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Emergencies and Crises
The Dean of Students Office has as one of its functions the task of responding to crisis situations which involve University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students on campus, in the community, and in other locations as appropriate. It is desirable to have the individuals most immediately responsible for activities in their area alerted to serious situations.
Crisis is defined as a significant event or radical change of status in a person's life, or as an unstable or crucial time which requires special assistance or intervention. Types of crises likely to be found in the University environment include the following:
1. Death (student, friend, family)
2. Serious injury
3. Mental health related events including involuntary detention
4. Sexual assault
5. Discipline
6. Crisis arising from environmental or ecological disaster
7. Threats to the public welfare
During a student crisis, our office goals are:
1. Assist the student (or students) or other involved individuals to best cope with and resolve the crisis they may be facing.
2. To provide coordination with external agencies, including the media, that may be involved with the University during the crisis.
3. To provide communication and coordination internally within the University.
4. To assist in post-crisis support.
During a crisis, the Dean of Students Office will work with and coordinate efforts with external agencies such as clergy, law enforcement personnel, family, or friends in assisting those affected by the crisis. The office will also notify the appropriate University offices or individuals, and assist in the designation of an institutional spokesperson to the media.
Bias/Hate Incident Reporting
A bias/hate incident is an act of conduct, speech, or expression motivated by race, religion, color, disability, national origin, sexual orientation, or ancestry, that results in intimidation, harassment, or violence (regardless of whether the act is criminal).
Student in Crisis
In the event of short term illnesses (less than 3 days) it is best to contact your instructor directly. If your student is hospitalized or experiencing a difficulty that will keep them out of school for 3 days or more you will want to report a student absence. If you are concerned about your student's health or wellness and you want to let UW-Eau Claire know - you can also contact our office at _PHONE_ or email:
Family in Crisis
Sometimes a family member might have difficulty contacting a student in a time of crisis, such as a medical emergency or a death in the family. All emergency inquiries during business hours should be directed to our office at _PHONE_. After hours, contact the University Police Department at: _PHONE_.
Campus Emergency Status
The campus posts any large scale campus emergency on our emergency status notice on the website. Students will be notified (via text message if they've signed up for the service) in the event of a campus wide emergency.
Pandemic Plan


What Makes a Child Lucky
By Gioia Timpanelli
Norton; 127 pages; $19.95
Like a pot of lentils, Gioia Timpanelli's stories are elemental, simple but filling, and her new novel, "What Makes a Child Lucky," is no exception, teaching the basics of survival in a time of great hardship. Best known for her oral recountings of global folktales on public radio, Timpanelli won the American Book Award in 1999 for "Sometimes the Soul: Two Novellas of Sicily." This time out, she remakes yet another Sicilian fable, weaving a regional fairy tale into a timeless present.
The original fable, which opens "What Makes a Child Lucky," tells of a 13th son, a "lucky" boy named Tridicinu. The youth is envied by his older brothers for his seemingly effortless good fortune. One day, echoing the story of Joseph in the Bible, they cast him out, sending him on an impossible mission to retrieve a set of golden bells kept by a family of ogres beneath their monstrous bed.
In Timpanelli's retelling, her hero's family has fallen on hard times. Famine has struck the land, and the "lucky" youngest (also a Joseph) is basically given to a gang of thieves. These thieves, young Joseph learns, have robbed and murdered his only friend, an honest wine merchant. Still, across Sicily people are starving and at least with the gang he can eat. He can also learn, and during his time with the gang, he is befriended and protected by the wise 'Mmaculata, a strange, strong and silent woman who keeps house for the bandits.
"Keep your young eyes open," this earth mother tells Joseph, showing him by example how to avoid the wrath of the most bloodthirsty of the thieves and, ultimately, how to seize the opportunity to make a better life.
Through her lessons and a bit of supernatural intervention, he survives - and if he doesn't return with the ogres' golden bells, he does get to emerge a hero and, most important, a survivor.
With its touches of magical realism and earthy images, Timpanelli's short novel is almost a fable itself. Told in a self-referential style, with interruptions and repeated refrains, its first-person narration reads as if it were to be recited aloud, ideally by a narrator playing young Joseph.
This voice, colloquial and not highly organized, is at first jarring and a little mannered. Who is the Aunt who interrupts from the very first page? Why is the narrator eulogizing a "flat and uninteresting" land? But with very little patience, the rhythms of Timpanelli's language take hold, allowing the hunger-sating, earthy images (that pot of lentils, the wild greens gathered to allay starvation) to settle in. By the time the narrator starts to describe more abstract ideas, the listener, as we must imagine the reader to be, is hooked. "Hunger is a funny thing," she writes, "for it is personal, even intimate.... It searches you out and becomes the roof over your head, the floor beneath your feet."
Throughout this brief novel, Timpanelli sustains that tension, mixing the abstract moral of her story with its most basic nature, and leavening its rough practicalities with touches of magic. "What happened next I can't completely explain," Timpanelli, through Joseph, says, describing a vision that could have been his late friend - or simply a fortunate wind. "I guess I was lucky that time," Joseph recalls, looking back on his rescue and his role in resolving the story.
But as he has learned from 'Mmaculata, luck often consists of keeping one's eyes open and one's mouth shut, of learning when to act, when to stay still, and when to harvest the wild asparagus on the hillsides. {sbox}


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|Claim this listing|
Admission Fee: Adults - $5, Seniors/Students - $3, Children under 12, JAMSJ Members & Active Military Personnel - FREE
The purpose of the Japanese American Resource Center / Museum (JARC/M) is to collect, preserve, and disseminate the arts, culture and history of Japanese Americans, with the emphasis in Santa Clara Valley. There is a rich history of our involvement in the life and development of the Valley. Japanese Americans have made significant contributions to American history and culture. JARC/M believes that these contributions should be recognized and known by the larger community.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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The native inhabitants of this peninsula jutting into the East River called it Quinnahung, "the long high place". As at neighboring Clason Point, there was a large Indian settlement and burial ground here. Sale by the Native Americans in 1663 was followed by sparse development: only in the nineteenth century were the Legget and Hunt farms replaced by estates such as that of Col. Richard Hoe, inventor of the rotary press. The sections north of Hunts Point filled with apartment houses in the 1920s, as the new IRT lines made it possible for renters to move to the "East Bronx", bypassing the crowded neighborhoods of Mott Haven and Morrisania. Today, the industries of Hunts Point have been joined by New York's produce and meat markets, displaced from their old Manhattan locations.
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source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


