Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson Mid-caption: Staff cadets from the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, have taken up residence in the southern Queensland towns of Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove as part of a four-week (4–31 March 2011) training exercise. The exercise tests and reinforces the skills the staff cadets will require leading soldiers on 'stability' operations such as those encountered by the Australian Defence Force in Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands. The 103 staff cadets are in the final phase of their 18-month training course at Duntroon, Canberra, and will graduate in June 2011 as part of the Royal Military College's centenary celebrations. Four foreign students (from Brunei, Iraq, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea and) are part of the class. The Royal Military College prepares cadets for careers in the Army by promoting leadership and integrity, high ideals and the pursuit of excellence, and by inculcating a sense of duty, loyalty and service to the nation.
20050627adf8237482_007.JPG Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson Members from 16 Air Defence Regiment participate in a live firing of the Rapier Missile System during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2005.. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United States (US) forces are participating in four weeks of intensive training at Shoalwater Bay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Coral Sea during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005 (TS05). More than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US personnel from Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine and Special Forces units are participating in TS05, a merger of the TANDEM THRUST and CROCODILE series of exercises. TALISMAN SABRE's primary aim is to conduct collective training and exercise inter-operability between Australian and US forces while further developing the ADF's capability to undertake joint, combined operations and will also help build regional security and complement our regional partner's activities with the US.
Australian soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan aboard the Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle (IMV). Deep Caption The Australian Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) is deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper to conduct special operations in support of US-led Coalition security and reconstruction efforts in the country. Australian special forces professionalism and the experience that they have built up working with other countries over many years is valued by coalition partners involved in the operation. The deployment of the SOTG has also been welcomed by the government of Afghanistan. The Australian commitment to Afghanistan is an important and valued contribution to coalition forces' efforts to bring improved security and stability to Afghanistan. The SOTG deployment is, additionally, an important part of Australia's involvement with the international community to combat international terrorism.
20050624adf8237482_004.JPG Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson A soldier from the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (Fort Richardson, Alaska), participates in a simulated night attack on an enemy position during the combined Exercise Talisman Sabre 2005 involving Australian Defence Forces and US Forces. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United States (US) forces are participating in four weeks of intensive training at Shoalwater Bay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Coral Sea during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005 (TS05). More than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US personnel from Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine and Special Forces units are participating in TS05, a merger of the TANDEM THRUST and CROCODILE series of exercises. TALISMAN SABRE's primary aim is to conduct collective training and exercise inter-operability between Australian and US forces while further developing the ADF's capability to undertake joint, combined operations and will also help build regional security and complement our regional partner's activities with the US.
An Australian Soldier patrols the perimeter of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Afghanistan under a full moon. Deep Caption The Australian Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) is deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper to conduct special operations in support of US-led Coalition security and reconstruction efforts in the country. Australian special forces professionalism and the experience that they have built up working with other countries over many years is valued by coalition partners involved in the operation. The deployment of the SOTG has also been welcomed by the government of Afghanistan. The Australian commitment to Afghanistan is an important and valued contribution to coalition forces' efforts to bring improved security and stability to Afghanistan. The SOTG deployment is, additionally, an important part of Australia's involvement with the international community to combat international terrorism.
Special Operations Task Group (SOTG), patrol at dusk. Deep Caption The Australian Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) is deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper to conduct special operations in support of US-led Coalition security and reconstruction efforts in the country. Australian special forces professionalism and the experience that they have built up working with other countries over many years is valued by coalition partners involved in the operation. The deployment of the SOTG has also been welcomed by the government of Afghanistan. The Australian commitment to Afghanistan is an important and valued contribution to coalition forces' efforts to bring improved security and stability to Afghanistan. The SOTG deployment is, additionally, an important part of Australia's involvement with the international community to combat international terrorism.
Australian soldiers patrol the perimeter of a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan using the Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle (IMV). Deep Caption The Australian Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) is deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper to conduct special operations in support of US-led Coalition security and reconstruction efforts in the country. Australian special forces professionalism and the experience that they have built up working with other countries over many years is valued by coalition partners involved in the operation. The deployment of the SOTG has also been welcomed by the government of Afghanistan. The Australian commitment to Afghanistan is an important and valued contribution to coalition forces' efforts to bring improved security and stability to Afghanistan. The SOTG deployment is, additionally, an important part of Australia's involvement with the international community to combat international terrorism.
20050222adf8237482_027.JPG Australia's Chief of Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove during his visit to troops in Banda Aceh. As the drawdown of Australian Defence personnel in Sumatra commences, Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have begun handing over functioning capabilities to be managed in the long term by civilian personnel and organisations. The ADF have been assisting Indonesian Government authorities as part of the Australian Government program of humanitarian relief following the Boxing Day tsunami. The ADF has been working in support of tsunami disaster relief in Indonesia's Northern Sumatra and Aceh Provinces since 28 December 2004. Relief assistance provided by Australia is part of a co-operative effort involving the ADF, DFAT (AusAID) and Emergency Management Australia. Water, tentage, medical supplies, blankets, and other emergency provisions, and logistical support have been provided. In the tsunami-devastated provincial capital of Banda Aceh, the ADF set up a water purification plant and established the ANZAC Field Hospital, a field hospital operated jointly by medical personnel of the ADF and the New Zealand Defence Force. The ANZAC field hospital performed its final operation on 20 February before handing it back to the Indonesians and AusAid. The Australian Navy amphibious transport ship, HMAS Kanimbla, delivered a detachment of Australian Army Engineers an 13 January, and has taken up station as a floating support and logistics base for relief and reconstruction work.
20050222adf8237482_133.JPG Australia's Chief of Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove during his visit to troops in Banda Aceh. As the drawdown of Australian Defence personnel in Sumatra commences, Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have begun handing over functioning capabilities to be managed in the long term by civilian personnel and organisations. The ADF have been assisting Indonesian Government authorities as part of the Australian Government program of humanitarian relief following the Boxing Day tsunami. The ADF has been working in support of tsunami disaster relief in Indonesia's Northern Sumatra and Aceh Provinces since 28 December 2004. Relief assistance provided by Australia is part of a co-operative effort involving the ADF, DFAT (AusAID) and Emergency Management Australia. Water, tentage, medical supplies, blankets, and other emergency provisions, and logistical support have been provided. In the tsunami-devastated provincial capital of Banda Aceh, the ADF set up a water purification plant and established the ANZAC Field Hospital, a field hospital operated jointly by medical personnel of the ADF and the New Zealand Defence Force. The ANZAC field hospital performed its final operation on 20 February before handing it back to the Indonesians and AusAid. The Australian Navy amphibious transport ship, HMAS Kanimbla, delivered a detachment of Australian Army Engineers an 13 January, and has taken up station as a floating support and logistics base for relief and reconstruction work.
20050616adf8237482_167.JPG Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United States (US) forces are participating in four weeks of intensive training at Shoalwater Bay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Coral Sea during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005 (TS05). More than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US personnel from Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine and Special Forces units are participating in TS05, a merger of the TANDEM THRUST and CROCODILE series of exercises. TALISMAN SABRE's primary aim is to conduct collective training and exercise inter-operability between Australian and US forces while further developing the ADF's capability to undertake joint, combined operations and will also help build regional security and complement our regional partner's activities with the US.
20050616adf8237482_149.JPG Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United States (US) forces are participating in four weeks of intensive training at Shoalwater Bay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Coral Sea during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005 (TS05). More than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US personnel from Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine and Special Forces units are participating in TS05, a merger of the TANDEM THRUST and CROCODILE series of exercises. TALISMAN SABRE's primary aim is to conduct collective training and exercise inter-operability between Australian and US forces while further developing the ADF's capability to undertake joint, combined operations and will also help build regional security and complement our regional partner's activities with the US.
20050616adf8237482_007.JPG Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United States (US) forces are participating in four weeks of intensive training at Shoalwater Bay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Coral Sea during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005 (TS05). More than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US personnel from Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine and Special Forces units are participating in TS05, a merger of the TANDEM THRUST and CROCODILE series of exercises. TALISMAN SABRE's primary aim is to conduct collective training and exercise inter-operability between Australian and US forces while further developing the ADF's capability to undertake joint, combined operations and will also help build regional security and complement our regional partner's activities with the US.
20050617adf8237482_165.JPG Photograph by Corporal Bernard Pearson Members of the Army Red Berets Parachute Team from the Parachute Training School located at Nowra NSW, conducted parachute displays at the Rockhampton Show during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2005 involving Australian and US Forces in Rockhampton. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United States (US) forces are participating in four weeks of intensive training at Shoalwater Bay, Rockhampton, Townsville and the Coral Sea during Exercise TALISMAN SABRE 2005 (TS05). More than 6,000 Australian and 11,000 US personnel from Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine and Special Forces units are participating in TS05, a merger of the TANDEM THRUST and CROCODILE series of exercises. TALISMAN SABRE's primary aim is to conduct collective training and exercise inter-operability between Australian and US forces while further developing the ADF's capability to undertake joint, combined operations and will also help build regional security and complement our regional partner's activities with the US.


