Modeling of GPS total electron content over the African low-latitude region using empirical orthogonal functions Modeling of GPS total electron content over the African low-latitude region Geoffrey Andima et al.
In this paper, an empirical total electron content (TEC) model and trends in the TEC over the African low-latitude region are presented. GPS-derived TEC data from Malindi, Kenya (geographic coordinates 40.194∘ E, 2.996∘ S), and global ionospheric maps (GIMs) were used. We employed an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis method together with least-squares regression to model the TEC. The EOF-based TEC model was validated through comparisons with GIMs, the GPS-derived TEC and the TEC derived from the International Reference Ionosphere 2016 (IRI-2016) model for selected quiet and storm conditions. The single-station EOF-based TEC model over Malindi satisfactorily reproduced the known diurnal, semiannual and annual variations in the TEC. Comparison of the EOF-based TEC model results with the TEC derived from the IRI-2016 model showed that the EOF-based model predicted the TEC over Malindi with fewer errors than the IRI-2016. For the selected storms, the EOF-based TEC model simulated the storm time TEC response over Malindi better than the IRI-2016. In the case of the regional model, the EOF-based TEC model was able to reproduce the TEC characteristics in the equatorial ionization anomaly region. The EOF-based TEC model was then used as a background for estimating TEC trends. A latitudinal dependence in the trends was observed over the African low-latitude region.
Andima, G., Amabayo, E. B., Jurua, E., and Cilliers, P. J.: Modeling of GPS total electron content over the African low-latitude region using empirical orthogonal functions, Ann. Geophys., 37, 65-76, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-37-65-2019, 2019.
The features of the low-latitude ionosphere are quite unique. During the daytime, a double-peaked ionization structure appears over the low-latitude region, a phenomenon often referred to as the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA). The EIA is normally explained in terms of the plasma fountain theory (Martyn, 1947; Moffett, 1979). The daytime E-region eastward electric field in combination with the nearly horizontal magnetic field of Earth generate a large vertically directed E×B drift force at the dip equator that raises the plasma to higher altitudes. The raised plasma diffuses away from the geomagnetic equator under gravity and pressure gradient forces along the equipotential magnetic field lines to form ionization peaks at dip latitudes ∼±15∘ and a trough that extends over the dip equator (Appleton, 1946). Prior to the electric field turning westwards at night, it is enhanced (pre-reversal enhancement – PRE), resulting in plasma uplift into regions of low recombination. Associated with the electron density at the EIA enhancement is a density gradient instability of the Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) type which creates a spectrum of plasma irregularities that fill the post-sunset low-latitude ionosphere (Kelley, 2009). The EIA and the PRE vary with location, solar activity and season, even on daily basis. These variations make it difficult to predict the characteristics of the low-latitude ionosphere.
The state of the ionosphere is of great importance in space-based navigation systems such as the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The total electron content (TEC) is of particular interest to users of GNSS systems. For many practical purposes in the GPS, the desired ionospheric parameter is the TEC. This is because many of the effects on transionospheric satellite links (e.g., time delay, polarization, Faraday rotation and Doppler shift) are related to the TEC in one way or another (Kersley et al., 2004). The low-latitude ionosphere exhibits the highest values of the TEC globally. Therefore, pronounced ionospheric effects are experienced by radio signals transiting the low-latitude ionosphere. Understanding the low-latitude ionospheric dynamics in a bid to forecast its day-to-day conditions is key for advancement of space technology and the improvement of GNSS accuracy.
Ionospheric variability over the low-latitude region of Africa, based on TEC analysis, has been reported before (e.g., Adewale et al., 2011; Olwendo et al., 2012; Habarulema et al., 2013; Andima et al., 2015). From these studies, the diurnal, seasonal, disturbed and quiet-time TEC characteristics over the region have been revealed. However, these analyses made use of TEC data of either the same solar phase or the same solar cycle. Now with a relatively longer record of data in the achieves, it is imperative to extend these studies to the long-term TEC characteristics over the African low-latitude region for practical applications.
A common approach to TEC prediction is through modeling. Various TEC models (e.g., Anderson et al., 1987; Rawer and Bilitza, 1990; Reinisch et al., 2004; Lean et al., 2011; Hajra et al., 2016; Ercha et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2015) have been developed; however, many of these models are limited in geographical extent. A widely used model to describe the global TEC climatology is the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model (Bilitza, 1990). The IRI is an empirical model synthesized from global data sets comprised of ionosonde, radar and in situ measurements (Bilitza, 1990; Rawer and Bilitza, 1990). Averaging and smoothing applied when deriving the model coefficients may limit its accuracy in capturing peculiar features such as the TEC variability in the EIA region. Under such circumstances, regional models are superior in characterizing the background TEC.
Long term trends in ionospheric parameters are indicative of the deviation in the ionospheric parameters from their background values. Ionospheric trends are important in understanding the changes in Earth's energy balance (Elias, 2011). Various studies (e.g., Jarvis et al., 1998; Bencze, 2002, 2005; Lastovicka et al., 2006; Danilov and Mikhailov, 1999; Bremer et al., 2012) have reported on long-term trends in ionospheric parameters derived from ionosonde data. A conclusion from these studies is that trends in the F2-layer critical frequency (foF2) and F2-layer maximum electron density height (hmF2) are negative. Some studies on ionospheric trends have also revealed latitudinal dependence of these trends (Danilov and Mikhailov, 1999). Lean et al. (2011), using a database of global ionospheric maps (GIMs), reported that global TEC trends are positive and are dependent on the geomagnetic latitude. Also cases of negligible or no trends in the TEC have been observed. For instance, results obtained by Lastovicka et al. (2017) show a weak negative trend or no trend in ionospheric TEC. Despite the various studies on trends of different ionospheric parameters, those relating to TEC remain limited, hence the question on the nature of ionospheric TEC trends still needs to be answered. There is a need to investigate whether TEC has a negative (Lastovicka et al., 2017), positive (Lean et al., 2011) or no (Lastovicka, 2013) trend. The objective of this paper is therefore twofold: first to attempt to model the low-latitude TEC, and second to estimate trends in the variation of the ionospheric TEC over the African low-latitude region using actual TEC measurements by means of regional GPS receivers and data from the GIMs.
The International GNSS Service (IGS) operates a number of GPS ground-based receivers over the African low-latitude region. In this study, data were obtained from one of the IGS receivers located at Malindi, Kenya, which archived data from 1995 to date (December 2017). Prior to 2008, the IGS receiver (station code MALI) was installed at 40.19439∘ E, 2.99591∘ S, and was then replaced with another (station code MAL2) installed at 40.19414∘ E, 2.99606∘ S. These receivers had nearly the same location and therefore sampled the same geographical region of the ionosphere. We obtained the receiver independent exchange (RINEX) files from ftp://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (last access: 15 June 2018) and then extracted the TEC along the line-of-site, slant TEC (sTEC) from the RINEX files using the GPS-TEC software of Boston College (Seemala and Valladares, 2011). This software uses the thin shell mapping function to map the sTEC to be vertical to obtain the vertical TEC (vTEC) at an assumed ionospheric height of 350 km. The vTEC for the different viewing geometries for satellites with elevation angles greater than 30∘ were averaged epoch by epoch to give a representation of the vTEC above the receiver. Due to data paucity from 1995 to 1998, only data from 1999 to 2017 were used in this study. Hourly averages of the daily TEC data were then calculated to minimize noise in the data. The hourly averages were organized into a data matrix Md×h (day × hour) which was used to model and estimate trends in the TEC over Malindi. To study the TEC over the African low-latitude region, the TEC from the GIMs, a reliable source of ionospheric data (Hernandez-Pajares et al., 2009), was used. Though these maps have been available since 1998, for comparison purposes with the GPS data, we have used data from 1999–2017. It is worthy noting that the 2-hourly GIMs were linearly interpolated to hourly data using a similar approach as in Jee et al. (2010).
Figure 1The first six basis functions (a) representing the diurnal variation and their coefficients (b) which show the long-term variation of TEC over MAL2. The red curves in the top left panels in (a) and (b) compare the diurnal mean TEC with the first basis vector U1 and the solar radio flux index measured at 10.7 cm wavelength (F10.7) with coefficients C1 of the first EOF mode, respectively. Inserted at the top of the top left panel of (b) is a magnified section of the coefficients C1 in 2002–2003 to show the semiannual and annual variations.
Figure 1a shows that the average diurnal TEC (red curve) over Malindi has a pre-dawn minimum at about 03:00 UT, a maximum at about 11:30 UT and an enhancement from 18:00 to 20:00 UT. The maximum at 11:30 UT is possibly due to increased ionization, as the solar zenith angle is nearly zero over Malindi around this time. The post-sunset increase in the TEC from 18:00 to 20:00 UT could be due to an enhancement in the eastward electric field before its westward reversal at night. Though the physical interpretation of the basis functions are normally difficult due to their geometric nature (Hannachi et al., 2007), the high correlation between the first basis mode U1 with the mean TEC shows that U1 is replicating the diurnal characteristics of the ionospheric TEC over Malindi. Figure 1b shows that the semiannual and annual variations in the TEC have peaks during the equinoxes and high solar activity years respectively. These coefficients are well correlated with the solar radio flux measured at the 10.7 cm wavelength (F10.7), confirming that the main driver of ionospheric variability over Malindi is the changes in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation.
Table 2Percentage correlation coefficients of some of the commonly used solar and magnetic indices with the first six EOF coefficients.
The coefficients aj1 to fj3 in Eqs. (5)–(7) were determined using a least-squares fit to the EOF coefficients Cj(d) in Eq. (3) obtained from GPS-derived TEC values measured at Malindi. The modeled TEC was then obtained using Eq. ( 1) by replacing the coefficients with their modeled values. The variation of the observed GPS-derived TEC, the reconstructed TEC from the first six EOF modes and the modeled TEC is shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen from Fig. 2a and b that the six EOF modes were sufficient for reproducing the variation in the TEC. Figure 2c shows that the model captured the diurnal, seasonal and the solar activity variations quite well in the observed TEC over Malindi. Correlation analysis between the observed and the modeled TEC show a high positive correlation (Fig. 2d), with a correlation coefficient of 0.9225 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 3.703 TEC units (TECU), with 1 TECU equivalent to 1016 electrons per m2. This high correlation is an indication of the EOF decomposition method being capable of reproducing the inherent features of the dynamic ionosphere at the crest of the anomaly region. The reason for the positive bias of 3.2 TECU in the modeled TEC is not known.
Figure 2(a) GPS TEC, (b) reconstructed TEC and (c) modeled TEC over Malindi. (d) Correlation between EOF-modeled TEC and GPS-derived TEC over Malindi from 1999 to 2017.
To asses the performance of the EOF-based TEC model, we compared the model results with the TEC derived from the IRI-2016 model and GIMs obtained from the website (ftp://ftp.aiub.unibe.ch/CODE/, last access: 20 April 2018) of the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE). From here onwards, the TEC from the EOF-based TEC model will be referred to as the EOF TEC, the TEC derived from the GPS receiver in Malindi as the GPS TEC, the TEC from CODE's GIMs as CODE's TEC and the TEC from the IRI-2016 model as the IRI TEC. We used both Kp and Dst to characterize the days into quiet and disturbed. A day was considered to be quiet if Kp ≤ 3 for all 3 h periods of the day.
