Recently I told a friend of mine that any serious examination of "Christianity" has to be an examination of Christ, and not one of Christians. In today's America, the relevance of that statement is invaluable as an increasing amount of diversity in the Christian population evolves. As it is meaningless to try to evaluate the genuineness of Christians, it is comforting to know that such an evaluation is not required by God. In fact, this is what God has to say on the subject.
"Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness" (2 Timothy 2:19).
In another Scripture Jesus says this in parable form about any attempt to root out fake Christians from among genuine Christians, "…'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn'" (Matthew 13:24-30).
This Movement is guided by this reality. Anyone who wishes to wear the badge of "Christian" will be accepted as such. However, whether or not any living person wears the badge of Christian, the laws, rules and commands of Christ apply to us, and it is by those that we all shall be judged.
Christians therefore represent the primary target audience of this Movement because of our announced subscription to the Bible, and by implication, to what the Bible teaches. And whereas I know that not all Christians agree on all the details of what the Bible teaches, we will respectfully agree to disagree on minor areas of interpretation as they relate to the objects and goals of this Movement.
Against this background, let us identify some of the driving philosophies behind thisMovement that are not likely to get any push-back from persons who voluntarily wear the badge of "Christian".
In the context of the American democracy, all citizens 18 years and over are blessed with the opportunity, privilege and responsibility to campaign, agitate, and vote for the candidate of our choice. If for any reason we do not feel comfortable with any of the available choices, we are free to throw our hat in the ring, satisfy the requirements of the laws of the land, and offer our candidacy to the voters. However, without prejudice to whether we exploited the opportunity to support and vote for the candidate of our choice, we are bound by the laws of the land to the fair and accurate results of the election. If we feel the elections were unfair, we may avail ourselves of the legal recourses. If there is a need for a challenge, and having exhausted all of the options provided by the law, the results that stand are the results that bind us.
It is at this stage that the Christian is obligated to consider the elected rulers to be ordained by God. In fact, the American Christian has no excuse for adopting any contrary attitude because what God said did not immediately apply to democratically elected leaders. The rule God laid down referred to conquering dictators, and even oppressive dictators. This is what God said about the Judeo-Christian citizens' relationship with their Roman rulers.
"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established…" (Romans 13:1-6). This subject is thoroughly treated in "Put Him Back…America!".
The takeaway is that after one of the most contentious elections in US Presidential Election history, Donald Trump has emerged the President, and he is therefore God's established President, for the time being. Every Christian in America must therefore genuinely accord to President Donald Trump all the respect and critical support that his office demands.
The critical word is "critical". The Christian lives in a parallel universe. In one universe, Donald Trump is the President and CEO. However, in the other universe, God is the President, and CEO. It is God who delegates power to Donald Trump, and not Donald Trump who delegates power to God. The American Christian's first allegiance is always to God, and never to the President or any other earthly leader. This plays out in real life in potentially militant and confrontational ways. For so long as Donald Trump submits himself to God, and leads the American people as God leads him and as is validated by the Word of God, then the American Christian is obligated to obey the President. However, at any time that Donald Trump decides to abandon the leadership and authority of God as validated by the Word of God, then the American Christian is no longer under any obligation to obey the President. And what goes for the President, goes for all human elected leaders in America at State, County and Municipal levels. "In Put Him Back… America!" the President is warned not to make the same mistake that Kings Nebuchadnezzar or Cyrus made. Nebuchadnezzar was lucky and was spared by God. Cyrus was not.
Again, in another setting, Peter and the other Apostles responded to a "Cease and desist" order by human authorities by saying, "We must obey God rather than human beings!" (Acts 5:29).
Finally in Mark 12:17 and elsewhere, Jesus settled the principle. "Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him." For so long as President Trump does not try to demand what belongs to God in any shape or form, then the Christian is obligated to give to President Trump what belongs to him.
The second guiding principle that motivates this Movement is the requirement that Christians act as light and salt in this world. Christianity does not have Jihad as any of its guiding tenets. It is truly the religion of peace. However, Christianity is intended to be anything but passive. As light, the American Christian is mandated not to be silent or quiet or passive in letting our light shine in America. Light is the ultimate enemy of darkness. When light shines, darkness has no choice but to flee. The Christian American is obligated to turn on the searchlight of God's Word on every aspect of American Life. The American Christian is obligated to ensure that his or her light, being a reflection of God's light, must so shine among our fellow Americans, that they will see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
The American Christian is also salt (Matthew 5:13). We all know how valuable salt is and what many of its healing and preserving qualities are. In the days that Jesus was on earth, salt was even more valuable and relevant than it is today. In addition to its obvious use to preserve meat in the absence of refrigeration, it was also used in some cases to pay "salary". Jesus Christ tells American Christians that we are the salt of America. But this is not an unconditional entitlement. For Jesus also anticipates the possibility that American Christians may abandon our effectiveness and our core values, and therefore lose our "saltiness". Jesus is clear. If and when this happens, the individual Christian becomes useless and irrelevant, but the Church of Jesus Christ which is the sum of all genuine Christians must continue to do what God has ordained us to do.
How does this translate into our present American reality? There is not an expressed thought, broadcast tweet, or stated policy position of President Donald Trump that should escape the attention, scrutiny, and hopefully, support of the American Christian. And whereas President Trump can appoint whoever he wishes to appoint to work for him, this Movement will not go beyond the American Constitutional provisions. We recognize the three theoretically co-equal branches of Government. Our leaders either fall under the Congress, the Judiciary or the Executive branches. Ultimately, the branch that was conceived of first is the Executive and that is the President. So when any of the President's appointees run afoul of the Christian values as set out in the Word of God, it is the President that this Movement will hold accountable. That is simply a good administration principle.
The American Christian and all Americans are entitled to the pursuit of happiness. However, this pursuit is fettered by the dictates of communal living and interaction. Where my freedom begins, yours end. For this reason we must have laws. We must all obey the laws while they are in force, for as long as they do not conflict with the laws of God. Any law that conflicts with the law of God, or that for any reason we do not like, is exposed to our efforts at legislative reform.
This is a great period in the history of the United States of America. We are excited by the sentiments of our President who campaigned on making America great again. Christian Americans do not have all the answers to all that is necessary to make America great Again. No single person or group of persons do. However, Christian Americans understand that there is one thing that is absolutely critical for making America great again. That is to put God and His Word and principles back into the public square of America.


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Vergo is a village and a former municipality in the Vlorë County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Delvinë. The population at the 2011 census was 1,844. The municipal unit consists of the villages Vergo, Tatzat, Kalasë, Fushë Vërri, Kopaçez, Qafë Dardhë (previously: Palavli) and Bajkaj inhabited by Muslim Albanians and Senicë populated by an Orthodox Albanian population, making up 94% and 6% of the total each.

A Greek school was founded in Vergo by Orthodox missionary, Kosmas the Aetolian, at 1779.

References

Former municipalities in Vlorë County
Administrative units of Delvinë
Villages in Vlorë County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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EDRi statement: the fundamental rights consequences of the EU media ban
European Digital Rights (EDRi) is appalled by the illegal and atrocious invasion of Ukraine by Russia's totalitarian regime. We stand with the people of Ukraine who are forced to live in fear and flee from their homes while enduring war crimes and other large-scale human rights violations, including cyberattacks. Democratic societies that respect the rule of law should stand in solidarity with the deep suffering of people in Ukraine on many levels.
By EDRi · April 1, 2022
In concert with starting this unjustified war, Russia's totalitarian regime has curtailed the last vestiges of freedom of expression in Russia. The government of Vladimir Putin is eliminating the few remaining voices of the free media, harshly suppressing the right to protest as well as applying wholesale censorship online.
As a response to the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine – and as part of a broader package of economic and financial sanctions – the Council of the European Union has unilaterally decided1 to ban content from Russian state-controlled media outlets from being broadcast or otherwise distributed in the EU. This ban not only prohibits operators from broadcasting content from these outlets via traditional television channels, but also to "enable, facilitate or otherwise contribute to broadcast, any [RT, Sputnik] content […] by any means such as cable, satellite, IP-TV, internet service providers, internet video-sharing platforms or applications" (emphasis added).
While it is entirely within the Council's legal prerogative to impose economic and financial sanctions under the Treaties, European Digital Rights (EDRi) considers that the broad scope of this media ban sets a dangerous precedent for unilaterally interfering with the digital information environment. This does a disservice to the protection of fundamental rights in the EU.
Firstly, providers cannot (and should not be obliged to) know all of the content transmitted via their systems. In fact, Union law such as the E-Commerce Directive and the upcoming Digital Services Act explicitly exclude a general liability for online intermediaries for such cases. Otherwise, such liability rules would force intermediaries to develop and deploy automated content filtering and removal technologies which would have disastrous consequences for the fundamental rights of people in the EU, in particular freedom of expression and access to information.
Secondly, even in the context of war, measures with such far-reaching consequences on fundamental rights must at least be taken with the democratic legitimacy that only the European Parliament can provide. This EU ban should fulfil the standards of legality, legitimacy, proportionality and necessity that international human rights law requires for these scenarios. This includes the need to clearly limit in time the extent of the adopted measures that are in the scope of this statement.
Finally, in our opinion EU policies should focus on providing support for independent media and journalists in Russia and Ukraine and ensuring the free flow of news reporting across borders. This includes providing financial support for anti-censorship technology such as the Tor network.
1Council Regulation (EU) 2022/350 of 1 March 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, and Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/351 of 1 March 2022 amending Decision 2014/512/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2022:065:FULL&from=EN)
EFF: Wartime Is a Bad Time To Mess With the Internet
Access Now: Cyberattacks on Ukraine's infrastructure and civil society violate human rights
Updates: Digital rights in the Ukraine-Russia conflict
Epicenter.Works: Auswirkungen des Ukraine Kriegs auf das offene Internet

