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Johnson looking for first rivalry win
By By Chris Kamrani, Asst. Sports Editor
By Chris Kamrani, Asst. Sports Editor
Since quarterback Brian Johnson's arrival in 2004, Utah has only beaten its archrival once.
During that game, Johnson wasn't even on the field.
Utah's historic 52-21 victory over BYU in 2004 was the final stamp that allowed the Utes to be the first mid-major conference team to earn a Bowl Championship Series berth.
This season, the Utes stand at the same crossroads the 2004 Utes did.
The No. 8, 11-0 Utes have endured close calls, come-from-behind victories and blowouts, but the 10-1 Cougars stand in their way of yet another season of perfection and another trip to a BCS bowl.
"I think this team is staying fairly confident in its abilities," Johnson said. "We knew we have a shot to be pretty good. We have understood that we have to work extremely hard, and this has been the result so far."
Following the historic season four years ago, Johnson has seen his fair share of ups and downs during his time at the University of Utah.
Johnson was unable to get onto the field in the 2005-2006 season because of an untimely injury. Facing New Mexico in the second-to-last game of Johnson's 2005 campaign, his successful freshman year came to an end because of an ACL tear.
The decision came down to whether he should take his available medical redshirt.
Johnson's choice was one made for the future possibility that a season like 2008 could happen.
Although this year has been a roller-coaster ride for the Utes, it has also been memorable for the fifth-year senior from the Houston suburb of Baytown, Texas.
Despite receiving criticism, Johnson has had his hand in the cookie jar in terms of making this season what it is for the Utes.
"(Johnson's) record speaks for itself," said head coach Kyle Whittingham. "His win-loss record, which as I've said many times, in my opinion the win-loss record for a quarterback is the greatest measure."
Johnson's stat line is not astronomical by any means, but it's the play of the senior in the clutch that stands out to those potential doubters.
In two games this season, Johnson has made the improbable a reality and silenced those who have doubted his ability to lead.
One term that has grown synonymous with Utah's No. 3 is "winner," especially when it counts.
"Brian Johnson's poise and confidence is the starting point," Whittingham said. "Everyone around him believes in him getting it done."
His lone game against Brigham Young University came last season after the Utes started the season a dismal 1-3 but rebounded with a seven-game winning streak before going up against the Cougars.
Johnson threw 17-for-29 and 129 yards, including two interceptions. While Utah's defense was stellar, BYU running back Harvey Unga punched it in the end zone with 38 seconds left, leaving the Utes on the wrong end of a 17-10 final.
This season will be no different from the past four.
Tthe Mountain West Conference Championship is on the line once again for the two rivals.
Just as they did in 2004, the Cougars have a chance to spoil the Utes' unblemished record and their dreams of dancing in the BCS.
This year's BYU team has marched to a 10-1 record, in large part a product of its high-octane offense. The lone stain was the Oct. 16 game that left the then-No. 9 Cougars scratching their heads as their nation-leading 16-game winning streak came crashing down to earth at the hands of Texas Christian University.
The 32-7 loss ruined BYU's "Quest for Perfection," but head coach Bronco Mendenhall's No. 1 task will be bouncing Utah's own quest at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"You've gotta find out what you're made of when your back's against the wall and in tough situations," Johnson said. "When you're able to get it done, I think that says a lot about the player and the team."
The rivalry has been nothing short of dramatic for the past two seasons, and no realistic Utah or BYU fan could expect anything less from this year's historic matchup.
For each of the past four years, there has been something on the line for both teams.
This season is no different, as the Utes are hoping to channel some of the magic of 2004 while the Cougars are hoping to put out the flame that burns bright in Salt Lake City.
One thing is certain8212;Johnson will be ready to finish off the task at hand, and BYU fans better hope it's not in a potential two-minute drill situation.
When asked why he is so successful within the two-minute mark, Johnson responded, "(I) don't ask questions. Just go."
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TikTok & Instagram influencers exposed for renting fake private jet set
Instagram / maisonmeIissa (Twitter)
A plethora of TikTok & Instagram influencers have been exposed for renting the set of a fake private jet in a bid to show off a lavish and luxury lifestyle on social media.
Instagram influencers have taken the world by storm. With the biggest celebrities from around the globe earmarked to be making over $1 million per post.
But, not all of these popular influencers are as rich or live as luxurious lives as it might seem, as it has emerged that some have been renting the set of a private jet to mimic the lifestyle of the richest on the planet.
maisonmeIissa (Twitter)
Lights, camera, action… Not quite the jet-set lifestyle shown on social media.
Instagram & TikTok influencers exposed
On September 25, a list of social media influencers was revealed, all of them using the exact same set to try and portray the luxury lifestyle most can only dream of.
Read more: TikTok influencer Benji Krol responds to grooming allegations
Twitter user 'maisonmeIissa' exposed the fake set, showing a side-by-side comparison of the set versus the surrounding studio — with the set being located inside what appears to be a typical studio.
"It's crazy that anything you're looking at could be fake. The setting, the clothes, the body… idk it just kind of shakes my reality a bit," Melissa said in her status.
Nahhhhh I just found out LA ig girlies are using studio sets that look like private jets for their Instagram pics. It's crazy that anything you're looking at could be fake. The setting, the clothes, the body… idk it just kinda of shakes my reality a bit lol. pic.twitter.com/u0RsOnyEEk
— melissa (@maisonmeIissa) September 25, 2020
Where to rent fake Instagram private jet set
The set, called 'Olympia 4' is located in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Available for $64 per hour, the fake set comes complete with artificial lighting, to give the full effect of being sky high… When, in reality, that couldn't be further from the truth.
Read more: Charli D'Amelio & JLo have adorable FaceTime after filming music video
Per the description, the studio offers more than just a fake jet: "This fabulous 700 square-foot studio with both private jet setup and an area for e-commerce/simple portraits shoots."
Why make it when you can just fake itpic.twitter.com/6tQiikidVr
— DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 25, 2020
With the post doing the rounds and going viral on social media, even the likes of Lil Nas joined in on the action, with an obvious photoshop of him in the set captioned "thankful for it all."
thankful for it all ❤? pic.twitter.com/JfHvLaaMph
— nope (@LilNasX) September 25, 2020
Of course, given the accessibility of the set in Los Angeles, it's likely that this isn't the only one of its kind.
So with that said, it just goes to show that anything that is seen on social media should be just taken with a grain of salt.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Książę Gabriel z Nassau, urodzony Antony (Gabriel Michael Louis Ronny de Nassau, ur. 12 marca 2006 w Genewie) – luksemburski książę z dynastii Burbon-Parmeńskiej, syn księcia Ludwika z Luksemburga i jego małżonki, Tessy Antony-de Nassau; nie zajmuje miejsca w linii sukcesji luksemburskiego tronu.

Książę Gabriel urodził się w Genewie jako pierwsze dziecko księcia Ludwika z Luksemburga i jego partnerki, Tessy Antony.

Po urodzeniu otrzymał nazwisko matki, ponieważ jego rodzice nie byli wówczas w związku małżeńskim. Po ich ślubie w 2006 jego nazwisko zmieniono na de Nassau. W 2009 wielki książę Henryk nadał mu tytuł Jego Królewskiej Wysokości księcia Nassau.

Poprzez swojego przodka, Jana Wilhelma Friso, księcia Oranii spokrewniony jest ze wszystkimi rodzinami królewskimi i książęcymi panującymi w Europie. Jest wnukiem Henryka, wielkiego księcia Luksemburga.

Mieszka w Londynie.

Powiązania rodzinne
Książę Gabriel urodził się 12 marca 2006 w prywatnej klinice w Genewie.

Jego rodzicami są książę Ludwik z Luksemburga, członek wielkoksiążęcej rodziny Luksemburga i jego żona, Tessy Antony-de Nassau, pochodząca z Luksemburga wojskowa. Ludwik i Tessy rozwiedli się w marcu 2019. Od tej pory książę pozostaje pod opieką matki.

Jego dziadkami są ze strony ojca Henryk, wielki książę Luksemburga, panujący w państwie od 2000 roku i wielka księżna Maria Teresa, mająca kubańskie pochodzenie; natomiast ze strony matki Franciszek Antony i Regina Helena Antony.

Ma młodszego brata, księcia Noaha.

Został ochrzczony w wierze katolickiej dnia 22 kwietnia 2006 w kościele parafialnym w Gilsdorf. Jego rodzicami chrzestnymi zostali Ronny Antony (brat matki) i księżniczka Aleksandra z Luksemburga (siostra ojca).

Członek rodziny książęcej

26 marca 2019 razem z matką i bratem wziął udział w charytatywnym biegu Relay for Life.

4 kwietnia ogłoszono oficjalnie rozwód jego rodziców. Książę Gabriel pozostaje pod opieką matki w Londynie, podczas gdy jego ojciec mieszka w Paryżu.

17 kwietnia wziął udział w swoim pierwszym projekcie charytatywnym, w czasie którego przygotowywał posiłki dla ludzi, przechodzących trudności życiowe w restauracji 40 Dean Street w Londynie.

Genealogia

Przodkowie

Przypisy

Rodzina książęca Luksemburga
Urodzeni w 2006
Ludzie urodzeni w Genewie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This Membership allows international students to experience the typical Dutch student life!
W.S.V. Ceres is the biggest and oldest student association in Wageningen, founded in 1878, with about 800 active members. W.S.V. Ceres has its very own association building right in the centre of Wageningen: a mansion entirely maintained by and meant for our student members. Being this old, Ceres upholds many very typical traditions that are still alive to this day. Some of these correspond with Dutch student traditions that have existed since the 16th century.
Since 2017 Ceres offers the International Membership. This Membership allows international students to experience the typical Dutch student life!
The membership does not tie you to any commitments: instead, it allows you to join some of our activities and traditions that are occurring at Ceres if you are interested in finding out more about the Dutch culture while making the most of your student life here in Wageningen!
You can become a member for a semester or a year. The membership fee is €18.- for a semester and €30.- for a year.
Subscribe during the (winter) AID!