On the plane to Helsinki
I have always identified myself not as a consultant – that is, someone with specific expertise to whom you ask directed questions and who gives you what you think/hope are the right answers – but as an "advisor", i.e. someone whose role it is to sit next to you for a certain time and draw your attention to things that s/he considers you may wish to give a closer look. (N.B. Consultants generally make a lot more money and usually create a lot less work for the commissioning agent. Life is sweet. )
So here I am just about to get on the plane for Helsinki where I shall be working and meeting over the next two weeks with a couple of hundred people, almost all Finns, in group and plenary sessions as you can find spelled out elsewhere on this site – and all of that to talk about equity, transport, private actions and public policy.
Over the last two months of preparatory work with my Finnish colleagues on this, while at the same time working in parallel with our international networks to extend the knowledge base, I have come up with a list of questions which I am about to stuff into my pocket and when I land in the capital doing my best to ask and then listen to what they have to day. At the end of all this, in mid-April, I shall try to fashion what I have heard and learned into a relatively short strategic report with observations, reflections, findings and perhaps eventually some recommendations.
Here is the short list of the questions I am bringing to Helsinki:
1. What is equity (and what is not-equity)?
2. How does this conversation work in the Finnish language? Are there significant differences of which we should be aware?
3. Is mobility/access a "basic need', a human right of citizens in an active democracy.
4. Does the extraordinary Finnish equity-based education system give us a hand-up for transport?
5. What is not-Equity in transport? Examples from Helsinki?
6. What is Equity-Based Transport? Examples from Helsinki?
7. Who are the non-car majority in Helsinki and how do we serve them best?
8. Is Public Transport the answer?
9. What is the future of the automobile in Helsinki, and Finland more generally?
10. What does the "better than car" mobility system look like?
11. What about the role of the ITC interface?
12. Do Social Media tools make a difference? How?
13. Are the forces for change/improvement working together in Helsinki? Or are they mainly working on separate specific agendas and coming up with priorities and demands of their own?
14. A discussions of civil society and the social brain as an untapped resource
15. What would an Equity-Based Transport system for Helsinki look like? – and what would be the best way to get there?
Hidden agenda
As I look at them on my way to the airport, what strikes me is that this is one of those instances in which the questions are perhaps more important than the answers. And indeed it is my role here, not to come up with answers to each of these, so much as to encourage the asking and subsequent discussions of all that touches on equity and transport for the city and beyond.
Other voices:
Twenty four hours ago, I contacted a short list of my international colleagues who I know have deep expertise in these matters and asked them if they could come up with a short list, I suggested five, of questions that they would like to hear about in this context. They are, I would say, every bit as valid as the ones that I have chosen based on my own experience and perspective.
Let's have a look at what they have to say:
# # #
From Elizabeth Deakin
Professor of City and Regional Planning
University of California, Berkeley
1. There is always the question of intergenerational equity vs. equity for the people out there today and how to serve both interests.
2. Cars are making the lives of some better, but they are making the lives of many others worse. Discussions of internalizing externalities seem to get very little traction. What can we do to make full cost pricing a way to move forward? Or if this is Quixotic, what other options are more likely to succeed?
3. Would free bikes for everyone be a step forward? (can you ride a bike in a burkha?)
4. Where are the children in this discussion?
5. Where are the many adults who have mobility limitations, physical or economic? (where am I in 20 35 years = I plan to stay active till I drop, but what if that is increasingly difficult? Do I have to sit by the window and knit or tat or something equally implausible?)
6. Could we reclaim most streets for people and make the cars stay in their place, on separate guideways that do not intrude on places for people?
7. How do we manage freight and urban goods delivery in a less obnoxious way?
# # #
Rory McMullan
New Mobility China
Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China.
Skype: roryer +86 _PHONE_
1. Cost – how can we make transport cost the same percentage of everyone's income? making public transport free? Subsidies?
2. Time? How can we equalize the travel time budget? (I would love a three bed with a garden near to my job in London zone 1 but instead I need to live miles out).
3. Accessibility for all. Disabled, old, young, men, women.
4. Equality of impact – e.g. Brixton in the UK has amongst the highest pollution, traffic incidents involving sub-16 year olds, lowest incomes and lowest car ownership in London.
5. What role does sharing play?
# # #
Andrew Murray Wheeldon
Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN); _URL_
Cape Town South Africa
1. To what degree does the city/region/province cater in respect of mobility for the lowest income households?
2. What is the bicycle ownership stats for the various income groups?
3. What percentage of the population use bicycles, and can we measure the trip purpose – is it mobility, leisure, sport?
4. What percentage of the population has access to affordable, reliable, convenient public transport/
5. Which of the population groups has the greatest access to the city and/or education, employment and health opportunities and why? Can we measure this?
6. Can this region be described as one in which those most at risk (economically, socially, education, health, etc.) Have an equal opportunity in respect of mobility to address these ills?
# # #
Marcus Wigan
Professor of Transport Systems, Transport Research Institute,
Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland
1. What are the categories through which 'equity' is defined?
2. What is defined as 'equitable accessibility', given that 25% of >65 years olds simply can't walk more than 400m (the benchmark for younger peoples definition of 'access' to public transport
3. What coverage of access to toilets on transit is addressed? pregnant women and elder men need this as a key accessibility and equity factor
4. To what extent is ;equity of transport access to key resource (post office, bank, doctor, hospital, government offices) covered or addressed?
5. What tradeoffs between safety, access, cost etc etc are covered to ensure equity of access and use by all different modes including powered two wheelers and electric on and off road mobility solutions?
Hate to answer any of these myself eric!
# # #
Jonathan Morris, World Citizen
La Colle Sur Loup, France
1. what are the arguments against gov't spending on equity in transport?
2. Where does it stand in the list of priorities?
# # #
David Levinger
Mobility Education Foundation
Washington, DC
How can we increase equity in transport if we don't place a priority on educating people about how the multimodal system operates?
# # #
Anzir Boodoo, PhD student
The Institute for Transport Studies
The University of Leeds UK
1. Does planning for transport consider ALL groups in society (young/old, male/female, singles/families, able/disabled, working/unemployed/shift workers)?
2. Do pedestrians (including those who cannot walk, or use other mobility aids) get considered first, ahead of motorised traffic?
3. Are all travel modes integrated? Is it easy to swap between foot, cycle, bus, tram, train and car?
4. Is it possible to get to all places easily on foot or cycle, and all places reasonably by public transport?
5. Is the network of public transport services, footways and cycle ways easy to understand and navigate, even for people with cognitive impairments (e.g. Learning Disabilities, dyslexia) and sensory impairments (e.g. blindness, deafness)
# # #
Leena Silfverberg
Head of Unit
Helsinki City Planning Department, Transport
Kansakoulukatu 1 A FI-00099 City of Helsinki
1. Who is (are) the most dominating or powerful actors in the sector from your point of view.
2. And in opposite, whose status most needs improving?
3. How does this inequity show? Is the situation changing, to which direction?
4. And (of course): What has to be done to make it better
# # #
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Among all the nasty habits that our pooch companions have; from rolling in swamp muck to drinking from the toilet, or even licking their butts; nothing tops the detestable behavior of eating poop. Such disgusting practice may vary among dogs, and it could be based on their diet, their living conditions, their age and their training.
The scientific name of this nasty habit is Coprophagia. When it appears in puppies, it is defined as a part of exploring the world around them. Eventually, most of the dogs will want to taste or put everything they sniff in their mouths –just like little babies and kidsHowever, there is also a scientific explanation for such a practice. So if you have a poop eater, don't lose faith. There are many effective ways to stop the habit.
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PreVAiL, which stands for Preventing Violence Across the Lifespan, was an international research collaboration of over 60 researchers and partners from Canada, the US, the UK, Asia, Europe and Australia, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Institute for Gender and Health (2009-2017) and by the Public Health Agency of Canada (2017-2019).
April 2019 saw the conclusion of PreVAiL's funding. This site will be sustained through 2019 to allow ongoing access to key PreVAiL documents and links. Thank you for visiting, and for your interest in preventing violence across the lifespan.
To view a summary of our Final Report, click here: PreVAiL Canada Final Summary.
Our goal was to bring together researchers and decision-maker partners to produce and share knowledge that will help children, women and men exposed to child maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV).
PreVAiL had three main objectives:
- to increase knowledge about the links between mental health impairment, gender and exposure to child maltreatment and IPV, both in Canada and internationally;
- to develop interventions to prevent or reduce child maltreatment, IPV and related mental health problems; and
- to develop and use proven methods of knowledge translation and exchange to ensure that our research findings reach those who make decisions in these areas; a specific focus since 2017 has been supporting Canadian public policy development through focused knowledge mobilization.
PreVAiL was organized according to three theme areas:
- Theme 1 – Gender, Mental Health and Violence Network
- Theme 2 – Understanding and Fostering Resilient Mental Health Outcomes in the Context of Violence across the Lifespan
- Theme 3 – Innovations in Knowledge Translation & Exchange Strategies and Research Methods Specific to Mental Health, Gender and Violence across the Lifespan


Uff da! | what does the expression mean? | Norway
Uff da! is a Norwegian interjection, often used to express sympathy. For example when a child falls over: Uff da! Slo du deg? - meaning Poor you! Did you hurt yourself?
LA Dahlmann | talk NORWAY
«Uff da!» - what does it actually mean? | Illustration: LA Dahlmann cc pdm.
«Uff da! Slo du deg nå, lille venn?»
Uff da!
Uff da! is usually said in a deep voice, and in a drawn-out and comforting way. But the response can also be quick and upbeat, if the damage done or the message received is not too bad. Then it works more as an encouragement. Below, see some examples of how the expression is used. There are several phrase-variations, mostly with a fairly similar meaning:
 - Uff a meg!
 - Uff a meg'en!
 - Au da!
 - Oi da!
 - Uff og uff!
 - Uff det var leit å høre!
 - Or simply just – Uff!
The expressions are informal, and usually only used when speaking to someone you know well – both grown-ups and children. However, it can also be used if a stranger tells you something that requires an immediate show of sympathy.
Example 1
The expression used in a conversation with a friend:
Person A | My father just called; he has been in a car accident!
Person B | Uff da! Is he OK?
Person A | He broke his arm.
Person B | Uff a meg! How terrible!
Example 2
The quick, encouraging and upbeat tone would be used if for example a child falls over but turns to you smiling: Uff da! Up you go!
Example 3
The expression can also be used in a more sarcastic context and tone. For example, in a conversation with a friend who earns twice as much as you do:
Person A | I am furious! I only got a 3% pay rise this year!
Person B | Uff da! How terrible for you.
Many descendants of Norwegian emigrants to North America, several generations down the line, still hold on to this somewhat peculiar expression.
Did you see this one?
Vintage photos | the stave churches | Norway
Our most recent posts
My Norwegian heritage
Here is a collection of some wonderful vintage photos, showing a handful of Norwegians and their lives.
In the old farming society, nature dictated the flow of the working year. And farmworkers could only leave their jobs on 2 specific days during the year.
For many, it may come as a surprise that the history of rose painting and its place in Norwegian folk art is not as old as one might think.
Uekte and ekte are Norwegian adjectives that in one context means illegitimate and legitimate - as in a child born outside or inside a marriage.
To make sure he could tide the animals over the long and cold winter, the historical Norwegian farmer utilised all available resources.
The Heddal stave church - stavkirke - is Norway's largest remaining building of its kind. It is a woodwork masterpiece, with a history that stretches back more than 800 years.
Per O. Rød wrote the history of the Stornæve farm and its inhabitants back in 1968. Decades earlier, several children of Stornæve had emigrated to the US.
The old Norwegian farming society was a self-sufficient and balanced world. Coins and notes were all but an alien concept.
In 1942, Hans Hyldbakk wrote the history of the local cotter's holdings in Surnadal, Nordmøre, Norway. The book was updated in 1966.
The Fjord horse is one of today's oldest and purest horse breeds. Its historical habitat is Norway's western coast, with its deep fjords and steep mountainsides.
The Norwegian landscape is wild and beautiful. And it is a lot more than just fjords and mountains.
The old Norwegian farm needed hundreds of litres of water every single day: for food-making, cleaning, and human and animal consumption.
Myrmelk is a Norwegian noun that means milk conserved in a container buried in a mountain peat bog, left there for herders or others to drink at a later stage.
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Norwegian history