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Posted by Wade Burleson at Thursday, September 27, 2018 161 comments:
The other day I went to a fast-food restaurant and ordered a couple of salads. It was my turn to do dinner, so I did it the easy way. After arriving home, I realized the restaurant hadn't given me the condiments for my salads (dressing, nuts, etc.). I got back in the car and took my second trip across town, back to that same fast-food restaurant. Arriving home the second time, I realized that the condiment packets didn't have what should have been in them.
Argghh. Frustrating.
I didn't get what I wanted. I felt poorly served. Nobody at the restaurant recognized the trouble I'd been through, and no coupon was offered me for the hassle. In fairness, this restaurant is usually spot-on in their service. I only vented a little to my wife and then let it go, believing the restaurant staff was just having a difficult day.
When we pay for something at a restaurant, we want to enjoy it, be served well, experience comfort and convenience, and always leave satisfied. We want it all the time, no matter the cost. My heart goes out to those who own or manage restaurants. It's a tough business.
I think most of us treat churches like restaurants.
"I want this, this, and this." I want it served my way. If I don't get it the way I want it, I'll blame those who work at my church. After a season of frustration and irritation, many Christians switch churches like people switch restaurants.
The unspoken job description of the pastor is to make everyone happy, provide excellent services, and keep members as comfortable and content as possible. Everyone wants a church that delivers the salad on time, complete with packets of condiments, and a staff that always recognizes the customers/members and makes everything convenient and comfortable.
What's your favorite restaurant?
What's your favorite church?
Non-profit religious organizations (501C-3)'s are businesses by the very nature of incorporation. If there is a leader of a non-profit (e.g. "pastor") who tells you he doesn't care if the corporate members are happy, he's not being as truthful as he could. Every pastor cares about members. He must. Christians treat their non-profit religious organization like a restaurant to not care for the customers.
However, something magical happens when Christians begin to understand that His Church is not the same thing as "my church."
The gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.
The influential business leaders typically prevail in my church.
The leader of His Church is One who never makes mistakes.
The leaders of my church are people who often make mistakes.
The building housing His Church are people who form a Temple that He owns.
The building housing my church is made of wood and stone which members own.
His Church is composed of people from every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue.
My church is usually composed of people who all look the same and act the same.
His Church is always motivated by sinners learning what it means to boast in Christ.
My church is mostly concerned that other people boast of us being the biggest and the best.
His Church will selflessly serve, generously give, and willingly work for the good of others.
My church will look within to see how we can make members happy, comfortable, and content.
An effective Christian leader is one who leads people to think in terms of His church and not my church.
Or, to put it another way, when His Church becomes our priority, we stop seeing ourselves as saints singing of grace while keeping ourselves insulated and isolated from the world, and we start seeing ourselves as sinners saved by grace who become intentional and inspirational to other sinners in the world.
A church on mission is messy.
Jesus was a friend to sinners. The way to tell whether or not it is His Church or my church is whether or not sinners call us their friends.
10 years ago, no prisoners attended my church. This Sunday close to 50 prisoners will be attending His church. 10 years ago, nobody talked about the need for recovery at my church. This week dozens of men and women will gather on Thursday night to celebrate celebrating their recoveries from addictive and harmful behaviors at His Church. 10 years ago, we'd never dream of having a tatted up usher guiding people to their seats at my church. This past Sunday a tatted-up recent convert to Christ - just out of jail - guided my wife and me to our seats at His Church. 10 years ago we never would have spent money on transitional housing for the homeless at my church. In the past few years, His Church has spent tens of thousands of dollars in establishing men's and women's transitional housing.
It's messy, but it's a blessing.
As one woman said to Rachelle and me just last week: "I think His Church is the only church that would welcome a sinner like me."
If "your church" is working toward becoming His Church - and the building is not like you like it all the time, and the programs are not what they used to be, and the people don't look like you anymore; and the services don't remind you of the services you had when you were a child, and the money is spent on more outward ministry than inward ministries, and sinners actually are present in the congregation - please be patient.
Sometimes the condiments aren't in the packet at my church.
But that may happen because His Church has left the restaurant.
Posted by Wade Burleson at Wednesday, September 19, 2018 45 comments:
Authoritarianism, Fundamentalism, and Religious Leaders Who Control Those in Front of Them
Mariam Ishag, a Christian woman in Sudan, was hanged by fundamentalist religious leaders for 'apostasy.'
In Sudan, there is no difference between 'civil' authority and 'religious' authority. The civil authorities in charge of Sudan believe it a crime to be a Christian.
Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa sentenced Mariam to death with these words: "We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death."
The Sudanese judge believes himself to be God's authority over this woman's life. He sentenced Mariam 'to death' because he believes he possesses his power and authority from the Divine. When the judge speaks, he believes he speaks for Allah.
Most American evangelicals will cringe at such abuse of authority.
However, American evangelicals need to self-examine before criticizing Islamic perversions of religious authority. Radical Islamicists carry out in this life what American evangelicals decree for the next life.
Condemnation. Judgment. Death.
The most dangerous kind of 'authority' is the kind that takes away a person's freedoms to believe, speak, and live - in this life - as that person desires.
Fundamentalism and extremism, regardless of the religion which gives birth to it, is birthed by religious leaders who claim Divine appointment and who feel the mandate to control all the people in front of them.
Tight control over others is a tell-tale sign of little confidence within myself.
G.K. Chesterton once said, "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
To be a soldier set on fire from hell is to be the kind of person who seeks to control those in front (e.g. religious fundamentalism or secular humanism).
To be a true soldier of Christ is to be the kind of person who acknowledges, accepts, and answers those who ask "of the hope that is within us" and refuses to fight.
Why do true soldiers of Christ not fight their "enemies"?
Because we know that what is behind us is already saved and safe by God's grace.
And we believe that Christ meant it when He said 'By your love for others will all know that you are My disciples" (John 13:35).
Avoid authoritarianism. Avoid fundamentalism.
The former gives birth to the latter, but Christ roots both out of His people.
Posted by Wade Burleson at Tuesday, September 11, 2018 47 comments:
I recently came across a post I originally shared 10 years ago. It's the story of how President Abraham Lincoln consecrated his life to Jesus Christ while walking the battlefields of Gettysburg.
My heart was warmed as I read the story as originally shared by D. James Kennedy, the former pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Kennedy preached this message more than once during the course of his ministry at Coral Ridge, and I understand why. History books do not portray Lincoln's faith. It's a story, however, that needs to be repeated at least once a decade.
TEXT: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1
The most perfect speech ever uttered by mortal man was delivered on the battlefield of Gettysburg. It has been learned by unnumbered millions of children in school. It is actually an extended personification, where America is personified as a man who is conceived, born, dedicated, lives his life, engages in dangerous and perhaps mortal struggles, is born anew, and lives thereafter gloriously. Abraham Lincoln is immortal in the minds and memories of his countrymen, for on the battlefield at Gettysburg, this is what he said:
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The world noted, far more than he ever thought, the words that were spoken there, though Lincoln's invitation to speak was an afterthought. The orator of the day, of course, was Edward Everett, perhaps the greatest in the land, who spoke for two hours. What did he say? No one knows. Lincoln spoke for two minutes and no one has forgotten! Remarkable, indeed. But the question I would ask of you today is: Is Lincoln immortal in any other way than merely in the memory of his countrymen? That, indeed, is a great honor, but it is little felt by those that are dead. Is he immortal in the far greater sense, next to which immortality and the memory of his people is but a pale substitute? Is he immortal in the real sense of everlasting life which Jesus Christ and Christ only can give to a man, or to put it another way:
Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian?
Now I, in preaching this message, am not endeavoring to merely exhume the bones of Lincoln for some kind of belated autopsy. But rather, this is another way of proclaiming anew that Gospel message with which he struggled all of his life in the hope that as we emphasize and sympathize with his struggles with the great verities of life and death and eternity, that some of you will ask yourselves the deeper and more relevant question: Am I a Christian? Are you?
Consider well the sixteenth President of the United States. Like the nation he described in its conception, Lincoln was conceived in the midst of great religious fervor. There was a revival going on in Kentucky in 1809 of the type associated with the evangelist Peter Cartwright. (By the way, when Lincoln was grown, he entered into a political contest with Cartwright in running for the same office.) But in the midst of a prayer meeting, young Tom Lincoln leaped to his feet in the midst of this religious fervor and began to dance around and sing. A moment or two later, a young lady by the name of Nancy, did the same thing. They were soon introduced, engaged, and shortly thereafter married. In the midst of that religious fervor, Abraham Lincoln was born to Tom Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Certainly a spiritually, encouraging beginning. His mother was a godly woman who sat Lincoln upon her knees day after day after day and read to him the Scriptures and encouraged him to remember it. Particularly, she encouraged him to learn the Ten Commandments. (Every parent should certainly have their children memorize the Ten Commandments.)