Kochi: Kerala-based Maker Village, the country's largest hardware incubator, has come up with an array of start-ups that employs state-of-the-art technology to address social needs.
As many as 14 startups have lined up at a technology expo at the ongoing TiEcon Kerala 2018 which is the state's largest entrepreneurs' convention. The startups at the two-day event concluding on Saturday display a wide range of technologies that could deal with rural, environmental, healthcare, disaster management and other requirements of society.
For instance, Ascent technologies, a startup incubated at the Maker Village, has come up with a mapping system that can identify the right hospital and doctor as well as the availability of ambulance during an emergency, said Prasad Balakrishnan Nair, CEO, Maker Village.
Yet another startup has developed a portable ECG monitoring system at an affordable rate. Pointing out such technologies are the need of the hour, Prasad explained that such a facility can save a lot of lives in the hinterlands where ECG monitoring are a rarity. "Only big hospitals are endowed with ECG facilities. Hence, taking such facilities to rural areas can save lots of lives," he said. What's more, this startup is piloted by a woman entrepreneur.
Another interesting product provides a waste water-recycling solution for households. This solution from a company called Ecodew will have applications in apartments, villas and SMEs, especially in the urban areas.
An automated IV solution from Eve labs is the first of its kind in the country, with huge application in cases where there is the need for largescale and long-duration infusion. This product will have excellent application in old-age homes and patients ridden at houses.
The pavilion displays technologies that could be used in disaster management to those that detect symptoms of udder diseases while milking a cow. Artificial intelligence has percolated into people's lives in a way that its importance could not be underplayed anymore, he pointed out. "This does not mean that our focuses are constricted to social causes alone, but a larger market," Nair added.
There are technology startups that are getting ready to make it big in the global market. Cavalier Wireless, a company from Maker Village, offers a solution that gives global connectivity for the IOT devices for the telecom service providers. Cavalier is in talks with a few telecom giants from different parts of the world. The deals are expected to be finalised in three months.
Bangalore-based Ignitarium has started incubating its automated asset and people tracking solution at Maker Village recently. The solution that leverages Machine Learning is another product targeting global markets.


