KishaRose: "Falling in Love with Fall"
What do you know it's FALL! Don't you just love Fall... Well I do! As some of you Divas may know Ox-Blood was in last year and trending mighty high on my list once again this year. This past Saturday I had a much needed day with me, myself and I and let's just say I went in! Old Navy had $10 cardigans and this number today I am wearing was my first choice.
Take a look at today's ensemble! From the comfy cotton cardigan that's rich in color, to the free flowing elastic ankle bottoms with a BOLD floral print, I feel head to toe AMAZING! Bring on fall because I'm jumping right in!
I'm wearing $10 Saturday Pearls from my store collection I Heart Jewelz. Did you get your Jewelz fix!?!


Listed here you'll find the VA county loan limits in Indiana. This list gets updated by VA at least once a year. Find out here if your county exceeds the standard VA jumbo loan limit. For more information or to get questions answered about how much you can borrow using your VA eligibility, submit a request below.


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Cardiac testing in an asymptomatic 42-year-old man
R. Sacha Bhatia, Ciara Pendrith and Heather Ross; the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Choosing Wisely Canada Committee
CMAJ July 14, 2015 187 (10) 747-749; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.141479
R. Sacha Bhatia
Women's College Hospital Institute for Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care (Bhatia, Pendrith); Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (Bhatia, Ross), Toronto General Hospital; Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto (Bhatia, Ross), Toronto, Ont.
For correspondence: [email protected]
Ciara Pendrith
A 42-year-old nonsmoking man presented to his family physician to ask about his cardiac risk. Both the patient's father and grandfather had had fatal myocardial infarctions in their 40s. The patient does not have any symptoms; he walks a couple of kilometers daily and is able to walk two flights of stairs without difficulty. He has had no previous cardiac investigations. His family doctor considers what the appropriate cardiac work-up is for this patient.
Does this patient have features that might warrant further investigations?
The decision to screen an asymptomatic patient for coronary artery disease (CAD) depends on the patient's pretest risk. Risk for CAD may be defined by using the Framingham risk score and divided into three categories: low (10-yr risk of CAD < 10%), intermediate (10-yr risk 10%–20%) and high (10-yr risk > 20%).1 Factors included in the score (www.cvdriskchecksecure.com/FraminghamRiskScore.aspx) are age, sex, total cholesterol level, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level, smoking status, diabetes, systolic blood pressure and treatment for hypertension.
Risk factors may be categorized as modifiable or nonmodifiable. Modifiable risk factors for CAD include tobacco use or smoking history, dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, physical inactivity, poor diet, obesity or metabolic syndrome and depression. Nonmodifiable risk factors include age (men ≥ 40 yr; women ≥ 50 yr or postmenopause), ethnicity (i.e., First Nations or South Asian) and family history of premature cardiovascular disease. Physical examination has low sensitivity for the detection of CAD, but a body mass index (BMI) greater than 27, elevated blood pressure, cardiovascular abnormalities (e.g., murmurs, gallops, bruits, absent pulses) or evidence of clinical heart failure (i.e., elevated jugular venous pressure) might alter the probability of underlying disease.2 These risk factors, particularly those not part of the Framingham risk score, and findings on physical examination may suggest the presence of CAD, and further investigations may be warranted.
This patient's family history of premature cardiac disease is an unmodifiable risk factor, and further investigations to assess cardiac risk may be needed.
Does this patient require laboratory investigations to screen for risk factors?
The 2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Society dyslipidemia guideline recommends screening for CAD risk factors in all men more than 40 years of age and in women who are either more than 50 years of age or postmenopausal.3 Patients of First Nations or South Asian descent are at increased risk of CAD, and consideration should be given to screening at an earlier age.3 The guideline also recommends screening for cardiac risk factors in adults of any age with the following risk factors: rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic HIV infection, chronic kidney disease, abdominal aneurysm and erectile dysfunction.3
Laboratory investigations should include measurement of fasting blood glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, non-HDL lipids, triglycerides and estimated glomerular filtration rate.3 As per the guideline,3 this patient (male sex, age > 40 yr) should undergo screening for these cardiac risk factors.
Should this patient undergo screening with electrocardiography?
As mentioned previously, the patient's Framingham risk score should be calculated before any diagnostic tests are ordered. In patients with low risk and no symptoms, electrocardiography (ECG) has not been found to accurately restratify a patient's risk of CAD; however, some small cohort studies have suggested a higher rate of clinical events with resting abnormalities on ECG.4 Because of the low prevalence of cardiac events in a low-risk population, screening with ECG will likely not change a patient's risk stratification to a degree that would prompt a change in management.
On this basis, the US Preventive Services Task Force has concluded that outpatients with low risk and no symptoms should not undergo routine screening for CAD with ECG,5 a position that is supported by Choosing Wisely Canada (Box 1).6 Furthermore, insufficient evidence exists to routinely recommend such screening for patients with intermediate or high risk and no symptoms, although screening decisions should be individualized.5
Box 1:
Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations on electrocardiography and cardiac imaging6
Don't perform stress imaging or advanced noninvasive imaging in the initial evaluation of patients with no cardiac symptoms unless high-risk markers are present (diabetes in patients aged > 40 yr; peripheral arterial disease; > 2% annual risk for coronary artery disease events).
Don't perform annual stress imaging or advanced noninvasive imaging as part of routine follow-up in asymptomatic patients.
Don't order annual electrocardiograms (ECGs) for patients at low risk (10-yr risk < 10%) with no symptoms.
Should this patient undergo an exercise test or stress imaging?
Although there are no randomized controlled trials comparing clinical outcomes of patients with no symptoms who undergo screening by exercise ECG with patients who do not, large cohort studies have assessed the risk of death or myocardial infarction in this patient population, deemed low risk, at less than 1% per year.7 Exercise testing has poor accuracy to diagnose hemodynamically important CAD in patients with no symptoms and has a relatively high rate of false-positive results.8 False-positive results can lead to increased downstream testing, overtreatment and unnecessary patient anxiety. A large cohort study found that 1.7% of patients who had an exercise test eventually (even after stress imaging) went on to coronary angiography, which carries a risk of complications, including a 0.1% risk of death.9 The lack of clear benefit along with the increased risk of potential harm led the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology guideline to conclude that routine stress testing is not recommended for patients with no symptoms and a low or medium 10-year risk of CAD.10 There are some instances in which exercise testing may be considered for these patients (Box 2).10
Indications for exercise testing in patients with no symptoms of coronary artery disease10
Patients with diabetes who are considering starting an exercise program*
Patients with multiple risk factors for whom risk-reduction therapy may be guided by stress testing†
Men aged > 45 yr or women aged > 55 yr who:
- Plan to start vigorous exercise programs†
- Are involved in occupations in which impairment might affect public safety (e.g., airline pilots, commercial truck drivers, bus drivers)†
- Are at increased risk of coronary artery disease because of other diseases, such as peripheral vascular disease and chronic renal failure†
↵* Level of evidence IIa: weight of evidence or opinion is in favour of usefulness or efficacy.
↵† Level of evidence IIb: usefulness or efficacy is less well-established by evidence or opinion.
Although stress imaging is highly sensitive and is a useful diagnostic test in patients with symptoms or high risk, limited evidence supports its use in patients with no symptoms and a low pretest probability of disease. Stress imaging and advanced noninvasive imaging add little value to risk assessments in this population and should not be done in this patient's case, given his risk profile (Box 1).6
Case revisited
Because of the patient's sex and age, in addition to his family history, he underwent screening for risk factors for CAD. The patient's BMI was 26, his blood pressure was 130/80 mm Hg, his fasting blood glucose level was normal, his estimated glomerular filtration rate was 96 [normal 90–120] mL/min per 1.73 m2, his total cholesterol level was 5.2 [normal < 5.2] mmol/L, his HDL cholesterol level was 1.5 [normal > 1.0] mmol/L and his triglyceride level was 1.5 [normal < 1.7] mmol/L. The patient's 10-year CAD risk using the Framingham risk score was 5.6%, which places him in the low-risk category.
Given that the patient is considered to have low risk and has no symptoms, neither screening ECG nor an exercise stress test was performed. The patient was encouraged to maintain a healthy body weight and engage in moderate to vigorous exercise for 30–60 minutes most days of the week.
CMAJ is collaborating with Choosing Wisely Canada (www.choosingwiselycanada.org), with support from Health Canada, to publish a series of articles describing how to apply the Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations in clinical practice.
↵* Members of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Choosing Wisely Canada Committee: Bill Ayach, Institute of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, and Division of Cardiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.; Sacha Bhatia, Women's College Hospital Institute for Health Systems Solutions and Virtual Care, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; Ian Burwash and Ross Davies, Division of Cardiology, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ont.; Michelle Graham, Division of Cardiology, University of Alberta, and Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alta.; Camille Hancock-Friesen, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, NS; David Marr, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick and Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Division of Cardiology, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, NB; Blair O'Neill, Division of Cardiology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta.; Normand Racine, Department of Medicine and Cardiology, Montréal Heart Institute, Montréal, Que.; Heather Ross, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.; and Chris Simpson, Division of Cardiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
The authors have obtained patient consent.
Contributors: All of the authors participated in drafting and revising the manuscript, approved the version to be published and agreed to act as guarantors of the work.
National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation 2002;106:3143–421.
Mancini GB,
Gosselin G,
Chow B,
. Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines for the diagnosis and management of stable ischemic heart disease. Can J Cardiol 2014;30:837–49.
Anderson TJ,
Gregoire J,
Hegele RA,
. 2012 update of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemia for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in the adult. Can J Cardiol 2013;29:151–67.
Sutherland SE,
Gazes PC,
Keil JE,
. Electrocardiographic abnormalities and 30-year mortality among white and black men of the Charleston Heart Study. Circulation 1993;88:2685–92.
Pignone M,
Fowler-Brown A,
Pletcher M,
. Screening for asymptomatic coronary artery disease. Rockville (MD): US Preventive Services Task Force Evidence Syntheses; 2003.
Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Five things physicians and patients should question. Available: www.choosingwiselycanada.org/recommendations/cardiology/(accessed 2015 Apr. 13).
Aktas MK,
Ozduran V,
Pothier CE,
. Global risk scores and exercise testing for predicting all-cause mortality in a preventive medicine program. JAMA 2004;292:1462–8.
. Exercise tolerance testing to screen for coronary heart disease: a systematic review for the technical support for the US Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med 2004;140:W9–24.
Cournot M,
Taraszkiewicz D,
Galinier M,
. Is exercise testing useful to improve the prediction of coronary events in asymptomatic subjects? Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil 2006; 13:37–44.
Gibbons RJ,
Balady GJ,
Bricker JT,
. ACC/AHA 2002 guideline update for exercise testing: summary article: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Committee to Update the 1997 Exercise Testing Guidelines). Circulation 2002; 106:1883–92.
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R. Sacha Bhatia, Ciara Pendrith, Heather Ross
CMAJ Jul 2015, 187 (10) 747-749; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.141479
Testicular torsion
Poland syndrome in an 18-year-old man
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text:
Women appointed to lead Egypt's tourism, culture ministries for first time ever
In a limited cabinet reshuffle, new ministers were also appointed for local development, the public sector, and two deputy ministers of housing and health
Gamal Essam El-Din , Sunday 14 Jan 2018
Egypt tourism minister Rania El-Mashat (L) and Egypt's minister of culture Inas Abdel-Dayem (R) (Photo photo courtesy of AUC)
Egypt's parliament approved in a plenary session on Sunday the appointment of four new ministers and two deputy ministers, including two women to head the ministries of culture and tourism.
Inas Abdel-Dayem, who will be culture minister, and Rania El-Mashat, who is the new tourism minister, are the first women to head their respective ministries in Egypt's history.
The 58-year-old Abdel-Dayem, who has served as the chairwoman of the Egyptian Opera House since 2012, replaces prominent writer Helmi El-Namnam at the helm of the culture ministry.
Abdel-Dayem, who is an accomplished flutist, graduated from the Cairo Conservatory in 1984 and earned a PhD in classical music from France in 1990.
Meanwhile, Al-Mashat, 42, a well-known economic expert in local and international circles, replaced Yehia Rashed as tourism minister.
Al-Mashat, who is a graduate of the American University in Cairo, holds a PhD in economics from the University of Maryland.
She has previously served as sub-governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and head of the bank's Monetary Policy Department, a member of the board of the stock market, and an advisor with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Sunday's list of appointees also includes Abu Bakr El-Guindi as the new minister of local development and Khaled Mohamed Ali Badawi as minister of the public sector.
El-Guindi, the former head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, replaced Hesham El-Sharif, while Badawi replaced Ashraf El-Sharkawi.
Bawadi, born in 1970, holds a PhD from Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Science. "Badawi is currently working as the executive director of Al-Ahli Capital group and has a distinguished experience in business administration," said parliamentary speaker Ali Abdel-Aal during the session.
Additionally, Assem El-Gazzar and Tarek Mohamed Tawfik Amin were appointed deputy minister of housing and deputy minister of health, respectively.
El-Gazzar holds a PhD in urban planning and currently serves as deputy head of the Urban Planning Authority under the ministry of housing.
Amin holds a PhD in public health and currently the manager of the National Population Council.
At the onset of the session, speaker Abdel-Aal announced that Article 147 of the Egyptian constitution grants the president the power to invoke a limited cabinet reshuffle after consulting with the prime minister and gaining the approval of a majority of attending MPs, with no less than one-third (200 MPs).
Abdel-Aal also said Article 129 of parliament's internal bylaws states that "once a cabinet reshuffle is submitted by the president, parliament should vote on it during the next session, so that MPs can approve or reject it as a whole without making changes, and that the president will be informed of parliament's decision."
Sunday's reshuffle is the fourth in the three-year government of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, who was appointed in September 2015.
A reshuffle in March 2016 resulted in 11 new appointees, followed by another in February 2017 that resulted in four new cabinet ministers.
Support among MPs for Sunday's move was not unanimous.
Parliament's leftist 25-30 group issued a critical statement, describing the reshuffle as "unjustifiable."
"Nobody knows why some ministers were fired and why others were kept in place," the 14-member group said.
"We believe that this is not the right time for a cabinet reshuffle because it comes just three months ahead of the presidential election scheduled for March and April, which will be followed by a comprehensive reshuffle," the statement read.
Opponents said the change should be in policies rather than in cabinet ministers. "We reject the policies of Sherif Ismail's government which is implementing the IMF's orders, in addition to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound which led to a skyrocketing rise in food prices and costs of living conditions for the majority of Egyptians," read the statement.
Gamal Essam El-Din


