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Tag Archives: gay rights
Why the politics of Gay versus Christian hurts everyone (but the politicians).
April 1, 2015 by Lindsey
Indiana.
Oh, Indiana.
Over the past few days, I've drowned in a barrage of posts from my Indiana-based friends expressing outrage and dismay at a legislature that doesn't represent them. The comments I've heard have ranged from the mild, "I never thought this would go through" to the brutal "I feel like the state senate has turned against us, and they aren't going to stop until Indiana is stripped down to nothing but spare parts for big business." For those who don't currently live in Indiana and aren't terribly immersed in state politics, let me just say that Indiana has a well-storied history of it's people being ignored. I can't say precisely why the idea of a representative democracy is so far from a reality in Indiana, but over the past 10 years there have been a number of significant changes to the state's operations and laws that the people have openly fought tooth and nail, yet have been celebrated in the press and true victories.
So, many Indiana citizens watched the drama unfolding as what would become SB 568 came into being, in horror.
I've seen people asking where the Christians who opposed it were. They were in Indiana, actively fighting against the law being passed. Many churches, from the Disciples of Christ to the Mennonite Church to the Episcopalians, did in fact organize and fight the bill being passed. A common fear they expressed was that the bill could not only be used to discriminate against gays but could also be used to discriminate against other Christians. This may seem like a ridiculous idea, but let's not forget that the Mennonite church, highly prevalent in Indiana, found itself in the United states after it's founders were being burned at the stake for heresy by other Christians. The common idea of "religious freedom" touted in America today may be the freedom to not participate in society at will, or to discriminate when the Bible can be cherry picked in defense, but that isn't what free religion meant in the days when this country was founded. There are some of us with a long enough memory to feel like freedom is still the right to not be persecuted by others of our same faith.
No one has the right to dictate to an individual what their faith should be: not the government, and not other parishioners.
Now, post-passage of the bill, people are asking where the Christians are. "Business men are speaking out, sports organizations, but where are the Christians?"
Well, for one, they are still speaking out. Many churches and religious leaders have openly denounced the law, but a google search for this won't yield much, since most news organizations have focused not on the religious opposition to the bill, but to the possible ramifications as businesses and public organizations cancel events which quickly rack up millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue. It's been said before that dollars talk, and that is the same here.
The sad, bitter reality is that no one cares about the spiritual ramifications of the bill or whether or not the religious support that Pence has touted is actually real. The tone of the story, from the beginning, was carefully controlled. Yet major news organizations aren't asking some very real questions about why.
Let's look at some of that now:
Politicians have, for years, used fear mongering tactics to pose a false "battle" between gay rights and Christian ones. This is never more apparent than in the tales of poor elderly Christian baker-ladies who are dragged to court and reduced to Victorian-era poverty when their religious scruples don't allow them to bake a cake for Adam and Steve's wedding. While there have been cases of bakers being sued for refusing to make cakes, what is interesting is that we rarely hear about the baker sued for not making an ANTI-gay marriage cake. Not to mention the fact that these lawsuits are only possible because the Civil Rights Act ensures that any business offering services to the public at large must not discriminate in their practices. If you are going to make a cake for Susy and Bill's shotgun wedding, or Mary and Mark's atheist wedding, or Jane and John's jewish/Christian wedding (oh, hey, the Bible openly condemns that one) you've got to bake that cake for Adam and Steve's gay wedding, too. If you don't want to bake cakes for weddings that offend your sensibility, maybe stick to just baking cookies. After all, I can guarantee you've baked cakes for sinners.
The news media has very little motivation to cease posing any issues over gay rights as a battle. Conflict sells, and the more heartfelt the conflict, the better. There's not much news to be made from stories that read like this: "Religious leaders form coalition to lobby for equal rights for gay people." Why? Where's the conflict? On the other hand, "religious organizations picket funeral of public figure to protest gay rights" almost always makes the headlines, even when numerous groups have condemned such things and even staged counter-protests that outnumber the original anti-gay gathering. The truth is that even amongst well-established religious communities, support for gay rights has become nearly ubiquitous, but there's no headlines to be made by saying that religious opposition to gay rights is becoming a minority belief.
Politicians have everything to gain by continuing to monopolize on gay rights as a campaign tactic. While gay rights may have widespread bipartisan support, the people who oppose gay rights are loud, rich, and politically motivated. Political science majors the world over are familiar with a very simple truth: even if the majority are middle-of-the-road, campaigns can be won by a very active minority who feels there is an immediate danger to the other side winning. No one fights harder than someone who feels outnumbered and as if their way of life is at risk. So what do we hear from the politicians? That "sacred" marriage is at risk, that the "family" is eroding, that the American way of life is ending, that society is on the verge of collapse, that homosexuality led to the fall of Rome, and as the numbers become more marginal the rhetoric gets more hateful and louder. But let's look at Indiana specifically. How did this particular bill get passed? Again, you have a very vocal minority. The amount of Christians in Indiana who truly felt their personal liberty needed defending from gays may have been minimal- but they were there, and they were loud. The bill was originally introduced as a necessary protection from contamination by secular sources. And as soon as the bill was introduced, concerns were raised. Often by other Christians who felt that the legislation was too problematic and unnecessary. (A common quote was, "why defend rights that already exist naturally?") In order for the legislation to pass and the minority, who have huge political clout, to be appeased the tenor of the debate had to be carefully controlled. It's no wonder that even as evidence mounted that Indiana as a whole did NOT want this bill passed, the legislature continued to stonewall and repeat the basic message that this bill was wanted by the people and absolutely necessary.
Once a tone is set, it continues. Like the basic physics concept that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, once something has hit the news the story tends to stay the same. The people with the loudest voices tend to be heard first, and the people with the loudest voices tend to be the ones with the most political clout or money. As an example of this, think about the woman who burned herself on McDonald's coffee. By the time the story had hit the mass media, it was reduced to a handful of words that made it sound as if someone had spilled coffee on themselves, was annoyed, sued, and somehow wrongfully was awarded millions. The actual facts in that case (that the burns were so severe they were disfiguring and the woman had to be hospitalized) were overlooked. The media had decided from the moment the story was first aired that the tone should be that a corporation was being wronged by fatuous lawsuits. The actual story? Irrelevant. There are hundreds of cases of this where by and large the national coverage of a story is one-sided. That is also the case with Indiana, where the only coverage of widespread opposition to the bill is from small local reporters who know their cities well. National news coverage doesn't seem to know, or care, that the people of Indiana themselves feel wronged. The only local voices being heard in the national stories tend to be ones who support the bill, or gay people who oppose it. Where are the Christians who oppose the bill? Unheard of, despite existing. How can I be so sure that's the case? I'm originally from Elkhart county, Indiana, and my friends and family there are deeply concerned that the bill will make things worse, instead of better.
The outcry that Christians who oppose the bill are staying silent is a false story. Like Muslims who condemn extremism, Christians who condemn extremism in their faith seem to be largely ignored. Everyone listens to the Pat Robertsons of the world calling gay rights a steamroller obliterating the faith, but when Christian groups band together to support gay people, no one listens. This is no different than the constant outcry that Muslims don't condemn extremist Islam. Muslims do, regularly, both publicly and privately. So why isn't it heard? One reason is because, like moderate Christianity, it just doesn't make good headlines. "99% of Muslims go another day without participating in or condoning violent acts" just doesn't push papers, does it? Plus, there's a lot to be gained from continuing to pose the dialogue the way it is. People who want to remain with their prejudices aren't going to seek out evidence that they are wrong, similarly, the people involved in the political wrangling between ultra-conservatives groups and gay rights don't have a lot to gain from realizing that the moderate middle ground is growing. So what do they do? Continue the conversation as it is.
One could question if when the Moral Majority first entered politics if they were a majority at all. What they were was a political powerhouse that monopolized on both a certain brand of politics and flavor of faith. That amount of political clout has incredible power to guide the national narrative and quash any minority voices. And while the "moral majority" may no longer exist as such, the truth is that they forever changed the landscape of politics for moderate, socially liberal Christians.
The best way forward, both for gay rights and for Christian freedom, is to take back the power from the political machine. And we have to do that by partnering together and no longer allowing the dialogue on the national stage to pit us as natural enemies. After all, we aren't enemies. Moderate Christians want the preservation of basic civil rights just as much as gay people do, and we as moderates also have much to lose if moral extremists are the ones making laws. The same people who want to keep Adam and Steve from marrying have proposed laws that would force me to be investigated for infanticide if I don't carry my child to term (even if I miscarried naturally!) and have said such vile things as that "rape is like the weather, and you've just got to relax and enjoy it." (No link, google "republican politicians on rape" if you dare.) Moderate Christians fear legislation that will punish single parenthood and women who work outside of the home. Moderate Christians question the logic of tying together religion with lax gun restrictions or other questionable stances. One of the greatest of these is the policy of rewarding corporations with generous tax write-offs while cutting back social services to the mentally ill, disabled, and poor. We need to be partners in fighting the political ideology that uses religion as a crutch while spitting in the face of some of the basic principles of brotherhood and good citizenship that Christ so fully embodied. If moderate Christians are going to take their voice back from the politicians who have bent and twisted the faith for personal gain, we need the support of others. So if you are talking about cases like the Indiana Religious Freedom law, be sure to point out that moderate Christians do not support it. If you are a journalist writing about divisive politics, bring gay and moderate Christian voices together. If you want to see more moderate voices in the political landscape, donate to churches like the Disciples of Christ, the Mennonite Church, and the Episcopalian Church, specifically to their political action committees who have a well documented history of supporting gay rights.
We can take back our fair country from the hands of bigotry together.
Christianity	christianchristianitygay marriagegay rightsGod help us allindianaindiana religious freedom lawmoderatepoliticswtf America	1 Comment
What are we fighting for?
I should be working on homework, but I'm giving myself an hour to do this first. I just have one question I'd like to ask my Christian friends:
In the past week, I've seen a number of posts on various social media and traditional media outlets that I've found deeply disturbing. There are times in life where there is a great amount of convergence, and the past week has been one of them. People have been posting about gay rights. NPR did a story on trans and gender-queer representations on TV that raised some flags for some people- I had a few queer friends who were like, "oh, hey, an honest conversation about the media!" and of course, inevitably, this raised a backlash of other people commenting about the inevitable decline of a moral society.
'Cause you know, folks, we can take it for granted that the character of Roscoe on House of Lies is representative of the downfall of society, but the cutthroat capitalist landscape the show is based in is totally cool.
Then I was showed this article from the Christian Science Monitor, about the inevitable decline of the evangelical church. While I find it deeply resonating and many aspects of the opinion there are undeniably true, I still felt a great sadness. So many people believe so deeply in something which, for better or worse, society is tired of. And it is hard, when I see well-meaning people berating queers for being happy that their lives are represented in the media. I just want to say, "do you know society is tired? Society is tired of this fight, lay down your sword and love somebody."