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Staff members from the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) and the Phillips Collection address the challenges, successes, surprises, and triumphs of digital in-gallery experiences by sharing the implementation of the same digital self-portrait app for two Neo-Impressionism exhibitions.
The authors seek to provide approaches to the challenge of introducing technology in art museum galleries. The discussion furnishes real-world examples of how a museum, regardless of size or available resources, can experiment with engaging its visitors through emerging and well-explored technologies.
The progressive integration of technology in the galleries at the IMA is the result of the implementation of a new visitor-centered exhibition-development model that has been in place for over a year with the support of the upper management (top-down model). At the core of this new approach, whose objective is to increase visitors' engagement with art, is the key role that interpretation specialists and evaluators play in the exhibition-development process. The integration of these staff into a team-based method for development has resulted in a more consistent and strategic use of technology-based interpretive tools, demonstrated most recently in an in-gallery app, Pointillize Yourself.
The Phillips Collection, lacking resources and experience with large-scale projects, implemented a grassroots, bottom-up model. First, the Phillips tested small, one-off, in-gallery activities at public programs to gauge audience interest and staff capacity. Then, building on successes and learning from experiences, they implemented larger and longer-term projects. Throughout the process, informal evaluation and user testing provided important feedback for development. Meanwhile, internal shifts in mission and goals refined interdepartmental working groups. These experiments with technology culminated in the implementation of the #NeoImpressed app, a modified version of IMA's Pointillize Yourself.


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Bitcoin's little brother, Bitcoin Cash, has recently released a development proposal to make Bitcoin Cash transactions anonymous. This step was elementary and requested by a large part of the community.
The developers in the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem are working on a new project called Cashshuffle. This includes a concept that is to provide a feature for anonymizing transactions.
Loud Bitcoin.com, the Bitcoin News portal from Roger Ver, the idea for Tokenshuffle has met with great approval in the Bitcoin Cash community. Some studies have shown in the past that privacy and anonymity are particularly important for many investors.
It is not for nothing that "Privacy Coins" such as Monero, Dash or ZCash receive more and more attention and users. The developer Chris Troutner officially introduced the concept of Tokenshuffle on 12.10.2018.
Tokenshuffle is a protocol for anonymizing Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and improving its fungibility. This protocol is loosely based on the ideas in Coinjoin and Coinshuffle and is to be implemented as a lightweight web app with which people can interact anonymously.
The project should make it possible to use Bitcoin Cash just as anonymously as Monero or ZCash. According to the programmers, the privacy feature should enter the maturity phase within the next one to two months and be available soon.
Privacy is a topic that is becoming increasingly important within the cryptographic market and could soon be seen as a fundamental element. We are looking forward to further developments in this area.


I so wanted to be impressed with this new-ish offering from Benefit. The idea behind it is so great and it seemed like the answer to all my shiny T zone problems-a mattifying powder that could be carried around safely without spillage AND with a built in brush-genius!
The design is, in principle good-I like the fact you can secure the top of the powder dispenser to avoid wastage. The brush isn't great, I just feel like it's not a big enough size to effectively pick up and distribute the powder over your face and you can't use another brush with it because the lid that you tip the powder into isn't big enough to fit anything but this tiny doll sized brush into.
The colour of the powder is fine on my skintone but the mattifying effects are not impressive nor long lasting.
I read not wildly favourable reviews of this when it launched. I still bought it! Lesson learnt.
Oh that's too bad it didn't work that well for you. This year I'll need something more effective to keep the shine at bay since I'll be working outside my home, I'll surely stay away from this one.
I always feel like Benefit is a tad over priced for the amount of product you get!
Thanks for the honest review! Sorry it wasn't a total winner.
Thanks for the honest review. I've read many reviews about this product that loved the effects. But since I am oily, I'm pretty sure it won't mattify my skin for long lol. I'm currently researching on products that work for me and my oily skin, which will be especially beneficial during the up and coming spring and summer months.
I really like benefits porefessioanl and the stay all day primer and was thinking if I should get this, guess now I know it wasn't a hit!
Thanks for sharing your honest opinion Stacey!
I hope you are enjoying your time with your parents!
Well that's a shame... they should've at least made the packaging a little better so people have a chance to experiment with different brushes.


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Burton Latimer Post Office - 1850 to 2014
For a number of years, Burton latimer had no post office of its own, and had to rely on a runner service to and from Kettering. As the town expanded, a number of the local population found this unsatisfacory, as can be seen here in this letter written by a frustrated resident in 1834.
45 Church St, 1914 , when it was then a butchers shop
Burton Latimer's first post office finally opened in 1850 and was ran by Joseph Moore from a premises at No. 45 Church Street. After his death in 1892 it was operated for a short time by Ernest Weston, then John Lambert and then a Miss Cliffe.
101 High Street, 1914. Here it is a grocers & confectioners, it is now Latimer Opticians
In 1902 the post office moved to the High Street, for a short time at No. 101 and then at No. 117, newly built in 1903 by Thomas N Charles.
117 High St (W.A. Charles), 1948. Here shown as a general store, now it is "Grandads Toys" (currently standing empty)
In 1920, Mr & Mrs Jack Dacre moved in and ran the post office there until 1959 when the premises were sold. The post office then moved across the road to part of the Barclays Bank building at No. 94 High Street where Mrs Dacre remained post mistress until her retirement after 55 years' service (for an article on Mrs Dacre, click here). The post office then moved to No. 10 Churchill Way as part of Harrison's newsagents shop. It remained here until 2014 when it moved to the "One Stop" shop at No. 6 Churchill Way.


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Cephaloleia ornatula is een keversoort uit de familie bladkevers (Chrysomelidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd in 1899 gepubliceerd door Donckier.

ornatula


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No, Gwyneth, I will not buy your face cream
Posted Thursday, December 8, 2022 11:01 am
In this season of marathon shopping, I started wondering why I buy what I buy. There are millions of choices when it comes to our cosmetics and cars and food and OTC meds and clothing and shoes and TV series and movies and furnishings and technology, and travel and education.
So why do I scan the shelves and pick out one sneaker among the many sports shoes for sale?
We think we have the power of choice, but we are bedazzled by influencers. Psychologists say that we are especially motivated by celebrity endorsements that suggest we can acquire good looks, wealth, friends and celebrity itself by buying the car that George Clooney drives or wearing the athletic shoes that Selena Gomez wears or drinking the Coke that LeBron James, Penelope Cruz or Michelle Kwan drinks.
Various media put enormous money into advertising campaigns that feature celebrities touting their products. For me, it's a waste of their time and money. When a celebrity flogs a product, my avoidance mode kicks in. I love Matthew McConaughey, but I'm not buying a Lincoln because he looks dreamy sitting behind the wheel in the TV commercials. I am not buying Gwyneth Paltrow's skin cream thinking it will make me look like her.
I mean, why would I buy a Dior product because Charlize Theron is their public face? She's a gorgeous 8-foot-tall South African beauty. My life, inside this body of mine, bears no resemblance to her existence. Dior face cream will not help. I resist.
I'm crazy about Reese Witherspoon and I love Crate & Barrel products, but I'm not buying a new couch because she's their "brand ambassador."
I can't argue that celebrity endorsements don't work, because apparently they pay off big time, or companies wouldn't seek out famous people to push their products. I just don't think it works for me, and I would urge others to look at their prospective purchases in a clear-eyed way, setting aside the celebrity glam factor.
Drew Barrymore has associated herself with Crocs. What the heck? Should I buy a clutzy shoe because she tells me to? What does she know about shoes or me or the value of her product? As for the Kardashians, well, how much time do you have? Who are they, exactly, and how many of them are in the public eye, and what is their skill set?
They endorse various hair products, and I imagine their pitch is to young people, but why? They are the most famous people who are famous just for being famous.
Epic flops and scandals have haunted the celebrity endorsement industry. Kanye West recently unraveled with his nonstop antisemitic rants. He lost Adidas, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, Gap, and others. Michael Phelps was dropped by Kellogg's years ago, after a photo circulated of him smoking marijuana. Today, with a net worth of some $80 million, he can boast associations with Intel, Subway, Under Armor, Beats and Visa. The weed factor is passe.
Years back, according to E-News, Madonna landed a one-year contract as the celebrity spokesperson for Pepsi. A two-minute family-friendly ad premiered wherein the singer revisited her eighth birthday. But the next day, Madonna's video for "Like a Prayer" debuted. The video featured burning crosses, and stigmata. After an outcry from religious groups, Pepsi canceled its ad.
My friends are my greatest influencers. I buy what they tell me to buy; I watch the TV that they suggest; I read the books they send my way.
I also take seriously consumer reviews from reliable websites. I have found new doctors by reading online reviews.
I have one friend whom I love who has mysterious powers over my purchasing decisions. When we're together, we sometimes shop. I find myself buying what she tells me to buy — even the outsized blouse with a geometric print that makes my eyes burn. Sometimes there's a pricey item I don't need, but if she tells me I need it, boom, it's in the shopping bag. I don't know what it is. My only defense is not to go shopping with her too often. Because if she tells me I need the striped balloon pants in neon green, it's circus time for me.
As we go about our Christmas and Hanukkah shopping, it might be wise to consider who is influencing our purchases. One of the oldest and longest-running celebrity endorsements was launched by Jell-O in the early 1970s, when they hired a 37-year-old actor named Bill Cosby. Presumably Jell-O has wiggled onward without him.
Copyright 2022 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.
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This is the second of two additions that have been completed by Abacus over the past few years.
The project was actually designed to a great extent in 2008 as part of our master planning services. Lake Country Academy understood that continued growth was part of their future, and that building a strong partnership with their architect was also part of that future.
The project created needed classroom space for a Charter School that continues to grow. Abacus is looking forward to continuing our partnership with Lake Country Academy when the time comes to design their new high school.