Six information table were installed on the LIFE project site to give basic information about the project.
The project partner Dunatáj Public Foundation published the A4 sized leaflet. This dissemination material provides information about the Böddi-szék, the aims of the Life project and the activities during the project.


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Q: Split the file and further split specific index I have a big configuration file which needs to be splitted per hierarchy based on specific syntax; completed. Among that on a specific string match I am pulling specific index and that index needs to be splitted further based on regex match"\s{8}exit" which is not working

import re

def config_readFile(filename):
    F=open(filename,"r")
    s=F.read()
    F.close()
    return re.split("#\-{50}",s)
return s

C = config_readFile('bng_config_input.txt')

print ('printing C:', C)
print (C.__len__())

vAAA_FIXED = []

for i in C:
    if "CRS-1-SUB1" in i:
        vAAA_FIXED.append(i)

# print (vAAA_FIXED)

print (vAAA_FIXED.__len__())
print(vAAA_FIXED)

vAAA_FIXED = vAAA_FIXED.split(" ")

print (vAAA_FIXED.__len__())

Need to get new list from the original list

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This dish evolved from an improvisation with leftovers. At the end of a busy week of recipe testing, my refrigerator was crammed with batches of an eggplant-tomato pasta dish and various versions of caramelized onions seasoned with fennel seeds and black olives. I simply mixed everything together, covered it with Parmesan and bread crumbs and produced this extremely flavorful gratin for a family supper. Here is a formalized version, worthy of company.
In large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add eggplant and cook, turning often, until tender and browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to large plate and set aside.
Add another 1 tablespoon oil to skillet and reduce heat to medium. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until tender and lightly browned, 7 to 9 minutes. Add garlic and fennel seeds; cook, stirring, 30 to 60 seconds. Add wine, reduce heat slightly and simmer 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes and mash with potato masher. Add crushed tomatoes, olives and reserved eggplant; simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors have blended, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and pepper. Transfer to large bowl and cool to room temperature.
Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat 13 x 9-inch or other 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray (see Note). In small bowl, mix together bread crumbs and remaining tablespoon oil. Set aside.
Add pasta to boiling water; stir to prevent sticking. Cook, stirring often, until barely tender, about 4 minutes. (Pasta will seem quite hard.) Drain and rinse under cold running water until thoroughly cool, then drain again.
Note: If you have individual gratin dishes, this is a good opportunity to use them. Divide pasta mixture among dishes, taking care not to overfill, and reduce baking time slightly.


Following the lengthy international break, Manchester United will resume their stuttering title challenge with a home affair against Liverpool on Saturday.
Louis van Gaal's side have not endured a difficult start to the new campaign, epitomised by their 2-1 loss to Swansea City, with the Dutchman's woes recently worsened by veteran Michael Carrick suffering yet another injury with the England national team.
The news of De Gea's failed Madrid move was good news for everyone but the Argentine shot-stopper who, whilst a good goalkeeper, is not of the same class as the Spaniard.
Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that Van Gaal will allow De Gea to feature so soon after his lengthy transfer saga, so expect Romero to retain his place for the time being.
Darmian has been one of few United players to consistently perform this season. The Italian has been rock-solid defensively whilst also managing to be efficient with his distribution and going forward.
And whilst he might not be a headline grabber, Darmian provides his side with much needed security and consistency at the back - something that will be needed against Liverpool.
The England international has continued his outstanding early season form both domestically and on the international stage. Smalling dominates both aerial and ground challenges whilst being assured in possession, and has morphed into a complete package during his time at the Red Devils.
Despite being significantly exposed against Swansea, Blind will most likely retain his place as a result of Van Gaal's stubbornness.
Still, Blind does provide United with excellent distribution from the back and will no doubt aid in the keeping of possession. Whether he is the right partner for Smalling, though, is another matter entirely.
Perhaps United's best performer against the Swans, Shaw has been another to impress in his second season under Van Gaal. The starlet has disturbed opposing defences with his startling change of pace and has formed a budding partnership with Memphis Depay.
The England international has also been relatively solid defensively, apart from the odd lapse in concentration. This should be enough to warrant a starting berth.
Out of the central midfielder options that Van Gaal has at his disposal, only one, in Morgan Schneiderlin, is strong defensively. The Frenchman provides excellent defensive cover in front of the back four and, whilst also a calm distributor of the ball, will most likely be the deepest lying midfielder of United's contingent.
Like Schneiderlin, Herrera possesses a unique characteristic to the other midfield options. The Spaniard is one of just two of United's midfielders - the other being Bastian Schweinsteiger - that comes short to the ball and distributes it from a deep position, which could effectively speed up the Red Devils' build up play.
It seems Van Gaal has finally taken notice of this by handing Herrera consecutive starts. For many Manchester United fans, it's about time.
The Dutch youngster's bright start has soured since his first Champions League match at Old Trafford. Nevertheless, Memphis is still developing and has displayed moments of quality.
His searing pace down the left-hand side quickens play in the final third, and additionally, Depay also provides a goalscoring threat and play a pivotal role if United are to emerge victorious against Liverpool.
In the past few months, Mata has made a position, which was largely alien to him, his own. The Spaniard's presence on the right allows United to overload the center of the pitch, and with Mata often coming inside, United essentially have an extra man.
The Spain international has already scored and assisted goals this season, and his cutting-edge play could yield a positive result.
England's all-time leading goalscorer continues to toil in the lone striker role. Perhaps moving Rooney into a slightly withdrawn forward role would improve his form, and in a deeper role, the 29-year-old could show off his creative qualities and prove a threat from long distance, like he has proven many times before.
United's new teenage forward offers the very aspect the club lack upfront - pace. With Martial running in behind and into channels, United's creative midfield will have always have an outlet when pushing forward.
The Frenchman's movement will also open up space for Rooney to operate in as well. Including this young prodigy in the starting XI would benefit the whole team.