I know what people say, "The Bible says." Sure, okay, the Bible says. The Bible says a lot of things, folks, and what you choose to focus on really shows your opinion of God. The Bible says not to be bound by the law. The Bible says freedom in Christ. The Bible says that we are not judged by works alone. The Bible says to balance grace and mercy with adherence to the law.
And where is the grace, the mercy, the love, in constantly choosing reiterating judgment over an honest conversation with your friends?
Oh, and Dan Haseltine (lead singer for Jars of Clay) tried to start a conversation with his fans about gay marriage, and was of course roundly condemned for it. He really just asked, "what are the real arguments about?" and was lashed out at for even asking that question.
But, hey, I'd like to know the answer: What are we really fighting for?
There's something deeply disturbing about a world in which Christians will leap on any opportunity to berate and bludgeon their friends for having the temerity to be gay or want their gay friends to be married, while in the meantime we live in a society that is wholly based off of principles that contradict even greater messages in society. If you want to think about a secular society that could lead to the downfall of mankind, think about what the American economy would look like if we had another housing collapse, another international banking disaster, another Fortune 500 bankruptcy. Then come back, and tell me that gay people are the real problem.
I will ask again: What are we really fighting for?
I don't believe it's about gay people. I believe it's about living in a world where we lack control. Living in a society where the messages that blare at us from the billboards and radio and flyers up in stores, the TV channels and magazines and jacket covers of books, the clothing in the store windows, the cars on the street, and the flyers nailed to telephone poles all tear at our insides. Living in a world where we feel assaulted and unsafe, where we are left with more questions than answers and reduced to tears when we consider the implications of truly following our conscience.
Cause when I read the Bible, I feel a weight of conviction that shakes me from the tips of my hair to the soft spot under my toenails. And I don't feel convicted about my gay friends or my own sexuality. I feel convicted about the way I spend money, the career I have chosen, the way I raise my kids, the coldness I feel about international politics, where my shoes come from.
I feel convicted about myself, and I want to ask myself why I don't try harder but that hurts. I feel like there isn't that much that I can honestly control, as if no matter how hard I tried I would never actually come close to approaching the ideal I feel God has imagined for me.
So I get why it would be tempting to take all of that anger and regret and make gay people the proverbial scapegoat, sent out into the desert to die.
But it's wrong to do that. So wrong.
So what are we fighting for?
gay homosexuality lesbian	convergencegay marriagegay rightsme crying into my breakfast bagel	3 Comments
Duck Dynasty, Exposure, and Godliness.
December 19, 2013 by Lindsey
So, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame apparently couldn't stop talking about how sinful being gay is while giving a reporter from GQ a tour of his home. His subsequent suspension from appearances on A&E created a dual dust-up: Gay people that are offended that yet another high-profile Christian has made them into a whipping boy, and Christians who scream "free speech" in response to his censure at the hands of the production company.
I had a handful of kneejerk responses to seeing the news. The first was that I checked on all of my gay friends on Facebook, because if any of them had posted an angry, sad, or bitter retort I wanted to express my condolences for any pain they felt. The second was to check on all my Christian friends, just in case I felt the need to offer some perspective. The third was to hunt down the original article in question and read it carefully. After that, I had to do some thinking.
My feelings on this issue are complex, as my feelings inevitably seem to be.
First, I am tired to my very bones of Christians feeling the need to pick at the sins of society as a whole. We can't ever fully understand God or his motivations, but we can look to the Bible and see what examples he gives us. In the old Testament we see God ordering one of his prophets to marry a prostitute, as this is a metaphor for his love for his people. The metaphor? The man loves his wife but she leaves him to pursue her own interests time and time again, only coming back when she is beaten and bruised. Hm. Another example I find illuminating is, of course, Christ. He did talk about sin, but he lived a life that was not focused on it. His life was focused on compassion. Then there are the letters of the apostles which of course are filled with admonitions- but they were talking to fellow Christians, and we really honestly cannot use their language as a model for how to speak with unbelievers, so what are we left with?
Looking back at the story of Hosea and the prostitute Gomer, I am continuously struck by the fact that while her sin and abandonment of her vows was an issue, the greater focus was on God's love for his people and how Hosea's love of her was a reflection of that.
The story of salvation may involve sin by necessity, but it isn't the story of sin.
Focusing on sin misses the mark, and that's where I think that Phil Robertson's portrayal of Christianity falls short. You can say that his remarks about how guys ought to dig vaginas were a defense of Christian beliefs, but is that what Christianity boils down to? Not liking anus?
Given a platform to discuss anything, or to defend the faith, what exactly needs defending? The right to consider homosexuality a sin, or the right to demonstrate God's love?
For me, at least, the choice is clear.
Then, when it comes to considering whether or not A&Es censure of Robertson is a condemnation of faith or simply an investment-saving move, I think the truth is equally as clear. Robertson was given the time with the GQ reporter to further A&Es brand, which is bound up in the Robertson family's persona. While that persona involves their Christianity-inspired down-south values, consideration has to be given to the audience at hand. GQs audience probably isn't reading a spread on Duck Dynasty to hear about how being gay is bad. It's simply bad PR, and from A&Es point of view Robertson's job was as a brand ambassador, not an ambassador for Christ.
He's being censured for not doing his job.
This is the problem with mixing God and money. If you choose God, you aren't choosing money, and if you choose money you may have to turn on your morals. If Robertson's ultimate goal was furthering his version of the gospel, in the end losing his screen time should be a price he is happy to pay for having done that. If his ultimate goal was money, well, he had the choice to keep his mouth shut.
(Although, honestly, there is a fair argument to be made that furthering God doesn't necessitate gay-bashing.)
Now, for the issue of free speech:
If Robertson was an atheist and had said that Christianity had no place in American politics and that politicians should be censured if they admit to their personal ethics being influenced by the Bible, would the Christian community be saying his right to free speech is sacrosanct?
Picture from Jamesjustin
gay homosexuality lesbian life Politics Uncategorized	blah blah blahduck dynastyfree speechgaygay rightslgbtmediatvwhatevs	2 Comments
Militant Homosexuals
Lately I've been hearing a lot about "militant homosexuals" who have a "propensity for voilence" and are a "threat to society."
I've been having a hard time really verbalizing my feelings about this. But I will try, for your sake.
Remember the peace movement? I'm talking Vietnam War here. There you saw a movement for peace, and it started out with people sitting around on laws. Having "lay-ins" in the streets, peaceable obstruction, quiet protest. They tried to fight fire with love, and they were largely ignored. Then you saw an escalation. People started chanting, yelling, holding more boldly worded signs. There started to be an energy, an anger. A bitterness. And still, the war raged on. That's when you started seeing riots and broken windows and things that escalated beyond "civil disobedience" to violence and terror.
Because no one really listened. They were written off as selfish and naive at first, and misinformed to the last. The government ignored them and would have continued to do so indefinitely if public opinion had not changed as a whole.
Now we are seeing the same thing.
First the gays quietly protested, they kept to themselves, they stood peaceably on street corners, put gimmicky bumperstickers on their cars and wore rainbow tshirts. They tried to mobilize- but let's be honest: they are a minority. Even in California there are rainbow colored pockets on the coast, but the state as a whole is farmland. Conservative. "Family Values". So the minority lost it's voice, as always happens in these cases.
They lost their voice.
I can't even imagine how it must feel, to be doing everything you can to fight for what you believe is right, and then to simply have it all silenced. The media says, "well, now that's over", and you are expected to go home to your wife who is no longer your wife, to your children whom you are no longer legally entitled to, and to simply shut up.
Of course the demonstrations escalated. In ANY case where a minority tries to vocalize and are cast aside, the demonstrations escalate. And gay people are no more prone to voilence than peace protestors, blacks or latinos. In every case where once peacable demonstrations take a turn for the bitter and evocative it is not done because they WANT to be voilent, but because they see NO OTHER WAY for their voice to be heard.
Not that I approve of voilence- of course not- but I understand.
I understand that this is the way the world works, and unless the government takes actions to protect the rights of a minority from the subjugation of the majority, in EVERY SINGLE CASE the minority will turn to civil disobedience and eventually voilence.
And in every case, while there are pockets of anger, the greater sum of people simply suffer voicelessly, dependent on someone else to take up their cause.
You shouldn't be afraid of "militant homosexuals". You should seek to hear the subtext- to truly understand what is happening. Just as I seek to be the voice for the voiceless, believing that Christ would do the same were he still in possession of a physical body.
Oh, wait, he is: me and you.
Me, and you.
Christianity homosexuality Politics Religion	equalitygaygay marriagegay rightslesbianprop 8protest	23 Comments
The fundamental right to know love
I've already blogged about the other side of the coin– now it's time to write about the side that I find myself landing on.
As Keith Olbermann recently said, it's about the fundamental right to know love.
The argument against gay marriage goes something like this: "it's a sacred union of a man and a woman, and if a gay person wants to experience it, they can stop being gay."
I find several problems with this. The first is the question of what makes it sacred. Because it is "special"? Because God consecrates it? Because they feel a deep and abiding love for each other?
If it is the first- simply because it is "special", then certainly allowing gay people to participate might make it less special. But, then again, considering the high divorce rate, I would say that it's specialness would also benefit from certain heterosexuals being banned from participation as well.
If it's because God consecrates it, then allowing gays to marry wouldn't change a thing- because if God doesn't want to consecrate them he simply wouldn't. Unless, of course, God is bound by the laws of man. Which he isn't. So that argument, well, I don't think it holds much water at the end of the day.
Then there's the question of deep and abiding love, the inference being that gay people do not share the same level of love or commitment that heterosexuals do. I would think that it takes an enormous amount of courage and commitment to enter into a long term relationship knowing the reaction you'd get from your coworkers, your church, possibly even your family. It takes a very deep and abiding love for two men or two women to say "forget what other people think, I love you and I'm going to commit to you."
While I have a tremendous amount of respect for the gay people I have known who have felt called to live a heterosexual life in spite of their orientation, knowing the struggle that entails only makes me that much more against the idea that someone who wants the benefits of marriage should simply marry someone of the opposite sex.
How could you ever require someone to marry without attraction? Without need? To marry out of a sense of responsibility alone? While that kind of commitment can and has fostered a very deep bond for many generations of men, I can't imagine life without the butterflies and sprays of glitter. I can't imagine going through a life without seeing my husband staring at me like I'm the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. I can't imagine being buoyed through the days of heartbreak without hope for future romance. I can't imagine trying to hold on to my sense of self worth without being told that I am beautiful and precious and irreplaceable. How could anyone have the temerity to tell someone that gets those butterflies and pulse pounding ecstasy from someone of the opposite sex just to go without?
And as for the joy, the hope, and the security that comes hand in hand with the marriage license and the vows… How can you look at two people who love each other more than their own lives in spite of all of the social awkwardness and rejection that such devotion can breed, and tell them they can't have the same safety and security and pride as you because their love is evil and scary- while out of the other side of your mouth maintaining you have no real prejudice?
Christianity homosexuality Relationships Religion	gaygay marriagegay rightsprop 8	8 Comments