Quiet days were selected from the equinox (March and September) and solstice (June and December) months of a high (2002) and low (2009) solar activity phases in order to validate the EOF-based TEC model. The data for the selected quiet days were excluded from the matrix used to generate the model coefficients, and the same procedure for model construction was repeated. The IRI TEC for the selected days was obtained from the web interface of the IRI-2016 model hosted at Omniweb (https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/vitmo/iri2016_vitmo.html, last access: 26 July 2018). To retrieve the IRI TEC, the location was specified to coincide with the geographic coordinates of the MAL2 GPS receiver, and the top-side boundary was set to its maximum value of 2000 km. The NeQuick option was used as the top-side electron density model, and ABT-2009 was used for the bottom-side thickness. Figure 3 shows hourly diurnal variation of the GPS TEC, IRI TEC, EOF TEC and CODE's TEC over Malindi for some selected quiet days. As expected, TEC values were higher in 2002 than in 2009. The IRI-2016 model overestimated the diurnal TEC over Malindi during the low solar activity year 2009 and during the winter solstice of the high solar activity year 2002. The overestimate of the GPS TEC by the IRI TEC is similar to what Olwendo et al. (2012) observed when they compared GPS TEC measurements over Kenya with the TEC from the IRI-2007 model. During the equinox months of higher solar activity years, IRI TEC values were higher and lower than the GPS TEC at about 03:00–09:00 and 11:00–13:00 UT respectively. The CODE's TEC overestimated the GPS TEC, especially during the high solar activity year 2002. The overestimate of the GPS TEC by CODE's TEC was not reflected much during the low solar activity year 2009. The EOF TEC, in contrast, replicated the diurnal TEC quite well, except on DOY 066 and DOY 339 in 2009. In general, the highest correlation was observed between the GPS TEC and CODE's TEC, followed by the correlation of the GPS TEC with the EOF TEC. It is worth noting that CODE's TEC mainly overestimated the TEC over Malindi, especially during higher solar activity years. Meanwhile, the IRI-2016 model overestimated the GPS TEC over MAL2 between 03:00 and 07:00 UT during high solar activity periods and throughout the day during lower solar activity years. This may be due to inadequate ingestion of ground-based data from the East African region in to the IRI model. As mentioned earlier, measurements from ionosondes were used to provide ground data during IRI model construction, and such data are currently limited over East Africa.
Figure 3GPS TEC, IRI TEC, CODE's TEC and EOF TEC over Malindi for some selected quiet days. Included in each plot are the maximum Kp and the minimum Dst index for the day.
Figure 4GPS TEC, IRI TEC, CODE's TEC and EOF TEC over Malindi for some selected storms. In these plots, the GPS TEC values are taken as a true representation of the ionosphere over Malindi. However, in the absence of GPS TEC (as in the case of the storm of 29–31 October 2003 shown in a), CODE's TEC was taken as the correct description of the ionospheric response to the storm.
To study the storm time performance of the EOF-based TEC model, we simulated the TEC for some selected geomagnetic storms. As stated earlier, the test days were excluded in the process of generating the model coefficients. The IRI TEC for the storm days was obtained with the storm model turned on. The bottom panels of Fig. 4 show variation of the hourly diurnal TEC, while the top panels show variation of Dst index during some selected major geomagnetic storms. In Fig. 4a, TEC variation for a storm that occurred from 29–30 October 2003 is shown. No continuous GPS TEC measurements were available from MAL2 IGS receiver during this storm period. As can be seen in CODE's TEC, the storm had negative effect on the peak value of the TEC. The same negative storm effect was replicated by the EOF and IRI models, especially on 30–31 October 2003. Another major geomagnetic storm occurred in December 2006, with the main phase on 15 December 2006 (Fig. 4b). The EOF TEC, CODE's TEC and the IRI TEC on the day of the main phase of the storm showed negative storm effects, consistent with the GPS TEC. A case of a positive storm time effect on the ionosphere is shown in Fig. 4c, where the EOF TEC and CODE's TEC showed similar positive storm time effects to the GPS TEC. This was not reflected in the TEC derived from the IRI-2016 model. Shown in Fig. 4d is the TEC response to the geomagnetic storm that occurred in March 2015. During the recovery period, which lasted for many days, the GPS TEC showed negative storm effects compared to its value during the time of storm commencement. The EOF TEC, CODE's TEC and the IRI TEC all showed negative storm effects during the recovery period.
Figure 5Diurnal variation of root-mean-square error (RMSE) of IRI TEC, CODE's TEC and EOF TEC relative to GPS TEC over Malindi.
From the EOF-based TEC model, we have simulated the TEC for the months of March, June, September and December for low (2009) and high (2013) solar activity years. In each of these simulations, the data for the selected months were excluded from the data used to generate the model coefficients. It is worthy noting that in generating the model coefficients, say for March 2009, only the data of March 2009 were excluded. The monthly median values for the EOF TEC, IRI TEC and CODE's TEC were used to compute the RMSE of the predicted TEC from the GPS TEC for every hour of the day. The diurnal variation of the RMSE values in 2009 and 2013 are shown in Fig. 5. From Fig. 5, the uncertainty in predicting the observed TEC was higher in 2013 than in 2009. This could be due to intensification of equatorial electrodynamic processes and the associated effects, such as TEC perturbations during higher solar activity years (Andima et al., 2015). These secondary effects of the equatorial dynamo processes are probably not well captured by the models. A comparison of the performance of the different models has shown that CODE's GIMs predicted the TEC over MAL2 with the least RMSE values, followed by the EOF model in 2009. The greatest uncertainty in predicting the TEC over MAL2 in the same year was observed in the IRI-2016 TEC. Similarly in 2013, the IRI TEC had higher RMSE values compared to the EOF TEC. CODE's GIMs showed the largest uncertainty in predicting the TEC over MAL2 during the December solstice of the high solar activity year 2013. The diurnal uncertainties in the ability of IRI-2016 to predict the TEC over MAL2 exhibited two peaks in March, June and September in 2009. The maximum RMSE values in the IRI-2016-predicted TEC were observed between 11:00 and 13:00 UT in March and June and between 13:00–14:00 UT in September in 2009. The December solstice showed a single peak in the RMSE values from 06:00–07:00 UT in 2009. Both the EOF TEC and CODE's TEC had the largest RMSE values from 11:00–14:00 UT in the same year. The RMSE values from 16:00–18:00 UT in March and September 2009 were much higher than those in June and December of the same year. In 2013, the RMSE in the IRI-2016-predicted TEC in the months of March and September had only single peaks which occurred at about 06:00 UT. However, two peaks, one between 04:00 and 07:00 UT and a second one between 13:00 and 14:00 UT, were observed in June and December 2013. The smallest error in the IRI TEC and the EOF TEC was observed after midnight local time to about 03:00 UT in both 2009 and 2013.
Figure 6(a) The first basis modes of the first four first-layer expansion coefficients. (b) The expansion coefficients (blue) and their modeled values (red) for the basis modes in (a).
Figure 7EOF TEC (a), CODE's TEC (b) and the IRI TEC (c) for the DOY 070 in 2015. Shown on the plots are the local times in hours. The horizontal curved solid white lines show the geomagnetic dip equator. The dashed white lines show the anomaly region at ±15∘ geomagnetic latitude from the dip equator.
In Eq. (9), Ui,j(LT) is the basis functions of the ith first-layer coefficients, and Ai,j(d) is the coefficients of Ui,j(LT). Figure 6a shows the first basis modes for each of the first four expansion coefficients in the first-layer decomposition. Equations (5)–(7) were then used to model the coefficients Ai,j(d). Figure 6b shows the coefficients Ai,j(d) together with their model-predicted values. Using the modeled values of the coefficients, the regional TEC was then reconstructed in a reverse order. We first used Eq. (9) to obtain the coefficients for the first-layer decomposition and then applied Eq. (8) to determine the TEC in each grid cell. Figure 7 shows the modeled TEC, CODE's TEC and the IRI TEC for DOY 070 in 2015. It can be seen from Fig. 7 that the model has reproduced the main features of the EIA region quite well. Higher correlations are observed between the EOF-modeled TEC and CODE's TEC (Fig. 7a and b). This high correlation is an indication that the model-predicted results could offer a good alternative to estimating the background TEC, since CODE's TEC is derived from GNSS measurements.
Figure 8The yearly median residual TEC after removing the solar and magnetic activity variations for the periods 1999–2017 (a) and 2003–2017 (b). The upper panels are for the TEC derived from MAL2 IGS receiver, the middle panels are for TEC from CODE's GIMs and the lower panels are for TEC from IGS GIMs corresponding to the location of MAL2 IGS receiver. The straight lines in these plots are the first-degree polynomial fits used to estimate the trends.
Figure 9Trends in TEC over the African low-latitude region derived from CODE's (a, b) and IGS (c, d) GIMs. Panels (a) and (c) are for the period 1999–2017 while (b) and (d) are for the period 2003–2017. The horizontal curved white lines are same as described in Fig. 7.
where A is the constant part, and B is the slope (trend) of the time-dependent TEC residuals. Lastovicka et al. (2017) attributed the positive global TEC trends reported in Lean et al. (2011) to lower TEC values in CODE's GIMs, especially prior to 2003. To test this assertion, we have estimated the long-term trends in the TEC for the periods 1999–2017 and 2003–2017 using the GPS-derived TEC, CODE's TEC and the TEC from IGS GIMs. Figure 8 shows the TEC trends obtained from the GPS-derived TEC and the TEC from GIMs of CODE and IGS over Malindi. Trends of 0.139±0.063, -0.119±0.061 and -0.057±0.042 TECU yr−1 were obtained using the GPS TEC, CODE's GIMs and IGS GIMs over Malindi respectively. Though the trend values in Fig. 8a were slightly different, their 95 % confidence bounds reveal a slight positive TEC trend for the period 1999–2017. For the period 2003–2017, the trend estimates from the three data sets show that TEC trends over MAL2 are positive. To study the trends in the TEC over the African low-latitude region, we used the GIMs and estimated the trends in each of the 2.5∘ × 5∘ (latitude × longitude) grids. The trends are shown in Fig. 9a and c for the period 1999-2017 and in Fig. 9b and d for the period 2003–2017. The trends in Fig. 9 show a latitudinal dependence, with the trends in the vicinity of the crest of the EIA region being more positive than those near the magnetic equator, where the trend was negative over most of the African equatorial region. Analysis of the data from 1999–2017 revealed higher average values of TEC trends than that from 2003–2017 for both CODE's and IGS GIMs, though the general pattern of the trends remained unchanged. The trend pattern observed in this study confirms the latitudinal variation in TEC trends reported in Lean et al. (2011). The difference in the trend magnitudes for the periods 1999–2017 and 2003–2017 could be as pointed out earlier due to a bias towards lower values of GIMs prior to 2002 (Lastovicka et al., 2017; Emmert et al., 2017). If so, the trends in the TEC over African low latitudes are therefore mainly negative, though cases of slight positive trends are also possible, especially at the crest of the EIA region. Geomagnetic or anthropogenic factors are often the plausible physical mechanisms for explaining trends in upper atmospheric parameters. The anthropogenic contributions to trends arise through the accumulation of greenhouse gases, which result in a decrease of atomic oxygen in the upper atmosphere. While the geomagnetic control of the trends is either due to the long-term changes in geomagnetic activity (Danilov and Mikhailov, 1999; Mikhailov and Marin, 2000) or to Earth's magnetic field secular variations (Foppiano et al., 1999; Gnabahou et al., 2013), the latter view may explain the latitudinal dependence in the trends over the African low-latitude region. However, a detailed study is required to quantify the relative contribution of the different trend drivers over the African low latitudes.
We have used EOF expansion together with least-squares regression to model the TEC over the African low-latitude region. We first developed a single-station model over MAL2, a station at the southern crest of the EIA, and then constructed a regional model to predict the TEC over the African low latitudes. Despite the complicated nature of the low-latitude ionosphere, the model over MAL2 was able to satisfactorily reproduce the diurnal, seasonal and solar activity variations in the observed TEC. Comparison of the model results with IRI-2016-derived TEC showed that the EOF-based TEC model was more accurate in predicting the daytime TEC over Malindi than IRI-2016. In contrast, CODE's GIMs were better correlated with GPS TEC than the TEC from the EOF-based model, though CODE's GIMs mainly overestimated the GPS TEC over MAL2 during higher solar activity years. The large discrepancy of the IRI-2016-predicted daytime TEC from the observed TEC over MAL2 during periods of low solar activity and during the winter solstice could be due to the overrepresentation of the effects of the low-latitude E×B plasma drifts and thermospheric winds in the model. The regional model reproduced the known features of the low-latitude ionosphere quite well. Using the TEC from the EOF-based model as the background TEC to suppress solar and magnetic activity dependence of the TEC, we estimated trends in the TEC over the African low-latitude region. The regional trends showed a latitudinal dependence, with the trends in the vicinity of the magnetic equator being more negative than those at the crest of the EIA.
The data used in this study were obtained from ftp://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (last accessed: 15 June 2018), https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (last accessed: 26 December 2018) and ftp://ftp.aiub.unibe.ch/CODE/ (last accessed: 20 April 2018).
This study was made possible by financial support from the International Science Programme (ISP) of Uppsala University in Sweden. We acknowledge the administration and staff of the Space Science Directorate of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) for the support during the research visit of the first author to the institution. The authors acknowledge topical editor Ana G. Elias and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.