FRISCO- After his early goal in the 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers on Saturday, FC Dallas forward Jesus Ferreira was named to the bench for MLS Team of the Week in Week 7.
Starting his fourth game of the season, the forward is starting to find a consistent spot in the lineup. In the past month, he has added over 300 minutes and notched his second goal of the year in the win.


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Q: Algorithmic efficiency in selecting based on bits I was wondering what your ideas were in developing an efficient algorithm for doing if/else switch/cases based on bits. I have 8 bits to play with and I need to divide them into higher order and lower order bits, like so:
0000 1111
Each half contains some information base on which bits are turned on. For example, if the lower half (1111 in this little endian machine) is actually 0010, something happens. Furthermore, if the higher end is 1000, something else happens.
I guess it would be efficient to rightshift the upper half and make AND comparisons (like (x >> 4) & 8) but I'm not sure what's smart to do for the lower half, as it seems a bit unclever to left shift and compare to some weird number.
Your insights, again, greatly appreciated.

A: First of all, the (x >> 4) & 8 in your example isn't quite right. To compare the higher nibble (the top four bits) to n, you need ((x >> 4) & 15) == n.
To compare the lower nibble to n, you simply lose the right shift: (x & 15) == n.

A: To mask the lower 4 bits you can use bits & 0xf and if you want to check whether the 4 bits have a certain value (i.e. 2 which is 0010) you can use ( bits & 0xf ) == 2 for the lower half and ( bits >> 4 ) == 2 for the upper half.
Endianess makes no difference when you are looking at just a single byte.

A: I can't tell whether you want something efficient, as you say, or something clever. If you really want fast execution, nothing is faster than a switch statement with 256 cases. Take a look at the code the compiler produces for switch and you'll see that it's very fast.
If you want something clever, that's a different deal. But, no matter how clever it is, it's never going to be faster than a switch.


text:
HomeNewsThe Midweek Hymn: Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken
The Midweek Hymn: Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken
By Margaret Ashworth
THIS hymn, like many others, was written by an Anglican clergyman, but there cannot be many priests with a background like that of John Newton.
He was born in Wapping, east London, in 1725, the son of a sea captain. His mother was a devout nonconformist and taught him the rudiments of Christianity, but she died just before John turned seven.
At 11 he left school and started going to sea with his father, becoming by his own admission an all-round bad lot: 'A common drunkard or profligate is a petty sinner to what I was.' His father retired when John was 17, and he signed on with a merchant ship. However while ashore a year later in 1743, he fell victim to a press-gang and was forced to join the Royal Navy. ('Pressing' men into service was legal and commonplace in those days. Gangs would patrol near ports and were particularly interested in men with seafaring experience. Merchant seamen could be recognised by their clothing. They would first be asked to volunteer for the Navy and if they refused they would simply be captured.) He became a midshipman aboard the warship HMS Harwich but he tried to desert. This was a most serious crime, and if he had been an enlisted man he would have been hanged. As it was he was sentenced to 96 lashes, the punishment carried out in front of the 350-strong ship's company, and reduced to the rank of common seaman.
Presumably because he was a nuisance he was traded in 1745 to Pegasus, bound for West Africa to pick up slaves to be taken to the Caribbean and North America. The crew of Pegasus did not like him either and they abandoned him in West Africa with a slave dealer named Amos Clowe. In turn Clowe handed Newton on to his wife, Princess Peye of the Sherbro people of Sierra Leone, as a slave. The princess treated him as badly as her other slaves.
After three years he was rescued by a sea captain who had been asked to search for him by his father, and set sail for England aboard the merchant ship Greyhound. Off the coast of Ireland the ship hit a terrible storm and came close to sinking. Newton prayed for the first time in his adult life and subsequently read Thomas à Kempis's Imitation of Christ and the Bible. (I can't discover how he was able to read well enough, having finished his education at 11.) By the time he reached Britain on 10 March 1748, an anniversary he marked for the rest of his life, he had accepted the doctrines of Christianity, though he did not consider himself converted. However from that point on he avoided profanity, gambling and drinking.
In 1750 Newton married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Catlett, and they adopted two of her orphaned nieces.
Despite his new attitude, he continued to work in the slave trade, obtaining a position as first mate on the slave ship Brownlow, headed from Liverpool to Guinea. While in West Africa he became ill with a fever and professed his full belief in Christ. Still he did not give up the slave trade and made three more voyages as captain of the Duke of Argyle and the African. He had a stroke in 1754 and gave up seafaring, but retained a commercial interest in the slave business.
In 1755 he was appointed as a tide surveyor (customs officer) at the port of Liverpool. In the city he attended meetings held by the evangelistic preacher George Whitefield and John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. They inspired him and he taught himself Greek and Hebrew, becoming well known as an evangelical lay minister. At this point he gave up his links with slavery. In 1757, he applied to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England, but because he was deemed to be a Methodist it was more than seven years before he was accepted.
He was ordained in June 1764 and appointed curate at the parish church of St Peter and St Paul in Olney, Buckinghamshire. In 1767 the poet William Cowper moved to Olney and the two men became good friends, collaborating on a hymn book called Olney Hymns which was published in 1779. Newton contributed Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken as well as his other well-known works How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds and Amazing Grace, with its heartfelt first verse:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
(Newton's hymns contrasted with those of Cowper, who suffered throughout his life with depression. One of his hymns has the opening line 'There is a fountain filled with blood'.)
Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken is based on Psalm 87:3 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God' (King James Bible). For many years the usual tune for Newton's words was Austria, composed by Franz Joseph Haydn for Emperor Franz II in 1797. Later that year Haydn used the melody, with variations, in the second movement of his Emperor Quartet, played here by the Lyon family.
Here the hymn is performed by massed voices in the Royal Albert Hall.
You can see the lyrics here, though only verses 1 and 5 are sung.
Austria subsequently became the tune of the German national anthem and during the Second World War it was considered that a new melody was needed. This was supplied by Rev Cyril Vincent Taylor (1907–1991), then a producer of religious broadcasting at the BBC who was stationed at the village of Abbots Leigh in Somerset, after which he named the tune. Here is the choir of King's College, Cambridge.
However the taboo on the Haydn tune seems to have been lifted these days.
Newton spent 16 years in Olney, moving in 1779 to the Hawksmoor church of St Mary Woolnoth in the City of London, a premier posting. He became an ally of William Wilberforce, leader of the parliamentary campaign to abolish the African slave trade.
Newton remained publicly silent about his role in the trade until 1784, 34 years after he retired from it, when he published a pamphlet called Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade. He detailed the horrific conditions on the slave voyages which could last as long as 13 weeks, during which as many as a quarter of the captives would die. 'During the time I was engaged in the slave trade,' he wrote, 'I never had the least scruple as to its lawfulness. It is, indeed, accounted a genteel employment and is usually very profitable.' He admitted that this was 'a confession, which . . . comes too late . . . It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.'
He had copies sent to every MP, and the pamphlet sold so well that it swiftly required reprinting.
His wife died in 1790, and three years later he published Letters to a Wife, in which he expressed his grief.
The law abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire received Royal Assent in March 1807 and Newton died in December that year, aged 82.
He wrote his own epitaph which can be seen on his gravestone in Olney cemetery:
John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.
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Margaret Ashworth
Margaret Ashworth is a retired national newspaper journalist. She runs the Subbing Clinic in a hopeless attempt to keep up standards, and co-runs A & M Records where she indulges her passion for 60s pop.