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Q: Zephir throws error on line 1 I am trying to make simple php extension via zephir, but zephir does not want to work.
Here is my code:
namespace Const;

class Hello {
    public static function world() {
        echo "Hello World!";
    }
}

And here is the error it produces on zephir build:
Zephir\ParseException: Syntax error in /root/compile/const/const/hello.zep on line 1

    namespace Const;
    ---------------^

A: const is a reserved word in PHP: http://php.net/manual/fr/reserved.keywords.php. You should try another namespace.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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July 15, 2015 by KingSigy
Character's Freewill
As gamers, we never stop to really question why. Why are we mowing tons of enemies down? Why are we progressing left to right in a seemingly endless fashion? Why are we tapping rhythmically to floating notes?
More than the why, I question the what if. What if your character doesn't want to proceed? What if your motivation for completion goes against the character's will to survive? This is something that rarely gets touched on in games.
Murasaki Baby actually has a small segment that inspired this blog. The game is an indie platformer for the PS Vita that makes heavy use of the systems features (in that pretty much every feature is used). The basic mode of transportation to by grabbing your characters hand and yanking it to move forward.
The game follows some weird looking child on a search for her mother. Your bar of health is a single balloon that must never pop. Other than that, it's basically solving simple puzzles that require touch, are time sensitive and sometimes make you tilt the whole system.
It's a neato little game, but the part that struck me most was about mid-way through. The main character has been through some major stuff at this point and becomes scared to proceed. You have basically failed at your job keeping her safe, since she has had a few near death experiences.
Until you manipulate the world around her, your character will not move. Yanking her hand fails to produce any action. She simply stands her ground and refuses to listen. She doesn't like what you've done so far and isn't going to blindly obey anymore.
While Murasaki Baby never comes back to this, it got me thinking about how some characters may not actually believe in the gamer's goal. Why would they want to senselessly murder hundreds of people? That makes them look like a sociopath.
I remember awhile back reading about how Dom Santiago from Gears of War was supposed to be the voice of the player. In the sequel, he was constantly shouting about how pointless the war was and how killing the Locust was fruitless.
While I don't agree with the statement of him reflecting my views, it makes for an interesting idea. Dom in Gears of War 2 is ready to die. His wife is more than likely destroyed and he's got nothing to return home to. While he may help the battle, once the war is finished, what will he fight for?
In that regard, the player controlling him and making him kill isn't so much representing Dom coming to terms with his eventual mortality, but outside pressure making Dom react in a way he doesn't want to. War is controlling his mind and he's, basically, a cog in the gears of war (pun intended).
Grand Theft Auto IV also had a little of this, though the plot is far more convoluted. Niko Bellic wasn't a heartless person. His past was dark and vicious, but he simply wanted a new chance and a new life.
The criminal underworld of Liberty City does not allow that for Niko. Since killing is his business (and business is good), Niko gets roped into a conflict without his consent. That his cousin is a big failure contributes a lot to Niko's failure to live his "American Dream."
At the same time, Niko isn't really going against what he desires. The whole point of the plotline in GTAIV is that you cannot escape your past. Eventually, you will have to answer for the sins you commit, either in life or death. Niko falls back on a skill he knows because it is the easiest thing for him.
He also throws away his desires to reform himself when his family comes under fire. After time Roman is captured, Niko goes on a literal killing spree. He doesn't gun down innocent bystanders (unless you make him), but he doesn't pull punches on his "enemies."
His kind of dichotomy makes Niko one of the most interesting protagonists in the Grand Theft Auto series. While Rockstar wrote the rest of the script without much thought, Niko was well fleshed out. He, ultimately, represents the idea I'm talking about.
An idea like this is mostly why games don't try to focus on the inner humanity of a character. If you are forced to not do something, suddenly the game is becoming a scripted plot. Without player input, why even bother making a game?
Tomb Raider (2013) had a major problem with this. Lara Croft was traumatized by killing, but she eventually employs the same tactics her enemies do. That doesn't make a lick of sense. She shows no remorse, either. She just happily plunges axes through her victim's necks.
Spec Ops: The Line reveled in this. It made you, the player, want to try a different method. Your enemies don't deserve the punishment that Cpt. Walker doles out on them. His mind breaks due to the trauma of war, so he feels every action is justified. It's a reversal of what this blog is talking about.
For the most part, you won't find many objecting protagonists. For a game to make the most sense, the main character must want the end result. Since a lot of action games focus on killing, trying to have a person abstain doesn't make for an intriguing game.
Then again, I always play Deus Ex without killing anyone, so maybe I'm the weird guy?
This entry was posted in Gaming, Op/Ed and tagged action, art games, cinema, classics, comparison, cute, discussion, free will, gaming, grand theft auto iv, murasaki baby, pc, ps3, psp, spec ops: the line, vita, wii u, xbox 360.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Miss Tourism Russia 2013 is the beautiful Iana Iarmosh.
The student speaks twp languages and in her spare time enjoys, reading, listening to music and volleyball.
As a Tourism Ambassador for Russia she wishes to promote all the interesting places of tourism, historical buildings and its cultures and traditions to the rest of the world.