All Pleasure Is Desirable, Because It Is Pleasing To Us, But Is All Pleasure *Equally* Desirable?
All pleasure may be desirable, because it is pleasure, but does that observation mean that all pleasure is EQUALLY desirable? I don't think that is the correct conclusion. And this would not be because of some outside standard of virtue that some pleasures are more "noble" than others, but as simple as observing that some pleasures are more long-lasting, or intense, than others, under our individual circumstances.
Here I think we need to consider PD9 "If every pleasure had been capable of accumulation, not only over time but also over the entire body or at least over the principal parts of our nature, then pleasures would never differ from one another."
PD3 states "Pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of all sources of pain. When such pleasure is present, for as long as it lasts, there is no cause of physical nor mental pain present – nor of both together."
So therefore, to say that some pleasures are more pleasurable than others is to say that some pleasures are better capable of removing sources of pain than others.
To make this claim would mean that complete freedom from pain is unattainable, because surely the only pleasure capable of the utter annihilation of any pain would be that perfect pleasure which does not exist. Is this the correct implication?
1. Pleasures differ, certainly in intensity and duration and probably in other ways as well. Also, pleasure does not exist in the air apart from things / experiences that we find pleasing, and certainly some things we find pleasing are more efficient at removing certain types of pain than others.
2. I would say that for a human complete freedom from pain IS unattainable, at least over any significant period of time. The part of your point beginning "because surely..." seems to me to be a false deduction from the meaning of "absence of pain," which I contend to be (even in concept) only a state of unadulterated combination of ordinary pleasure. However your question is excellent because it exposes an inherent conceptual fragility with the "absence of pain is a state other and higher than ordinary pleasure" construct.
But I say this is "only on first thought" and i will be very interested in your further comment. I consider my point 1 to be firm, my point 2 is less so at least in part because point 2 is more abstract.
Pending your response Pivot, let me emphasize that I believe the key to unwrapping this excellent question is "pleasure does not exist in the air apart from things / experiences that we find pleasing." Pleasures do not exist "in the air" waiting for us to come across them and experience them. It seems to me that "pleasure" is the name we give to any number of experiences which our faculty of pleasure at any particular moment tells us is "pleasing" - meaning, our faculty of feeling tells us that this experience is desirable in and of itself.
And because experiences are innumerable in type, the only sense in which "perfect pleasure" exists is when our total experience of feeling, which generally contains some combination of pleasures and pains like jellybeans in a jar (distinct, but taking up place in the jar), contains only pleasurable jelly beans and no painful jelly beans. Now I think this definition of "perfect pleasure" can exist for at least short periods, but viewed in this way "perfect pleasure" is not a single jelly bean of some unusually potent type which can be snatched from the air or otherwise exist in human experience. Human experience is limited to vessels full of pleasures from which all pains have been (temporarily) eliminated.
And again, in my view, the real purpose of this discussion to Epicurus was to illustrate "the" goal, and to show a goal that met Platonic/other objections that pleasure could not be the goal because it can always be increased. When we take into account that a human life is like a vessel / jar, and that it has a definite limit in size which cannot be expanded, then we have a construction of "fullness of pleasure" which is serves as a conceptual framework to illustrate our goal for life.
I look forward to continuing this discussion because the issues are so important. Also, I hope we will get others to weigh in on this as soon as they can, as well.
To continue adding to thoughts here, it has been suggested to me by a friend that certainly the natural and necessary pleasures are not interchangeable. Each one has to be enjoyed to the maximum, assuming that this is possible.
I then responded to my friend: "Ok I certainly agree on interchangeability. But perhaps the greater question is: "What in Epicurean philosophy would tell us to enjoy wine (for example) when it is available without outweighing pain rather than stick to our water all the time?" Certainly parts of the letter to Menoeceus COULD be read to say that, but I do not believe that to be the meaning. And I presume you don't either - none of us do that. But we do not want to accept the implication that we are poor Epicureans in doing so. What Epicurean principle(s) are best used to override that implication, which is so popular today?
Why I see this question as important: It seems to me that this question is sort of a variation of that quote from DeWitt where the Platonist said "What, in a word, is to be said of a philosophy that begins by regarding pleasure as the only positive good and ends by emptying pleasure of all positive content?"
The twist here is "What, in a word, is to be said of a philosophy that begins by regarding pleasure as the only positive good, but ends by seeking the minimal amount of pleasure that is available without any exertion?"
If some pleasures are greater than others, then surely some pleasures are worth many multiples of the pain they require, and given the shortness of life should we not be pursuing those pleasures with all the vigor we can put into it?
And that is what I see as the deeper implication of your question, Pivot. If no pleasure is any more pleasing than any other, then the shortness of life is irrelevant, and it makes no difference whether we derive our pleasures while living in a cave staring at a candle, or on the summit of a mountain taking all the awesome beauties Nature has to offer.
Very interesting thoughts Cassius. I will do my best to try to understand them and offer an interpretation.
That "pleasure reaches its maximum limit at freedom from pain." If this is the case, pleasures must be ranked based on their capacity to achieve freedom from pain. But as you have illustrated with the water-wine example, two pleasures which are equally capable of removing the pain of thirst differ in their ability to please. And still, other drinks may be more pleasurable than wine which are equally capable of removing pain, and so forth. So why is it that pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of pain, unless one can claim that any increase in pleasure is simply an increase in freedom from pain (which seems untrue)?
A nuance I have found in our discussion is the difference between "perfect pleasure" and "perfect freedom from pain." It seems to me they are the same according to PD3; however, what of the man whose IV is injected with morphine, versus the man who is satisfied minimally in that all of his sources of pain are eliminated? One man is experiencing greater pleasure than the other.
Perhaps it is that, practically in one's life, it is a mistake to pursue pleasure beyond freedom from pain, because both the toil to achieve such pleasures and the anxieties accompanying them will render them, in the end, "un-free" from pain. Therefore we should let them come to us, but we should not seek them.
I would contest then the idea that the vessel of human life cannot be expanded. Or if it cannot, that perfect pleasure exists when it is full. If pleasure is simply dopamine, then the amount we experience can range anywhere from a drink of water to methamphetamine. If freedom from pain is when the vessel is full - and absent of pain - then the pleasure of methamphetamine would somehow overflow the vessel, which is not possible. Thus it must either need to be able to expand, or the vessel must be large enough to allow for the pleasures of even the most intense sort.
It seems to me the vessel is extremely large, and freedom from pain is when the only items in the vessel are pleasurable ones, and no painful ones remain. Although the vessel is not full, attempting to fill the vessel with excess pleasures would only result in pain in the long run, as the drug mentioned would. So it is not a problem that the vessel is not full, it is enough that it consists of no pain.
Thank you for the very detailed continuation. I will try to do each point justice, but I think our different conclusions stem from very different premises.
Several times in your comments I observe comments which to me seem to focus on pain. For example, I would not agree with "pleasures must be ranked based on their capacity to achieve freedom from pain." I see pleasures as being very subjective, and I would not presume to judge someone else's ranking. If someone wants to give up years of life in order to spend five minutes "on the mountaintop" because he finds that pleasure so intense as to be worthwhile, I would not presume to second-guess that choice, and I do not believe Epicurus would either. "And even as men choose of food not merely and simply the larger portion, but the more pleasant, so the wise seek to enjoy the time which is most pleasant and not merely that which is longest."
So when you write "because both the toil to achieve such pleasures and the anxieties accompanying them will render them, in the end, "un-free" from pain" I simply look at the goal totally differently. The goal as I understand Epicurus is pleasure - which is not an abstraction or a state, but pleasureable living - the accumulating of common ordinary pleasurable experiences. I wish to purchase those with as little pain as possible, but as a human being it is not possible to live without pain. I minimize it to the extent possible, but I am not here to escape pain as my primary goal - my primary goal is to experience pleasure, without which no pain would be worthwhile.
As for this "I would contest then the idea that the vessel of human life cannot be expanded" I should be clear. When I say "cannot be expanded" I mean simply that at SOME point it is ended by death. Within that scope there is a huge variety of length and experiences - some never escape childhood, some live past 100. There is a limit set by death, but a wide variety of time within that.
Also I never would see it fair to speak in these terms: "If pleasure is simply dopamine" While it is true that the effect of pleasure is to crowd out pain, that is not the PURPOSE of pleasure. Pleasure is desirable in itself; the crowding out of pain is secondary.
"So it is not a problem that the vessel is not full, it is enough that it consists of no pain." And this is the position that calls out to me ; "Then why not commit suicide?" There is certainly no pain in being dead, and if "absence of pain" taken literally and without reference to pleasure, is the overriding goal, then a quick death is exactly the ticket.
All discussions like this are extremely helpful - at least to me - because this is a huge difference in perspective. People who come from such different perspectives may never agree, but it is very helpful to articulate the difference in perspective as clearly as possible.
But I do want to repeat that I think what we are discussing is the most important topic possible for people studying Epicurus to discuss.
I focus on pain because of Epicurus' idea that maximum pleasure is freedom from pain. He has stated "For the end of all our actions is to be free from pain and fear, and, when once we have attained all this, the tempest of the soul is laid[...]" I would agree with you that pleasures are very subjective, so a universal ranking would be inappropriate. You bring up an interesting point in the man toiling five years for five minutes on the mountaintop.
The five minutes is likely in the "natural but unnecessary for happiness" category. Didn't Epicurus also believe that we should not seek that which is unnecessary for happiness, but we should enjoy them if they were to come to us? I would differentiate this from toiling for family, friends, or a fulfilling career, because these things may very well be necessary for happiness for some. There is also an interpretation of the "natural/unnatural and necessary/unnecessary" categories, which bases them on survival instead of on happiness, but both are valid (which Epicurus recognizes in his letter to Menoeceus). The man toiling for five years for this brief pleasure of the mountaintop is lacking a tranquility of mind for these five years in doing so. A desire which would result in five years of the lack of ἀταραξια seems to be one that Epicurus would second-guess.
If the goal for Epicurus is pleasure, and if "pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of all sources of pain," is the goal not then complete freedom from pain?
but because it is sweet to observe those evils which you lack yourself."
This is the sort of pleasure which death or sleep could not provide.
I erred if I tried to argue that freedom from pain in the absence of any pleasure whatsoever is desirable. But I do think freedom from pain always results in pleasure in any practical sense.
Let me know what you think about this, I always appreciate the different perspective.
1. As usual, this is the issue: "Epicurus' idea that maximum pleasure is freedom from pain." -- Our disagreement is that I believe Epicurus clearly did not mean this statement in the way you interpret it, in terms of "every respect equivalent." As PD3 says, "The magnitude (quantity) of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain." "Absence of pain" is a measure of quantity, and quantity is only one aspect of pleasure, and not the most important aspect. "And even as men choose of food not merely and simply the larger portion, but the more pleasant, so the wise seek to enjoy the time which is most pleasant and not merely that which is longest."
2. "Didn't Epicurus also believe that we should not seek that which is unnecessary for happiness, but we should enjoy them if they were to come to us?" To this I would say NO - if by the question you mean this to be THE overriding rule. It is clearly "a" rule by which we should structure our lives to be sure that we do not enslave ourselves to desires that we cannot achieve. But "greater pleasure" is the goal and even that rule - and all choices - are governed by the final goal - greater pleasure. "And since pleasure is our first and native good, for that reason we do not choose every pleasure whatsoever, but will often pass over many pleasures when a greater annoyance ensues from them. And often we consider pains superior to pleasures when submission to the pains for a long time brings us as a consequence a greater pleasure."
3 - "If the goal for Epicurus is pleasure, and if "pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of all sources of pain," is the goal not then complete freedom from pain? " -- YES BUT - only in terms of quantity! If one confuses quantity for quality, then one has confused the goal just as surely as the stoic who confuses "virtue" for the goal.
4 - Now, as to being free from pain being pleasurable, we do indeed agree, but the overriding premise here is "for the living." This is where DeWitt emphasises the point that pleasure, pain, etc. have no meaning except for the living! If we are alive there is nothing mysterious about what we are doing - we are at least going about the daily affairs of life in which we find pleasure if we allow ourselves to and if our circumstances do not prevent it. Clearly, life is worth living at whatever stage we find ourselves, unless we are forced to be in continuing unbearable pain without hope of relief. Life is desirable " And he who admonishes the young to live well and the old to make a good end speaks foolishly, not merely because of the desirability of life, but because the same exercise at once teaches to live well and to die well. Much worse is he who says that it were good not to be born, but when once one is born to pass quickly through the gates of Hades. For if he truly believes this, why does he not depart from life? It would be easy for him to do so once he were firmly convinced. If he speaks only in jest, his words are foolishness as those who hear him do not believe."
5 - Now here you are separating yourself from the more crusading ( ) of those who focus on "absence of pain" as the full Epicurean definition of "the highest pleasure." I refer to when you say: "I erred if I tried to argue that freedom from pain in the absence of any pleasure whatsoever is desirable. But I do think freedom from pain always results in pleasure in any practical sense." My observation is that most of the time the "no pain" argument is combined with the katastematic/static pleasure argument, and the position taken is that "absence of pain" ("katastematic pleasure") is some new and higher "state" totally separate from the normal pleasures of life, totally separate from any sensual pleasure that can be named, or in your term a "practical" pleasure - and in fact - not a sensual pleasure itself. If you are not going in that direction it will not be necessary to elaborate, but for anyone else reading this thread, this argument is frequently found on the internet, but the opposite position is taken in Boris Nikolsky's "Epicurus on Pleasure," in the section on Epicurus in Gosling & Taylors "The Greeks on Pleasure" and in various other resources that can be pointed to here.
Oh - here it is - you wrote: "So why is it that pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of pain, unless one can claim that any increase in pleasure is simply an increase in freedom from pain (which seems untrue)?"
I think that is a KEY point that also leads to very divergent views. To me, it is crucially foundational to emphasize that Epicurus stressed that there are ONLY two categories of feelings - pleasure and pain. In any measurement system, if the universe is composed of only two components, then in rigorous terms YES - the absence of one IS exactly the measure of the presence of the other, and vice versa. I believe that if one starts with this canonical proposition a lot of confusion is addressed. "Pleasure" = "absence of pain" becomes an obvious truism and absolutely non mystical, just as in the jelly bean jar analogy one can judge the quantity by saying "jelly beans" = "absence of air" and "absence of air" = "jelly beans." YES, this is true in terms of quantity, but the effect of eating air is much different than the effect of eating jelly beans!
IF one starts with this proposition, which I believe derives from the logical arguments that Epicurus was using against the Platonists (as referenced here) then the "problem" of evaluating the "absence off pain" statements in the letter to Menoeceus and PD3 evaporates. As I see it, the reason PD3 is so highly placed is for exactly that reason. The PDs were ordered largely in terms of priority of who most urgently needed to be defeated in argument (in education).
PD1 - the religionists who say that god controls human affairs must be defeated by showing that gods are unconcerned with men.
PD2 - pretty much everyon who argues that death is a state of suffering to be avoided at all costs (such as by the adoption of false philosophies of virtue) must be defeated by showing that death is absence of sensation, and all evil comes through sensation.
PD3 - the Platonists and others who argue that pleasure cannot be the guide of life because it can never be satisfied, that there is always a "higher" amount to which we would like to achieve, and that pleasure can always be improved must be defeated by showing a logical argument that there IS a limit to the pleasure which can be experienced in human life, and that the limit is the total elimination of pain from our experience. This becomes the logical "goal" which replaces serving gods, virtue, etc as the statement of the "divine guide of life" as Lucretius called it.
I think the problem has largely arisen because the context of PD3 - the necessity to meet and defeat the arguments of Plato in Philebus and elsewhere, have dropped from sight, and people no longer see the relevance of the argument. Thus the "absence of pain" argument has been left as a "floating abstraction" without anchoring to practicality, leaving it a ready tool for those who want to distort it into a Stoic sword. Obviously this problem existed in Cicero's time as well, since he makes use of it to argue that Epicurus was confusing, but back then everyone knew that Epicureans embraced "ordinary" pleasures and lived active lives (reference Atticus, Cassius, and Lucretius and Epicurus themselves in terms of their crusading spirit). But as the texts were lost and Stoic/Christian ethical viewpoints took power by fire and sword, the essential context fell further and further away to the point where today it is a major challenge to even get anyone to consider it.
"To me, it is crucially foundational to emphasize that Epicurus stressed that there are ONLY two categories of feelings - pleasure and pain. In any measurement system, if the universe is composed of only two components, then in rigorous terms YES - the absence of one IS exactly the measure of the presence of the other, and vice versa."
There are many times I think pleasure and pain come together, such as when one feels both happy and sad at the same time.
Using the jelly bean analogy, it started with pleasurable jelly beans and painful jelly beans, not one type of jelly bean and air. Two jars could have only painful jelly beans, but one jar could have twice as many painful jelly beans as the other.
To use a different analogy (I hope this will not be confusing), consider someone colorblind to the color blue, so they only see red and green. More red does not undo green, but blends with green to make yellow. Less green and twice that amount of red blends to make orange. However, one cannot truly see red at its maximum if green is in the way since they would see shades of yellow, gold, or orange and not red.
I realize this perspective may be in violation of PD3. That is likely because I do not understand PD3 nor "the Platonists and others who argue that pleasure cannot be the guide of life because it can never be satisfied".
It sounds like both of you have learned much from your discussion. However, I think this thread has drifted from its original topic: "All pleasure may be desirable, . . . but is all pleasure is equally desirable?".
I think Epicurus taught different pleasures have different desirabilities.
"To those who are able to reason it out, the highest and surest joy is found in the stable health of the body and a firm confidence in keeping it" (Peter Saint-Andre's Selected Fragments, 68, http://monadnock.net/epicurus/fragments.html).
"The noble man is chiefly concerned with wisdom and friendship; of these, the former is a mortal good, the latter an immortal one" (Vatican Sayings, 78).
"I think Epicurus taught different pleasures have different desirabilities." <<< Yes Daniel and you and I are totally in agreement with that. I think that Pivot, however, was stating a different position, at least initially.
Now here - "There are many times I think pleasure and pain come together, such as when one feels both happy and sad at the same time." That is definitely the case, but the issue I think Epicurus was aiming at is whether the two (pleasure and pain) are a mixture into a new third substance, or whether they retain their discrete qualities (sort of like oil and water, which can be shaken together but don't really mix.
Before I go further on that point let me ask you this: Have you read Norman DeWitt's Epicurus and His Philosophy which is discussed throughout this site? if you have not, I urge you to get that book, as it presents Epicurean philosophy in a systematic way that I don't think is equaled by any other book. Of course you may disagree with some of its interpretations, and of course you may disagree with Epicurus on something, but it's not possible to decide whether you agree or disagree til you really understand Epicurus' position.
Having said that, my reading from DeWitt and elsewhere indicates that this issue of mixing of pleasure and pain is very deep, and arises from arguments started by Plato and others to which Epicurus was responding. Possibly you are not concerned with the issue of "only two - pleasure and pain" as much as you are concerned with whether they "mix." In order to understand that you will need to fall back to what Plato was arguing AGAINST the idea of using pleasure and pain as the guide of life, and that is more complicated than I can address in this post.
Let me know if you have the time and inclination to pursue that, because if you do (and I very much recommend it) there are a couple of sources you will want to read. one of them is Gosling and Taylor's "The Greeks on pleasure" which is not easy to find, but is available through any library. that book traces the history of the arguments about pleasure from the beginning up through Epicurus, and I think it is pretty much indispensable to understanding the big picture. But I would not recommend you start there - if you have not read it, I recommend starting with DeWitt, after which you will have the global view and then be in much better position to check this very detailed issue.
Also, SOME of the aspects of this issue are discussed on my page here but I have not succeeded in polishing that to the point it needs to be - it is currently more of a list of points rather than a good narrative argument.
Don't let my stopping at this point in the post discourage you. If you are motivated to pursue this there are many aspects to discuss and I would like nothing more than to follow along with you as you check these sources, and I am sure I would learn from discussing it with you as you go through. This is a tremendously important issue and far too few people are interested in it.
I could not agree more that this is an extremely important issue because of the implications of each of our viewpoints. It's an argument about the best way to live in the end - a life free from pain, or a life minimizing pain but striving for pleasures?
It can be reasonably assumed Epicurus underwent significant struggle and difficulty in creating and defending these doctrines which have survived for millennia. If he were to weigh freedom from pain as the highest pleasure, wouldn't he have been better off to live a withdrawn life free from all struggles?
I would say no. Perhaps to be free from pain, Epicurus NEEDED to do these things and go through these struggles (ie, natural and necessary desire). To live any other way would leave him unfulfilled and in a state of constant pain or emptiness. Perhaps his motivation was freedom from pain, too.
1. I agree that absence of pain is a measure of quantity in that the quantity of painful experiences is 0 or near 0. "But nothing is more delightful than to possess sanctuaries which are lofty, peaceful, and well fortified by the teachings of the wise" (DRN 2.7). Sanctuaries of course meaning freedom from pain. I do not think that quote from the Letter to Menoeceus contradicts this. Before it reads: "The thought of life is no offense to him, nor is the cessation of life regarded as an evil." I do not think this quote is saying that intensity of pleasure outweighs freedom from pain, as freedom from pain is not necessarily implied in the longer lifespan. I agree in that it says magnitude trumps length.
2. The quote "And often we consider pains superior to pleasures when submission to the pains for a long time brings us as a consequence a greater pleasure" is in congruence with the interpretation that freedom from pain is the most important consideration, I believe. Let us imagine a simple case where a man must farm wheat and slaughter cattle to have food for his family. This is a pain he chooses because the pleasure afterwards outweighs it. To be most free from pain, the man must pursue this inconvenience.
There is a distinction between types of pleasure: natural and necessary, natural and unnecessary, unnatural and necessary, and unnatural and unnecessary. It is advisable to go through pain for a greater pleasure when that pleasure is natural and necessary, such as food for one's family. However, when you suggest that natural and unnecessary pleasures should be sought out, implying that it is okay to desire them, I have to disagree. I have gathered that you are a very strict utilitarian when it comes to these things – greater pleasure should always be sought and desired. I do not think Epicurus believes this – I think he believes natural and unnecessary pleasures should not be desired, nor sought except at intervals; in fact, this is one of his most beautiful and enlightening doctrines that I've come to admire. But allow me to extend an olive branch before making my argument that this is indeed what Epicurus believes: I would say that Epicurus believes that seeking for natural and unnecessary pleasures is NOT maximizing OVERALL greater pleasure.
A costly diet would be a natural and unnecessary desire. Epicurus says here that removing the desire for unnecessary pleasures (ie, a costly diet) is a better condition because of two reasons. 1) It allows us to take pleasure in unnecessary desires at intervals, because if we no longer desire them then their deprivation will not cause pain. 2) It protects us from fortune, which is fickle.
Your claim is that freedom from pain = pleasure. I agree that being free from pain is A pleasure. But I 100% disagree that in increasing pleasure we are becoming increasingly free from pain. Pain is a positive experience. If we break our leg, we feel pain. It is not like air in a jar, where if you remove some pleasurable experience, more pain manifests itself. That is why I disagree with the jar analogy. If I remove jelly beans (pleasurable experiences) from the jar, I create more air in the jar (pain). That is false on the face of it the way I see it. If I'm eating ice cream and I finish the ice-cream, thereby ending that pleasurable experience, am I creating pain? The jelly bean was removed, and air filled its place, so according to your model I would be creating pain by finishing my ice cream.
Forgive me also if I have argued different things in different posts - I am working these issues out and growing as I talk about them, and I wouldn't want to limit myself to something I said if I believe it to be wrong later.
That is a very articulate post Pivot, thank you! I would first say that I think much of the importance of this question is what is "Unsaid" and thereby the possibility of confusion. I gather that you firmly equate in your mind "absence of pain" as a pleasurable experience, and, therefore, you have no issue considering the concepts to be largely interchangeable. You identify pleasure in absence of pain which therefore makes it desirable.
I do not believe that "most people" think in those terms, and because they do not the use of this phrasing is dangerous. It is my observation that "most people" today are so much under the influence of "virtue ethics" or the idea that "meaning" must come from something other than the feeling of pleasure, that they are unable to interpret "absence of pain" as anything other than a form of nihilism, which is a tremendous danger. Nihilism adds up to the negation of pleasure and the negation of life, and I believe Epicurus did or would have considered its modern form to be a major enemy.
So while I have no issue with discussing absence of pain if the premise is clear that we are talking about one of many forms of pleasure, I think that "many" people are not in fact doing that - those who do it intentionally are using deceptive wording to imply that there is something in life they believe is more desirable than pleasurable feeling that is separate and distinct from pleasure. And thus they reconcile Epicurus with stoicism or idealism or whatever is their favored form of "meaning."
So given my last post I do agree with much or most of what you wrote, which I see as very appropriate comparison of costs and benefits . As I see it, however, the issue where this discussion helps the most is in articulating and preparing for the question that I think exists in every new student of Epicurus when they first hear the discussion and think to themselves "What does he mean by 'absence of pain?'"
I think unless we take great pains to clarify this early, most normal and healthy young people will naturally be put off by what they will see as the apparent anti pleasure pro ascetic bias of the terminology, which conveys a meaning that I do not think Epicurus in fact intended to convey.
Choose pleasurable activities carefully so as not to suffer unnecessary significant pain that in your context "outweighs" the pleasure? Absolutely YES.
Choose pleasurable activities ONLY if you can be sure that NO pain will result from them? Absolutely NOT, and that implication has to be firmly dismissed.
It is very fortunate that we have reached an agreement Cassius!
I understand what you mean that it can be confusing for the new student to prioritize freedom from pain. The key is certainly in showing that this is pleasurable in itself.
There are many beautiful quotes from De Rerum Natura that outline this very eloquently. One of the strongest and most surprising implications of this is that death should not be feared. I've been studying that issue rather intensely lately, of course it is another can of worms entirely.
I very much appreciate the deep back-and-forth on this topic. It has served to make my understanding clearer and more precise, so I must thank you for the wonderful exchange.
You are very welcome Pivot. As a point of information for me, what is your background (if any) in Stoicism? I am interested to know how, from your perspective, you think these ideas compare to what is commonly discussed as stoicism in particular.
Also, did you say how you found this forum? If your experience in how you found it would be of help to us in getting wider exposure for it, please let us know. Most here are from the Facebook page, but not everyone by any means, and we definitely need to expand beyond that.
I used to be very attracted to the ideas of the Stoics. One of my favorite books which had a great effect on me was Seneca's Letters to Lucilius. Indeed I still find it beautiful - specifically, its arguments for why one should not worry, and its meditations on enduring pain and turmoil.
In many ways I find there would be agreement with Epicureanism. Of course, I disagree with its position of virtue as the end of action. That is unable to be reconciled. If one were to consolidate these two ends by claiming that what is virtuous for an Epicurean is what maximizes pleasure, it seems that there is much agreement.
For example, a main tenet of Stoicism is that one must order one's will to be in accord with nature. I would say Epicurus agrees with this. It is natural to pursue pleasure over pain. So ordering one's will towards nature is simply ordering it towards pleasure.
I am not very well acquainted with Stoic philosophy, indeed I have much more to learn about even Epicurean philosophy, but from my perspective I believe there to be a great deal of overlap since virtue, for an Epicurean, may very well be the end if it is what is pleasurable. Like the man who toils to provide food for his family - a virtuous act, but one that he pursues because it is pleasurable.
In fact now that I think about it, this topic is mentioned somewhat in Lucretius. I will restrain myself from quoting a paragraph since there is not a short sound-byte about it, but in Book 3 he mentions that life on earth becomes hell for he who acts outside of what is morally just: "But in this life there exists remarkable fear of punishment for remarkable misdeeds." Apart from great pain in punishment, the fear of being caught having committed a reproachable act often outweighs the pleasure attained from the act.
Oh excellent that you found on google. I am paying for a little Google Adwords advertising so I will keep that up.
And I agree with the rest of your comments too.
Please drop by as often as you can, and especially consider starting new threads in any area of interest. Activity drives activity, and the way to be gods among men is to interact and study nature with like-minded friends!
"But allow me to extend an olive branch before making my argument"
Do not worry, it is difficult to offend me. I felt no offense of any kind as I was reading your post.
I think I interpreted that quote from the Letter to Menoeceus very differently. As always, please correct me if I am wrong.
I think Epicurus was not against having much, but against addicting one's self to having much. I agree with you that one should not "grow acclimated to these unnecessary pleasures, at which point they become our baseline and no longer are as pleasing as they once were".
As long as one fully appreciates having much in some pleasure (a fine taste to enjoy costly meals or a love of big TV screens or a personal library full of enjoyable literature), I think Epicurus would have been fine with them enjoying much.
I have condensed and underlined portions of the quote to better show where my thoughts are coming from.
"regard independence of outward things as a great good, not so as in all cases to use little, but so as to be contented with little . . . To habituate one's self, therefore, to . . . all that is needful for health, . . . enables a man to meet the necessary requirements of life without shrinking, and it places us in a better condition . . . and renders us fearless of fortune."
"Your claim is that freedom from pain = pleasure."
That is not my claim. My claim is pleasure and pain are not defined as the lack of one another - they may both be present at the same time. To clarify that point (thinking the bean jar analogy was unclear), I used an RGB color analogy: "more red does not undo green, but blends with green to make yellow". I have no idea how pleasure and pain blend. Maybe it is heterogeneous, like water and oil shaken together. Maybe it is homogeneous, like hydrogen and oxygen combining to make water.
"I 100% disagree that in increasing pleasure we are becoming increasingly free from pain."
I 100% agree with your disagreement.
"Choose pleasurable activities carefully so as not to suffer unnecessary significant pain that in your context 'outweighs' the pleasure? Absolutely YES.
Choose pleasurable activities ONLY if you can be sure that NO pain will result from them? Absolutely NOT, and that implication has to be firmly dismissed."
Teachings such as this is why I love calculus. Calculus emphasizes there are multiple variables one must consider to find the best solution to a problem. It describes nature so well.
It is great to learn so much from others on the forum! I hope I will help contribute your learning as well.