They had a profound effect upon Lincoln's life. He said that whenever he was tempted to do something wrong, he could still hear the clear tones of his mother's voice saying, "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage . . . Thou shalt have no other gods before me . . . Thou shalt not steal . . . Thou shalt not kill . . . Thou shalt not bear false witness . . . " Abraham Lincoln became known, believe it or not, as the most honest lawyer east of China. As a young prairie lawyer in Illinois, when his opponents forgot or did not know some points in arguments, he would remind them. Once, when he was a shopkeeper, he walked for miles to return an overpayment of only a few cents by one of the customers. Lincoln also had a great regard for the Sabbath, as well. At one time during the war, when he was President, he went to Falmouth and there he visited with the general, who told him he was going to begin on Sunday the March to Richmond. Richmond was the heart of the Confederacy, its capital, and this well could mean the end of the war, for which Lincoln had so fervently prayed for so long. But the general brought it up because he knew of the opposition the President had toward beginning military initiatives on the Sabbath day. The President was silent for a long while. Then he said, "General take a good rest and begin on Monday morning."
Lincoln was never a member of any church. Would that the members of this church had as high a regard for the Sabbath as Lincoln did. I would like to express my appreciation to many writers who have contributed to this message. I have read thousands of stories about Lincoln, perused his entire total works, and numbers of biographies. I particularly appreciate William J. Johnson's excellent biography of Lincoln. My appreciation to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington for sending me copies of historical documents and affidavits from their archives, and to the late F. W. Boreham, the great Australian preacher, whose Outline I would like to borrow for this message, and also, many others who have brought to my attention new information.
THE AGE OF IRON
Boreham says there were three mountains Lincoln climbed where his life was changed. The first stage he described as the Age of Iron, where he "climbed Mount Sinai with Moses" in his effort to keep the command- ments of God. He had learned the Ten Commandments on his mother's knee. Those commandments influenced his life in such an incredible way that he gave himself to studying them. When Lincoln was only nine, his mother sickened, and before she died she called him to her side and said to him, "I am going away from you now Abraham and shall not return. I know that you will be a good boy and that you will be kind to your father. I want you to live as I have taught you to love your Heavenly Father," and then her last words, "and keep His commandments."
Yes, Lincoln strove mightily to keep those commandments. But the question is: Was he a Christian? Listen to Lincoln's own words: "I am not a Christian. God knows I would be one." He said that he did not read the Scriptures like those clergymen in Springfield who opposed his election because of his skepticism. And they were right. When Lincoln came to Springfield, he fell in with some agnostic and skeptical friends who gave him, among other things, Volney's Ruins, a great volume of unbelief which attacked viciously and articulately the Scriptures. By the way, Volney's Ruins has been repudiated on every page, but Lincoln did not know that then. This had a tremendously chilling effect upon his boyhood faith, and he became quite skeptical. "I am not a Christian," he said in the Age of Iron.
THE AGE OF CLAY
The second mountain Lincoln climbed was described by Boreham as the Age of Clay, when he climbed Mount Carmel with Elijah, where he was clay in the hands of the Almighty Potter. What was Lincoln like? When he was a young man, he looked in a mirror one day and said to himself, "It's a fact, Abe! You are the ugliest man in the world. If ever I see a man uglier than you, I'm going to shoot him on the spot!" It would no doubt, he thought, be an act of mercy. What was his personality like as a young man? We've seen what he thought of himself, and of course, we can't help but conjure up some pictures of this rather unique looking gentleman. He was six foot four in a world of midgets when everybody else was far shorter than they are today. He towered over everyone head and shoulders. Of course, there were those horribly long arms, the bane of his tailors, with these gigantic hands; that uncontrollable lock of hair on his forehead; deep dark eyes; sallow skin. Indeed, he could not see what any young lady could see in him. And yet, when you look at him sitting there in that great chair at the Lincoln Memorial, you can't help but feel that somehow there is a certain grandeur about this man who thought he was so ugly.
What was his personality like? One day a young lady that he had attempted to date said, "Abe Lincoln, you are illiterate, self-opinionated, overbearing and abominably ill-mannered." (She liked to beat around the bush.) What did Lincoln do? What, gentleman, would you do in a situation like that? He determined to completely change himself, and he turned to the Scriptures. He still had his mother's Bible, and he began to read in the Sermon on the Mount and other passages in the Bible about what God intended a man to be like. Was he illiterate? He became the most literate President we have ever known. As I said, his Gettysburg Address is considered to be the most perfect speech ever uttered by mortal man, but I disagree. I think his Second Inaugural Address is far superior even to that. Was he proud and overbearing? He became the humblest President we have ever had.
Someone once asked me what I thought was his most outstanding quality. I said it was his ability to forgive anyone anything because he was himself so humble. Lincoln's humility is further seen when, immediately after the war, he went to Richmond to the home of the President of the Confederacy who was, as you might imagine, "not home." His wife came to the door carrying a little baby in her arms, the baby of Jefferson Davis. The baby reached out to the President. Of course, Mrs. Davis was astounded to see Lincoln standing in her doorway. He took the baby into his arms and was given a big wet smack on the face. He handed the baby back to Mrs. Jefferson Davis and said, "Tell your husband that for the sake of that kiss, I forgive him everything." He was an incredibly humble man.
One time during the war Lincoln went to the home of General McClellan. Now McClellan had a hearty dislike for Lincoln, but he was a good general. Lincoln wanted him to become the general of the Army of the Potomac because the war was not going well at all. When he arrived at his home that evening with an aide, the general was not home. The butler ushered them into the library, and they waited. They waited for over an hour. Finally, the general came home, and the butler told him that the President of the United States was waiting to see him. But McClellan went upstairs. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes passed. Finally, the butler went upstairs and again said, "Sir, the President is still waiting for you." In a few minutes, he came back down and told the President, "The general has gone to bed." If you were President of the United States, what would you do? Lincoln went back the next night. His aide said, "Sir, how can you put up with that ill-mannered boor?" Lincoln replied: "Why, I would be willing to hold McClellan's horse if only he will give victory to our army."
He, indeed, was putty in the hands of the Almighty, and he had done this through studying the Scriptures. Theodore Roosevelt said that Lincoln mastered only one book and that was the Bible. He had committed thousands of verses to memory--many whole chapters--and he was trying to change his life to be what God would want him to be. He was a man whose life was filled with tragedy. His beloved mother died when he was but nine. Then his sister died. The woman he loved, Ann Rutledge, could never be his. After his father remarried, every Sunday his stepmother took Abe and his sister to the Pigeon Creek Hardshell Baptist Church. Here they listened to the fiery sermons about predestination, justification, foreordination, sanctification, and the new birth. He and Sarah sat in the front row and listened to it all but he never understood it.
He was married to a woman who certainly challenged his humility, Mary Todd. Lincoln is loved by people all over the world as the wife of the most beloved President the United States has ever had. But Mary Todd never saw anything good in him at all. As far as she was concerned he had terrible faults. He walked flatfooted, she said, with his toes turned down like an Indian. Furthermore, he slouched when he walked. He was head and shoulders taller than everybody else. Maybe he wanted to join the crowd. But Mary never saw anything good in this man. Poor Mary, or should I say, poor Abraham, but humbly he endured it all to the end.
Then the great tragedy of his life occurred when his little son, Willie, the apple of his eye, died. He was crushed. There is no doubt that he believed at this time strongly in the providence of God, though he could not understand and had rejected much else in the Bible, especially concerning the doctrines of salvation and redemption, which he could never understand due to the way it was presented to him. But he believed in God's providence, and he was to climb now, at last, the third mountain, Mount Calvary, with Saint John. This was what Boreham describes as the Golden Age. There he was to find something he had never seen before. Was he a Christian at this time? Ward Lamon, who had been his law partner, who had been his private secretary when he was President, who had been his bodyguard for years, and who knew him intimately, said of Lincoln, "...the melancholy that dripped from him as he walked was due to his want of religious faith."
But then little Willie died, the apple of his eye, his beloved son, his little boy. Lincoln was absolutely crushed. He was so overwhelmed with grief that he set aside every Thursday to mourn his death. After some period of time, when he would see no one on that day, but wept and mourned and lamented the death of his son Willie, Dr. Francis Vinton, rector of Trinity Church, came down to Washington from New York. He was a friend of the family and was allowed in to see the President. Not wanting to beat around the bush, he told him it was not right to mourn thus over his son. He said, "Your son is alive in paradise with Christ, and you must not continue." Lincoln sat there as though he were in a stupor, and then his mind caught on to the words that Dr. Vinton had said, and he exclaimed, "Alive! Alive! Surely, sir, you mock me."