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Custom software solutions for Unix, Macintosh, iOS, Android, and other devices, from start to finish.
Educational games, multi-layer animation, custom controls, and immersive non-standard user interfaces.
Asynchronous networking and communication with remote servers, and server programming.
Scientific and technical data analysis and visualization.
Strong background and experience (academic and commercial) in math and science.
Excellent verbal, written, organizational, and presentation skills.
Java for Android and C++ for Nokia (Symbian).
Unix (SV, BSD, RTU, Mach), MS Windows 95-XP, Be, DOS, VMS, CMS, OS/MVT.
Pascal, Lisp, Smalltalk, APL, Fortran, Hypertalk, Basic, Assembler.
X-Windows, Swing, OpenGL, Qt, Wx, Win32, Tk, Motif, Phigs.
IBM PC, Silicon Graphics, Sun, Masscomp, Tektronix, VAX, Alliant, HP, Atari, IBM 370.
B.A. from Cornell University in Mathematics and Biology, 1984. GPA: 3.5.
Courses in vector calculus and analysis, differential and integral equations, linear algebra, real, complex, and functional analysis, logic, mechanics, electricity and magnetism, astrophysics, information theory, organic and physical chemistry, biochemistry, ecology, evolution, drawing, philosophy of science, and film-making.
June 2014--present: Sygkrafeas Publishing, Eugene, OR.
I am working on a scientific project about the physical foundations of computation. I have my own multi-year research grant. This project involves writing scientific software in Unix/C for performing single and multi-bit mathematical operations. Experiments are performed using electronics, optics, diffraction, and interference. The goal is to create a table-top device for performing general 1 to 8-bit computations. See my website for more information.
August 2012--August 2014: Knowledge Quest LLC, Portland, OR.
Developed an iPad timeline construction app for teachers and students: 'TimelineBuilder', now for sale at the iTunes store. The app allows you to create a linear timeline anywhere from 1 billion BC to 1 billion AD, containing events that span one or more days within the timeline. Each event can have a range of dates, an imported image, and a text description that appears in a content pop-up view. Thumbnail images of events are shown attached to the timeline, and can be moved or resized by dragging, while the timeline can be zoomed and scrolled to show detail. Images can be imported from the image library or the pasteboard, and large images can be resized on import. The timeline can be exported as a series of tiled images at the current zoom factor, plus the text and images for each event, either to the image library, as email attachments, or to folders for sharing via iTunes. Also developed versions 2 and 3 of this app with additional enhanced features.
March--December 2012: Colorado Card LLC, Louisville, CO.
February--June 2012: Knowledge Quest LLC, Portland, OR.
Developed an iPad history app for parents and children: 'KQ TimeTraveler', which is now for sale at the iTunes store. App required creation of a non-standard user interface from client artwork, including multiple screens, buttons, sliders, custom views, and sound. App makes use of the device camera, photo library, email, Facebook SDK, image alignment and resizing, and on-the-fly image creation. Also developed version 2 of this app for the same client.
February 2011--January 2012: R&D Innovations LLC, Youngstown, OH.
Developed an iPhone app for parents and teachers: 'Kids UpsideDown - Understanding the Introverted Child', which is now for sale at the iTunes store. App required development of a non-standard, completely immersive, set of user interface tools including interactive image buttons, sliders, highlight animations, sounds, and programmable configuration files for hyperlinked content.
Created an iPad app for a magic game/book: 'TetraMagika', having a non-standard, completely immersive, user interface consisting of multiple layers of custom art, sprite animation, automated and semi-random image and scene construction, and 2d and 3d interactive graphics, plus sounds. All UI elements are automatically re-configured and re-positioned in all 4 pad orientations. Classes for several main and ancillary animations and popup "windows" with custom views were created. Currently at iTunes.
May 2011--April 2013: Kid Games Interactive LLC, Brooklyn, NY.
Re-wrote and combined two existing iPhone game apps for the iPad: 'Pre-School Counting 1-2-3s with Bear and Duck', and 'Pre-School A-B-Cs with Bear and Duck'. Game required development of a new set of modular/object-oriented game, animation, sprite, and control classes which could be used in similar apps. Game could also be extended and altered by the client without additional ObjC development, by the inclusion of additional folders of compatible artwork. Currently for sale at iTunes.
Created an extensible interactive iPad book app (now at iTunes with first two titles) that can be used as the basis for any number of other titles. Art for each page is provided in numbered folders, and a page configuration file (text) defines the words and their coordinates on each page, as well as any number of small animations triggered by programmed locations in the page. Individual words could be spoken, or the entire page. Several page transition animations were provided (using "on-the-fly" and cached CGImages), including page folding and page curling.
May 2011: MicroSeconds Consulting, San Diego, CA.
Developed iOS classes, and a test iPhone app, for the distortion of images using vector flow fields. Several distortion types were provided, and could be configured by the client to create an unlimited number of variations.
January 2010--April 2011: Notify Technology Corp., Canfield, OH.
Developed several fully-functional prototype mobile device management apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Nokia (Symbian) devices. Product features included asynchronous network communication, device data and log access, automatic remote synchronization and failure recovery, location services and device tracking, background operation, and data exchange by use of encrypted WBXML. iOS devices were also enabled for remote Apple Push Notification Services.
Developed a prototype Objective C and web-based (PHP) mobile device management database and control system. System allowed remote devices to connect and synchronize data, to receive server commands from multiple simultaneous administrators, to send location and device log data, and to receive remote push notifications.
May--August 2010: Kid Games Interactive LLC, Brooklyn, NY.
Developed two iPhone games for toddlers: 'Pre-School Counting 1-2-3s with Bear and Duck', and 'Pre-School A-B-Cs with Bear and Duck', both now for sale at the iTunes store. Games required development of a fairly complicated set of animation tools including multiple layers, sprites, interactive image buttons, sounds, and programmed timed- and cyclical-motion behavior similar to that provided by Adobe Flash (which is prohibited from the iPhone by Apple).
January--April 2010: KneeBouncers LLC, Sykesville, MD.
Developed two iPhone games for toddlers: 'Peek-a-bouncer' and 'Calling-all-bouncers', which are now for sale at the iTunes store. Games required development of a simple application shell including email composition and links to web sites, plus multi-layer animation of many images, coordinate transforms for device orientation changes, custom fonts and controls, and simultaneous playback of several sounds.
February 2008--December 2009: Dept. of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.
Developed Unix/C software for the simulation of glacier retreat and the resulting debris flow on Mount Rainier, Washington. Wrote programs to process satellite images, project image data to universal transverse Mercator grids, and to synchronize with high-resolution digital elevation models. Wrote programs and performed simulation experiments to characterize the locations and magnitudes of branched debris flows peripheral to yearly retreating glacial perimeters.
Developed software in C and Python for the creation of an aplanar RMS surface (roughness) composite mosaic map of Greenland from thousands of satellite images acquired with the Multi-Angle Spectro Radiometer instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft, using multi-dimensional image space data modeling.
Wrote all image processing and analysis software for reduction of HDF-EOS datasets using radiance to reflectance conversion, Fourier transform interpolation, Minnaert terrain correction, radiative transfer top-of-atmosphere to surface correction, cloud masking, and multiple-grid equal-area map projections.
Performed all duties related to a research project predicting a 100 year migration corridor of the Missouri National Recreational River for the National Park Service.
Wrote software in Python, C++, and C to perform meandering simulations of rivers using the Johannesson-Parker and other fixed and variable width models.
Wrote graphical user interface in Python for the control and display of multiple meandering simulations.
Wrote SQL-like database in Python for the analysis of 3000+ simulation results in numerical and graphical form.
Wrote software in Python to estimate the sediment volume contained in multiple river valleys from LIDAR digital elevation model datasets and the generation of synthetic bedrock bases from valley wall slopes and elevations.
April 2003--December 2007: Southwest Research Institute/NASA, San Antonio, TX.
Developed C, Objective C, and Python code under Macintosh OS X/Unix for creating cloud motion maps of Venus' atmosphere from NASA/IRTF ground-based infrared images.
Developed "FITSRegister" software for semi-automatic registration of multiple astronomical images.
Developed "FITSFlow" software for automatic generation of vector field maps of motion from multiple sets of astronomical images.
Developed "FITSMap" software for projection mapping of planetary coordinates and vectors to several rectangular systems.
Developed IDL and C code under Macintosh OS X/Unix for preprocessing and deconvolution of astronomical telescope images.
Developed an automated image processing pipeline using the PIXON image reconstruction method for use at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Developed IDL and C code for extraction and optimization of telescope point-spread-functions via genetic algorithms and speckle interferometry.
March 2007--September 2007: Biomatters Inc., Auckland, New Zealand.
Created programs and plugins in Java for "Geneious" bioinformatics software product.
Programs/plugins performed 3d protein alignment using McLachlan method of conjugate axes.
Programs/plugins performed 1d protein pre-alignment using DALI method of distance similarity scoring and Monte Carlo evolution.
October 2003--December 2006: FerMac Inc., Knoxville, TN.
Developed all C and Objective C code under Macintosh OS X for "LabMathX" mathematical/scientific data analysis, visualization, and simulation product.
Product features included infix vector equation parsing and evaluation, and interactive tables, plots, and images embedded in a WYSIWYG graphical user interface.
Developed LabMathX client software for calculation of complex index of refraction and quantum light scattering from multiple thin films.
March 2003--April 2003: Pharmix, Inc., Redwood City, CA.
Developed mathematical software in C and Java under OS X and Windows XP for the molecular modeling of drug interaction in pharmaceutical discovery research.
November 2002--March 2003: University of Tennessee Dept. of Physics/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville, TN.
Created an equation parsing and evaluation module in C++ for a Macintosh scientific analysis program.