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God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three personalities-: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three are co-equal and are one God.
and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security.
People are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. People are the supreme object of God's creation. Although every person has tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude which separates people from God and causes many problems in life.


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Over 4000 free audio and video lectures, seminars and teaching resources from Oxford University.
The Role of Domestic Law in the International Legal Validity of Treaty Withdrawal
Duration: 0:36:44 | Added: 25 Oct 2019
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If a state withdraws from a treaty in a manner that violates its own domestic law, will this withdrawal take effect in international law?
The decisions to join and withdraw from treaties are both aspects of the state's treaty-making capacity. However, while international law provides a role for domestic legal requirements in the international validity of a state's consent when joining a treaty, it is silent on this question in relation to treaty withdrawal. This discussion will consider this issue in light of recent controversies concerning treaty withdrawal – including the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, South Africa's possible withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, and the threatened US denunciation of the Paris Agreement - and will propose that the law of treaties should be interpreted so as to develop international legal recognition for domestic rules on treaty withdrawal equivalent to that when states join treaties, such that a manifest violation of domestic law may invalidate a state's treaty withdrawal in international law.
Hannah Woolaver is an Associate Professor in Public International Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Cape Town. Her research interests lie in public international law, focusing on the relationship between international law and domestic law, the law on the use of force, and international criminal law. Prior to joining the UCT Law Faculty in 2012, she completed her Ph.D. in international law at the University of Cambridge, B.C.L. at the University of Oxford, and LL.B. at the University of Durham. Dr. Woolaver is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, and the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia, and has previously been a Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.
Public International Law Part III
Hannah Woolaver
Oxford Unit:
treaty-making
violation of domestic law
state's treaty
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Lectures on international law issues by eminent scholars, practitioners and judges of national and international courts. The lecture series is brought to you by the Public International Law Discussion Group, part of the Law Faculty of the University of Oxford, and is supported by the British Branch of the International Law Association and Oxford University Press. Further details of this series can be found on the Public International Law -...
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There are at least thirteen species of flycatchers in Cuba that are seen throughout the year, including the wood-pewees and phoebe. The largest concentration of these different types of birds is in the southern regions of the USA, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean islands, where the climate and the habitat is more to their liking. In most cases, flycatchers have duller colours but there are some exceptions, including spectacular looking Fork-tailed Flycatcher and the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
Insects are the main diet of these birds and they are known for their aerial acrobatic displays as they catch flying insects in the air. At times they stop in mid-flight and hover and pick their prey from the leaves and branches. This type of manoeuvre is known as hawking. The flycatchers prefer high perches where they have the advantage of seeing a larger area as they seek their food. The flycatchers are some of the most difficult birds to identify because some species are so similar in size, colour and markings. Sometimes only hearing the bird's call can separate them from each other.


