliefs at all times. Among the 13 most sacred places in the world are the following places; Jerusalem takes the first place in the list of the most sacred places in the world. Jerusalem, a city located in the land of Israel, is one of the places considered sacred for Christians, Jews and Muslims. The fact that the first qibla of Islam, Masjid Aqsa, was located in these lands made Jerusalem important for Muslims. In addition, Jerusalem has been recognized as the center of Judaism for over 3000 years. The city, which has multiple mosques, churches and synagogues, has the Wailing Wall, sacred to the Jews. Because of this wall, the city hosts thousands of Jews every year. The Vatican ranks among the top holy places in the world. Located between the borders of Italy and Rome, the Vatican is the center of Christianity. In addition, there are many structures in the Vatican, a state that will affect people with religious beliefs. The Vatican is surrounded by walls. In this holy state, the pope is the leader of the state as well as the religious leader. If you are curious about the sacred place of Christianity, you can reach the Vatican through Italy, Rome and see magnificent works of art and religious works. Located in Saudi Arabia, Mecca is the most sacred place for Muslims. Millions of Muslims come to Makkah every year to become pilgrims to perform their hajj and umrah worship. The Kaaba Hz. It is believed to have been made by Abraham. In addition, the Mecca Islamic prophet Hz. It is holy because it is the place where Muhammad was born and the holy book Quran was revealed in Mecca. Varanasi, one of the holy places in the world, is on the Ganges river in the Indian land. Varanasi has 4000 years of history and is sacred to Hindus. Hindus come to this holy place for purposes such as cremating the dead, organizing rituals and getting rid of their sins. In this place, which is accepted as the place of God Shiva, Hindus who have reached a certain age start to live and wait for the end of their lives. Bodh gaya Bodh Gaya is located in the Gaya region of India. This place, considered a center of pilgrimage for Buddhists, is the place where Buddha lived enlightenment (nirvana). Therefore, it is sacred to Buddhists. It is visited every year for pilgrimage. Lhasa, one of the holy places in the world, is located on the Himalayan Mountains. For years, foreigners were not allowed to enter this place, which is sacred to Buddhists. For this reason, Lhasa is also called the Forbidden City. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Buddhists, is considered sacred because it is believed to live in Lhasa. Koyasan Buddhist Temple Koyasan Buddhist Temple is one of the holy places on the list for Buddhists. This temple is located in the city of Osaka in Japan. Phuskar is one of the holy places in the list of holy places in the world and important for Hindus. Phuskar is home to over 400 temples. Located in Phuskar and bearing the same name as the city, the lake is important for Hindus. Because they believe that they are purified thanks to this lake. Eating meat, drinking alcohol and driving is prohibited in the city. Mount Athos Mount Athos, which is on the list, is located within the borders of Greece. It is believed that this mountain was given to Virgin Mary by God. For this reason, there are 20 monasteries on the mountain. Clergymen live in the monasteries on Mount Athos and the most important feature of this holy place is that women are not allowed to enter. Mount Kailash Mount Kailash ranks number 10 on the world's list of holy places. This mountain is located in Tibet. Jains, Hindus, Buddhists and Bönler come to the sacred mountain to make pilgrimages. Their worship lasts for 3 weeks. Bethlehem is a sacred place in Palestinian land. It is believed that Bethlehem is the place where the Prophet Jesus was born. For this reason, it is considered sacred by Christians. Christians living in Palestine mostly live around Bethlehem. This sanctuary is the center of attention for Christians from outside of the city at Christmas time. Sultan Ahmed Mosque Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul is one of the important places for Muslims. In addition, this mosque is known as the Blue Mosque abroad and hosts thousands of tourists every year. The mosque is called this name because of its color. The mosque, which is considered to be sacred, has a height of 43 meters and has 6 minarets. The last holy place on the list of the most sacred places in the world is Uluru. Uluru is the rock located on the Austrian border. Considered by Aborigines as the source of life makes Uluru sacred. As the Ayers Rock, the sacred rock draws attention with its color changes during the day. Sultan Ahmed Mosque Sultan Ahmed Mosque Facebook Conversations Disqus Conversations

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