IBM holds the most AI patents in US
IBM, Microsoft, and Google are the top patent holders in the AI domain with 3594, 2207, and 1174 patent families respectively. This depicts that the USA holds the largest AI patent portfolio.
Patent filing has increased by around 54% in the AI domain since 2014 in the US. According to the recently updated International Data Corporation data, spending on AI systems grew $37.5 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to reach $97.9 billion in 2023.
With the majority ($20 billion to $30 billion) invested by tech firms like Google's parent Alphabet, IBM, and Microsoft, there is or certainly will be a lot of investment in AI.
The major technology under AI with most filed patents is Machine Learning (AI technique), found in 80% of all AI-related patents with 9959 patent applications in the year 2018.
Why is AI patent Filing Skyrocketing?
A decline in the ratio of scientific papers to inventions was observed in 2016, which indicated a shift from theoretical research to practical applications.
With practical applications came in the acquisition trend. Largely, 434 companies have been acquired since 1998, with more than 50% of the acquisitions taking place since 2016.
Another reason for the boom in AI-related patents is because they not only disclose AI techniques and applications but often refer to a field or industry of application. Within these industries are various rapidly emerging areas like Aerospace and Avionics, Autonomous vehicles, etc.
Interested in knowing which application areas these patents are covering? And how is the patent filing distributed in different tech areas of each company? Fill out this form to get access and explore AI patent filing trend in-depth.
Stats Compiled By: Prinkal, Report Generation Team, Nidhi, Research Analyst, Market Research
Updated on August 1, 2020
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Alcohol and World War I
Before World War I, different regions of France drank different things. Some regions had beer, others had wine and everyone had absinthe. The war was so devastating to so many people that it became synonymous with alcohol. Many of the Parisian bars began selling the French 75, named after the French artillery gun, because it had such a big kick. Alcohol became a key part of the so-called "Lost Generation" of authors and artists in France, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway, who drank to forget the horrors of war during the decade that followed.
When did wine become popular?
Coincidentally, the beginning of World War I coincided with the complete ban of absinthe in France. Absinthe is a very strong alcoholic drink which was popular before the war, but was considered to be contributing to France's so-called moral decline (it was said to be responsible for Van Gogh cutting his ear off). As a country under war, France needed a drink that wasn't as destructive and something the government could support, too.
Wine helped soldiers to bond
Troops were originally rationed water but soon, they were given wine rations to help them get through their daily ordeal. French soldiers from different regions in France often found themselves living alongside people from other parts of the country in trenches for a considerable period. Through drinking wine, which many of them hadn't done before, they discovered a shared culture and shared customs. Drinking wine was a way to gel with each other while on the battlefield and it's very prevalent in the advertising of this period.
World War I cemented wine into French culture
Increasingly, wine became perceived as being acceptable (particularly when it was weaker than the liqueurs of old). Huge production and distribution networks sprang up to get supplies to the trenches, and campaigns were conducted to encourage citizens to conserve their wine for the war effort. When the war was over, wine continued to be consumed in the same way, distributed using the now fully-functioning transport links. It was by then, France's national drink.


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Today we showed a basic UI connecting opentaps with the blockchain carbon accounting ledger through a REST api. From a site in opentaps, we could use the utility bill data to record emissions on the ledger. We could then see the emissions associated with the site. Right now the UI is very basic, but we're working on implementing additional functionality for it to calculate real emissions and see a list of emissions records. We will also be implementing a registerAndEnrollUser function similar to the one in the Fabric asset transfer sample so that each user would have their own key to access the ledger. This is based on option 1 from Robin Klemens's comments for the August 31 call. I made a diagram showing how our current architecture is planned:
Conor Svensson then showed us the Epirus platform that his company has been developing. It will create an open API for deploying tokens on an Ethereum chain. He is preparing a big release in the next few days. Using this platform, we will be able to integrate both permissioned fabric ledgers and public Ethereum channels.
Martin Wainstein talked with us about how Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) are created. They are based on utility data and Independent System Operator (ISO) data and are created in a registry of the ISO, such as WREGIS. They could be used for either flat or marginal (time of use) displacement of emissions. For the latter there is a Watt Time database.
Long-term, we plan to put the pieces together like this:
 1. A group of people could get their utility, travel, and other data on permissioned data channels
 2. An auditor could get access to those channels and calculate the total emissions
 3. REC tokens could be integrated into the auditor's calculations to offset utility emissions
 4. Total emissions would be minted as tokens
 5. The group would then contribute towards offsetting their emissions
 6. Based on their emissions and tokens, a DAO could set up a voting mechanism for them to vote on emissions offseting projects
We talked about integrating with Hyperledger Aries, which could be used to set up an automated or digital auditor that could verify claims in real time against data from IOT devices, utility meters, etc. This could also be used to turn REC's into mitigation outcomes.
Since the next OpenClimate collabathon is in about a month, we should plan on some prompts to get more contributions and participation in this project. Key questions are where we will be in early November, our overall vision of what to build, and what would need to be built next.
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Live an Altruistic Lifestyle by Caring for Animals
If you strive to live an altruistic lifestyle, you know how challenging, yet rewarding the experience can be. Altruism means making sacrifices in order to meet other individuals' needs, but it also involves receiving that love and sacrifice back into your own life tenfold. However, living an altruistic lifestyle doesn't simply end with human beings.
Instead, it stretches and expands throughout every aspect of your life, encompassing others, your community and even animals. Caring for animals is an important part of living an altruistic lifestyle. Today we explore how you can live more altruistically with the animals in your day-to-day life.
Volunteer at a shelter.
One of the simplest and most exciting ways to care for animals is by volunteering at a local animal shelter in your area. Check with any shelters near you to see if they need assistance, and learn more about how you can get involved. Volunteer by raising money, taking care of the animals or even rescuing any pets in need. When you volunteer at an animal shelter, you make a genuine difference in an animal's life and can serve as a positive force for good.
Adopt locally.
Speaking of animal shelters, if you or someone you know is in the market for a new furry friend for the family, why not adopt locally? Avoid the pet store and head straight for the shelter. Shelter animals can often come from harmful and distressing backgrounds, and spend a long time waiting for the right family to come around and adopt them. You can be a renewed hope for a little furball. Adopt an animal yourself or promote adoption to friends and family in your life who are looking for a new pet.
Watch what you eat.
You don't have to be vegan or vegetarian to a live a loving lifestyle towards animals, but you can help make an impact by watching what you eat. If you're not ready to make a drastic change in your diet, take small steps to ensure the wellbeing of animals for food. For instance, focus on buying meat products from local farms which come from cruelty-free environments. Or, lessen your intake of meat products and strive to live more plant-based. This way, you can continue to live the lifestyle you want, while still caring for the animals involved.
Go fur-free.
Of course, what better way to care for animals than by committing to going fur-free? Make the pledge to go fur-free in your day-to-day life and avoid fur and skin clothing items, such as mittens, boots or handbags. Faux fur has recently become more and more popular in the fashion world, and it's all because activists have made a conscious decision to protect animals from harm. Be a part of this movement by committing to live fur-free.
Buy cruelty-free.
Following a fur-free lifestyle is the cruelty-free lifestyle. Across the world, animals of all kinds are blinded, poisoned and burned as human products like soap, shampoo and lip balm are tested on them. If you want to live a more altruistic lifestyle by caring for animals, take a stand against these harmful lab testings. Before you buy any beauty or personal care products, check the packaging to ensure they're cruelty-free.
Encourage spaying and neutering.
Every year, animals of all kinds are put down in shelters or killed on the streets due to issues with overpopulation. You can help reduce these issues by spaying or neutering your pets, and encouraging neighbors and friends to do the same. Learn more about spaying and neutering and search for affordable options in your area.
When it comes to living a more altruistic lifestyle, compassion doesn't simply stop at human beings. Instill altruism throughout your entire life by consciously taking a step to care for the animals around you.


Making a Stereoscopic 3D Movie In After Effects
Creating Stereoscopic 3D effects using After Effects is actually very simple. This makes it possible to create a video that people can watch in three dimensions by wearing special glasses. It's possible to convert any video into a 3D video with very little work. When you create these videos, it's possible to watch them on your computer or burn them onto DVD to watch them on a TV.
Converting the Scene to 3D
After Effects makes it very simple to convert the scene to stereo 3D. To do this, select the scene and then click on "Generate Right Comp" at the right side of the screen. This will create a new composition which looks very similar to the first view. However, there is a new object called stereo controls.
Camera Separation
Open the Stereo controls option, and you will see a slider for camera separation. This is the separation between the left and right cameras. Adjust the slider to something that you are happy with. Set this to 30 to start off with. Now regenerate the right composition by clicking the button at the right hand side of the screen. This will create two slightly different image.
Select both the left and the right views and click on the "Stereo Viewer." Now, click on "Generate Stereo Comps". This will generate a new folder containing the files for the stereoscopic image. In the main image, both the images will be combined using the normal red and green.
Removing Borders
To remove some borders, you can adjust the scale of the scene. This will remove unnecessary elements from the video.
It's possible to make changes to your composition, and then the left results will be updated automatically. You will need to manually click on Generate Right Comp to update the right view.