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French Symphony, Music, Symphony
Saint-Saëns Symphony no. 3 in Cm, op. 78 'avec Orgue'
performed by the Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille under Myung-Whun Chung, Michael Matthes, organ
(cover image by John Towner)
I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again.
Saint-Saëns, of his third symphony
We've seen Saint-Saëns only a few times on the blog, but this symphony is one of the main reasons I was so eager to begin the French Symphony Series. It's an outstanding work, perhaps one of the most unique, inventive, memorable symphonies of the 19th century, really a masterpiece.
It was to be Saint-Saëns' last, and perhaps he knew it. His statement above, which opened the article, makes it sound like he's okay peaking with this work. He wrote a total of five piano concertos in addition to the violin concertos, cello concertos, etc., but this work above them all is really magnificent.
The piece was a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society in England. Thus, the premiere was given in London on May 19, 1886, and subsequently dedicated to the memory of the composer's friend Franz Liszt upon his death, on July 31 of that year. The piece wouldn't be premiered in France until the following year. Interestingly, Saint-Saëns makes use of a trick he learned from Liszt (or at least that Liszt himself enjoyed using). Wiki says:
Saint-Saëns adapted Liszt's methods of thematic transformation, so that the subjects evolve throughout the duration of the symphony.
While you'll often see the work broken into four separate tracks in recordings, in reality, it is only a two-movement piece, with each movement in two sections, and this thematic transformation carries through the entire work. The composer himself noted, though, that "the traditional four movement structure is maintained," as we shall see. In addition to a typical Romantic-era sized orchestra, the work features piano (for both two and four hands) as well as the eponymous organ. It is not an 'organ symphony,' like Charles-Marie Widor would write (and who will also get no more mention than that in this series), but 'the Organ symphony.' It was titled in French as the symphony 'with organ' but it has since become the piece's moniker.
The work begins with a slow introduction, really just a few very simple gestures, like sighs, maybe calling Tchaikovsky to mind for modern listeners, and the first glimpses of where this work will go, like climbing to the top of a craggy mountain, is the pizzicato gestures that introduce the nervous strings to come. In this first part of the first movement, what acts as the standard first movement form, we have power and spirit of which even Beethoven would likely have been envious had he been around to hear it.
There's fantastic sleight of hand here, in that the music changes but doesn't. Listen for what we'd call (in a more traditional layout) the second subject, where things become less nervous, and warmer, rounder; flute leads the melody, with strings behind her. We've left the darkness of Cm, but not permanently.
The second part of this first movement is what seems to serve as the slow movement. It may not catch everyone's eye (well, ear), but (formally) in the same movement, the composer moves from C minor to D-flat major, what Tom Service says is "a startling semitonal shift away from the home key."
What might be so arrestingly beautiful about this entire piece is how every moment of it, every phrase, is so passionately inspired. The composer has a truly magnificent talent for not only the boisterous, bold, exciting facets of a large-scale work such as this, but proves also to be more than adept when it comes to the tender, supple serenade-like sounds of strings and organ in what functions essentially as the slow movement. It's colorful, pleasant, almost meditative at times, but as you listen, there are revealed connections to the overall work that make it so much more than just a section of pretty music. Service says:
The slow movement's Poco adagio does, crucially, introduce the gentle, lowering presence of the organ as a key character in the work's drama, and it also acts as a moment of visionary repose in the middle of the sounds and furies around it.
We are now officially in the second movement, which bursts excitingly to life in response to (or else in spite of) the quiet close of the previous movement. This clearly functions as the scherzo, although the two sections of this movement have much the same direction, creating a sense of urgency and excitement. The scherzo is driving, propulsive, but what feels like the trio section, featuring busy piano figurations, bursts with florid color. Service remarks that "The scherzo section is a kind of gigantic upbeat to the finale – fragments of its melody are disguised, transformed, and finally revealed."
This two-part movement, much like the first movement, waits until the second section to reveal the organ, and while it made its appearance quietly and subtly in the first movement, it explodes into action here, ready to present what Service calls "that (in)famous melody" and "the Theme of Themes." But what we quickly hear, despite the organ's almost aggressive presentation of C major, is far beyond bombast. There's a return of that florid, glimmering, shiny sound with the inclusion of yet more hands on more (piano) keys. There grows a sense of almighty triumph, astounding, unmatched vibrance.
Is that a hint of the Dies Irae, though? It certainly seems like it, doesn't it? That's a discussion for another time (well, likely never for me, as it likely involves much more pedantry than I'm capable of; I say it is), but ultimately, what a jaw-dropping, breath-stealing climax not only to this work, but perhaps even to the composer's output, symphonic or otherwise, really his entire career. There's really very little in music that I can think of (save, perhaps, Mahler 2, and 8, Beethoven 9, maybe a handful of other concert pieces) that even come close to white-hot grandeur that this piece attains.
I have the image, at the end of the symphony, of the concert hall being miraculously lifted off the ground and held aloft by the combined efforts of all those pipes and all that air; … The whole work is a magnificent and fantastical symphonic machine that's an apotheosis of the orchestral technology of the late 19th century.
Service's sentiments above couldn't be more eloquently stated.
This work was one of the key pieces behind the decision to do the French symphony now, as probably the most famous, well-known piece in the whole series, and for good reason. There's much more to see and hear and read, though, so do stay tuned, and thanks so much for reading.
June 6, 2018 June 2, 2018 Fugue for Thought1886, Chung, French, Michael Matthes, Myung-Whun Chung, Orchestre de l'Opera Bastille, organ, Saint-saens, Symphony
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Northwell surgeon and inventor Peter Costantino.
Fans of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will help dictate the course of scientific research at Northwell Health.
A new multimedia contest featuring television commercials and online voting will pit three Northwell Health-based medical innovations against each other, with $100,000 in health system research support up for grabs.
The voting is actually open to all, though the TV campaign will heavily target fans tuning into the NCAA tournament. Through deal with CBS, financial details not disclosed, a total of 16 half-minute spots will run during live tournament coverage, starting with Thursday's tipoff of the Sweet 16 round and running straight through the championship game, scheduled for April 4.
The commercials highlight three potential medical breakthroughs created by employees of the Northwell Health system, formerly the North Shore-LIJ Health System, including inventions born at the system's Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Further information on all three is available on the voting page.
The three early-stage technologies are being "explored" by Northwell Ventures, the health system's commercialization arm, the health system said in a statement. The $100,000 stipend will be used to speed the public champion toward the marketplace.
Contestant No. 1 in the basketball-focused battle is the Patient Identification Shield, a modern, non-transferable, easily removable and cost-effective hand stamp designed as an alternative to the antiquated hospital wristband. The shield was conceived by Peter Costantino, executive director of Northwell Health's head and neck surgery division and chairman of otolaryngology – that's ear, nose and throat surgeries – at Lennox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
Costantino's stamp faces off with a revolutionary method for 3D-printing living cells and tissues, using the patient's own cells as source material. While medical 3D printing is being advanced by many global institutions, Feinstein Institute researchers have created a first-of-its kind "bioprinter" engineered to produce living, functional, biological tissue replacements, a potential breakthrough that could make organ and bone customization a reality in every emergency room and surgery ward.
The third candidate in the cutting-edge campaign is the neural tourniquet, a device that uses electronic nerve stimulation to staunch blood loss in surgical and emergency patients. The tourniquet is the centerpiece of a new company being formed by Feinstein veep Chris Czura, Feinstein research scientist Jared Huston and Kevin Tracey, the Feinstein CEO and bioelectronics pioneer who's labored over the science for nearly two decades.
How quickly Sanguistat officially launches could depend on the contest and its $100,000 prize – though all three of the potential breakthroughs are likely to receive further Northwell Health funding and support eventually, according to Northwell spokesman Terry Lynam.
In that way, while there is a quick-hit $100,000 injection at stake, the vote is a way for Northwell Health to market all three inventions and the system's innovative chops as a whole.
Lynam pointed to three companies already spun out of Northwell Ventures, featuring such high-tech advances as a digital platform for scheduling and documenting pharmaceutical trials, a mobile app that keeps discharged hospital patients on task and a healthcare-administration software suite.
Perhaps the best example of Northwell Health's innovative mindset is "Buddy's Curtain," a liner for hospital privacy curtains that features a "cleanable laminate" shield precisely where providers most often grab and pull.
A third-party vendor has licensed Northwelll's Health's patent and there are 2,500 Buddy's Curtain liners already circulating through various hospital systems. They're also in use at Northwell's North Shore University Hospital, with further Northwell rollouts coming soon, Lynam said.
The enthusiasm is even creating "internal competition," according to Lynam, particularly between the scientists responsible for the three innovations featured in the multimedia marketing campaign.
The election, which was opened to Northwell Health employees March 17 and will continue online for all comers through April 18, generated some 8,000 votes over its first two days – a "testament to the excitement," Lynam noted – and teams of researchers were actively campaigning inside the Feinstein Institute Monday, displaying their wares and soliciting voters.
"We have some real momentum going," Lynam told Innovate LI. "There's a lot of enthusiasm between our researchers and good ideas are coming from across the organization.