Created complex analysis functions and operations in C++ for a Macintosh mathematical analysis program.
Created spectral analysis program in C++ for the Macintosh using the continuous wavelet transform.
Created data acquisition module in C++ on the Macintosh to detect acoustic signal signatures in natural gas lines.
Created a quantum optical properties module in C++ on the Macintosh for the spectral analysis of metal surfaces.
Created OS X version (Cocoa) of "MacDAQ" data acquisition and analysis software for the Macintosh.
October 2001--October 2002: PubGene AS, Oslo, Norway.
Created bioinformatics software for the Macintosh and Unix to perform data mining of genomic information from medical and biological literature databases.
Created software for the Macintosh and Unix for the curation of gene and protein nomenclature databases.
Created X-Windows software for the multi-dimensional mapping of gene relationships in information space, and for the construction of multiple composited gene atlases.
Contributed to ongoing cancer research performed at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Radium Hospital.
January 1999--May 2002: Intergalactic Reality, Boulder CO.
Created the "Scientist's Component Toolkit", an interactive component data analysis system for the Macintosh.
Created "MacDAQ" data acquisition and analysis software for the Macintosh.
Developed data acquisition electronics for acquiring and analyzing EEG and EKG signals using component science software.
June 2001--July 2001: The Boulder Art Gallery, Boulder CO.
Developed a new website for a high-end fine art gallery. Work included all digital photography, Photoshop editing, HTML development, site hosting, and remote maintenance. Site included ~200 pages and images.
November 1997--December 2000: Southwest Research Institute/NASA, San Antonio, TX.
Created a new technology called "Client-Side CGI" which allows a web browser to directly interact with stand-alone programs on a local computer, without the use of an Internet connection or web server. Created CSCGI software for Macintosh, Linux, and Windows.
Developed a CD image database browser in Java and C++ for NASA Planetary Data System spacecraft images.
Developed a regular expression parsing (e.g. "greplike") CD-ROM search program for the Macintosh.
Gave invited talks and demos about CSCGI at the 1999 and 2000 NASA Applied Information Systems conferences.
Developed scientific software components for reading, displaying, and processing NASA PDS images.
April 1999--September 2000: IBVA Technologies, Inc., Darien, CT.
Developed a prototype of the "Interactive Brainwave Visual Analyzer" for Windows. This software acquires 2 channels of EEG data via wireless (radio) electronics, creates plots of raw data, performs FFT analysis of data, displays histograms of spectral averages, and creates scrolling 3d OpenGL surface plots of resulting FFT records.
July 1998--April 1999: Anne Stone Images, Boulder, CO.
Developed a new website for an on-line fine art gallery. Work included all photography, Photoshop editing of digital images, HTML development, site hosting, and remote maintenance.
February 1998--March 1999: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.
Created biophysical research software for the analysis, display, and animation of 3-dimensional EEG potential fields, for Power Macintosh computers. The software supports EGI Netstation 128 channel data import, 1d traces embedded in the 3d display, spectral (FFT) amplitude and phase analysis, multiple independent 1, 2, and 3d plot windows, and Neuroscan data import.
April 1998--December 1998: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, New York.
Created a series of Java Calculus applets for a website associated with the latest edition of their Calculus textbook. Several applets included the development of a Java infix equation parser and evaluator, numerical integration, root-finding, and curve-fitting.
August 1997--April 1998: Institute of Higher Sciences, Palo Alto CA.
Developed a prototype of an EEG analysis and imaging system in Java. This system provided 1, 2, and 3-d display and analysis of raw EEG data.
May 1997--September 1997: Synergy Software, Inc., Reading PA.
Created a prototype of a 3-d graphing library in C for use in "KaleidaGraph" data plotting and analysis product for Macintosh computers.
October 1996--September 1997: Lucidity Institute, Inc., Palo Alto CA.
Was developer of C++ "SuperNova" product for Macintosh and Windows. This product is a software interface and data acquisition system for interacting with the stand-alone "NovaDreamer" REM-sleep monitoring and cueing hardware product.
October 1995--January 1997: Institute for Decision Systems Research, Los Altos CA.
Developed a suite of Unix/C routines and programs for performing pseudo-random and quasi-random sample generation and analysis for use in statistical modeling and decision applications.
Performed basic research and analysis of pseudo-random and quasi-random sample generation methods and their derived functions and metrics.
September 1995--January 1997: Lumina Decision Systems, Los Altos CA.
Developed an AppleEvent interface for data and graphics exchange between "DeltaGraph Pro" and "Analytica" modeling and decision applications for the Macintosh.
Developed an extensible, user-defined, plugin capability for "Analytica" decision analysis software product.
June 1995--June 1996: Science and Engineering Network Newsletter, Worcester MA.
Was contributing editor for feature articles about modeling and simulation, and about WWW site construction, HTML authoring, and CGI programming.
October 1993--May 1996: Intergalactic Reality, Palo Alto CA.
Was lead architect and developer for "MacWavelets" software product, a 1 and 2-d wavelet analysis, compression, and signal reconstruction program for Macintosh computers, written in C++.
Was lead architect and developer for "Galactomatic-1000" software product, a modular, object-oriented scientific data analysis, visualization, and modeling environment for Macintosh computers, written in C++.
Demonstrated "Galactomatic-1000" product and several scientific data and image processing examples as part of a scientific software seminar at the 1994 Boston MacWorld Exposition, at the 1995 San Francisco MacWorld Exposition, and at the 1995 San Francisco Scientific and Engineering Applications of the Macintosh Conference.
July 1995--December 1995: Macintosh Scientific Technical Users' Association, Worcester MA.
Was developer and maintainer of MST WWW site, including on-line text and graphics, HTML forms pages, and CGI programs for form mailing. Also created an interactive site for a consultant database, including form entry, entry editing, and password validation.
October 1994--April 1995: Greenleaf Medical Systems, Inc., Palo Alto CA.
Was developer for "Movement Analysis System" medical software product, a remote and real-time data acquisition, display, analysis, and database application for the measurement of wrist and hand motion, for Macintosh computers, written in C++.
June 1992--December 1993: Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino CA.
Was lead architect and developer for "Scientist's Workbench" project, a modular, visual scientific programming and analysis environment for Macintosh computers, written in C++ and Lisp.
Wrote an autonomous agent image feature recognition system using trainable neural net technology. Presented this system and others as part of scientific seminars at the 1993 and 1994 San Francisco MacWorld Expositions, and at the 1993 San Jose Apple Worldwide Developer Conference.
Hosted a 3-day Apple workshop on writing dynamically linked, extensible scientific analysis components. Participants included representatives from Wolfram Research, NCSA, NASA, Stanford University, JPL, and Unix workstation scientific software vendors.
December 1991--June 1992: SciMaTech, Inc., Mountain View CA.
Was project leader and lead programmer for development of "Phoenix" real-time data acquisition, analysis, and display product for Macintosh computers.
Wrote object-oriented application in C++ for multi-channel medium-speed data acquisition from a variety of remote instruments, plus 1 and 2 dimensional color graphs, tables, digital multimeter, oscilloscope, audio analyzer, and other virtual instruments.
Product features included math functions (algebra and calculus) and equation parsing, data monitoring and event recording, and remote hardware programming.
March 1991--September 1991: Knowledge Revolution, Inc., San Francisco CA.
Was lead programmer for development of "Interactive Physics 2.0" product for Windows. Designed object-oriented application structure and user-interface in C++ for the construction of simulations of Newtonian dynamics from within a GUI environment.
September 1988--February 1991: High Performance Systems, Inc., Hanover NH.
Was Director of Product Development and manager of all software development in C and C++ for "iThink", "Stella II", and "StellaStack" model-building and simulation tools for the Macintosh. Was the principal architect and programmer of these products.
Product features included discrete and continuous systems, mathematical functions, equation parsing, random distributions and Monte Carlo simulation, multiple graphical, tabular, and animation output, sensitivity and scenario analysis of variables, and automatic generation and integration of differential equations implied by graphical structure. An additional product included a HyperCard interface for real-time control and animation of models from within multimedia applications.
July 1987--August 1988: Creare Engineering R&D, Inc., Hanover NH.
Wrote 64-channel data acquisition, analysis, and display system for cryogenic turbine research performed with the IBM PC, including real-time entropic, enthalpic, and energy calculations.
Wrote mathematical function and operator library for scalar, vector, and tensor object manipulations in real and complex form as part of NIH "Mlab" product for Unix workstations.
Added instrument and process-control capability to 256-channel, MHz-rate, "Idars" data acquisition and analysis product for Unix workstations.
Derived and programmed multi-dimensional vector-space mapping, correlation, and least-squares analysis of acoustic data for real-time speech recognition for deaf people.
Wrote 3-d serial-section tissue reconstruction package for medical finite element cancer tomography.
Ported "Fluent" finite element fluid-flow simulation product to IBM PC, VAX DecWindows, Sun, Tektronix, and Silicon Graphics Unix workstations.
June 1982--May 1987: Department of Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca NY.
Designed and performed microscopic wind-tunnel experiments and stroboscopic photography of the aerodynamics of wind-pollination in plants. Wrote IBM XT programs to perform interactive data entry, vector field analyses, and dynamic simulation of fluid-flow from digitized photographs.
Wrote programs for the generation and display of 3-d tree branching patterns and leaf-canopy geometries. Performed mechanical and photosynthetic analyses of these structures, and evolutionary and ecological competition between these structures.
Wrote 2 and 3-dimensional color graphics libraries for IBM PC from board-level up.
Initial program prototypes were instrumental in acquiring a 3-year $300,000 NSF grant.
Research was published in Scientific American, Science, American Scientist, Journal of Mathematical Biology, Paleobiology, American Journal of Botany and other journals.
June 1981--August 1981: NASA Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility, Ithaca NY.
Co-managed PDP/VAX-11 computer system for Planetary Astronomy department.
Wrote programs used for the production of a cloud map of the Martian surface.
Wrote photographic database for over 250,000 Viking and Mariner spacecraft images.