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The shot segmentation is the automatic identification methods by computer terminals of shots in a video. This involves identifying points automatically mount originally defined by the director by measuring the discontinuities between successive frames of the video. These mounting points are obviously known to the director of the video, but are generally not disclosed or available. To avoid a human operator a long and tedious tracking plans by viewing, automatic methods have been developed by computer scientists.
This is the problem the oldest and most studied video indexing, considered an essential building block for analysis and research videos. There are so far little direct applications of segmentation plans for the general public, or software digital video. However, this is a major step in the analysis of the video, allowing the definition and use of technical information retrieval in videos.
The shot segmentation is to identify the different shots of a video. This only makes sense if the video actually contains plans, that is to say, it was fitted by a director. Some types of videos (video surveillance, home videos …) do not lend themselves to this type of technique. The videos are generally considered to movies or shows television.
The shot segmentation is sometimes (incorrectly) called "segmentation scenes" two by some researchers. The segmentation into scenes however, is a different task, which is to identify the scenes; this concept is defined as a group sharing plans semantic consistency.
Different types of transitions between shots
There are many ways to make a transition between two planes. The simplest is the abrupt transition: moving from one plan to another without image transition. To make this more flexible way, the filmmakers have created a wide variety of smooth transitions, the fade to black, fades, the shutters, and many others, made easier by the use of computer and even consumer software video editing.
For shot segmentation, researchers generally distinguish two types: abrupt transitions (also called cuts, the English "cut") and gradual transitions, which include all other types of transitions.
The main idea underlying the shot segmentation methods is that the images in the vicinity of a transition are very dissimilar. We then seek to identify discontinuities in the video stream.
The general principle is to extract an observation on each image, and then define a distance 9 (or similarity measure) between observations. The application of the distance between two successive images, the entire video stream, producing a one-dimensional signal, in which then seeks the peaks (resp. if hollow similarity measure), which correspond to the moments of high dissimilarity.
Observations and distances
The simplest observation is simply the set of pixels of the image. For 2 frames and N × M, the apparent distance is then the average of the absolute differences pixels pixels (distance L1):
More refined approaches can measure only significant changes, filtering the pixels that generate differences too low, that only add noise.
Unfortunately, the techniques in the field pixellic are very sensitive to movements of objects or camera. Techniques of block matching have been proposed to reduce the sensitivity to motion, but the methods in pixellic were largely supplanted by methods based on histograms.
The histogram of luminance or color, is a widely used observation. It is easy to calculate, and is relatively robust to noise and movement of objects, because a histogram ignores the spatial changes in the image.


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LeitnerBox is a technique for learning with more & better effect.
We should learn the things by heart in 5 steps (30 days) with Leitner Box.
This application was created for learning English words or words of another language.
I've created this project with.NET Framework 3.5 SP1, so you have to install it to use the project.
Leitner Box's Algorithm
According to Leitner's Algorithm, we have to study our questions everyday like this :
1 : Answer all questions in Box 5 -> Part 1
If your answer was True the question goes to the Data Base
else it goes to Box 1.
2 : Shift all parts of Box5 to the left ( In the application use Shift up button )
3 : Answer all questions in Box 4 -> Part 1
4 : Shift all parts of Box4 to the left
5 : And so on...
10 : Add new questions to Box 1
I've implemented this algorithm in this project.
Using the Application
At first you have to create a user, so you will see this form :
Notice: You can use A-Z and a-z for the name.
Press the button to create new user, new user will save in a folder beside the main EXE file.
If there are multiple users, you will see this form:
Appending a Word
You have to select a destination box or a part and then add a question.
Notice: You can't add two words with the same questions.
Whenever you type a word into 'Add Questions' textboxes, it searches for the inserted word in former words (in all boxes and database). If something is found, it will show a list of them below the textbox. Now you can choose it by pressing Enter on it.
This is a good way to avoid duplication.
- 2nd March, 2009: First post
- 14th March, 2009: Updated source and demo files - fixed some bugs
- 25th March, 2009: Updated source and demo files
- 2nd April, 2009: Updated source and demo files - fixed some bugs
- 11th April, 2009: Auto Complete added
- 22nd March, 2010: Updated source and demo files


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Have you seen changes in Wyoming places you know well? Changes that you think could be the result of a changing climate?
Post your observations and photos to our interactive map, and browse observations from other Wyomingites.
How to post to the map:
(The map opens in a new tab, so you can toggle to these instructions while you post your observations).
- Click the button above to open the Wyoming Climate Stories Map.
- Zoom into an area where you would like to add a point and an observation.
- Click on the + in the upper right corner.
- Give your comment a title.
- Click on the blue text that says Map Select a location, click OK, then select your point on the map.
- Add your comment description. Tell a story about your climate observations in this area. Be descriptive and specific. Provide evidence, such as temperature or precipitation records, if you have them.
- Next to Observation Point, choose the best option. (This sorts observations by color.)
- If you have a photo of the location, click Browse to upload it to your comment.
This site is provided for public comment in Wyoming by the following organizations: (X,Y,Z)


text:
Department of Geological Sciences
Assistant Professor, Geology
Office/Lab: SDSU Main Campus, GMCS 116-117
Phone: _PHONE_ (lab)
Dr. Jillian Maloney joined the SDSU faculty in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences. Her research seeks to understand tectonics and sediment processes on and beneath the seafloor. In particular, she investigates submarine earthquakes and landslides, which can present hazards to human life and infrastructure. She is also interested in the geologic aspects of ecosystems and how geology can impact seafloor habitats, which is important for ecosystem risk assessment and preservation. Jillian received her B.S. from the University of Southern California and her Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Prior to arriving at SDSU, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Louisiana State University, studying seafloor landslides on the subaqueous Mississippi River Delta.
Water & The Environment (Geology 305): The first half of class focuses on scientific concepts and theories related to water systems. We then use our understanding of the science to study local and global water issues. The course begins with the origin, distribution, and properties of water on earth. We then cover hydrologic cycling and storage of water including processes of the atmosphere, rivers, lakes, oceans, glaciers, and groundwater. The second half of the semester focuses on human uses of water and problems caused by use of water resources. We then investigate global and local issues by examining case studies with a particular focus on California water landscape and management.
Sedimentology & Stratigraphy (Geology 336): In this course students learn how to think like a geoscientist by making careful observations of sediments and sedimentary rocks and detailed interpretations including about the environment in which they formed. We cover the properties of sediments, how sediment is transported and deposited, the structures and textures of sediment deposits, and the characteristics of sedimentary rocks formed in different environments.
Seismic Interpretation and 3D Visualization (Geology 580): Students learn the basics of seismic data collection and processing, with an emphasis on understanding how the end product is affected by methodology. Students have hands-on experience working with a seismic dataset to practice interpretation of data based on principals of seismic and sequence stratigraphy. This course also covers the wide range of applications of seismic data.
Alexander Laws (M.S.)
Thesis topic: Channel Islands coastal evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum
Eui-jo Marquez (M.S.)
Thesis topic: Combined onshore & offshore paleoseismology of the Rose Canyon fault zone
Drake Singleton (Ph.D.)
Dissertation topic: Fault segmentation and paleoseismology in southern California
Zain Tahir (M.S.)
Thesis topic: Fault controlled paleochannels and their evolution during sea level transgression
Luke Weisman (M.S.)
Thesis topic: San Diego stratigraphy and paleoshorelines: Applications for paleoseismic history and slip rate along the Rose Canyon fault zone


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Alamosa River above Terrace Reservoir, CO
The Rio Grande Water Conservation District (RGWCD) works to protect water rights and promote efficient and sustainable water use within the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, in the upper portion of the Rio Grande basin. In 2005, after consultation with the RGWCD, Connie Woodhouse developed reconstructions for four gages (on the Rio Grande near Del Norte, Saguache Creek, Alamosa River, and Conejos River) which represent most of the surface water supply for the San Luis Valley.
A forward stepwise regression procedure was used to calibrate the observed flow record with a pool of potential predictors consisting of 15 tree-ring chronologies from Colorado and northern New Mexico. The residual chronologies, with the low-order autocorrelation removed, were used. Six predictor chronologies were selected by the stepwise procedure for the reconstruction model. Validation statistics were computed using a leave-one-out (cross-validation) approach.
Predictor Chronologies: Montrose (CO), Platt Bradbury (CO), Tres Piedras (NM), Wild Rose (CO), Natural Arch (CO), Trail Gulch (CO)
|Explained variance (R2)||0.80|
|Reduction of Error (RE)||0.75|
|Standard Error of the Estimate||13,600 AF|
|Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)||14,296 AF|
Figure 1. Scatterplot of observed and reconstructed Alamosa River annual flow, _PHONE_.
Figure 2. Observed (black) and reconstructed (blue) annual Alamosa River annual flow, _PHONE_. The observed mean is illustrated by the dashed line.
Figure 3. Reconstructed annual flow for the Alamosa River (_PHONE_) is shown in blue. Observed flow is shown in gray and the long-term reconstructed mean is shown by the dashed line.
Figure 4. The 10-year running mean (plotted on final year) of reconstructed Alamosa River flow, _PHONE_. Reconstructed values are shown in blue and observed values are shown in gray. The long-term reconstructed mean is shown by the dashed line.


text:
Meeting on Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments
September 5, 2006
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory researcher Martin Hoerling will present an invited talk at the Geological Society of America's meeting on "Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments," to be held 18-20 September 2006 in Longmont, CO. In his talk entitled, "Is Climate Drying or is Drought Increasing," Hoerling will discuss the possible character of future climate as it concerns decreases in water availability, and the threat of increasingly severe chronic droughts. A climate system undergoing gradual drying would be more desirable than one experiencing more drastic variations. Using the new suite of 21st Century computer simulations from the IPCC's Fourth Assessment, this talk diagnoses the statistics of 21st Century U.S. drought, and addresses the separate effects of human-caused changes in temperature and precipitation. (Photo courtesy of Virginia Department of Forestry)
Most regions of the United States experience at some time variations in climate that have extreme societal consequences. Changes in climate may be increasing the vulnerability of some areas to drought-induced water shortages. This meeting is designed to promote collaboration between the policy and science communities, and create an integrated, interactive, future-oriented forum for understanding and improving management of drought and water scarcity in the United States and to stimulate national debate through the publication and wide distribution of a scienceand policy-based discussion document.
Drought-related impacts may intensify in the twenty-first century due to increases in population and changes in land use. Evaluation of current drought-related problems can help decision-makers anticipate future issues. This meeting will focus on identifying successful strategies for drought and water scarcity management and on developing a clear and decisive action plan. Dr. Hoerling's research and participation in related meetings supports NOAA's mission goals of understanding climate variability and change to enhance society's ability to plan and respond, and serving society's needs for weather and water information.
|Contact: Martin Hoerling||More Information:
- Meeting Website


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Power electronics group to build converter for superconducting magnetic energy storage
In the VPEC laboratories, Kunrong Wang (G) works on a design of a power conditioning system to be used for Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES).
The Virginia Power Electronics Center (VPEC) has received a contract from Westinghouse Inc. and the Office of Naval Research to develop a system that will convert electrical energy for magnetic storage by utilities. Under the three-year $700,000 contract, VPEC will develop a prototype power conditioning system for Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES), which is a state-of-the-art method for storing electrical energy.
A SMES unit consists of superconducting wire wound into a huge coil, which is cooled with liquid helium to minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit so that the flow of electricity meets no resistance. Direct-current (DC) electricity is fed into the coil, creating a magnetic field that can store the energy indefinitely.
The power conditioning system being developed by VPEC will convert excess AC electricity from utility lines to DC electricity that can be stored in SMES units. When the stored energy is needed, the power conditioning system converts the DC electricity into AC for utility line use.
Utilities can store excess energy in SMES units during the night and retrieve energy for use during peak-demand periods of the day. The storage-retrieval process is expected to be more than 95 percent efficient, which will enable utilities to realize significant cost-saving benefits.