"No, Mr. President, it is a great doctrine of the church. Jesus himself said that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Lincoln leaped to his feet and threw his arms around this pastor. He wept openly and sobbed, saying, "Alive! Alive! My boy is alive!" From that day there began a change in Lincoln that even his wife Mary noticed. His religious views began to dramatically change. There is a remarkable letter that comes to us from an Illinois clergyman who talked to Lincoln after this time. He said this to Mr. Lincoln (Again, I commend him for his boldness): "Mr. President, do you love Jesus?"
After a long pause, Mr. Lincoln solemnly replied: "When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus."
By the way, when I preached this sermon before, someone challenged that statement. Well, I would suggest they do what I do. Go to Washington. Go to Ford's Theater. Go across the street to the Lincoln Museum; ask for The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles in the O.H. Oldroyd Collection. The book was published in 1883, and the quote is found on page 366. But if you would rather not do all of that, then simply come to my study, and I will show you a photocopied page from that book on the stationery of the U.S. Federal Government Agency charged with caring for that museum. "Yes, I do love Jesus," Lincoln said.
Mr. Noah Brooks, sometime after that, longtime friend and newspaper correspondent, said, "I have had many conversations with Mr. Lincoln, which were more or less of a religious character, and while I never tried to draw anything like a statement of his views from him, yet he freely expressed himself to me as having a hope of blessed immortality through Jesus Christ." Lincoln said that he had found the peace that had eluded him all of his life.
"Therefore, being justified by faith" he now had peace with God. When a lady connected with the work of the Christian Commission later came to see him, he said: "I had lived until my boy Willie died without realizing fully these things [about the Gospel]. It showed me my weakness as I had never felt it before, and if I can take what you have stated [as to what a Christian is] as a test, I think I can safely say that I know something of that change of which you speak; [which is called the new birth, to which Lincoln alluded in that very speech: "that this country might have a new birth of freedom"], and I will further add, that it has been my intention for some time, at a suitable opportunity, to make a public religious profession."
Dr. Gurley was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, which Lincoln attended regularly not only on Sunday morning but also on Wednesday night. One Wednesday night he sat in a little ante room right off the chancel with the door halfway open so that he would not disturb the worship of others, but that he might partake. Dr. Gurley said that Lincoln had wanted to make a public profession of his faith on Easter Sunday morning. But then came Ford's Theater.
He had just been elected for the second time six weeks before that. His spiritual understanding had matured greatly in the year and a half since Gettysburg. Every message was peppered with Scripture and spiritual insights. "His Second Inaugural Address is not only the most spiritual speech ever given by any statesman in the world," said one of England's leaders, "in my opinion, it is a far better sermon than most any I have ever heard preached in a pulpit." And I would include, most certainly, my own.
These words from his Second Inaugural Address are carved into the wall of the Lincoln Memorial: The Almighty has His own purposes.
"Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God give us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
Lincoln had been to Calvary. His heart and mind were changed. The last speech he gave three days before his death was one in which he said that he was submitting a proclamation for a national day of thanksgiving to God. He said, also, that now that the abomination of slavery was removed, the next point on the agenda would be to get rid of the curse of alcohol which had so plagued the land. In his last meeting with his Cabinet on that Thursday morning in opposition to strongly held opinions by some of his Cabinet members, he said: "There will be no recriminations against the South."
If he had lived, the history of postwar South would have been far different, indeed. His last act was to issue an edict that henceforth, on every coin would be printed the words: "In God We Trust." Lincoln had been to Calvary. That night he was invited to Ford's Theater to see a play he wasn't really interested in. He had received that very day the news that the war was over. He sat in his chair in the presidential box that was supposed to be guarded by a soldier. He had talked about the curse of liquor that plagued the land. That afternoon a man from the South crossed the street and went into a tavern and had a number of drinks. His name was John Wilkes Booth. That evening a soldier from the North left his post, crossed the same street and entered the same tavern to have a drink while the aforementioned actor quietly opened the unguarded door to the President's box and went in.
Lincoln was sitting up talking to his wife, not paying any attention to the play. He said, "Mary, do you know what I would like to do now? Now that the war is over, we could go to the Near East. [Booth stepped up behind the President] We could go to Bethlehem where He was born. We could visit Bethany where those hallowed steps were so often heard." [Booth pointed his gun at the back of Lincoln's head.] Lincoln continued, "And we could go up to Jeru.." BANG! . . . the maddest pistol shot in history rang forth.
Lincoln was carried across the street to a boarding house (which is now a museum) and laid diagonally across the bed that was too short for his huge frame. On the next day, Good Friday, he died. He was going to make his public profession on Easter Sunday. Secretary of War Stanton, when he looked down on that bed at his cold form, said, "Here lies the most perfect ruler of men that the world has ever known."
Lincoln had climbed Mount Calvary, and he had come to know the Savior. Walt Whitman concludes his great poem, "My Captain, My Captain," where he pictures Lincoln as the captain of the Ship of State which has come through a terrible storm and now lies upon the deck:
My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
But we cannot leave him lying there upon the deck of the Ship of State, for I would like to add one of my own: a fourth mountain that Lincoln climbed. Beyond Mount Calvary, the fourth was Mount Zion, where he went up to, not the Jerusalem in the Near East, but to the Jerusalem on high to the heavenly Jerusalem, taken there by Christ to whom he had consecrated his heart, and in whom he now trusted for his salvation. He had abandoned his trust in the commandments and in his own strivings, and now he trusted in Christ. Yes, dear friend, at long length, Abraham Lincoln was a Christian. Are you?
Prayer: "Heavenly Father, I pray that if there are any here who are still trusting in their ability to gain access into Thy heaven by keeping the commandments that they will see the utter folly of that. If there are any here who still suppose that by attempting to improve themselves they may make themselves acceptable to Thee who is of purer eyes than even to look upon iniquity, cause them to turn from trusting in themselves and to trust in Jesus Christ, who alone is their hope of eternal life that they, too, may go up to Jerusalem on high by consecrating their hearts and trusting their lives to Christ. In whose name we pray. Amen."
D. James Kennedy A.B., M.Div., M.Th., D.D., D.Sac.Lit., Ph.D., Litt.D., D.Sac.Theol., D.Humane Let.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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OS, Apps and Services
Google launches 5 new Digital Wellbeing apps to reduce smartphone addiction
Continuing with their digital wellbeing efforts, Google has come up with a slew of new apps all designed to make users less addicted to their smartphones. The apps aim to achieve that by making users aware of the number of times they have unlocked their phones in a day or how many apps they have launched and so on.
For instance, there is the Unlock Clock that would display on the home screen in perhaps the maximum size possible the number of times the user has unblocked his or her phone during the day. Users, of course, have the option to set the app as the live wallpaper so that the info is displayed on the screen and gets incremented each time the phone is unlocked.
Desert Island is another such app which, interestingly mimics the classic game of the same name and will let the user choose a clutch of apps – 7 at the most – that the user is supposed to need the most. Desert Island will then start a 24-hour challenge to see if you have stuck your use of the smartphone limited to those seven apps or have used any other app in between.
Post Box too is part of the Digital Wellbeing bouquet of app offerings which aims to limit the user's exposure to notifications. Drawing its analogy with the physical post boxes of yore, the new digital Post Box, as Google conceived it to be, will serve as a place holder of sorts of all notifications that arrives on the smartphone.
The notifications will then be served to the users at a time they feel convenient, which could be either on a single time of the day or during four occasions. However, there always is the provision to break from the same and see any notification that the user feels are important and should be attended immediately.
Morph is another way for Google to promote Digital Wellbeing by limiting you to use only a set of apps that it feels is most relevant to you depending on the time of the day. For instance, during working hours, there is a higher probability of Morp which, essentially is an Android launcher, to serve you apps that will help in your work. Similarly, you might be served entertainment apps during leisure periods, and so on.
We Flip too is yet another app and the last among the latest series of Well Being app that Google introduced in the Play Store. Going much by its naming, We Flip is relevant in a group scenario where all members essentially flip the switch to start a session. Anyone unlocking their phone will end the session. This way, the app is out to promote group interactivity while relying less on tech during the time.
All the above-mentioned apps are currently available on Play Store for download on devices running Android 7.0 or later versions.
Google to end Chrome apps while third-party cookies on Chrome are on the way out too
Sonos drags Google to court over charges of patent infringement
The 10 biggest tech blunders of 2019
Google pulls Chrome update for Android after reports of data loss
Sundar Pichai is now the CEO of Alphabet after Google co-founders quit
YouTube changes its posting guidelines that could promote more violent videos