text:
Players competing in a League of Legends tournament. Image: Bruce Liu via CC BY-SA 3.0
Alexander Martin January 24, 2023
Riot Games receives 'ransom email' for stolen source code following social engineering attack
Riot Games, the video game developer and esports organizer, said on Tuesday that it had received a ransom email following a social engineering attack last week.
"Needless to say, we won't pay," the company's official Twitter account announced.
When the incident was disclosed, Riot Games said that multiple systems in its development environment had been compromised and said the incident had affected its ability to release new content.
In a series of tweets updating gamers, the company said that source code for its popular titles League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics had been exfiltrated during the attack.
It warned that the attack "disrupted our build environment and could cause issues in the future" but stressed "most importantly we remain confident that no player data or player personal information was compromised."
Alongside the source code for its popular games the company said that the attackers stole information relating to "a legacy anticheat platform."
"Truthfully, any exposure of source code can increase the likelihood of new cheats emerging. Since the attack, we've been working to assess its impact on anticheat and to be prepared to deploy fixes as quickly as possible if needed," the company announced.
Riot said the "illegally obtained" code contained "a number of experimental features" which might never have made it into the official games.
"While we hope some of these game modes and other changes eventually make it out to players, most of this content is in prototype and there's no guarantee it will ever be released," the company said.
Both its internal security teams and a "globally recognised external consultant" are evaluating the attack and auditing Riot's systems, the company said, adding that it had notified law enforcement and was "in active cooperation with them as they investigate the attack and the group behind it."
"We're committed to transparency and will release a full report in the future detailing the attackers' techniques, the areas where Riot's security controls failed, and the steps we're taking to ensure this doesn't happen again," the company added.
The cyber incident is one of many impacting the gaming industry. It follows gaming giant Rockstar confirming last September that a hacker had broken into its systems and stolen confidential internal data, including footage from the next installment of its Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series.
The suspected hacker in that incident shared images, videos and source code on a fan forum as evidence that they had accessed the "GTA 5 and 6 source code and assets, GTA 6 testing build."
The Ragnar Locker ransomware group attacked Capcom in 2020 while the Egregor ransomware gang hit both Ubisoft and Crytek. CD Projekt Red – the Polish game developer behind titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher series – was hit by the HelloKitty ransomware group in 2021, and that same year access to Electronic Arts games and servers was put up for sale following a hack.
GoTo says hackers stole encrypted backups during November cyberattack
Ohio town working to restore municipal court systems after cyberattack