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GEW concluded the first of its bi-annual Spectrum Monitoring and EMC training courses at its Cape Town facilities during the week of 9-12 May 2017. The four-day knowledge-building course was attended by 27 delegates from both the regulator and industry, and focused on regulatory issues, measurements in accordance with ITU-R specifications and EMC principles. The combination of theoretical and practical sessions help facilitate a greater understanding of the core ITU standards and industry best practices. The course presented key spectrum monitoring and management themes, such as:
- Real-time radio spectrum monitoring and measurements techniques
- ITU-R measurements and industry best practices
- Frequency assignment and occupancy analysis – Frequency Band Occupancy (FBO) and Frequency Channel Occupancy (FCO)
- Measurement systems training (half a day outing with practical demonstrations)
- Spectrum management and its supporting role in a monitoring network
- Understanding EMC fundamentals and principles to reduce interference
- EMC Coupling issues and its prevention.
Remaining current with the industry best practices insures a solid knowledge base on spectrum monitoring and spectrum management. This training course helps educate industry professionals to keep them at the forefront of spectrum monitoring and spectrum management operations. For information on future courses, please visit our Spectrum Monitoring Training page.


Google Launches Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
By Todd R. Weiss | Posted 2013-05-27
Google Launches Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
Google Launches Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab
Quantum computing promises to dramatically accelerate important computational tasks in ways not seen before in traditional computers or supercomputers. Traditional computers use binary arithmetic for their logic, while quantum computers replace binary arithmetic with the laws of quantum physics. Quantum law applies to all physical systems at the atomic scale. Because a quantum computer can require fewer steps to achieve a result compared with a conventional computer, it can achieve much faster performance than a conventional computer.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment further about the lab when contacted by eWEEK.
Google has actually been involved in other quantum computing initiatives in the past, including previous collaborations with D-Wave and NASA.
The search giant is involved in many research fields in computing.
In February, it announced its first-ever Google App Engine Research Awards to seven projects that will use the App Engine platform's abilities to work with large data sets for academic and scientific research.
Google is active in providing resources for research and educational projects in many areas. Also in February, the company announced its ninth annual Google Summer of Code contest, which invites college students to learn about the world of open-source code development. The program has involved some 6,000 college and university students from more than 100 countries since its start in 2005.
Rocket Fuel


Dzi bead
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dzi bead
Modern 'new' dzi beads made from etched agate
Chinese name
Hanyu Pinyin tiānzhū
Literal meaning heaven pearls
Tibetan name
Tibetan གཟི
The meaning of the Tibetan word "dzi" [གཟི།] translates to "shine, brightness, clearness, splendor." In Chinese, the bead is called "heaven's bead" or "heaven's pearl" (天珠).
Cinnabar dots as seen on an ancient dzi.
Some dzi beads sport what are referred to as "blood spots," which are tiny red dots in the white areas, indicative of iron content. This is highly desirable, but relatively rare.[citation needed] Another desirable effect is "Nāga skin," in which the surface of the bead exhibits tiny circular weathering marks that resemble scales. Some dzi beads are simply polished agate, with no other decoration than the natural banding of the stone.
The number of "eyes," circular designs on the stone, is considered significant. The symbolic meaning of these beads is based on the number and arrangement of the dots. The highest number of eyes on ancient dzi is twelve. One thirteen-eye bead has been reported from a Taiwanese collector but its authenticity has not been confirmed. Dzi beads with more than twelve eyes are considered non-traditional. Any accompanying story or benefit tale is assumed to be fake as well, and a mere marketing strategy for the lucrative feng shui item market.
Although the geographic origin of dzi beads is uncertain, it is accepted that they are now called "Tibetan beads," just like "Tibetan coral," which also came to Tibet from elsewhere. Tibetans cherish these beads and consider them hereditary gems. In this way they have survived thousands of years, being worn by hundreds of individual people. Dzi are found primarily in Tibet, but also in neighbouring Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh and Sikkim.[citation needed]
Since knowledge of the bead is derived from several differing oral traditions, the beads have provoked controversy regarding their source, their method of manufacture and even their precise definition.[citation needed] In Tibetan culture these beads are believed to attract local protectors, dharmapalas or deities or maybe beneficial ghosts, ancestors or even bodhisattvas. Because of this, dzi beads are always treated with respect.[1]
New dzi[edit]
Due to the unknown origin of these beads and the high demand for them, there has been recent reproduction of dzi beads in Asia. The first (and best) replica dzi beads came from Taiwan during the 1990s. China has also produced some good-quality dzi beads over the last three years.[when?] However, the number of modern dzi that would be accepted as beautiful by the Tibetan community is very small, making these beads highly desirable.[citation needed]
A nice dzi should be made of good quality agate with the cutting, drilling and decorating taking many days. Modern methods and technology such as lasers, modern sugars and chemicals, and vacuum chambers can produce very good results.[2] The waxy appearance is still desirable but is sometimes lacking. Some especially well-made new dzi are accepted by Tibetans because it is safe to wear them in public since they look like ancient dzi. Some[who?] claim the new dzi function with the same efficacy as the old ones; others believe the protective energies of ancient dzi can move into a new dzi, if the stone is of the same quality or better and the two beads are kept together or when binding rituals are performed.[citation needed]
Imitation dzi[edit]
Some people would also call the modern machine-carved and machine-drilled, highly polished new dzi "mock dzi." Almost invariably mass-produced, these are available for less than two dollars, and are often sold by the strand. The etching on these cheap beads has been done very quickly, and the decorations do not penetrate into the inner core of the bead. These are usually targeted for sale to mainland Chinese customers as lucky feng shui charms.
Market value for ancient beads can easily reach into hundreds of thousands of US dollars - especially for beads with more "eyes." Tiny red cinnabar spots caused by iron inclusion in the agate also increase the value. New etched agate dzi are also highly prized as long as they are well made, contain the traditional patterns, and are made from genuine agate without "dragon skin" or "dragon veins," with a clean, clear look and luster and nicely simulated abrasion signs at the drill holes (these abrasions should slope upward, simulating thousands of years of thread abrasion). New dzi prices range from about ten to two thousand US Dollars, depending on quality and luster. Because of the high value placed on them, Tibetans would typically only part with an authentic dzi bead under very extreme circumstances, such as theft, confiscation by banks or government, or even murder. As a result, many Tibetans have started wearing reproduction dzi in public, out of fear of theft.[citation needed]
Similar beads[edit]
An ancient goat eye bead from a site in Warad-Sin, Iraq. This ancient Mesopotamian bead[3] is very similar to the Luk Mik beads used by Tibetans. Beads like these are also found in Afghanistan and Bactria.
Luk Mik-style and other striped agate beads strung together. Susa, western Iran, dating back to 300 BC. Many of these beads were recovered in Taxila and southern Mesopotamia.
Similar to dzi beads are the so-called chung dzi,[4] which have been imported to Tibet since ancient times. These can be plain, naturally banded[5] agate beads, or etched beads (often with black and white striped patterns). Some are carnelians or black agate with thin white etching patterns resembling the back of a turtle, which is an ancient pattern that dates back to the era of the Harappan Indus culture. Ancient Roman agate beads as well as etched Bactrian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Afghan, Yemeni,[6] and Indian agate and carnelian beads made their way into Tibet. All these are considered chung dzi (in Tibetan, "chung" means ordinary or common). Chung dzi are believed to have similar properties to real "eyed" dzi; they are less valuable, but they are highly prized by Tibetans and also considered a variety of dzi.
Another similar type of bead is called Luk Mik ("goat's eye") - it is a naturally formed "one-eyed" coin-shaped[3] agate (pictured). Luk Mik are the preferred dzi for travelling in Tibet.
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
 - Ebbinghouse, David and Winsten, Michael (1988). "Tibetan dZi (gZi) Beads". The Tibet Journal 13 (1): pp. 38–56.
External links[edit]