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Top notch retailer, fastest shipping from any vendor I have used. Great prices and decent selection.
I like the direct deposit of EMT now, rather than faffing with passwords.
I'd take good prices over credit card surcharges any day.
Great service. Fast shipping. My first choice when looking for reloading supplies.
I prefer the EMT method over credit cards and let the merchant keep his profits instead of handing more of my money to the bank.
I only ordered 3 times from your store, all were properly packaged, shipping was fast and priced reasonably, email responses were prompt even with some of my off topic questions. All I can say, your product price very well, services are superb. Definitely my go to reloading store. PS: You have some rare selections of product that sometime I can't find anywhere else :D.
Great selection of products that are shipped fast and packaged well. Prices for products are the same as anywhere else if not better. He also sent a me a letter with a detailed explanation of how he took stuff off the shelf and shipped it. It was hilarious and it made my day. I really should have kept it.
No nonsense dealer. My first stop for any reloading requirement. I've bought a few times, and special ordered a few parts too. Great prices and prompt responses.
When I ask other shooters where to get stuff, have you checked Budget supply yet? is the answer I get.


I am interested in encouraging thoughtful engagement with ideas and practices of social transformation at various scales, in particular, its spatiality, contextual contingency, contradictions, and enduring possibility.
"Counterhegemony and Context: Racial Crisis, Warfare and Real Estate in the Neoliberal City," Urban Geography, Vol. 27, No. 8, pp. 714-721 (2006).
1998-1999, Fellowship, Society of Women Geographers, New York Group.
1998-1999, Fellowship, Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers University.


Tilda Foodservice has launched a new recipe book featuring the education sector's most respected and award-winning school chefs and caterers.
Following the success of LACA's 25th National School Meals Week (NSMW) last year, plans are already underway for 2019's event.
More than 30 organisations, led by school food charity School Food Matters, are calling on the DfE to act on its promise to prioritise children's health and well-being by taking a look at how schools can support children to keep themselves healthy.
A 14-year-old pupil from Glasgow has won the 2019 Springboard Charity's FutureChef competition.
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has launched registration for its seventh annual BNF Healthy Eating Week, taking place 10th – 14th June 2019.
Schools across the UK are being invited to enter a design competition to create a sculpture made of waste plastic.
Five development chefs from Bidfood have used surplus food stock donated by FareShare to create wholesome meals as part of the company's Chef for a Day campaign.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has said that it is 'disappointed' that not one single UK fishery has moved off its Good Fish Guide 'Fish to Avoid' list in its most recent ratings update.
Independents by Sodexo has been awarded a five-year contract to manage catering services at The King's School in Chester, one of the leading co-educational day schools in the country.
Warwickshire-based school caterers, Educaterers, has launched a Culinary Skills training programme at its innovative new Centre of Excellence at Boughton Leigh Junior School in Rugby, to develop and train new and existing employees.