German automakers struggling to find ways to get employees to work more hours for the same pay might want to note a North American approach.
General Motors is allowing salaried workers in North America to buy up to five extra vacation days a year for $175 (currently about E144) a day.
GM says the plan is designed to save millions of dollars and boost morale.
GM employees who receive two weeks of vacation a year, standard in the US, especially appreciate the offer.
Ford Motor Co. has a policy of "flex dollars" which allows US workers to buy health and dental insurance. Remaining flex dollars can be used to buy up to 10 extra vacation days.


text:
News Sports Business Life Opinion Obituaries eNewspaper Legals
Nevada Department of Education hires two educators to top posts
Siobhan McAndrew
smcandrew@rgj.com
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga announced Dr. Steven Canavero has been named Deputy Superintendent for Student Achievement. Canavero will oversee the Department's offices and programs most directly aligned with improving student achievement: Assessment, Program Accountability and Curriculum; Career, Technical and Adult Education; and Educational Opportunity.
He is the former Director of the State Public Charter School Authority, teacher and principal. A graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Canavero earned his M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Dena Durish will become the Department's new Director of Educator Effectiveness. Durish will be responsible for the operations of the Department's offices and programs aligned with improving educator effectiveness: Teacher Licensure, the Nevada Educator Performance Framework, Title II-A and Professional Development, and the Commission on Professional Standards.
Durish currently serves as Coordinator of the Employee Onboarding and Development Department with the Clark County School District. She has also worked in higher education and was a teacher. A graduate of Indiana University, Durish earned her M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Both will start in January.
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Andy Duncan (born 21 September 1964) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer whose work frequently deals with Southern U.S. themes.
Duncan was born in Batesburg, South Carolina and graduated from high school from W.W. Wyman King Academy. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and worked for seven years at the Greensboro News & Record. His novelette "Close Encounters" won the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. His novelette "An Agent of Utopia" was a finalist for the 2018 Nebula Award.
Duncan earned an M.A. in creative writing (fiction) from North Carolina State University and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from the University of Alabama. He also attended Clarion West Writers Workshop in 1994.
In Fall 2008, he was hired as an Assistant Professor of English at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, MD.
His fiction has appeared in a number of venues, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, SciFiction, and Escape Pod. He has also published poetry, essays, and reviews.
Duncan currently lives with his wife Sydney in Frostburg, Maryland along with a 17 year old dog Lily, and cats Bella and Hilary.
He was a senior editor at Overdrive, a magazine for truck drivers, from 2003 to 2008.
Duncan was an instructor at Clarion Workshop in 2004 and at Clarion West in 2005.
He has frequently given readings and spoken on panels at such venues as the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, held each spring in Florida.
Duncan starred as the main character, Counter, in a live dramatization of Jeanne Beckwith's one-act play The Back Room, performed with award-winning authors John Kessel and James Morrow, author and scholar Dr. F. Brett Cox, writer and critic Fiona Kelleghan, Sydney Sowers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer expert Dr. Rhonda V. Wilcox. The play was presented at the 17th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, March 19, 1999.
He has won the Theodore Sturgeon Award. and three World Fantasy Awards, and has been nominated for Hugo, Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award. The Night Cache was nominated in the Best Novella category for a 2010 World Fantasy Award.
He won the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novelette for "Close Encounters" featured in The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories. His novelette "An Agent of Utopia" was also a finalist for the 2018 Nebula Award.
^ a b "2012 Nebula Awards Winners". Locus Online News. Locus Publications. 18 May 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
^ a b "Congratulations to the 2012 Nebula Award Winners". Tor.com. Macmillan Publishers. 18 May 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
^ a b "2018 Nebula Finalists Announced". SFWA. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
^ a b "Andy Duncan page at Frostburg State University". Retrieved 6 March 2012.
^ "Andy Duncan: The Story Engine". Locus Online. Locus Publications. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
^ Beckwith, Jeanne (March 19, 1999). "The Back Room". WorldCat. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
^ "The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award". Archived from the original on 19 November 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
^ World Fantasy Convention (2010). "2010 World Fantasy Award Winners & Nominees". Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
This page was last edited on 14 March 2019, at 10:59 (UTC).


These trays for organization will let you conquer home clutter with style!
You know how you can never seem to keep clutter in control? I feel your pain. The moment I clear one pile of mail, a hill of receipts pops up across the room. It's like Whack-A-Mole: Home Edition. Turns out, though, the solution to this universal problem is incredibly simple: Get yourself some trays. Now, I'm not suggesting just any old trays. The secret is in finding some that are made to be seen. They have the magical ability to look good while simultaneously serving as a landing pad for all the random items in your life.
Imagine, for example, strategically placing the pretty printed trio of trays above around your bedroom — one on the nightstand, another on the dresser, the third by the doorway. All of a sudden, the doo-dads and bric-a-brac that have been scattered all over the place will suddenly have a home of their own, and what a home it is! Those formerly messy piles of miscellaneous stuff will now look perfectly, precisely arranged, each on its own little stage.
Repeat the concept in the kitchen to make serving and clearing a less sloppy affair. In the living room, use a few to stash your remotes, rest your drink, and organize your mail. Prop some houseplants on another. Not only does it protect your sideboard from overwatering disasters, it'll anchor your greenery in the room making it look like an intentional part of your design scheme.
Ahead, 15 options that prove all you need to finally conquer the clutter is a whole lot of flair.