Like many of you I'm sure, I enjoy reading Seth Godin. Maybe not as much as I like reading Sarason, Papert, and Frank Smith, but Godin's thinking is often a sharp left turn from where I often find myself.
With this power, of course, comes the responsibility to actually do something with it.
How many of us take that responsibility seriously?
It struck me that maybe it's not a responsibility that many are aware of, and maybe that explains a lot of what we are seeing in our schools today. I've just finished a couple of weeks of travel and workshops, and my big observation is that I am stunned by the opportunity that is now before us, as Godin outlines, when there seems so little anyone wants to actually DO about it.
In itself, maybe that is just learning latency or educators who feel they have too much else happening, but what really and truly stuns me is the realization of the consequences of that inaction.
I'll share a good example with you.
For many years we 'played around' with desktop computers in our school labs. Not that we thought it was playing around at the time, but any serious research since has told us that no matter how many billions we invested in rationing access to computers locked away in labs, we were never going to undermine the robustness of our traditional school model and transform anything. School 1 Modern Learning 0.
Then just as we finally started to see the light by providing fully functional laptop computers to our students in serious numbers in the early part of this century, along came a wonderful new distraction, the simple, easy-to-use iPad. Now the iPad was a real winner on many fronts. For teachers it was 'easy' to manage, and when you added 'Apps' suddenly everything we had learnt about the pedagogical value of software went out the window. Simplicity and the magic word, 'engagement' won the day. The fact that the vast majority of Apps were little more than digital worksheets didn't worry many, and in fact it seemed to make the transition to the 'digital world' even easier. School 2 Modern Learning 0.
Next cab off the rank of course were 'browser 'devices, which by 2012-13 were taking many US schools by storm, and despite their need for connectivity, they were of course the perfect answer for…online testing. Now tragic as it may be that the real explosion in providing kids with a 'device' was driven by a federal government initiative to drive online testing, the real loser again was, yep you guessed it, any real commitment to modern learning. School 3 Modern Learning 0.
And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, along comes affordable pen-enablement on a variety of tablets and laptops. Now to be really fair, I think, in the right hands this technology offers enormous options for both teachers and students, but….the big attraction to many…teaching handwriting! School 4 Modern Learning 0.
To top it off, we read the latest research from this year's EdWeek Technology Counts survey stating that while 50% of teachers reporting comfort with technology, only a minority use it for any interactive or collaborative activities, instead putting tech to use for testing or skill drills. School 5 Modern Learning 0.
You see, with the obvious exceptions of the often isolated amazing teachers across the globe who accepted the responsibility that Godin mentioned and have actually been DOING something that approaches modern learning with their students, we haven't moved the needle very far, if at all.
IT usage is proven in children and adults alike to lead to anti-interpersonal behaviour; Increased screen time reduces IQ levels, attention spans and memory in addition to inhibiting creative and deep level thinking on issues.
That's what happens when we don't take our responsibility to do something seriously.
So we've been given this Age of Leverage, and we've barely leveraged a thing. We've been too content transforming the medium our kids work in, rather than transforming their learning. And if we're not careful we're going to blow the one in a hundred plus years chance we have been gifted. Forget about SAMR and substitution, this is more about shuffling.
I'm now hearing more and more parents talking about their kids doing trivial apps on iPads; being distracted in class by social media and games, and very few of them talking about their sons or daughter doing things that they could NEVER do before, at levels of complexity that were simply NEVER available to them before. And, who still owns the learning?
When will we start to see the extraordinary become ordinary?
When will kids be using computers to do things in our schools that no parent, critic or academic will question the value of? As but one simple example, if our students were doing the sorts of mathematics that Conrad Wolfram has been tirelessly promoting; the sort of higher level mathematical thinking that we could once only imagine was possible before our students had this digital leverage, then parents would be asking for more, not less.
So when will we stop looking at the way we should use technology through school-coloured spectacles, and start looking at it through a learning lens?
Seth and Seymour were right. We have a responsibility to do just that.
We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas; join us in our global community on Facebook today.


Do you get network reception there as I ve heard that some parts dont receive airtel network?
Not at the reception..but there is a place nearby in the village you can walk to for any urgent calls..the hotel staff will guide you.
Do they serve kid-specific food like garlic bread or French fries? Do they give room service?
There is no room service but they go to any extent to customise food preferences. You just need to inform them in advance.
I understand it's a pet friendly resort, have few queries regarding that : 1. Are pets allowed in the rooms/tents? 2. Any specific number of pets that are allowed ? 3. If the resort provide food for pets ? Thanks in advance ..
Any activities for kids?? 7 year old?
A single kid is likely to get bored since they are not interested in nature. Will interest them only if there are few of them.
Do they serve JAIN FOOD (No onion and no garlic) ?????
I'm sure they would, they are very accommodating.


Riri Williams as Ironheart has come to life!
If you've been following the "Invincible Iron Man" series, then you know that we have a new Iron Man....sort of. Riri Williams is a 15-year old genius who back engineered Iron Man's suit. He caught wind of it and gave his blessing for her to become a superhero. She took the name Ironheart and joined Iron Man during the Civil War II series.
Anyway, with that out of the way, some folks at MIT put together a pretty badass video bringing Riri to life. Give it a view below!