How Do I Stop Feeling Guilty About Success So I Can Enjoy Retirement?
Manage episode 277899424 series _PHONE_
There are so many things to take care of in retirement. It can all feel overwhelming. Many people worry about their jobs, the state of the world, retirement, and their uncertain future. On this episode of Retirement Answer Man, you'll learn what you can do to ease your worries about the unknown as well as discover the answers to questions from listeners like you. Join Tanya Nicols and me as we answer questions about an early retirement package, what to do when you have a significant portion of your net worth in one stock, and how to use second to die life insurance.
What is worry?
Worry is a noun that means a state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems. It can also be a verb meaning to give way to anxiety or unease.
Are you a worrier? Although worry is a healthy thing, oftentimes people allow their minds to dwell on difficulties or (perceived) troubles. There is a fine line between healthy worry and overwhelming worry.
The fine line between healthy and unhealthy worry can be hard to walk
Just like how exercise creates stress in your muscles and grows them, worry can do the same to your mind. Worry can spur you into action causing you to improve your situation. However, worry taken to excess can be paralyzing. It can cause you to lose perspective so that you can no longer see clearly. You can't let worry overwhelm you so much that it steals your life away. Listen in to hear what you can do to help ease your worries about the state of the world, life, and retirement.
How do you perceive the wealth you have created?
It is often said that money is the root of all evil, but this isn't true. The love of money is the root of evil.
Do you feel guilty about the wealth you have created? Guilt is a common theme for many successful people. Many create an emotional attachment to their money. Rather than judging yourself for creating your wealth, use that wealth as a tool. How you use it is important. What will you do with your wealth to create an amazing life?
What to do when you have a significant portion of your assets in one stock
One listener has ⅓ of her net worth tied up in one particular tech stock. She is looking for some guidance on how to handle this.
A great question to ask is: what would happen to your net worth if that stock simply vanished? This question can get you thinking about how much you need to have a good life. Once you have thought deeply about your life then you can be methodical about this asset. Set a number to help guide you and don't let taxes sway your decision.
 - [1:40] What is worry?
 - [10:56] How do you feel about your wealth?
 - [16:52] What to do when you have a significant portion of your assets in one stock?
 - [22:57] How to balance Social Security, taxes, and an early retirement package
 - [25:46] Second to die life insurance
 - [30:47] Control your input
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
Align Financial
BOOK - The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
BOOK - The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
BOOK - The Power of Agency by Anthony Rao
Rock Retirement Club
Roger's YouTube Channel - Roger That
BOOK - Rock Retirement by Roger Whitney
Work with Roger
Roger's Retirement Learning Center
363 episodes


Dominion Energy Moves Ahead With Electric School Bus Program
Dominion Energy is moving forward with its electric school bus program with 50 electric school buses being introduced to 16 localities in Virginia
Dominion Energy Electric School Bus
Electric school buses will soon be on the roads in Virginia safely carrying children and reducing emissions as Dominion Energy moves forward with the nation's largest electric school bus deployment. Phase one will bring 50 electric school buses to 16 localities within Dominion Energy's Virginia service area by the end of 2020.
The electric school buses will serve as a grid resource by creating additional energy storage technology to support the company's integration of distributed renewables such as solar and wind. The "vehicle-to-grid" technology leverages the bus batteries to store and inject energy onto the grid during periods of high demand when the buses are not needed for transport. The buses also provide environmental and health benefits through reduced emissions and reduce operation and maintenance costs for schools by up to 60 percent.
"We are excited to move forward with our commitment to bringing the benefits of electric school buses to the customers and communities we serve," said Dominion Energy chairman, president and CEO Thomas F. Farrell, II. "This is an innovative, sustainable solution that will help the environment, protect children's health, make the electric grid stronger, and free up money for our schools."
This initial deployment will bring electric school buses to each of the company's operating regions. Localities were selected based on the benefit the batteries would bring to the electric grid.
This is just the first step in a larger initiative to replace diesel-powered buses with electric buses. Phase two of the project, with state approval, would expand the program to bring at least 1,000 additional electric school buses online by 2025. Once phase two is fully implemented, the buses' batteries could provide enough energy to power more than 10,000 homes. Phase three would set the goal to have 50 percent of all diesel bus replacements in Dominion Energy's footprint be electric by 2025 and 100 percent by 2030.
Replacing diesel-powered school buses with electric school buses will have a positive impact on the environment and improve air quality. An electric school bus produces zero emissions. Replacing a diesel bus with an electric bus is the equivalent of taking 5.2 cars off the road. If fully implemented, by 2025, the program would be the equivalent of removing more than 5,000 cars from the road per year. That means lower carbon dioxide emissions and cleaner, healthier air for everyone, especially children.
Ayush Verma
Ayush Verma


Voluntary and reactive recruitment of locomotor muscle synergies during perturbed walking.
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322-0535, USA.
Journal of Neuroscience (Impact Factor: 6.91). 08/2012; 32(35):12237-50. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6344-11.2012
Source: PubMed
ABSTRACT The modular control of muscles in groups, often referred to as muscle synergies, has been proposed to provide a motor repertoire of actions for the robust control of movement. However, it is not clear whether muscle synergies identified in one task are also recruited by different neural pathways subserving other motor behaviors. We tested the hypothesis that voluntary and reactive modifications to walking in humans result from the recruitment of locomotor muscle synergies. We recorded the activity of 16 muscles in the right leg as subjects walked a 7.5 m path at two different speeds. To elicit a second motor behavior, midway through the path we imposed ramp and hold translation perturbations of the support surface in each of four cardinal directions. Variations in the temporal recruitment of locomotor muscle synergies could account for cycle-by-cycle variations in muscle activity across strides. Locomotor muscle synergies were also recruited in atypical phases of gait, accounting for both anticipatory gait modifications before perturbations and reactive feedback responses to perturbations. Our findings are consistent with the idea that a common pool of spatially fixed locomotor muscle synergies can be recruited by different neural pathways, including the central pattern generator for walking, brainstem pathways for balance control, and cortical pathways mediating voluntary gait modifications. Together with electrophysiological studies, our work suggests that muscle synergies may provide a library of motor subtasks that can be flexibly recruited by parallel descending pathways to generate a variety of complex natural movements in the upper and lower limbs.
 - Source
 [Show abstract] [Hide abstract]
 ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to analyze the unimpaired control of the trunk during walking. Studying the unimpaired control of the trunk reveals characteristics of good control. These characteristics can be pursued in the rehabilitation of an impaired control. Impaired control of the trunk during walking is associated with aging and many movement disorders. This is a concern as it is considered to increase fall risk. Muscles that contribute to the trunk control in normal walking may also contribute to it under perturbation circumstances, attempting to prevent an impending fall. Knowledge of such muscles can be used to rehabilitate an impaired control of the trunk. Here, angular accelerations of the trunk induced by individual muscles, in the sagittal and frontal planes, were calculated using 3D muscle-driven simulations of seven young healthy subjects walking at free speed. Analysis of the simulations demonstrated that the abdominal and back muscles displayed large contributions throughout the gait cycle both in the sagittal and frontal planes. Proximal lower-limb muscles contributed more than distal muscles in the sagittal plane, while both proximal and distal muscles showed large contributions in the frontal plane. Along with the stance-limb muscles, the swing-limb muscles also exhibited considerable contribution. Gluteus medius was found to be an important individual frontal-plane control muscle, enhancing its function in pathologies could ameliorate gait by attenuating trunk sway. In addition, since gravity appreciably accelerated the trunk in the frontal plane, it may engender excessive trunk sway in pathologies.
 Journal of Biomechanics 07/2014; · 2.72 Impact Factor
 - Source
 Dataset: F Alnajjar
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 ABSTRACT: Muscle synergies have been proposed as a way for the central nervous system (CNS) to simplify the generation of motor commands and they have been shown to explain a large fraction of the variation in the muscle patterns across a variety of conditions. However, whether human subjects are able to control forces and movements effectively with a small set of synergies has not been tested directly. Here we show that muscle synergies can be used to generate target forces in multiple directions with the same accuracy achieved using individual muscles. We recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity from 13 arm muscles and isometric hand forces during a force reaching task in a virtual environment. From these data we estimated the force associated to each muscle by linear regression and we identified muscle synergies by non-negative matrix factorization. We compared trajectories of a virtual mass displaced by the force estimated using the entire set of recorded EMGs to trajectories obtained using 4-5 muscle synergies. While trajectories were similar, when feedback was provided according to force estimated from recorded EMGs (EMG-control) on average trajectories generated with the synergies were less accurate. However, when feedback was provided according to recorded force (force-control) we did not find significant differences in initial angle error and endpoint error. We then tested whether synergies could be used as effectively as individual muscles to control cursor movement in the force reaching task by providing feedback according to force estimated from the projection of the recorded EMGs into synergy space (synergy-control). Human subjects were able to perform the task immediately after switching from force-control to EMG-control and synergy-control and we found no differences between initial movement direction errors and endpoint errors in all control modes. These results indicate that muscle synergies provide an effective strategy for motor coordination.
 Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 01/2014; 8:46. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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If you'd rather read python than english you can go straight to the code on github: _URL_
I was having fun casting shadows with my laser pointer the other day. I began to wonder about the 3D information that was embedded in the 2D shadow. Given enough shadows of an object, could you recreate it? What information is lost, what is preserved?
I needed to apply a few constraints to simplify the system:
- Let the light rays be parallel to each other
- Let the light fall perpendicular to the shadowed surface.
Parallel light rays can be thought of as coming from an infinitely far source. Having the rays come in orthogonal to the surface allows me to ignore any perspective distortions like the keystone effect. I've drawn up a simple diagram to explain what I am talking about.
Now imaging rotating that object and watching the shadow change on the wall.
These musings led to some python code that implements a sort of shadow back projection - recreating a 3D object from a series of shadows taken at different rotations. The general algorithm goes something like this:
points = generate_random_cloud() for each shadow: points.remove_impossible_points_for_shadow(shadow)
The basic idea is to iterate over all shadows removing the points that would fall outside the shadow. The points that remain after all iterations fall inside the 3D volume consistent with all the given shadows. In my implementation I assumed shadows taken at equal intervals of rotation about the z-axis, but you could easily specify the object's angle of rotation for each shadow.
import numpy as np from matplotlib import mlab def whittle(cloud, polygons): """ Parameters ---------- cloud : ndarray Mx3 array containing the point cloud. Columns are x, y, and z Should be centered about the origin polygons : list of ndarray Each array is Mx2 and represents a series of x, y points defining a polygon. Returns ------- cloud : ndarray Mx3 array representing the points from the original cloud that are contained inside the 3d volume defined by the series of polygons """ # Divide half the circle evenly among the polygons angle = np.pi / len(polygons) rotation_matrix = get_rotation_matrix(angle) for polygon in polygons: # Find and remove the points that fall outside the current projection mask = mlab.inside_poly(cloud[:, 1:], polygon) cloud = cloud[mask] # Rotate the cloud and go to the next projection cloud = cloud.dot(rotation_matrix) return cloud def get_rotation_matrix(angle): # Rotate about the z-axis cos, sin = np.cos(angle), np.sin(angle) rotation_matrix = np.array([[cos, sin, 0], [-sin, cos, 0], [0, 0, 1]]) return rotation_matrix
As you can see there is really not that much going on here. This code simply
masks out the points that fall outside the shadow using
rotates the cloud, then masks again. You may notice you don't need the whole
circle, two profiles taken 180 degrees apart should be mirror images of each
other - giving no new information.
For example, I could define two diamonds and run them through the
function. The result should be two pyramids touching at their bases. One
diamond is defines by its vertices below.
polygon = np.array([[1, 0], [0,-1], [-1, 0], [0, 1]])
Two of the diamonds above produce the following 3D volume:
Stereoscopic image, cross your eyes to view. (tutorial)
So it works for simple shadows and objects! I wanted to try something a little more difficult, so I decided to test the algorithms on my (dead) bonsai tree.
I took four photographs at (hopefully) 45 degree increments. I then wrote a quick tool that allows me to click on an image to define a polygon. I used it to define the profile of each of the four images. You can see the images and profiles below.
Running the 4 polygons above through the function produced the following point cloud:
Click for high res GIF. Stereoscopic image, cross your eyes to view.
I could imaging automating the polygon extraction with some image processing. Using a lazy susan and a cheap web cam you could easily import your objects into a video game like Minecraft.
I was pleasantly surprised with these results, however there are a few limitations. This method can never recreate concave shapes such as a bowl. Any concavity will simply be filled in, as that information is lost in the 3d -> 2d projection.
While this algorithm's output is great for human consumption, a point cloud is not the optimal data store for a 3d volume. I played around a bit with being a little more clever than random when creating the cloud, which you can see here, but I think this is barking up the wrong tree. I have a few ideas involving more complex polygon intersection algorithms that would result in a mesh grid rather than a point cloud. Maybe someday I'll try to get those spelled out in python.
Questions? Hit me up on twitter
You can find all the code on github: _URL_
Check out the discussion on Hacker News where you can find links to similar research.