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These Blue-Collar Trump Supporters Think the Economy Is Great. Your Move, Democrats.
At Trump's Milwaukee rally, supporters boasted that he's ushered in an economic miracle. Democrats face the challenge of convincing them otherwise.
Kari Lydersen January 31, 2020
A cheese-head adorned attendee smokes a cigarette ahead of a raucous rally for President Donald Trump on January 14, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE — The mood inside Panther Arena at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was euphoric January 14 as Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" blasted and a crowd of more than 10,000 did the wave — a jubilant sea of red hats, big smiles and arms in the air.
The scene was, at first, reminiscent of the hope, joy and empowerment that swept the country 12 years ago as Barack Obama began his presidential campaign. But as the evening wore on, it became clear that the sentiments permeating the atmosphere were very different from Obama fever: bitterness, resentment and scorn. The crowd's demographics were likely different as well: predominantly white in one of the most segregated cities in the country, home to a large Black and Latinx population.
This was a rally for President Donald Trump, in the city that will host the 2020 Democratic National Convention in July, in a state that will likely be crucial to the election's outcome.
Wisconsin's despair over the loss of good manufacturing jobs, the hardship facing farmers and general malaise helped propel Trump to his unexpected 2016 victory. And if the Milwaukee rally is any indication, Trump is still popular here: Attendees described their growing retirement accounts, their thriving small businesses and greater job security.
In 2016, Trump received fewer than a third of the votes in Milwaukee County but won the surrounding counties. Statewide, Trump garnered 47.2% of the vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 46.5% — a difference of just 22,748 votes.
Democrats now face the challenge of proving to Wisconsinites that Trump's policies and trade wars are actually hurting working people and that recent market gains mostly benefit the already wealthy — while promoting the idea that true prosperity lies in a social safety net, protective regulations and any number of other measures that Trump derides.
One rallygoer, retired sheet metal worker George Zulas, 73, says his retirement investments are thriving because of Trump and described Democrats as the party of corruption. He pointed to the state of Illinois as an example: Governors often do "two terms [in Illinois] — a term in office and then a term in prison."
"Union members are supposed to vote Democratic, but [Democrats] haven't done anything for us," Zulas says. He thinks many union members will vote for Trump in 2020, but quietly — in fear of retribution in their hiring halls should they openly support Trump.
As In These Times reported, "43% of [2016] voters in union households cast their ballots for Trump." Compared with past election results, however, it appears the outcome was more from a lack of Clinton enthusiasm than from Trump excitement.
Union or not, many blue-collar workers have clearly been attracted to Trump's America-first rhetoric and believe Trump is negotiating good international "deals" for American workers.
One former toolmaker from Milwaukee, Roger, 67, lost his iron company job about a decade ago when it moved much of its sourcing overseas. (Roger asked not to use his last name out of fear of harassment.)
"These companies buy from Mexico, Portugal, China — there aren't tool shops here anymore," Roger says.
Heart attacks and other health problems have made it impossible for Roger to find work, so he spends time in his sprawling garden, growing pole beans and broccoli. But his confidence in Trump has made him feel like walking into one of the remaining tool shops and asking for work.
"Trump knows how to play the game — he got it from the streets of New York," Roger says. "He's the country's best salesman. He gets up from his four-hour sleep and says, 'What problem will I solve today?'"
While many of Trump's claims can be easily debunked, fact-checking the economic landscape is more difficult: The economy is strong by certain metrics. In Milwaukee, Trump expounded upon his supposed economic miracle, telling the crowd that the United States now boasts "the greatest economy in our history."
Unemployment in Wisconsin is at 3.3%, compared with 4.3% in January 2016. The stock market is hitting highs. Many in southeastern Wisconsin are hoping for a job boom from the massive, in-the-works Foxconn LCD panel plant. In Milwaukee, Trump also crowed that the military-style vehicle manufacturer Humvee is now making parts in Oshkosh, Wis.
But much of this economic recovery started during the Obama years. Humvee, for example, made its announcement about Wisconsin manufacturing in 2015.
A closer look at Wisconsin under Trump reveals a less rosy picture. The total number of jobs in Wisconsin has fallen over the past two years. The total number of Wisconsin manufacturing jobs declined in 2019. Wisconsin employers have been hurt by Trump's trade wars — the all-American brand Harley-Davidson, for example, shifted its motorcycle production overseas and laid people off because of retaliatory tariffs in the EU, sparked by Trump. Trump's tariffs on Chinese-made goods are arguably hurting Wisconsin companies.
And the big Foxconn deal (Trump lofted a golden shovel at the plant's 2018 groundbreaking) is projected to create only 1,500 of the 13,000 promised jobs (but the company will still receive massive tax breaks from the state).
Robert Kraig, executive director of Citizen Action Wisconsin, says the Foxconn "debacle" typifies Trump's approach.
"It was a predictable disaster … [Trump] makes a big announcement and then doesn't stick around to make it happen," Kraig says. In general, "Trump is super-charging the economy, we're on a sugar high with the tax breaks and pressuring the Fed not to raise interest rates even though they should. He's extremely selective in the data points to measure what a strong economy is. The stock market doesn't represent actual prosperity, and unemployment numbers miss all the people who are locked out of the economy and who have given up."
Nationwide, according to census data released fall 2019, income inequality has ballooned under Trump, reaching its worst point since the Census Bureau started measuring five decades ago. Even with low unemployment numbers, the Economic Policy Institute reports that wage growth has been sluggish.
Regardless, Trump's Milwaukee rallygoers feel flush about a bright future ahead. Trump's frequent attacks on socialism will only make it harder for Democratic candidates to convince voters that more fairly sharing the country's wealth will expand the prosperity they think they already have.
Writing for The New Yorker in June 2019, journalist Peter Slevin explored the complicated attitudes toward socialism in Milwaukee, a city that elected three socialist mayors in the 20th century. Slevin quotes historian John Gurda, noting that Wisconsin's successful socialist leaders "were as creative as any capitalist, and as aggressive as any capitalist, in trying to create a system that worked for the common man and woman." It seems Democrats would be wise to emphasize this approach as they campaign in a state known for valuing individuality, a bootstraps mentality and hard work.
But if Democrats are to change the minds of the attendees at Trump's January rally, they have a long road ahead. "This is a blue-collar boom," Trump said in Milwaukee, gaining more cheers as he railed against low-flow dishwashers and undocumented immigrant sex offenders while touting the economy.
Democrats will need to convince voters in Wisconsin and beyond that a true blue-collar movement recognizes how regulations protect workers and help fight pollution and climate change, how immigrants contribute to the economy, how wage growth fights income inequality, and the upside of many other things that Trump delights in opposing. Kraig, for one, says this moment is perfect for something like the Green New Deal, with long-term and centralized planning.
"You plan out what would make real shared prosperity, and move the needle on our immense income inequality," he says. "The modern neoliberal market just won't do that."
Robert Kraig is an In These Times board member.
Kari Lydersen is a Chicago-based reporter, author and journalism instructor, leading the Social Justice & Investigative specialization in the graduate program at Northwestern University. She is the author of Mayor 1%: Rahm Emanuel and the Rise of Chicago's 99%.
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Mining companies increasingly rely on cheaper contractors who face longer hours and higher risk of accidents.