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JAK2-tree: a simple CBC-based decision rule to guide appropriate JAK2 V617F mutation testing
Etienne Mahe Division of Haematology, Alberta Public Laboratories, South Zone & Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Kasper Mønsted Pedersen Department of Clinical Biochemistry and the Copenhagen General Population Study, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Herlev, Denmark PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Yunus Çolak Department of Clinical Biochemistry and the Copenhagen General Population Study, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Herlev, Denmark PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Stig Egil Bojesen Department of Clinical Biochemistry and the Copenhagen General Population Study, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Herlev, Denmark PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Tarah Lynch Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Gary Sinclair Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Faisal Khan Departments of Paediatrics & Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Meer-Taher Shabani-Rad Division of Haematology, Calgary Lab Services & Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada PubMed articlesGoogle scholar articles
Correspondence to Dr Etienne Mahe, Division of Haematology, Alberta Public Laboratories, South Sector & Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada; etienne.mahe{at}medportal.ca
Mahe E, Pedersen KM, Çolak Y, et al
Received October 1, 2018
Revised November 5, 2018
Accepted November 7, 2018
First published December 4, 2018.
Previous version (4 December 2018).
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.


Environment Pollution Control Authority has stated that, as per its graded action plan to control air pollution, private vehicles will not be allowed to ply on Delhi roads November 1 onward if current pollution levels persists. As Delhi and NCR recorded an overnight spike in the levels of particulate matter in the air on Tuesday, October 30.
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) was 398 points on Tuesday and in the 'severe' category. This is against 367 points on Monday and 366 on Sunday. The situation is worse in the outer reaches of the NCR, The air quality in Ghaziabad was the worst in the entire NCR region at 444 points, this dropped to 422 in Gurugram and 410 in Noida.
Bhure Lal, chairman, Environment Pollution Control Authority said he hopes the air pollution situation in Delhi doesn't deteriorate or else they will have to stop plying of private vehicles. Only public transport will be used.
The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has also said that the present conditions have been aggravated because the prevailing meteorological conditions are less favorable for dispersal of pollutants, a condition that will persist for the next few days.