Five points out of forty two became five out of forty five as Mossley's end of season blow-out continued in yet another goal pummelling fashion at Newcastle Blue Star.
Thankfully I wasn't on Tyneside to see it and as a consequence there'll be no match report for this game. What I can tell you about it though is that Gareth Hamlet cancelled out Blue Star's 6th minute opener on the half hour mark before things went downhill for the Lilywhites faster than a greased up Franz Klammer on jet powered skis.
I'm not going to repeat the text I got when Mossley went 4 -1 down but suffice to say, it wasn't from a spectator happy with the ninety minutes that were breaking up a five hour plus round trip.
The five goals knocked past Mossley by Blue Star takes the total in the goals against column to just nine short of the century. Of course it's a target you hope you never ever hit but I will admit that there's a hundredth of a percentage of me masochistically hoping that it's reached, purely so that I can strike it off the list of things I've experienced whilst watching Mossley; a list that includes items such as 100 goals for (done) and the Lilywhites hitting double figures for the first time ever in a game (something that will probably forever remain without a tick next to it).
To keep the five motif that's running through this piece going, it's the number of games remaining for Mossley in a season that's falling apart faster than a leper on a bungee jump. It would be nice to salvage a bit of pride before the curtain's drawn over this campaign but who knows what will happen? This is Mossley remember where, like Thunderbirds, anything can happen in the next half hour.
And the fourteen left after that.
Mossley see out March with their longest trip of the season for their first (and possibly last) ever visit to the Kingston Park Ground - home of Newcastle Falcons rugby union club. Oh yes, and Newcastle Blue Star play there as well.
That said we may have done better against the egg chasers. After all [sarcasm] the backbone of their game seems to be kicking the ball out of play as often as possible as well as over the bar [/sarcasm]. Only joking everyone!
As most of you who are reading this will already know, Blue Star have announced their intention to drop back down to the Northern League at the end of the season, citing the costs involved in travelling from the back of beyond to civilisation every other week. It still remains to be seen as to whether their decision to relegate themselves will be ratified by the FA, although it's almost certain the they'll give their blessings given the palaver it would cause if they said "you're staying where you are".
The Tynesiders currently reside in 11th position, three places and nine points above us. We've also faced them twice already at Seel Park this season, picking up a win and a draw. Hopefully we won't complete the set by coming away with a defeat.
Of course that all depends on the game actually going ahead. Last week Blue Star's game with Curzon was abandoned when part of a stand took flight in high winds. Similarly inclement weather is predicted for tomorrow so those few Mossley fans making the trip up may get to see that rarest of sightings - a football match in Geordie land where one of the home supporters doesn't take their shirt off at any point during the ninety minutes.
Prediction: As I'm not going this is a cast iron win for the Lilywhites.
And I'm sure that you don't need me to point out the other error in the heading either.
SPORTING stars are helping tackle sexual health problems in Oldham.
Football and rugby players are throwing their weight behind a new sexual health campaign taking place at this weekend's fixtures.
It will see players and their supporters aged between 16 and 24 invited to have a sexual health check-up.
The innovative campaign is part of the RU Clear? chlamydia screening programme, which encourages under-25s to be tested for the sexually transmitted infection.
How embarrassing is that? Going to watch Oldham Athletic.
Only now there's the added attraction of possibly getting an appointment at the clap clinic before you take your seat. Obviously they'll have to put some sort of disposable cover over it first.
And how many times do you think someone will ask what numbered shirt their new French signing Chlamydia is wearing?
Still, it will be fun spotting which players didn't get the "all clear." I'm guessing that they'll be ones celebrating any goals they may score by themselves.
It may be spring but the bleak midwinter continues unabated for the Lilywhites.
After their crucifixion at Bradford on Good Friday, Mossley proved that the second part of the Easter story – resurrection – was beyond them by falling to an almost as heavy defeat at home to Rossendale United.
That the game was able to go ahead was due in no small part to the tireless dedication of a group of supporters who'd spent the hours in the lead up to the kick-off clearing a thick layer of snow off the Seel Park playing surface. Indeed, a hearty round of applause and a cyber slap on the back goes to those who volunteered for the near back breaking task of getting the pitch ready. As to whether or not they believed their efforts had been worth it by 4:45pm is only something they themselves will be able to answer.
From the first whistle onwards the match had a definite end of season air to it, albeit a month or so too early, with neither side ever looking like troubling the score line. Given the heavy nature of the pitch this was perhaps to be expected but it was still poor fare for the supporters watching from the terraces. Some of whom were giving serious consideration to shovelling snow back on to the pitch at the interval in order to get it abandoned. And that's how it remained until the one incident of note in an otherwise forgettable half handed Mossley the lead.
In the 37th minute a left wing cross by Danny Ryan turned in to a shot in mid-flight and hit the angle of post and crossbar. In the race for the loose ball as it bounced back off the framework, former Mossley keeper Lee Bracey lost out to David Boardman by a fraction of a second and as a consequence sent the home sides forward tumbling to the ground. The referee had no option other than to award the Lilywhites a penalty which Lee Connor duly, and coolly, converted.
The start of the second period saw a marginal improvement in the entertainment stakes with both teams flashing shots wide of the uprights and Gareth Hamlet drawing a save out of Bracey. After that initial flurry of 'excitement' though the game reverted to how it had been for the majority of the first forty five minutes and Mossley looked to be heading for a dull but most welcome victory.
At least they were until the 71st minute when Dean Johnson surrendered possession cheaply on the halfway line and set in motion a Rossendale move that ended with substitute Lloyd stabbing the ball home from close range. And five minutes later the game was turned completely on its head when Eastwood took full advantage of being left unmarked in the box to fire the Stags in front.
Having gone from looking the odds on winners to likely losers, Mossley began to throw more players into attack in an effort to salvage the game, and four minutes from time it was another substitute, Edgington, who exploited the lack of numbers in the Lilywhites defence to run half the length of the pitch and add a third goal to his teams total. And had it not been for an astonishingly poor miss in injury time by one of Rossendale's goal scorers, Mossley would have been on the receiving end of their second 4 – 1 reversal in the space of four days.
... and leaves Ashley Connor wondering where the defensive cover has disappeared to.
With Mossley having taken just five points from the last possible forty two and with relegation looking increasingly unlikely, the end of the season (and the chance to start building for the next) can't come soon enough for the Lilywhites.
If when reading this you've 'marvelled' at the increase in photographic content (if not in quality) it's because it's a desperate attempt to make the piece look bigger than it actually is.
The reason as to why it 's so brief is because I really can't be fussed to extend it; especially as the majority of conclusions to be taken from the game (the ones that I'd normally fill the report out with) are exactly the same as the ones for the last home game against Wakefield.
Although you can add to that the fact that the pitch had a greater influence on proceedings and that Rossendale's introduction of fresh legs to the match in the second half did go some way to tipping the balance in their favour (though if it hadn't been for Mossley gifting them the ball and space on numerous occasions their impact would have been negligible). Other than that though everything is pretty much as it was ten days ago.
So instead of wittering on and repeating myself, you can finish reading this earlier than you would have otherwise expected and go and do something a lot more interesting instead.
Due to numerous problems (most of them involving the video of Mossley's goal) the report for yesterday's game with Rossendale will be online some time tomorrow.
I'm sure that you can wait. I mean, it wasn't a game you particularly want to relive in a hurry, was it?
What an interesting night last Friday turned out to be.
And now that I've finally managed to thaw out, I can tell you about it.
Howling winds, sub-zero temperatures, near decapitation by a garden bin lid that had blown over the Horsfall Stadium's perimeter fence, snow, heavy snow and then a blizzard. All before the piece de resistance: being held up on the motorway for fifteen minutes at Hartshead services by a trailer that had shed its load of (and I kid you not) hot tubs over two lanes.
Oh yes, and in the middle of it all was a practice match for Bradford Park Avenue in front of the smallest 400+ crowd you've ever seen.
Good Friday turned out to be anything but for Mossley as their latest trip to Bradford ended like their first at the beginning of the month - with a three goal margin of defeat. And not for the first time this season I find myself having to write that it could have been a whole lot worse.
Getting any kind of positive result against promotion chasing Avenue was always going to be a tough task for Mossley but it was one made all the more difficult in the 15th minute when Michael Fish was shown a straight red card for an extremely rash challenge near the halfway line.
It was definitely a case of from 'hero to villain' for the Mossley number seven as he had given his side a shock lead in the fourth minute of the match. Despite the chilling, gale force winds blowing across the pitch, Danny Ryan delivered a perfectly weighted free-kick from the left into the Bradford box that Fish stooped to head home past a surprisingly static goalkeeper.
The advantage was to last barely two minutes though before Tristram Whitman drew the hosts level and from that point it was the home side that controlled the remainder of the game. Especially after the visitors had had their numbers reduced.
Ashley Connor produced a series of fine saves to keep the Lilywhites in the match, including one tremendous point blank stop to deny Gedman, but just when it looked like the visitors might make it to half-time without conceding another goal Bradford put themselves in front. And once again it Whitman that did the damage.
Picking up Gedman's intelligent flick on, the Bradford forward evaded the challenge of Mossley's last man Leon Henry and from the corner of the box he looped the ball over Connor and into the net.
The visitors feint to near non-existent hopes of rescuing the game were extinguished immediately after the interval. After failing three times to deal with a corner, Gedman bundled the ball over the line and when Williams added a fourth in the 67th minute from a free-kick, the only question remaining was not if Bradford would win but by how many.