text:
Q: How do I get webpack working with electron using aurelia? right now I'm just trying to add electron to the basic hello world app (well, I did tweak some options in the aurelia cli, but still it's just at hello world webpack+typescript).
my current attempt is to use webpack-electron, what I'm getting is a white screen of death. I can also get a black screen of death, if I exclude the renderer, it can't find any of the resource files in that case, it's looking for them at the wrong path.
here's my src/main/app.ts
import { app, BrowserWindow } from "electron";
import * as path from "path";

let mainWindow: Electron.BrowserWindow;

const isDevelopment = process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production';

function createWindowUrl(url) {
  const prefix = isDevelopment
    ? `http://localhost:${process.env.ELECTRON_WEBPACK_WDS_PORT}`
    : `file://${__dirname}`;

  return `${prefix}/${url}`;
}

function createWindow() {
  // Create the browser window.
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    height: 600,
    width: 800,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: true,
    }
  });

  // and load the index.html of the app.
  mainWindow.loadURL(createWindowUrl('../index.html'));

  // Open the DevTools.
  mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();

  // Emitted when the window is closed.
  mainWindow.on("closed", () => {
    // Dereference the window object, usually you would store windows
    // in an array if your app supports multi windows, this is the time
    // when you should delete the corresponding element.
    mainWindow = null;
  });
}

// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.on("ready", createWindow);

// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
  // On OS X it is common for applications and their menu bar
  // to stay active until the user quits explicitly with Cmd + Q
  if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
    app.quit();
  }
});

app.on("activate", () => {
  // On OS X it"s common to re-create a window in the app when the
  // dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
  if (mainWindow === null) {
    createWindow();
  }
});

// In this file you can include the rest of your app"s specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and require them here.

and my src/renderer/main.ts which I'm sure is wrong per https://medium.com/kendraio/using-angular-with-electron-webpack-b9763903823c
import {} from "../main"

I don't really care if I use webpack-electron, but how do I get aurelia working with electron in a way that also preserves the normal website/server code?
versions, but I doubt they matter
Calebs-MBP:warmaster calebcushing$ yarn list --depth=0 --pattern "^webpack|^aurelia|^electron"
yarn list v1.21.1
├─ aurelia-animator-css@1.0.4
├─ aurelia-binding@2.5.2
├─ aurelia-bootstrapper@2.3.3
├─ aurelia-cli@1.2.3
├─ aurelia-dependency-injection@1.5.2
├─ aurelia-event-aggregator@1.0.3
├─ aurelia-framework@1.3.1
├─ aurelia-history-browser@1.4.0
├─ aurelia-history@1.2.1
├─ aurelia-hot-module-reload@0.2.1
├─ aurelia-loader-default@1.2.1
├─ aurelia-loader-webpack@2.2.1
├─ aurelia-loader@1.0.2
├─ aurelia-logging-console@1.1.1
├─ aurelia-logging@1.5.2
├─ aurelia-metadata@1.0.6
├─ aurelia-pal-browser@1.8.1
├─ aurelia-pal@1.8.2
├─ aurelia-path@1.1.5
├─ aurelia-polyfills@1.3.4
├─ aurelia-route-recognizer@1.3.2
├─ aurelia-router@1.7.1
├─ aurelia-task-queue@1.3.3
├─ aurelia-templating-binding@1.5.3
├─ aurelia-templating-resources@1.13.0
├─ aurelia-templating-router@1.4.0
├─ aurelia-templating@1.10.3
├─ aurelia-testing@1.0.0
├─ aurelia-tools@2.0.0
├─ aurelia-webpack-plugin@3.0.0
├─ electron-builder@22.3.2
├─ electron-devtools-installer@2.2.4
├─ electron-publish@22.3.2
├─ electron-to-chromium@1.3.345
├─ electron-webpack-js@2.3.4
├─ electron-webpack@2.7.4
├─ electron@8.0.0
├─ webpack-bundle-analyzer@3.6.0
├─ webpack-cli@3.3.10
├─ webpack-dev-middleware@3.7.2
├─ webpack-dev-server@3.10.3
├─ webpack-log@2.0.0
├─ webpack-merge@4.2.2
├─ webpack-sources@1.4.3
└─ webpack@4.41.5
✨  Done in 1.03s.

A: So this is probably not a be-all end all but I got the hello world to display in electron, so here's what I did
TL;DR;
change the webpack.config.js baseUrl to be '' (an empty string)
add these to package.json with your package manager (I'm not sure if electron-builder is required)
    "electron": "^8.0.0",
    "electron-builder": "^22.3.2",
    "electron-webpack": "^2.7.4",
...scripts
    "build:electron": "npm run build && electron-webpack app",
    "package:electron": "npm run build:electron && electron-builder",
    "start:electron": "npm run build:dev && electron-webpack dev",
...// electron webpack and builder configuration
  "electronWebpack": {
    "commonSourceDirectory": "dist",
    "staticSourceDirectory": "static",
    "title": true
  },
  "build": {
    "directories": {
      "buildResources": "dist",
      "output": "electron"
    },
    "files": [ // actually include the dist folder
      {
        "from": "dist",
        "to": "dist"
      }
    ]
  },
  "main": "main.js",

then add a src/main/app.ts and a src/main/renderer.ts (renderer will remain an empty file)
in src/main/app.ts add this code which is basically the electron typescript quickstart code with one change. The file loaded it just ../index.html, __dirname will look in the wrong place.
import { app, BrowserWindow } from "electron";
import * as path from "path";
import { format as formatUrl } from 'url';

let mainWindow: Electron.BrowserWindow;

function createWindow() {
  // Create the browser window.
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    height: 600,
    width: 800,
  });
  const isDevelopment = process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production';

  // Open the DevTools.
  mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();

  // and load the index.html of the app.
// this conditional is silly, but was the only way I figured out how to have it work in both dev and actually packaging the app
  if (isDevelopment) {
    mainWindow.loadFile(path.relative(__dirname, 'dist/index.html'))
  } else {
    mainWindow.loadURL(formatUrl({
      pathname: path.join(__dirname, 'dist/index.html'),
      protocol: 'file',
      slashes: true
    }));
  }

  // Emitted when the window is closed.
  mainWindow.on("closed", () => {
    // Dereference the window object, usually you would store windows
    // in an array if your app supports multi windows, this is the time
    // when you should delete the corresponding element.
    mainWindow = null;
  });
}

// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Some APIs can only be used after this event occurs.
app.on("ready", createWindow);

// Quit when all windows are closed.
app.on("window-all-closed", () => {
  // On OS X it is common for applications and their menu bar
  // to stay active until the user quits explicitly with Cmd + Q
  if (process.platform !== "darwin") {
    app.quit();
  }
});

app.on("activate", () => {
  // On OS X it"s common to re-create a window in the app when the
  // dock icon is clicked and there are no other windows open.
  if (mainWindow === null) {
    createWindow();
  }
});

// In this file you can include the rest of your app"s specific main process
// code. You can also put them in separate files and require them here.

and then change webpack.config.js as previously stated and try npm run start and npm run start:electron and both should now run.