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HomeAboutPortfolio7GC & Co HoldingsTeamInsightsNewsContact
AltAssets: 7GC closes in on fourth deal for debut vehicle as $150m fundraise continues
7GC closes in on fourth deal for debut vehicle as $150m fundraise continues
Newly launched VC 7 Global Capital has closed its fourth deal for its debut fund, after investing in pharmaceutical start-up hims, AltAssets understands.
Hims is a telehealth platform for prescribing drugs for men's wellness. The deal, which is currently being processed, is expected to close soon. 7GC joins existing investors IVP and Founders Fund in the round, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
7GC declined to comment on the potential deal, but a source familiar with the fund told AltAssets the firm was making strong inroads to finishing its debut fundraise next year.
According to the source, the firm is targeting $150m for its maiden fund, and secured $75m for its first close last year. It is believed that the firm is expecting to reach the final close for the vehicle between the first and second quarters of 2019.
German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE are are one of the strategic LPs in the new fund according to its annual filing. 7GC's other limited partners include industrial families, digital entrepreneurs, business leaders, private and publicly traded corporations in the United States, Europe and globally.
The firm has also banded together a group of former colleagues and digital entrepreneurs to commit to the fund as LP.
7GC's debut fund is already about 50 per cent invested, and is expected to invest in 12 to 15 assets once the fund is fully deployed.
The hims investment would be the fourth deal through the fund, which has also invested in Capsule, Cheddar and a basket of secondary assets. The firm usually writes cheques for between $3m and $10m per business.
7GC, which is based in Berlin and San Francisco, recently participated in the $50m Series B funding round for Capsule, which is set to use the financing to expand to other US cities.
After launching the firm last year, 7GC has set about building its team including a new partner in San Francisco, Jack Leeney told AltAssets.
"If we were an entirely US fund with just US capital and we were looking at the opportunities we are looking at, we wouldn't get in the door."
"This is the most competitive stage of the venture market which we are tracking, so it's the price adjusted assets that are doing incredibly well. How we're able to play in this incredibly competitive band is by delivering is that connectivity to Europe. It really is bespoke to each asset depending how we can help them partner."
When describing how 7GC sees the market currently, Leeney said, "I think there's great appetite in Europe for growth, which is fantastic because in the last five years it's come a very long way let alone ten years.
"There's always been a very healthy appetite and appreciation for private equity investing here [Europe] yet venture because of local landscape coming into maturation has not historically been something people are 100 per cent spending all their time and efforts on, and that's has changed dramatically now."
"Every private investor is searching for yield right now and this is an environment where a lot of different alternatives are increasingly looking like a great option."
"The very clear task for us, was 'go articulate the thesis'. This is a very ambitious strategy as far as the assets you're targeting, the people you're co-investing with and really some of the most competitive opportunities in the US and in the venture world."
7GC & Co Holdings Inc. Enters into Definitive Merger Agreement
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MFDC Beauty and Beast
Palace Compound is today virtually acquiring the aura of an institutional area for the arts. Around the historic Hapta Kangjeibung, one of the three polo-grounds of antiquity on which the modern game of polo began taking shape for the first time in history, have sprung up a number of important institutions of arts and culture, such as the Bheigyachandra Open Air Theatre, more popularly known by its acronym, BOAT; the Iboyaima Shumang Lila Shanglen; The government Arts and Culture complex; a state Convention Hall which the government says would have state-of-the-art facilities; the Manipur Film Development Corporation, MFDC, etc. The last named is in news currently because of the ongoing 7th Manipuri Film Festival, a particularly important landmark in the journey of Manipuri cinema, for this year marks a formal transition in the state of the cinematic tradition from the celluloid to the digital. For long there have been almost a futile resistance to this transition, but now there seems to be a general acknowledgment, even amongst die-hard purists who claim superiority of the celluloid medium to the new wave digital image making, that the digital age has arrived and the old must give way to the new. In the parallel still image making tradition, pioneer photo film makers, Kodak and Fuji have stopped making photo films and famous camera shops, like Dixon in the UK or Adorama and B&W in the USA have long announced they would not be stocking film cameras anymore. With all research and development money going into digital cameras, the digital technology is growing astoundingly, so much so that today we have Digital Single Lens Reflex, DSLR, camera sensors that literally see in the dark, and take not just still pictures but high definition, HD, movies, that rival, if not exceed the quality of video produced by standard conventional video cameras. Canon has only recently even announced a 120 megapixel DSLR sensor which would quite obviously, sooner than later, arm some of the company's high-end camera bodies. Ladies and gentlemen, sit back and watch the digital image making revolution unfold.
Let the digital revolution be. We are more interested in Manipur's preparation to receive it. The revolution is a boon in many different ways. For instance, it has made movie making accessible to many more, having phenomenally slashed down the cost of film making, as well as simplified its production. In many ways, the MFDC building is a fitting symbol for the arrival of the new age film making. It is, by Manipur standards grand, but perhaps the grandeur is a little in excess. As for instance, the spanking new, glittering and still incomplete building has a massive main convention hall which probably would be able to seat nearly 1000. How many times in a year would the film crowd in the state find an occasion that can fill up the hall? For most of the year, it can be predicted, this hall will remain unused. Instead, constructing four or five relatively small but state-of-the-art digital theatres within the complex would have been more to the purpose. There are also some small but all the same telling architectural flaws. As for instance, on the 1st floor of the building, there are two washrooms, one for ladies towards the north end and another for men towards the south end. The well-constructed, marble tiled, modern washroom for men has altogether 10 pissoirs. At least one or two of them should have been a foot lower for the convenience of children. This oversight exposes the architects conceived the building as an adult facility only and not a family recreation centre. This is unfortunate and perhaps reflects a deeply entrenched social bias. We hope they can still make amends, as the building is still incomplete.
But there is another oversight which much more rudely betrays the invasion of an unfeeling materialism in life in general, or call it flawed notion of modernity. Look out of the men's shit room window as you relieve yourself and be shocked to find the sombre, silent and melancholy Thangal Temple immediately below. Can anything be a more inconsiderate and irreverent act than this? Was this rude compromise of a sacred historical space of the society necessary? What would have been so terribly wrong to have the entire washrooms complex, housing facilities for men and ladies in separate rooms, on the southern side of the building to avoid this defilation? Must modernity and the alibi of space constraint always mean the decimation of the traditional and sacred?
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Elsie Mae's Canning and Pies uses local produce and family recipes to preserve traditional style baking and canning. There is always something going on at the shop. Check out our upcoming events here.
As Kelly was growing up, she was always helping her grandma with the gardening and canning. Today, Kelly is still canning – and baking pies! The shop is named after Kelly's "granny". Kelly hasn't changed much in what she does in the kitchen; just the quantity!
Visit the shop at any given time, and you can see Kelly and her staff at work making a variety of seasonal pies and jams. Everything is done on site, with the kitchen workspace visible for all to see.
Kelly picks various local foods, mixes them together in amazing combinations, and flavorful jams and pies are the result.
Ingredients for the jams and pies come from Wisconsin and Michigan. Strawberries come from Berryville Farm, while apples and pears come from Brightonwoods Orchard – both are located in Kenosha County. Kelly's family (which now includes her husband, James and their son Esox) travels to Michigan a few times each year for tart cherries, blueberries, and purple plums. The trips have become a new family tradition, rather than just a trip to pick up supplies. They truly know where – and who – the food is coming from. "We know the farmers, and all their kids' names, and what varieties they're growing," Kelly says.
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A message from Trevor Birch
@EFL
EFL Chief Executive, Trevor Birch, has issued a message to Gareth Southgate and his England players following Sunday evening's Euro 2020 Final at Wembley Stadium.
He said: "On behalf of everyone associated with the EFL, I would like to congratulate Gareth, the England team and everyone at the Football Association on the fantastic achievements at Euro 2020.
"Whilst the result in the end was disappointing, the pre-match scenes at Wembley Stadium tonight will live long in the memory and were only made possible by a group of individuals with incredible self-belief whose efforts have inspired millions of people in communities up and down the country.
"As a nation we are incredibly proud of our sporting heroes and I am confident that the many successes achieved at the tournament can be used as a power for good and leave a positive lasting legacy, particularly after the challenges the game and wider society has been forced to negotiate as a result of the pandemic.
"Of course, that has only been made possible due to the attitude and aptitude of the team and the impressive team behind the team. They all deserve our respect and thanks for restoring pride in our national team."


Another addition to our women's plain pyjamas, but this time in a cosy brushed cotton herringbone. Finished with stylish turn ups and real shell buttons. Available in regular and tall leg lengths.
Fabric type: Brushed cotton - this is one of our cosiest cottons for those wanting something warmer.


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N.C. Gen. Statutes > Chapter 32A > Article 3
North Carolina General Statutes > Chapter 32A > Article 3 – Health Care Powers of Attorney
§ 32A-15 General purpose of this Article
§ 32A-16 Definitions
§ 32A-17 Who may make a health care power of attorney
§ 32A-18 Who may act as a health care attorney-in-fact
§ 32A-19 Extent of authority; limitations of authority
§ 32A-20 Effectiveness and duration; revocation
§ 32A-21 Appointment, resignation, removal, and substitution
§ 32A-22 Relation of the health care agent to a court-appointed fiduciary and to a general attorney-in-fact
§ 32A-23 Article 2, Chapter 32A, not applicable
§ 32A-24 Reliance on health care power of attorney; defense
§ 32A-25.1 Statutory form health care power of attorney
§ 32A-26 Health care power of attorney and declaration of desire for natural death
§ 32A-27 Health care powers of attorney executed in other jurisdictions
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes > Chapter 32A > Article 3
Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
in writing: may be construed to include printing, engraving, lithographing, and any other mode of representing words and letters: Provided, that in all cases where a written signature is required by law, the same shall be in a proper handwriting, or in a proper mark. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
property: shall include all property, both real and personal. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3


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Q: Is it possible to give the closed-form of the stiffness matrix of triangular prism element? Suppose the vertices of triangular prism are 1, 2, 3 (bottom triangle), 4, 5, 6 (top triangle), the coordinates of the vertices are
$$
(x_i, y_i, z_i), i=1,2,3,4,5,6.
$$
We can write the stiffness matrix of FEM of the triangular prism as follows:
$$
K_{i,j} = \int_0^1\int_0^{1-\xi}\int_{-1}^1 \begin{pmatrix}\frac{\eth N_i}{\eth\xi} &  \frac{\eth N_i}{\eth\eta}  & \frac{\eth N_i}{\eth\zeta}\end{pmatrix} (\textbf{J}^{-1})^T\textbf{J}^{-1}\begin{pmatrix}\frac{\eth N_j}{\eth\xi} \\  \frac{\eth N_j}{\eth\eta}  \\ \frac{\eth N_j}{\eth\zeta}\end{pmatrix}det(\mathbf{J})d\xi d\eta d\zeta\,\\ i,j=1,2,...,6.
$$
where
$$
\textbf{J}=\begin{pmatrix}\frac{\eth x}{\eth\xi} &  \frac{\eth y}{\eth\xi}  & \frac{\eth z}{\eth\xi} \\ \frac{\eth x}{\eth\eta} &  \frac{\eth y}{\eth\eta}  & \frac{\eth z}{\eth\eta} \\ \frac{\eth x}{\eth\zeta} &  \frac{\eth y}{\eth\zeta} & \frac{\eth z}{\eth\zeta} \end{pmatrix}
$$
and
$$
\textbf{N}=\begin{pmatrix}N_1 & N_2  & N_3 & N_4 & N_5 & N_6\end{pmatrix}^T\\
\left\{\begin{array}{}
N_1=\frac{1}{2}(1-\zeta)(1-\xi-\eta)\\
N_2=\frac{1}{2}\xi(1-\zeta)\\
N_3=\frac{1}{2}\eta(1-\zeta)\\
N_4=\frac{1}{2}(1+\zeta)(1-\xi-\eta)\\
N_5=\frac{1}{2}\xi(1+\zeta)\\
N_6=\frac{1}{2}\eta(1+\zeta)
\end{array} \right.\ \\
\left\{\begin{array}{}
x=\mathbf{N^T}\mathbf{x_e}\\
y=\mathbf{N^T}\mathbf{y_e}\\
z=\mathbf{N^T}\mathbf{z_e}\\
\end{array} \right.\ \\
\left\{\begin{array}{}
\mathbf{x_e}=\begin{pmatrix}x_1 & x_2  & x_3 & x_4 & x_5 & x_6\end{pmatrix}^T\\
\mathbf{y_e}=\begin{pmatrix}y_1 & y_2  & y_3 & y_4 & y_5 & y_6\end{pmatrix}^T\\
\mathbf{z_e}=\begin{pmatrix}z_1 & z_2  & z_3 & z_4 & z_5 & z_6\end{pmatrix}^T
\end{array} \right.\
$$
Is it possible to give the closed-form of the integration by the powerful mathematica?
Thanks,
Tang Laoya

A: So with the following code:
n = 1/2 {(1 - \[Zeta]) (1 - \[Xi] - \[Eta]), \[Xi] (1 - \[Zeta]), \
\[Eta] (1 - \[Zeta]), (1 + \[Zeta]) (1 - \[Xi] - \[Eta]), \[Xi] (1 + \
\[Zeta]), \[Eta] (1 + \[Zeta])};
xe = {x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6};
ye = {y1, y2, y3, y4, y5, y6};
ze = {z1, z2, z3, z4, z5, z6};
x = n.xe;
y = n.ye;
z = n.ze;
J = D[{x, y, z}, {{\[Xi], \[Eta], \[Zeta]}, 1}]\[Transpose];
s[i_] := {D[n[[i]], \[Xi]], D[n[[i]], \[Eta]], D[n[[i]], \[Zeta]]};
k[i_, j_] := s[i].Inverse[J.J\[Transpose]].s[j] Det[J];

Executing k[1,1] yields an enormous expression which is 38 pages long when printed. Integrating it would be extremely difficult, unless there is some hidden way to simplify it. So I'm not sure it's possible.