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Do You See What I See?
There is an expression used in relation to positions in conflict resolution, 'Where you stand depends on where you sit.' In essence, how we see things depends on the perspective from which we are looking at them. Jesus addressed perspective on many occasions and we will look at one example.
The context for the passage below is Jesus being tired and hungry, resting at Jacob's well while the disciples headed to town for food and Jesus then ministering to the one who has become known as the 'Samaritan Woman.' The disciples return as Jesus is still talking with the woman.
The disciples misunderstood a few things here, as I suspect most of us would have.
Since culturally they didn't associate with Samaritans the disciples were experiencing an internal conflict. From where they sat Jesus should not be talking to the woman, yet He was their leader and they were being discipled by Him so they didn't challenge what He was doing. They had experienced enough to know He was up to something but they didn't see it.
Jesus informed them that His encounter with the woman strengthened Him because she responded to truth. There was spiritual food and natural food to draw from. I'm sure Jesus still ate later on. Jesus then used another natural event, harvest time to make a further point. While naturally they were not in harvest time Jesus was telling them to see differently. There was a more important harvest, one that harvested people for His kingdom, and it was ready to be reaped.
It is clear that Jesus intent in this brief encounter was to teach them rather than confuse them. He highlighted their internal conflict to broaden their perspective. So when we see something in His kingdom that doesn't align with how we think and see perhaps where we stand is connected to where we are sitting and we need to ask Jesus if He wants us to change chairs.
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2 thoughts on "Do You See What I See?"
 1. "He highlighted their internal conflict to broaden their perspective." I love this Randy. The truth of this sentence is powerful. It holds an invitation to embrace our internal conflict so that we can gain God's point of view. Again, you use few words to communicate a significant truth. Thank you.
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Consider a probability model with sample space on the interval $[0,a]$ where $a$ is a finite positive real number. Consider two probability distributions $P_1$ and $P_2$ on the sample space, where $P_2$ is obtained by shifting an infinitesimal probability $dP$ from position $x_1$ in the interval to $x_2$. Random variable $X$ is defined as $X(\omega)=\omega$ on the interval. Assume the mean of $X$ under $P_1$ is $E(X)$.
Find a condition that does not involve $dP$ that is necessary and sufficient for $d(Var(X))\le 0$. If $P_1$ has mass of 0.5 at the ends of the interval, show that the condition is satisfied for all $x_1$ and $x_2$.
I picked this problem from an old book of mine. The condition I got to was $x_2+x_1-a\le 0$. However this seems to be dependent on $a$ and is not true for all $x_1$ and $x_2$ as the second problem demands.
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1 Answer 1
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Let us paraphrase the question: what small transformations of a distribution on an interval lead to decrease in variance?
Intuitively, you must bring the mass towards the mean to reduce the variance. I.e. the condition should be something like $|x_1-E(X)|\ge|x_2-E(X)|$.
To prove this formally, first, consider a discrete distribution: that takes the value $x_i$ with probability $p_i$. Then, the variance is $Var(X)=\sum_ip_i(x_i-E(X))^2$. To see what happens when you shift it such that $p_1$ becomes $p_1-\epsilon$ and $p_2$ becomes $p_2+\epsilon$ we need to take the partial derivative of the expression above keeping in mind that $\frac{\partial p_2}{\partial p_1}=-1$ and, given that, we also have $\frac{\partial E(X)}{\partial p_1}=x_1-x_2$. Therefore, $\frac{\partial Var(X)}{\partial p_1}=(x_1-E(X))^2-(x_2-E(X))^2-2(x_1-x_2)\sum_ip_i(x_i-E(X))$, the last term being zero. We need this expression to be non-negative (decrease in $p_1$ leads to decrease in $Var(X)$). Hence, we obtain the condition as above.
You can easily generalize the proof to any distribution.
Now, it seems quite obvious why the condition holds for the distribution in the question.
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Your Answer


Cyprus[edit]
The women in Northern Cyprus are inhabitants of the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where they have been contributors to the fields of science, law and justice.[49]
South Ossetia[edit]
In 2010, the Caucasian Knot described the women of South Ossetia as females who can transmit change and reinstatement of "trust and peace" between the peoples of South Ossetia and Georgia. They have the capability and competence to defend and preserve their rights as women and to participate as activists and peacemakers. South Ossetian women experienced situations of armed conflict in their regions.[24][50] The main organization that promotes and safeguards the status of South Ossetian women is the Association of South Ossetian Women for Democracy and Human Rights (sometimes referred to as Association of Women of South Ossetia for Democracy and Defence of Human Rights) and is currently headed by Lira Kozaeva-Tskhovrebova.[24][50]
Main article: Women in Transnistria
Women in Transnistria are women who live in or are from Transnistria (may also be spelled as Transdniestria; and also known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, abbreviated as PMR). Although still an country with limited recognition internationally, and although Freedom in the World 2012 had described that "[w]omen are underrepresented in most positions of authority", the current Transnistrian government includes 8 women and 6 men. 4 deputies of Prime Minister of Transnistria out of 5 are also women (Tatiana Turanskaya, Natalia Nikiforova, Nina Shtanski and Maija Parnas). Women are widely presented in Presidential Administration of Transnistria: both the head of Administration (Nadezhda Baranova)[51] and all the 5 presidential advisors (Alyona Klyus, Nadezhda Zablotskaya, Natalia Garbar, Anna Yanchuk and Galina Sandutsa)[52] are women.
European women in dependencies and other territories[edit]
Main article: Women in Åland
Faroe Islands[edit]
Women in the Faroe Islands are European women who live in or are from the Faroe Islands, an north Atlantic island group and archipelago that is under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. Traditionally, Faroese women have a high standing in the society of Faroe Islanders. Legally, women of the Faroe Islands share equality with men. In terms of labor, tradition dictates that women do household work and are responsible for the welfare of cows. Most care given to children come from the women of the Faroe Islands. When the family have guests at home, the women of the household frequently serve and offer food and drinks to the visitors. During the late 19th century, women in the Faroe Islands became wage-earners by participating in jobs such as fish processing and by becoming teachers. In 1915, they obtained women's suffrage. Eventually, Faroe Islander women were able to hold governmental positions.[53]
Main article: Women in Gibraltar
Main article: Women in Guernsey
Main article: Women in Jersey
Isle of Man[edit]
Main article: Women in Svalbard
See also[edit]
 1. ^ Women in Europe, Knowledge Center, Catalyst
 2. ^ a b Bilefsky, Dan. "Albanian Custom Fades: Woman as Family Man". The New York Times. NYTIMES.com. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
 3. ^ Elsie, Robert. "Albania". Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
 4. ^ "Andorra". Freedom House (2012). Retrieved 2 November 2013.
 5. ^ Itano, Nicole. Quota Law Puts More Women in Armenia's Election. WeNews. May 10, 2007.
 6. ^ Domestic Violence Against Women in Armenia. United Human Rights Council (UHRC). May 26, 2010.
 7. ^ Lewis, Jone Johnson. Austria: Status of Women, Encyclopedia of Women's History, December 1993.
 8. ^ a b Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Azerbaijan (2011). United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2011). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
 9. ^ Belarusian Women as seen Through an Era, United Nations in Belarus.
 10. ^ a b c d e f g France, everyculture.com
 11. ^ De Lannoy, Jean and Ruben A. Lombaert. "Belgium". Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
 12. ^ In post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, women are a driving force for change, IFAD
 13. ^ a b Bosnia and Herzegovina gender profile, IFAD, 5 March 2007.
 14. ^ Dimitrov, Bojidar et al. "History of Bulgaria". The Bulgarian National Museum of History. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
 15. ^ "Czech Republic - HISTORY". Mongabay.com. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
 16. ^ Ferber, Marianne A. and Phyllis Hutton Raabe. "Women in the Czech Republic: Feminism, Czech Style". International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society Vol. 16, No. 3, Toward Gender Equity: Policies and Strategies (Spring, 2003), pp. 407-430. JSTOR, Springer. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
 17. ^ Alho, Olli. A guide to Finnish customs and manners, November 2002/March 2010
 18. ^ a b c Women in Business in Finland, worldbusinessculture.com
 19. ^ Women In German Society, German Culture, germanculture.com
 20. ^ Scott, Michael. The Rise of Women in Ancient Greece, History Today, Volume: 59 Issue: 11 2009
 21. ^ Hitton, Shanti. Social Culture of Greece, Travel Tips, USA Today
 22. ^ _URL_
 23. ^ a b c d e f g _URL_
 24. ^ a b c MACEDONIA: How Are Women Faring In Macedonia?, AWID, September 12, 2009, peacewomen.org
 25. ^ Ward, Claire (August 19, 2011). "How Dutch women got to be the happiest in the world". Macleans. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
 26. ^ "Polish women". polishmarriage.org. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
 27. ^ "Portugal-Women (data as of 1993)". Mongabay.com. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
 28. ^ a b Arnold, M. Cameron. "San Marino". Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
 29. ^ edited by Anne Shutt, CS Monitor Correspondents,. "Women lose ballot battle in republic of San Marino". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
 30. ^ _URL_
 31. ^ _URL_
 32. ^ The right to vote, swissworld.org
 33. ^ Wilton, Isabelle. Women still climbing to the top in business, swissinfo.ch, March 7, 2011
 34. ^ Ukraine profile, BBC News
 35. ^ Kyivans join global rally to end violence against women, Kyiv Post (14 February 2013)
 36. ^ a b A Guide to English Culture and Customs, page 3 and 5.
 37. ^ "DAUGHTERS OF THE TROUBLES: BELFAST STORIES". Director's Notes. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
 38. ^ Only 32 women in Vatican City, Herald Sun, March 02, 2011.
 40. ^ Garb, Paula. The Mediators, Indigenous Conflict Resolution, "Mediation in the Caucasus", Anthropological Contributions to Conflict Resolution, London and Athens, University of Georgia Press. Vol. 29. 1996, 1999.
 43. ^ An Approach to the Kosovo Post-War Rehabilitation Process from a Gender Perspective, QUADERNS DE CONSTRUCCIÓ DE PAU Nº 2, escola de cultura de pau, page 5.
 44. ^ First Female Elected President, Kosovo
 45. ^ Koha, "Në krye të Policisë së Kosovës, Atifete Jahjaga" Shqip TIME.mk 16 October 2010 (accessed 6