HAMBURG — One reason Schumann's "Scenes From Goethe's 'Faust'" is so rarely performed is its hybrid shape: part literary oratorio, part opera. Another handicap is his selections.
While other composers drawn to Goethe's tragedy about a dissatisfied man who makes a pact with the devil have focused on the dark scenes from Part I — Faust's ruinous love for Gretchen and the destructive vortex of events wrought by Mephistopheles — Schumann set his sights on the epilogue in heaven. Here Goethe imagines a metaphysical tug-of-war over Faust's soul that zooms toward redemption in a way that is brainy, sublime and devilishly hard to stage.
An entrancing new production by Achim Freyer for the Hamburg State Opera, though, argues that it's well worth trying. Mr. Freyer, an artist and director with a penchant for dense symbolism, takes a restrained approach to this overlooked gem. He conjures a world that, for all its surreal touches, has a zany beauty that gently smooths over Schumann's dramatic flaws.
Mr. Freyer places the orchestra, choir, children's chorus and most of the soloists on stage behind a black scrim. In front of the scrim, atop where the orchestra pit has been covered, actors in dark clothes and green faces move in slow motion, carrying and rearranging objects: a tin drum, a cutout of a church, the blue flower that was a key symbol of German Romanticism.
Between scrim and covered pit, blocking the audience's view of the conductor, is a stylized copy of "The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog," Caspar David Friedrich's painting of a man, seen from behind, looking out over swirling mists. Mr. Freyer's "Wanderer," though, is missing its head. By stepping behind the copy, Mr. Gerhaher's Faust could merge with the painted seeker — either while gazing through the scrim toward the dark mystery of music, or out at the detritus of life and, beyond, the judgment of the audience.
As with so many classic works of Romanticism, Friedrich's image came to be co-opted by the Nazis as a symbol of national exceptionalism. Thus the duality in Faust — knowledge and destruction — blends with the duality of the Romantic mountaineer who is the model of, simultaneously, contemplation and conquest.
The shadowy stage workers creep about cradling objects that sometimes seed a wealth of associations and sometimes pull into focus a narrative thread dropped by Schumann. A fragment of Goethe's color wheel, a kabbalistic tetragram, and two dwarves with a Snow White apple all appear and vanish.
But in Schumann's most operatic scene, in which Gretchen prays in church, plagued by guilt, a pantomime of props tells the full story. Bloodied rags, a naked baby doll, and a pair of wings remind the audience that the desperate Gretchen killed her illegitimate child in desperation.
The composer wields his large forces in a way that doesn't overpower individual voices or the text. In the magisterial baritone Christian Gerhaher he found an interpreter able to let Goethe's densely brilliant lines shine through the music.
Mr. Gerhaher has the power to project clarion vigor where needed. But more often his voice seems to become a vehicle for the words, with some passages delivered with a tone so lightened of vibrato that it approached the near-spoken style more commonly heard in modernist works. In the latter part of the evening, when he embodied the allegorical Dr. Marianus, whose worship of the Holy Virgin paves the way for Faust's redemption, Mr. Gerhaher's voice turned velvet and weightless.
The final apotheosis is a magnificent blend of soloists, choir and orchestra that pays homage to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." By then Mr. Freyer's objects had been abstracted into geometric shapes of pure color, while video projections of the faces of Faust and Gretchen drifted upward on the scrim.
It would have been nice to lift that scrim for the applause, which the ensemble musicians rightfully shared with the soloists. The conductor Kent Nagano, who had led a burnished reading of the exquisite score, came to the front for his bow. But the choir and orchestra remained partially obscured in Mr. Freyer's realm of music and mystery.
Goethe, though a very great poet, unlike Shakespeare had a tin ear, and never wrote Faust or anything else with the intention of having it set to music. Faust is a "play" strictly for reading. Goethe did recognize that a few things would be singled out as songs, but he disliked Schubert's great setting of Erlkönig and preferred the simple ballad of a composer whose name I have now forgotten. This is like preferring the nocturnes of John Field to those of Chopin.
I am reminded of Die erste Walpurgisnacht, which is in the same category. (It was years before I learned that the occasion is named after St. Walpurgis, whoever that may be.) The boy Mendelssohn actually lived with Goethe for a time, but I wonder what the latter would have made of his setting of that long poem.
Interesting point about Goethe and music. I don't speak German (one year at school more than 40 years ago, and opera libretti have hardly made me fluent). How closely do the famous musical settings follow Goethe's text.
Well! I dare say John Field's nocturnes are "lovely pieces." Do they compare to Chopin? No, but I thought I'd make the comment. I do admire the work John Field wrote well for the piano, including all his seven piano concertos.
Regarding Schumann's Scenes of Faust, there are a number of recordings of this work that I have enjoyed, especially the German Electrola one from EMI/Warner in the all-Schumann six CD set [09022, reissued around 2010. Benjamin Britten conducted an excellent one on Decca [425 705 or the 27 CD set, 478 5672] featuring Fischer-Dieskau and other great voices. This is one of the best all-Britten sets I know featuring him as a conductor and/or pianist in all the works contained in this boxed set.


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PBS, Netflix top the kids Emmy categories
Odd Squad, Sesame Street and Crow: The Legend landed multiple wins at the 46th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Netflix and PBS were the biggest winners at the 46th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards this weekend in the children's categories. Driven by three wins for Sinking Ship Entertainment's live-action series Odd Squad (pictured), PBS racked up five awards, while Netflix brought home the most statues with 10.
Outside of the kids TV categories, the annual ceremony held on Friday night in LA, also included awards for drama, non-fiction and news programming.
Odd Squad (co-produced with Fred Rogers Productions) won Emmys for outstanding children's or family viewing series and outstanding directing and writing for a children's, preschool children's or family viewing program.
Its three trophies tied HBO's iconic series Sesame Street, but both series were surpassed by Baobab Studios' VR and traditional 2D-animated short Crow: The Legend, which scored four awards, including outstanding interactive media for a daytime program. Baobab has dominated the category for three years in a row with VR shorts Asteroids! and Invasion winning in 2018 and 2017, respectively.
With the most nominations (47) going in, Netflix won a pair of Emmys for Ask the Storybots (outstanding directing in a preschool animated program and outstanding writing in a preschool animated program), while Hilda grabbed the award for outstanding main title and graphic design for an animated program. (For more on how SVODs are making their kids title sequences stand out, click here.)
Interestingly, Netflix's BBC co-pro Watership Down, the show with the most nominations (six), only nabbed one win— outstanding special class animated program.
As for traditional linear nets, Nickelodeon's four wins bested Disney, which got three. Nick's The Loud House won outstanding children's animated series and outstanding writing in an animated program, while Disney Junior's Elena of Avalor won outstanding casting for an animated series or special for the second year in a row.
Here are this year's winners in a number of key kids categories:
Outstanding preschool children's series
Sesame Street (HBO)
Outstanding children's or family viewing series
Odd Squad (PBS)
Outstanding preschool children's animated series
Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (PBS)
Outstanding children's animated series
The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
Outstanding special class animated program
Watership Down (Netflix)
Outstanding educational or informational series
Weird But True (National Geographic Kids)
Outstanding directing in an animated program
Crow: The Legend (Baobab Studios)
Outstanding directing in a preschool animated program
Ask the StoryBots (Netflix)
Outstanding directing for a children's, preschool children's or family viewing program
Outstanding writing in a children's, preschool children's, family viewing series
Outstanding writing in a preschool animated program
Outstanding writing in an animated program
Outstanding short format children's program
Nick Jr Color Song: RED (Nickelodeon)
Outstanding interactive media for a daytime program
Outstanding original song in a children's or animated program
"Making a World with My Friend" from Peg + Cat (PBS)
Outstanding cinematography
Tumble Leaf (Amazon Prime)
Outstanding individual achievement in animation
Kal Athannassov, character designer, Crow: The Legend (Baobab Studios)
Alan Bodner, production designer, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventures (Disney Channel)
Cody Gramstad, production designer, Crow: The Legend (Baobab Studios)
Yizhou Li, character animator, Tumble Leaf (Amazon Prime)
Brian Woods, background designer, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventures (Disney Channel)
Kevin Wotton, storyboard artist, Spirit Riding Free (Netflix)
The complete list of winners can be found here.
baobab studios, Crow: The Legend, Daytime Emmy Awards, Netflix, Odd Squad, PBS
Amazon, Netflix eclipse PBS in Daytime Emmy wins
Internet animation projects leave mark at Daytime Emmy Awards
PBS tops, but Netflix gains ground at Daytime Emmys
Daytime Emmy Award nominees announced


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Archives tagged: COVID-19
COVID-19 Devastating to Hotel Industry
By James T. Berger October 15, 2020
In less than six months, the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to the hotel and lodging industry according to a…
In the Age of COVID-19, Walmart Ups Its Digital Game
By Nathan L. Phipps September 20, 2020
Future historians will have the ultimate say, but it seems to me that 2020 is a year for the history books. For…
COVID-19 Already Causing Shifts In Consumer Buying Behavior
By James T. Berger July 16, 2020
Results of two sets of surveys from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) show that COVID-19 has already had some major effects on consumer…
Pandemic Price Response
By Tim J. Smith, PhD April 16, 2020
For some, the COVID-19 pandemic presents business opportunities. For most, it creates a crisis. What should executives do with pricing during this…
How We're Managing the Crisis
By Kyle T. Westra April 16, 2020
We are certainly cursed to live in interesting times. While individuals, families, communities, and governments struggle to adjust to the realities of…
Harvard Professor Provides Insight On How to Manage During a Pandemic
By James T. Berger April 16, 2020
A noted Harvard Business School marketing professor has offered his insights on how to manage an organization during a health crisis, such…
Price Gouging in the News
By Nathan L. Phipps March 18, 2020
As our nation responds to the coronavirus situation, stories have spread about the behaviors of some profit-seekers. The New York Times reported…