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John Sheepshanks may refer to:

 John Sheepshanks (priest) (1765-1844), Archdeacon of Cornwall and vicar of St Gluvias
 John Sheepshanks (art collector) (1787–1863), British manufacturer and art collector
 John Sheepshanks (bishop) (1834–1912), English Anglican bishop

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


DittoJobs (part of DittoMedia) is looking for a senior PHP web developer to help us continue to build our products and services. Together with a team of young, enthusiastic creatives and developers, you will develop new tools, maintain and expand existing services and help improve usability and conversion. Your primary focus will be development of all server-side logic, definition and maintenance of the central database, and ensuring high performance and responsiveness to requests from the front-end. It's key that you're experienced with the Laravel framework. We are currently rebuilding our system in Laravel and experience is a must.
We recently launched a brand new Applicant Tracking System which delivers best in class solutions to professionals all over the world. Our working environment is very important to us. This means no dress-code, no clients, and enough time to produce quality work and apply new technologies.
You believe that great quality code is the result of team effort. You have a positive attitude toward team Planning, pair programming, TDD and Lean/Agile Practices.
You feel comfortable working within an agile environment that focuses on delivering business value, at a fast pace, in a dynamic fast growing company. The team focuses on building user-centered, modern, mobile, flexible platforms.


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INFOBHARTI.COM
INFORMATION WEBSITE FOR INDIA
HomeMedical Services
Top 10 Ayurvedic Companies in India, Best Ayurvedic Pharmacies of India, Top Ayurvedic Products of India
J & J Dechane
Over 90 years ago, J. & J. Dechane Laboratories (P) Ltd., was founded in 1917 in Hyderabad, India, by the late D. F. de Souza, a man born before his time , who combined in a unique fashion, great vision, with vast knowledge of the different systems of medicine. D. F .de Souza sought to combine the best in all the three systems of medicine- modern, allopathy, ayurveda and homeopathy. [… Next …]
Divya Pharmacy has stores all across India selling Swami Ramdev medicines. They are herbal medicines for natural and healthy living. Divya Pharmacy tries that medicines should possibly be available to common man at the minimum cost price. The stores have medicines for different ailments namely, acidity, asthma, constipation, diabetes, dental care, eye care, heart care, lung problems, paralysis etc.
Hamdard (Unani)
Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories, India is an Unani and Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company in India & Pakistan. It is the world's largest manufacturer of Unani medicines. It was established in 1906 by Hakeem Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Delhi, and became a waqf (non-profitable trust) in 1948. Some of its more famous products include Safi, Sharbat Rooh Afza, Cinkara, Roghan Badam Shirin and Pachnol. [… Next …]
The Emami Group
Emami Limited is an Indian producer of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), such as cosmetics and health and baby products. The company is based in Kolkata. Its chief executive officer is Nelabhotla Venkateswarlu (N. Venkat). The inception of Emami Group took place way back in mid seventies when two childhood friends, Mr. R.S. Agarwal and Mr. R.S. Goenka left their high profile.. [… Next …]
Under the able guidance of Shri. G.K.Pendharkar, Chairman, the company has established strong foothold in almost every developed country in Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia. Right from its inception in the 1952, the VICCO Group of companies has been charting an unwavering course that has catapulted the group into international limelight. [… Next …]
Charak Pharmaceuticals
Visionary brothers Mr D.N. Shroff and Dr. S.N. Shroff, in the year 1947, were amongst the pioneers of manufacturing Ayurvedic medicines in India. They drew inspiration from one of the most authoritative sources on the subject " The Charak Samhita" compiled by the sage Charaka Circa 1000 BC. Thus was born Charak Pharma Pvt. Ltd, today one of the largest producers of high quality Ayurvedic products in India.
Himalaya Drug Company
The Himalaya Drug Company is a company established by M. Manal in 1930 and based in Bangalore, India. It produces health care products under the name Himalaya Herbal Healthcare, which include ayurvedic ingredients. It is spread across locations in India, the United States, the Middle East, and Europe, while its products are sold in 60 countries across the world. [… Next …]
Zandu Pharmaceutical Works
Zandu Realty Limited (formerly Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Limited) is a Pharmaceutical Company based in Mumbai, India. Company's core business of manufacturing and dealing in ayurvedic and medicinal preparations. The Company was established in 1910 and went public in 1919. The company derives its name from Vaidhya Zandu Bhattji, the original founder of the firm named Zandu Pharamceuticals. [… Next …]
Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan
One of India's most respected Companies, Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan (p) Ltd. (Kolkata), popularly known as Baidyanath, is the acknowledged leader of Ayurvedic know-how. Established in 1917, the Company has played a pioneering role in re-establishing ancient knowledge with modern research and manufacturing techniques. To be the global numero uno in AYURVEDA and its related spheres by leveraging on the brand equity, vast experience, core knowledge and competence, procurement expertise, modern manufacturing and research capabilities. [… Next …]
Dabur India Limited
Dabur derived from Daktar Burman is India's largest Ayurvedic medicine manufacturer. Dabur's Ayurvedic Specialities Division has over 260 medicines for treating a range of ailments and body conditions-from common cold to chronic paralysis. Dabur India Limited is a leading Indian consumer goods company with interests in Hair Care, Oral Care, Health Care, Skin Care, Home Care and Foods. [… Next …]
Top 10 Ayurvedic Pharmacies of India
Ayurveda is a traditional medicine system of India. It is made up of two Sanskrit words, ayus meaning "longevity" and veda meaning "relating to knowledge". The history of Ayurveda streches back to the Vedic period of India… [… Next …]
:: Index
Indian Fairs
Indian Dance Forms
Indian Folktales
Indian Sculptures
Indian Theatre
India's Top 10
Indian Articles
Indian Arts and Culture
Indian Awards and Recognitions
Indian Ayurveda
Indian Banking And Finance
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Indian News and Media
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President of India
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Indian States and Capitals
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Know How And Why
Airlines in India
Beauty Pageant Winners
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Cosmetic Brands in India
Cricketers of India
Denim Brands in India
Indian News And Information
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Fresh celebrates 25 years of innovation with new product collection
© Fresh
Fresh celebrates 25 years of innovation with new product collection - LVMH
https://www.lvmh.com/news-documents/news/fresh-celebrates-25-years-of-innovation-with-new-product-collection/
U.S. cosmetics brand Fresh is celebrating 25 years of innovation with Vitamin Nectar, an exciting new skincare franchise. Featuring a breakthrough formula based on vitamins, these new skincare products reflect Fresh's natural approach to beauty.