Thankfully for Mossley one of the few bright spots for the Lancashire side on a dismal evening was that Bradford's fourth turned out to be their last, though they did go close numerous times to making the score line a more embarrassing one. And when the few flakes of snow that were falling at the start of the second period turned into a blizzard with ten minutes of the match left, the tie was effectively over as a game of football.
The phrase 'practice match' that I used somewhere near the beginning is probably a bit unfair but despite going ahead very early on, Mossley never really looked like they'd take anything from the game. The sending off didn't help us one bit (and it was a sending off) but its hard to argue that the scoreline would have been any different had Fish not received his marching orders. Even in the time between us going ahead and the red card it was one way traffic.
One thing for certain is that there wasn't the 'galvanising effect' that you often see with teams that have a player dismissed while playing us – where it somehow becomes harder to beat 10 men than 11. There were some good performances, some not so good and some looked lost ploughing a lone furrow with little support.
Unless you can keep the opposition out you need to score goals to win points and finding the back of the net is something Mossley rarely looked like doing. Once again the 'ten men' caveat can be used but if it wasn't for a very long range effort in the second half by Danny Ryan that bounced into the Bradford keeper's hands, Mossley's shots to goals ratio would have been 1:1.
The end result for Mossley is not only another defeat (their twentieth in the league in this campaign) but the fourteenth in which they've lost by conceding three or more goals.
With a final position in mid-table now looking somewhat ambitious, it's important that Mossley start to string a sequence of positive results together if they're not to end the season on the dampest of squibs.
And if Jesus could rise from the dead in three days, I'm sure that Mossley can manage it in four in order to get back to winning (or even drawing) ways Rossendale at Seel Park on Bank Holiday Monday.
A two game weekend means that to save time, it's a double header preview: long on waffle, short on facts.
The first game is this Friday against the new Colne Dynamos, Bradford (Park Avenue), at the ridiculous time of 7:45pm.
The Yorkshire side got their slowly derailing title challenge back on track with a victory over us on our first visit to the Horsfall Stadium at the start of the month. And with Curzon and Skelmersdale now trying their hardest to slip firmly into a play-off spot, Bradford now find themselves back in with a shout of achieving the goal they're paying a fortune to hit.
I didn't pick Colne Dynamos because of just the money aspect though. As you may recall the Lancashire club imploded spectacularly when the clubs benefactor saw his dreams of glory thwarted by the realities of non-league football and you get the feeling that Bradford are another ticking bomb.
There have been all sorts of shenanigans since we played them in the aftermath of their sacking of Benny Phillips. In the intervening period they've appointed not one but two managers. The first lasted the few hours it took them to find out that he was under contract elsewhere (something Bradford could have avoided if they'd actually told the club he was contracted to that they intended to appoint him), after which they appointed David Cameron. Yes, I know but any gag I could come up with would be just too obvious.
The illegal approach made for Alfreton's manager was dismissed with a "So what" on the clubs forum and it's the kind of attitude that makes you think that not only are Bradford not going to make many friends, but should they hit a cul-de-sac on the pitch there's a risk that it will explode into a shower of bitter recriminations and a never ending repetition of the phrase "I told you so".
The supporters who are already urging caution about grandiose plans such as a 20,000 seater stadium and league football are being met with low level abuse on the club's forum, but these will be the ones left to pick up the pieces, should any be left, if it all goes up a certain creek without an implement to direct yourself with..
Three days later on Bank Holiday Monday Rossendale United make the relatively short trip to Seel Park.
It seems like an age has passed since we met them earlier in the season at Dark Lane, a meeting in which Mossley picked up their second win of the season; Martin Allison and Paul Quinn scoring our goals in a 2 - 1 result.
Turning out for the Stags now is ex-Lilywhite Sergio Mario Daniel who has already caused us plenty of damage this season, being a major thorn in our side during that unholy trinity of games we had with Woodley Sports back in August.
Prediction: Call me crazy but I think we'll get six points of six! How's that for positivity/blind optimism?
What better to way to spend a night when the temperatures are near zero than to stand outside on an exposed piece of land and pay £6 for the trouble of doing so?
Desperate for a game of football I, and a few other like minded Mossley fans, made our way to the Tameside Stadium in the hope of seeing an entertaining game between the blue half of Ashton and Harrogate Railway. And we got 50% of what we wanted - a game.
There's no question that Curzon deserved their win but they currently look a shadow of the side that was conquering all before them earlier in the season. The absence of Michael Norton may well have contributed to last night's stuttering performance and, in doing so, strengthened the beliefs of those who feel that they're almost a one man team. Whole I don't subscribe to that point of view you can't help but notice the huge hole that's left in the team when he's not playing.
Harrogate were not unlike us (Mossley) in that everything fell apart in the final third of the pitch, and barring one shot from distance the Curzon keeper had one of those 'easy money' nights.
Like I said though Curzon won, with a solitary second half goal, which is good news for Mossley as it stops Railway from putting further distance between themselves and us. If only they could have done it in a more entertaining manner.
Yes, it was another boreathon and the third in the space of seven days for a small group of Mossley supporters after the Stalybridge match last Tuesday and the one at the weekend - a very unwanted hat-trick.. How boring? Well a considerable amount of time during the first half was spent discussing the Wakefield match (naturally), the food outlets on Ashton Moss, Spain, Lord Byron, renaissance art and why no-one appears to sit at one end of Curzon's main stand, to name but a small selection of the topics touched upon.
Why does nobody ever seem to sit in the far right block of the main stand?
In fact the best part of the night was the choice of music being played over the P.A. system before the match and at half-time. Having obviously put a 'one-hit wonders' CD in the machine, the crowd was treated to rarely heard delights such as Dee-Lite, Nena, Toni Basil, Chesney Hawkes, Charles & Eddy and Toto Coelo. Yes, I can honestly say that you haven't watched non-league football until you've seen a team go through their pre-match warm-up routine with puzzled looks on their faces as "I eat cannibals" blares out around the ground.
And while I'm on the subject, if anybody from Curzon is reading this please turn down the volume of your speaker system.
It's that loud (painfully so at times) that even if you shout at the top of your voice, you can't hold a conversation with the person stood next to you. Stood opposite the tunnel you can actually feel the vibrations of the sound as it echos off the back of the stand. It's genuinely unpleasant.
So its not just Julius Caesar for whom the Ides of March turn out to be a seriously lousy day.
The fifteenth day of the third month has always been seen to be portentous and if old superstitions are true, the omens Mossley will take from this game aren't particularly good ones.
With eight games of the season left, and all but one against teams currently above them in the table, Mossley are going to have rediscover the form they showed against Chorley quickly or else more performances like this one will see them enter the race for the wooden spoon, or possibly worse if the league do decide to press ahead with relegation this summer.
There was a distinct case of 'after the lord mayor's show' about proceedings at Seel Park on Saturday as Mossley followed up their battling display against the Magpies, and one which saw them register their first victory of 2008, with the kind of showing that had seen them go the ten games prior to it without a win.
Much as they'd done in the meeting between the two sides a fortnight earlier at their Eastmoor Road ground, Wakefield claimed a victory against the Lilywhites with two second half goals. And unlike then when Mossley were somewhat unfortunate not to leave with at least one of the points on offer, this time round the Yorkshire side deserved their spoils, even if the goals that won it did have a stroke of fortune about them.
The first half was a monumentally dull affair - the epitome of a dour, midfield battle and but for two superb saves by Mossley keeper Ashley Connor, it wouldn't be worth mentioning at all. His first stopped Chris Hitchings from putting Wakefield ahead quarter of an hour into the game and his second, twenty minutes later, left Graham Marchant slack jawed in wonderment at how he'd managed to divert his attempt, that looked destined to drop into the net, over the bar.
The home sides efforts at drawing similar heroics out of Connor's opposite number, Andy Woods, amounted to nothing more than two half-chances from Michael Fish that were shepherded off for goal kicks and a header that bobbled into his arms following a corner.
A hooked shot from Michael Fish drops over the crossbar under the watchful eye of Woods; the closest Mossley came to scoring in the entire 90 minutes.
Compared to the second half though Woods was being positively overworked as the forty five minutes that followed the interval saw Mossley register one single shot on target; the closest they got being a diving header from Fish that was blocked before it went anywhere near the six yard box.
Unfortunately the visitors weren't having any such trouble at the other end of the pitch. With Mossley remaining firmly stuck in neutral, the extra gear Wakefield appeared to have found during the break saw them begin to ask more and more questions of their opponents. Despite their best attempts to break the deadlock though, it was to be two defensive errors that they'd capitalise on to win the game.
In the 54th minute Delroy Ferguson took advantage of Lee Connor's hesitancy in heading off a loose pass to break clear of the home defence and slot the ball under the Mossley captain's namesake to put Wakefield ahead.
Both his and his sides second goal came courtesy of a similar error half an hour later, only this time it was Paul Quinn who failed to make the crucial and relatively straight forward interception, once again allowing Ferguson all the time he needed to compose himself and pick his spot past Connor with the ball.
On one of the occasions Ashley Connor is actually beaten, the crossbar comes to the rescue.
The only positive for Mossley on the day was that the final scoreline wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. And the fact that they weren't on the receiving end of a much heavier defeat is down to a combination of a string of saves produced by Ashley Connor that bettered the ones he made in the opening half, some errant finishing by the visitors and, on one notable occasion, the woodwork.