Luxury Impression Deluxe with Latex it is a 8 in. Latex hybrid product. The mattress is composed of 4 in. of high density polyurethane base foam providing support topped with 3 in. of Natural Talalay Latex. The cover is an organic stretch knit cotton with a 1 in. quilt for improved air circulation.
ï Comfort. The primary and the most significant advantage of latex mattresses is that they are comfortable. If you want to have a good nights sleep, this mattress will serve your needs perfectly.
ï Durability. Amongst the countless benefits of latex mattresses is its durability. The InnerSpace Luxury Deluxe with Latex is guaranteed not to sag.
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ï Conforming Comfort. The latex foam mattress has the ability to conform to your bodys curves, allowing the weight to be evenly distributed and thus, eliminating the existence of pressure points while you sleep soundly.
ï Sleep Test. This mattress includes the InnerSpace 30 day sleep test allowing the customer to buy with peace of mind.


text:
#ifndef __PROTOBUF_H__
#define __PROTOBUF_H__

#include "openxc.pb.h"

namespace openxc {
namespace payload {
namespace protobuf {

/* Public: Deserialize an OpenXC message from a payload containing a Protocol
 * Buffer.
 *
 * payload - The bytestream payload to parse a message from.
 * length -  The length of the payload.
 * message - An output parameter, the object to store the deserialized message.
 *
 * Returns the number of bytes parsed as a protobuf from the payload, if any was
 * found.
 */
size_t deserialize(uint8_t payload[], size_t length, openxc_VehicleMessage* message);

/* Public: Serialize an OpenXC message as a Protocol Buffer and store in the
 * payload.
 *
 * message - The message to serialize.
 * payload - The buffer to store the payload - must be allocated by the caller.
 * length -  The length of the payload buffer.
 *
 * Returns the number of bytes written to the payload. If the length is 0, an
 * error occurred while serializing.
 */
int serialize(openxc_VehicleMessage* message, uint8_t payload[], size_t length);

} // namespace protobuf
} // namespace payload
} // namespace openxc

#endif // __PROTOBUF_H__

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Immortals Quartet: Wild Magic; Wolf-Speaker; Emperor Mage; The Realms of the Gods Reviews
Review Score: 5 out of 5 star From 35 user ratings
"I think I had my expectations set s little high for this one; it is such a beloved series. I would probably have loved it too, if I had first read it as a younger reader.
It's an interesting premise, well written, but a little too straightforward. There's not a lot of complexity, either in the plot or the characters. While highly appropriate for the age group it was intended for, as an adult I need something a little more, well *more*, to keep me involved- charm, wit, humor, whimsy, cleverness. Something to latch on to and keep me fascinated by what the author is creating, cause the actual story and characters lack layers.
I don't regret eading it, but I probably wont pick up the rest of the series." Carolyn C said.
"THINK BEASTMASTER, BUT A GIRL. ALSO SHE HOOKS UP WITH HER MENTOR IN THE END. DON'T DO THE MATH ON THE AGE DIFFERENCE.
IT'S TRUE THOUGH
IDC ILTHEM
M2!
INO IT MAKES ME THE WORST MEMER, BUT IH THE SONG OF THE LIONESS BOOKS.
LOL M2. I THINK IT'S BECAUSE I READ THE IMMORTALS FIRST AND DIDN'T GET AROUND TO THE LIONESS QUARTET UNTIL I WAS IN MY 20S. THEY ALTERNATELY BORE OR ANNOY ME IN A WAY IMMORTALS DOESN'T, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF ALL MY NOSTALGIA.
Y, I THINK YOU NEED TO READ IT AT AN IMPRESSIONABLE AGE.
LOL I DIDN'T READ THE WHOLE QUARTET UNTIL MY TWENTIES, EITHER, BUT I READ THE LAST BOOK AND THE IMMORTALS AS A KID AND IMFH'D IMMORTALS AND L'D LIONESS RAMPANT. I JUST NEVER GOT INTO THE SHIP IN IMMORTALS EVEN BEFORE I WAS TOO YOUNG TO REALIZE HOW FUCKED UP IT WAS." LOL_BOOKS said.
"These books only get better as the series progresses. It might even be my favorite of all Tamora Pierce's series; certainly Daine is my favorite of her Tortallan heroines. I have one question though, and this is a slight spoiler alert (though a very predicable one), but was anybody else a little freaked out by the 16 year old hooking up with the 30 year old at the end? I get that she writes the characters so they are at the same maturity level, and that Daine is an adult in her world, but she's still just 16! I guess I would have borne it better if Daine had dated other men, or been at least 20 years old...in that sense I think the 'romance' bit in Allana's series is much better than this one, but then one of the great things about this series is that it is almost totally an adventure story with very little romance until the end. Maybe I just need to get over it; I do like Numair.." Liz Miguez said.
"A young adult series, Pierce is still a great read for adults looking to recapture some of that initial fantasy innocence. Particularly with Pierce, you get strong female protagonists who go against social norms and find a way to carve out a life they want to live. While not the first series set in this "world," these are my favorite books in that world. (See the Lioness quartet for more information on that topic.) These four novels follow the adventures of an orphaned girl with the talent of speaking with animals. As she tries to harness her internal wild magic, she must learn to trust humans again as well as to protect her new friends from the machinations of an evil emperor from across the sea. A young-adult series (with its accompanying simplistic plot), the writing and characters make this one of my favorite series to re-read." Lori said.
" Still love Tortall and everything about it. Pierce really gets into the mythology aspect of her world in these books, which I absolutely love. She gives a perfect blend of fun new characters and cameos from old favorites. I think I liked all of these books equally. Books:Wild Magic 4 starsWolf Speaker 4 starsEmperor Mage 4 starsThe Realms of the Gods 4 stars " Lara said.
"Tamora Pierce delivers her typical astounding level of writing in the immortals series. Diane is an unsuspecting demigod just trying to survive in a world that refuses to accept her for who she is. This series is full of well-rounded characters with beliveable flaws in a not so beliveable world. This is the perfect book for any fantasy lover. This series also incorporates an original and unconventional romance between student and teacher, as they both try to find a way to be with their one true love when the age difference is so vast. Readers will root for Diane and her eccentric and powerful friends as they face the difficulties of life in an unstable land with many jealous enemies." Kat said.
"I definitely like the first book in the Immortal series the best, I felt it had the strongest plot line of all the books. As the books progressed it seemed the plot line got weaker and less thought out in parts which was a huge disappointment since I have enjoyed several series by Tamora Pierce.
Daine is a really interesting character who developed a lot during the series. I am not sure I agreed with how Daine handled everything in her life, being a teenager I could not see her being so agreeable all the time.
One part I did love was how characters that have already had series (like Alanna of Trebond) were in the Immortal series and shared their wisdom with Daine. Daine's animal friends were also interesting and how they perceived things compared to humans.
While the writing was well done and the words flowed nicely I just did not think the plot line was strong enough to carry across four books. Each book dealt more with an individual situation Daine was dealing with and did not together very strongly. " Nicole said.
"Of all the series in the realm of Tortall, I am liking the newest books that Pierce is publishing much more than these classics.
Still, of the classics, I'd have to pick Daine as one of my favorite heroine's. (In the realm of Tortall I'd take Ali as my all-time favorite, though!) I love her perspective of the world. Not so much the angsty teenager bits (well, there aren't so many, since she was forced to grow up young) but more so the talking to animals bits. Although I am afraid of a lot of animals, Pierce, through her character, managed to open my eyes a bit more to how animals think (I'd say it's pretty accurate, although I don't know how much research she has done!)
Of the four books in this series my favorite used to be Emperor Mage, then I changed it to Wolf Speaker, and I think now it's Emperor Mage again. I love how she takes the stupid Emperor Orzone down a notch or 50!
I dislike the last book quite a bit, mainly because the writing doesn't flow so well (it gets pretty confusing at some parts, and I'm sure I must have read the books at least 10 times each!) and I'm not all that interested in her struggle with the gods and chaos. The first book was interesting due to being introduced to her magical powers and wild magic, but Diane's abilities just weren't developed enough to suit me!
Anyway, it's a great series, although it's a bit YA (okay, a lot YA!) but it doesn't have that icky-cloying YA feel to it that so many other books these days have. I love it!" ♥Xeni♥ said.
July 2019 New Book:
You Maybe Interested In Other Reviews:
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I-Corps hat tip. Reinforcement of lean innovation success stories from lab to market.
Excited to see the impact of lean innovation principles cited in this article.
Newer PostExcited to sponsor the 2017 Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference in San Francisco.