A: using Capacitor for this is far easier, just follow this document.
Then add electron-builder as dev to the electron project added by capacitor. Add these scripts to package your app, and you're good to go.
{
  "scripts": {
    "pack": "electron-builder --dir",
    "dist": "electron-builder"
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The clean, fresh air and pure running waters rushing off the south-western valleys from Mt. Wellington towards the Huon are a fitting place for John – a man who's distinctive sparkling blue eyes, and wild mop of grey hair shout – although softly, of a life chasing one party after another. "Almost one too many" John Hounslow-Robinson recounted, as he shared the story of how one day whilst chasing an escaped pig he was struck with excruciating chest pain. He was immediately rushed to the Royal Hobart Hospital where he received a second lease of life, in the form of a quadruple heart bypass.
We spent the afternoon together, sipping tea, chatting, eating abalone caught locally and prepared by his son Tom.
John has a careful eye for detail, and his highly sought after knives are used by gourmet celebrity chefs, and foodies from all across the world. I asked John if he's up early every day forging these beautiful Damascus knives. "Oh. Depends. I might spend a morning working on a few." He shares with me how his enjoyment for the natural environment and living simply allows him to manage a slower pace. I enjoyed the time that John generously spent chatting with me as we shared our passion for photography with each other. John enjoys shooting with his pinhole camera and medium format Bronica. I fired off a few shots as we explored his neighbours home-bar, the "rusty nail". I look up to the ceiling and spot dozens of rusting nails that have been punched through the floor boards above. "Good job I'm a short pome!" I joke.
I look forward to getting to know John some more, and getting some photography in the forge capturing the process of crafting one of the Damascus knives that he's so well known for creating.


This is my favorite slogan. It can apply to so many things in life, from exercising to facing unpleasant tasks. It's funny since it is so easy for me to apply this to my exercise. I'm really good at making myself exercise, even if I don't feel like it. I know that I will feel so much better after I'm done. But, this is tough for me to do with other stuff in my life.
A few months ago, I read an article in our local paper about checking up on your mortgage discharge and house title. So off I went to call our local Registry of Deeds. I was expecting smooth sailing since we paid off our mortgage years ago. I even have a letter from the lender to prove that.
Well, it wasn't quite that simple. We refinanced our loan and somehow the refinance never got registered at the Registry. Oops. So, off I went to do more research. It turns out the law firm that handled the refinancing for the bank is no longer in business. As a matter of fact, one of the principals from that law firm is now doing time in jail for mortgage fraud. The bank that carried the loan has been merged multiple times to other banks. Double and triple oops.
I managed to track down the law firm that took over for the original one. I spoke to a very nice paralegal there and explained my dilemma. She was very helpful and said that she would try and get our records out of storage. She cautioned that this may take a while since it was so long ago. A few months go by and I don't hear anything back, so I email her. She promptly replied back, saying that she has the files, but has yet to go through them.
All of this is very disturbing. I had visions of never being able to sell our house because of a cloudy title. I kept meaning to follow up with the bank that ended up with our last refinanced loan, but I kept putting it off. I was afraid of what I would find out. Silly, I know.
Well, today I called the Registry of Deeds to get all the information I needed on the outstanding loan. Low and behold, all is clear! The last loan was discharged in June of this year. This is because of my contacting the new law firm. I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am! And to think, I was dreading following up on this for months!
1. Things are never as bad as you imagine they will be.
My next unpleasant task is to tackle the piles of papers in my office. . .
What things have you been putting off because you are afraid of the consequences?
Just do it logo from Guo Guiyan Wallpapers.
Good work Nancy. Very important to make sure you have clear title to your home. As a real estate paralegal I can tell you it is very difficult to find anyone who is helpful in helping to clear title issues, especially from years back. You really got lucky with the paralegal you contacted. If you had gotten to a sale with a cloud on the title and no one to help, it could take several months for a court process for a judge to declare that your title is clear. In the meantime, loosing a sale is a realistic consequence. So, not good, GREAT WORK!
Yes, I am sleeping much better at night now that this is cleared up!


text:
The Schwartz Report
Is There Hope for Windows RT?
While Microsoft continues to promote Windows RT, the version of its client OS designed to work only with software offered via its Windows Store interface, third-party support is fading fast.
Other than Microsoft's Surface RT, try finding anyone else who offers a tablet with Windows RT. I swung by my nearby Microsoft Store, Best Buy and Staples, and the only Windows RT device I could find was the Surface RT.
In the latest sign that everyone appears to be cutting bait on Windows RT, ASUS last week said it's dropping its Windows RT-based systems, while Acer said it was scaling back. Last month, Lenovo said it would no longer offer the Windows RT-based version of its IdeaPad Yoga. And HP long ago tossed its plans to offer a Windows RT tablet.
Both Acer and ASUS also started selling smaller form-factor Windows 8 tablets, now priced below $400. The ASUS VivoTab Smart ME400, priced at $399, has a 10.1-inch display, weighs 1.3 pounds and has a claimed battery life of 9.5 hours.
The 8.1-inch Acer Iconia W3, which costs $299, is in the same size range as the iPad Mini, most Android tablets and the larger Kindle Fire. While the Acer Iconia W3 hasn't received rave reviews, with full Windows 8 hybrid tablets-PCs hitting the sub-$500 price point, it's no wonder these companies are putting their Windows RT counterparts on ice.
However, not everyone is abandoning ship. Dell still offers the XPS 10, which it introduced last October with the launch of the operating system. Even with that Windows RT tablet, no one would accuse Dell of flaunting it. Has anyone spotted one of these?
If anyone can save Windows RT other than Microsoft itself, it's Nokia. The mobile phone company that has pinned its survival in the smartphone market on Windows Phone is said to have a Windows RT-based tablet in the works. According to Microsoft-News.com, Nokia will announce its Windows RT device at an event in New York. According to the report, the 10.1-inch tablet is based on Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and equipped with LTE support.
It will have to be pretty inexpensive and offer long battery life to gain any footing. The keyboard will reportedly have an added battery for extra power. As far as pricing is concerned, consider the new Lenovo ThinkPad 2 LTE tablet: That 10.1-inch device with an Intel Atom processor, 2 GB of Ram and a 64 GB solid-state drive costs $699 for just the base model and $119.99 for the optional keyboard. It gets 10 hours of battery life, according to Lenovo, and comes with Windows 8.
Unless the next iteration of Windows RT devices can outperform their full Windows 8 counterparts -- presumably from the next crop of Surface RTs and possibly from Nokia's offerings -- it could be an uphill battle. That is, of course, unless Microsoft can further lower the economic bar and show that developers are actually on board. It wouldn't hurt to see some more apps surface, pardon the pun.
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 08/21/2013 at 11:32 AM


Handblown smoke glass pendants hung in a cascading design shades that mimic the organic liquid shape of bubbles and create a stunning ever-changing play of light as the eye moves. Each undulation is hand placed for artistic sculptural quality, making each one absolutely one-of-a-kind. Design your own today.