Overall this was a hugely disappointing showing from Mossley - from the sublime to the ridiculous in the space of a week. Other than a few notable exceptions, it's hard to believe that it was the same eleven that did so well in the last home match.
As Roy Walker used to repeat mantra-like on Catchphrase, "Say what you see," and what I saw was pretty crap. And in private, away from the terraces and the internet, I think that's what many of you will believe as well.
If you're able to make the result more palatable by believing that the only difference between the two sides were the two mistakes, then fair play to you. From a personal point of view I think being happy that we might have scraped a 0 - 0 draw at home to a mid-table side had it not been for two errors (the likes of which haven't exactly been rare occurrences this season), a spectacular display by our goalkeeper and some lax finishing from our opponents, is a desperately small straw to clutch at.
I've no doubt that some of you reading this will be tutting to yourself in the belief that I'm being overly harsh but is it really too much to ask that the opposing keeper at least gets his kit a bit dirty? That we not put in an end of season performance with eight games left and safety still not an absolute certainty?
With two tough games coming up over the Easter weekend that winning mentality is going to have to return pretty sharpish. Will the real Mossley please stand up?
This Saturday Mossley get the chance to mete out some swift (well swift-ish) revenge as they take on Wakefield, a mere two weeks after they last faced them and lost to what was virtually the last kick of the game.
A lot has happened in the intervening fourteen days though, not least the fact that Mossley won their first game of 2008. While one win can hardly be construed as 'a roll', the victory over Chorley will certainly give the Lilywhites a bit of momentum as the season approaches its closing moments.
Four places and 12 points currently separate Mossley and their more highly positioned guests, but 6 of those points can be clawed back in the two home games we're yet to face our Yorkshire opponents in. That's a big but though as Wakefield are currently the form team away from home having taken 15 of the last 18 points possible on their travels. Indeed, if it wasn't for their performances at Eastmoor Road they'd almost certainly have been mounting a significant push for automatic promotion rather than hoping to catch a play-off spot.
Prediction: Two in a row - a win for the home side.
Do you see what I did there by cleverly combining the name of Stalybridge Celtic's ground and the fact it was very windy? I'll readily admit that it isn't the greatest pun there's ever been but it's the only attempt at humour you're going to get in this little piece.
You see it's because I'm still bored: monumentally so after watching our aforementioned neighbours take on Alfreton Town in a Blue Square North game last night.
The 3 - 1 scoreline in the home sides favour might suggest that an exciting game took place but believe me when I tell you it didn't. What it was in fact was a one sided game were that one side didn't really have to do much. Bridge took the lead not long after kick-off through Steve Torpey after a mazy dribble took him through some spectacularly slack defending, and just before half-time they added second when Ashley Wynn hit a nice volley from just inside the Alfreton box.
The second half was similar with Torpey adding a supremely well taken third almost immediately after the restart (lobbing the town keeper from a good 45 yards out) while the visitors wrapped up the scoring with not much of the match left to play.
In between not a lot else happened. Alfreton looked like a side going through the motions, which is no real surprise considering their manager tried to walk out on them a couple of weeks ago to join Bradford Park Avenue, and Stalybridge's attempts at running up a cricket score were continually being hampered by a strike force performing that old music hall act of trying (and failing) to hit a cow's bum with a banjo.
Celtic even gave Alfreton a chance three quarters of the way through by replacing half of their forward line with someone who wasn't much better and sticking former Clitheroe full-back Simon Garner in the centre of what was their dominant midfield. I've actually never seen him play in central midfield before and, to be fair, I didn't seem him play there last night either. And unless his role was to keep giving the ball away I don't think anyone will see him play there again either.
I'm sure that if I was a Blues fan I'd have found the game to better than it actually was but as a neutral, it was a match that left you looking at your watch in the hope that it was finishing soon. Or at least it would have if it wasn't too cold to keep taking my gloves off and rolling up my sleeve.
Match - mostly dull with the occasional highlight.
Stalybridge Celtic midfield - very, very good.
Are you sure - yep, 'felt sorry for their small band of travelling supporters' poor.
Officials - contrary to the Celtic fan sitting in front of us in a continual state of apoplexy, they were good.
Steward clearing footballs off the roof of the stand in gale force winds during the interval - absolutely mad!
Just when their win less run was beginning to resemble Tony Curtis's arm in 'The Vikings' after he gets his hand chopped off (in that it was getting longer every time you looked at it*), Mossley finally claimed their first three point haul of 2008 with a hard fought, but ultimately deserved, victory over a Chorley side that had beaten them rather too convincingly just a month earlier.
As has often been the case during that ten game win less streak that stretches back to the last week of December, Mossley began the brighter of two sides on display with Martin Allison, David Boardman and Danny Ryan all going close to putting the hosts ahead in the opening ten minutes.
The latter in particular was having an impressive start to his debut in a Lilywhites shirt and it was from one of the numerous crosses he fired in from the left wing that Mossley opened the scoring; Michael Fish diving full length to head the ball past Magpies keeper Peter Collinge in the 11th minute.
It was lead that was to last barely a minute though before as Magpies drew level with their first shot real in anger of the game, and it was a former Mossley player that did the damage. Centre forward Steve Burke letting fly with a venomous shot from the edge of the box that took the slightest of deflections off Lee Connor before hitting the back of the net.
The midway point of the half saw David Boardman restore Mossley's lead with a smart turn and shot from the edge of the box after a quickly taken throw-in appeared to catch Chorley's defence half-asleep.
All three goals scored up to this point had been pretty impressive but they were surpassed on the stroke of half-time. From a full 30 yards out, Martin Allison struck an inch perfect free-kick that not only had Collinge flying across his goal line in a forlorn attempt to stop it from dropping into the net, but gave Mossley a two goal cushion that they richly deserved going in to the interval.
Its behind you! Peter Collinge fails to stop Martin Allison's free-kick.
While the weather hadn't exactly been 'clement' in the opening half of the game, it was certainly preferable to the conditions both sides found themselves playing in at the start of the second period. The strong wind that had been blowing across Seel Park was now joined by torrential rain and as water swept across the rapidly deteriorating surface, both sides, unsurprisingly struggled to produce anything other than the occasional half chance.
A small taster for those who weren't there of what the 'drizzle' was like in the second half.
That remained the case until the 70th minute when, with the deluge beginning to ease off (if only slightly), Mark Drew halved Chorley's deficit with a 25 yard free-kick; practically his first touch since coming on as a substitute.
After having been in control for so long Mossley began to wobble slightly as the Magpies started to throw more men into attack in search of an equaliser. Ashley Connor was called on to make a superb point blank stop from Burke and the Chorley striker had his embarrassment spared by an offside flag after poking the ball wide of a virtually open goal.
Two minutes from time the outcome of the game was put beyond any shadow of doubt when Martin Allison stroked home his second and Mossley's fourth goal of the afternoon from the penalty spot. The kick awarded after man-of-the-match David Boardman had been felled by Collinge as he attempted to take the ball around him.
Which Martin Allison calmly puts away.
Well, what can you say when "well played" and "well done" isn't enough?
This was a stirring performance from the men in white (and dirty grey and brown by the end of the match) shirts and a world away from the one witnessed by the 'unlucky few' against Bridlington four days earlier.
Not only did heads not go down after Chorley had pulled the game back immediately after we'd scored but we continued to battle and battle hard without picking up silly bookings.
Of course, we weren't playing a top of the table side but Chorley are certainly no mugs under their new manager Tony Hesketh and anybody who plays them is certainly going to have to work hard for the points. Which is precisely what Mossley did. In fact both teams deserve plenty of credit for producing a game that never failed to hold the attention, especially given the atrocious conditions the match was played under.
It might have been a victory that was long time in coming but with more performances like this one, it certainly won't be another eleven games before Mossley are celebrating claiming another three points again.
* Despite it being a very good film, it is worth watching just to see Tony Curtis's characters stump grow bigger the longer the film goes on. In the climactic fight scene his handless arm is almost half as long as the one with fingers on the end.
As Monty Python bores will tell you between Nudge-Nudge Winks-Winks, Ni's and choir invisible's, "No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition". Especially when you're phoning a call centre in Newcastle.
At least that is what it was like when I phoned up Orange in an attempt to get them to send me my broadband migration code. Virtually every sentence from the opposite end of the phone began with why.: Why this? Why that? Why when? Why where? Why?
It got to a situation that was not unlike that famous moment on Newsnight when Jeremy Paxman kept asking Michael Howard the same question about a prison governor. But instead of "Did you threaten to over rule him?" it was me continually repeating the mantra "Could I have a MAC code please?" with increasing weariness.
After finally being called crazy for not accepting the "fantastic deal" being offered to keep me as a customer, I was curtly told that my code would arrive by e-mail within the next few days*.
By this point you're probably asking yourselves what any of that has to do with the price of fish, so I'll tell you. The time I've spent doing the above (and listening Amy Winehouse singing 'Valerie' while being transferred to various departments in two different parts of the globe) is the time I normally write the match preview, and that's why it's going to be shorter than usual.
"But couldn't you have spent the time writing the opening five paragraphs (and this one) doing the preview instead?" Well, yes I could have but... but ... ... oh flip!
The Magpies arrive at Seel Park with Mossley at their lowest ebb of the season: 10 games (almost a third of our current league season) without a win and coming off the back of a spanking at home to the team second from bottom of the league.