Fresh, the U.S. cosmetics brand co-founded in 1991 by Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg, has a unique approach to beauty inspired by nature and artisanal craftsmanship. The success of Fresh began in 1993 with the creation of hand-wrapped artisanal soaps that have since become beauty icons. The Fresh brand has since evolved into a full line of products spanning skincare, body care, fragrances and candles.
© Brittany Wright / Fresh
For the past 25 years, Fresh has developed while pursuing a single-minded objective: always lead the avant-garde of beauty. Today this vision comes to life at the Fresh Research Lab, housed within the LVMH Helios Cosmetics Research Center in the French city of Saint-Jean-de-Braye. Here, experts including chemists, biologists and dermatologists draw on the latest technological advances to invent the innovative formulas of tomorrow.
Guided by the creative vision of Lev Glazman, who helms the Fresh Research Lab, the brand has designed Vitamin Nectar, a new range of products with innovative textures and ingredients. The first product released in this collection is Vibrancy-Boosting Face Mask, made from natural ingredients and featuring the beneficial effects of vitamins. Inspired by the way nutrition affects the skin's health, Lev Glazman decided to bridge the world of vitamins into beauty products. The new skincare collection invented by Fresh brings skin the benefits of vitamins C, E and B5 combined with natural orange, lemon and clementine extracts in a mask with a sublime texture. The effects on the skin can be seen instantly and intensify over time.
"This revolutionary approach to beauty taps into the power of nature to employ potent natural ingredients which combine with cutting-edge technology to deliver the optimal impact, making them the perfect partner to any skincare ritual," says Lev Glazman.
Kenzo unveils new Kenzo World fragrance 30.08.2016
TAG Heuer on board for Mars exploration 26.08.2016


Individual solo entrepreneurs or otherwise called solopreneurs, often have a hard time standing out from the crowd. With numerous compelling companies, enterprises and other successful individuals on the market, how can one person hope to establish a presence?
Branding is a very broad term which can be seen both from marketing and a design perspective. Here however, we will focus on some of the most useful branding hacks which can help you as a solo entrepreneur to present yourself as a professional and reliable industry individual.
Being your own boss can come with a lot of benefits and there are many reasons. By making this decision you can start growing your own business at your own pace and make decisions whenever you believe they are important. This will allow you to have more control over your business and allow you to make it exactly the way you envisioned it.
As a solopreneur, you will most likely not be working with a large team, or even if you do end up having a partner and a team, these people will be chosen by you and they will be professionals who will be able to follow your directions and respecting your choices. As a result, you will avoid a lot of drama in your workplace and your company will run a lot smoother.
Last but not least, working as a solo entrepreneur will also help you end up with a bigger profit. By being the only person who owns your company, especially if you are still not paying for anyone else, you will be able to make a higher income in the long run.
When starting your own business, it is very possible that you will have all sorts of different ideas about things you would like to work on. In order to manage your brand a lot more easily, you will have to pick a certain topic to focus on, or more specifically a certain niche.
This will allow you to focus all your ideas and creativity into creating certain products and services for your target audience. These simple steps will help you establish your brand and have a better understanding of how to market it online.
After picking your company's niche, it is important to start looking into how your competitors are performing. You can do some very basic research by going through their websites, checking reviews on their products and their interaction with their followers on social media.
If you're still new to running a business, you can take some help from more successful people in your niche. Whether that has to do with how you will build your landing page or how you will post or respond on social media, some research will really help you out.
A visual manager is important for a business, as they can help you create a great visual presentation for your products and services and promote them accordingly. This will help you create an eye-catching result without having to put in too much effort from your side.
In order for your business to keep growing smoothly, you will have to have a vision and some long-term goals in mind. The sooner you do this, at the beginning of your business's journey, the easier it will be for you to know what to focus on along every step of the way.
An important step to promoting and branding your brand correctly is acknowledging your strengths and using them to your advantage. Whether you are a good communicator or you can create great blog posts, you can use these to your advantage in order to make your brand more known.
When running a business online, you need to look as professional as possible. It is important that you have a space, whether that is a blog post, a video or a page on your website where you talk about your personal professional experience and development. You can always as you build your business.
One of the things you can do in order to attract a bigger following to your brand and increase your sales is by building a social media presence and sharing the story of your company online. A person with a vision and passion for starting their own business can really be inspiring to many others and an online blog will be the best way for you to spread your message to the world.
One of the important things about running your own company is being original and following your own style. This will show through your blog posts, the products and services that you offer and the way you interact with your customers. Try to stay true to who you are and this will help your brand become a lot stronger in your niche.
Defining your brand and the message it spreads is very important. You should always keep in mind that the way you act in your everyday life and each word you use in your brand messages will reflect upon your brand.
Being professional and welcoming will help you attract more people to your brand and leave a positive impression to those who interact with you.
When running a business by yourself, there are many people who will be envious and others who will not believe you will be able to make it. Don't let criticism affect the way you perform or the way you react online.
No matter what kind of comments you might receive, don't take them too personally or literally. Instead, respond in a professional manner and maintain your online status.
The very first thing you should avoid doing is being afraid of failure. When starting your business and giving life to your idea, you have to believe in your powers and give yourself the time to succeed. We all fail sometimes, but failure always teaches us an important lesson which will always lead to a much bigger success.
In order to help your business run more smoothly, you should avoid leaving tasks for last minute. Organization is always the key to success and you will have to keep a strict schedule in order to do everything on time. Along with that, you should avoid hiring people too early and instead focus on depending on your own powers for as long as possible.
Last but not least, you should be wary of the salary you will be giving yourself. Many people think that they can spend whatever they make since they are the only ones running the business. You should always keep money aside in case on an emergency and not go overboard with the salary you will be giving yourself.
Which of these hacks are you looking forward to using when you establish your own solo practice?