text:
Asus Zenfone Max M1, Zenfone Lite L1 launched in India: Price, Specifications
Satyendra Pal Singh
Asus today launched two new smartphones in India at an event in New Delhi. The Asus Zenfone Max M1 and Zenfone Lite L1 are the budget phones from the company that come with features like 18:9 HD+ display, Snapdragon 430 processor and a 13MP rear camera.
Previously it was expected that Asus would launch the successor to Zenfone Max Pro M1 in India today but the company announced budget phones. Both the new Zenfone Max M1 and Zenfone Lite L1 are similar in terms of design, display, and hardware, but they have different RAM, storage, battery, and front camera.
Asus Zenfone Max M1, Zenfone Lite L1 Price in India
The Asus Zenfone Max M1 is priced at Rs. 8,999 but it will be available at Rs. 7,499 as a festive introductory offer. Similarly, the Zenfone Lite L1 is priced at Rs. 6,999 but it will be available for Rs. 5,999 during the festive season. Both the phones are Flipkart exclusive and will soon go on sale during Festive Dhamaka Days.
The smartphones come in Black and Gold color options. If we talk about launch offer, Reliance Jio users will get Rs. 2200 cashback and 50GB additional data after purchasing any of these phones. There will be specific bank offers on Flipkart as well.
Asus Zenfone Max M1, Zenfone Lite L1 Specifications
The Zenfone Max M1 and Zenfone Lite L1 both sport a 5.45-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) IPS display with 18:9 aspect ratio. They both run on Android Oreo-based on ZenUI 5.0. Both the phones also support face unlock feature but Lite L1 doesn't support a fingerprint sensor.
Both the phones are powered by the Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor. The Max M1 comes paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. While the Zenfone Lite L1 packs 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The storage on both the phones is expandable up to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot.
In terms of camera, they both include a 13-megapixel single rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, 1.12um pixel size, PDAF, and LED flash. The Max M1 sports an 8-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash. While the ZenFone Lite L1 sports a 5-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash. The camera features include beauty, portrait, and HDR modes.
The Zenfone Max M1 has a 4,000mAh battery while Zenfone Lite L1 packs a 3,000mAh battery. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 80211 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0, AGPS, GPS, GLONASS, and more.
Satyendra explores the latest happenings in the tech world and writes stories about those. He likes to play around with the latest gadgets and shares his views through articles. In his free time, you can find him watching movies/TV shows and/or reading books.
Tags:AsusAsus Zenfone Lite L1Asus ZenFone Max M1
5 Ways to Remove Sound From Video on Android
14 Free Ways to Read Paywall Articles


I've written the following for the embassy newsletter. Typically, my articles for them come out of blog postings, but are edited to remove any possible offensive comments (I was a little worried about my Fish Garden article, which I toned down from my blog posting, but the editor's comment was, "It's tasteful but truthful." So I guess it's okay). But in this case, I wrote the article first, and figured I'd use it here.
The only added comment I'd make is that it took me a ridiculous amount of time to try to dig up the names of these gardens. Many maps don't include them at all, some do but lump them all under Andalusian Garden, and other than Hurriya and Andalusian the others are barely referenced in any books or online sources. For being public parks that are between 50-100 years old, I am amazed at how little is known. But I guess that adds to their serenity. There is actually also another one in this grouping, with a really nice statue, but I can never catch it when the gates are open – except for today, when workers were bringing out heaps of dead branches and grasses, so maybe it's closed for maintenance?
Anyway, here is my piece on the public parks of Zamalek (sans Fish Garden).
For anyone who's driven or walked to Zamalek and crossed over on the Qasr al-Nil Bridge (affectionately known by many as the "Lion Bridge"), you may have noticed some parks, or gardens, on your right along the Nile. But did you know there are actually four separate gardens just in that little stretch? And even more surprising is that each one is different from the others. So a nice and easy outing for an afternoon is to grab a camera, a snack and go explore the public parks of Zamalek, but take along a few pounds as the entrance fee to each one is 2LE.
If you'd like to explore them linearly then have the taxi drop you off by Henri Jacquemart's lions in front of the Opera House on Zamalek. You can also avoid the whole taxi journey if you take the metro and exit at the Opera stop. But before hitting the Nile-side gardens, cross the street to the Hurriya Garden (this is an added bonus).
The Hurriya Garden ("al-Tahrir Gardens" on the Practical Guide map) was initially called the Ismail Garden when it was designed in the 1870s, and covered over 12 hectares. In 1952 it was renamed "Hurriya" (Freedom) and had been reduced to only 2 hectares (about 4 acres). In addition to the wide paths and tall shade-producing trees, it also houses ten statutes, including Talaat Harb and Hafez Ibrahim, and six Latin American liberators.
Crossing back over Midan Saad Zaghloul (always an exercise in sprightliness), you enter the Andalusian Garden gate from just beside the left lion. This is the only park, among this grouping of four along the Nile, that has direct access to the Nile (whether that's a positive or a negative, is up to you). It was originally designed as a gift for a royal wife in 1929, but was opened to the public in 1935. It's also more bench and concrete oriented than the other gardens, which tend to highlight more of the actual nature side of a garden. But there's no doubt that this is a favorite of the courting couple sect, with a bounty of benches and nice Nile breezes (and only the occasional nosy expat).
Walking around the corner following Al-Gezira Street along the sidewalk, you come to another gate. This is for the Arab Garden, which is the smallest of the gardens. Here you find a nice collection of towering palm trees, stone pathways, some statues, chairs and tables, well-manicured grounds and quaint old-fashioned lamp posts.
Continuing on up Al-Gezira Street, just under the automobile on-ramp for Sixth October Bridge, you find two more gates. These last two gardens are definitely the least populated, though there are always couples to disrupt, but I thought they both were well worth the extra steps (with one housing a little-known artifact from Ramses the Great).
The first gate leads into the Pharaonic Garden. During the day it's populated with just a spattering of courting couples and some maintenance men pruning, trimming and planting. There are some tables and chairs set up at one end under archways, and throughout there is a nice collection of statues positioned along the paths. The pools and fountains have some stagnant water, but regardless there are flowers and bushes and this is the only place in all of Cairo that I have seen butterflies. The hidden jewel to this garden is the obelisk positioned along the Nile, which is one of a matching set, with the other being at the Cairo airport. These two are from Ramses II (19th Dynasty, reigned 1279-1213 B.C.) and were brought here from Tanis in 1958, and are said to be the only obelisks in Cairo.
The last park in this little collection is River Garden, located just across from the Pharaonic Garden. As per most of the others, the paths and plants are manicured, with nice flower assortments, landscaping and large grassy areas. The grounds continue on under the Sixth October Bridge, to the other side which showcases arches and pergolas covered in flowering plants and vines, with nice little private benches, a gazebo and a quiet circular path. There is active maintenance work occurring, but none of it seemed to bother the couples or the egrets milling about.
I have to add that the names of the gardens vary from source to source, but I tried to choose the ones that seemed to have the most "votes" (from books and online sources). A lot of the details I've presented here are from Lesley Lababidi's book "Cairo's Street Stories," which I would recommend for anyone curious about interesting and unknown facts, tid-bits and areas of Cairo. Regardless, if you start at the lions on Zamalek and wander north, and hand out 2LE every time you find a gate, I'm sure you'll discover some noteworthy finds, and may make a few friends along the way (depending on who you give the 2LE to).


text:
George Peabody Library Private Events
The George Peabody Library, known as Baltimore's "Cathedral of Books," is consistently ranked amongst the most beautiful libraries in the world. Designed by architect Edmund G. Lind, the library opened its doors in 1878 and was "to be well furnished in every department of knowledge and of the most approved books of the day." Lind's architectural specifications called for a massive skylight soaring over six tiers of cast-iron balconies to house a collection containing over 300,000 volumes dating from the Renaissance through the 19th Century. Today, the library is part of the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. By renting the George Peabody Library, you are helping preserve and protect this historic space and the priceless treasures it houses.
While the Library does not currently offer guided tours, it is open to the public during the following hours.
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Several photo images were gathered to create "Crow's Feet". The inspiration came from one found at a local vintage store. As a collector, I'm always on the hunt for old photographs to use in my mixed media art.
For this photo project I used Picmonkey, an online editing software. PicMonkey's online service offers just the right amount of tools for creative play. It's a great place to start if you're at all interested in the altering your photos using digital editing.
I then searched for a dress and crow's feet online.
After editing these three photos together, it was printed and mounted onto black card stock. I painted around entire image with an off white craft paint. The shawl was painted white, and some decorative details were added with pencil and a white gel pen.
The final step was to scan and upload it into PicMonkey again for the final edits; the text and the blooms in the left corner.
Thanks so much for visiting! Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions about this process.


Understanding "migration" as the result of flows trying to escape from prejudice, persecution, frequent abuse, oppression, ethic cleansing, genocide, natural disaster and social marginalization.
In an ethical way, as philosopher Jacob Apple has written, "Treating human beings differently, simply because they were born on the opposite side of a national boundary, is hard to justify under any mainstream philosophical, religious or ethical theory."
In an economic way, research also finds that migration leads to greater trade in goods and services. And, in the search for solutions to extreme poverty in the planet, according to economists Michael Clemens and Lant Pratchett, "permitting people to move from low-productivity places to high-productivity places appears to be by far the most efficient generalized policy tool, at the margin, for poverty reduction".The other side of the coin is the criticism of multiculturalism that questions the ideal of the maintenance of distinct ethnic cultures within a country. For some communities, multiculturalism threatens to reduce them to just another ethnic group. Critics of multiculturalism may argue against cultural integration of different ethnic and cultural groups to the existing laws and values of the country. Alternatively critics may argue for assimilation of different ethnic and cultural groups to a single national identity.
But, as Sir Martin Rees says, it has a dark side and can trigger some kind of disaster: "Our century is very special, is the first when humans can change itself and their home planet"The actual impact over global environment degradation is unprecedented and represent a real challenge.