text:
OWU Alumnus Earns Competitive National Science Foundation Award
30 Apr , 2019
Nathan Scinto-Madonich's interest in plant research is rooted in his classes and laboratory research at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Now pursuing a doctorate in plant science at Cornell University, Scinto-Madonich this month was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. Valued at $138,000, the three-year fellowship includes an annual research stipend of $34,000 and a yearly cost-of-education allowance of $12,000. He will conduct his research in the laboratory of Cornell professor Miguel Piñeros.
Scinto-Madonich, who graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 2016 with a botany major and sociology/anthropology minor, said he will use the fellowship to explore "how plant roots adapt to adverse soil environments to support the overall growth of the plant."
"Specifically," he said, "I will be researching plant growth on acid soils, which affect around 50 percent of agriculturally relevant land. These soils have toxic amounts of aluminum that damage plant roots, as well as low amounts of phosphorus (a critical plant nutrient), which together lead to poor plant growth.
"To adapt to these changes," he continued, "plants will alter the layout of their roots in the soil, and some plants do this better than others. I want to capture and understand favorable root layouts so they can be transferred to other plants that aren't well-adapted to acidic soils. … Ultimately, our understanding of plant adaptation to adverse environments will aid the effort to feed a growing human population."
For two years after earning his undergraduate degree, Scinto-Madonich worked at Ohio Wesleyan as a research assistant in the laboratory of botany-microbiology professor Chris Wolverton.
"Chris Wolverton was an amazing mentor who first demonstrated to me the dynamic nature of roots and how they actively respond to their environment," he said.
"I was extremely fortunate to work as Dr. Wolverton's lab technician on his NASA grant for two years after graduation, during which I collaborated with amazing people trying to answer fascinating questions about root responses to gravity," Scinto-Madonich said. "The classes and research that I did with Dr. Wolverton have greatly influenced the type of research questions I'm interested in investigating today."
Scinto-Madonich said he also was influenced by his classes with botany-microbiology professor Laurie Anderson.
"An introductory course from Laurie Anderson got me excited about plants when I learned about how they could be used to clean up contaminated soils," he said. "Additional courses and research projects with Dr. Anderson put into context the ways that plants affect, and are affected by, the environment."
After he earns his doctorate, Scinto-Madonich hopes to continue his efforts to "connect current research to relevant agricultural applications and continue to share what we know about the amazing world of plants with a broad range of people."
OWU professor Wolverton said he is proud of Scinto-Madonich for earning an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. "These are incredibly competitive," Wolverton said, "so this is an amazing accomplishment."
In fact, the NSF reports, more than 500,000 people have applied for Graduate Research Fellowships since 1952, but only about 50,000 have been granted the awards. Currently, the NSF reports, "42 fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences."
"These individuals are crucial to maintaining and advancing the nation's technological infrastructure and national security as well as contributing to the economic well-being of society at large," the foundation states.
Learn more about the NSF at www.nsfgrfp.org and more about Ohio Wesleyan's Department of Botany and Microbiology at www.owu.edu/botany.
In the photo above, Ohio Wesleyan alumnus Nathan Scinto-Madonich '16 (left) worked for two years after graduation as a research assistant for professor Chris Wolverton helping with Wolverton's NASA-funded research into plants and gravity. Scinto-Madonich, now a doctoral student at Cornell University, just earned a three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support his own research. (Photo by Thompson Creative Imaging)
Source, Photo: Ohio Wesleyan University
Alumni, Featured, Ohio Wesleyan University


The new US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, has already gone off-message on his first day on the job. Given his boss' inflammatory and borderline dangerous campaign rhetoric, that's a small reason for hope in a week filled with disturbing news.
Despite the inflammatory pageantry of Trump's flip-flopping rhetoric, we can take solace in the fact that a few members of his cabinet seem not just capable of mollifying his views, but actually stand up to him. Trump's pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, echoed Mattis' words by expressing firm support for the alliance during his own confirmation hearing, telling the Senate that the NATO treaty's collective defense "commitment is inviolable and the US is going to stand behind that commitment." It's worth noting, of course, that Mattis and Tillerson are two of the very few members of Trump's cabinet who are seen as relatively balanced and who boast more bipartisan support for their nominations.
So the two men's support for NATO is a bright spot in a string of dark weeks. This is because, despite Trump's efforts to denigrate the alliance, the US still needs NATO.
First, NATO continues to play a critical role in fulfilling two major goals of post-1945 US foreign policy: preserving peace in Europe and acting as a bulwark against Russian aggression. Over six-plus decades of existence, the alliance helped prevent the Cold War from overheating, provided critical assistance to new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, and stepped in to bring peace to the Balkans in the 1990s. Although these achievements might not matter to the likes of Trump and his cronies, they should at least acknowledge the critical involvement of NATO forces in the post-9/11 fight against terrorism. In the aftermath of Al-Qaeda's attacks on the United States, more than 1,000 non-American troops have perished fighting by the sides of US soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them hailing from NATO member states. If Trump really intends to mount a global fight against terrorism, which seems to be one of the few foreign policy issues that interest him, then he will have to acknowledge that Washington won't be able to go it alone. To have any efficacy, NATO and its members would have to form a crucial foundation for that fight.
Of course, there is no denying that the alliance has room for improvement. First, as Trump and a long line of other US officials have pointed out, most NATO members have not lived up to their financial commitments by spending 2% of their GDP on defense. Even Stoltenberg has recognized the issue, urging NATO member states to beef up their defense budgets. Additionally, it's fair to say that the alliance has expanded too far and too fast, counterproductively fueling tensions with Russia and bringing in states that are not fit for membership.
For instance, take the US Senate's recent vote to advance Montenegro's bid to join NATO to the floor. While some have supported the move as a way to "send a message of strength," senators and NATO leadership should probably have thought twice before supporting the accession of a strategically insignificant state with some serious skeletons in its closet.
Only a few months ago, Montenegro's parliamentary elections ended inconclusively amid claims of hacking of media and party websites, violence at voting stations, and an alleged coup attempt by Serbians on Moscow's payroll. Though the Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, stepped down, he's likely to remain in power behind the scenes as he has for the past 25-plus years. This is bad news for the Balkan state, which has been struggling with rampant issues of corruption, rule of law, and organized crime. And Djukanovic has played no small part in enabling his country's dysfunctional system of governance. For instance, he had the dubious distinction of being named the Organized Crime and Corruption Project's "man of the year" in 2015. The project alleged that he was involved in numerous misdeeds, including a tobacco smuggling scheme during the 1990s. Given the sordid history of Montenegro's strongman, and the country's failure to make progress on improving corruption and rule of law, NATO should have thought much more carefully about whether a bigger alliance is really better.
So yes, Trump and other critics are right to point out NATO's weaknesses, not least some members' overdependence on the US security budget and a membership roster that has grown too quickly. But we should acknowledge the critical role that NATO has played in preserving peace over the past 65+ years and avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
For now, at least, we can take solace in the fact that two members of Trump's cabinet have made strong arguments for a continued US commitment to NATO. But the reservations expressed by Trump and some of his entourage still give serious cause for concern. Their sentiments suggest not only an end to US support for the military alliance, but to a longstanding liberal, internationalist order in which Washington plays a leading role upholding peace, democracy, and rule of law. We should take this as a warning sign and hope that the voices of reason prevail over the next four years.


Dr. Shantanu Naik is the medical director of the critical care unit at Seton Northwest Hospital in Austin, TX.
Dr. Naik was born in Pennsylvania but spent many of his educational years in Michigan. He completed his internal medicine residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and then worked as a hospitalist in Illinois and Michigan while waiting for his wife to finish her residency. He did his Pulmonary/Critical Care fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was Chief Fellow in his third year.
Dr. Naik is board certified in internal, pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society and American College of Chest Physicians. His professional interests include thoracic oncology and sleep medicine.
He and his wife have three children and a dog. He says his greatest challenge, at least at home, is raising little Wolverines in Longhorn country.


Modelling of neonatal care networks, for the planning and optimisation of regional neonatal care.
Using simulation to identify simple general rules to promote flow through hospital departments and whole hospital systems.
Modelling of hospital labour wards – how best to offer 1:1 care in labour.
use of simulation to enhance training in Lean and Clinical System Improvement techniques.