Kinekt ICO: XKN Token With Fingerprint Blockchain Terminals?
KINEKT technology is a blockchain integrated touch terminal that will be used at a physical point of sale. The terminal that is designed to be a low cost is customer service and POS technology agonistic.
The current terminals are only able to do one transaction at a time. However, the KINEKT terminal will perform multiple transactions at a time with just a fingerprint and the user's pin. The transactions are further managed by artificial intelligence to select the customer's preferred card service or changed on the fly as is required using the touch terminal.
The increased popularity of cryptocurrencies has led to a growing need for the digital coins to be used as a means of payment in traditional markets. However, the only means of using cryptocurrency has been via a visa or a MasterCard to the existing cryptocurrency wallets. Other providers have set up dedicated cryptocurrency terminals or ATMs. However, these are often costly and inefficient. The KINEKT Terminal overcomes these challenges as it enables both traditional and cryptocurrency transactions to be processed after providers plug into KINEKT Cloud.
Since the development of NFC, the banking industry and the wallet providers have tried to convince merchants to upgrade to terminals that comply with PCI/EMV regulations to allow customers perform contactless payments.
However, customer participation and market rollout have not picked up especially due to the high-cost merchants have to incur to set up the terminals. The KINEKT terminal will be a solution to this problem as mobile wallet providers can plug into the KINEKT Cloud to allow their customers transact at participating merchant PoS without the need for terminal upgrades.
Most merchants use separate terminals to process loyalty transactions and to offer bankcard payments. This increases costs and the participants have to fill in additional details. Additionally, merchants are unable to generate extra revenue streams at the point of sale. The KINEKT Terminal allows even 3rd parties to include their services in a seamless step. Where artificial intelligence automatically selects a customer default card based on the terminal used and on choice.
Merchants are constantly seeking for banks and card companies that have low card processing fees for PoS terminals. However, banks find it hard to lower the fees, as there are too many intermediaries involved in the processing of full payment. The introduction of the peer-to-peer push programs by global banks will allow the KINEKT terminals to extend the same feature providing a low-cost P2B customer to merchant payment option.
The charity donation market is characterized by inefficiencies at the physical point of sale. The physical tins located on merchants PoS benefits only one charity at the expense of others. The KINEKT Terminal will have a digital tin that will automatically and manually collect small change from users. The terminal will also have an option to determine how much one wishes to donate and to which charities.
The terminal will enable the unbanked to access its services due to the internal GSM connection of the terminal to the cloud and the use of fingerprint reader that identifies customer accounts rather than using the bank cards that are used by banks.
The XKN tokens are valued at 500 XKN =$1000. One billion tokens will be generated, and 50% will be available for purchase by the public during the ICO.
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CHRO Presentation at International Conference on Persecuted Churches
PERSECUTION OF CHIN CHRISTIANS IN BURMA
A SPEECH DELIVERED
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PERSECUTED CHURCHES
COLUMBIA, APRIL 15-16, 2005
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and heartfelt thanks to the conference organizers for inviting me to this important gathering of good Christians here in the city of Columbia. I am particularly appreciative that I have the opportunity to speak about persecuted Chin Christians from Burma, who can not speak for themselves, who have been suffering so long under the most brutal and ruthless military regime in the world.
I have come to this conference with the aim of bringing light to the decades-long systematic denial and violation of religious rights of Chin Christians who inhabit Burma's western territory of Chin State or Chinland by the country's ruling military junta known as the State Peace and Development Council.
My name is Salai Bawi Lian Mang, from Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO). I am an ethnic Chin from Burma.
The Chin people are one of the major ethnic groups in Burma. A South-East Asian Nation with the population of 54 million, Burma is composed with 8 major ethnic groups; Arakan, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon and Shan, and Burmese are majority with about 60% of the country population.
I will briefly talk about overall human rights situation in Burma and then my presentation will focus on persecution of Chin Christians by the ruling Burmese military regime.
At present, Burma is ruled by military junta called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Since the Burmese military took state power by killing thousands of innocent people in 1988, gross violations of human rights is committed by the military regime including political suppression, arbitrary detention, torture, rape, disappearances, extra-judicial killings, oppression of ethnic and religious minorities, and use of forced labor.
There are more than one thousand political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Noble Peace Price winner.
Burma is the second largest opium producing country in the world and the ruling military regime is directly links with the drug trade as political crisis, civil war and abuse of power is related with notorious drug trade.
In addition to drugs, the spread of HIV/AIDS is of great concern that can affect regional stability in the near future. Burma after India and Thailand has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in Asia. HIV/AIDS epidemic is mainly caused by drug addiction and lack of knowledge and prevention program in the country.
There is a report made by Shan Women Action Networks that the Burmese military regime is using rape as weapon of wars against ethnic Shan. The report details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Burmese soldiers in Shan State, between 1996 and 2001.
The military regime in Burma has violated the right to education by closing universities and colleges in the country for about 9 years within the past 16 years because the military regime views students as a threat to their dictatorial rule as students are the only vocal group that have been standing fearlessly against the military regime.
The use of forced labor is so widespread that the International Labor Organization (ILO) has expelled Burma from the ILO for the regime's widespread use of forced labor.
Since 1991, the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights have for 14 consecutive years adopted consensus resolutions condemning the Burmese military junta's systematic violations of human rights.
In 2003, President Bush enacted Burma Freedom and Democracy Act in response to the continued and systematic violations of human rights by the Burmese military junta.
Starting from 1999 the US Department of State, Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor annual report on international religious freedom report has branded Burma as country of particular concern for its widespread practice of religious persecution against minority religion such as Christians. In Burma more than 80% are Buddhist and Christians made only 4% in the country while in Chin state, Christians made about 90% of the population and religious persecution is a major concern in Chin state and among Chin Christians.
The military junta which made its way to power through a bloody coup in 1988 has ruled the country at gunpoint. Preoccupied by the idea of "national unity or unifying the country," Burma's military regime has embarked on a policy of creating a single national identity based on the policy of "Amyo, Batha, Thatana" or One race, One Language, One Religion" in other words "to be a Burman is to be a Buddhist" through assimilating all identifiable ethnic minority groups into the mainstream Burman society, a dominant ethnic group with which the regime identifies itself.
Introduction to the Chin People
Chin indigenous people inhabited the land bordering with India from the west, Bangladesh from the South-West, Arakan from the South and Burma from the east. It is estimated that the Chin, in a general sense including outside and inside of Chinland, number as many as two million, with the largest and noticeable number concentrated in the Chin State. The Chins were living as independent nation till the British invaded their land in the late 19th century and annexed all their territory into British Empire in the early 20th century.
After the second World Wars, as Burma's independence movement grew, the Chin decided to participate with Burmese and other ethnic groups in a constitutional process towards the development of a federal union. Thus, the Chins are co-founder of today Union of Burma by participating in a multi-ethnic conference concluded on February 12, 1947, which led to the creation of an independent federal Union of Burma on January 4, 1948. However, a military coup led by General Ne Win in 1962 effectively ended the Chin's special political status within the Union of Burma as one of its primary constituent member. Today Chin people in Burma are not represented in any form of political decision-making in the national, state or local administration.
Christianity and Chin People:
In 1899, American Baptist Missionary Rev. Arthur Carson and his wife from American Baptist Mission come to Chinland, present Chin state in Burma, and founded mission station at Haka present capital town of Chin state. Following the arrival of American missionaries, the two Chin couples converted to Christianity in 1904. Over the century almost the whole population in Chin state converted to Christianity and it is estimated that about 90 percent of Chins in Chin state are Christians at present.
In 1953 Baptist Chins organized themselves as Zomi (Chin) Baptist Convention. The majority of Chin Christians are Baptist and there are around 1,000 local small churches in all over Chin state and several associations.
Today, the impact of Christianity was not only confined within the spiritual and cultural contexts of the Chin people, it manifested itself as a uniting force for different Chin communities. With their conversion to Christianity, the Chins embraced one another as members of a community of faith in Christ. At the same time, there developed a new self-consciousness and political awareness of Chin cultural homogeneity, thus providing a new framework for Chin nationalism.
Since the first Chin conversion to Christianity in the early 1900s following the arrival of American missionaries, Christianity has been deeply entrenched in Chin society and has become part of the Chin cultural identity. Burma's ruling military regime is systematically persecuting Chin Christians in order to replace Christianity with Buddhism and assimilated them into mainstream Burman culture. Evidence demonstrates that the military regime is using religious persecution as a tool of ethnocide against Chin Christians.
Persecution of Chin Christian:
As Chin State has the largest concentration of Christians in the whole of Burma in terms percentage, it was not only a large number of Burmese soldiers that was brought into by the Burmese regime, in the name of "Hill Regions Buddhist Mission", the junta brought in an army of Buddhist monks who were then dispatched to various towns and villages across Chin State. Protected by the soldiers, these Buddhist monks have considerable powers over the Chin population. In many cases, local people have pointed out that the monks are military intelligence operatives who are more powerful than local army commanders. The Chin Human Rights Organization reported about the monks stationed around Matupi Township as follow:
The monks who live at Zakam, Rezua, Leisen, Vangvai and Tinsi villages rule the communities. Anyone who doesn't abide by the monks orders is reported to the SLORC/SPDC army and he/she is punished by the army. The monks give judgment on all cases. For those who become Buddhist, they are free from any persecution such as forced labour, portering, extortion of money, etc. Whenever and wherever a monk visits, he is accompanied by the army and they arrange a porter to carry the monk's particulars. The villagers were forced to build a Buddhist monastery and temple. But they refused, insisting "we are Christians". Even though the army threatened action against them, they didn't build it yet. Now the monks and army are holding a meeting to discuss this. Nobody knows what will happen.
A 40-year-old Chin Christian from Matupi Township recounted how he was converted to Buddhism, recruited and trained to be part of a campaign against Christians;
"I was invited to attend social welfare training by the [SLORC (now SPDC)] authority from Matupi on 27/2/95. When I arrived at the place, the authority told us that it is to attend Buddhist hill tract missionary training run by a Buddhist monk named U Razinn at Mindat. As we are Christian, we said we didn't want to go. But the monk persuaded us saying, 'it is no problem if you are Christian, it is just religious training'. So 5 other persons and I took part in the 10 day training. In the training, we were taught the 17 facts of how to attack and disfigure Christians."
The 17 points to attack Christians by the regime is as follows:
1. To attack Christian families and the progress of Christians.
2. To criticize against the sermons which are broadcast from Manila, Philippines.
3. To criticize God as narrow-minded and egotistical who himself claimed that "There is no god except eternal God".
4. To criticize Christian ways of life as corrupted and inappropriate culture in Burma.
5. To criticize the preaching of Christians wherever it has penetrated.
6. To criticize Christianity by means of pointing out its delicacy and weakness.
7. To stop the spread of the Christian movement in rural areas.
8. To criticize by means of pointing out "there is no salvation without purchased by the blood of Christ".
9. To counterattack by means of pointing out Christianity's weakness and overcome this with Buddhism.
10. To counter the Bible after thorough study.
11. To criticize that "God loves only Israel but not all the races".
12. To point out ambiguity between the two testaments.
13. To criticize on the point that Christianity is partisan religion.
14. To criticize Christianity's concept of the Creator and compare it with the scientific concept.
15. To study and access the amount given in offerings.
16. To criticize the Holy Bible after thorough study.
17. To attack Christians by means of both non-violence and violence.
Targeting Clergy:
Christian pastors and ministers secure high reverence and respect among the Chin people. They are highly respected as intermediaries between God and the congregations. Even outside of the Church, they play significant leadership role on occasions such as death, birth or marriage in the community. Also, because there are no Chin people represented in the local or state administration under the Burmese military regime, even in a secular setting, they receive high degrees of respect as leaders of the community. Today, their dignitary position has attracted the attention and jealousy of the ruling military regime, making them the first targets in the regime's campaign against Christianity and Chin people.
During the past decade, according to Chin Human Rights Organization reports, the Burmese military regime, detained at length, killed or physically abused many Chin Christians.
The following incidents is one grave example how they treated pastors;
In August 1993, the Burmese troop arrested and they (the Burmese Army) interrogated Pastor Zang Kho Let. When the Pastor's answers did not pleased the interrogators, the army personnel beat him with rifle butts or sticks that eventually broke almost all of his bones after two days of interrogation. They cut open his mouth to the neck and told him "We cut open your mouth so that you will no longer preach". In the two days that they tortured him, Pastor Zang Kho Let never admitted to using the church fund to help the resistance movement or that he was involved in helping the armed resistance. The soldiers, Non Commissioner Officer NCO's, and officers tortured the pastor with the intent to kill but he was still alive after two days of their inhuman brutality. When the torturers reported to their Commanding officer, Colonel Thura Sein Win, on the condition of the pastor, the colonel ordered them to tighten a plastic bag over his head. (Thura is an award given for bravery, like the torture of the preacher.)
After Pastor Zang Kho Let died, they dragged his lifeless body out of the school building and shot him. With a bullet wound in his body, the Burmese army unit claimed that they shot the pastor because he was trying to escape. The soldiers brought the dead body of Pastor Zang Kho Let back in the school building and placed together with the leaders of the village community, who were arrested to witness the gruesome state of the body. They were told to feel the bones, which were all broken. They were told, "If you do not tell us the truth and if you do not admit that you helped the rebel, you will face the same fate."
The headman of the village, Zang Kho Ngam, farmers Ngam Khai, and Thawng Kho Lun admitted to helping the resistance movement in order to escape torture and death. Nonetheless, they were tortured. It took seven days for the three of them to die; they died a slow death. The soldiers cut and burned their skin. They poured salt directly into their open sores. The soldiers zealously repeated the torture that they had just meted out to Pastor Zang Kho Let. When the two farmers died, the soldiers again dragged the bodies outside of the school building and shot. The Burmese Army buried the headman Zang Kho Ngam alive.
Prohibition of Construction of Churchs and Desecration of Crosses:
Several Chin Christian churches and infrastructure under construction in the 1990s were forced to stop by the military authority. Those who persisted in constructing their church building had been threatened or punished by the army. CHRO reports that; when the Burmese army ordered to stop construction of Salvation Army Church in Khampat, the pastor of the church ignored the order by resuming construction of the church. He was humiliated and badly beaten up by the army that he was hospitalized for several days.
The military regime reportedly ordered to stop construction of the following churches and Christian infrastructure; Chin Christian centenary building in Hakha – the capital of Chin State; United Pentecostal Church in Hakha; Zomi Theological dining hall in Falam; Church of Jesus Christ in Falam; hostels (both men and women) for Chin Christian College in Haka, Baptist Church in Farhual, Salvation Army church in Khampat, and the Assembly of God's Church in Kalaymyo, Evangelical Baptist Church in Myoma Quarter, Faith Bible Theological Seminary in Lawibual Quarter, Sakollam Baptist Church, and Lawibual Baptist Church, Lai Baptist Church in Rangoon were prohibited by the authority.
Evidence shows that the Burmese military regime has actively targeted Christian symbols in its campaign of Burmanization and ethnocide against various ethnic groups in the country. Christian crosses erected on the tops of hills throughout Chin State have been destroyed. Many of them replaced with Buddhist pagodas and statue of Buddhist monks. Since the early 1980s, Chin communities in various villages and towns have erected wooden crosses on mounts and hill tops beside their villages and towns to symbolize their faith in Christianity, and to remind themselves of the fact that Christianity has played an important role in shaping their modern society and culture. In some cases, however, the erection of these crosses were in response to what the Chin regarded was the State-sponsored importation of Buddhism into Chin State with the construction of pagodas and temples in certain urban centers which began in the 1970s.
Destruction of crosses started around the early 1990s with the rapid increase in army battalions established across Chin State. Since then, almost every cross in all the nine townships in Chin State had been destroyed by the regime. Destruction of crosses is usually ordered by the township authorities or by army battalion commanders. After an order is issued, the church or community responsible for erecting the cross is given a timeframe during which they must dismantle the cross. Failure to do so within the given period often means that the cross is destroyed by the authorities and that Church leaders are arrested for defiance of orders.
As recently as January 3, 2005 a giant Christian cross on top of Mount Boi near Matupi town of Chin State was destroyed by Burmese troops on direct order of Colonel San Aung, one of the highest ranking military commanders in the region. The 50-foot tall concrete cross was erected by local Christians at the cost three and a half million Kyats. After destroying the cross, troops from Light Infantry Battalion (304) hoisted a Burmese flag as a sign of victory against Christianity in Chin State where more than 90 percent of the populations are Christians. There are reports the regime is making plans to construct a Buddhist pagoda on the site.
Since Chin Christians from inside Burma can not do anything in response to this barbaric act, exiled Chin Christians in Malaysia, India, Canada and the US has responded with protest in front of the Burmese embassies.
I would like to share you what was happening in my home town of Thantlang.
The year 1999 marked one hundredth year of the arrival of Christian gospel among the Chins. The centennial celebration was originally planned for March 15 in Haka, the Capital of Chin state where the first Ameriacan missionaries established their first mission center in 1899. Before the official celebration in Haka, advance celebrations were held locally in various townships under the leadership of local churches. In Thantlang town, the celebration was organized jointly by all denominations in the town from January 1-3 1999.
On January 5, when the celebration was over, the organizers erected a Centenneial Memorial Cross on a hilltop on Vuichip ridge, located west of the town. Though primarily in remembrance of the early American missionaries, selection of the location for the cross had other significance. In addition to its good view from town, the spot has spiritual and religious dimension to it. Before the advent of Christianity, Thantlang residents had traditionally believed that Vuichip ridge was the dwelling place of evil spirits and there had been legends surrounding the spirits roaming the ridge. The erection of the cross on that particular location was to signify that evil spirits have been defeated by the crucifixion Jesus Christ on the cross.
The cross was decorated with looking glasses so that it would be more recognizable when it glows with the reflection from the sun.
On the very night of the cross was erected, the township peace and development council ordered the destruction of the cross, compelling the very people who had erected the cross to destroy it. When the people refused, a section of local police were sent to destroy the cross. Six Christian pastors responsible for organizing the Centennial Celebration and the erection of the Memorial cross were arrested and interrogated by the authority.
In response on January 6, the whole town stage a silent protest by closing down their businesses and refusing to go to work, and by observing 24 hour fast and prayer vigil in their local churches and homes. Fearing the news of protest might spread to other towns; the authorities shutdown telephone connection of the town and arrested 20 more Church leaders. Nevertheless, on January 9, Churches in the Chin state capital, Haka joined the protest, prompting Chairman of the Chin State Peace and Development Council to go to Thantlang to end the strike by threatening and intimidating them.