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The Robot 367 is highly customizable. The flexible standard MPA is applicable in most situations. For special work cases, different variations of tools and arms can be combined to match the project needs. Apart from the arm and tool configurations, the high pressure lance of Robot 367 can be equipped with either a single nozzle or a double nozzle assembly. The robot can also be configured for working in uprightcircular areas, such as turbines, by turning around its own center.


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A NEW GENERATION---AN OLD WAR
By Steve Zeisler
This weekend I passed a milestone that for me marked the fact of generational change. Twenty-six years ago, on a Friday night, I walked out under some barely adequate lights into a stadium with an off-key band playing and began warming up to play my first high school varsity football game. I was nervous, unsure of myself, and excited. Playing football taught me a number of important lessons-about achieving goals, being part of a team, and sacrificing current advantages to achieve something later on. There were some hard lessons about injuries, limits, and friendships that can be intense for a season but don't last because they are built on a weak foundation.
The reality of generational change was brought home to me, because what took place twenty-six years ago for me took place two days ago for my son. I was sitting in the stands above another off-key high school band, under bad lighting, in a very similar sort of stadium, and my son's team came out onto the field and got ready to play the first game of the season. This was his first experience playing varsity football. If I could, I would shortcut the process of his having to learn the lessons I learned. I would like to be able to pour them into his mind and life; to save him some of the struggles; to give him the things that God taught me over time with hurt, difficulty, and pressure; to give him the benefits before the struggle. But it isn't possible. We discuss things, as my father and I did, and there is guidance that I can share with him, but I can't do it for him. There are a lot of lessons that you can't learn any other way but to go through experiences and to fight the fight yourself.
Passing a Torch
We have begun a study together of the book of Judges. You will want to turn to chapter 2 and the first six verses of chapter 3 this morning. This is a book about generational change, the passing of the torch from one generation to the next, and it is going to have a great deal to say about the learning environment in which God teaches us to trust him. That learning environment is going to be hard, but there's no avoiding it. I want to turn to chapter 3, verses 1 and 2 to start:
Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).
God deliberately left in place enemies, pressures, and temptations for his own good purposes and as judgment on their failure. He left in place nations that would require the next generation after Joshua, whose life ended as this book began, to learn war on its own. Joshua had led the people of Israel, as we saw last week, on the conquest of Canaan, and they had had great beginnings under Joshua's leadership. The next generation did well as long as the influence of the first remained, but then they were on their own. And they were faced squarely with the need to love and trust God amid trials.
Let me orient you again a bit in the book before we look specifically at chapter 2. The book of Judges is a series of stories of individuals who were raised up by God as deliverers. They are called judges, but the English word "judge" is misleading. The idea of black-robed jurists determining points of law would mislead us if we applied it to this book. A judge in this account is a deliverer, someone who goes to battle with the enemies of the people of God and brings about deliverance from oppression. This book tells the stories of these judges.
It begins, however, with two passages (Judges 1:1-2:6 and 2:7-3:6) that are introductory. The first of these we looked at last week. It was a bit like the start of a movie; when the screen lights up and the music comes on, scenes are displayed that give you a feel for the color and the location. You see whether it's an urban or rural setting, the time of day the events of the movie are going to take place, perhaps the mood of the characters. The music is upbeat, tense, or sad. Although you haven't seen any of the drama yet, you get a sense of what it's going to be about. That's how chapter 1 of Judges is. It is a series of vignettes, snippets of information that aren't thematically tied together, and few conclusions are drawn. The general impression, however, is one of weakness and compromise on the part of the people (whether it was the mutilation of an enemy, or the incomplete conquering of the land that each tribe was given).
Our God is wise and gracious enough to place us into battles
so that we will not settle for less than knowing him
Now, chapter 2 is also introductory, but here we have the whole book outlined, if you will. We're given the themes very plainly. We're told of the cycles of failure that will repeat, and we are told why they do so. Both of these introductions, we should note, make the point that God did not drive out Israel's enemies. In verse 3 of chapter 2 the angel of the Lord says, "I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you." And in verse 21 of chapter 2: "I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died...."
Why God Doesn't Act
One of the questions that occurs to us when we're hurting, frightened, or confused is, why doesn't God do more? That is, why doesn't he act more quickly? Why doesn't he do away with the problems? This is a question that I hope we'll come to grips with this morning, because he says very clearly, "I'm not going to remove the problems," and there are reasons for it.
Chapter 2, verse 6 of the book of Judges:
When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land.
The clear assignment was to take over the land, to expel or exterminate whatever resistance they met, and so possess the land.
And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.
Joshua, the Lord's servant, was buried on the land of his inheritance, we're told, part of the Ephraimite territory. He evidently had taken the land that his family was to take, and he was buried with honor in the territory that he was to occupy. He had done what he ought to have done, and the men who led during his generation continued their influence as long as they were alive.
Then we come to the question, what about the next generation? What about the people who would follow them? It says they did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done. They didn't know the Lord intimately, personally. They didn't know how to trust him for the details of their life. Now, they knew about him; they knew his name. They had information because they'd been taught about the Lord, but the point is that they didn't yet know him. And the question is, would they?
That is a very important point to come to in our lives, when we realize that we've been given a great deal, that we have significant information about God, that we have been preceded by men and women who are godly in their walk and who know both God and the works of God. This church has a rich heritage. Sitting in this room are some wonderfully godly people who have walked with the Lord, whose lives should be emulated. They are inspiring people, just as Joshua was, to me and to many of you. And yet we each need to ask ourselves the question, will I trade on the faith of another or be a man or woman after the Lord's own heart myself?
Synchretistic Religion
Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
This is another statement that we will see arching over the entire book. This is the conclusion that is drawn from what happens in the stories that we will begin next week. What the Israelites attempted to do when they moved into the land of Canaan was to wed the religion of Yahweh to the religion of the local gods. We know from the prophets and from the long history of Israel that they didn't completely abandon the Lord. They didn't say, "Yahweh is of no benefit at all; we'll forget him and become Canaanites." What they said was, "Yahweh is our God. He serves a useful purpose. There are holy days on which we will worship him. He has laws that we will acknowledge. We will show proper respect for Yahweh. But at the same time, we are now in the territory of Baal and the Ashtaroth. They live here, and we ought to show them respect as well. And so we'll have a syncretistic religion in which all of the gods in the pantheon get our attention, and maybe we'll learn from the ways Canaanite gods are worshiped and apply some of that to Yahweh. We'll gain the benefit of the local gods and retain the benefit of knowing the Lord."
They had moved into the territory, as it says in Deuteronomy 6:10-11, in which they were to take over vineyards they hadn't planted, fields they hadn't plowed, and homes they hadn't built. But they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and they had no agricultural background. They were attempting to grow crops in a land where they hadn't before. And Baal was the one who promised to bring rains to grow the crops. What if they didn't show Baal proper respect? Could they succeed? Could they grow comfortable and secure in this land they'd taken over without placating the local god? What is made very clear in verses 11-13 is they could not do it all. Yahweh forbids worship of him that contains worship of another inter-mixed with it. It is very clear that the more they served the Baals, the more they forsook Yahweh. Eventually they groveled before the Baals, bowing down before them, giving their allegiance to the gods of others. And as verse 13 said, "So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth."
The Ashtaroth was a female deity, and Baal was a male deity. I want to read to you what Gary Inrig has written in "Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay," about Canaanite religion:
The Canaanite religion was based on the concept of sympathetic worship. That is, you worship your god by behaving as he does. The result was that Baal was perhaps the most degraded and degrading form of worship ever practiced on earth. The Canaanites engaged in temple prostitution, fertility rites, drunken sexual orgies of the most debased variety, idolatry, snake worship, homosexuality and even human sacrifices. Baal worship was bad wherever it existed, but in Canaan it existed in its rawest form. Everything about it-its view of God, moral standards, ethics and values, and rituals-stood in absolute and total contradiction to everything that God had revealed about himself to his people.
The most degraded and degrading form of worship ever practiced on earth! And the people who knew God would bring his name into these temples, and acting out these orgiastic rites in all sorts of sexual perversion and drunkenness, would worship Baal one day and Yahweh the next with the same sort of practices. They forsook the Lord by demeaning him. And it says that he became angry with them. Verse 19, which we will come to in a moment, notes that each time the Lord saved them they went back into sin more corruptly than they had before they had been saved. They made these decisions over and over again, and the decision landed them in a lower place every time they made it. They were on a descent into hell that they were unaware of. And even when the Lord acted to save them, they didn't hear. Verse 6 of chapter 3 records that they gave their children in marriage to Canaanite families. Not only did they sin themselves, but they gave away their children into the practice of this sort of sin.
Sin's Consequences
And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
The first thing we see the Lord doing is reacting in anger to what they had done. They had dragged his name into the midst of this kind of degradation, refusing to distinguish between him and the god of the prostitutes. It says that he also acted for evil against them. Now, evil as it's being used here at the end of verse 15 doesn't mean wickedness, but distress. "They were severely distressed." The Lord's actions had brought them pain and anguish. Their enemies dominated them. Their lives became an affliction to them.
Let me also note that these verses are consistent with the first chapter of Romans. In the great theology of human sin that we meet in the initial chapters of Romans, the point is made early on that God's wrath exists primarily in his taking his hands off, of stopping the protection process. "God gave them over," we are told three times in Romans 1. The primary way in which God's wrath leads to suffering for us is that he lets us have what we insist on having, and he doesn't stop the consequences from descending on us. That's exactly what happened here. The people of Israel gave their allegiance to the gods of Canaan. So the Lord God said, "All right, follow your leader. Trust in the Baal to provide for you." And the Baal led them into the hands of the Canaanite people. They were plundered and beaten by the nations and the people whose gods they had appealed to for help.
The same thing is true for us over and over again. We attempt to build our security on that which is insecure; and God loves us, but we don't listen. We try to buy pleasure, hope, or security; we try to gather power or promote ourselves; and the Lord warns, but we don't take heed. Then he finally says, "You can have what you asked for." And the life-shattering consequences descend on us.
Moved To Pity
Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers. And when the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.
Now, if the Lord's anger burned against them, and he was responsible for the suffering and distress that fell upon them, at the very same time he listened to their cries, he heard the weeping, and he saw the suffering. Every individual cry appealed to him, and he was moved to pity. His heart was broken, and he was as merciful as he could be in response to them. And he sent a savior, a deliverer to meet their needs. He himself was with the deliverer (v.18), not off at a distance. The God who is angry is also the God who is involved, who cares, who is merciful, "moved to pity by their groaning." And yet when he would act to deliver them, once they got relief from their problems they would immediately turn back to rebelling against him.
The primary way in which God's wrath leads to suffering for us
is that he lets us have what we insist on having
So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, "Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers did, or not." So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
Because of this process of repeated rebellion, because of the inclination of their hearts, given any degree of relief at all from problems to rush back into degrading and syncretistic worship, the Lord declared "I will not take away their problems. I am going to leave the nations in place." It was to teach them lessons, to test them, to create circumstances in which finally they might call out to him and know him with their whole heart.
The Lord's Purpose
If the Lord removed every problem from us prior to our having real faith, if it were enough for us to know somebody like Joshua, cheer him on at a distance, and follow behind, liking the ideas but never gaining the heart that he had, if we were allowed a naive and shallow religious experience, we would never aim high enough in life. What the Israelites wanted was what many of us want, and that is a degree of security. They wanted their crops to grow, and they wanted the rain to come when they needed it. They wanted their families to be comfortable. They wanted to have happy children, to live in nice neighborhoods. They wanted to have enough spice in life to be interesting, but not enough to demand too much of them. They wanted the experience of Canaan to produce prosperity, peace, ease, and enjoyment of life. That's all they aimed for, and that's why they were willing to sell out.
What the Lord wanted for them was worship of a holy God. He wanted them to be his representatives on earth so that other people might come to know him, and to have an enthusiasm for the great things of their faith, for the Law and the Giver of the Law. And even if it meant more difficulty, more adventure, and more unknowns-because they were aimed at something greater, they would achieve something greater. If he would let us, too many of us would settle for knowing God well enough for him to give us everything we want but not for him to demand too much of us. And yet he wants us to aim for something higher.
Have you been following the story of Mark Wellman, the paraplegic ranger in Yosemite who is trying to scale the face of Half Dome? Wellman's legs don't work, yet he and a friend are climbing this mountain. Today was the day they were hoping to crest the top. They have been spending the nights on a nylon sheet suspended from two poles sticking out from the face of the rock over absolutely nothing. These men are living a life of unusual adventure and accomplishment on a physical level. The Lord intends the same for us spiritually.
If God were to remove the obstacles before we had any faith formed in us, we would also fool ourselves about the depth of wickedness of which we're capable. What the Israelites did by adopting Canaanite religion was despicable, and to use God's name in the midst of it was an abomination. And yet they were willing to do it over and over again.
We recoil from the stories of serial killers and sexually perverse societies that exist in the great cities of the world. We recoil from stories like the one you may have heard this week about a mother and grandmother in Houston using a three-year-old to sell crack cocaine. But are we really different from them?
The last section of the book of Judges is perhaps the most terrible in the Bible. It's a story of rape, dismemberment, and genocide. But after that a summary is given at the end of Judges that says, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." The near extermination of the tribe of Benjamin would be done because the other tribes believed it was right. The dismemberment of the dead body of the prostitute would be done as an act of "righteous indignation." They didn't plan to do what was evil and wicked; they thought they were doing the right thing. Our capacity to fool ourselves, to act in these ways is extraordinary. So God leaves the enemies in the land precisely to teach us of our own inadequacy, our own capacity for evil. Our sin nature can't be fixed-only crucifixion and resurrection life in Christ are sufficient answers.
The conclusion of this section is the first six verses of chapter 3:
Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly). These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. And they were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses. And the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
These are the nations that were left behind to test the people, and the people regularly failed the test. And the Lord required them to need him, and he would not remove these obstacles. I know that each of us can identify fears we wish we were free of. Life would seem better if we had less pressure, less trauma, less temptation, and less struggle to deal with. Yet he knows that all of us would live lives of less faith if we had it easier, so he leaves behind those difficulties that will teach us war. They will teach us to do battle with what's wrong, to trust him, and to know him as a result.
As a last commentary on the importance of knowing the living God and the worthiness of the challenge, the final verses of the book of Galatians make an interesting statement. The apostle Paul wrote a combative book in Galatians. It was a book of debate against those who would dilute and destroy the gospel message. He railed against his detractors, and he taught them the truth, and then at the end of the book he said, "From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus." Paul had been beaten, stoned, jailed, shipwrecked, abandoned, attacked by robbers, worked over in every kind of circumstance by Jews, Romans, and pagans. By the time he wrote the book of Galatians there were scars on his face, his hands, and his back and a limp in his leg. He stood before them figuratively in the book of Galatians and he said, "Look at my body. There are scars on it. But these are not ordinary scars; they are the brand-marks of Jesus." Paul's refusal to compromise meant that he was "taught war" (Judges 3:2). And the scars that resulted from his hardships he wore proudly because they testified to his intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Our God is wise and gracious enough to place us into battles so that we will not settle for less than knowing him.
Catalog No. 4302
Judges 2:1-3:6
Steve Zeisler
Copyright © 1991 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. This data file is the sole property of Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. It may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice. This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of Discovery Publishing. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to Discovery Publishing, 3505 Middlefield Rd. Palo Alto, CA. 94306-3695.