text:
Couroupita guianensis grows up to 35 meters in height. The clustered leaves vary in length, generally from 8 to 31 centimeters, but reaching up to 57. The flowers are born in large bunches up to 80 meters long. Some trees flower profusely, until the entire trunk is buried in flowers. One tree can bear 1000 flowers per day. They are strongly scented, especially at night, and in the early morning.They are large, up to 6 centimeters wide, and often brightly colored, the six petals in shades of pink and red near the bases and yellowish toward the tips. There is a ring of stamens at the center, and an arrangement to stamens that have been modified into a hood. The large fruit, which is woody and very spherical, measuring up to 25 centimeters wide, gives the species the common name "cannonball tree". A smaller fruit contains perhaps 65 seeds, while a large one can have 550. One tree can bear 150 fruits. The fruit takes up to a year to mature in most areas, sometimes as long as 18 months.
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Study Says Gay and Lesbian Couples Happier Than Their Straight Counterparts
Submitted by Take Out on Tue, 02/06/2018 - 23:05
Gay and lesbian couples have happier relationships than their straight counterparts, according to new research.
Academics behind the research say it counters the stereotype that same-sex relationships are conflictual, unhappy and dysfunctional.
The research, based on surveys of over 25,000 people in the UK and Australia, is published in the academic journal Family Relations.
It found that UK gay and lesbian couples had a relationship quality as high as their straight counterparts, while in Australia it was higher than heterosexuals.
Its authors have offered possible explanations for why homosexual relationships are happier. They said same-sex couples and particularly women are more likely to share domestic labour equally and this means there is less conflict.
Gay and lesbian people are also more likely to feel part of a community, and this could enhance their self-esteem and allow them to experience higher levels of wellbeing.
They could also be more invested in their relationships given the personal and institutional barriers that they have to overcome as members of a sexual minority.
The research also found bisexuals experienced lower relationship quality than gay, lesbian and heterosexual people. The authors claim this could be due to bisexuality being a silenced and invisible sexual identity, with bisexuals not fitting into the gay or lesbian communities or the heterosexual majority.
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Home Faith Having Faith in God Does Not Mean Leaving Your Brains at the Door
By: Tania Harris
Christians can have a reputation for being simple-minded. People could be forgiven for accusing those of us who believe in a virgin birth and a resurrection for being ignorant about what really goes on in the world.
But the accusation also reveals a misunderstanding of what it means to have faith. People tend to think that believing in God means leaving your brains at the door. Faith and intellect are seen as kind of a see-saw, where having more of one means less of the other.
I was asked about this again recently, having just put the final touches on my PhD in practical theology. How do you balance your faith with academics? The question itself reveals a misunderstanding of the two. Intellect and faith are not mutually exclusive. You can have both or you can have neither. What we need is a clear understanding of both.
Smart People who Believe in God?
The polarisation of faith and intellect is typically associated with the scientific community. Atheists often rail against people of faith for their simplistic understanding of the empirical world. But having faith is not a denial of the nature of the universe or the laws that govern it. It's easily forgotten that the field of science actually began when Christian thinkers saw patterns in the world around them. It was their faith in the God who brought "chaos" into order (Gen 1) that led them to study the laws of the natural world. You can "believe" in science, while still believing in the Creator of science.
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But the idea of faith and intellect as incompatible is not only present in the science world. Oddly enough, even Christians make enemies of the two. You see it in my own church tradition, the Australian Christian Churches (ACC). As a denomination, we believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to access the same miraculous power and presence of God as the early church. In fact our original label was "Pentecostal", because the day the Holy Spirit fell on the church two thousand years ago coincided with the Jewish feast of Pentecost (Acts 2). So Pentecostals are known for their belief that God can still speak to people, perform healings and even raise the dead.
It's in the Pentecostal church that you see the same confusion about the relationship between intellect and faith as in the science community. It began in the early stages of the movement. Here in Australia, Pentecostalism began among the working classes. Their faith in miracles was in stark contrast to the mainstream churches who believed that supernatural phenomena were no longer accessible in contemporary times. So, the miracles of yesterday became the metaphors of today – they were seen as important for confirming Jesus' message back then, but not the norm for what God could do now. In response to this, somehow the idea caught on among Pentecostals that the lack of faith for miracles in the established church was largely due to their higher levels of education. Too much knowledge it seemed, led to a rationalisation of the supernatural. High levels of education came to be associated with low levels of faith. This is an idea that still occurs among Pentecostals today. In fact there will be some sectors of the church where my PhD qualification will act as a barrier to my credibility as a minister!
Like an Apple and a Frog
So how do we reconcile faith and intellect? What we first need to recognise is that the two are not in the same category. It's a bit like trying to compare an apple to a frog or a tree to a kangaroo – they are of a completely different genre. This is because one involves the head and the other involves the heart. "Faith" in simple terms, is believing what God has said (Romans 10:17). It is neither a denial of the natural world, nor an embrace of it as the totality of our lives. It recognises that humanity is spiritual as much as natural. It acknowledges the presence of God while not denying the reality of creation.
This understanding of faith and intellect means that the two can happily co-exist. You can have faith and knowledge. We see this among the early apostles. Paul was an intellectual and highly educated, having been trained by one of the leading scholars of his day (Phil 3:5Acts 22:3). Peter, on the other hand, was an "unschooled, ordinary" man (Acts 4:13), an ex-fisherman who found Paul's writings sometimes too difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:16). Yet both Peter and Paul had faith in a supernatural God. They both saw incredible miracles in their lives and were instrumental in the establishment of the church. Their testimonies remind us that faith and academics are not mutually exclusive.
This differentiation between faith and intellect also has implications for how we live. It means that as Christians, we engage the mind, use common sense and do our homework before making decisions and forming theology. But it also means that we do not live only according to natural laws. For a Christian, healings, supernatural provision and prophetic experience are part of everyday life. We are called to live beyond the commonsense realm. This life of faith will look "irrational" at times (like believing in the resurrection of someone that's been dead for three days), but it shouldn't be surprising if we believe in a supernatural deity. Being a Christian doesn't mean taking leave of our senses, but rather fully engaging them, as well as experiencing things we will never be able to explain. That's what makes it worth it.
Enjoyed this article? For more on this topic, listen to the interview on the "Sunday Night" program of ABC Radio here. Tania, Rev Dr. Ps. Lynn Moresi and Rev Dr. John Capper reflect on the interaction between intellect and faith in Pentecostal churches.
Article supplied with thanks to God Conversations.
Feature image: Photo by Hannah Wei on Unsplash