Restriction on Freedom of Assembly and Worship:
Like all other freedoms, freedom of assembly is subject to severe restriction in Burma. This restriction does not exempt freedom of assembly in religious contexts.
All gatherings and conferences, including celebrations of religious festivals, require prior authorization by the military regime. However, it is usually extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain such authorization for occasions with potentially large turnout. Citing the risk of security associated with such events, the regime arbitrarily limits the number of people who can attend an event. Moreover, organizations must apply directly to the Ministry of Home and Religious Affairs in Rangoon for permission, a process which involves a long waiting period. This time-consuming bureaucratic procedure creates uncertainties, and it often results in the event having to be cancelled or postponed. People suspect such kind of procedure is deliberately used to prevent Christians from conducting their religious affairs.
In rural areas, local army commanders often issue direct orders forbidding worship services, as well as Christmas and New Year celebrations. The following is transcript of radio broadcast by the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma on December 23, 2002.
"The SPDC frontline troops summoned people from Haka and Thangtlang Townships in Chin State and told them they were not allowed to hold any Christmas ceremonies and prayer meetings. They went from village to village and told them if they wanted to hold any ceremony they were to hold it in a simple and discrete manner at their homes. Although the chairmen of the village Peace and Development Councils and pastors argued that Christmas is a very auspicious feast for Christians and requested them to allow Christmas celebrations, the column commander of the SPDC forces refused. He also said that if the chairmen and pastors deliberately held any such Christmas feast in defiance of the order, the village chairmen and pastors would all be arrested and recruited as porters. They also threatened to dislocate people."
Censorship on Christian Literature and Publication:
Since the military government came to power in 1962, the Christians in Burma, especially non-Burman nationalities have mostly been unable to print the Holy Bible in their own language inside Burma. Chin Christians, for instance, printed the Bile in the Chin language in India, and smuggled it into Burma in the 1970s and 1980s. Even the Holy Bible in Burmese, which was translated by Rev. Judson in the 1820s, never received permission to be reprinted from the Censor Board of the Burmese government, or at least the Old Testament never did. Only the New Testament, together with Psalms and Proverbs, once received permission to be printed during the entire period of the Burmese military regime, that is, from 1962 to present.
The CHRO received a report in the year 2000 that, in the month of June 2000, the SPDC officials in Tamu ordered 16,000 copies of the Bible to be burned in Tamu, Sagaing Division that borders India. These Bibles, which were seized in 1999 by the Burmese Army, are in Chin, Karen and other ethnic languages.
Discrimination Based on Ethnicity and Religion:
Under successive Burmese governments, people of non-Burman ethnic and non-Buddhist background find themselves discriminated against their Burman Buddhist counterparts in education, employment and various levels of civil service. Even those in the army and police serving successive governments were systematically denied promotions in rank on the sole basis of their ethnicity and religion.
Since the 1980s, the new Burmese citizenship law required that every citizen of Union of Burma register for a national identity card on which all particulars including the bearer's ethnic and religious backgrounds should be provided. Although the initial intention was to exclude "foreigners" such as Indian and Chinese immigrants from citizenship, the introduction of the identity card has had a far-reaching impact on ethnic and religious minority groups. Because the card is essential for travel, employment, health care and higher education, people of non-Burman and non-Buddhist background could be easily denied for employment as well as promotion in civil service on the basis of the particulars provided on the national identity card. In many instances, for Christians and other religious minorities, promotion in civil service is conditioned by their conversion into Buddhism. Many Christian civil servants with outstanding service records have been blatantly denied promotion while their Buddhist peers with less qualification and less seniority quickly rose to high ranking positions. Even a few exceptional non-Buddhist individuals securing high ranking positions were sacked or forced to retire from their positions.
Biak To, a Chin Christian who had served in the Burmese army from 1973 to 1990 as a Captain and later became a Lieutenant Colonel in the police explains how he was sacked for no apparent reasons in 2000:
"At the time of my dismissal, I was the only person holding a B.A degree among officers of my rank in the entire nine Police Regiments in Burma. In fact, I should have been the first one to be considered for promotions. Obviously, the authorities did not want to see a Chin Christian holding high position that they made a pre-emptive move to dismiss me without any apparent charges."
Major Thawng Za Lian, who has an excellent record in his military service in the Burmese army until leaving the service in 1997, recounts his experience during his career as an officer with a background of minority religious and ethnic identity in Burma that;
"In the army, A, B and C are categories designated for those who can not be promoted in rank. A stands for AIDS symptom, B stands for Hepatitis B and C stands for Christians. Under these categories, those who are carrying AIDS disease are discharged from the military and those who have Hepatitis B are transferred to civil service. And all those belonging to category C (Christians) are not given promotion."
Major Lian eventually left the army when he was asked to abandon his Christian faith and converted to Buddhism by his superior in order to be promoted.
Selective Forced Labor:
Although most Chin families have been equally affected by the army's use of forced labor, in many cases, forced labor is specifically directed against Christians in order to coerce them into converting to Buddhism. There are ample evidences that the Burmese military regime is using forced labor as part of its Burmanization program. The apparent theory is that by converting Chin Christians to Buddhism, an important Chin identity will be stripped away, thereby eventually assimilating them into Burman identity. Forced labor has also been used to discourage people from going to church by compelling them to work on Sundays and other Christian religious holidays.
State Sponsored Expansion Of Buddhism In Chin State:
Since 1990 the military government authorities and security forces have promoted Buddhism over Christianity among the Chin. Until 1990 the Chin generally practiced either Christianity or traditional indigenous religions. The Chins were the only major ethnic minority in the country that did not largely support any significant armed organization in active rebellion against the Government or in an armed cease-fire with the Government. Since 1990 government authorities and security forces, with assistance from monks of the Hill Regions Buddhist Missions, coercively have sought to induce Chins to convert to Theravada Buddhism and to prevent Christian Chins from proselytizing Chins who practice traditional indigenous religions. This campaign, reportedly accompanied by other efforts to "Burmanize" the Chin, has involved a large increase in military units stationed in Chin State and other predominately Chin areas, state-sponsored immigration of Buddhist Burman monks from other regions, and construction of Buddhist monasteries and shrines in Chin communities with few or no Buddhists, often by means of forced "donations" of money or labor.
Along with other methods to Burmanize the Chin, the Burmese military government has vonverted many Chin Christian families through coercion. The government rewards people who convert to Buddhism by exempting them from forced labor, fiving them ration and monthly allowance. The government also entice Chin Christian children by offering them government scholarship as part of the border area development program. Parents often entrust their children and enrolled them in the program. However, chindlren are later found to be in Buddhist monasteries with their head shaven to become vonice Buddhist monks.
A People and Culture at Stake:
The SPDC's campaign of ethnocide against Chin people has had serious effect on the lives of the people of Chin State. The physiological dimension is rather profound. Many Chin Christians are convinced that their religious faith is making them targets for abuse, and conversion to Buddhism not only provides them a sense of security but also eases their economic hardships. Yet, there are also people who think that persecution because of their faiths makes their spiritual commitments even stronger.
However, it is already apparent that the ethnocide campaign is taking a toll on the Chin society. Families are increasingly separated and more people are feeling the Chinland to seek safety elsewhere. About 60,000 Chin refugees have fled to India about 12 thousands more are now taking refuge in Malaysia since the 1990s when the military junta began sending thousands of troops to Chinland. Thousands of Chin families have made their way to Rangoon and elsewhere to escape conditions at home, becoming internally displaced persons or IDPs. However, life is no better for those fleeing the country or those trying to find security elsewhere inside Burma. Most of the refugees living in India and Malaysia are not recognized as refugees by the host governments and are considered 'illegal immigrants.'
There is increasing concern among Chin Christians about the uncertainties of the future. While the regime's campaign of ethnocide is starting to take a toll on the Chin society, it seems likely that more Chin people will flee their homeland to escape human rights abuses there, increasing a threat of their religion and culture being eroded at an even fast rate. As one Chin pastor puts it "Chinland has become uninhabitable".
In 1899, American missionary come to Chinland. They brought the gospel and Christianity to the Chin people. As we, the Chins had our own cultural heritage and religion, our fore-fathers did not accept Christianity easily when the American Baptist missionary come to our land. Only after 5 years of the arrival of the American missionaries that the first two Chin couples converted to Christianity in 1904. And following over a century, about 90% of Chins in Chin state have converted to Christianity and Christianity become part of Chin identity and culture. The Chins are now persecuted for their belief in Christianity and democracy by the most brutal and ruthless military junta in the world at present.
As a Chin Christian and human rights activists, I would like to request your prayer, supports and solidarity for my people Chin Christians in Burma.
[Salai Bawi Lian Mang is co-founder of Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO). He is editor of Rhododendron News, a bi-monthly human rights news publish by CHRO and co-author of "Religious Persecution: A Campaign of Ethnocide Against Chin Christians in Burma". He has participated in the UN Human Rights Commission, lobbied the UN General Assembly at the third committee, contributed about "The Chin Indigenous People" at Indigenous Year Book 1999 published by IWGIA, Copenhagen. He studied Political Science at Carleton University. He was an International Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley in the year 2003-2004.Salai Bawi Lian Mang can be reached at [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 510 981 1417 www.chro.org ]