As Deadline reported yesterday, it looks like Hollywood has a new king of the MLK Day weekend. A week after the record-breaking debut of Ride Along, Sony said today that it has booked Kevin Hart starrer The Wedding Ringer into next year's holiday frame. The Screen Gems/Miramax comedy is slated for January 16, 2015, where it will exchange vows against Fox's Frankenstein and Universal's Untitled Michael Mann project. Hart stars as Jimmy, who provides best man services for socially challenged guys. One groom-to-be (Josh Gad) hires him — then goes so far as to name nine fake groomsmen. Jeremy Garelick is directing Wedding Ringer from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jay Lavender. Adam Fields and Will Packer are producing.


text:
/* This is a very simple example using the multi interface. */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

/* somewhat unix-specific */
#include <sys/time.h>
#include <unistd.h>

/* curl stuff */
#include <curl/curl.h>

#ifdef _WIN32
#define WAITMS(x) Sleep(x)
#else
/* Portable sleep for platforms other than Windows. */
#define WAITMS(x)                               \
  struct timeval wait = { 0, (x) * 1000 };      \
  (void)select(0, NULL, NULL, NULL, &wait);
#endif

/*
 * Simply download a HTTP file.
 */
int main(void)
{
  CURL *http_handle;
  CURLM *multi_handle;

  int still_running; /* keep number of running handles */
  int repeats = 0;

  curl_global_init(CURL_GLOBAL_DEFAULT);

  http_handle = curl_easy_init();

  /* set the options (I left out a few, you'll get the point anyway) */
  curl_easy_setopt(http_handle, CURLOPT_URL, "http://www.example.com/");

  /* init a multi stack */
  multi_handle = curl_multi_init();

  /* add the individual transfers */
  curl_multi_add_handle(multi_handle, http_handle);

  /* we start some action by calling perform right away */
  curl_multi_perform(multi_handle, &still_running);

  do {
    CURLMcode mc; /* curl_multi_wait() return code */
    int numfds;

    /* wait for activity, timeout or "nothing" */
    mc = curl_multi_wait(multi_handle, NULL, 0, 1000, &numfds);

    if(mc != CURLM_OK)
    {
      fprintf(stderr, "curl_multi_fdset() failed, code %d.\n", mc);
      break;
    }

    /* 'numfds' being zero means either a timeout or no file descriptors to
       wait for. Try timeout on first occurrence, then assume no file
       descriptors and no file descriptors to wait for means wait for 100
       milliseconds. */

    if(!numfds) {
      repeats++; /* count number of repeated zero numfds */
      if(repeats > 1) {
        WAITMS(100); /* sleep 100 milliseconds */
      }
    }
    else
      repeats = 0;

    curl_multi_perform(multi_handle, &still_running);
  } while(still_running);

  curl_multi_remove_handle(multi_handle, http_handle);

  curl_easy_cleanup(http_handle);

  curl_multi_cleanup(multi_handle);

  curl_global_cleanup();

  return 0;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Emma Payton
Emma Payton, from Gatley, was just 8 years old when she was diagnosed with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of soft tissue sarcoma.
Emma's mum, Tracey Payton was devastated when the family were given the news: "It really is the most horrendous thing you could ever hear as a parent, and you would swap places with your child if at all possible," she says.
Soft tissue sarcomas are rare. About 3,300 new cases are diagnosed each year in the UK.
Emma's sarcoma was treated with nine bouts of chemotherapy and she also participated in an extra chemotherapy trial. Following that she had an operation to remove the tumour. Although the tumour was just 3.5cm the operation took nine hours, as it was wrapped around her cheekbone. She then needed radiotherapy treatment.
However, standard radiotherapy treatment was not appropriate for Emma. Her consultant at The Christie, Dr Ed Smith, recommended her as an ideal candidate for Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) because of her age and the location of her tumour.
Tracey said: "I didn't know anything about childhood cancer or radiotherapy but we were told by our consultant that standard radiation treatment would be detrimental to Emma's learning and development because her tumour was in her face. Proton Beam Therapy would reduce the risks to Emma's development, so we had to do it."
Stressful time
The week of Emma's operation was a stressful time, Tracey says: "Emma had her surgery and a round of chemotherapy, after that she was allowed to come home and after just one day at home we flew out to America for her Proton Beam Therapy treatment. She was mortified to have a wheelchair on the plane, her head was swollen from the operation and she had no hair and eyelashes from the chemo. She was so embarrassed."
The whole family made the journey to Oklahoma including Emma's dad Phil, Emma's twin brother Ben, her older sister Holly and her grandmother.
The family had to stay in Oklahoma for eight weeks before Emma had recovered enough from her operation to have the Proton Beam Therapy. She had 23 short bursts of the therapy and had to wear a specially created mask to pin her to the bed while the therapy took place.
Moved and inspired
On her final day of treatment in Oklahoma, Emma was invited to ring a bell to mark the end of her journey. The family were so moved and inspired by this, they have donated and distributed 56 bells to hospitals across the UK since returning home.
Currently the NHS has to send patients needing Proton Beam Therapy abroad for treatment. But the Government has pledged £250m to build two new proton beam therapy centres in the UK. The Christie has been chosen as one of those sites, the other is University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The Christie Proton Beam Therapy site is due to open in 2018 and will treat up to 750 patients a year at full capacity.
Emma's bell will be housed in the new state-of-the-art Proton Beam Therapy centre at The Christie when it opens.


Arrow Concrete Cutting has the most up-to-date concrete demolition methods in practice and we're able to provide you with environmentally friendly and noise controlled solutions.
Our hydraulic splitting system is a specialised concrete bursting technique performing controlled demolition which is ideal for interiors and inaccessible places. Our system reduces and eliminates dust, flying debris, vibration, exhaust fumes and noise.
We are aware of the impact concrete cutting has on the environment. Slurry control is of paramount importance and our system is in line with the Environmental Protection Agency's codes.
View images of our previous controlled demolition jobs at our Concrete Cutting & Demolition Portfolio.


Take the family time challenge to help your family draw closer together. Enjoy a meal together without the distractions of the world. Your kids will thank you.
Have you noticed? The world is getting really crazy out there.
I can't imagine dealing with the problems that my kids deal with on a daily basis at school. They are constantly bombarded with worries about school safety, about pregnancy among their friends, about bulling, about so many crazy things. I am scared silly for them.
That's why I try hard to make our home a place of refuge for my husband and kids. I need to know that when they come home they can check the craziness at the door. They need to know they are loved unconditionally and without the doubts that the world throws at them.
To try and do this, I have tried to find the little moments to enjoy with my kids. We dance in the kitchen. We make cookies together. We play board games. We laugh and talk and sing together.
I recently heard a family challenge to try and do one extra "something" a week to show your family that you love them. I wanted to pass that family challenge on to you.
The challenge this week is to have family dinner and make it a little special for your family. If that means putting on a table cloth and having a simple candlelight dinner with your kids, go do it!
If you want to go a little more elaborate, choose a theme for your family dinner and dress up the table. Every time that I do this, my kids are amazed, thrilled, and look forward to dinner so much more. It's fun to have a theme for your family dinner. Choose a back to school theme, a favorite movie theme, a holiday theme, or even just a sunflower autumn theme.
When dinner time comes, spend the time off the TV, phones, and electronics and just talk together. Your kids will love that you spent the time concentrating on them. It doesn't have to take a lot of extra time or work, just a little extra thought.
To you it may not mean much to throw a table cloth and some candle on the table, but to your kids, it will mean the world. It will mean that you love them more than the crazy world.
Before you know it, you'll be sending them off into the craziness of the world full time. And you'll miss the little moments that show your family that they are special and are loved. Because to a child, the greatest way to show them they love them is spelled TIME.
Do you think you'll do it? Will you take the family challenge and make one dinner a little "extra: this week? I'd love to hear what you do in the comments below.


text:
Passenger Vehicle »
General Motors to recall more than 1 million vehicles in the U.S.
The problem may cause difficulty steering the vehicle, especially at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash, the auto safety regulator said in a document dated Sept. 12. REUTERS | September 13, 2018, 20:16 IST
General Motors Co is recalling more than 1 million pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles in the United States due to issues with a temporary loss of power steering, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
The problem may cause difficulty steering the vehicle, especially at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash, the auto safety regulator said in a document dated Sept. 12.
The recall covers certain 2015 Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac pickup trucks and SUVs.
Tags : Passenger Vehicle, Cars, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, general motors, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Auto Safety
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