Task lists is the first of a series of templates available in Husky. How about lists of channels, moments, costs, KPIs, ... and even entire projects? They are all coming.
Are there certain things you can't wait for? Contact us. Our roadmap evolves according to the wishes of the customers.
At the moment you can already copy a project, so that you have about the same functionality as a template project. When copying a project, you have the choice whether you want to copy the moments as well, or just the structure of the project. If you also copy moments along, you can have all those moments shifted along with you according to a certain focus date. It is best to put those template projects in a separate plan. More info about projects as templates.


So, recently I completed Crossfit open 18.2. I am by no means a Crossfit athlete or affiliate in anyway but I do enjoy the workouts. For the official details of the workout check online at the official Crossfit Games website. This is just a quick summary and review of my personal experience as a fitness professional being provided for my clients.
The workout is broken into two sections: 18.2 and 18.2a. 18.2 involves 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 repetitions in a ladder fashion of Dumbbell Squats with two 50 pound Dumbbells and Bar-Facing Burpees. 18.2a is a 1-rep max clean. In total it is 110 Burpees and 110 Squats. 18.2 and 18.2a must be complete in 12 minutes.
Attached is a video clip of my last round of 10 and clean. Honestly, I made terrible decisions related to sleep and nutrition the night before and I feel like my performance was negatively impacted. Basically, I completed the Squats and Burpees in around 10 minutes and due to personal reasons only cleaned 185 pounds. Basically, I knew my time was terrible and there was no reason to kill myself. I will probably repeat the workout. I feel like with proper sleep and nutrition I can reduce my time at least 1 ~ 1.25 minutes and should be able to clean at least 225 lbs. That will put me in about the top 30~40% of RX'ers or people who complete the workouts as prescribed. I am not a Crossfitter or trying to compete.
My main goal is understand current fitness standards and trends in order to provide the best coaching possible to my clients by helping them improve their personal fitness levels as safely and effectively. That said, I am totally cool with my times.
So, it was a lot of burpees and squats in a short amount of time. It was very challenging and I was certainly tired at the end. I actually enjoyed it! It is like a 300 calorie burn in about 10 minutes. Then throw a 1 rep max clean in on top of it once you are good and tired. For people new to this training style it is a bit much. In college while obtaining my B.S. degree in Health and Human Performance coaches taught these Olympic lifts over the course of about 12 weeks. Typically, I only perform complex Olympic style lifts when I am completing Crossfit workouts. I would not prescribe these exercises for any of my clients that are new to this fitness training style. The benefit simply does not justify the risk and I am able to maintain my fitness level and keep up with most people without them. Feel free to ask any questions you may have in our HIIT Transformation Class.


text:
Q: amazon elastic transcode with shrine I am working on an app that require to upload videos. I added Shrine and s3 storage.
Till here everything is working. Now I need to transcode the videos and I added the following code to the video_uploader file
class VideoUploader < Shrine

  plugin :processing
  plugin :versions

  process(:store) do |io|

    transcoder = Aws::ElasticTranscoder::Client.new(
      access_key_id:     ENV['AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'],
      secret_access_key: ENV['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'],
      region:            'us-east-1',
    )

    pipeline = transcoder.create_pipeline(options = {
        :name => "name",
        :input_bucket => "bucket",
        :output_bucket => "bucket",
        :role => "arn:aws:iam::XXXXX:role/Elastic_Transcoder_Default_Role",
    })

    PIPELINE_ID =  pipeline[:pipeline][:id]

    transcode_hd = transcoder.create_job({
      :pipeline_id=>PIPELINE_ID,
      :input=> {
        :key=> "cache/"+io.id,
        :frame_rate=> "auto",
        :resolution => "auto",
        :aspect_ratio => "auto",
        :container => 'auto'
      },
      :outputs=>[{
        :key=>"store/"+io.id,
        :preset_id=>"1351620000001-000010",
      }]
    })

  end

end

The transcoding is working and basically is transcoding the new file uploaded to cache folder and put in the store folder with the same name.
The issue now is to attach this file to the record in the database. As of now the record is updated with a different name it creates a new file in the store folder of 0mb.
How can I  attach the results of processing into Shrine's uploaded file for storage?

A: The process(:store) block expects you to return a file for Shrine to upload to permanent storage, so this flow won't work Amazon Elastic Transcoder, because Amazon Elastic Transcoder is now the one that will upload the cached file to permanent storage.
You can delay the transcoding request into a background job, poll the transcoding job every N seconds, and create a Shrine::UploadedFile from the results and update the record. Something like the following should work:
# superclass for all uploaders that use Amazon Elastic Transcoder
class TranscoderUploader < Shrine
  plugin :backgrounding
  Attacher.promote { |data| TranscodeJob.perform_async(data) }
end

class VideoUploader < TranscoderUploader
  plugin :versions
end

class TranscodeJob
  include Sidekiq::Worker

  def perform(data)
    attacher = TranscoderUploader::Attacher.load(data)
    cached_file = attacher.get #=> #<Shrine::UploadedFile>

    # create transcoding job, use `cached_file.id`

    transcoder.wait_until(:job_complete, id: job.id)
    response = transcoder.read_job(id: job.id)
    output = response.output

    versions = {
      video: attacher.shrine_class::UploadedFile.new(
        "id" => cached_file.id,
        "storage" => "store",
        "metadata" => {
          "width" => output.width,
          "height" => output.height,
          # ...
        }
      ),
      ...
    }

    attacher.swap(versions)
  end
end

If you'll by any chance be interested in making a Shrine plugin for Amazon Elastic Transcoder, take a look at shrine-transloadit which provides integration for Transloadit, which uses practically the same flow as the Amazon Elastic Transcoder, and it works with webhooks rather than polling for the response.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Full-day visit to the Rila monastery. This Unesco-listed 10th-century complex consists of a church decorated in colourful medieval frescos and an imposing courtyard of wooden galleries and balconies.
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Return to Sofia via the Shipka Pass, visiting the ghostly Buzludzha monument. This huge saucershaped building at the summit of Buzludzha peak was originally conceived as a socialist assembly hall.
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