In fact it's the kind of situation Chorley themselves were in when we made the journey to Victory Park a little over a month ago. Not only were they struggling for points, they went into that game a mere three days after being whupped 7 – 0 and, in the same time frame, had sacked their management team and appointed a new one. The result of which was a rather convincing 3 – 1 victory, despite Mossley having taken an early lead.
The thorn in Mossley's side that day (or to be more precise, night) was ex-Lilywhite Steve Burke who scored two of Chorley's goals and could, and probably should, have had a few more.
Since that meeting Chorley have managed to put a bit more distance between themselves and the foot of the table (they're unbeaten in the last five league outings) and now sit two points and a place below us in 14th spot.
Now I'm off to try something far easier than getting my MAC code off Orange like extracting blood from a stone or managing to sit through an episode of Most Haunted Live without shouting "charlatan", "gullible idiots" or "why the hell am I watching this crap?" at the screen.
Prediction: I have a strong gut feeling about this one - a win for Mossley.
* Credit where credit is due though, I've received my code just a couple of hours after requesting it.
Apologies for the late arrival of this match report but I've been out getting a T-shirt printed bearing the slogan - 'I stayed until the end of the Mossley – Bridlington match and I wasn't even playing!' because there weren't many of us that did.
Yes, just when it looked like things were clicking into place once again following the week end showing at Wakefield, Mossley's season took another disastrous turn for the worse.
Well at least it did if you're just going off the scoreline.
On the face of it there's no denying that a 5 - 2 defeat at home, to the team currently second from bottom of the division, is an embarrassing one. Especially when you're trailing by four goals at the interval.
The full picture however is not entirely one of doom and gloom as the Mossley performance in this game was light years ahead of those witnessed in the similarly heavy defeats against Lancaster and Skelmersdale, and even some of the more recent ones where we've lost by the odd goal such as Harrogate. Not that that really makes the result any less of a bitter pill to swallow or hide the fact that the warning signs are flashing.
The match almost got off to the perfect start for the Lilywhites when, with just twenty seconds having elapsed, Adam Morning bounced a shot off the right hand upright. A little over three minutes then went past before the same post was hit again, this time by Gareth Hamlet following a goalmouth scramble. Unfortunately for the Lilywhites though these efforts sandwiched Bridlington's second minute opener - a stunning strike by Gowens from the right wing that left Ashley Connor rooted to the spot as it arced around him and into the net.
That said he was still seeing more of the ball than his opposite number at the other end of the pitch so it came as something of a surprise when Town doubled their advantage in the 22nd minute. The first goal was good but the second was even better. Receiving the ball a good 35 yards away from goal, Fleming hit a thunderous drive that evaded Connor's vertical leap before dipping under the crossbar and hitting the back of the net.
Lee Blackshaw races past his marker in a photo that for some reason gives me a headache if I look at it for too long.
If the first two goals were 'wonder strikes' that little could be done about, the same can't be said for the next two. Mossley's failure to adequately clear their defensive lines following a throw-in led to McGarry adding a third for Bridlington on the half hour mark, and on the stroke of half-time the same player was given the time and space to make it four with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Mossley finally managed to get on the score sheet in the 53rd minute whren Martin Allison's attempt to charge down a clearance was rewarded after the ball ricocheted off him and into the net. And when the same player pulled another goal back from the penalty spot seven minutes later, it suddenly looked as though Mossley were about to fashion a remarkable comeback.
Martin Allison (partially hidden by Darren Royle) bundles Mossley's first over the line.
That optimism lasted for less than two minutes. Taking advantage of a huge gap that opened up in the home defence, Gowens made his way towards the edge of the box unchecked before slotting the ball past Connor for Town's fifth goal of the night.
To Mossley's credit though they refused to lie down and die. Right up to the final whistle they continued to enjoy plenty of possession and created a host of chances, but just as in the first half (and many games prior to this one) the lack of any kind of accuracy meant that the deficit in the score remained at three.
At a push (and it's a big push I'll admit) you could say that we were a trifle unlucky. We could play Bridlington every day from now until Armageddon and I doubt they'd ever score two more like the first couple of goals in this game, or indeed find the net with all five of their first half shots (one was disallowed).
People with their feet grounded in reality though will say that you make your own luck in football. So until Mossley start to get more than the odd shot on target per game and stop giving away soft goals, we'll continue to make our opponents luck for them.
To be honest the most disturbing thing about the night was not the result but pitifully low attendance. I appreciate that some people have more pressing concerns to attend to and that others with no access to the internet were unaware that a match was taking place but over a hundred of them?
Then again maybe last night was as bad as it seemed and I'm simply in a state of denial but one thing is for sure, the upcoming Chorley match is now bigger than a huge thing that's standing on stilts and wearing a large hat.
To be perfectly honest, I can't work up the enthusiasm to do a fourth preview for a home game with Bridlington, especially as much of what was written for that last scheduled meeting is still applicable. So if you're interested (and the site statistics say you're probably not) click here.
I'm now going to use the time I would have spent writing it wondering why, of the two video clips I posted of the Wakefield game, the viewership of the 'near misses' is more than triple that of the goal we scored.
Nevertheless, a big thank you to everyone who has taken the trouble to watch them!
Football can be a cruel game at times as Mossley found out to their cost at Wakefield's windswept College Grove ground.
The White Rose county hasn't been a particularly happy hunting ground for the Lilywhites on their travels this season: a solitary draw being their best result in six games on Yorkshire soil. And it's a statistic that failed to improve after their latest trip across the Pennines.
Not that it wasn't for the want of trying as Mossley produced some of their best attacking football for months but the long standing problem of failing to make their dominance count was to once again prove costly.
Still searching for their first win of 2008, Mossley lined up with an attacking 4-3-3 formation (or if you want to look at it with a more conservative eye, a 4-5-1) but the biggest surprise was the inclusion of Adam Morning - the former Manchester City youngster making a return to the club after leaving in the summer of 2006.
As has been often the case in their current win less run, the Lilywhites exerted an enormous amount of pressure on their opponents in the opening stages of the game but with little in the way of shots on goal to show for it. However, after Lee Blackshaw and Wakefield's Jay Sobers had traded long range shots that gave both keepers cause for concern, it was the formers side that upped the ante.
Ashley Connor deals with a rare moment of worry in the first half.
Chances soon turned from a trickle to a stream as Blackshaw and Adam Morning, both players continually swapping wings, began to torment and open up a home defence that soon discovered the best way to stop them was to foul them. Well it was on the occasions that they weren't left sitting on their backsides wondering how a tangerine blur had tied their legs in a knot. However, Andy Woods in the Wakefield goal was proving to be more than a match for anything that Mossley could throw at him.
Despite the best efforts of ex-Lilywhite Will Ryder, Adam Morning's corner crosses the line.
As football clichés go, 'a game of two halves' is a particularly hackneyed one but one that sums up this match perfectly. If the first period belonged to Mossley, the second most definitely belonged to their hosts.
Two minutes after the restart Sobers outlined his sides intentions by evading a series of challenges before unleashing a thunderous shot that cannoned back off the goal frame. Mossley's response was their two best (and only) opportunities of the second period and both came within a split second of each other; Lee Blackshaw having an effort headed off the line and Dean Johnson half-volleying the clearance narrowly wide of the right hand upright. Other than that the Lilywhites had little else to show for the amount of possession they held around the box.
The longer the half wore on the more Wakefield's better levels of fitness began to tell and after playing second fiddle for a little under an hour, the home midfield began to control the game, Sobers in particular playing a huge role in proceedings; instigating the majority of the home sides attacks and having a role in both of his sides goals. The first coming in the 65th minute when Chris Howarth looped a left wing cross over Ashley Connor from close range.
Wakefield proceeded to squander a succession of chances through a mixture of their own ineptness at finishing and some good Mossley defending, it looked as though the Lilywhites had done enough to earn themselves their first point on their travels for three months. Especially when substitute Ferguson fired tamely wide from a very good position in the 90th minute. Unfortunately it wasn't to be the last chance.
Deep into injury time and with the full-time whistle only seconds away, the Lilywhites conceded a soft free-kick midway in their own half. Sobers fired the dead ball towards the back post where centre half Wes Milnes directed it past Ashley Connor to give the home side victory with virtually the last touch of the game.
Wakefield's last touch of the match heads towards the net.
If you were to look at the game from a negative point of view, the failure to create more than a handful of good goalscoring opportunities that made the opposing keeper stretch himself a bit is a problem that refuses to go away.
However, it's from a positive perspective that I choose to reflect on this game (not bad for a long time pessimist, eh?). Every player in a Mossley shirt gave their all and there was enough evidence to suggest that there's a corner ahead which we're going to turn soon. In fact for the first time in 2008 I came away from a game feeling incredibly optimistic.
And should an enormous financial windfall ever befall me, I promise to build a hockey pitch by the side of Seel Park. Not only is it a good game to watch (it's football but with sticks) but there's money to be had from charging Mossley's dirty mac brigade a small fee to watch it!
At the end of the day, whilst it's hard not to feel despondent at such a late, late defeat, I think everyone can take a lot of heart from this performance, the Lilywhites best for some considerable time. Now we've got to see if we can repeat it against Bridlington and Chorley in what is going to be an important week in Mossley's season.


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