text:
Q: Excel doesn't release a shape's creation name I'm posting this in the hope that it might help someone else, as none of my searches revealed any information regarding this.
I ran into this while building a procedure that would copy an imbedded form shape, and paste it on the same sheet, then run a renaming scheme that would facilitate referencing either of these shapes
This should be simple enough, but I was running into an intermittent problem.  Eventually I came to realize that Excel appears to "remember" the shape's original name at the time of its creation, and keeps it flagged as being in use, releasing it only when the shape is deleted.  So if you rename the shape, you can never return it to the original name.  E.g., if you rename "Button 1" to "Btn1", you can never change it back to "Button 1".  Interestingly, you can now reference the shape by either name, "Button 1" or "Btn1".
In the macro below, assuming "Button 1" is the creation name, s.Name will end up as "Btn1", even though it looks like it would return to "Button 1".
Sub RenameShape()
Dim s As Shape
Dim nm As String
Set s = ActiveSheet.Shapes("Button 1")
nm = s.Name
s.Name = "Btn1"
s.Name = nm
End Sub

I have since come across a couple of links that talk about the shape's  "internal" and "external" names – I'm assuming the "internal" name is the inaccessible one that Excel won't forget, while the "external" name is the exposed name that one normally sees.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who can shed more insight into this.

A: As the main purpose of this post was to pass along information, I'm going to make this an answer so it can be closed.


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