text:
Square pegs. Round holes.
Because we've got a mind for business — and so should you. Here are three stories that look ahead.
The Daily Dose NOV 08 2013
The Corner Store Revolution
Corner stores are being increasingly targeted, but not in the way you think. Groups like the Philadelphia-based Food Trust have been working, Frito by Twinkie, to overhaul their unhealthy inventories. Last year, the organization convened the first Healthy Corner Stores Symposium and released an extensive report in conjunction with ChangeLab and NPlan, "Toward a Sustainable Model for Small-Scale Healthy Food Retail."
Membership in the Healthy Corner Stores Network has grown from about 50 stores in 2006 to more than 600 today nationwide.
And in Atlanta, brother-sister duo Alison and Alphonzo Cross are doing more than sneaking fruit in between the Froot Loops — they're building an entirely new model of what a corner store can be. One-year-old Boxcar Grocer aims to bring healthy local food to all urban neighborhoods that need it.
Where the Smart Money Is
Not surprisingly, the smartest guys on the Street have already moved on to the next big thing.
The next fortunes on Wall Street are being made and maintained in a new kind of investment firm that is like the love child of private equity firms (think Mitt Romney's Bain Capital and KKR) and hedge funds. Some in the biz refer to these firms as "alternative asset manager conglomerates," but they really should be called "hybrid hedge funds."
Just as with hedge funds, there are often no limits on the sectors these hybrids can invest in. Whether it's buying gold and oil, purchasing stock or backing a new movie, hedge funds can do whatever it takes to make money.
Eyes on the Prizes
Prizes offer the chance to get outstanding results for a fraction of the usual cost. Competition clearinghouses like ChallengePost and InnoCentive have sprung up, offering smaller bounties for innovation: $50,000 for a detailed description of a portable system for neutralizing chemical weapons, or $20,000 for a food-grade foam-stabilizing system for confectionery applications. Yum! The genius of a well-placed prize is that it will attract multiple teams to work on solving a problem. But as the model trickles down, is it a boon for everyday people or a threat?
OZYWildcard
The Creepy Crawl of the Commodification of Coitus
OZY's Eugene S. Robinson addresses queries from the love-weary in "Sex With Eugene."
The OZY News Quiz
Have you stayed on top of everything that's important and intriguing this week? Let's see whether you're presidential … or intern material.
And You Wake Up One Morning to Find You're a Cuckold
How to Have Sex With Racists
More from Wildcard


I am not ashamed of my age, I'm 54! I will, however and take note, be 55 soon and very soon!!! (I am very pleased to remind you I "act" much, much younger of course!). Late last week I was at a local retail store and the cashier (who looked like she was 10 or 11) said "I gave you the discount" as she rang up my purchase. "Oh", I said ever so pleased, "what discount is that?" And the little girl said "It's our senior citizen discount for people 55 and over". I just didn't say anything else and thanked her and figured I am close enough to 55 I'll take any discount I can get.
Go from this to my mailbox. The AARP folks are after me. You know, they wouldn't need my donation if they stopped sending me all this junk mail!! I get something from them every other day at least, and I'm being totally serious! Unbelievable…..now they offer some good discounts when you belong….nothing wrong with the organization, it's just way to much marketing for me. So I'm feeling my age today…..add to that it's the Autumnal Equinox day today at 10:30 tonight we officially begin Autumn!
I love that season, it's just the time to mark another change, another calendar change and life moves on at a rapid pace! No matter your age today, physically, emotionally, spiritually we have Good News! Our God is with us and loves us unconditionally, and age/time do not effect our God! In the Bible a verse says "A thousand years in your sight are like a day just gone by…" (Psalm 90:4). Enjoy your age today, you and I will never be this young again!! We don't need to worry about the rest of our life and it is not up to us to answer all our questions about life…the who, what, where, when and how stuff is God's. Let go today, friend, and enjoy this day! Tomorrow is all ready for us because God is there, and yesterday is forgiven and forgotten. Above all else, be yourself, you are God's gift to the world!
Yesterday I was speaking with an "alumni" of our local INKY VDC. He said he hadn't served in several years mainly because he didn't know any of the guys anymore he said. He is older, retired and as we talked about VDC I could tell he was "done" with it. He said "Do you think it's run it's course?" And I said "No, God in Christ is still calling, still blessing, and still instilling the desire to grow as His disciples!" VDC HAS NOT RUN IT'S COURSE, OF COURSE!!! Burnt out alumni will always be there…..I don't think I've seen him at Ultreya's and he said he was not in any kind of reunion group. It encourages me to encourage you to reach out in your community! I hope and pray the local and national newsletters reach all our people. If you know of an address or email address change for yourself or another VDC person then let your local Secretariat know! And be aware, look around, pray, and a) always recruit people to come, and b) recruit alumni to come back attend a renewal weekend ( in INKY we offer a spot for a person to go through their weekend again), go to Ultreya, find a reunion group and to get involved.
Our God in Christ continues to guide, and bless our movement literally around the world! Keep on keeping on in your world, no matter your age!!! thank you for all you do to serve the Lord in our VDC!
Good Day Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Decolores!
Messiah Lutheran Church, Brownsburg, Indiana celebrated 50 years of ministry yesterday. I served there from 2000-2005 and was one of several pastors who returned to a worship service and a luncheon. It was neat to be back and see so many old friends and dear people. As is often the case, a Sunday morning hymn lyric will stick with me all day. Yesterday it was a hymn called "All our welcome" and is a beautiful hymn about welcoming all who come to worship.
Isn't it wonderful to be "welcomed" when you go somewhere?? Sort of like the Wal-Mart greeters? We have all been somewhere probably where we did not feel welcomed and it's uncomfortable. We have signs in some of our homes that say "Welcome" and we have "welcome mats" and welcome celebrations. I'm not sure why we say "You're welcome" after we get a thank you but I digress. According to dictionary.com the word "welcome" means "greeting". Just greeting one another is all we need to do to welcome them and make someone comfortable.
When I see someone coming down the hall who I don't recognize I will usually ask them if they need help or directions and I always greet them and introduce myself. You know sometimes this hospital environment is not very welcoming. When we ask a pilgrim to attend a weekend we are giving them the ultimate welcome from Christ. In fact, isn't that what we do all weekend long? We make them feel "welcomed" and we greet them with handshakes, hugs, palanca, great worship, food and fellowship. Let's be welcoming and invite someone to attend.
We need not look any further than our brother Jesus who welcomed all who came to Him. Nobody turned away. No one "rescheduled", it was Jesus spreading His arms out on the Cross to die for us and rise again for the ultimate, life giving, eternal welcome. Let's share that today!
Brothers and Sisters in Christ-this is a weekly devotional thought I sent out to the hospital where I work as chaplain.
I went shopping for a battery this weekend. Pretty boring, huh? My grass trimmer do-hickey won't last more than 3 minutes or so and my brother has offered me one of his batteries as a replacement. But he lives 90 minutes from me and I don't want to wait so I go out on my own. I go to the local hardware store and the battery is $40 and I'm mad. I'm not spending that on a battery when if I'm patient I'll get one in the next couple weeks. Meanwhile, I want to find it cheaper and my trimming is overdue in the yard!!
So another great analogy to the spiritual life isn't it? We want what we want and we want it NOW! Patience anyone? Do you know the prayer for patience? "Lord, give me patience and give it to me now!" I talk about this with almost all the patients I visit….I ask them if they are a "patient patient" and it's so hard. Be patient my friend, all good things come to those who wait. In my life how this works is to remind myself constantly to slow down. I feel an internal "push" to get to the next thing, do the next job, move to the next moment" and I lose any kind of present moment happiness sometimes.
The Lord models this for us. Just imagine all the people that begged for His time and attention…..but also notice how often Jesus went up the mountain, or away somewhere, to pray (Matthew 14:23 for example). When is the last time you just stopped and prayed? Or stopped to give thanks to God and name 4-5 blessings? Have you ever visited the chapel for a little quiet time, or to download?? Try it today and be patient first with yourself and then with others and thank God that life is beyond our control! All we have to do is follow….and wait! That's what I'm doing about my battery, I'll be seeing my brother this weekend and the grass can wait!


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The 100 Most Influential Latinos Committed to Climate Action in The United States
Eric Garcetti, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Felipe Cano, Jessica Alba, Claudia Bahamón, Raúl Grijalva, Jamie Margolin, Xavier Becerra, Eva Longoria, among the the most influential leaders on climate action according to the NGO Sachamama, which in collaboration with prominent environmental organizations worldwide has published the list of 2020.
The 100 individuals are recognized and committed personalities in their sector, who promote global awareness about the climate emergency through their work and the need to implement solutions that help us live in balance with our planet
MIAMI (PRWEB) November 11, 2020
The environmental organization Sachamama - known for its work in climate and the environment communications and media campaigns within Latino communities - launched its 2020 list of "The 100 Most Influential Latinos Committed to Climate Action". This initiative seeks to strengthen the leadership of the Latino community in the climate movement and highlight the most influential Ibero-American leaders who have promoted the environmental fight, sustainability, and support climate actions in front of our environmental emergency. This year, CC35 and Sachamama join forces with Forbes to convene the "No Planet B Latino Summit powered by Forbes" which will be broadcast on December 4th at 10:00 am EST, continuing the work begun at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) in Madrid. This route is delineated to the COP26 that will take place in Glasgow, UK in late 2021.
The list, carried out with the support of prominent environmental organizations, has highlighted personalities, for their level of commitment in the areas of climate activism, communications, environmental rights, corporate sustainability policies, and the public agenda. It includes executives of recognized companies, high-profile politicians, academics, activists, journalists, Nobel laureates, and entertainment stars such as: Sebastian Navarro – Secretary General of CC35, Marina Colorado - Environmental Reporter France 24, Carolina Schmidt - Minister of the Environment of Chile, Joaquin Phoenix - Actor and Activist, Sônia Guajajara - Indigenous and Environmental Activist, Antonio Luiz Seabra - Chairman of Natura, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, among others.
The publication of this list is framed within the largest meeting of influential Latinos towards the United Nations Climate Change Conference of 2021 (COP26) to discuss the state of our planet: at the "No Planet B Latino Summit". The objective of the summit is to highlight Ibero-America's leadership in the fight against climate change and exert global pressure towards implementation of the Paris agreement and the sustainable development goals of the 2030 agenda. "The 100 individuals are recognized and committed personalities in their sector, who promote global awareness about the climate emergency through their work and the need to implement solutions that help us live in balance with our planet" explained Carlos Zegarra, Executive Director of Sachamama.
ABOUT SACHAMAMA
Sachamama is one of the nation's leading organizations, dedicated to informing and mobilizing
Latinos to #ActOnClimate (Act for the climate). For more information, visit http://www.sachamama.org
Join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #Los100Latinos
You can follow Sachamama @sachamamaorg on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
Carlos Zegarra
c.zegarra@sachamama.org
SACHAMAMA
Sachamama Press Release: "The 100 Most Influential Latinos Committed to Climate Action in The United States"